Dispatcher

In AEM the Dispatcher is a caching and load balancing tool that sits in front of the Publish Instance. It intercepts incoming requests from users, caches static and dynamic content, and forwards requests to the appropriate Publish Instance. The primary function of the Dispatcher is to cache content served by AEM. This caching mechanism stores both static and dynamic content, providing faster access to frequently requested data. It includes a wide range of file types such as HTML pages, images, CSS files, JavaScript, and other assets, making it a versatile tool for improving website performance. AEM Dispatcher plays a crucial role in optimizing the performance and delivery of content to end-users.

In AEM Dispatcher perform in many ways to provide high performance and manage caching:

• Provides load balancing by performing operations like sending specific requests to the AEM instances and increasing the processing power.
• Manages caching by updating and removing content.
• Automatically invalidate the part of the cache that may be out of date.
• Integrates seamlessly with other components of the AEM ecosystem, including AEM author and publish instances, AEM Forms, Adobe Target, and Adobe Analytics.
• Provides an additional layer of security by protecting AEM instances from direct exposure to the internet and can be configured to filter and block malicious requests, helping to mitigate security threats.

Load Balancer

The primary purpose of a load balancer in AEM is to evenly distribute incoming requests (HTTP/HTTPS) from clients across multiple AEM instances. It helps seamless resource use and ensures high availability and scalability of the AEM deployment. By continuously monitoring the health and performance of Publish Instances, the Load Balancer can effectively redirect traffic to healthy instances and ensure a seamless experience for users, especially during periods of high demand. You can add additional AEM instances behind a load balancer to handle increased traffic. This can be achieved by either using a hardware-based or software-based load balancer. The best part is that the end-user experience remains unaffected.

Additionally, load balancers offer a range of capabilities, such as:

• Monitoring and logging
• Allowing administrators to track traffic patterns.
• Monitor the health of AEM instances.
• Troubleshoot issues related to load balancing.

Conclusion:

Throughout this blog, we’ve explored the instances within AEM, from Author Instances for content creation to Publish Instances for content distribution, Dispatcher to manage cache and load balancer. These AEM instances work together to simplify the content lifecycle, from creation and review to publication and delivery. They form the backbone of a robust digital experience platform, enabling organizations to deliver engaging and personalized experiences to their audiences across various channels and devices.

Previous Blog Part 1: A Comprehensive Guide to AEM Instances: Types, Uses, and Management

Let’s go through the basics of AEM.

AEM (Adobe Experience Manager) is a CMS that provides digital asset and content management solutions. It is used to create and deploy websites. AEM structure includes instances that vary from environment to environment like Author Instance, Publish Instance, Dispatcher, and Load Balancer. To build any AEM application, it is essential to have at least one Author and one Publish Instance, each with its specifications.

Any created content or page in AEM gets reviewed and confirmed in three stages i.e., Development, Stage, and Production environment.

• In the development environment, authors develop, create, conduct basic testing, integrate, and test content locally in the Author instance before moving it to the Stage/QA Environment for further testing.
• The next phase in AEM is the Stage/QA environment, where authoring and all testing occur. Here, we confirm that the page or content works as expected and ensure that the content is free from any risk in the Stage Author and Stage Publish Instance. Then, we make the content ready to go live in the Production environment.
• We publish the content to the production site in the Production Environment, which we author and review in the earlier phases. We can manage the Production stage content using Production Author, Production Publish instance, Dispatcher, and Load balancer.

In this blog, we’ll explore these AEM instances more thoroughly, looking at how they work and what makes them different.

Author Instance

Author Instance/ Environment is mainly used for authoring the AEM content or components using robust authoring functionalities and tools. Within the Author environment, users have the ability to create, edit, and review their content before publishing it as well as administer their website. In the Author environment, we can amend the content and organize it, we can create and review the pages, assets, sites, experience fragments, and forms, upload the DAM assets, configure, and style the components, and perform any other action that will not be visible to the end user of the website. Using the authoring functionalities in Author Instance we can design and give the look and feel to the website which will be available to users in Publish Instance.

Additionally, the Author instance offers various useful features when creating content.

