We start at 6:00 am at the Vienna-Nord delivery base. The already presorted letters are further arranged according to the route sequence of the district. Today, mail carrier Daniel, who has been with the postal service for 17 years, takes me along to the Gro&szlig;feldsiedlung.

Once we&rsquo;re done, we head to the bus. After a few stops, the tour begins. We drop letters and parcels into mailboxes, exchange signatures for RSb items, and engage in conversations with the local residents. Daniel mentions that many people have no one but him and that his work carries a social aspect because of this.

After 4 hours and covering roughly 8 kilometers on foot, all deliveries are complete, and we head back to the delivery base. For me, it&#39;s time to log everything, impressions, photos, and notes, into a Miro Board.

Why all this? It wasn&rsquo;t just me out there as a mail carrier; UX/UI Designer Gjeneta Osmanaj from EBCONT in Liesing and Design Manager Jutta Doppelreiter from the <a href="https://www.post.at/" target="_blank">Austrian Post</a> in Penzing were also on the route. These observations marked the beginning of an initiative to enhance the software used by mail carriers on their handheld devices.

We are following the Human-Centered Design (HCD) approach, employing observation as a method in the initial &quot;Understanding&quot; phase. Shadowing helps us gain insight into people&#39;s daily lives, their tasks in various scenarios, the processes, and the challenges in this job. This knowledge will inform decisions in the subsequent design process.

Design is Science

In the following weeks, we&#39;ll progress through the additional steps of Human-Centered Design. All information will be gathered, categorized, assessed, and then prioritized. We&#39;ll create personas, visualize user flows, and evaluate the existing application using heuristics.

The analysis phase revealed that minimal adjustments to the user interface regarding color, consistency, and wording could significantly reduce the onboarding phase, particularly for career newcomers.

<ul>
	<li>Using colors makes the user interface more understandable.</li>
	<li>Consistent use of colors, components, and words makes it easier to comprehend, allowing users to reach their goals faster.</li>
	<li>Strategic UX Writing enables quicker scanning for keywords, contributing to more efficient usage.</li>
</ul>

With a clear focus on user-centric design and continuous improvement of user experience, we are confident that our insights will positively impact the mail carriers&#39; work and ultimately the satisfaction of our postal customers.

We look forward to the upcoming steps in our design process and aiding mail carriers in performing their crucial work more efficiently and user-friendly.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Efficiency through Good User Experience

Burning soles and tired, yet content. No, I haven’t run a half-marathon. I spent a day accompanying a mail carrier from my district on their route.

A day as a postwoman

Every day, the judicial authorities receive countless legal documents that are not assigned to a clear topic or case category, there is a lack of important information about those involved, and content or scans are sometimes summarized in documents randomly. However, judges and clerks need documents in a certain structure and designation so that they can work efficiently. In order to enable processing at all and to enable an exchange between courts, but also to control the work of the courts, files still had to be reworked, i.e. anonymized in order to protect personal rights.

All of this costs time and money and is intensive manual work!

Up to now, models for recognizing categories, entities, parties in lawsuits and patterns in legal documents required a fixed, form-like structure. In fact, those models did not cover the entire range of possible files that occur in legal relations. Data that appears in legal texts not only in tabular form, but also as continuous text or with images included, has not been adequately recorded yet.

For the Austrian Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ for short), the IT specialist EBCONT has therefore created and implemented an overall concept for the automated processing of legal documents in a number of use cases, which, after several partial implementations, will now be fully activated in autumn.

The groundbreaking automated anonymization of legal documents and especially of judgments developed by EBCONT is particularly worth mentioning, which will replace the current solution for Austrian courts in autumn 2021 in full expansion.

What was previously done manually and required a lot of time and resources, can now be done in a few moments after the successful implementation. Hence, it was also possible to digitize and anonymize over 1 million old or previously unprocessed judgments from all judicial authorities.

What made the project so challenging for EBCONT was that there were neither quality metrics nor 100% usable training data, namely for none of the intermediate information, but only data for &ldquo;blackened&rdquo; and &ldquo;not blackened&rdquo;, so the team had to create them through complex heuristics.

Both the BMJ and EBCONT expect notable improvements in data processing not only for judges, but for all those involved in legal proceedings, taking data protection standards into account.

Martin Hackl, Chief Digital Officer of the Federal Ministry of Justice: &ldquo;It is now important that we establish the processes. People and machines make mistakes, so we still have to create appropriate workflows for automated processes to be accepted.&nbsp;&ldquo;

Frederick Bednar, Data Analytics and Data Science Consultant at EBCONT can look back on many years of experience in the field of Natural Language Processing and semantic use cases: &ldquo;The BMJ values ​​our competence and has therefore fully relied on our extensive knowledge of both data science and machine learning. In the specific example of anonymization, we have gained valuable experience that a combination of several methods pledges to be the most effective solution, especially for highly complex domains. We are very pleased to have contributed to the full development of the anonymization of the BMJ&rsquo;s legal documents.&nbsp;&ldquo;

In autumn 2021, the Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ) will finally implement the overall concept developed together with the Austrian IT specialist EBCONT for the automated processing of legal documents and, in particular, their automated anonymization. This is a milestone towards the efficient processing as well as an improvement of the data protection standards of legal documents. The Austrian IT company EBCONT was able to professionally accompany the process as a long-term competent partner with extensive knowledge of both data science and machine learning.

EBCONT succeeds in LegalTech: how the combination of heuristic and AI methods can enrich legal documents

Johannes Litschauer, Managing Director of EBCONT, is proud of the clear statement to the Viennese night: &ldquo;We are a family company and, with our more than 600 employees, unite many cultures and diversities. Also this year we want to send a visible sign of solidarity with the global LGBTQ+ community during Pride Month. It is the time that for many people symbolizes hope for a colourful, diverse world without hate and discrimination&ldquo;, and he also motivates other tenants of the tower: &ldquo;It would be great if an even bigger rainbow on one of Vienna&rsquo;s icons, the Millennium Tower, could become possible if other leased companies from the Tower would also join.&rdquo;

The clear and widely visible sign of EBCONT is accompanied by a colourful LGBTIQ+ program. As a partner of Pride Biz Austria, the association for promoting the inclusion of sexual diversity in business and the world of work, the IT company was a guest at the Pride Biz Lounge and the AGRPO (Austrian Gay Professionals) Business Lounge and was able to present the planned activities.

For example, a PRIDE@EBCONT breakfast with company-internal initiators on the topic of &ldquo;drag&rdquo; and &ldquo;women: lesbian at work, privately and as a mother&rdquo; will be organized. Moreover the Austrian family business is offering its colleagues a variety of internal and external activities, goodies, participation in the Pride Run and much more. A company survey aims to bring more clarity to Ally&rsquo;s and more visibility and understanding for EBCONT&rsquo;s LGBTQ+ people. The campaign is rounded off in the EBCONT social media channels featuring important insights to the topic.

June is Happy Pride Month. And this year we are clearly flying the flag again.
Since the end of last week, just in time for the Rainbow Parade in Vienna, part of the EBCONT offices, namely the 34th floor of the Millennium Tower in Vienna, has been illuminated in rainbow colours.

EBCONT celebrates Pride and lets the Millennium Tower shine in rainbow colours

According to the Scrum Guide Scrum Masters are true leaders serving the Scrum Team and the organization. However the role of Scrum Masters is not always well defined. My experience shows that a lot of organizations have different definitions of what a Scrum Master should and could do. Quite often he/she is just seen as a secretary for the team (Scrum Secretary, Scrum Mom).

Over the past years I have been talking to colleagues, reading articles and discussing it in the agile community and I realized that it is not that easy to become a good Scrum Master and develop all the necessary skills. Therefore I am going to share a few insights that helped me develop my skills.

Over the past years I have been talking to colleagues, reading articles and discussing it in the agile community and I realized that it is not that easy to become a good Scrum Master and develop all the necessary skills. Therefore I am going to share a few insights that helped me develop my skills.

&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t stop the waves but you can learn to surf.&nbsp;[Jon Kabat-Zinn]

In our daily business working with people, teams and organizations in complex environments we use a lot of coaching techniques and interventions. However, sometimes it is not clear what intervention really helped the team. It&rsquo;s also not always clear what of our actions was helpful and what was misleading.

An agile team uses retrospectives to reflect and improve the way they work together. But what could a Scrum Master do to reflect his/her work and progress?

During my course to become a solutions focused coach with sinnvollF&Uuml;HREN (<a href="https://sinnvoll-fuehren.com/">https://sinnvoll-fuehren.com</a>) I created a journal for Scrum Masters to assist them with self-reflection and mindfulness.

The&nbsp;logbook for Scrum Master&nbsp;is a journal for Scrum Masters to reflect their way of working with agile Scrum teams and assists in developing their skills step by step respectively Sprint by Sprint.

You want your own Logbook for Scrum Masters? Download here:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ebcont.com/logbuch-scrum-master">https://www.ebcont.com/logbuch-scrum-master</a>

5. Self-reflection

&ldquo;The more you know yourself, the more patience you have for what you see in others.&rdquo;&nbsp;[Erik Eriksonl] 
&nbsp;

Patience and confidence are solution focused attitudes. As Scrum Masters are servant leaders and change agents using coaching techniques and interventions to support teams and organizations, Patience and Confidence is a strength that shouldn&rsquo;t be disregarded. Especially in situations when working with a new team.&nbsp;

Let&rsquo;s consider starting on a new project. The old project team already got to a certain degree of agility. However when working with a new team you have to bring a lot of patience. You can not just copy the way the old team used to work because the needed changes can not be applied overnight. Even though agile teams can not be compared to schoolchildren I still like the metaphor of a teacher who is helping and guiding the pupils for a while before starting with beginners again. Even in this situation a teacher needs a lot of patience and confidence to start with school children over and over again.

The comparison might not be the best. So let&rsquo;s have a look at tip 2. Most of the time agile teams already have some sort of knowledge about agility and especially about the way they are working together. Therefore a Scrum Master needs to balance own needs and the team needs to develop the team but also improve the own skills.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

1. Patience and Confidence

&ldquo;Problem talk creates problems. Solution talk creates solutions.&rdquo;&nbsp;[Steve de Shazer] 
&nbsp;

Following tip 1 I would like to talk about balance between the needs of the team and the Scrum Master&rsquo;s needs. I would like to show you a failure from my very own experience. 
&nbsp;

A while ago I was moving from one project to another. At this point of time I was just getting used to the role of Scrum Master and I was at the beginning of my Scrum Master career. I wanted to turn everything around and everything had to be the agile way I knew. I tried out a lot of different formats for retrospectives. By doing this I wanted to create my own little world. A world I have seen before in other projects. Additionally I was reading a lot of blog posts, following Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches on Twitter and I was just confused by all the different views and approaches. I just wanted to try out as much as I could. But in the end it did not work out. I forgot to focus on the team and therefore just put myself into the spotlight.

