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The amazing Finnish culture – TOP 3 characteristics when it comes to work

The amazing Finnish culture

We value Finnish culture very much and we often identify with it, since it is definitely a part of our DNA. What should you know when starting a cooperation with a Finnish client? Or maybe you are wondering what it is like to work in a company with a Finnish team? Read about our experiences and nothing should ever surprise you.

From this article you will learn:

  • What are the 3 cultural features that distinguish working with Finns
  • What is worth paying attention to during communication
  • What are the do’s and don’ts during meetings
The amazing Finnish culture

Finland – a country associated mostly with beautiful forests, lakes and reindeer herds. Also known for Nokia, being home to Santa Claus and Moomins. What distinguishes Finland as well is the fact that its inhabitants have been announced the happiest citizens in the World (World Happiness Report 2021). How is that possible? They might owe it to their incredible culture which unquestionably makes this nation unique.

At Espeo Software, our team is co-created by Finns. We have the wonderful pleasure of collaborating with clients from this country on most of our projects.

Finnish culture – take your time when necessary

When it comes to projects, it is necessary to know that Finns are calm perfectionists. It’s an ideal nation to work with. They know how important it is to prepare for the project, so they first give time to think and prepare the task well before the developer starts implementation.

Additionally, while requiring a good quality code, they do not put pressure on the speed of its writing. This amazing characteristic shows that high requirements can be combined with understanding and respect for the project team.

Do you want to learn more about the work culture in our company? Check out the article about the 5 best things about working at Espeo.

Silence is golden in Finnish culture

Finns like to keep quiet. Not only in everyday life, but also during business meetings. What for other nationalities often means awkward silence, is perfectly normal for Finns and they feel like a duck in water. Therefore, it is best to be patient and understanding. Silence from the other side does not always mean bad negotiation or wrong communication. Understanding another culture can be more rewarding.

Advice from Dominik Zyskowski, our Software Consulting Director:

“I happened to feel awkward at meetings when no one was talking. Probably if it weren’t for the knowledge that Finns like to be silent during business talks, I would try to “talk it over”. Finns like silence and it is good to be able to read well what it means at a given moment.”

Finnish culture – trust in the first place

The culture of trust and business transparency are definitely the characteristic features of a cooperation with the Finns. Especially during continuous projects, it happens that team members are invited to business meetings, during which not only the issues of the project, but also the entire company cases are discussed. This builds a great sense of trust on the part of the client and strengthens the relationship, which is a great and appreciated experience.

“Working with my Finnish client is like working in a product company. We are involved in various organizational meetings. We are not only developers but we also have an influence on the product. Each of our ideas is considered by the client. The Finns are calm, they appreciate reliability and punctuality.”

Maciej Kozłowski, our Lead Android Engineer
Did you enjoy learning more about the Finnish culture? Join us and become a part of it!
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Design Other Software Technology

E-learning platforms development. How to improve your educational app

E-learning platforms development. How to improve your educational app

As quarantine continues to disrupt our daily lives, schools have gone online and schoolchildren are learning from home in unprecedented numbers. E-learning platforms and are suddenly overwhelmed with the amount of traffic and need quick solutions to keep their services up and continue to improve. While some industries can work remotely, interacting with colleagues, friends, and family has gone virtual. However, online teaching or digital learning in general— and keeping children engaged is the latest challenge.

For many edtech apps, this means a rapid expansion of capabilities to keep up with surging demand. Here are a few of our tips how to improve your online learning app.

 

How to improve your e-learning platform:

Table of contents:
Technical improvements

  1. Data security
  2. Cross-platform
  3. Operational reliability
  4. Improve UX

Improvement of features

  1. E-learning analytics
  2. In-app chat with fellow students and teachers
  3. Gamification

Technical improvements

 

1. Data security

One major consideration in online teaching is how to protect sensitive data. User credentials, information about payment and personally identifiable information need to be secure also in the learning management system. Users should always have the rights reserved to manage their own data and exclude themselves from data collection at any point.

In e-learning there is all kinds of data, such as confidential personal user information but also public and shared educational materials. Parents need to understand how the online learning platforms use the data. The platform might collect data for pedagogical purposes, for example. Explaining it and being transparent helps all involved parties feel safer. In the European Union, GDPR regulations give a good framework for data protection.