• Generate content.
• Configure the content.
• Drag and drop or use predefined components to the pages.
• Preview content changes.
• Managing publication.

Publish Instance    

The AEM Publish Instance function delivers content to end-users. It serves as the production environment and makes finalized and approved content available to the public. The Publish instance mainly focuses on interpreting created web pages using data pushed from the Author instance. The Publish instance is like the author instance except it does not have any authoring capabilities. You can handle heavy traffic and serve many users by deploying multiple AEM Publish Instances behind a load balancer. By doing this you can distribute multiple incoming requests evenly and ensure optimal performance and availability.

Publish Instance offers helpful features for maintaining digital content.

• Activating and rolling out content changes from the authoring environment to the production environment.
• Provide built-in analytics and monitoring capabilities to track user interactions, monitor system performance, and gain insights into content effectiveness.
• Publish Instances work in a distributed setup where they receive and publish content created and controlled by an AEM Author Instance.

Part 2: A Comprehensive Guide to AEM Instances: Types, Uses, and Management

The ability to offer healthcare products and services digitally is more important than ever. In fact, the global healthcare eCommerce market is projected to reach $994.2 billion by 2030. But a complex regulatory landscape and data privacy and security concerns are formidable obstacles. Additionally, consumer demand for proactive, personalized experiences is at an all-time high.

What to Expect

• 11:30 A.M. | Lunch Orders: Complimentary lunch orders will be taken until 12:00
• 12:00 P.M. | Discussion: Enjoy an informative review of HIPAA regulation’s relevance to healthcare commerce, how to enhance the patient experience, and a demonstration of Adobe Commerce.
• 12:30 P.M. | Lunch and Networking: Dine and connect with healthcare and life sciences industry peers who share your passion for digital excellence before heading off for afternoon sessions at Adobe Summit.

This event will emphasize the significance of data protection for covered entities and privacy-conscious brands and share how introducing next-gen commerce capabilities can empower seamless end-to-end experiences for your consumers, driving impact for your business.

Register Today

Join us for this exclusive lunch session on the second day of Adobe Summit. You must register to attend. Secure your spot today!

HIPAA-Ready and Personalized Commerce Lunch

Wednesday, March 27th | 11:30 A.M. – 1:00 P.M. PST

The Grand Lux Cafe in The Palazzo

REGISTER!

Learn More About HIPAA-Ready and Personalized Healthcare

March is not just about the arrival of spring. It’s a celebration of women’s achievements, history, and ongoing societal impact. As we continue to recognize women this month, we’re excited to take the celebration to Adobe Summit 2024!

Join us on Tuesday, March 6 for our Women in Digital Breakfast at the Grand Lux Cafe in The Palazzo. This hallmark event has been a tradition for Perficient since 2017 and we can’t wait to share it with Adobe Summit attendees again.

Before heading to the Adobe Summit keynote, come have breakfast with us, connect with peers, and engage in insightful discussions. We’ve curated a panel of leading women in the digital space to discuss significant emerging trends that women should be aware of, tips for career advancement, their journeys as leaders, and more.

What to Expect

• 7:00 A.M. | Breakfast: Fuel your day with a delicious complimentary breakfast that is served until 8:00 A.M.
• 8:00 A.M. | Insights: Gain valuable perspectives from a panel of women who are trailblazers in their fields.
• 8:30 A.M. | Networking: Connect with peers who share your passion for digital excellence and empowerment before heading off for the Adobe Summit opening keynote.

Meet Our Women in Digital Panelists

Our panelists include:

• Kristen Skunza, Director of Growth Marketing at Sunbelt Rentals
• Miray Vu, Senior Marketing Operations Manager at Qualcomm
• Sara Dwyer, Product Line Manager, Web, Enterprise Search and Personalization at Eaton (a returning Women in Digital Series panelist!)
• Denise Colella, Vice President and Head of Digital Strategy – Digital Experience at Adobe
• And the panel will be moderated by Lynn Brading, Perficient’s Global Alliance Director

Who Can Attend Women in Digital?

While we encourage anyone with an interest in empowering women to join us, this event is curated for a female audience.