As Scrum Master and leader it is important to have a good balance and to be at peace with yourself. I believe only then you can help and support a team and an organization where they really have the need.

To get this balance you need to have the right attitude. In the agile world this is also called servant leadership.

One good tip I got a while ago is simply asking the team where you can help them as Scrum Master. This question is also an offer to the team and can be quite revealing because if the team is open for changes and they see their problems it shows you where you can support them.

Besides focusing on the team it&rsquo;s also important to focus on your own development as Scrum Master.

2. Your needs vs. Team needs

&ldquo;Um klar zu sehen, gen&uuml;gt oft ein Wechsel der Blickrichtung.&rdquo;&nbsp;[Antoine De Saint-Exupery]

Als Scrum Master ist es meiner Meinung nach wichtig, am Ball zu bleiben. Und die gute Nachricht ist &ndash; es gibt eine sehr gro&szlig;e Community zu diesem Thema, sei es auf Twitter, Blogs von anerkannten Scrum Master und Trainern sowie Konferenzen und Meetups.

Die Community bietet eine tolle Plattform f&uuml;r die verschiedensten Anliegen eines Scrum Masters. So kann man sich neue Ideen holen, Probleme bzw. Herausforderungen reflektieren und besprechen und einfach dazulernen. Denn ein Meister ist noch nicht vom Himmel gefallen und auch als Scrum Master ist ein lebenslanges Lernen essentiell.

Das Sch&ouml;ne an einer Community ist auch, dass man hier immer ein offenes Ohr f&uuml;r seine Anliegen findet und auch wenn es im Projekt mal nicht so rund l&auml;uft, sich verstanden und aufgehoben f&uuml;hlt. Das haben Communities mit vielen Agile Coaches und Scrum Master anscheinend irgendwie so an sich.

Mir pers&ouml;nlich haben die Meetups und Konferenzen sowie viele Blog Posts dabei geholfen, meine Perspektiven zu ver&auml;ndern und andere Blickwinkel einzunehmen. Denn in der agilen Welt gibt es nicht nur Scrum, sondern Scrum ist eines von vielen agilen Frameworks.&nbsp;

F&uuml;r mich war es auf meinem Weg zum Scrum Master und Agile Coach immer wichtig, das Thema Agilit&auml;t aus verschiedenen Perspektiven zu betrachten, um zu verstehen, wie alles zusammenh&auml;ngt. Denn neben Scrum gibt es da auch noch XP (Extreme Programming), Kanban etc..

4. Community

&ldquo;You can only see things clearly with your heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye.&rdquo;&nbsp;[Antoine De Saint-Exupery]

As Scrum Master it is important to stay on the ball. And the good news is that there is a big community for this topic, whether on Twitter, blog posts from well known Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches as well as conferences and meetups.

The community will offer you a perfect platform. You can get new insights and ideas, talk about your problems and challenges and reflect your own way of working with teams as Scrum Master. Simply said, it&rsquo;s about learning and developing your skills. No-one is born as a Master. Lifelong learning is essential.

The advantage of a community is that they are always eager to help and support each other.

Personally I have learned a lot by attending meetups and conferences, and reading all the various blog posts.

I also got in touch with people from the Lean and Kanban community. Agile is not all about Scrum. There is a lot more to it.

During my career it was always important to me to extend my knowledge in different ways with various approaches to understand how it all works together and where it&rsquo;s originally coming from.

So besides Scrum or even as alternatives to Scrum there are Frameworks like XP (Extreme Programming) and Kanban etc.

3. Community

&ldquo;Efficiency, which is doing the things right, is irrelevant until you do the right things.&rdquo;&nbsp;[Peter F. Drucker]

 
Even though you are a Scrum Master you shouldn&rsquo;t limit yourself to the Scrum framework. It&rsquo;s quite helpful to think outside the box and learn about other frameworks and methodologies. Scrum is just one of many approaches to tackle certain problems in certain situations. Be prepared to use the right tools for the right situation. 
&nbsp;

In this case I have learned a lot from XP (Extreme Programming). But also Kanban has changed my way of thinking.

Additionally to all agile methodologies and frameworks I got the most insights from coaching. When we see a Scrum Master as a servant leader in modern leadership then coaching is indispensable.

As Scrum Master we are working with people, teams and organizations in complex environments where cause and effect is not always clear. And we do not want to be a traditional leader micro-managing everything. It&rsquo;s more about empowering people and supporting them to find their own ways.

It&rsquo;s definitely not ideal believing to know everything the best. Therefore just go and ask the team what they need. Leading by questions!

4. Scrum, XP, Kanban, Coaching  etc.

“The Scrum Master is accountable for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide. They do this by helping everyone understand Scrum theory and practice, both within the Scrum Team and the organization.”
[Scrum Guide, 2020]

5 Tips for Scrum Masters


kununu hat auch heuer zusammen mit dem Wirtschaftsmagazin trend und dem Marktforschungsinstitut Statista die besten Arbeitgeber &Ouml;sterreichs 2022 ermittelt. Damit z&auml;hlen wir zu den Top IT-Dienstleistern &Ouml;sterreichs &ndash; wir sind sehr stolz!!

EBCONT was voted one of the top IT service providers in Austria and is therefore one of the best employers in Austria.

kununu, together with the business magazine trend and the market research institute Statista, once again determined the best employers in Austria in 2022. This makes us one of the top IT service providers in Austria &ndash; and very proud!

Johannes Litschauer, Managing Director of EBCONT, is delighted with the award:

&ldquo;I am very pleased that we, as a relatively young family company, have been recognized as one of the 300 top employers in Austria for the third time in a row. Especially in the current challenging situation and the reorganization of working life in the hybrid office, it is all the more important to have satisfied employees and to be able to rely on them!&rdquo;

EBCONT was voted one of the top IT service providers in Austria and is therefore one of the best employers in Austria.

EBCONT was ranked TOP employer 2022 for the third time in a row and one of the top IT service providers in Austria!

Information technology is still predominantly male today, according to the Association of Austrian Software Industry, V&Ouml;SI, the proportion of women in the entire IT sector is only around 18%. Just under a quarter of companies are taking action to attract more women to IT jobs.

Being a woman and IT have been closely linked for more than a century: It was female programming pioneers and not their male colleagues who were mainly found among the first programmers. Grace Hopper, for example, was one of the pioneers of computer science, working with the first computer, the Mark I, at Harvard. She developed the first programming language that worked with colloquial words.

A year ago, EBCONT women founded the Women@EBCONT initiative: with events, keynote speeches and partnerships for colleagues from all departments and locations.

Since 2021 we have also been partner and sponsor of https://thenewitgirls.com, a team of industry experts led by the two founders Astrid Wieland and Doris Schlaffer, which connects women in the IT industry across job titles. The #ThenewITgirls give women of different origins, companies and professional fields the opportunity not only to network in regular meetups, but also a stage to present themselves. That&rsquo;s what we support, too!

We regularly invite inspiring speakers to our Women@EBCONT Breakfasts to tell us how they would like to make a difference or what they have already achieved. Such as Verena Eugster, inventor and founder of https://female-future.com, the largest community for women in Austria, dealing with job opportunities, the future, innovation and careers. At the last Female Future Festival 2021 Vienna, 12 EBCONT women prominently represented our company.

Or Katharina Krombholz &ndash; tenure-track faculty member at CISPA in Saarbr&uuml;cken and head of the Usable Security Group &ndash; who excelled with her &ldquo;Why I love informatics&rdquo; and Maren W&ouml;lfl, http://www.msolution.at, who gave motivating and helpful tips on the topics of women in business, integrity, courage &amp; big thinking.

Another internal Women@EBCONT initiative is also in the starting blocks: EBCONT Lunch &amp; Learn for all women in EBCONT. We plan to have impulses, Q&amp;As or just an inspiring lunch together.

Johannes Litschauer, Managing Director of EBCONT, takes a clear position and is confident: &ldquo;I am pleased that we are sending such a strong female signal both internally and externally. We currently have a 12% share of women here at EBCONT, but in IT sales in particular we are intensively looking for women who want to come on board with us.&rdquo;

Women in the IT industry must be encouraged, so we as a company want to send a clear signal and help women to become more empowered.

We support strong Women@EBCONT


Under the EBCONT flag, YOU ARE EPIC is a new advertising platform that is actually much more than that and also makes the world a little better!

Especially in these times, the topic of donations is increasingly in focus. And with it the question of how donations can be optimized in such a way that everyone involved benefits. YOU ARE EPIC have created a solution for this that is as simple as it is ingenious: a new advertising platform that brings together gaming fans, advertisers and charity companies &ndash; and makes the world a little better in the process. A very likeable approach, which is driven by a small core team in a start-up manner under the flag of the IT service provider EBCONT.

The idea generator Georg Hertner (IT Consultant at EBCONT in his main job) describes it like this: &ldquo;What has been on my mind since my childhood is the question of how &ndash; in the moment of the highest feeling of happiness &ndash; you can do good things for others (fellow people). These feelings of happiness are so-called &ldquo;epic moments&rdquo;, where you slowly realize &ldquo;this is going very well right now&rdquo; or when you realize a sudden turn of events, &ldquo;wow, I can still do it!&rdquo; Such a feeling can only be increased, if you let others participate, if you can help others &ndash; that is the fulfillment, you could almost say it is a basic need and fills us with happiness&hellip;&quot;

Why is that?

In numerous, intensive discussions with customers, gaming developers and charity organizations, processes were optimized, technical hurdles were identified and solved and the platform was transferred to the beta phase.

EBCONT&rsquo;s core team has developed a new, accurate advertising format using future digital technologies (AI, machine learning, etc.), which &ndash; in addition to the benefit for consumers and advertisers &ndash; by redirecting advertising money to meaningful projects &ndash; also has a benefit created in the real world.

YOU ARE EPIC recognizes the epic moments, the special game successes, in the course of the gamer&rsquo;s game. In this positive mood immediately after the epic moment, the appropriate advertising message is played out and at the same time the satisfaction of the social need &ldquo;to do good&rdquo; is made possible.

It&rsquo;s exciting for branded companies because it enables consumers to have an intensive and positive experience with a brand, which can be used to increase brand loyalty. Advertising that is not only tolerated but accepted by all sides; Advertising has seldom been so likeable.

YOU ARE EPIC goes AI

On Wednesday, August 24th, 2022 the next big step: YOU ARE EPIC presented its concept to a broad specialist audience for the first time at Gamescom in Cologne. And so much can already be revealed, the response was great!

We rock the Gamescom 22

The team around YOU ARE EPIC was able to convince over 30 potential gamers and publishers of the charity concept to generate donations with EPIC Moments (these are special game moments in which the gamer has achieved something really great). Some gaming studios were so enthusiastic about the concept that they would have liked to have integrated the service immediately.

Back in Austria, it&rsquo;s now time to work through the valuable contacts and take the next step towards our vision of &ldquo;making the world a little bit better with EPIC Moments&rdquo;.

