Robust, conveniently scalable, fully (and easily) customizable... What else? Oh, yes, it should definitely be a 2-in-1: CMS & e-commerce platform. This is pretty much how your “wishlist” looks now when you're choosing the best eCommerce solution for your website, right? Would you be able to check off all the “wishes” listed there if you want to build a Drupal eCommerce website?
That is the question!
What makes Drupal not just a good choice, nor just the best one, but the most SUITABLE one for your own e-commerce site?
One that would meet all its needs (quick and easy integration with third-party systems, a flexible content editing process, easy to control SEO etc.)?
Well, here's OPTASY team's top 10 good reasons why you should “bet on” Drupal:
1. It Shortens Your E-Commerce Site's Development Time
And it's pretty much... self-evident:
Compared to a standalone eCommerce platform (e.g. Prestashop or Magento), with Drupal you get Drupal Commerce built right on top of it!
Built, from the ground up, to seamlessly integrate with your CMS.
In short: with Drupal (&Drupal Commerce) you get one tightly integrated platform system simultaneously serving as a content management system and as an e-commerce platform.
Save the time you'd otherwise invest in:
custom-integrating a CMS with your standalone eCommerce platform
making them “play well” with one other
“joggling” with 2 platforms (or a 2-platform system, if you prefer) instead of one and investing twice as much time and effort in their ongoing management and maintenance
2. It "Plays Nicely" With Third-Party Systems
And this is not even an advantage, but a vital functionality drawing a line between effective and ineffective e-commerce solutions.
As a (current or future) e-commerce website owner, your “jam-packed” list of specific needs does include integrating systems and apps such as:
Paypal
Verisign
Authorize.net
… and so on and extending your site's functionality all while enriching user experience, right?
Luckily, Drupal, and implicitly Drupal Commerce, integrates seamlessly with third-party getaways via RESTful API!
3. It's Both Free and Open Source
One of the many valid answers to your “Why Drupal for ecommerce use?” could be:
“Because it's free to use!”
Moreover, by being open source, the no-fee feature doesn't translate into poorly supported modules!
With Drupal, you don't have the “premium plugins” concept otherwise specific to WordPress or Magento, yet you still get to explore a plethora of free modules.
Modules which, moreover, are backed up by a worldwide Drupal community.
In a few words: you get default “premium” modules without the price tag on!
4. A Drupal Commerce-Powered Site Is Conveniently Easy to Handle
And this “convenience” derives from 2 major “requirements” that your future Drupal ecommerce website easily meets:
that it should empower you and your team to operate with one set of tools only
that this “toolkit” put at your disposal — which you'll be using for carrying out specific admin tasks — should include flexible and fully configurable tools only
Checked, checked!
5. You Get a 2-in-1: CMS & Ecommerce Platform
And this might just be one of the strongest arguments to build a Drupal eCommerce website!
Not only that Drupal Commerce
is built on Drupal, from the ground up, deeply “rooted“ in it
which enables it to explore and exploit the CMS's power to the fullest
... but it's actually the ONLY commerce platform built on a CMS!
And this translates into:
a unified, rich and seamless user experience
less development and maintenance time resources for you to invest
6. You Get to Leverage Its Granular User (and Role) Management System
And this is, indeed, a superpower that Drupal puts in your hands!
Basically, you're given full control over who's accessing what, over which functionalities and features (from your CMS and your online shop) your:
team members (who are granted different user roles and levels of permission)
and your site visitors
… gain access to.
7. It Streamlines Your SEO Efforts
It's quite obvious that a tightly integrated platform grants you easier control over your entire SEO strategy. As compared to a 2-platform system.
It streamlines your efforts to constantly improve the customer journey on your online store.
8. Why build a Drupal eCommerce Website? 'Cause It's Flexible
Needless to stress out this feature even more: Drupal's already way “too” famous for its modular nature empowering users to configure and to “custom-tune” their websites to meet their needs to the slightest detail!
Add on new modules, mix and match them to your liking and use Drupal's modular power to the fullest!
9. It's Conveniently Extensible: It Seamlessly Accommodates Sites of All Sizes
Another strong reason for building a Drupal eCommerce website: it seamlessly adapts to all sizes and levels of complexity.
Hence, whether it's:
a small ecommerce site handling basic transactions
or a content-heavy, high trafficked ecommerce website
... that you're building, Drupal's got you covered!
It's built to effortlessly power all sites, large or small!
10. It's a Content-Driven Ecommerce Solution
Since Drupal is, primarily, a content management system!
And content is the driving force of any successful e-commerce site or, better put: all e-commerce efforts are centred on content!
With Drupal and the ecommerce software deeply integrated within — Drupal Commerce — you're empowered to:
deliver a rich and unified user experience on your site
… by easily linking your products/services to corresponding content (descriptions, banners, icons...) that tells the story behind and creates added value
And it's content that engages your customers, that ultimately drives sales and builds brand loyalty! That builds communities.
END of the list! These are, in our opinion, the 10 reasons strong enough to tip the balance in favour of choosing Drupal for your ecommerce website!