Register and Secure Your Spot

Come help us celebrate the achievements of women and be part of a movement toward a future where every woman feels empowered and inspired. It’s not just an event, it’s a celebration of the strides women have made and an encouragement for the journey ahead. We can’t wait to see you there!

You must register to attend, so secure your spot today!

REGISTER: Women in Digital Breakfast at Adobe Summit 2024

Tuesday, March 26 at 7:00 A.M. at The Grand Lux Cafe in The Palazzo

In a dynamic digital landscape, choosing the right Adobe service provider is paramount for businesses seeking to maximize their Adobe investments. The selection process can be daunting with a diverse set of providers that vary by size, type of offering, geography, and business scenario differentiation. So where do marketing leaders start?

Forrester published The Adobe Services Landscape, Q1 2024 report report to help B2C marketing executives investigate potential partners. The report states, “B2C marketing executives should use this report to understand the value they can expect from an Adobe service provider, learn how providers differ, and investigate options based on size and market focus.”

The report outlines market dynamics that B2C marketers should consider and shares the research Forrester collected on notable providers, including Perficient.

Recognized Among Notable Adobe Services Vendors

Forrester’s report lists vendors based on geographic focus, industry focus, type of partner, size, and vendor-selected extended business scenario differentiation.

Among the providers in the report, Perficient is recognized in the Adobe Services Landscape as a medium-sized consultancy with an industry focus in healthcare, manufacturing/production of consumer products, and manufacturing/production of high-tech products, and a geographic focus in North America.

Perficient Listed as a Regional Partner for Adobe in IDC Market Perspective: Adobe Summit 2023

Going Beyond Core Business Scenarios

In the report, Forrester identified core business scenarios “that buyers most frequently seek and expect…,” in addition to extended business scenarios to further illustrate vendor differentiation. The report states, “Beyond these core business scenarios, buyers often look for providers that focus on certain extended business scenarios.”

The identified extended business scenarios in the report include advertising, B2B marketing engagement, workflow management, digital enrollment and onboarding, and industry-specific solutions.

Forrester asked each Adobe service provider in the report to select the top extended business scenarios it focuses on. The report states, “These are three business scenarios, beyond the core ones, that the provider wants customers to recognize as its areas of focus.”

Perficient is shown for selecting the following as its top three extended business scenarios, in no specific order.

1. B2B Marketing Engagement – Forrester states the objective is to “Coordinate lead management, account-based marketing, and attribution at scale across online and offline channels”
2. Workflow Management – Forrester states the objective is to “Centralize, streamline, and automate work processes to accelerate collaboration and efficiency”
3. Digital Enrollment and Onboarding – Forrester states the objective is to “Simplify and automate the process of enrolling and onboarding new customers”

As a provider actively evolving to meet customer needs, we believe Perficient’s focus on these extended business scenarios underscores our commitment to maximizing the value of our clients’ Adobe investments.

Finding the Right Adobe Partner

As a Platinum Adobe Partner, we care deeply about where you are on your Adobe journey.

We are here to ensure end-to-end delivery and integrated solutions that tackle your ever-changing, increasingly complex business challenges.

If you’re on the hunt for an Adobe partner, get to know our experts and find out what we can do for you!

You can read the entire Adobe Services Landscape, Q1 2024 report via the Forrester website where it’s available to Forrester subscribers and for purchase.

REGISTER: Join us live on Thursday, February 22 at 12:00 P.M. EST!

Consumer demand for proactive, personalized experiences is at an all-time high. To capitalize on this opportunity, healthcare and life sciences organizations need a scalable, adaptable ecommerce solution that supports the safeguarding of protected health information (PHI). Adobe is revolutionizing healthcare commerce with Adobe Commerce’s ability to deliver HIPAA-ready and personalized healthcare experiences.

Whether it’s an online purchasing transaction or a catalog of member loyalty programs, Adobe Commerce powers engaging conversion experiences backed by industry-leading privacy and security controls.

Learn about Adobe’s commitment to maintaining HIPAA-ready standards within commerce solutions and join Perficient and Adobe for a webinar hosted by CMSWire. This event will emphasize the significance of data protection for covered entities and privacy-conscious brands and share how introducing next-gen commerce capabilities can empower seamless end-to-end experiences for your consumers, driving impact for your business.

