As private health insurers weather industry headwinds, strategic transformation priorities remain firmly centered on operations and patient-centric experiences that accelerate efficiencies. Outcomes-driven leaders recognize the value of aligning key business needs with people, technology, and processes. 

Leading Digital Transformation for U.S. Payers 

We are proud to announce the recent recognition of Perficient’s digital services for healthcare payers by an industry-leading advisory firm. This highlights the value that our expert, global teams bring to the largest U.S. health insurers as industry leaders work to improve operations, efficiency, and effectiveness.  

Now more than ever, insurers can accelerate a shift from traditional cost management to proactive health enablement. The most effective payers are integrating technologies to modernize operations, streamline experiences, and not only unlock reliable data, but elevate insights and experiences with AI and advanced, integrated analytics. AI can be harnessed to offer hyper-personalized benefit plans, predictive risk analytics, and real-time insights that not only manage costs but also enhance member experience and engagement. 

You May Enjoy: Current Digital Trends in Healthcare 

We believe our inclusion in a leading study of digital health services showcases our dedication to easing consumer journeys, ensuring integrated data is reliable and secure, and modernizing the enterprise so it can accelerate progress toward key business priorities. We are committed to helping healthcare leaders stay competitive with our award-winning, tailored solutions.  

“This acknowledgment underscores our commitment to helping healthcare leaders optimize workflows, uncover insights, innovate care experiences, and strengthen consumer trust.”– Brent Teiken, General Manager, Healthcare + Life Sciences

Our healthcare experts guide and drive a shared understanding with clients. This insight is especially vital as leaders seek solutions to highly complex business challenges that rely on protected data and span a complex healthcare ecosystem. Our technology experts further ensure that solutions are not only implemented correctly but can scale as consumer expectations and business needs evolve.  

Success In Action: Enabling Better Insight Into Key Patient Data Using GenAI 

Elevate Health and Business Outcomes With Our Expertise 

We help health insurers navigate intense technological and regulatory requirements while controlling costs and improving the user experience to support and delight members. 

• Business Transformation: Transform strategy into action: reduce costs, increase quality, and improve member experiences. 
• Modernization: Maximize technology to drive innovative, digital-first care solutions in automation, AI, and cloud. 
• Data + Analytics: Provide governed, accessible, and trusted data to drive insight and engagement for members, providers, and groups. 
• Consumer Experience: Create personalized, value added, and measurable experiences across multiple channels for all constituents. 

Explore our healthcare expertise and contact us to discover why we have been trusted by the 10 largest U.S. health insurers, including 25 BCBS-affiliated insurers, and are consistently recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the largest healthcare consulting firms. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing B2B ecommerce, enabling capabilities such as personalized product recommendations, dynamic pricing, and predictive analytics. However, the effectiveness of these AI-driven solutions depends heavily on the quality of the underlying data. Despite AI’s potential, poor data governance remains a significant challenge in the industry. A recent Statista survey revealed that 25% of B2B ecommerce companies in the United States have fully implemented AI technologies, while 56% are experimenting with them.

As AI adoption grows, B2B companies must address data quality issues to leverage AI’s benefits fully. Anyone who has spent time in the B2B industry will acknowledge that quality data is often a struggle. This article explores the critical importance of clean data in AI applications and offers strategies for improving data governance in the B2B ecommerce sector.

Common Symptoms of Bad Data Governance

Bad data governance is a pervasive issue in the B2B ecommerce landscape, particularly in industries like manufacturing, where complex supply chains and product catalogs create unique challenges. Here are some of the most common symptoms:

1. Duplicate Records: Customer and product data often contain duplicate entries due to inconsistent data entry processes or a lack of validation protocols. For example, a single customer might appear in the database multiple times with slight variations in name or contact information, leading to inefficiencies in communication and order processing.
2. Inconsistent Formatting: Manufacturing and distribution often involve extensive product catalogs, and inconsistencies in SKU formats, product descriptions, or units of measurement can disrupt operations. For instance, some entries might use “kg” while others use “kilograms,” confusing systems and causing inventory management and procurement errors.
3. Outdated or Missing Data: Stale data, such as outdated pricing, obsolete product details, or inactive customer accounts, can lead to misinformed decisions. Missing data, like incomplete shipping addresses or contact details, can result in delayed deliveries or lost opportunities.
4. Siloed Data Systems: Many B2B companies, especially in manufacturing, rely on disparate systems that don’t communicate effectively. A lack of integration between ERP systems, CRMs, and ecommerce platforms leads to fragmented data and manual reconciliation efforts, increasing the risk of errors.
5. Unreliable Vendor and Supplier Information: Manufacturing businesses often deal with a large network of suppliers, each with varying formats for invoices, contracts, and delivery schedules. Poorly managed supplier data can result in delayed production, stockouts, or overordering.

Why is Bad Data Governance So Prevalent in B2B Manufacturing?

Unlike B2C industries, where streamlined data processes are often a core focus, manufacturing businesses face unique challenges due to their operations’ complexity, reliance on legacy systems, and decentralized structures. Understanding why these problems are so prevalent is key to addressing the underlying causes and fostering long-term improvements.

1. Complexity of Operations: Manufacturing involves numerous moving parts—raw materials, suppliers, distributors, and customers—making data governance inherently more challenging. The sheer volume of data generated across the supply chain increases the likelihood of inconsistencies.
2. Legacy Systems: Many B2B manufacturing companies rely on outdated legacy systems not designed for modern ecommerce integration. These systems often lack robust data validation and cleaning mechanisms, perpetuating bad data practices.
3. Decentralized Operations: Manufacturing companies frequently operate in multiple locations, each with its own systems, processes, and data entry standards. This decentralization contributes to a lack of standardization across the organization.
4. Focus on Production Over Data: In traditional manufacturing mindsets, operational efficiency and production output take precedence over data accuracy. Thus, data governance investments may be considered a lower priority than equipment upgrades or workforce training.
5. Limited Awareness of the Impact: Many B2B organizations underestimate the long-term impact of bad data on their operations, customer satisfaction, and AI-driven initiatives. The focus often shifts to immediate problem-solving rather than addressing root causes through improved governance.

By recognizing these symptoms and understanding the reasons behind poor data governance, B2B manufacturing companies can take the first steps toward addressing these issues. This foundation is critical for leveraging AI and other technologies to their fullest potential in ecommerce.