<a href="https://www.youareepic.net/">https://www.youareepic.net/</a>

Inquiries please directly to&nbsp;<a href="mailto:georg.hertner@ebcont.com">georg.hertner@ebcont.com</a>

Under the EBCONT flag, YOU ARE EPIC is a new advertising platform that is actually much more than that and also makes the world a little better!

YOU ARE EPIC at the Gamescom 22

Sustainability means much more than just waste separation or e-mobility: the term should also include the employees. The goal is to bind motivated employees to the company for a long time &ndash; and this is only possible if they feel comfortable in their workplace.

&quot;Let&#39;s talk about Health@EBCONT&quot; is the apt title of the EBCONT Health Initiative 2022 with various focal points such as mental, physical and environmental health. Also diversity is inextricably linked to health. After 2 years of pandemic and in view of the ongoing global crisis situation, it was clear to us at EBCONT that we had to focus on health in 2022 in order to be able to better support our colleagues individually in complex situations.

And EBCONT, as a leading IT company, shows how all the exciting content relating to the 3 pillars of physical, mental and environmental health really does reach all colleagues, whether on site or remotely in the home office or in a customer project.

A wide range of offers such as webinars, EQS lectures, 1:1 coaching and the famous EBCONT Hausbankerl, which pick up employees directly where they need us most: at home or to support our customers.

The communication tools are also diverse. EBCONT&rsquo;s internal Google Chat glows with the latest news, the website and the intranet are important touchpoints, as well as internal newsletters and monthly lounge formats. External exchange is also an important part of communication, whether by means of the newly created external newsletter or via networks with experts with whom EBCONT works in the campaign.

Health can also be hybrid

The year 2022 was opened with &quot;Mental Health&rdquo;.

With tips, interesting facts and offers of help for mental self-protection in times of crisis in our internal communication channels, a lecture by Dr. Gerald Grundschober, specialist in psychiatry and free 1:1 coaching offers with internal coaches. For more than 2 years, the regular &quot;EBCONT Hausbankerl&quot; has also been a remote fixture for colleagues who have problems and are looking for solutions.

More than 600 people from almost 40 nations in a company mean a lot of diversity, so an &quot;Unconscious Bias Workshop&quot; for EBCONT&#39;s leaders was also the starting point for internal diversity task forces for each of the 6 diversity dimensions. For a more respectful interaction in the team. The year continued with &ldquo;physical health&rdquo;: An &quot;all-in&quot; health check-up organized internally by the company, webinars on vital home office and joint exercise during the business run or yoga. However, wellbeing also includes the environment. As an IT company, we can achieve a lot by turning the relevant screws. We have now embarked on this journey together with the sustainability expert Nunu Kaller.

3 pillars for more health

In September 2022, the company was once again voted one of the top 15 most family-friendly companies in Austria, and has just received the &quot;kununu Top Company 2023&quot; award again, making it one of the five percent most popular employers on kununu.

&ldquo;I am very pleased that we, as a relatively young family company, have been recognized as one of the most family-friendly companies in Austria. For EBCONT, our colleagues come first and are our most important asset, so it is all the more important to have satisfied employees and to be able to rely on them!&rdquo; says Johannes Litschauer, managing director and co-owner of EBCONT.

&ldquo;Sustainability means much more than just waste separation or e-mobility: the term should also include the employees. The goal is to bind motivated employees to the company for a long time - and this is only possible if they feel comfortable in the workplace.&quot;

&quot;Let&#39;s talk about Health&quot;: for even better and more relaxed teamwork within EBCONT!

The EBCONT health initiative is very well received

Sustainability with a focus on our people

Let’s talk about Health@EBCONT

As a further highlight, the EBCONT UX/UI team hosted a meetup on November 10th 2022 in the Millennium Tower on the subject of &ldquo;Accessibility&rdquo;. More than 60 guests accepted the invitation and thus made the event, which was designed as an eco-event, a complete success.

The kickoff was designed by Fredrik Fischer, DisAbility Consultant at myAbility, and introduced the topic to the viewers, who were there both on site and online. In summary it can be said: people do not have a disability, but are prevented from interacting with, for example, an interactive system. Once you have internalized this as a developer or designer, it quickly becomes clear that it is not the responsibility of the user to change anything. On the contrary, it is up to UX/UI designers and developers to design applications in such a way that nobody is prevented from using them.

&nbsp;

Accessibility Event@EBCONT

In further impulses, Roland Kalusa (UX/UI Designer) and Anne-Victoria Meyer (Frontend Developer) from EBCONT showed tips &amp; tricks for the design and implementation of barrier-free apps and websites.

The first lecture dealt with the importance of accessibility in mobile use and how not only people with disabilities can benefit from it. Roland treated design criteria for perceptibility, usability and comprehensibility, tools and characteristics of the respective platforms were presented, as well as a short overview of the mobile WCAG criteria, standards and best practices. The new POST app served as an example, where our EBCONT design team had played a key role in its design.

Anne-Victoria again showed how developers can develop forms with low barriers, for example so that forms can be filled out with both the mouse and the keyboard. Or with which attributes in HTML changes such as error messages can be recorded by a screen reader. The UX/UI expert also strongly advocated using native HTML elements such as &lt;select&gt; instead of developing components for input fields yourself. The standard elements already provide many features out of the box and are also barrier-free.

All in all, exciting learning for the participants.

The fact that so many attended the event shows how important digital accessibility is. We at EBCONT hope that we have made a contribution to breaking down barriers in interactive systems in the future.

With new knowledge and more awareness of accessibility, it will be a top priority for us as the EBCONT team to ensure more inclusion in the upcoming projects.

<a href="https://www.myability.org/">https://www.myability.org/</a>

&nbsp;

What we can do better in the implementation

Accessibility means the freedom from barriers to media, e.g. the Internet. This means accessibility and usability for everyone, regardless of a possible disability.

Unfortunately, there is still a big difference between what is required in terms of accessibility in tenders in the IT environment and how it is then lived in everyday project work. There is often a lack of knowledge, but also of empathy on the part of the people involved, which means that accessibility is neglected during implementation.

In Austria, 18.4% of the population is affected by a permanent disability. Therefore, as an implementation partner in projects, it is our responsibility to ensure that everyone has sufficient access to websites, portals or apps. Therefore, in November 2022, the EBCONT UX / UI team focused on this with different measures.

The first day of a two-day expert training course by myAbility, a social enterprise that is committed to an equal opportunity and barrier-free society, was about creating awareness for people with disabilities. A lot was also said about the right wording, which is an important part of treating each other with respect.

An open exchange with people with disabilities and a &ldquo;Sensing Journey&rdquo; helped the participants to gain an insight into their daily activities. An expert who was born with a cataract showed which tools she uses to consume analogue and digital content and which information helps her to find her way around. Another expert, who suffered from a mental illness during his student days, described very vividly the effects this has on his life and how the sensitive use of colors in user interfaces has a positive effect here as well.

&nbsp;

Training for EBCONT UX/UI designers and developers

The second day of the training focused on the design and development of low-barrier user interfaces. In the course of this, our EBCONT website was checked for accessibility with Braille displays and screen readers. Based on the valuable input obtained, various solution approaches were discussed in the team with myAbility.

&nbsp;

Full EBCONT focus on digital accessibility with experts, training and lectures.


What accessibility has to do with IT

What is important in these challenging times is cohesion, empathy and mutual helpfulness. We also try to align ourselves with this in our daily activities at EBCONT.

It&#39;s now a year since the war broke out in Ukraine and we are trying to help where we can. For us, as a company with colleagues from almost 40 nations, it is an affair of the heart.

In order to help those in need in Ukraine quickly and without any bureaucracy, we support CARITAS with five-digit donations, most recently with &euro;10,000 for the Kharkiv region.

We provide EBCONT real estate for accommodation - we are currently accommodating several families, and last year we tried to bring some everyday Austrian life closer to the personal destinies and people of our country with an in-house German course for refugees belonging to EBCONT members.

Employees from Ukraine receive time credits to help friends and relatives, and we support them with administrative, school or other complex issues.

The EBCONT intranet contains important links to aid organizations as well as FAQs on legal issues relating to benefit entitlements, health insurance and e-cards.

Our top jobs can be found on the following platforms:

<a href="https://ebcont.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b194013911fbcc5fd83c003d&amp;id=0b3001351c&amp;e=d4c985f29d" style="text-decoration:none">https://austrianjobs-for-ukraine.at/</a>

<a href="https://ebcont.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b194013911fbcc5fd83c003d&amp;id=0b3001351c&amp;e=d4c985f29d" style="text-decoration:none">https://www.jobs-for-ukraine.at/&nbsp;</a>

<a href="https://ebcont.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b194013911fbcc5fd83c003d&amp;id=83c250cb04&amp;e=d4c985f29d" style="text-decoration:none">https://www.ukrainejobs.at/</a>

Because at EBCONT it&#39;s the people counts that count!

&nbsp;

Ukraine – It's the people that count


Together with the business magazine Trend and the market research institute Statista, kununu has determined the best employers in Austria in 2023. This makes us one of the top IT service providers in Austria - and thus very proud!

Since 2015, companies that have received particularly good ratings have been awarded the &ldquo;Top Company&rdquo; seal at kununu.com. As of this year, however, only the most popular around five percent of all employers on the rating platform receive this award - based on ratings from their own employees and applicants.

Johannes Litschauer, Managing Director of EBCONT, is delighted with the award:

&quot;It makes us very proud that we have again received the award as &quot;Top Company 2023&quot; from kununu this year. We see this as confirmation of our path as an employee-oriented company that attaches great importance to a good working atmosphere and fairness in the workplace. Especially in the current challenging times and the reorganization of working life in the hybrid office, it is all the more important to have satisfied employees and to be able to rely on them!&quot;

We were awarded the kununu Top Company seal again- this means that we are among the top 5% of the most employee-friendly companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland!


We did it again! EBCONT is again top employer of 2023.

In 2023 we are celebrating International Women&#39;s Day again, there are events, talks and offers for and by women everywhere. 
And this day is very controversial in itself! Do women still need an International Women&#39;s Day? I&acute;d say yes!&quot;

Why?

<ul>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Because many women don&#39;t have the courage to step forward and assert themselves.</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Because at EBCONT we have many women from other cultures and countries where being a woman is not as &quot;simple&quot; and safe as it is in Austria.</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">And because we can use this day for reflection and ask ourselves questions as:
	<ul>
		<li style="list-style-type:circle">What else do we need as a woman?</li>
		<li style="list-style-type:circle">What should we leave behind?</li>
		<li style="list-style-type:circle">Who can help us?</li>
	</ul>
	</li>
</ul>

However, all the women&#39;s events around March 8, 2023 do not hide the fact that equality between men and women is far from being achieved. There is still a lot to do!

Iit is no longer enough to become stronger in the community and to support others, we must also start looking for allies: this brings us to the topic: Male Allyship.

We have to get together as well as look for male sponsors at work who push us. Men need to be brought on board so that they can understand how we tick and act and help us take an important step forward on our path to equality.