Register Today!

Thursday, February 22 at 12:00 P.M. EST

Secure Digital Conversion: Unveiling Adobe’s HIPAA-Ready Commerce Solution webinar hosted by CMSWire.

What to Expect

• Understanding HIPAA-Ready regulations and how Adobe addresses it: A review of HIPAA regulation and the relevance in healthcare commerce. Discover how Adobe complies with industry standards to safeguard patient data, ensuring confidentiality and integrity.
• Enhancing Patient Experience: Explore the role of commerce in end-to-end experience delivery and optimization.
• Live Demonstration: A live walkthrough showcasing the features and functionalities of Adobe Commerce.

Meet Our Speakers

• Justin Racine, Principal, Unified Commerce Strategy at Perficient
• Thomas Swanson, Head of Industry Strategy & Marketing – Health & Life Sciences at Adobe

Learn More About HIPAA-Ready and Personalized Healthcare

The ability to offer healthcare products and services digitally is more important than ever – the global healthcare ecommerce market is projected to reach a value of $994.2 Billion by 20301 – but a complex regulatory landscape and concerns over data privacy and security are formidable obstacles. We’ve helped Adobe build its new HIPAA and PHI-ready commerce solution to help reduce risks and improve experiences. Check out our blog series that discusses different use cases for HIPAA-Ready Adobe Commerce.

3 Ways Adobe Commerce Enhances Patient-Provider Relationships

How Adobe Commerce Can Impact Payor Strategies

Adobe Commerce, Medical Device & Life Sciences, and … Golf?

3 Ways Adobe Commerce Elevates Pharmacy Services

Is there anything worse than going to a pharmacy to pick up your prescriptions? Okay, I’m sure there are a few things but it’s still inconvenient, right?

Thankfully, many pharmacies have adopted home delivery services. Patients can request delivery of their medication come right to their doorstep. However, this presents some challenges. What if a patient wants to re-order medication online vs. other channels? How do they know their information is protected?

Well, that’s a great question. And now there’s an answer.

Adobe Commerce Protection & Cross-Sell Opportunities

Adobe offers a PHI and HIPAA-ready solution with its latest release of Healthcare Add-on for Adobe Commerce.

This past year, Perficient’s commerce and healthcare teams collaborated with Adobe to build this new solution specifically for use cases like this. Now more than ever, consumers are concerned about safeguarding their personal health information. A solution that can provide baseline HIPAA and PHI-ready features is essential in delivering this promise to patients and their loved ones, specifically when it comes to ordering and reordering medication.

Here are three ways pharmacies can adopt this Adobe Commerce solution to extend and secure trust with their patients.

Home Delivery Patient Ordering

This is probably the most obvious use case. It’s the ability for patients to order their medication from the comfort of their home, have it delivered to their door, and not have to worry about who is accessing their personal information. Adobe Commerce provides baseline HIPAA and PHI-ready features that can extend to help protect a patient’s personal information for any order placed. This also presents an opportunity for the next use case below.

Health and Wellness Products Cross-Sell

While pharmacies have patients in a shopping cart, why not suggest and recommend other products that are specific to their condition? We all have been in pharmacies and know they stock various health and wellness products that most of us purchase anyway. If medication is going to be delivered to the home, pharmacies should leverage dynamic cross-sell, condition-specific opportunities to recommend other items that may help manage their condition.

Dynamic Health Integrations

Finally, there could be an interesting integration between health providers and pharmacies. I spoke about this in another article, but providers being able to link and connect directly to pharmacies isn’t new. When you visit a doctor and need medication, the doctor will write a script and send it to a local pharmacy to be filled. But what if that doctor was also integrated to recommend other products and items that will help that patient manage their condition? This could be done through Adobe Commerce and could provide a new, intuitive way for consumers to access vital health and wellness products.

A Commerce Solution for Pharmacies

The three use cases outlined in this blog are just the tip of the iceberg on where and how Adobe Commerce can integrate into pharmacies. As you plan for the future, it’s important to look at a solution that will allow your pharmacy to do what it does best: service the health and wellness of your patients. HIPPA and PHI-ready Adobe Commerce solution does just that and is worth considering.