Why Clean Data Governance is Non-Negotiable in the AI Era

AI thrives on data—structured, accurate, and relevant data. For B2B ecommerce, where AI powers everything from dynamic pricing to predictive inventory, clean data isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s the foundation for success. Without clean data governance, AI systems struggle to provide reliable insights, leading to poor decisions and diminished trust in the technology.

As the B2B commerce world embraces AI, those who recognize and prioritize addressing a systemic industry problem of bad data will quickly move to the front of the pack. Garbage in, garbage out. Implementing AI tools with bad data will be doomed to failure as the tools will be ineffective. Meanwhile, those who take the time to ensure they have a good foundation for AI support will overtake the competition. It’s a watershed moment for the B2B industry where those who recognize how to get the most value out of AI while those who refuse to alter their own internal workflows because “that’s the way it’s always been done” will see their market share diminish.

1. Accuracy and Relevance: AI models rely on historical and real-time data to make predictions and recommendations. If the data is inaccurate or inconsistent, the AI outputs become unreliable, directly impacting decision-making and customer experiences.
2. Scalability and Growth: In an era where B2B companies are scaling rapidly to meet global demands, clean data ensures that AI systems can grow alongside the business. Bad data governance introduces bottlenecks, stifling the scalability of AI-driven solutions.
3. Customer Experience: AI-powered personalized recommendations, accurate delivery timelines, and responsive customer service are critical to building customer trust and loyalty. These benefits rely on clean, well-governed data. A single misstep, like recommending the wrong product or misquoting delivery times, can damage a company’s reputation.
4. AI Amplifies Data Issues: Unlike traditional systems, AI doesn’t just process data—it learns from it. Bad data doesn’t just result in poor outputs; it trains AI systems to make flawed assumptions over time, compounding errors and reducing the ROI of AI investments.
5. Competitive Advantage: Clean data governance can be a differentiator in a competitive B2B market. Companies with well-maintained data are better positioned to leverage AI for faster decision-making, improved customer service, and operational efficiencies, giving them a significant edge.

Ignoring data governance in the AI era isn’t just a missed opportunity—it’s a liability. Poor data practices lead to inefficient AI models, frustrated customers, and, ultimately, lost revenue. Moreover, as competitors invest in clean data and AI, companies with bad data governance risk falling irreparably behind.

Clean data governance is no longer optional; it’s a strategic imperative in the AI-driven B2B ecommerce landscape. By prioritizing data accuracy and consistency, companies can unlock AI’s full potential and position themselves for long-term success.

How B2B Companies Can Address Bad Data Governance

Tackling bad data governance is no small feat, but it’s a journey worth undertaking for B2B companies striving to unlock AI’s full potential. The solution involves strategic planning, technological investment, and cultural change. Here are actionable steps businesses can take to clean up their data and ensure it stays that way:

1. Conduct a Comprehensive Data Audit
2. Standardize the Data Entry Process
3. Implement Master Data Management (MDM)
4. Leverage Technology for Data Cleaning and Enrichment
5. Break Down Silos with Integration
6. Foster a Culture of Data Ownership
7. Commit to Continuous Improvement

The first step is conducting a thorough data audit—think of it as a spring cleaning for your databases. By identifying gaps, redundancies, and inaccuracies, businesses can reveal the full extent of their data issues. This process isn’t just about finding errors; it’s about creating a baseline understanding of the company’s data health. Regular audits prevent these issues from snowballing into more significant, costly problems.

Once the audit is complete, it’s time to set some ground rules. Standardizing data entry processes is critical for ensuring consistency. Clear guidelines for formatting SKUs, recording customer details, and storing supplier information can prevent the chaos of mismatched or incomplete records. Employees should be trained on these standards, and tools like automated forms or validation rules can make compliance seamless.

Of course, even the best data entry standards won’t help if different systems across the organization aren’t communicating. That’s where Master Data Management (MDM) comes in. By centralizing data into a single source of truth, companies ensure that updates in one system are automatically reflected across all others. With MDM in place, teams can work confidently, knowing that their data is accurate and consistent.

But standardizing and centralizing aren’t enough if you’re already sitting on a mountain of messy data. Performing this step by hand is significantly time-intensive. Enter data cleaning and enrichment tools. AI-powered solutions can quickly identify and correct errors, deduplicate records and fill in missing fields. These tools don’t just clean up the past; they automate routine processes to keep data clean moving forward.

For many B2B companies, fragmentation is one of the biggest hurdles to clean data. Silos between ERP systems, CRM platforms, and ecommerce tools create inconsistencies that ripple across the business. Breaking down these silos through system integration ensures a unified flow of data, improving collaboration and decision-making across departments. This requires a thoughtful integration strategy, often with the help of IT experts, but the payoff is well worth the effort.

Clean data isn’t just a technical problem—it’s a cultural one. Companies must foster a culture of data ownership, where employees understand the importance of the data they handle and feel accountable for its accuracy. Assigning clear responsibilities, such as appointing a Chief Data Officer (CDO) or similar role, can ensure that data governance remains a priority.

Finally, data governance isn’t a one-and-done project. Continuous improvement is essential. Regular review of data policies and feedback from team members help refine processes over time. Establishing KPIs for data quality can also provide measurable insights into the success of these efforts.

By taking these steps, B2B companies can move from reactive problem-solving to proactive data management. Clean, well-governed data isn’t just the backbone of AI success—it’s a strategic asset that drives better decisions, smoother operations, and stronger customer relationships. In an increasingly data-driven world, those who master their data will lead the way.

Conclusion: Turn Your Data into a Competitive Advantage in the AI Era

In the rapidly evolving landscape of B2B ecommerce, integrating AI technologies offers unprecedented opportunities for growth and efficiency. However, as we’ve explored, the effectiveness of AI is intrinsically linked to the quality of the underlying data. Companies risk undermining their AI initiatives without robust data governance, leading to inaccurate insights and missed opportunities.

Perficient stands at the forefront of addressing these challenges. With extensive experience in implementing comprehensive data governance frameworks, we empower B2B organizations to harness the full potential of their data. Our expertise encompasses:

• Product Information Management (PIM): We assist in managing all aspects of your product data—from SKUs and descriptions to stock levels and pricing—ensuring consistency and accuracy across all platforms.
• Digital Asset Management (DAM): Our solutions help organize and distribute digital assets related to your products, such as photos and videos, enhancing the efficiency of your operations.
• Data Integration and Standardization: We streamline your data processes, breaking down silos and ensuring seamless communication between systems, which is crucial for effective AI implementation.