One of THE feminists and women&#39;s rights pioneers, the incomparable Frida Kahlo said: 
&quot;Laughter has made us invincible, not as those who always win, but as those who never give up.&quot;

&nbsp;

Women@EBCONT Day 2023

A company is only as strong as the managers who steer it. For this reason, the recent appointments of CFO (Chief Financial Officer) and COO (Chief Operating Officer) at IT service provider EBCONT are crucial for the future of the family-owned company.

As the new CFO, Claudia Fischer brings an impressive track record and a wealth of experience that will support the Austrian IT company EBCONT in the years to come. With a background in finance, taxation and economics, she has been leading EBCONT&#39;s finance department for over 4 years and together with her team is responsible for both strategic and operational national and international finance and accounting, including bookkeeping, invoicing, time recording, payroll, controlling, taxation and SAP.

Markus Stangl in his role as the new COO is a true EBCONT veteran and has been on board since 2007, just a few years after the company was founded. The IT expert is responsible for the operational structure of the IT company and focuses on managing day-to-day operations and human resources, improving business processes and customer management, and ensuring that EBCONT teams work seamlessly together to maintain as well as further improve the customer experience for which the family-owned IT company has been valued for many years.

The appointments of Claudia and Markus signal another important step in the growth of the EBCONT group and are a clear sign of the appreciation and trust the company has in its colleagues from within its own ranks.

Johannes Litschauer, CEO of EBCONT: &quot;Only with satisfied employees who can also develop accordingly will we be able to consolidate our position as market leader in the long term and continue to exist as a healthy and family-oriented company. And by encouraging colleagues to share ideas and perspectives, the company will be able to respond quickly to changes in the market and increase its competitiveness.&quot;

EBCONT group - top 3 IT service provider in Austria - strengthens with immediate effect with Claudia Fischer as CFO and Markus Stangl as COO the management CEO trio around Johannes Litschauer, Alexander Deles and Leopold Machacek.



EBCONT group - a new era of corporate management

For the first time, the Institute for Management and Economic Research (IMWF Austria) has surveyed the public reputation of Austrian consultants.

A total of around 1,850 companies were surveyed. The popularity of Austrian consultants was measured using indicators available online, such as performance and comments on rating platforms or social media, and over 1.2 million data points were evaluated using AI. Attention was paid to the different perspectives of reputation, such as product quality, innovative strength or service orientation of the consulting firm. The &quot;Top Consultant&quot; award is only given to those companies that can demonstrate a top rating in their category.

EBCONT has made it to the top IT companies in our industry! We are proud of the award TOP IT Consultant 2023!

Johannes Litschauer, Managing Director of EBCONT is pleased about the award:&nbsp;

&ldquo;It makes us very proud that in the first year of the existence of the award &quot;Top Consultant&quot; we have already been awarded as one of the best IT companies by the IMWF in cooperation with the daily newspaper Kurier. We see this as confirmation of our path as an employee-oriented company that places great value on a good working atmosphere and fairness in the workplace, as well as on honest and transparent communication both internally and externally.&quot;

&nbsp;

There are many external consultants, but what about their reputation and who are the best?


EBCONT named Top IT Consultant 2023

"Customer Experiences in the Spotlight" is the new motto at EBCONT. For many years, companies like Schrack Seconet or KSV1870 have been working in partnership with our teams. The secret to success lies in sustainability and tailor-made solutions.

Customers in the spotlight – Successful together for many years

June is Pride Month, and at EBCONT this year it will be accompanied by various activities, such as a Pride Breakfast with Luan Pertl on the topic of &quot;gender diversity&quot;, participation in the Pride Run as well as in the Pride Biz Networking Lounge and internal educational work on various topics related to diversity and Pride.

Pride month is immensely important for the queer community. When rainbow flags appear everywhere and more people dare to show themselves in public, it&#39;s like the drummers who stand on the sidelines during races and give the runners strength for the next kilometers with their beats, or the spectators who cheer you on with signs and shouts so that you don&#39;t give up.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Carina Skladal, co-initiator of the EBCONT Diversity Initiative, is proud of what has been achieved so far: &quot;I am happy that today we are closing the month of June with this very special EBCONT Pride Boot Lounge and hopefully we can carry this vibe beyond June. We will set a sign for acceptance, respect and equal rights today on the Danube Canal. Also, the many bright colors should provide visibility.&quot;&nbsp;

Johannes Litschauer, Managing Director of EBCONT, strongly supports the clear statement: &quot;We are a family business and unite many cultures and diversities with our more than 600 employees. We want to offer our colleagues a diverse home without hate and discrimination.&quot;

&nbsp;

Visibility was also the keyword for one of the evening&#39;s highlights. One of Austria&#39;s most successful drag artists graced the EBCONT Pride Boot: Philisha Conditioner is not only a regular in Vienna&#39;s bars and clubs with her energetic dance performances, but also conquers the stages at Pride celebrations all over Europe. The interview with two EBCONT colleagues was unvarnished and to the point, showing what outing, legislation and threats to the community are all about and where we can work together for more respect and acceptance.

But nothing works without the help and open support of Straight Allies, as they also exist in EBCONT, who show understanding and solidarity for the rights and equality of LGBTIQ+ people (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) and actively fight against discrimination and work for the recognition and acceptance of LGBTIQ+ people in society.

EBCONT Pride team goes on board.

EBCONT Pride Boat 2023

Das EBCONT Pride Team ging an Bord und feiert Diversity und Respekt für alle.

EBCONT Prideboot 2023

Pride ship ahoy!" was the motto on the Vienna Danube Canal this Thursday. This week, the MS Vindobona became the exclusive venue for the monthly lounge event of the Austrian IT company EBCONT.

EBCONT Pride Team goes on board!

In addition to the IT headquarters in the Millennium Tower, EBCONT currently has another 9 locations: one office each in Vienna South, Linz, Salzburg, Graz, Hard in Vorarlberg, Saarbr&uuml;cken in Germany, in the Big Apple, and also brand new in Pinkafeld and St. P&ouml;lten, where we have just moved into our first office. 
 
Our location strategy is also an organic one. Employees who relocate, clients who need our help locally or long-standing alliances with partners underpin the respective decision for a new location. And our teams are enthusiastic. 
 
In our series &quot;The EBCONT Location Tour&quot;, we would now like to invite our locations and the people on site to appear before the curtain. 
 
The first location is Graz, managed by Patrick Iszovits and Christoph Eder and home to 25 colleagues and 3 four-legged friends. 
&nbsp;

Spot on Graz

EBCONT Team

And the team is harmonising perfectly! In addition to the day-to-day job, lunch breaks are held together, bouldering, hiking or a tobogganing tour in winter are on the agenda.

But let the pictures and words speak for themselves!

Interested in becoming part of the team? 
Click&nbsp;<a href="https://web.ebcont.com/karriere/jobs">here</a>&nbsp;for the current vacancies.

EBCONT has grown organically and healthily over the last few years. New colleagues from over 40 nations are part of the team.
But new things are also being created regionally and internationally.

Spotlight on our EBCONT locations


Thomas Mantsch, proud site manager, and EBCONT CEO Johannes Litschauer were pleased about the many visitors at the new EBCONT hub at Marktplatz 1.

In 2008, the first &quot;real Pinkafelder&quot; came on board at the up-and-coming IT family business, then based in Neulengbach, Lower Austria, and many more were to follow. Currently, we count more than 20 colleagues who either come directly from the Burgenland hub or have successfully graduated from the HTL Pinkafeld and have thus left a sustainable and positive footprint at EBCONT for many years.

&nbsp;

So sustainable that we opened our first branch office in sunny Burgenland in September of this year, so that we can be even closer to our future applicants and bring our active colleagues their professional home to their doorstep.

Thus EBCONT stands with 9 locations!

<a href="https://web.ebcont.com/unternehmen/Pinkafeld">https://web.ebcont.com/unternehmen/Pinkafeld</a>

September 8th marks a new era in EBCONTs history. Our new location in Pinkafeld, Burgenland, was ceremoniously opened in bright sunshine in the city center of this traditional school town with politicians, representatives of the local HTL and FH, media, partners and lots of guests from the EBCONT family.


EBCONT IT opens in beautiful Pinkafeld!


The award makes a decisive contribution to improving the situation of LGBTIQ+ people in business and the world of work in Austria. Austrian companies and organizations are increasingly recognizing the benefits of a diverse workforce and inclusive communication. Pride Biz Austria presents the Meritus award every two years to highlight initiatives in this area. The award was presented for the first time in 2009. It recognizes companies and organizations for their outstanding diversity management in the area of sexual orientation and gender diversity. This year&#39;s Meritus trophies were presented on November 9 in the presence of WK&Ouml; President Harald Mahrer at the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber in Vienna.

&nbsp;

On November 9, 2023, three winners from a record number of 39 submissions were honored at a festive gala. And EBCONT more than deservedly took home the victory in the "large company" category.


&quot;We are delighted with the record number of submissions for the Meritus and it clearly shows the importance of the &#39;sexual orientation and gender diversity&#39; dimension in diversity management. After all, individuality is the greatest asset that employees can bring to the table and must be recognized accordingly. Many have already recognized this and we would like to thank all those who submitted entries and our supporters for their commitment,&quot; says Astrid G. Weinwurm-Wilhelm, President of Pride Biz Austria.

Main prize &quot;Large Company&quot; deservedly goes to EBCONT Group GmbH 
But what were the criteria for winning?&nbsp; 
EBCONT has a Diversity Charter, which is implemented by a dedicated Diversity Team, and 6 Dimensions Teams are constantly working on a wide range of services for all EBCONT colleagues. In addition, the company is strongly committed to competence building on diversity-related topics such as unconscious bias and active exchange with the LGBTIQ+ community and also offers coaching and anonymous advice.

Straight Allies as a support and multiplier 
But nothing works without the help and open support of straight allies, such as those at EBCONT, who show understanding and solidarity for the rights and equality of LGBTIQ+ people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) and actively fight against discrimination and campaign for the recognition and acceptance of LGBTIQ+ people in society.

Carina Skladal, co-initiator of the EBCONT Diversity Initiative, is proud of what has been achieved so far: &quot;I am delighted that our work and the tireless energy that drives our EBCONT Diversity Team have been recognized and awarded in this way.&quot;&nbsp;

Leopold Machacek, Managing Director of EBCONT, is delighted:&nbsp; &quot;Winning the Meritus, probably the most important award for outstanding commitment in the dimensions of sexual orientation and gender diversity, is on the one hand confirmation that we have embarked on a sustainably good path in diversity management, but much more of an incentive to act even more confidently as a pioneer in the economy and beyond.&quot;

&nbsp;

EBCONT goes Meritus

Meritus Award 2023

EBCONT wins the Austrian Diversity Award Meritus!