Adobe Commerce: Leading the Way in Proactive Healthcare Experiences

Learn More About HIPAA-Ready Adobe Commerce

This blog is part of a four-part series discussing commerce, protected healthcare experiences, use cases, and Adobe’s HIPAA-ready commerce platform.

Check out parts one, two, and three:

1. 3 Ways Adobe Commerce Enhances Patient-Provider Relationships
2. How Adobe Commerce Can Impact Payor Strategies
3. Adobe Commerce, Medical Device & Life Sciences, and … Golf?

My journey from golf course employee to building HIPAA-ready commerce solutions.

I’ve spent essentially my entire career in the medical device and life science space, and it didn’t start the way you would think.

In college, I worked at a golf course as the guy who drove that funny tin can of a golf cart around. Golfers would hit balls (and occasionally me…on purpose) at the driving range and I would collect them. Unfortunately, my college degree required an internship, and working at a golf course didn’t really count. When I told the owner of the course my situation, and that I couldn’t work for him that summer, he said, “Why don’t you come work for the medical supply company I also run?”

Huh? He runs a golf course and a medical supply company. Who is this guy?!

Anyway, I accepted and started my journey down the path of medical supply distribution and the rest is, as they say, history.

So, What Does This Have to Do with Adobe Commerce?

There’s a reason this story is important and why I tell it. I worked in marketing and eCommerce when I interned at this medical supply company. After graduation, I was offered a full-time role where I helped our customers build and launch Magento 1.0 sites that leveraged our distribution network to fulfill orders. So, a local durable medical equipment provider essentially could ship anywhere in the country.

During that time, we had to make sure that the Magento platform was secure and HIPAA / PHI compliant for our customers’ customers.

Fast forward 14 years and I find myself in a full-circle situation with Adobe Commerce. This past year, Perficient’s commerce and healthcare teams collaborated with Adobe’s commerce and healthcare teams to build a HIPAA and PHI-ready solution. In theory, the foundational work we did 14 years ago has become part of the actual Adobe Commerce product – talk about a cool story!

With all this in mind, here are three ways medical device and life science companies can leverage Adobe Commerce to build solutions that help everyone within the healthcare lifecycle.

3 Adobe Commerce Use Cases for Med Device & Life Science

Secure B2B Ordering

Just because an organization operates within the B2B vertical doesn’t mean they don’t or shouldn’t leverage HIPAA / PHI-ready platforms. For example, a nursing home will order from a medical supply distributor and need to order patient-specific products that need to go to a specific patient room upon delivery. Many times, these facilities want to place patient notes within the cart to notify the receiving department where the products need to go when they arrive. This is a perfect opportunity to leverage Adobe Commerce and to extend HIPAA and PHI-ready solutions through the ordering chain.

Order On Behalf of Ordering

Secondly, the secure B2B ordering feeds into an “order on behalf of” capability. Many durable medical equipment providers and pharmacies will leverage their distributor portal to order products on behalf of a customer. Then the products ship directly to the customer’s home. When doing this, the customer’s products and condition-specific information need to be protected. Utilizing Adobe Commerce in a scenario like this would enable medical device and life science organizations to broaden the level of protection and trust required. Plus, it would help the distribution company provide this ordering solution to its customers and create extensive customer lifetime value.

D2C Takes the Stage

Finally, having a foundation platform like Adobe Commerce in place allows medical device and life science companies the ability to enter new markets and channels like direct-to-consumer (or D2C). Now more than ever, consumers are demanding conversations and interactions with brands directly vs. through other channels. Adobe Commerce allows for this use case to become a reality by cloning off a new site instance that can be leveraged into this new channel with HIPPA and PHI-ready features, of course.

How Becton Dickinson Empowered Patient Independence With an Enhanced Commerce Experience | READ STORY

A Commerce Solution for the Healthcare Lifecycle

Vertically integrated solutions like this are a must-have for organizations that operate within the medical device and life science space. As you can probably tell, this is an industry that’s close to my heart and it’s really amazing to have a HIPAA-ready solution like what Adobe has created out in the space. I’m extremely excited to continue working with them, just like I did 14 years ago to help people have access to products and services that allow them to live the life they desire.