Investing in clean data governance is not just a technical necessity but a strategic imperative. With Perficient’s expertise, you can transform your data into a powerful asset, driving informed decision-making and sustainable growth in the AI era.

I’ve spent almost 30 years in web and digital, starting way back when the “world wide web” was full of under construction GIFs, <blink> tags, and visitor counters! Nobody misses those things!

While many bad user experiences have faded away, some daily annoyances still need to go. In the spirit of Seinfeld’s “airing of grievances,” here are 12 web trends that need to end in 2025!

NOTE: This list highlights issues with better alternatives, so there’s no excuse not to fix them!

1. Skeleton Screen Fake Out

The Issue: Many websites and apps use skeleton screens – boxes and lines as placeholders – to make it seem like pages load faster. However, too many sites have abandoned consistency, and their skeleton layout doesn’t match the final content.

The Fix: Ensure your web team updates the skeleton screen whenever the page design changes. Ideally, create the skeleton with the actual HTML structure and use CSS for styling before and after the content loads.

2. Preload, Disappear, and Reload

The Issue: You open a new screen, see content for a moment, and then – POOF! – it disappears. You’re left with a blank screen until the same or new content reappears, often losing what initially caught your attention.

The Fix: This issue arises when JavaScript loads content after the initial page load. To avoid this, add coding logic to prevent existing content from being wiped out. Instead, load new content only when the user requests it (by scrolling or clicking refresh) or append it to the existing content without disrupting the user’s view.

3. Layout Shifts During Page Load

The Issue: Layout shifts are tracked by many web performance tools. While quick-loading sites minimize this issue, slow-loading pages can lead to frustrating experiences, like text rewrapping or buttons moving unexpectedly.

The Fix: Teams should manage when content is loaded via JavaScript. Using server-side rendering can ensure the page loads with complete content. For new content added after user interactions, design a way to display it predictably. Additionally, always include height and width attributes for images and resources to prevent layout shifts during the initial load.

4. Hover Effects That Shift Elements

The Issue: This frustrating experience occurs when user interactions lead to unexpected behavior. For example, hovering over an expand/collapse icon might automatically open a sidebar, causing users to click inadvertently on links they didn’t intend to.

The Fix: Avoid animating large elements or shifting layouts on hover. If you must use this behavior, ensure that any newly animated content is not clickable. A dead click is preferable to an accidental page load.

5. Multiple Page Load Pop-Ups

The Issue: You visit a new site eager to explore, but are immediately hit with a cookie banner, a chatbot, and a newsletter sign-up that covers the main content. This is a classic case of “everything is important.”

The Fix: Recognize that not everything you want to communicate is important to the user. Prioritize which message matters most and use coding logic to control when and how these distractions appear. It’s okay to show a pop-up after users have been on the page for a while, but avoid placing it over content they’re trying to read.

6. Clickbait Disappointment

The Issue: Clickbait titles are everywhere because they work, but they often lead to disappointment. You click on a title like “Is the Web Dead?!?” only to find the content doesn’t match – leaving a bland conclusion that the web is alive and well.

The Fix: Aim for authenticity. When focusing solely on vanity metrics like clicks and views, you risk misleading your audience. Follow the “golden rule” by treating your readers as you’d want to be treated. Write your article first, then create a fitting headline, avoiding scammy tactics altogether. Or if you really want a shocking headline, then put in the effort to have content that is worthy (without being deceitful).

7. Auto-Playing Videos with Sound

The Issue: Unexpectedly auto-playing videos with sound can be jarring, especially if the user is in a quiet place or already listening to something else. This creates a chaotic experience.

The Fix: Avoid being obtrusive. What you want may not align with what your user prefers. While you may not get explicit praise for muting videos on load, irritating your audience could drive them away.

8. Unexpectedly Stealing Focus

The Issue: Webpage elements can have focus, typically for form fields or interactive elements. Setting focus correctly can enhance the user experience, but using JavaScript to change focus after users have engaged with other parts of the page can be extremely annoying.

The Fix: Use built-in HTML attributes to set focus on an element when the page first loads. Be cautious with JavaScript focus changes that should only occur in response to user actions, like clicking a button to open a modal. This is also important for accessibility and keyboard navigation.

9. Forms That Want Everything

The Issue: Research shows that shorter forms convert better. Long forms that require scrolling can feel overwhelming. For instance, an email newsletter sign-up should only ask for an email address. You don’t need a company name or phone number right away.

The Fix: While your company may want to collect detailed information, consider using alternative methods like progressive profiling. This approach enhances user experience and encourages ongoing engagement without overwhelming users upfront.

10. Premature Form Errors

The Issue: User input validation is crucial for ensuring correct data entry, like email formats and password security. While real-time validation can enhance user experience, it becomes frustrating if errors are flagged before users finish typing.

The Fix: Avoid marking input as incorrect too early. For example, if an email field turns red after the second character, it disrupts the flow. Instead, use “change” or “blur” events to validate input only after the user has finished entering their information.

11. Forgotten Form Input

The Issue: On-page user input validation is helpful, but server-side validation is essential for security. When the server detects an error, it often sends users back to the form. When done incorrectly, this can wipe out their previously entered input. This can be incredibly frustrating!

The Fix: Implement coding logic to retain the user’s original input when the page refreshes. While you may need to exclude sensitive information like passwords or credit card numbers, preserving other input will help avoid punishing users for minor mistakes.

12. External Link Targets

The Issue: It can be frustrating when clicking a link takes you away from the current site, especially if you’re not finished reading the content. You often want to return to where you left off, and you may get completely side-tracked and never return.

The Fix: While users can manually open links in new windows, it adds unnecessary effort. Content authors can set links to open in a new window using the “blank” target. An even better solution is to use a simple JavaScript function that automatically adds this target attribute to links that lead to different domains. This unobtrusive approach ensures a smoother user experience, even if authors forget to set it.

Conclusion

We often get so focused on our goals and metrics that we overlook the human aspect of the user experience. Many users simply “live with” poor experiences and may only complain to themselves. I’m a fan of delighting users and eliminating unnecessary frustrations.

I hope that sharing what “grinds my gears” inspires us all to improve user experiences across the web. With the spirit of Festivus in mind, let’s air our web grievances and commit to doing better in the new year!

