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To Develop Mobile Apps In-house or to Outsource? Which do You Need?

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Businesses around the world are not wasting any time in leveraging the genius employed in the manufacturing of today’s smartphones. Having a computer website that showcases the operations of the business is great but it isn’t enough. Companies and organizations need deeper ways to display their services and operations to customers. What better way to do this than to present themselves to the phones of their clients?

And so your organization has come upon the conclusion to develop a mobile application. Which leads us to the big question-To develop your mobile apps or to outsource?

In-House or Outsource

Some business owners prefer to hand over the task to outside professionals working in the field. Others prefer to keep it in the business. The larger lot, however, is torn between the two options and ponders over the advantage that comes with picking one over the other.

An important point to remember is that businesses have different specifications which mean a difference in the development procedure for the apps. It does one good to bear in mind these considerations more so in deciding whether to build mobile apps within the organization or to hire outside talent.

Crucial Points to Consider for Mobile App Development

Cloud computing-  A necessity that gives room for flexibility with IT for the app in the event that the business needs to change a certain aspect of its functionality. In other words, cloud computing cuts down on costs for the advancement of the app needed to sustain the growing business.

The creation of reliable and reusable systems also largely depends on the type of talent you hire for the job. One advantage of in house mobile app development is the option it leaves for reusing pieces of code for future projects.

Built-in security features- You’d best be thorough with the security measures you employ in the development of your app, especially with the recent increase in cyber-attacks on Androids and other OS.

Multi-level authentication- Passwords no longer hold the last line of defense against malicious activities. Upon inputting the login details, the app sends a code to the user’s number upon which he/she enters the code and is permitted to access the app.   Does your preferred developer have what it takes to include a solid multi-level authentication for your app?    

Mobile app performance- Some of the ways that developers recommend to boost performance for the apps include using compressing and cache images, fast loading of data, and creating offline modes.

app-development-process
App Development Process

A business that develops its own mobile applications knows best what to include to enhance the apps’ operations. While this is true, we can confidently argue that a development agency has experience in building applications and is insightful on what determines the success of an app.

That being said, the decision of in house building vs outsourcing is one that can only be arrived at with an in-depth evaluation of the two options. Let us begin with:

The Benefits of Developing Your Own Apps In-House Over Outsourcing

A lot of companies that develop their apps within the organization are motivated by the resources that exist at their disposal. These enable them to control and follow up on the in house team operations right from beginning to completion. Although anyone with a long-term strategy is free to go with this option, in house mobile app development is best suited for big and extensive companies.

A better understanding of the business needs

Somebody with knowledge on the requirements of the business such as the target audience, market competition, company goals, knows best how to develop an application sensitive to these needs. To hire an app development agency is one thing, to bring them up to speed with the vision, goals, and brand for the mobile app is another. It takes an effort to sell the idea of the app to the outsourced parties, not to mention a great deal of time to get them moving in the same direction as you.

Fast Approval

The fact that the whole development process happens in front of you gives plenty of room for supervision. You can keep track of quality and ensure the mobile app gets completed within the agreed time and cost.

As for outsourcing, communication tools in the modern day world make it attainable to work with developers on a global scale. Although sign-offs can be implemented with speed through these productivity tools, it doesn’t address the issue of availability for the client and the agency.

A good example is a buyer and a seller who live on opposite sides of the globe. Unless they can agree on a particular time to communicate, one is practically awake as the other sleeps

Easy coordination

When everything that you need to develop a mobile application is available under one roof, manageability for the project gets so much simpler. It falls upon you to utilize hidden talent in each resource in order to unleash the full potential of the project.

Flexible Revisions

Perhaps the biggest perk that comes with in house mobile app development is the number of flexible revisions that are open to you. You can spend hours modifying, second-guessing, and tweaking product decisions before settling on the final product. Agencies allow for a specific number of revisions. Requesting above the specified number results to an increase in the budget. Clients have in the past entered into disputes with development agencies concerning such matters. In most cases, the result is a broken deal.

The Benefits of Outsourcing Mobile App Development Over Building In house

Outsourcing app development provides the other way to get a good product without having to invest a lot of time and money

Extensive options with more Professionals

Most mobile app development agencies are made up of a team of specialists who have worked together on previous projects. Hiring outside talent puts you up to a team of developers, designers, product managers, and quality assurance designers, all working towards the launching of your app. With in house app development, teams are formed during the commencement of the project. Unless you’ve had past development operations, you’ll most likely have to deal with the trouble that comes with landing a new team on the same page.

Extensive app expertise

Mobile application development is a well-established business with a full book of its own. Developers have dedicated time and money to learn what there is about this technical space and have established themselves as professionals in this niche. Take a developer from Upwork as an example. He/she is up to date with the latest trends in app development and has worked with numerous clients on the same. Each job he completes is another egg in his basket.