Sustainable partnerships through tailored solutions: The ongoing collaboration with renowned clients such as Schrack Seconet or KSV1870 paves the way for the development of individually customized solutions. These solutions are characterized by outstanding technological expertise to meet specific requirements. The result of this customer-centric approach is sustainable partnerships of lasting value.

One of EBCONT&#39;s longest client partnerships is with KSV1870. The company, also known as Credit Protection Association of 1870, is one of the oldest credit reporting agencies in Austria. It provides credit assessments and debt collection services to assist businesses in evaluating the creditworthiness of customers and in managing debt and collections. KSV1870 develops software for its specialized areas as well as for highly specific systems that require particular support. In this regard, EBCONT provides valuable assistance.

Gerhard Wagner, Managing Director of KSV1870, explains what makes the collaboration successful: &quot;We have been working successfully with EBCONT for two decades and can recommend this collaboration. When an Austrian company is facing significant internal changes, especially in the technical and organizational aspects, I can highly recommend EBCONT: the company, due to its impressive development over the last 20 years, has the necessary expertise, size, and resources to successfully overcome any challenge. At the end of the day, what matters is success and results, and the EBCONT team has proven this in our long-standing collaboration.&quot;

KSV1870 recommends EBCONT and values the expertise

Gerhard Wagner, Managing Director

KSV1870

As a company within the Securitas Group Switzerland, the austrian company Schrack Seconet specializes in security solutions and systems. The range includes fire protection, access control, building automation, and communication systems, delivering innovative products and services to enhance the safety and efficiency of buildings, including fire alarm systems, voice evacuation systems, video surveillance systems, and access control systems.

&quot;Thanks to the collaboration with EBCONT, we have expanded our knowledge in the field of digital applications, web applications, and mobile device apps. It was crucial for us to work with a partner who enables us to grow in the development of these topics,&quot; says Thomas Kern, Head of PM &amp; CoE at Schrack Seconet, expressing confidence in EBCONT&#39;s performance.&quot;

And Gerlinde Scholler, Head of PMM, emphasizes the interpersonal aspect in the years-long collaboration: &#39;Collaboration, communication, and interaction with each other are as important as having someone you can rely on. It is this professional and highly structured approach combined with creativity and the joy of exchanging ideas with us as clients that makes it so special. The result is tangible transparency and enthusiasm in our joint projects. And we&#39;re not just speaking from our perspective as a customer: when our counterparts also enjoy the process, then everyone benefits from the collaboration.&#39;&quot;

Schrack Seconet values creativity and transparency

Thomas Kern, Head of PM and CoE and Gerlinde Scholler, Head of PMM

Schrack Seconet

"Customer Experiences in the Spotlight" is the new motto at EBCONT. For many years, companies like Schrack Seconet or KSV1870 have been working in partnership with our teams. The secret to success lies in sustainability and tailor-made solutions.


KSV1870 and Schrack Seconet – Customers in the spotlight

The presentation clearly conveyed the following message:&nbsp;

EBCONT is the go-to partner for multichannel publishing solutions and e-learning. For years, we have been successfully building e-learning, content processing and content delivery apps with the integration of semantics and AI for leading publishers and also support them in the introduction and customizing of a CMS. We rely on proven tools such as MarkLogic, SiteFusion and the Fonto Editor.

Exciting presentations by EBCONT&#39;s Frank Blau, our AI expert Gregor Sieber and publishing professional Andreas Hubmer provided inspiration and a fantastic opportunity to discuss the future of digital publishing.

&nbsp;

Frank Blau, Principal Data Architect at EBCONT, fascinated in his impulse around the historical parallel between Gutenberg and modern CMS and explained how CMS is changing industries and labor markets and how companies can use CMS by unleashing the power of structuring and restructuring with CM.

Gregor Sieber, Executive Vice President EBCONT, showed in his presentation how customers can use the Publishing AI Hub&nbsp;solution, customers can use sustainable AI tools in various phases of the content value chain while retaining control over the data, how AI-related processes can be orchestrated and automated or how AI solutions can be deployed on a managed infrastructure. The EBCONT team relies on proven tools such as SiteFusion CMS, MarkLogic/Progress and OpenAI for a modern, AI-powered publishing approach.

For years, we have been creating digital solutions for publishing interactive exercises for our customers in the educational publishing industry. We build on the DITA XML standard and combine SiteFusion and Fonto to create a customized solution for your needs, both in the editorial process and in publishing, Andreas Hubmer, Head of EBCONT Germany and proven publishing professional, was able to convince in his presentation.

One highlight was certainly the presentation of the &quot;dpr digital publishing award 2023&quot; in the category &quot;Product/Business Model&quot; to Thieme for the software medical product &quot;foscoMED&quot; developed by EBCONT according to Thieme specifications!&nbsp;

The dpr Digital Publishing Report thus recognizes &quot;foscoMED&quot; as an outstanding project for the digital transformation of media. The award ceremony took place on October 18, 2023 at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Thus, the entire EBCONT team was able to record the time invested at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2023 as extremely positive and successful and looks forward to continuing these promising relationships and shaping the future of publishing together.

&nbsp;

It was a very successful three days for EBCONT and the SiteFusion ProConsult team at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2023 last October. The invitingly designed exhibition stand was besieged by numerous interested guests every day and it was great to see how our company's solutions and services aroused so much interest among the public.


EBCONT rocks at Frankfurt Book Fair 2023

However, the sensible use of generative AI in conjunction with the secure use of company data is one of today&#39;s key challenges. Above all, it is essential to process your own information securely and to retain data sovereignty. On the other hand, the results should be meaningful and not misleading. In addition to its own developments, EBCONT also relies on collaboration with its partner network. Elastic&#39;s generative AI (GKI) approach, for example, offers a tool for enriching previously created generative models with private data in a secure and GDPR-compliant manner. &quot;It is crucial to have implementation partners who both understand the underlying mathematical methods and have a holistic view of the customer&#39;s business processes,&quot; says Gregor Sieber, Executive Vice President and Head of Innovation at EBCONT.

Sensible and secure

But given the wealth of possibilities, how can I as a company find out whether AI can help me in practical use?&nbsp;

There are simple ways to check whether cloud-based ideas work quickly and conveniently as a test version and can be expanded on a large scale later. Nevertheless, we need to ask ourselves which model is best suited to the problem. Hybrid approaches could be a good solution here, especially because traditional machine learning models work well in self-managed systems and can deliver reliable results.

This means that in such an approach, both cloud-based technologies and traditional, self-managed systems are combined to take advantage of both approaches. This can mean, for example, that certain parts of a system are hosted in the cloud, while other parts are operated locally or in in-house data centers. This combination enables a flexible and optimal solution that utilizes both the scalability of the cloud and the reliability of traditional systems.

How can AI help?

However, AI should not be considered in isolation, but as part of an overall system that is scalable on the one hand, but as user-friendly as possible on the other. This is the only way to ensure that the use of AI in a company is supported and supported by all users, and EBCONT&#39;s team of experts can help with this, be it in machine learning and data topics, UX/UI, architecture or project management and business analysis.&nbsp;

AI as part of an overall system

In the manufacturing industry, for example, simple recommendation systems (so-called recommenders) lead to a significantly more precise target group definition for products. The supply chain and its relationships can be mapped using graphs so that the effects of a change in the supply chain are immediately visible and measures can be taken or simulations run.

For banks and insurance companies and in the field of cyber security, graph-based solutions help to uncover previously unknown patterns to prevent fraud or hacker attacks.&nbsp;

Combining previously trained language models with company data opens up new possibilities for seamless and automated documentation and optimized searches in archives, leading to significant improvements in the use of existing data and documents in service, sales, marketing and customer support.

In the healthcare sector, the use of synthetically generated training data will play a greater role in terms of data security, especially when it comes to not having to use sensitive data directly, but being able to simulate it and still obtain reliable results.

Last but not least, the public sector is increasingly benefiting from the practical use of artificial intelligence. The Federal Ministry of Justice&#39;s solution, which won the eAward 2022 in the field of &quot;Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence&quot;, enables courts to exchange information efficiently and transparently. At the same time, data protection and citizens&#39; personal rights are guaranteed (Learn more: <a href="https://www.bmj.gv.at/ministerium/aktuelle-meldungen/Einsatz-von-k%C3%BCnstlicher-Intelligenz-bei-der-Anonymisierung-von-Gerichtsentscheidungen--Justiz-gewinnt-eAward-2022.html" style="text-decoration:none">https://www.bmj.gv.at/ministerium/aktuelle-meldungen/Einsatz-von-k%C3%BCnstlicher-Intelligenz-bei-der-Anonymisierung-von-Gerichtsentscheidungen--Justiz-gewinnt-eAward-2022.html</a>).

AI as a solution in many business areas

Learn more about our range of AI services.

<a href="https://www.ebcont.com/leistungen/ki-big-data-und-suche" target="_blank">https://www.ebcont.com/leistungen/ki-big-data-und-suche</a>

Since the introduction of Chat GPT at the latest, digitalization and artificial intelligence in particular have arrived in the middle of society and have thus become tangible and applicable for the general public without dedicated AI knowledge.

EBCONT shows the benefits of AI in practical use.


The new branch also brings us closer to our customers, helping us to further improve our services and offer customized solutions for the individual needs of our local customers. We are delighted with this expansion and look forward to a successful collaboration in Lower Austria&#39;s capital.

As the site manager, Klaus Gruber clearly sees the synergies: &#39;At EBCONT St. P&ouml;lten, we open our doors to new talents and are in close proximity to educational institutions such as universities of applied sciences and technical high schools. This strategic location allows us to bridge the gap between theory and practice by reaching out to dedicated applicants from these academic institutions.

We look forward to providing creative minds the opportunity to unfold within our dynamic team and collaboratively craft innovative solutions. Welcome to EBCONT St. P&ouml;lten, where the future is shaped!

Synergies wherever you look

Das IT Unternehmen eröffnet in St. Pölten

EBCONT in St. Poelten

Alongside branches in Vienna, Graz, Linz, Salzburg, Vorarlberg, Germany, Pinkafeld, and New York, we are now also present in the capital of Lower Austria for our clients, candidates, and, most importantly, for our EBCONT team on-site, bringing their professional home right to the doorstep.

We are excited to announce the inauguration of our 11th branch, this time in St. Pölten. With this step, we enhance our local presence and bring ourselves even closer to our customers in this flourishing region.


EBCONT IT opens its doors in St. Pölten

Artificial intelligence has become widely known in society since the emergence of ChatGPT at the latest and is on everyone&#39;s lips. From an IT consultant&rsquo;s point of view, a rising number of requests are mainly related to chatbot solutions, but we do try to show them the variety of different AI solutions. As a matter of fact, not every use case requires a generative approach. However, you could combine different strategies in order to get the best out of it.&nbsp;

A greater challenge arises, for example, from more complex structures in a service task that are stored in many different documents and requests. For example, I may have terms and conditions, specific instructions, questions about specifications or pricing, special requirements, all of which may be in different languages. In most conventional cases, you first have to spend a few hours screening the documents and summarizing the valuable and relevant findings. Accordingly, scaling is also limited, both in terms of time and content.