Learn More About HIPAA-Ready Adobe Commerce

This blog is part of a four-part series discussing commerce, protected healthcare experiences, use cases, and Adobe’s HIPAA-ready commerce platform.

Check out parts one and two and stay tuned for the final blog:

1. 3 Ways Adobe Commerce Enhances Patient-Provider Relationships
2. How Adobe Commerce Can Impact Payor Strategies

Health insurance is just one of those things we simply can’t live without. It’s a security blanket we all want to snuggle up to, but nobody likes to use it. Because if you’re using it, it likely means you’re sick or need care.

Can you guess who else doesn’t like it when you use your health insurance? The payor themselves. Why? Easy. When one of their members gets sick, they lose money.

Now, I’m not trying to sound harsh, but that is their business model. They are in the business of keeping you as healthy as possible. 365 days a year.

Luckily for these payors, there’s a new way for them to achieve this through technology enabled by Adobe’s HIPAA-ready Commerce.

This past year, Perficient’s commerce and healthcare teams collaborated with Adobe’s commerce and healthcare teams to build this new, HIPAA-ready solution specifically for use cases like this. Now, more than ever, consumers are concerned and worried about their personal health information. A solution that can provide baseline HIPAA and PHI-ready features is essential in delivering this promise to patients and their loved ones.

Keeping Members Healthy and Payors Happy With Adobe Commerce

Here are three use cases payors can leverage the Healthcare Add-on for Adobe Commerce to provide healthy solutions that keep you and me out of the hospital and healthy.

Education & Content Portal

Payors are invested in consumers’ health and wellness. So, they should also be invested in building education and content portals that offer condition-specific information, videos, diagrams, and other elements that can be personalized and recommended to their members based on previously diagnosed conditions.

FSA Health & Wellness Stores

This is one of my favorite use cases because it’s already happening in some applications. Many payors have FSAs (flexible spending accounts) that they offer. These pre-tax benefit accounts can be used to pay for eligible health and wellness products or expenses that are not covered by the member’s health care plan. Payors should own this entire cycle and build out digitally enabled commerce experiences where members can leverage their FSA funds and purchase products that keep them healthy and, of course, out of the hospital.

Proactive Wellness Recommendations

Leveraging the two previous examples, payors should also look to leverage their marketing tech stack to proactively recommend products, content, and activities that promote health and wellness to members. For example, there could be integrations to local gyms or exercise programs. All recommendations, whether they are products, content, or services, are personalized and tailored to individuals, adjusting according to their health status.

Adobe Commerce: Leading the Way in Proactive Healthcare Experiences

Using Adobe Commerce to Shape Proactive Health Solutions

As highlighted earlier in this blog, payors aren’t merely desiring the well-being of their members; it’s an imperative for them. Payors should explore the outlined use cases and seek opportunities to utilize Adobe Commerce for developing an innovative category of proactive health practices and products. This approach aims to ensure the collective safety and optimal living for society, all from the comfort of our homes, not the hospital.

Learn More About Adobe’s HIPAA-Ready Commerce Platform

This blog is part of a four-part series discussing commerce, protected healthcare experiences, use cases, and Adobe’s HIPAA-ready commerce platform.

Check out part one and part three of the series below:

• 3 Ways Adobe Commerce Enhances Patient-Provider Relationships
• Adobe Commerce, Medical Device & Life Sciences, and … Golf?

I don’t think you’ll ever meet anyone who says they like to go to the hospital or to their doctor. Sure, it’s a necessary part of life and staying healthy. But sometimes unfortunate circumstances arise when we need urgent medical attention. As consumers, we’re inclined to minimize return visits to the doctor’s office whenever possible. Whether it’s managing bills through online portals or investing in medical products to ensure safety at home for us and our loved ones, a proactive approach is chosen to prevent setbacks. The goal is to navigate healthcare with foresight, utilizing technology and health products to safeguard well-being and reduce the need for frequent medical visits.