……

If you are looking for a digital partner who has their eye on quality user experiences, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

We’re pleased to announce that Perficient has been named a Major Player in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Adobe Experience Cloud Professional Services 2024-2025 Vendor Assessment (Doc #US51741024, December 2024). We believe this recognition is a testament to our commitment to excellence and our dedication to delivering top-notch Adobe services to our clients.

Continue reading to learn more about what the IDC MarketScape is, why Perficient is named a Major Player, and what this designation means to our clients.

Understanding This IDC MarketScape

This IDC MarketScape evaluated Adobe Experience Cloud professional service providers, creating a framework to compare vendors’ capabilities and strategies. Many organizations need help planning and deploying technology, and finding the right vendor is critical.

According to Douglas Hayward, senior research director for CX services and strategies at IDC, “Organizations choosing an Adobe Experience Cloud professional service should look for proof that their vendor has high-quality professionals who have a track record in empowering their clients and delivering the best value for the fairest price.”

This IDC MarketScape study provides a comprehensive vendor assessment of the Adobe Experience Cloud professional services ecosystem. It evaluates both quantitative and qualitative characteristics that contribute to success in this market. The study covers various vendors, assessing them against a rigorous framework that highlights the most influential factors for success in both the short and long term.

Perficient is a Major Player

We believe being named a Major Player in the IDC MarketScape is a significant achievement for Perficient and underscores our Adobe Experience Cloud capabilities, industry and technical acumen, global delivery center network, and commitment to quality customer service. We further believe the study is evidence of our expertise and continued focus on solving our clients’ business challenges.

Hayward said, “In our evaluation of Perficient for the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Adobe Experience Cloud Professional Services 2024-2025 Vendor Assessment, it was evident that Perficient has global delivery expertise that combines an experience design heritage with strong capabilities in digital experience transformation.”

The IDC MarketScape also says, “Based on conversations with Perficient’s clients, the vendor’s three main strengths are value creation, people quality, and client empowerment.”

Our Commitment to Excellence

At Perficient, we are committed to maintaining and improving our services and solutions. We continuously strive to innovate and enhance our capabilities and offerings to meet the evolving needs of our clients, further empower them, and drive value.

Learn More

You can also read our News Release for more details on this recognition and make sure to follow our Adobe blog for more Adobe platform insights!

Perficient Recognized in The Forrester Wave: Customer Experience Strategy Consulting Services, Q4 2024

Perficient is proud to be included as a “Contender” in The Forrester Wave: Customer Experience (CX) Strategy Consulting Services, Q4 2024 report. We were one of a set of only twelve organizations to be included in the report.

Forrester used extensive criteria to determine placement, including customer research, proprietary data offerings, and innovation.

To us, this placement shows our continued growth in CX Strategy Consulting services over the last year, as we previously were included among 31 organizations in The Forrester Customer Experience Strategy Consulting Services Landscape, Q2 2024 report.

We believe CX strategy capabilities and experience are at the heart of the report. With brands stretching across digital and physical properties, building an omnichannel customer experience can seem daunting. Partnering with an experienced consulting partner provides a strategic and custom approach, enabling organizations to implement digital transformation that activates and engages their customers at every touchpoint, while meeting and exceeding customer expectations.

Across all industries, customers expect positive omnichannel experiences, and brands that fall short of these expectations will not only miss out on current revenue, but also risk future sales due to negative perception and reputation challenges.

Digital Transformation Focused

Perficient believes its inclusion is a testament to our expertise leveraging digital capabilities to build seamless, personalized, and satisfying customer journeys.

According to the Forrester report, “Perficient is a good fit for organizations that want to center their CX strategy on a digital transformation.”

Our CX Strategy work empowers clients to make informed decisions about investing in and implementing solutions across both digital and non-digital channels. We also offer many types of services that are not specific to digital delivery. These include consulting on CX operations, governance, goal setting, team training and customer empathy development. These activities are designed to foster the growth and maturity of our clients’ organizations so they can serve their customers more effectively.

As the Forrester report mentions, “Reference customers praised Perficient’s flexibility and its willingness to be a true partner working alongside their employees.”

Perficient’s Strategic Partnership Approach

Our strategists employ a strategic formulation approach, Perficient’s Envision Framework, to help clients get to the future fast, using three cumulative phases: Insights, Ideas, and Investment. It’s how we help clients rapidly identify opportunities, define a customer-focused vision, and develop a prioritized roadmap to transform their business.

Do you know how ready your company is to create, deliver, and sustain exemplary customer experiences? Learn more about Perficient’s five-week CX IQ jumpstart that will help you highlight priorities, create strategic alignment, and guide decisions about where and how to improve CX.

In this series, we’ve been discussing how your healthcare organization (HCO) can support the caregivers who are caring for your patients and members and why it makes good business sense for you to do so. When the caregivers who are supporting your patients/members feel respected, seen and understood, it has many benefits for your organization, such as: 

• More satisfied patients/members 
• More conversions by showing your HCO’s value proposition 
• Healthier patients/members by helping your patients/members adhere to their care plans 

Let’s review what the series has and will cover:

• Part 1 discussed the guided journey you can offer for caregivers
• Part 2 exploreed how you can connect caregivers to support systems and services 
• Part 3 considered the logistics of caregiving 
• Part 4 identified caregiver types and the various permissions needed for each 
• This article, Part 5 discusses the importance of open and quick communication among HCOs, patients/members and caregivers 

Easy, complete communication is critical in caregiving situations 

It comes with the territory that if your patient/member has a family caregiver, that patient/member probably isn’t going to be in the best of health. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t need someone in the caregiver role. But it’s easy to forget about that until the patient/member has a sudden need for medical care, perhaps at an urgent-care clinic or emergency room. 

It could be because of some new injury or rapidly developing condition. Or it could be related to an ongoing concern. Either way, the patient/member needs care right now. And it may not be possible for the caregiver to ensure that their loved one goes to their usual facility or hospital. Maybe they weren’t at home when the situation developed, or maybe an ambulance has to take the patient/member to the closest available facility for fast — even lifesaving — care. 