“Like with all applications, we should make sure that the data transmission of the platform is as limited as possible and the data cannot be accessed by any unauthorized party. For example, the Finnish education supervisory bodies have very high standards and require the servers to be kept within the European borders.”

says Bartosz Kuczyński, one of Espeo’s tester for quality assurance
 

2. Cross-platform  

If your learning management system is not cross-platform conform, now is the time to upgrade. Accessibility in class and outside is vital. It’s important that students can log into their accounts on personal laptops but as well on their smartphones to make it easier to view information quickly and from any device. Especially in times like now, when students are only able to complete assignments, go over learned material and prepare for tests from home. Offering the online learning experience from mobile and web is one of the easiest way to reach users and to meet their demands. This also makes sense when thinking about the communication between educators and parents. A mobile app with instant push notifications can help to parents to stay up to date with course content, general administration and data management.

E-learning platforms development. How to improve your educational app
 

3. Operational reliability 

Performance tests ensure operational reliability. These tests simulate typical user activity and can model high traffic times. These can either be general performance tests to indicate the speed of the system’s reaction and therefore sport where improvements are needed or we can undertake stress tests to see how many users can use the app at the same time within the current setup.

When we talk about reliability you have to know current metrics related to your application. It helps you estimate how the potential increase of users may affect the server performance. It’s important to find potential bottlenecks within the e-learning platform. The first step is to gather all data that help to investigate, such as application logs, which includes eros and data traces. Server logs such as the number of requests, the frequency of requests, rush hours, and CPU/RAM use also fall here. Finally, database logs identify slow queries and a number of queries. As logs give you the information about such metrics, it is wise to aggregate them and analyze them.

There are many tools on the market that measure and aggregate these metrics and be ready for critical situations. One of these types of tools is application performance monitoring, or APM.

“Using APM you will be able to identify application weaknesses, find out the most used parts of the application that may be worth improving. Sometimes, changes in a few parts of an application can affect general performance positively.”

said Bartosz Michałak
 

4. Improve UX 

UX research is not just important when launching a new product but also once it’s on the market. In edtech, complex updates often fall in a new semester, when students and teachers are the busiest. If the new release is complicated and confusing, this might cause negative feedback. Involving professionals can help to understand problems and prioritize where to improve first.

E-learning platforms development. How to improve your educational app

Edtech apps can consist of great media traffic, like sharing documents, instant chat, etc. So the UX is also related to the performance of all these kinds of third party layers. We should always be thinking about the complexity of the app. The heavier an app, the more it will affect the UX. For example, lots of animations can drop the frames in mobile in a similar heavier HTML structure can reduce performance on web applications. You can improve the UX by trimming down the amount of data that is transmitted to the bare minimum. Possible other tricks such as caching and offline persistence may be used.

Pro tip:

“I would implement a feedback inquiry, so the users could tell you directly what their needs are. Then I would sort those opinions, categorize and prioritize them for the implementation,”

suggested UX designer, Mateusz Małys

With more users, you might want to consider how it affects the UX and how much it will suffer under the increased strain. From a frontend perspective, content can load gradually, using techniques like lazy loading which is a general rule for all learning platforms, not only edtech. If your e-learning platforms are used in more than one country, you should consider using content delivery network services to serve images and other files. CDN allows you to reduce network latency by using various techniques. For example, when the teacher shares a heavy file to the entire class, a CDN service can cache it and your server won’t need to serve that file anymore.

Improvement of features

“It is hard to tell what modifications are needed. Every client has their own idea of what’s important. From the backend side, it can be simply a general performance improvement. Sometimes the app does not need to be fast or fancy but rather reliable, meaning no server downtimes, strict data protection. We can deliver what the client needs,”

explained edtech developer for tools like TinyApp, Tomasz Maka

Many learning platforms would benefit from interaction options such as live chats, conference calls and video conferencing. But these are also ambitious features and we always need to test how strenuous they would become for the servers, so that it won’t affect the learning experience negatively.

Live classrooms, file sharing, online tutorial, interactive worksheets for students, timed testing systems, various messaging and conferencing options are a few of many possible features.