Wouldn’t it be comforting to have someone like this work on building and designing your application for you?

End-to-end service

Development for the app remains the responsibility of the app agency from idea to support. In addition to exploring the app space in a specialist and safe environment, your customers get to connect with your business on a deeper level.

app-development-insight
App Development Insight, Source: Marketingresults.com.au

Comparing Costs for Developing a mobile app In House and Outsourcing

The flexibility in costs that come with outsourcing may just be the very reason for its existence. $150/hour for a local developer is not exactly a huge pinch off your budget. Not when you compare to the amount that you stand to gain from the returns of the app. Outsourcing overseas is much cheaper and you will get a deal for less half the above price.

Indeed, many have argued out the expense of assembling an in house team when you can outsource work for the same quality of production. Or is it the same?

Don’t put away your wallet just yet. Developing an app in house has its perks too as seen earlier on. This may just be what your business needs for its success. Best you stay open to the fact that you might have to pay $4000 in recruiting fees for a development team. An ideal group comprises 3-8 people.

Keep in mind that an in house arrangement puts you up to additional costs such as payroll, taxes, and overhead expenditure.

When all’s said and done, it can confidently be concluded that what might work for one company might not work for the other. Outsourcing is a risk-free and a more cost-effective approach but it doesn’t solve the problems of an organization that seeks a long-term solution. Not in the way that an in house developed app does.

The above guide spells out the benefits and shortcomings of developing mobile apps in house and outsourcing. Be sure to employ the right approach bearing in mind the specific needs of your business.

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Why Artificial Intelligence matters for Technology Development?

Artificial Intelligence

Why Artificial Intelligence matters for Technology Development?

Some people feel that concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is complex and this is because they are unaware about it Artificial Intelligence is basically the machines designed and programmed in a way that they can think and behave like a human. Artificial Intelligence has become a significant portion of our everyday life. The technology is applied in the extensive area of day to day services. It targets to decrease human effort and make the human life easy. You may find people using this technology in different industries, in order to develop machine slaves to accomplish various activities. Moreover, the technology aims to give the instant and accurate result. It is anticipated that the technology will gradually introduce in almost every sector to cut out human effort and offer precise results. Let’s have a look at why AI is significant for technology development:

Artificial Intelligence is much more than just a technology:

AI is much more than just a “tool” that constantly improves, for example, you can look at the manufacturing processes. AI is more than a system to do predictions, which, in turn, directs to actions.

What, how and who we trust are being converted as AI becomes more incorporated into our regular lives. It may sound slightly far-fetched; however, there are lots of examples of the way in which we trust the algorithms, computer code, and software.

Usually when we purchase some products, make reservations, book accommodation, after going through the reviews and it is supported by recommendation algorithms. Moreover, people usually trust Wikipedia to get the correct information. Whenever we ask some questions on Google, we usually get the reliable answer. It happens that all of us have some residual doubt of giant tech companies; however, in our daily lives, we usually put that disbelief to one side and put trust in the technology.

One can think about the amount of time spent on interacting with devices that are running digital code. This type of interaction could be direct, ranging from interrelating with a computer or smartphone to going on to work on a subway system that is run automatically, all these in different ways. In these cases, the desired experience is felt with the help of computer code and the same offer the choice and structure linked with that experience.

Artificial Intelligence adds intelligence:

AI is capable to add intelligence to the existing products. You may find that in the majority of cases, AI is not sold as an individual application. Actually, the products which you already use would show enhancement with the help of AI capabilities. For instance, Siri was incorporated as a feature to the contemporary Apple products. Conversational platforms, automation, smart machines, and bots can be combined with huge amounts of data to incorporate enhancement in several technologies used at home and in the office, ranging from security intelligence to investment analysis.

Artificial Intelligence succeeds to achieve incredible accuracy in technological development:

You may not predict the level of accuracy which AI brings in. It has made possible the implementation of neural networks which was earlier impossible. For instance, the interactions of human with Alexa, Google Search, etc. are centered on deep learning and the more you use them, the more accurate it shows. It is found that in the medical field, AI techniques varying from image classification, deep learning, and object recognition can be used to diagnose cancer on MRIs with the similar level accuracy as provided by experienced radiologists.

Artificial Intelligence automates repetitive learning:

The idea of repetitive learning is mechanized with the help of AI and it also facilitates discovery through data. It is important to know that AI is unique as compared to the hardware-driven, robotic automation. As an alternative to mechanizing manual tasks, AI carries out recurrent, high-volume, and computerized tasks in a reliable manner. However, for this kind of automation, a human inquiry is necessary to set up the system and raise the right questions.

Artificial Intelligence attempts to get the most out of data:

Whenever algorithms are of self-learning type, the data can become intellectual property. The answers are present in the data itself and you only need to implement AI to get them. For the technological development, the role of the data is more significant than ever before, the outcome is that it can make a competitive advantage. If you own the best data, obtained through AI in a competitive industry, even though others are implementing similar techniques, your data will win.