It’s critical for everyone involved in care decisions, from provider and payer organizations to caregivers, to communicate quickly and effectively about what the patient/member needs in these situations. And your HCO can help. For starters, and most importantly… 

Make it possible to quickly access patient/member data 

Speaking from my own experience as a caregiver for my father — if something comes up and my dad needs care right away, I hope I’ll be able to get him to a facility within the provider organization system that normally cares for him. But urgent and emergency situations don’t often happen in ideal circumstances. It’s entirely possible that I’ll have to someday take him to a care facility outside his normal system. If that happens, it’s not good for anyone involved if I have to figure out how to get my dad’s medical records shared with this new organization: 

• My dad, who’s already likely to be scared or irritated, will only have his feelings worsened if I’m distracted 
• I’ll be upset by the situation and only more frustrated if I have to be distracted by this new wrinkle of hard-to-access information 
• The provider will be working with one hand metaphorically tied behind their back if they don’t have the full information about their new patient

This problem only gets compounded if the caregiver has to take the patient/member to a care facility that’s out of the patient/member’s health insurance network. The payer organization will likely require transfer back to an in-network facility as soon as possible. So the caregiver will have to do the information-transfer rigamarole at least twice. 

 Wherever your HCO can, make it as easy and straightforward as possible for caregivers to share needed information from your EHR to another provider in times of need. This helps ensure quality of care and continuity of care in every situation. And it likely will help make life easier for care teams when patients come back into their systems after these emergencies. Work with your IT team to figure out where and how your HCO can allow quick records transfers to another system. What needs to be done on your end, and how can you make this process easier for patients/members and caregivers?  

Teach caregivers what to say and do before a crisis 

The healthcare system is complex and challenging for laypeople on their best days. And a caregiver who’s facing an emergency with their loved one is not going to be having their best day. But even if there’s no “easy button” for a technological solution caregivers can access in an emergency, you can still help prepare them ahead of time.  

Find ways to share the information a caregiver is likely going to need to share with another provider or HCO. Whether that happens during an appointment with a provider, in a support-group setting or in prepared materials — or even all three — take opportunities to coach caregivers on what they’ll need to do and what materials they’ll need to provide in situations where they need to take the patient/member to another provider or facility. 

Help caregivers understand what a triage nurse is likely going to ask about their loved ones. Make a list of the various records another organization will need to understand the patient/member’s condition, medication allergies, etc. And show them how to find and share this information as quickly as possible. 

Of course, the ideal scenario involves the caregiver being able to do all this electronically. But if that’s not possible, encourage the caregiver to have copies, whether saved as PDFs or even printed out, and have them readily available to bring to care facilities in an emergency. 

Facilitate instant communication between caregivers, family members and care teams 

The expression “It takes a village” may have been coined in reference to children, but it definitely comes into play for caregivers and their adult loved ones as well. Whether caregiving duties are shared among siblings for an older adult or the primary caregiver hires help from a professional in-home caregiver, everyone needs to be on the same page about the patient/member and their care. 

 Allowing a space for those involved in caregiving for a patient/member to coordinate their efforts can help ease everyone’s mind. Not only does this type of solution avoid the communication of patient information in a potentially insecure text or email app, but it also could allow caregivers to easily refer to information about vital signs, prescriptions, etc. An added bonus: You could even allow a swift sharing of data to the patient/member’s primary care provider, specialist, etc., as needed. 

Show caregivers that you care about them too 

The need for caregivers is on the rise. Having the tools and procedures in place to ease the experience for them only makes the process better for your patients/members and everyone involved in their care. Our team is here to help you maximize the caregiver experience with our caregiver enablement approach. 

 To schedule an introductory workshop or learn more, contact us. We’d love to talk more with you about your challenges related to caregivers and their needs. 

The 2024 InsureTech Connect (ITC) conference was truly exhilarating, with key takeaways impacting the insurance industry. Each year, it continues to improve, offering more relevant content, valuable industry connections, and opportunities to delve into emerging technologies.

This year’s event was no exception, showcasing the importance of personalization to the customer, tech-driven relationship management, and AI-driven underwriting processes. The industry is constantly evolving, and ITC displays the alignment of everyone within the insurance industry surrounding the same purpose.

The Road Ahead: Transformative Trends

As I reflect on ITC and my experience, it is evident the progression of the industry is remarkable. Here are a few key takeaways from my perspective that will shape our industry roadmap:

1. Personalization at Scale

We’ve spoken for many years about the need to drive greater personalization across our interactions in our industry. We know that customers engage with companies that demonstrate authentic knowledge of their relationship. This year, we saw great examples of how companies are treating personalization, not as an incremental initiative, but rather embedding it at key moments in the insurance experience, particularly underwriting and claims.

For example, New York Life highlighted how personalization is driving generational loyalty. We’ve been working with industry leading insurers to help drive personalization across the distribution network: carriers to agents and the final policyholder.

Success In Action: Our client wanted to integrate better contact center technology to improve internal processes and allow for personalized, proactive messaging to clients. We implemented Twilio Flex and leveraged its outbound notification capabilities to support customized messaging while also integrating their cloud-based outbound dialer and workforce management suite. The insurer now has optimized agent productivity and agent-customer communication, as well as newfound access to real-time application data across the entire contact center.

2. Holistic, Well-Connected Distribution Network

Insurance has always had a complex distribution network across platforms, partnerships, carriers, agents, producers, and more. Leveraging technology to manage these relationships opens opportunities to gain real-time insights and implement effective strategies, fostering holistic solutions and moving away from point solutions. Managing this complexity and maximizing the value of this network requires a good business and digital transformation strategy.

Our proprietary Envision process has been leading the way to help carriers navigate this complex system with proprietary strategy tools, historical industry data, and best practices.

3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Process Automation

Not surprisingly, AI permeated many of the presentations and demos across the session. AI Offers insurers unique decisioning throughout the value chain to create differentiation. It was evident that while we often talk about AI as an overarching technology, the use cases were more point solutions across the insurance value chain. Moreover, AI is not here to replace the human, but rather assist the human. By automating the mundane process activities, mindshare and human capital can be invested toward more value-added activity and critical problems to improve customer experience. Because these point solutions are available across many disparate groups, organizational mandates demand safe and ethical use of AI models.

Our PACE framework provides a holistic approach to responsibly operationalize AI across an organization. It empowers organizations to unlock the benefits of AI while proactively addressing risks.

Our industry continues to evolve in delivering its noble purpose – to protect individual’s and businesses’ property, liability, and financial obligations. Technology is certainly an enabler of this purpose, but transformation must be managed to be effective.

Perficient Is Driving Success and Innovation in Insurance

Want to know the now, new, and next of digital transformation in insurance? Contact us and let us help you meet the challenges of today and seize the opportunities of tomorrow in the insurance industry.

Shoptalk held its first ever Fall conference in Chicago this past week and our very own Justin Racine, Principal of Unified Commerce, was present to take it all in. This year’s theme was 007, so Justin was on a reconnaissance mission to gain as much information on retail and commerce trends as possible. Here’s a debrief on his sources and the intel he was able to gather from them during his time at the show.