Below I prepared just a couple of additional features an educational App can benefit from. It does not mean that these are the only or most important features and that everyone learning platform needs to have these. In the end, the sort of features an application should have, depends on what is relevant from a business perspective to the product owner and what problems he wants to solve for teachers, students and parents.

 

1. E-learning analytics

By collecting data about the activity of a student, e-learning can help deliver insights about the performance and detect fields where improvements are needed and can in turn help with defining the best online trainings. A comprehensive analysis of big data can be valuable for online education and e-learning impact. Teachers can improve instructor effectiveness by tailoring their plans and training paths to individual needs and also share information with parents easier and based on data rather than on simple observations.

Thanks to that, educators can use the data to develop behavior-model algorithms through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data. It ensures that students receive the best possible assistance.

E-learning platforms development. How to improve your educational app
 

 2. In-app chat with fellow students and teachers

One rather basic feature which can have an enormous impact is the option for in-app chats with fellow students. During remote schooling, kids can easily feel isolated and lack contact with fellow students. Enabling students to get in touch with schoolmates and teachers to discuss homework assignments or just chat makes a big difference. Viable options can be the possibility for instant messaging, forums and video conferencing. Besides that, it helps children learn how to navigate as a digital citizen and how to virtually communicate with each other.

 

3. Gamification

Point scoring, competition, leaderboards — gamification has a wide range of use in e-learning. It’s not surprising that it is an element that is more and more added to learning management systems. Don’t confuse gamification with wasting time. Play is a fundamental principle of early childhood development and it can be easily implemented for e-learning. But when I talk about gamification, I mean a tool for driving motivation.

E-learning platforms development. How to improve your educational app

It is not about online geography puzzles or anything else that simply is just a game and its secondary objective is that kids are learning something while having fun. In fact, it rather means that it is a way to bring a bit more fun into things students normally don’t like to do and in turn to increase their internal motivation. So, the question gamification answers is how to make learning more engaging. It also is a tool to track student’s progress and introduces a competitive spirit as students try to improve their rankings. There are many possibilities on how gamification can look like on an e-learning platform.

Final thoughts on how to improve e-learning platform

When it comes to learning platforms, teachers, students, and parents need one platform for all as a pedagogical assistant.

Whether you’re looking for developers who can help you upgrade your learning platform for the upcoming challenges or would like to create your own applications, our team of edtech experts and developers can help you prepare the best online learning platform. Drop us a line if you’d like to get a free consultation.

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Blockchain Entrepreneurship Other Software

How blockchain is bringing gamification to every industry

Tiny people with gamepad playing video games on console. Male and female gamers gaming flat vector illustration. Entertainment, gamification concept for banner, website design or landing web page

Distributed ledger technology is not the most user friendly or easy to grasp. Blockchain gamification is one way to bridge this user gap. The gaming sector has plenty in store to enrich other industries on how to keep customers engaged. According to a recent study by Newzoo, the global gaming industry has over two billion gamers and is worth about $150 billion. Video game income has even surpassed other forms of entertainment, like movies and music, according to the study. The most famous pieces of art can create sales in millions of units and can sustain numerous concurrent users. 

Various industries are embracing gamification or the use of gaming and game design techniques to engage their users better. Marketing departments are now using gamification in their marketing activities to reduce customer churn. Instead of just providing coupons, renewable points, and discounts, businesses are now spicing up their marketing campaigns using cutting-edge technologies to realize engaging risk and reward mechanisms. Starbucks, for instance, has introduced a loyalty program that enables customers to receive better rewards the more they spend. Besides, the company has also deployed multiple tech-based strategies over the years, like mobile apps, QR codes, and segmented reality to engage their customers. 

The blockchain tech power to offer secure record-keeping and enable transactions through cryptocurrencies makes it suitable for such applications. Different services are already establishing new channels to exploit the potential of blockchain-based solutions and possibilities of gamification. Form of gamification may vary. Projects like Sandblock, for instance, use smart contracts to facilitate their loyalty program campaigns. The digital and decentralized games such as CryptoKitties also demonstrate how crypto tokens can represent ownership of digital assets effectively. These use cases also demonstrate how blockchain has brought back fairness and trust in the gaming industry. In this article, we shall see how blockchain tech is bringing the elements of gamification  not only to typical gaming space, but basically to every sector through loyalty programs, digital ownership, and trustworthy and fair practices.  

