During the last few months, Connecting-Expertise has been involved in various important projects … Some were induced by the new European regulation GDPR, others were driven by recurrent requests from our customers and users (new UX). 

 We will look here at the change that is most visible to any user. Indeed, it touches the look & feel of the Connecting-Expertise platform: the new UX!

But, first of all, what does UX mean? 

The UX covers all the experiences and feelings that our 10,000 users perceive at every visit to our communication platform. Without going into too technical details, we can summarize it by the following diagram:

UX is therefore essential. Even though our platform is very stable, the access to data is secure and fast and the content of this data is accurate, the first thing our users are sensitive to is the user’s experience and the pleasure of using our platform… 

Graphically, the change of our UX is comparable the move

from a mouse like this  to a mouse like this  

Both serve the same functions but the second one is much more ergonomic. This does not mean that the mouse is more beautiful but does mean it is more efficient! 

But then, what is evolving? … 

The look & feel : 

As we explained by our example of the mouse, Connecting-Expertise worked on the ergonomics of the platform. This research and optimization of ergonomics naturally had a direct impact on the look & feel of our screens.  

They are therefore more clean and legible. This is not a goal in itself but serves the ergonomics. 

The data grids : 

In the previous version of the platform, our users already had access to information in real time. However, they wanted to be able to create their own control screens (requests, contracts, …). That’s why we have developed the ability for each user to create, name and save its own access filters. In this way, every user can access its own information much faster by using all the filters he has self-backed up in each module. 

 

The action buttons : 

After many tests, we realized that the use of the platform could be improved by placing the action buttons at the top of each screen. In addition, depending on the role of the user, the action button that should logically be used according to the status of the open folder appears in first position and in a green color (in opposition to the other possible action buttons that appear in white). 

 

A new way of communicating ! 

Via Connecting-Expertise, each user already had the opportunity to interact throughout research, administrative, and financial process related to external staff. Until now, the platform warned each user via email about the actions they have to perform. 

With the new UX, we have activated a new notification module: the “push messages”. These push messages appear on the screen and give at a glance all the actions the user need to perform on the platform. A link to the action is naturally attached to the push notification to make the task even easier. You can compare this with a to do list. 

Like many other regular users, you no longer need to travel between Outlook and Connecting-Expertise to perform your actions! Be careful … you have a new notification …   

The notification center allows you to centralize all incoming notifications in the tool. It acts as a centralized to-do list for users. Starting from the notification center users can navigate directly to all requests, submitted candidates, contracts and timesheets that they need to work on.  

 

Many other things to come… 

Like any SaaS platform, the Connecting-Expertise platform is constantly evolving. Our users can therefore expect, automatically and at no extra cost, to benefit from new features in the future. Connecting-Expertise already thinks to make the home dashboard even more configurable by allowing each user to integrate their own personal search filters. We also think of various types of reminders, increased possibilities for features related to the user’s agenda. The list does not stop there but it is first important to use the full potential of the current platform and the new features will complete it gradually. 

Evolution or Revolution? 

So, to answer our basic question “Evolution or Revolution”, we are convinced this is a fundamental evolution of the platform because it greatly improves the experience of our users and complete our service offering. However, we have been absolutely committed to continuing to ensure the safety and stability of the Connecting-Expertise environment so that our users continue in the future to maintain the trust they always have had in our company for more than 10 years. 

We thank you for this! 

Written by Bruno Rosseels