Infiltrate the Indie Brand Mindset

Before the explosion of social media, consumers gained knowledge of new brands by window shopping and traditional ads, but the reach only went so far. With the prevalence of social media, retail products that are niche and unique now have access to the whole world with platforms like TikTok and Instagram.  Rent the Runway is a clothing rental brand that’s currently reveling in the fact that indie brands are controlling the fashion space. Jennifer Hyman, the Founder and CEO of Rent the Runway, claimed that today a brand can skyrocket in value just by a teenager talking about its products on TikTok. Social media has been changing the way consumers shop, and brands need to be able to keep up and provide new and fresh ways to connect and interact. Rent the Runway did that by providing fashion clothing for rent, rather than purchase, thus allowing for an ever-changing wardrobe with plenty of variety. Retail – just like fashion – should take greater risks and be bolder.

Capture Customers with Community and Connection

Glossier CEO, Kyle Leahy, provided a thoughtful look at three C’s that should be focused on to provoke thoughtful, engaging, and relatable conversations between brands and their consumers. Community, connection, and customers are the three C’s in question here. Glossier prides itself on being a community-based brand, focusing on how their products make people feel. On stage, Kyle spoke about how their consumers come to them because of the community they’ve created, and by actively listening to their consumers.

However, it’s one thing just to listen – it’s another thing entirely to respond. Kyle stated that Glossier responds to every single comment or post on their socials. That’s how they’re building a strong community, like by like, comment by comment. Glossier doesn’t stop there; they continually strive for personalized customer experience. Their storefronts are full of local apparel and products, and a new fragrance they’ve recently launched is an aggressively impressive campaign.

It’s called Glossier You, and the bottle is specifically designed to be activated by using the consumer’s thumb. In this way, it gives the feeling of the product being “encoded” to their thumbprint, giving them a personalized experience. To go one step further, they claim the smell is a little different on each person. With this product, they’ve built a conversation piece for their consumers around how it’s unique to them allowing connection across users for comparison, thus creating a shared experience and further solidifying their community.

Hacking Data to Delight Customers

Surprise and delight! That’s the name of the game when it comes to creating buzz with consumers. Many companies feel like they have a finger on the pulse, but according to the Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, Brendan Witcher, that’s not the case. He challenged attendees’ perspectives saying that many customers don’t feel that companies are delighting or surprising them. These brands are operating off opinions rather than data, and these companies should gather real, credible data if they want to get to the heart of their consumers emotional responses.

Creative decisions should be based on true data and gained by letting the customer express themselves through their behaviors, actions, and even more importantly, their inactions. A great example of inactivity is those would be consumers who are visiting your site but not purchasing. Their lack of purchase, or inaction, is a clear look into a way to create growth simply by focusing on making those conversions. These customers are there, now all that’s needed is a push in the right direction.  Doubling up from Glossier’s 3C’s, Brendan revealed that there are 6 elements of customer data to focus on: characteristics, considerations, curiosities, conditions, context, and conceptions.

Closing the Dossier on Shoptalk Fall

For it being their first Shoptalk Fall, the show undoubtedly inspired and renewed the energy and enthusiasm of those in attendance. Individuals present expressed an urge to build deeper connections with their customers through a wide variety of strategies. The speakers encouraged the audience to listen to their customers, stay true to relevant retail trends, and dive deep into the data to curate connections and build communities. Now is the time to be unconventional, unique, and exciting.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to explore Perficient’s industry expertise in retail and commerce.

Read Justin’s full article on CMSWire.

InsureTech Connect (ITC), the world’s largest gathering of insurance innovation, is next week! This event offers a unique opportunity to meet new people, form partnerships, and discover solutions to your biggest challenges.

Perficient Principal and Insurance Industry Lead Brian Bell is gearing up to attend yet another ITC. After last year’s event, Bell shared common trends and takeaways:

• The significance of data in the insurance industry and how predictive analytics can take the industry to the next level by being proactive and mitigating and managing risks.
• It is very important to maintain a digital ecosystem that increases the value for consumers, allowing modern insurance operations to have an expansive impact in the marketplace.
• The transformative potential of Generative AI will be revolutionary in decision-making and operations of the insurance industry.

Pushing the Insurance Boundaries with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

At ITC in 2023, a hot topic was AI and generative AI (genAI). However, it was discussed in an exploratory sense. This year, our insurance experts anticipate applying AI strategies while being mindful of potential AI bias in the process.  Successful implementation of those initiatives will be top-of-mind during the event.

After further discussion with the insurance industry experts who will be attending ITC is Vegas this year, it is evident that the event is of high importance to them.

LinkedIn | Blogs

Brian Bell, Principal and Insurance Industry Lead

Technology evolution in other industries is driving expectations and desired experiences within the insurance industry.

From platform modernization to online payments and embedded insurance, there are so many opportunities to adopt these trends into the insurance value chain.

READ MORE FROM BRIAN: 5 Trends Shaping the Insurance Industry in 2024

LinkedIn

Conall Chabrunn, Head of Sales Insurance

I have been talking with clients about the rising expenses concerning the property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry. I am looking forward to connecting with and sharing insights with clients and industry peers on a global stage.

This experience is invaluable. It’s the premier insurance industry event of the year, and the caliber of attendees and sponsors proves it.

LEARN MORE: Manage Rising Expenses in Insurance

LinkedIn

Mike Page, Account Developer

ITC is crucial for several reasons. To be on the ground with so many global insurance professionals, offers a unique opportunity to really get an understanding of what challenges and opportunities are in front of us.

DISCOVER MORE: Digital Business Transformation

Why Should You Attend ITC 2024?

Although ITC and the insurance industry as a whole is such a large industry, it is made up of a close-knit group of leaders. Brian said, “It’s exciting to see everyone each year and the progression they are driving in the industry.”

Mike expanded on the topic of the insurance community adding, “In-person events still aren’t back to where we were pre-Covid, so I really look forward to conferences like this where we can all meet face-to-face and share ideas.”

Conall agreed, touching on how ITC and industry peers give him a new window on the world and challenge him. He shared, “I really appreciate discussing how complex industry problems are being solved.”

Engage with Our Team at ITC 2024

Connect with us at ITC in Vegas to protect what matters to your clients and your business. Perficient is recognized by Forrester because we help our clients drive results by navigating complexities in modern applications. Contact us today to schedule time to meet at ITC!