Loyalty programs for e-commerce

Critics often complain that loyalty programs concentrate on just maximizing profits for businesses. Participants are incentivized inadequately for their participation by loyalty points campaigns that contain biased rules. Though it is acceptable for a business only to carry out sustainable loyalty programs, they are still supposed to offer customers with satisfactory reward rates. 

The problems begin with outlining business objectives, considering that loyalty campaigns can create many benefits. The marketers then continue with designing the reward system, the composition of reward and producing incentives good enough to cause behavior change but mean to the point that they grind down margins. Besides, there are puzzles of customer psychology to consider, which can make two incentives of equal value stir different levels of consumption.  

Using blockchain for business that needs relevant loyalty programs can eliminate such unfair dealings through the transparency it delivers. Smart contracts can be applied to monitor the mechanisms of these campaigns. Through the openness of smart contracts, it is possible to notice if firms are providing irrational terms and conditions. On the other hand in case of public blockchain space, some unprincipled members may also attempt to participate and abuse the system. Determined scammers can also alter poorly designed gaming rules, and therefore, having transparent records shows the participants who are trying to misbehave clearly. 

Launching a successful blockchain loyalty program starts with the objectives of the campaign. Marketers can only engineer the right strategies and evaluate whether they are running their campaigns well only if they have set clear goals. In other words, true benefits of blockchain come to truly valuable and well planned loyalty programs.

The use of digital currencies and blockchain-based feature will give clients more flexibility with their loyalty points. Many loyalty programs restrict these points for specific purposes and redemption with their respective businesses. Contrary, cryptocurrencies are mutually interchangeable and can be transacted with other tokens or fiat money. If companies are not willing to create a universal digital loyalty token with other businesses, then they can settle on the use of interchangeable tokens. A study by Kaleido Insights shows that the interchangeability of these digital reward tokens is beneficial to both the companies running loyalty programs and the participants.  

The treatment of blockchain-based digital tokens as currency makes them far more flexible and interchangeable compared to loyalty points. Participants can easily exchange such a digital token with other cryptocurrencies or fiat money. That means real financial rewards. Such flexibility gives customers more choice on how they should use rewards, increasing the value of the loyalty campaign, and encouraging customers to shop more from the brand. Digital reward tokens can go even be used for such digital transactions as buying other products and paying for services from other companies because cryptocurrencies have value beyond the brand that issued them. The eventual result is a loyalty coin economy, which, when used more, increases in value. 

Besides, blockchain gamification boosts the outcomes of loyalty programs and minimizes expenses including lowering of the transaction costs. With blockchain technology, a business can provide loyalty campaigns that are transparent and trusted by participants. The transparency brought by blockchain solutions is essential in loyalty programs. 

Blockchain technology will also bring a more streamlined experience in loyalty campaigns. When businesses carry out over one loyalty campaign, it can be challenging to manage both the company and the clients. Lack of a streamlined client loyalty campaign causes missed opportunities, wasted points, and frustration. 

Decentralized systems

Forbes explored the possibility of using a blockchain-based method using a single cryptocurrency, like bitcoin, across several brands or businesses. This decentralized finance method makes the loyalty campaign easier to run and track, saving time, and adding more value to the participants. 

A decentralized network will further ensure that participants enjoy more flexibility and choice, which inspires them to spend more. The method is best suited for bigger businesses, multinationals (such as the Banana Republic, Gap, and Old Navy), or businesses that are willing to partner with those from a complementing sector (like an airline firm, and a hotel chain).

A decentralized approach represents the future and present of digital transformation to some customer loyalty campaigns. For instance, Singapore Airlines and Delta Airlines have launched a blockchain loyalty campaign, substituting their air miles with digital tokens that used for retail purposes.    

Digital ownership through blockchain gamification

Rewards from certain games and gamified campaigns create virtual assets. For video games, for example, items can be acquired by successfully finishing assignments or by conquering rivals. These digital items can be made accessible to a participant or tied to particular accounts. Nevertheless, “ownership” is determined mostly by developers’ rules. 