The &ldquo;traditional&rdquo; approach of a Machine-Learning-based solution would be the creation of a multi classifier in order to tag the requests accordingly. This already works well in many situations, but depends on a well-prepared and well-trained (and maybe even pre-labeled) training data set. The paradigm of Zero Shot Learning tries to break with that as prior training is not considered as mandatory anymore. However, when it comes to usable solutions for a business client, you will prefer a solution approach that is not too generic, but fitting to your specific needs.&nbsp;&nbsp;

For the implementation of enterprise solutions, LLM alone therefore only offers limited benefits, as previous examples will prove that have not been consistently integrated. Despite of recent studies showing that the bigger LLM could be more than just a stochastic parrot, leading to the situation in which the evidence is mounting that there is a basic understanding in these models (see &ldquo;Random Graph Theory&rdquo;), in terms of enterprise-ready solutions, you cannot rely on the randomness in connecting the dots. Hence, you will need a combination with semantic knowledge and hard facts.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Especially in the field of language processing with NLP and the now popular generative models, the methodology of so-called &quot;Retrieval Augmented Generation&quot; (RAG) promises to enrich the strengths of Large Language Models with fact-based knowledge and therefore deliver accurate results. This means a contextually relevant transfer of information. Despite existing for almost 5 years now, RAG technology (along with graphs) is one of the recent hot topics as it includes relevant sources that could be added to the response to a query. Hence, custom information will be integrated into a LLM without requiring another tedious retraining.

Another concern is to be found in privacy &amp; security, but also transparency. On the one hand, you would like to have a proper and clear evaluation of the quality of your output, but without revealing your company data. It is also necessary to clearly define what happens to your data and how it is processed and stored. This also requires a proper implementation of your RAG technology.

Diverse AI Solutions: Beyond Chatbots

There are a couple of platforms that might help you with solving all of these issues. Among the tools leveraging this technology, Squirro has emerged as a particularly notable application. Let&#39;s explore the multifaceted applications of RAG and take a closer look at how Squirro is making a difference.

Following out-of-the-box capabilities are provided by Squirro:

<ul>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Pre-Trained ML Models, ready to use</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Pre-Built Data Connectors for an easy data integration</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Pre-Built Chat and Analytics Dashboards</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">An End-to-End Automation Workflow (also visualized)</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">No-Code Configuration &amp; Integration</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Full Platform Observability</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Enterprise Security &amp; Access Control</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">SaaS / Managed Service Options</li>
</ul>

From a technology perspective, Squirro is a preferred solution for RAG not only because of its ability to use company and external data at scale, but also because it respects enterprise grade security by using Access Control Lists, Encryption and ISO standards.

Generative AI generally plays its strength for an enhanced self-service as it offers users an accurate full-answer automation and enables AI conversations with website content. Responses are AI-formulated but with high quality, which is important in preventing escalation. Cost reduction is a vital part of the service automation process. All of these topics (and more) are covered by the Squirro platform with its easy-to-handle UI.&nbsp;

Once a project is created (either empty or by choosing from a template), one could select data sources, load and enrich data. The integration process is ensured by different connectors and with a few single clicks you will be able to create a proper connection. Possible data sources could be e.g. from web, social media, a Python SDK, but also data from Jira could be indexed. As Business Intelligence tools are included, too, we could use a bidirectional approach for using aggregated reporting data in a workflow as well.&nbsp;

Introducing Squirro - Out-of-the-Box Features for Enterprises

The AI studio offers training and publishing of machine learning models in terms of tagging, classification, entity extraction or trend detections.

Another mentioned advantage of Squirro is the convenient structure of creating automated pipelines, which minimizes &ldquo;forgetting&rdquo; important data preprocessing steps.

&nbsp;

As the output is created, results will also show relevant sources of how the response was processed. This overcomes LLM hallucination by providing the evidence. This built-in feature comes in very handy and is quickly adjustable.

One final feature I&rsquo;d really like to point out is the concept of communities used in Squirro. We could specify the interests of the users, whether they shall relate to clients, products, countries or a custom entity. Hence, the content will be personalized and optimized for each user.

So what are possible applications for this solution and who is to be targeted? The audience is broader than you think. For once, you could enhance your search engines not only based on keyword matching, but also on the context and nuance of the user&rsquo;s query. Content creation and summarization is a key element of these models. Let&rsquo;s also not forget Market Intelligence for businesses as vast amounts of data is available to provide insights and forecasts, making sense of discovering market trends and customer feedback.

But also Customer Support, Service Automation (think about support ticket systems and service desks!) are glad if an AI-based tool would help them classify their incoming work accordingly, as this lowers their effort of directing the question to the correspondent topic and person responsible. A detailed support by retrieving and synthesizing information is therefore possible on the fly, significantly improving user experience. As for SquirroGPT for Service Management, employees will have the ability to instantly find relevant information from a knowledge base using natural language.

Bigger companies with different departments would profit from an automated classification which reduces the resolution time (benchmarks of Squirro state over 95% accuracy in ticket attribution and reduction of resolution time by more than 30%).&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

<h3>Free Webinar Invitation: Explore Squirro for Service Insights 
 
To sum up, we are looking forward with confidence to the new challenges we could face with the help of tools like Squirro. In case of interest, I&rsquo;d be happy to also invite you to our webinar where I will show you the benefits of using Squirro for Service Insights. I&rsquo;d also like to recommend checking out the trial version to get a better overview.&nbsp; 
 
Event: Boost Your Service Management to New Heights with Generative AI 
19.03.2024, 09:00 CET - ONLINE 
Register now:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eventbrite.at/e/free-webinar-boost-your-service-management-to-new-heights-with-genai-tickets-845617824677?aff=EBCONT">Click here</a> 
&nbsp;</h3>

<h3>Links:</h3>

<h3> 
<a href="https://www.ebcont.com/en/services/ai-big-data-and-search">AI, Big Data and Search</a></h3>

<h3><a href="https://squirro.com/service-insights">Automated Service Management With Generative AI</a></h3>

SquirroGPT: Next-Generation Service Management

In a world shaped by ChatGPT and artificial intelligence, businesses encounter complex challenges in handling service tasks. This article not only illustrates how companies can address these challenges but also introduces an innovative solution with RAG and SquirroGPT. Explore how Squirro not only masters complex structures in documents but also ensures data privacy and transparency.

How to automate your Service Management with RAG and SquirroGPT

The &quot;Top Salary Satisfaction Austria 2024&quot; ranking presents an impressive selection of companies distinguished by outstanding salary satisfaction among their employees. The top ten reflect the diversity of the Austrian work landscape, with the intriguing observation that service, human resources, internet, and IT industries perform particularly well, placing multiple companies in top positions.

The results extend beyond a simple ranking, providing a detailed insight into various industries that reflect the diversity of the work environment in Germany and Austria. This breakdown allows both employees and companies to analyze and compare salary satisfaction in specific sectors systematically.

For job seekers, the ranking serves as a valuable resource to identify potential employers in their preferred sector who not only offer financial recognition but also provide a supportive work environment.

Psychology in the Workplace: Salary as a Key Factor for Increased Satisfaction and Productivity

For the &quot;Top Salary Satisfaction Ranking 2024,&quot; clear quantitative and qualitative selection criteria were used. Only companies in Germany and Austria with an existing kununu employer profile, at least 20 reviews (of which five were in the last twelve months) in relevant categories, and at least five listed job titles were considered. A total of 6,550 companies in Germany and 1,049 companies in Austria were selected.

Qualitative criteria required a score of at least 3.5 stars in relevant kununu categories, a salary position above average for at least 50 percent of the stated job titles, and a recommendation rate of at least 70 percent.

Johannes Litschauer, Managing Director of EBCONT, is delighted with the confirmation:

&quot;We are extremely proud to be among the top ten companies in Austria in the &#39;Top Salary Satisfaction Ranking 2024&#39; by kununu and the S&uuml;ddeutsche Zeitung. We see this as confirmation of our focus as an employee-oriented company that places particular emphasis on a positive work atmosphere and fairness in the workplace.&quot;

How was salary satisfaction determined?

Looking for attractive employers? The ,,Salary Satisfaction” ranking by the German SZ Institute in collaboration with kununu provides guidance on which companies truly impress their employees. kununu, in partnership with the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), has identified the top companies in Germany and Austria with the "Top Salary Satisfaction 2024" ranking. We are proud to be among Austria's top 10!

Where also salary satisfaction matters! 
EBCONT in the Salary Satisfaction Ranking Top 10!

With extensive BSI C5 Type II certification as well as comprehensive certifications according to ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISAE 3402 Type II, IDW PH 9.860.1, and PCI DSS, plusserver meets the highest requirements for data and operational security. The recently sealed partnership with EBCONT enables companies to access a reliable European and secure cloud infrastructure and securely migrate and operate existing applications.

A standout feature of the provider is its dedicated 24/7 support available in both German and English. This additional support ensures that customers receive the best possible service at all times. 
The cooperation between plusserver and EBCONT is a significant step in offering top-notch and data-sovereign cloud solutions to German and European businesses that meet the highest security standards.

Korbinian Kreitner, Manager at plusserver, is enthusiastic about the new partnership with EBCONT: &quot;We are excited to expand our partner ecosystem with an established IT service company like EBCONT. The combination of our cloud platforms and EBCONT&#39;s application expertise is an exciting package for the digitalization of all businesses. &#39;Elastic on pluscloud&#39; is also a great kickstart to our collaboration and creates anticipation for the next joint projects.&quot;

Christopher Anderlik, Executive Vice President at EBCONT, adds: &quot;plusserver and EBCONT are united by the individual customer&#39;s desire for reliable, certified, and scalable enterprise cloud solutions on an independent, European, and data-sovereign cloud. This makes us perfect partners and, combined, the ideal solution for customers with special requirements.&quot;

We are pleased to announce that plusserver, one of the leading German cloud providers, is now a partner of EBCONT. plusserver operates four of its own data centers in Germany and stands for European sovereignty and data independence.


German cloud provider plusserver new partner of EBCONT


Every organization faces challenges that could be addressed if they were able to harness the full potential of the data within their grasp.&nbsp;In most organizations, there are sources of data that would create actionable insight if they were joined together in a common analytic context. Frank Blau, Data Architect and IT consultant at EBCONT points out that this situation is not abnormal, but that it should be addressed in an effective Data Architecture strategy. 
 
In today&#39;s data-driven world, organizations are inundated with large amounts of data flowing in from multiple&nbsp; sources. This creates a series of distinct problems that are commonly faced:

<ul>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Data is stored in different systems (for perhaps good reasons) that do not communicate with each other and cannot be used to uncover insights that their alignment would reveal.</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Data is arriving in such high velocity that it cannot be consumed effectively by business stakeholders</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Data arrives in different formats and structures, and more than one approach is needed to understand and consume them.</li>
</ul>

This is where modern data architecture steps in, offering a framework to bring together disparate data into a cohesive structure that can fuel analytics, business intelligence, and the power of (Gen)AI.