Brian Bell	Conall Chabrunn	Mike Page
Connect with Brian	Connect with Conall	Connect with Mike

Modernize and optimize experiences and productivity every step of the way with our expert insurance support.

• Brand Awareness: Prepare for the digitally enlightened consumer who has unique, heightened expectations for hyper personalization.
• Conversion: Meet your clients where they are and create real-time, frictionless experiences.
• Retention: Engage and communicate with customers and agents through customer-centric solutions.
• Experience Quality: Improve the speed and quality of engagement by leveraging intelligence to improve experiences, optimize loss cost, and identify and reduce fraudulent activity.

Perficient will protect individual and business property, liability, and financial obligations.

Spurred by recent AI advances and improvements made during the global pandemic, accessibility has become an integral component to an increasingly digital-first world. Ensuring that technology is accessible for everyone should be a high priority for all digital properties.

Providing an outstanding experience for both customers and employees is crucial for business success, and directly meeting these needs opens opportunities for organizations to reach new markets and up to two billion people with disabilities.

One often overlooked aspect of creating these exceptional experiences is the procurement and implementation of accessible technologies and services. By prioritizing accessibility, organizations can foster inclusivity, boost satisfaction, and unlock the full potential of their workforce and customer base. Additionally, committing to digital accessibility better positions organizations to attract and retain the best talent. Perficient experts were recently interviewed for a Forrester article, Prioritize Accessibility In Procurement For Better CX And EX, which outlines best practices for procuring accessible technologies and services.

Accessibility Should Be a Factor in Procurement

In the report, Forrester cites 2023 data showing “that just 47% of design pros at companies that have people working on accessibility say that their organization considers accessibility when evaluating potential services or technology vendors.”  These brands are not only doing a disservice to their employees and customers, but they’re missing opportunities to provide higher-quality experiences for a large portion of the population.

“Inclusive procurement is an important dimension of effectively implementing accessibility. For organizations with the goal of winning and retaining consumers and talent, selecting a procurement service that fits your needs, culture, and accessibility objectives is more than a nice to have, it’s an imperative.”

Lisa McMichael, Senior Manager Digital Accessibility, Perficient

Accessible Procurement Elevates Experiences for Customers and Employees

Forrester outlines why high-quality experiences are beneficial to both customers and employees, stating that:

• “Accessible technology is critical for creating an inclusive and equitable workplace.
• Addressing accessibility concerns through accommodations is not enough.
• Most organizations rely on vendors to deliver components of their Customer Experience.
• Accessibility is only a competitive advantage if your vendors are also accessible.”

Learn More About Digital Accessibility

Thought leaders from Perficient’s Customer Experience and Digital Marketing practice were interviewed by Forrester while researching this article. Perficient has subject matter experts who can help organizations quickly get started on improving accessibility. Read the article here.

Whether your business is just starting its accessibility journey or seeking to enhance its current efforts, partnering with the right service provider can make all the difference. With a team of more than 125 customer experience professionals, Perficient combines data-driven insights with human-centered methodologies to maximize business impacts. Contact us to discover how our expertise can take your business to new heights.

In this series, we’re discussing how your healthcare organization (HCO) can understand and address the needs of caregivers who are caring for your patients and members, as well as why it makes sense from a business perspective for you to do so. When caregivers of patients/members within your organization feel seen and supported, it leads to:

• More satisfied patients/members
• More conversions by showing your HCO’s value proposition
• Healthier patients/members by helping your patients/members adhere to their care plans

Let’s review what the series has and will cover:

• Part 1 discussed the guided journey you can offer for caregivers
• Part 2 explored how you can connect caregivers to support systems and services 
• Part 3 considered the logistics of caregiving 
• This article, Part 4 identifies caregiver types and the various permissions needed for each 
• Part 5 discusses the importance of open and quick communication among HCOs, patients/members and caregivers 

Identity crisis: Challenges inherent in the ‘caregiver’ term

We can all agree that caregiving is an essential function in modern society. But there often are difficulties in people’s understanding of who actually is a caregiver.

For example, some family members or loved ones don’t like to think of themselves as a caregiver. They think that’s solely the role of a professional — a nurse, a certified nursing assistant (CNA), a home health aide (HHA) or another medical worker — who is in the home, providing medications, taking vital signs, providing meal/bath assistance, taking the patient/member to appointments, etc. These loved ones think “caregiver” is a medical term, and they’re helping the patient/member out of love or duty, so the term shouldn’t apply to them.

I can relate to those feelings. I initially felt uncomfortable thinking of myself as a caregiver when I stepped into the role for my aging father. I don’t live close by him, and I wasn’t the one actually providing his care. What right did I have to call myself a caregiver?

But I had to come to terms with the idea that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to caregiving and no neat, tidy way of subdividing its different forms. All of us in this community are focused on helping others who are sick or aging. And all of us need support from the HCOs who provide care for their patients/members.

However, those varying, sometimes-nebulous definitions of “caregiving” mean your HCO needs to offer different access rights and permissions to the digital experiences of your patients/members based on which type of caregiver persona needs to access information at a given time. (And bonus points to you if your organization has included both types of caregivers in your persona and journey mapping efforts!)

Persona 1: The professional caregiver

This is the skilled worker whom the family caregiver (more on them below) hires to care for the patient/member. They’re in the home with the patient/member on a regular basis, whether daily, weekly or some other cadence.

This person needs to be able to access the patient/member’s digital tools for several vital caregiving activities, including:

• Logging prescription adherence
• Helping and logging exercises and activities (walking, chair exercises, etc.)
• Monitoring vital signs, such as heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, etc., as well as trends over time
• Observing and monitoring mental health state well-being

These are critical data points for everyone involved in the care of a patient/member. Not only does the care team likely need these regular updates to adjust care plans as needed, but the family caregiver needs them to be informed about their loved one’s status and make the best decisions possible about their care.

However, simply granting the same levels of permissions as a family caregiver/healthcare proxy isn’t reasonable for a professional caregiver. There’s no reason for this individual to have access to insurance information, payment details or even support systems. These details are unnecessary at best and can expose your patient/member or family caregiver to the risk of identity theft or worse.

Persona 2: The family caregiver

The family caregiver serves as the patient/member’s primary support person. They may even be making all medical decisions for the patient/member if a healthcare proxy is in place.