So, it’s critically important that healthcare providers offer more protected, trustworthy portals to support this journey. That’s where Adobe Commerce and its newly built HIPAA and PHI-ready solution come into play.

This past year, Perficient’s Commerce and Healthcare teams collaborated with Adobe’s Commerce and Healthcare teams to build this new solution specifically for use cases like this. Now more than ever, consumers are concerned and worried about their personal health information. A solution that can provide baseline HIPAA and PHI-ready features is essential in delivering this promise to patients and their loved ones.

Adobe Commerce: Leading the Way in Proactive Healthcare Experiences

How to Enhance Patient-Provider Relationships With Adobe Commerce

Here are three ways providers and health systems can leverage Adobe Commerce to extend and enhance their relationship with patients, and ultimately improve their health and wellness.

Digitally Enabled Bill Pay

Paying your medical bill post-visit can be a hassle. Who wants to call in to provide credit card information over the phone? Not me. Most providers and health systems have online portals that are available for bill pay. Adobe Commerce and its Healthcare Add-on come into play to help protect these portals. Especially when it involves the access of condition-specific information by the patient or commerce interactions such as credit card transactions. The platform helps safeguard sensitive data and maintain the integrity of the portal.

Post-Discharge Wellness

Imagine you recently went to your doctor because you were feeling a little stressed related to life and work. In doing so, your doctor recommends some supplements for you to try before prescribing medication. What if your provider/doctor had a digitally enabled commerce instance where they could add supplements to a cart for you, and you could purchase them after you leave the appointment. Sounds great, right? Absolutely. What’s even better, is as your condition progresses your doctor can collaborate with you through this portal on other health and wellness products.

Proactive Education & Training

Finally, there’s no better way to stay healthy than to educate yourself about your or your loved one’s condition. Being able to log in to a portal that presents condition-specific information, books, and other items for purchase is a fantastic way for providers and health systems to continue building relationships with patients and their families and become trusted advisors.

Did you know that the Global Healthcare Ecommerce Market is projected to reach a value of $994.2 Billion by 2030¹?

Give Your Patients What They Want: Proactive Healthcare

No matter the use case, providers and health systems need to embrace the world of digitally enabled commerce. Consumers want to be proactive with their health and wellness. Why not give them what they want and build a portal that enables them to pay bills, buy health products, and consume content and education that will help them live the life they desire.

Learn More About HIPAA-Ready Adobe Commerce

Stay tuned! This blog is part of a four-part series discussing commerce, protected healthcare experiences, and Adobe’s HIPPA-ready commerce platform.

You can read the next installment here: How Adobe Commerce Can Impact Payor Strategies

Vantage Market Research¹

There’s been a massive change of tone in the healthcare space over the last few years. What is it you might ask? Well, simple. Proactive healthcare choice.

Let me explain.

Traditionally, healthcare was reactive – when something went wrong, we would go to the doctor or seek medical treatment. Today, however, the tables have turned – and healthcare has become proactive. Society has access to wearable technologies that track our sleep, heart rate, and other activities. We can seek therapy from the comfort of our couch with our devices and doctors can diagnose us remotely.

All this proactivity is a good thing. It’s allowing this market and category to grow exponentially. Still, it does bring up additional areas brands need to consider if they are or will consider building these healthcare experiences with consumers through digitally enabled websites.

What are these considerations? HIPAA and PHI compliance.

HIPAA Enabled Adobe Commerce

Adobe offers a HIPAA-ready solution with its latest release of Healthcare Add-on for Adobe Commerce that merchants can leverage. Adobe Commerce becomes the staple within the SaaS commerce space as a leader and clear choice when looking to not only have more secure healthcare experiences, but also to enhance personalized content, products, and services based on medical condition and treatment.

Perficient Earns Adobe Commerce Specialization

HIPAA-Ready and Personalized Healthcare Experiences

Here’s a hypothetical. Let’s say you’re a brand that sells vitamins online. Instead of offering various vitamin categories to customers, you build a guided selling experience that asks customers questions about their health, conditions, and daily activities. Based on these answers, the site curates vitamins that are likely a good fit for them.

Sounds great, right? Of course, it does.