Data is not always in the most convenient location to deliver the insight that it may reveal. This may be due to regulatory or even good design principles. Being able to address the needs for holistic insight requires understanding the fundamental requirements driving those location choices and how best to enable the data to contribute to the desired analytic outcomes. Modern data architecture supports several approaches to dealing with these concerns:

Data Federation: the creation of virtual views across multiple sources of data to offer the user a unified perspective.

Data Modeling using Modelstorming:&nbsp;Rather than monolithic waterfall models, application of Agile techniques to data modeling, focused on process outcomes, can produce more adaptable and functional data models. Model storming is a collaborative process where cross-functional teams brainstorm and iterate on data models and analytical approaches. By bringing together diverse perspectives and expertise, organizations can uncover novel insights and innovation.

ETL and ELT processes: Both of these are processes for extracting, transforming and loading data from one system (typically transactional) for use in another system (typically analytic). The difference between them is where and when the transformation is occurring; In ETL it happens before you load the target system and in ELT it happens after.

Data Hubs: A data hub is a centralized repository designed to facilitate the storage, management, integration, and distribution of data from various sources. It serves as a central point in an organization&#39;s data architecture and allows for significant improvements over a data federation approach.&nbsp;

While delivery of a system-level data architecture model is still a core activity in the overall data management process, it has limitations that are exposed as teams begin to work with it&nbsp; in agile processes. When one team is working holistically to realize a product (the data model) over the entire architecture, and the developers are working on discrete stories, features and sprints, there is a mismatch in goals and activities that is not effective or productive. In order to accommodate this (necessary) evolution of the modeling process, we have embraced the iterative techniques of agile development in order to better align with these principles. Iterative processing involves a cyclical approach to data analysis, where insights inform subsequent iterations of data modeling and analysis. This iterative approach enables organizations to adapt to changing business requirements, refine their analytical models, and uncover deeper insights over time.

The process to deliver this goal is called modelstorming. This is a collaborative effort between the data architects, developers and importantly, the users of the data architecture. It is a workshop-based approach that strives to deliver a joint understanding between all relevant parties. These participants should be able to deliver the following inputs:

<ul>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Participate&nbsp; in discussions about&nbsp; business processes.</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Identify key elements of processes to be recorded and measured.</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Describe data related to the processes being discussed.</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Collaborate on a consensus for the goals and outcomes of the project</li>
</ul>

While there should still be well-considered system architecture and data management artifacts, the deliverables for the data modeling team will also be more discrete data models, sometimes just at the level of a single inter-application process, such as an API interface or message queue. These component artifacts should also be consistent in form and content with the broader data modelling deliverables. Examples of iterative modeling outputs include:

<ul>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Business Event and Modeling diagrams (also known as BEAM) that uncover and document discrete business processes and events.</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Hierarchy Charts to describe relationships between dimensional attributes</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">An event matrix that describes the relationships between events and dimensions</li>
	<li style="list-style-type:disc">Data mart schemas that describe business-facing perspectives for consumption</li>
</ul>

 
From Silos to Synthesis: Conquering Data Fragmentation the Data Hub Pattern

Fragmented and Siloed Data One of the primary hurdles organizations face is the existence of data that may provide more insight when joined with other data in the broader landscape. Departments often store data in isolated systems, leading to fragmented information and inhibiting cross-functional insights. Silos can hinder collaboration, innovation, and ultimately, the ability to derive meaningful value from data. For example, one system such as a web platform may contain the analytics used to derive customer intent, while another ERP system may contain the transactional activity for your customers. Without synthesizing these disparate data sources, it is difficult to understand the quantitative relationship between intent and purchasing. In another example, there may be incoming data related to patient status that is generated by machines and sensors. Naturally this data is used operationally for the monitoring of patients, but if it is brought into a data architecture where it can be analysed across a broader population (with appropriate regulatory compliance), there may be opportunities to uncover treatment modalities that offer better outcomes for more patients.

Crafting the Data Lifecycle: Modeling, Extracting, and Transforming 
At the heart of modern data architecture lies data modeling. This involves designing a blueprint that defines how data is structured, stored, and accessed within the organization. A well-designed data model provides a common language for stakeholders and ensures consistency and accuracy in data interpretation. ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) and ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) processes play a crucial role in data integration. These fundamental practices involve extracting data from various sources, transforming it into a consistent format, and loading it into a centralized repository or data lake. By automating these workflows, organizations can streamline data ingestion and preparation, enabling faster insights. 
 
Data federation has emerged as one solution to break down these silos. By creating virtual views of data across disparate sources, organizations can access and analyze information seamlessly. This approach fosters agility and flexibility, allowing for real-time insights without the need to physically consolidate data into a single repository, which can be a considerable time and cost savings. It should be noted that many popular tools such as PowerBI and Tableau, allow you to materialize this approach directly within the visualization tool, including transformations, aggregations and joining to multiple sources simultaneously. While this virtual approach can work well when your data is relatively co-located, the weakest link in your data chain will ultimately determine the quality and performance of the system, making this an approach that is often unsuitable for tasks such as building novel applications that should make use of such harmonized data.

Data Hub: The Centralized Nexus for Actionable&nbsp; Insights 
One emergent approach is the development of a data hub, where multiple services and repositories are combined into a single point of innovative interactions. &nbsp;This data hub serves as a centralized nexus for storing, managing, and accessing integrated data. It acts as a single source of actionable truth,&nbsp; providing a unified view of the organization&#39;s data assets, regardless of format or schema. While the data hub is not a replacement for a data warehouse, it may be delivered as a means to collect and conform complex source data that may be arriving in different formats, granularity and velocity.&nbsp; By leveraging a data hub&rsquo;s ability to deliver harmonized data at scale, organizations can simplify data management, improve data quality, and empower users with smart data mastering and self-service analytics capabilities.&nbsp; High-performance data hubs can also be deployed as a component in a hybrid architecture, offering a best-of-breed solution between the federated data, data mesh and data warehouse platforms.&nbsp;

EBCONT has demonstrated considerable success delivering data hub solutions across a broad range of markets, platforms and architectures. We offer the ability to collaborate on a deep dive analysis of how your business requirements can inform an intelligent decision about how this approach can fit into your data management strategy.

Driving Innovation: Iterative Modelstorming

Disconnected data and common data models

While there are often good reasons for an organization to separate data into different tiers of storage and access, many times these tiers and their artifacts become an impediment to a holistic analytic perspective. Understanding these processes and roles and creating a data management strategy is at the heart of an effective data architecture to mitigate this. Being able to understand the ways that data can become disconnected and how to bring it back into a performant conformed perspective would be a key deliverable of your architecture. Starting with collaborative data modeling or modelstorming, and adopting appropriate features like iterative processing, ETL/ELT and data hubs are fundamental building blocks for addressing these challenges.

Frank Blau explains: &ldquo;Bringing together a customer&#39;s disconnected data into a common data model and data access layer is crucial for analytics, business intelligence, and to harness the power of (Gen)AI. Data architecture is the practice of deciding how to build this data model, and with what tools. And that is what we at EBCONT can help.&rdquo;

And Gregor Sieber (Executive Vice President / Head of Consulting and Innovation at EBCONT) delves deeper into best practice :&rdquo;One of our customers in the finance and regulatory space faced the challenge of needing to access data stored in a large number of IT systems whenever they wanted to roll out a new web-based customer product, which created a lot of overhead and duplicated dependencies. As parts of the data were inconsistent, it was also a danger that the validation logic for this data would become inconsistent between the different customer products. By moving to a data hub approach, we were able to centralize the data mastering approach and provide a single, consistent, and scalable API for all new customer products. This has greatly accelerated the creation and roll-out of new products and improved the governance on a data and processing level, which is an essential advantage for organizations in the finance space.&rdquo;

For more information please contact <a href="mailto:gregor.sieber@ebcont.com" style="text-decoration:none">gregor.sieber@ebcont.com</a>.

Summary

Straddling the line between the ambitious visions we see in the media and the reality of delivering actionable data insights can feel like navigating a maze. EBCONT is here to tackle some of the hurdles you might face in today's IT world.
In this series, we're diving deep into the trenches, shedding light on the real-world challenges and presenting practical solutions. Whether it's taming unruly data sets or optimizing your IT infrastructure, EBCONT has a roadmap to guide you.

Unlocking Data Unity: Strategies to Tackle the Disconnect Dilemma

With the upcoming Accessibility Act 2025, which is based on Directive 2019/882 &quot;European Accessibility Act&quot; (EAA), the discussion around alternative texts for images is gaining importance. This law, which comes into effect on June 28, 2025, obliges website operators and companies in the media, education, and book sectors to make their digital content accessible to everyone.

Background

Alternative texts are short descriptions that explain the content of an image. They are used in HTML and other document formats and appear when the image cannot be loaded or when, for example, a screen reader reads the image for users with visual impairments. These texts should be brief, concise, yet informative to best support the users. Tags, on the other hand, are keywords or phrases assigned to an image to categorize it and make it searchable in search engines or media archives.

&nbsp;

What are Alternative Texts and Tags?

Generating such image descriptions, especially for large amounts of existing data, represents a considerable effort, prompting many organizations to consider using AI to automate this process at least partially. However, there is a high demand for quality.

Where is the Challenge for Organizations and Companies?

The investigation results make it clear that AI solutions for alternative texts and tags are a highly sensible method. The right models can automatically generate correct and meaningful results. However, it must be emphasized that no model delivers error-free results, which is why manual control of the results remains necessary. Despite these limitations, machine learning models offer an efficient and useful solution for complying with the Accessibility Act.

This conclusion aligns with the view of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, which is also convinced that AI is a suitable solution for complying with the Accessibility Act (Source: https://www.boersenverein.de/beratung-service/barrierefreiheit/faq/#accordion--42).

&nbsp;

Conclusion

Given the rapid development of multimodal generative AI models and, as seen in the test cases, the suitability of different models for various scenarios, it is advisable to make the invocation of a specific AI model interchangeable. This generally means setting up a processing infrastructure for your own data where different models can be controlled via configuration or modularity. Typically, a generic pre- and post-processing of the data is necessary (e.g., reading, format conversion, writing metadata back, etc.). Additionally, model-specific processing steps may be required. Due to the development of the models, it is advisable to build the infrastructure in such a way that tests can be conducted easily and a high degree of automation is present. It is important to ensure that manual control by humans can be carried out with minimal effort.

&nbsp;

 Architectures for Using AI for Alternative Texts and Tags in an Enterprise Context

Against this backdrop, we at EBCONT conducted a comprehensive comparison of various artificial intelligence solutions. We examined leading commercial large-language models (LLMs) like GPT-4 Vision by OpenAI and Claude-3 Sonnet by Anthropic. We also considered open-source models like LLama and out-of-the-box cloud services like Azure Computer Vision and AWS Rekognition. All these systems were tested with the same media assets to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of each model and identify the suitable AI solution for specific use cases.