Because virtual items carry some form of utility in the games, most people are willing to pay for these items. The value of digital items is around $15 billion. Trading of these items has become a significant activity for many developers. Most of them forbid the exchange of virtual items for cryptocurrencies as they term it as a violation of their terms of service. 

Gamification features and blockchain technology are the main ingredients for marketplaces for the trading of virtual assets. This way, blockchain can enable virtual ownership.

Solutions that act as secure markets for trading digital items can enhance the virtual item industry and connect it with other sectors. Blockchain solutions can boost the market capitalization of this industry. 

Blockchain is redefining the ownership of virtual items and transform them into a kind of financial rewards for users. The technology is a means of creating distinctive identifiers for virtual items market. Developers and publishers hardly offer tools that would permit the safe and secure trade of virtual items in their marketplaces. These platforms employ blockchain and smart contracts that allow gamers to trade among themselves safely. 

Trustworthy and fair mechanisms

Gamification is all about engaging customers through new rules, risks, and reward systems. Unluckily, centralized authorities tend to come up with rules that are only beneficial to them. Blockchain technology compels businesses to design and follow the set rules and create equitable risk and reward mechanisms. Decentralized derivatives are some examples of this. CloseCross, one of Espeo’s clients is part of this trend. The use of cryptocurrencies even allows for gifts, like those from loyalty programs, to carry more financial utility for users. The concept of digital ownership also brings more value to customers’ rewards. Users can be confident that through such methods, all parties will benefit from gamified campaigns. 

According to a PwC survey, almost 70% of customers pull out from loyalty programs when it asks for personal details. This is logical, especially with the increasing cases of online identity theft. Blockchain can reduce such risks. Since anonymity is one of the primary features of digital currencies, participants might not have to provide their personal information. Or, if the need arises, blockchain can keep their details more secure.

Blockchain records are fully transparent and trackable, making it even hard for the execution of unauthorized transactions. The PwC study further established that more than 72% of loyalty campaigns are victims of scams and counterfeit sales to acquire loyalty points for purchases they never made. Using blockchain technology to customer loyalty campaigns would enable brands to track loyalty points in real-time and deliver incentives to their clients more effectively. 

Conclusion 

Blockchain gamification in other industries is possible with applications designed to borrow aspects behind the success of the gaming industry. With blockchain technology, other areas can exploit the winning traits of the gaming sector. As blockchain technology continues to disrupt every element of business and daily life, gamification is ripe to follow suit. Carrying out faster, smarter, and more flexible loyalty campaigns can create and retain happy customers. 

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Blockchain Entrepreneurship Financial Services Other

How blockchain loyalty points can save frequent flyer programs

Blockchain loyalty points could help consumers protect their frequent flyer points. Redeeming these rewards is often easier said than done. Up to 36 percent of frequent flyers say that airline loyalty rewards expire before they’re able to use them. 64 percent of airline customers also claim that airline frequent flyer programs are too complex for them to navigate. Of course, if the airline suddenly collapses, you also lose the points you worked hard to collect. We need to hold airlines accountable for their promises. Rolling out blockchain loyalty points could be one way to do just that. The immutability of blockchain systems serves as a model for how to improve frequent flyer programs.

Origins of frequent flyer programs

Frequent flyer programs encourage customers to stay loyal to the airline companies and prevent them from choosing competing carriers. Since there is very little difference in the underlying product, airlines have to come up with attractive perks to keep consumers coming back. These programs emerged in the early 1980s as a way to do just that. Airlines then would use a customer database to track miles flown and this birthed a reward system of a mile earned for a mile traveled. 

The trend spread and has now become a common marketing tool for many airlines. In theory, the programs offer a range of free flights, accommodation, and exclusive services such as a faster check-in. Members earn points for each flight depending on the length of the flight — the longer the flight, the higher the fare and the higher the point score. 

To redeem their miles travelers book tickets with their frequent flyer number. However, some issues exist that can make the process harder for customers. For example, airlines are notorious for blackout dates. These are peak travel periods where airlines raise prices around holidays or popular sporting events at destinations. Limited seat availability can also make airlines inflate seat prices. In a way, this not only makes it hard for customers to retrieve their loyalty rewards but can also cause them to forgo their rewards altogether.