But this only works if the experience itself is HIPAA-ready. Customers won’t feel comfortable giving you information if they feel it’s at risk of being stolen.

That’s where Adobe’s HIPPA-ready commerce platform comes into play. With Adobe’s Healthcare Add-on for Commerce, you can now leverage the power of Adobe Commerce to personalize this vitamin shopping experience, allowing your customers to know that their personal information is more protected by HIPAA-ready security controls and processes.

Reduced Risk and Improved Experiences

The HIPAA-Ready Healthcare Add-on for Adobe Commerce platform allows you to check all the boxes for both your brand and your customers. This foundational approach will help reduce your organization’s compliance risk by providing the features and tools you need to be HIPAA-ready.

Listen, being healthy is a choice. And so is deciding where and how you shop for the medical conditions that you or your loved one might be dealing with. Ultimately, both have the same goal – increased peace of mind. Wouldn’t you like to have peace of mind that your customers’ information is HIPAA-ready? If yes, then you know the clear choice within digital health and medical commerce – it’s Adobe.

Learn more about your Adobe Commerce and Healthcare Experts

When it comes to creating a visually appealing and unique online store, Magento 2 provides a powerful tool: themes. In this blog, we’ll delve into the world of Magento 2 themes, explaining what they are, why they’re essential, and how you can use them to customize the look and feel of your e-commerce site.

What Are Magento 2 Themes?

In Magento 2, a theme is a collection of files, templates, styles, and images that define the visual appearance of your online store. Themes allow you to change the layout, color scheme, fonts, and overall design of your store. They are crucial for branding your business and providing an engaging user experience.

Why Are Themes Important?

Themes are essential for several reasons:

• Brand Identity: A well-designed theme helps convey your brand’s identity and message to your customers. It’s an opportunity to showcase your unique style.
• User Experience: A visually appealing and user-friendly design can enhance the user experience, making it easier for visitors to navigate and shop on your site.
• Mobile Responsiveness: Many Magento 2 themes are responsive, meaning they adapt to various screen sizes and devices, which is crucial in the mobile-centric e-commerce world.
• Customization: Themes offer flexibility. You can customize them to align with your specific business needs and goals.
• Performance: Some themes are optimized for speed and performance, which can impact your site’s loading time and SEO rankings.

Default Themes in Magento 2

Magento 2 comes with two default themes:

• Luma: Luma is the default theme for Magento 2. It’s a clean and modern design suitable for a wide range of e-commerce businesses.
• Blank: The Blank theme is minimalistic and serves as a starting point for developers who want to build a theme from scratch.

Creating a Custom Theme

To create a custom theme in Magento 2, you can follow these general steps:

• Theme Directory: Create a directory for your theme within the app/design/frontend directory in your Magento installation.
• Theme Configuration: Create a theme.xml file to specify the parent theme and other theme information.
• Theme Layout: Customize the layout of your store by creating or modifying layout XML files in your theme directory.
• Templates and Styles: Create or modify templates, CSS, and JavaScript files to achieve the desired look and functionality.
• Activate the Theme: In the Magento Admin Panel, go to “Content” > “Design” > “Configuration” and set your new theme as the default for your website.

Choosing a Theme

When choosing a theme for your Magento 2 store, consider the following factors:

• Business Niche: Look for a theme that matches the industry and niche of your e-commerce store.
• Features: Consider the features you need, such as product sliders, menu styles, and product page layouts.
• Mobile Responsiveness: Ensure the theme is mobile-friendly and responsive.
• Customization Options: Some themes offer extensive customization options, while others are more rigid. Choose according to your needs.
• Speed and Performance: Opt for themes optimized for speed and performance to provide a fast and efficient user experience.

Conclusion

Understanding Magento 2 themes is vital for building a successful online store. They allow you to create a unique and attractive design that resonates with your brand and provides an excellent user experience. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced, exploring and customizing themes in Magento 2 is an exciting and creative part of running your online business.

Remember that theme customization can be complex, so consider referring to the Magento 2 documentation if you encounter challenges. With the right theme, your e-commerce store can stand out and thrive in a competitive online marketplace.