&nbsp;

The data used had different levels of complexity. We analyzed images with and without text and people in various qualities, sizes, and formats, including photographs, drawn images, and generated content. The evaluation was partly carried out on behalf of customers using copyrighted data from EBCONT customers. Below, we provide examples using freely available content.

Analysis

This image was described with varying precision by different models. Alternative texts from Azure Computer Vision, such as &quot;A tower in the water&quot; and &quot;Church tower in calm waters,&quot; are correct in content but should be more informative to describe the image sufficiently in detail.

Open-source large-language models like LLava generally describe images correctly but occasionally produce faulty descriptions. For example, in an image showing bright green trees, the incorrect description &quot;yellow bushes&quot; was generated: &quot;The image shows a small white tower with a red tip standing in a quiet lake. Behind the tower are mountains with green and yellow bushes.&quot;

Alternative texts from commercial large-language models provided appropriate and concise results: &quot;An old church tower with a pointed roof rises from a lake, surrounded by wooded hills and mountains under a partly cloudy sky.&quot;

The tags generated by the AI solutions, such as &quot;bell tower,&quot; &quot;lake,&quot; &quot;nature,&quot; and &quot;mountain,&quot; were all accurate.

&nbsp;

Example 1: Photo

The peculiarity of this image is that it contains text, which should be included in a good image description. Our analysis showed that out-of-the-box services and open-source models often struggle with Optical Character Recognition (OCR), leading to alternative texts like &quot;A light box with text on it&quot; or &quot;A bright light panel with the text TAKE HIS AY, 0 E T!&quot;. Commercial LLMs like GPT-4 and Claude-3, on the other hand, showed significantly fewer problems in this area, providing more accurate descriptions: &quot;A light panel bears the inscription &#39;MAKE THIS DAY GREAT!&#39; in colorful letters. The background is blurred and in bright tones.&quot;

For this image, precise tags like &quot;text,&quot; &quot;electronics,&quot; &quot;display panel,&quot; and &quot;sign&quot; were created by the various AI solutions. However, some models also returned incorrect tags like &quot;number&quot; or &quot;cell phone,&quot; most of which were generated by open-source models. Commercial services like Azure Computer Vision and AWS Rekognition provided not only the most accurate but also the fewest erroneous tags.

&nbsp;

Example 2: Photo with Text

Images like this one, which have increased complexity, led to less precise and sometimes incorrect results from the tested AI solutions. It was noted that out-of-the-box cloud services often provided inadequate descriptions like &quot;A cartoon of a boy and a girl&quot; through generalization. The best results for complex images were achieved by LLMs. Although open-source models delivered quite good results here, this study again showed that commercial LLMs provide the best results: &quot;A cartoon of two children with speech bubbles showing various ways to factorize the number 990. One child seems to be explaining or teaching, while the speech bubbles show various factorization equations.&quot;

Despite the increased complexity of the images, the AI solutions still returned appropriate tags such as &quot;cartoon&quot; and &quot;illustration.&quot;

&nbsp;

Example 3: Image with Text

The analysis of this comprehensive comparison showed that artificial intelligence is a suitable solution for creating alternative texts and tags. Significant differences in the accuracy of various AI models emerged, especially in the alternative texts. Some systems were particularly good at handling photographic content, while others were more efficient at processing drawn or generated images. However, the key factors were the complexity and text content of the images.

Simple images were mostly correctly described by all tested AI solutions, albeit with varying levels of detail. For images with text or more complex content, the study showed that only generative language models (LLMs) could provide adequate alternative texts. The study concluded that commercial LLMs such as GPT-4 Vision and Claude-3 Sonnet achieved the best results.

It is important to mention that all generative LLMs occasionally produced inaccurate or faulty alternative texts. However, the study showed that this occurred significantly less frequently with commercial LLMs than with open-source models.

Another aspect of LLMs is that they sometimes fail to generate alternative texts. This happens when one of the content filters is activated, preventing the creation of an alternative text. For example, GPT-4 has filters for &quot;hate,&quot; &quot;self-harm,&quot; &quot;sexuality,&quot; and &quot;violence.&quot; This study concluded that these filters are sometimes configured too sensitively. For example, in an image of a woman sleeping in bed, the &quot;sexuality&quot; filter was mistakenly activated, and no alternative text was generated.

The generation of tags produced satisfactory results for most images through various AI models. For higher complexity, Azure Computer Vision proved to be the best solution for our media assets, as the error rate was the lowest.

Results

A comparison of currently available tools and methods by Niklas Großmann.

Accessibility & AI: Generating Alt Texts for Images with LLMs? 

Innovation and Expertise Under One Roof

Our strengths lie in areas such as strategy and consulting, enterprise software development, UX/UI design, data integration, quality assurance, DevOps, and IT operations. EBCONT stands for creative and customized solutions precisely tailored to our clients&#39; needs, from planning to successful implementation.

New Home in Salzburg

With our locations in Vienna, Graz, Linz, St. P&ouml;lten, Vorarlberg, Germany, Pinkafeld, and New York, EBCONT is now also represented in Salzburg. This expansion brings us closer to our clients and talents on-site. Salzburg, Austria&#39;s cultural capital, becomes another hotspot in our network.

Top Service On-Site

Close to the customer and regionally rooted: The team led by Salzburg site manager and IT expert Benjamin Beer serves clients in and around Mozart&#39;s birthplace, offering the advantage of close, local collaboration.

We are, of course, also looking forward to applications from the region! Learn more at <a href="http://www.ebcont.com/karriere" rel="noreferrer" target="_new">www.ebcont.com/karriere</a>.

Salzburg, June 19, 2024 - EBCONT, a major player in the Austrian IT services industry, continues its success story by opening a brand-new location in Salzburg. With over 700 employees and more than 120 satisfied customers from various sectors – including the public sector – EBCONT offers tailored IT solutions and covers the entire lifecycle of IT projects. Our AI and data science professionals bring the latest technologies directly into our customers' projects.

EBCONT conquers Salzburg: IT power now also in Austria´s cultural capital.

Dashboards are the cornerstone of Business Intelligence (BI) projects, serving as the visual interface through which businesses interpret and act upon their data. Yet, despite their importance, many dashboards fall short of meeting the initial expectations of stakeholders. In this discussion, we delve into the common pitfalls of dashboard design and explore strategies to ensure a successful end-to-end analytic journey.&nbsp;

Let&#39;s provide a more detailed breakdown of the challenges outlined as well as the possible approaches::

<ol>
	<li style="list-style-type:decimal">Disconnection from Customer Requirements occurs when dashboard design fails to meet the specific needs, expectations, and goals of end-users, resulting in a misalignment that undermines the delivery of relevant insights and functionalities. 
	To overcome this obstacle, it&#39;s essential to prioritize Actionable Insight. This approach entails deeply understanding and prioritizing end-users&#39; needs and goals, actively involving stakeholders throughout the design process, conducting thorough user research, and continuously seeking feedback to iteratively refine the dashboard design. By doing so, designers can ensure that the final product closely aligns with customer requirements, enhancing its effectiveness and usability.</li>
</ol>

&nbsp;

<ol start="2">
	<li style="list-style-type:decimal">Overemphasis on Visual Appeal occurs when aesthetics overshadow functionality, potentially resulting in cluttered interfaces that detract from delivering actionable insights. While visually appealing dashboards can initially attract users, an excessive focus on visual elements may lead to cluttered interfaces and distract from the primary goal of delivering actionable insights. 
	To address this challenge, designers should embrace Data Visualization Best Practices. This approach involves selecting appropriate chart types, utilizing effective color schemes, and striking a balance between visual appeal and usability. By adhering to these guidelines, dashboards can present information in a visually engaging yet informative manner, ensuring that aesthetics complement functionality rather than overshadow it.</li>
</ol>

&nbsp;

<ol start="3">
	<li style="list-style-type:decimal">Lack of Contextualization presents a significant obstacle in dashboard design, emphasizing the critical need to offer users more than just raw data. Without adequate contextualization, users may struggle to fully grasp the implications of the insights presented, hampering their ability to make informed decisions based on the data at hand. 
	To address this challenge effectively, designers should adopt the Approach of Crafting Compelling Data Stories. This approach involves going beyond merely presenting data points and instead focuses on contextualizing the information within the broader business narrative. By crafting narratives around the data, designers can provide users with the necessary context to understand the significance of the insights and how they relate to real-world scenarios. 
	 
	By weaving engaging stories that highlight key trends, patterns, and insights, dashboards become more than just visual representations of data; they become powerful tools for driving action and facilitating informed decision-making. Additionally, incorporating elements such as case studies, scenarios, and real-life examples further enhances the relevance and applicability of the data presented. 
	 
	Ultimately, by prioritizing the creation of compelling data stories, designers can transform dashboards into dynamic platforms that not only inform but also inspire action, empowering users to leverage data-driven insights to drive business success.</li>
</ol>

By addressing these specific challenges, dashboard designers can create more effective and user-friendly solutions that meet the needs of stakeholders and facilitate data-driven decision-making.

<h3>&nbsp;</h3>

<h3>Summary</h3>

In the realm of Business Intelligence, dashboards play a crucial role in transforming data into actionable insights. However, their effectiveness hinges on more than just visual appeal; it requires a deep understanding of user requirements, adherence to best practices, and the ability to craft compelling data narratives. By addressing the common pitfalls of dashboard design and adopting a user-centric approach, organizations can enhance the success of their BI initiatives and drive informed decision-making.

&nbsp;

Unveiling Dashboard Design Pitfalls and Pathways to Success

Gregor Sieber (Executive Vice President / Head of Consulting and Innovation at EBCONT) delves deeper into best practice :&rdquo;Dashboard design is really where expertise in data and a deep understanding of the abilities of the underlying architecture must be met with equal skills in user experience design. This is why we like to support our customers with an interdisciplinary team that is inspired by our agile approach.

&nbsp;

For more information please contact <a href="mailto:gregor.sieber@ebcont.com" style="text-decoration:none">gregor.sieber@ebcont.com</a>.

&nbsp;

In the realm of Business Intelligence, dashboards play a crucial role in transforming data into actionable insights. However, their effectiveness hinges on more than just visual appeal; it requires a deep understanding of user requirements, adherence to best practices, and the ability to craft compelling data narratives. By addressing the common pitfalls of dashboard design and adopting a user-centric approach, organizations can enhance the success of their BI initiatives and drive informed decision-making.

Summarizing BI Success: Overcoming Dashboard Design Challenges

Straddling the line between the ambitious visions we see in the media and the reality of delivering actionable data insights can feel like navigating a maze. But fear not! EBCONT is here to roll up his sleeves and tackle some of the hurdles you might face in today's IT world.
In this series, we're diving deep into the trenches, shedding light on the real-world  challenges and presenting practical solutions. Here comes no 2 of our blog post series!

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