If a professional caregiver is involved in the patient/member’s care, the family caregiver likely doesn’t need access to the day-to-day activities of logging vital signs, prescription adherence and so on. They’re probably not in the patient/member’s home managing these activities. And too many updates could serve as a source of stress due to information overload (especially given that caregivers are under considerable stress already).

However, family caregivers do need access to essential information relating to their loved ones’ ongoing care, including:

• Proper management of the aforementioned healthcare proxy
• Health insurance information, including coverages, deductibles, etc.
• Access to the patient/member’s electronic health record (EHR)
• Location tracker for the patient/member
• Dynamically generated information on where to find more or related care based on the location of the patient/member, not necessarily the family caregiver
• Summary of vital signs and/or trends over time
• Calendar of family coverage (e.g., who’s taking Dad to this appointment on Tuesday?)
• Access to your HCO’s own community of caregivers and/or available support options

The right access to the right kind of caregiver

Caregiving is a spectrum. Your HCO is likely to interact with many people on varying points of that spectrum. Understanding what that looks like for your patients or members, as well as the loved ones and allied professionals involved in their care, can help you provide the best possible experience for everyone. We can help you strategize about maximizing the caregiver experience through our caregiver enablement approach. To schedule an introductory workshop or learn more, contact us.

And don’t miss Part 5 of this series. We’ll discuss why it’s vital for HCOs, patients/members and caregivers to have easy and open lines of communication, particularly when the patient/member needs a new facility or type of care. See you then!

Let’s be honest – projects can get messy fast. It’s all too easy to get tangled up in the details and lose sight of the bigger picture. That’s where Agile epics step in, helping you think big while staying grounded in the steps that lead to success. Epics act as the link between your grand strategy and the day-to-day tasks, giving your team the clarity to drive meaningful progress. Whether you’re steering a massive project or managing smaller innovations, mastering epics is key to unlocking the flexibility and focus that Agile promises. In this post, we’ll show you how epics empower teams to think big, act smart, and deliver results.

What is an Epic?

In a hierarchy of work, epics are formed by breaking down higher-level themes or business goals. They are large initiatives that encompass all the development work needed to implement a larger deliverable. An epic is too large to be completed in a single scrum team’s sprint, but it is smaller than the highest-level goals and initiatives. Epics are intentionally broad, light on details, and flexible.

Here’s what that means: The epic is broken down into smaller pieces of work. Your team may call these smaller pieces product backlog items/tickets, user stories, issues, or something else. As conditions or customer requirements change over time, these smaller pieces can be modified, removed, or added to a team’s product backlog with each sprint. In this way, the epic is flexible, providing direction without requiring heavy investment in its plans and details.

Why Are Epics Important?

Instead of tackling the whole epic at once with a deadline in a few months, you and your teammates deliver small increments of value to your customers, users, or stakeholders each sprint. When changes are needed, you adapt the plan easily. Had your team taken on the entire epic at once, they might find that changes have rendered the epic obsolete by the end.

How to Identify Epics?

Agile epics should describe major product requirements or areas of functionality that define the user experience. You can think of them as categories or parents for user stories that may not directly relate to each other but fall under the same umbrella of functionality (e.g. UI Improvements). Epics can become unwieldy quickly, so it’s worth examining them along the following lines to determine if the size is appropriate or not. Remember, the goal is for the epic to be fully delivered!

• Does the epic span products? If so, it may be more appropriate to split the epic along product lines.
• Do the success criteria support each other entirely? If there is conflict between measurements, splitting the epic would be warranted.
• Is the epic for multiple customer segments? Targeting different customer groups is likely to lead to contention between measurement and goals.
• How risky is the epic? An effective mitigation strategy may be to compartmentalize the risk across several epics rather than concentrating it in one.
• Would working on the epic effectively shut down all other development work? This may be an indication that the epic is too large (even if the business priority is clearly highest) and could introduce an extra level of risk that may not have been considered or can be easily mitigated.

Who Creates and Manages Epics?

In Agile, the creation of epics typically starts with the product manager, who has a deep understanding of the project’s long-term vision and business objectives. The product manager identifies major areas of work, shaping them into epics that guide the team’s efforts. While the product manager leads this process, it often involves input from various stakeholders and team members to ensure that each epic aligns with overall project goals. Once established, the product manager is responsible for managing these epics, breaking them down into smaller tasks, and prioritizing them with the product owner to support effective sprint planning and execution.

How to Craft Effective Epics?

• Define Clear Goals: Begin by identifying the epic’s objectives. Understand the problem it seeks to address and clarify how it will drive value for the project and stakeholders.
• Collaborate for Alignment: Involve key stakeholders—such as team members, users, and business leaders—to ensure the epic is well-rounded and matches user needs and business priorities.
• Maintain Flexibility: Though the epic should offer clear direction, it’s important to leave space for changes as new insights or requirements emerge during development.
• Prioritize Value: Ensure that every aspect of the epic contributes meaningfully to delivering tangible value to both the customer and the overall project.

Epic Structure: Key Components of a Well-Written Epic

• Title: The title should succinctly summarize the core of the epic, giving the team and stakeholders a quick understanding of its focus.
• Overview: Write a concise summary that outlines the epic’s objectives and the value it delivers to both the project and the end-user. Consider the target audience and competitors while framing this.
• Actionable Features: Break the epic down into smaller, actionable features that are measurable and align with the epic’s primary goals. These features should be traceable to specific user needs or project requirements.
• Success Criteria: Clearly define how the success of the epic will be measured. This should go beyond basic acceptance criteria and include broader business outcomes that may evolve over time.
• Dependencies: Identify any interdependencies with other epics, projects, or external factors that could influence the epic’s progress.
• Timeline: While the exact timeframe might not be locked, establishing a rough schedule helps prioritize the work and manage stakeholder expectations.

Next Steps

In conclusion, epics are fundamental to Agile methodology and critical to the Scrum framework. They help product managers, product owners, and key stakeholders manage and organize the product backlog effectively. Developers can also use epics to plan iterations, breaking them into manageable sprints, and systematically collect customer feedback. As outlined, epics serve as an asset for Agile teams, allowing for the grouping of user stories to aid in prioritization and incremental value delivery.

Effectively creating and managing epics can be challenging without the right approach. If you’re finding it difficult to structure your epics, align them with business goals, or manage their scope within your team, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at Perficient. Our experts can help you refine your process, ensuring that your epics are well-defined, manageable, and strategically aligned with your project’s success.

Contact us today to learn how we can assist your team in mastering Agile epics!