Adriana Cacoveanu / Dec 21'2017
Long gone are the days when AR and VR used to be associated (strictly) to roller coaster simulations, the gaming industry or true-to-life aerial experiences. Today we can be talking about an ever-wider range of innovative use cases for augmented reality in enterprises.
About a niche technology turning... mainstream and, moreover, going beyond purely entertainment purposes.
Moreover, AR's potential for improving performance, boosting efficiency and enriching customer experience has long ceased to be a “privilege” of the top most valuable brands.
And since it's ceased to be an “exclusive” technology, why not harness its potential? Why not capitalizing on AR's potential in your own organization, too?
“What specific use case best suits my particular business needs?”
... you might be wondering.
Here are some of the most interesting current uses of augmented reality in enterprises:
1. Remote Workforce Supercharged With AR Power
Just take this scenario:
You have two teams working on the same project — an in-house one and a remote one — and you get to leverage AR's power to actually immerse your remote team in the project.
… to bring together all your employees, scattered around the globe, in a collaboration enhanced by that strong feeling of “being there” that AR instils.
Or you can go for the second scenario: use AR to easily monitor out of location employees.
And this feature gains a critical importance if we're considering 3 specific types of employees working “off-site”:
engineers on an oil-rig
medical first respondents
linesmen on power lines
2. Step-By-Step Guidance Overlaid on Work Areas via AR Displays
Another one of those efficiency-boosting (translated into manufacturing error rate cut down by almost 90%) use cases for augmented reality in an enterprise is overlaying instructions.
Practically via an AR display the manufacturer — take one manufacturing an aeroplane wing or one assembling an automobile, for instance — gets hyper-explicit guidance overlaid precisely on his work area.
With instructions being conveniently visualized, overlaid right on the work area, the employee practically gets step-by-step guidance for carrying out his tasks of high precision with utmost accuracy.
Where human error possibility should be whipped out of the process, AR comes to bring out-of-this-world precision into the real world!
3. Using AR Geared at Improving Warehousing and Logistics Efficiency
A potential that DHL knew just how to exploit to their benefit: streamlining warehouse pick-and-place operations through the use of smart glasses which are pointing out the shorter routes for the employees to take; and implicitly cutting down the error rate, too.
An unbelievable efficiency booster that you, too, can leverage in your organization for cutting down costs on logistics and warehousing resources and reducing human error.
4. Enriching Your Design/Engineering Team's Experience
By their powers combined, AR and VR will help you:
enrich your customers' experiences by bringing design concepts to life; take a scenario where a family planning to renovate one of their bathrooms can walk right in its virtual replica and visualize precisely how it's going to look
enrich your designers'/architects/engineers' experiences: 3D objects/environments represented on two-dimensional screens vs 3D representations in real size; practically engineers/architects/construction workers/designers get to visualize their work in progress and spot the areas that need adjustments with far more accuracy and in a timely manner
It's one of those use cases for augmented reality that will empower you to increase your team's performance and create richer, immersive customer experiences.
5. Real-Time Data Vizualization
… at an enterprise level.
And this is one of those scenarios where you get to turn AR into a... superpower.
Just think about it:
Visualizing data in real-time and, moreover, projecting these data visualizations onto different surfaces will not only:
enhance a more in-depth understanding of that specific data
... but even enable larger groups of managers to collaborate far more effectively and make data-driven decisions based on a shared understanding of that data
And this is one of those augmented reality business use cases that can go as far as projecting board-room-seized 3 D views of your business! There you can get an even more accurate view of your entire data infrastructure, with all its strong and “sore points” to focus your efforts on!
6. Augmented Reality Training: One of The Most Valuable Use Cases for Augmented Reality
Will you join the AR revolution in staff training and professional development?
And since nothing beats practical examples, here are some current uses of AR as a powerful training tool:
using AR to quickly empower staff to get a grip on using highly complex equipment, machinery
using AR to enhance the learning of complex concepts
using AR to enhance collaboration during staff training via virtual, true-to-life presentations, field tests etc.
using AR to a supercharge a “learning by doing” type of training, where real-life situations would be too dangerous to (re)create: such as performing surgery or flying a plane
using AR to recreate specific environments/scenarios/reality augmented workplaces in order to improve your employee's “soft skills” (public speaking, dispute resolution, decision making under stress); you even get to tailor your AR training to each team member's profile
To sum up: using AR in training processes helps you “unleash” all that potential of creativity and efficiency otherwise limited by the “conventional” type of trainings.
Take AR as far as your imagination takes it and create your own use cases for augmented reality suitable for:
your team(s)' specific needs
your organization's specific goals for maximizing your team's potential
Final Thoughts
Now guess what: all the above-mentioned use cases for augmented reality are not “lab experiments” or “projects about the far future to come”. They're being implemented, as we speak, in real-life workplaces.
AR technology is now commercially available and has become and is continuing to get even more accessible. And its potential for enhancing both the customer and the employee experience is huge.
… you just need to “power” it with content — your unique content — and to harness its potential in use cases of augmented reality perfectly suitable for your own organization!
Adriana Cacoveanu / Dec 05'2017