Loyal customers deserve better and as pressure from low-cost carriers drives costs down, new ways to lure frequent flyers are increasingly important. One way to do this is to transform airline loyalty points into immutable digital assets with blockchain.

Blockchain loyalty points

If we look at blockchain as a way to protect digital assets, treating airline flyer miles as non-fungible tokens could help airlines keep better track of these points, and make it easier for consumers to spend them. We’ve already designed the blockchain architecture for a customer loyalty management company called Gabrotech. The Singaporean firm is revolutionizing loyalty points programs. With the issues facing traditional loyalty programs, blockchain is a perfect fix for these problems. Better transparency and security are some of the main advantages.

  • Ease of retrieval: with blockchain, customers can redeem their flyer miles more easily as opposed to the traditional method. The biggest issue customers have had with the existing method is the limited rewards. The added flexibility blockchain brings will enable them to redeem flyer miles easier, and in more ways including redeeming in installments. Additionally, blockchain tokens can be used across a wide variety of platforms. Instead of juggling different cards for different loyalty rewards, a system leveraging blockchain could allow consumers to switch between cryptocurrencies and even store tokens with ease. Customers will also be able to convert the cryptocurrency rewards into actual cash if they want. This doesn’t come with the old system.
  • Smart contracts:  a smart contract is a blockchain feature that helps two or more parties to digitally facilitate, verify and enforce their contract. In other words, they allow you to exchange anything of value in a transparent way while passing over the traditional need for a middleman. Blockchain removes the need to pay any middlemen and thereby saves the customer, and airline time and money. A smart contract is an automatic bind, it won’t let either of the parties to make changes to the contract without the permission of the other one. That’s why blockchain-based airline loyalty reward is transparent.
  • Security: blockchain is an algorithm that creates a rigid and time-stamped database of every transaction on it. This makes it easy for customers to follow every transaction. The rigid rules drastically reduce the chances of any kind of fraud.  

Airlines ahead of the blockchain curve

Singapore Airlines won the highly coveted first spot at the Startracks airline awards in 2018 for several reasons. From their impressive customer service, the beautiful airport to the magnificent cuisine served on its flights, they have proven themselves the absolute best at what they do. So, it was no surprise to see them top the list. In addition to all these, however, Singapore Airlines is the world’s first airline carrier to launch a blockchain-based airline loyalty digital wallet. The airline collaborated with KPMG Digital Village and Microsoft to come up with the blockchain-based solution they dubbed KrisPay. 

In a company press release, head of KPMG’s Digital Village in Singapore, Jan Reinmuller said, “with the blockchain-based digital wallet, it is a straightforward process for participating with merchants to connect with the program and for customers to make a purchase with their tokenized miles.” The process used in KrisPay is relatively simple to use. All airline customers have to do is download the KrisPay app and convert their KrisFlyer miles into KrisPay miles. Customers can then spend their loyalty rewards by scanning the KrisPay QR code at any merchants cooperating with Singapore Airlines. At launch, there were about 18 merchants available and the number has since increased. 

It works too, unlike in the traditional system where customers have to wait for their flyer miles to accumulate before being able to use them. With a simple scan, customers can use as little as 15 KrisPay miles to pay for purchases made with partner merchants. Even if a customer’s loyalty reward is not enough to book a flight, less than frequent travelers can convert and spend their points elsewhere. 

As shown above, blockchain has the potential to change the way companies structure loyalty programs. Singapore Airlines is by no means the only carrier adding the use of blockchain to its operations. Cathay Pacific and Air New Zealand have already followed suit in 2018. 

Conclusion

Blockchain loyalty points could make it easier for airlines to track, and attract consumers to their service. Additionally, reassuring frequent flyers that their digital assets will not go away will encourage them to actually use them. The high percentage of consumers that express frustration with their frequent flyer programs should spur airlines to act. Nearly 8 trillion flyer miles go unused, which should signal a breakdown in the service.

Soon, airlines still using the traditional frequent flyer programs to reward their customers lag behind tech-savvy carriers. They already are, but they may soon start losing customers to rival airlines that are using the better means blockchain offers to reward their customers.