Artificial Intelligence scrutinizes more and deeper data:

The implementation by AI makes use of neural networks that consist of lots of hidden layers. It is found that building a fraud detection mechanism with total five hidden layers was nearly impossible before few years. Presently, all these things have been modified with computer power and big data. You require a huge amount of data to guide deep learning models as they directly gain learning from the data. The more amounts of data you could feed them, the higher the accuracy you will get.

Artificial Intelligence adapt with progressive learning algorithms:

In order to allow the data to do programming, AI adapts the technique of progressive learning algorithms. It works to find structure and regularities within the data, in order that the algorithm gains a skill of being a predictor or a classifier. The algorithm can teach itself what product to recommend subsequently via online medium. The models seamlessly adapt whenever it is fed with new data. For instance, backpropagation is an AI technique which permits the model to adapt, with the help of training and data, whenever the first answer is not completely correct.

Role of Artificial Intelligence in different fields for technology development:

AI finds its applications in many different fields; let’s have a look at them:

Used in Organizations:

With a view to delivering business-critical results, there are many different organizations that apply AI to enhance speed and efficiency. Moreover, they use it to make an improvement in data processing and analytics, as well as to improve customer experience. Let’s have a look at the below categories of applications of AI, with the help of which, businesses are focusing to make improvements:

Service: In the area of service in the business, AI provides virtual customer assistance and triage, envisage maintenance and imminent repair needs, link customers to service staff and analyze process gaps.

Sales and marketing: In this area, AI works to customize the sales process, tailor the communications to clients, equate sales staff to purchasers and provide personalized pricing as well.

Office: In this, AI can seamlessly trace and link to expertise, analyze and redirect compliance errors, provides support to meetings with action items, as well as improve digital agility.

Supply chain: Recognized as one of the crucial areas in businesses, Ai works in this are to discover and fix data errors, find out risks present in the supply chain, raise insights from IoT based devices in the field as well as plan logistics.

Used in Medical Science:

AI technology works relentlessly to change the face of medical science, in a positive manner. In this field, there are many applications in which AI is applied. It is utilized to develop a virtual personal healthcare assistant. Moreover, they are also used for research as well as analytics. AI supports the implementation of healthcare bots to provide customer support. You may now find that bots are used for planning an appointment in hospitals. Is the greatest benefit is that it provides 24/7 assistance.

Used in mobile app development:

During the time when mobile apps and smartphones have just begun getting consideration among users, the iOS, as well as Android apps, were completely fragmented. But, device manufacturers and the app developers do not wish the users to continue scrolling among the thousands of apps available in Android and iOS app stores. This implies that constant efforts are done to make sure there are effortless easy navigation and the searching system being implemented. Moreover, these efforts show that AI seamlessly fits into the scenario, particularly when it is serving the developers as well as users the control of voice to accomplish the tasks.

You may not know but there is lots of apps to simplify the life of people. Also, it is true that mobile app users usually prefer to use user-friendly apps and with the help of Artificial Intelligence, these apps are designed to save time and meet personalized needs. For example, the company -Start bucks had launched an app named as My Starbucks Barista. While using this app, a person only needs to instruct the app what they need and in return, the app would simply post the order, depending on the preferences suggested.

The aspect that makes the AI technology to be more compatible is its integration into the mobile phone apps with the fact that the smartphones recognize everything regarding their user.

Concluding Note:

As discussed above, AI finds its application in many different fields for the purpose of technological enhancement, so it matters a lot for the technological development. The research and development work is already going on in this direction.

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Ways to find the Best Outsourcing Partner

outsourcing partner india

Ways to find the Best Outsourcing Partner

Due to the hectic business schedule and lots of projects in continuation, businesses usually prefer to outsource their projects. Businesses already have many challenges to face and also there are countless pressures which may arise unexpectedly. In order to give the best results and fulfill the demand of clients, outsourcing has turned out to be a boon for businesses, irrespective of its size. It may seem that outsourcing is simple at first sight but actually, it is complex. From learning how to outsource, seeking for the appropriate solution and to getting the best one out of the myriad of solutions vendor posing risk to your business are all considered as intimidating tasks.

Once you have decided to outsource few of your business processes, the subsequent step is to make sure you find appropriate right outsourcing partner, the one who will accomplish the project as per the requirement and guarantee success in the future. The choice of suitable outsourcing partner is a crucial decision because when you end up with the wrong choice then results could be terrible and unexpected for your company.

The inappropriate outsourcing partner is the one who is inexperienced, less skilled in the project assigned or works on his/her own agenda which may not be completely beneficial. Have you ever thought about how to find the appropriate outsourcing partner that seamlessly fits your business? You just need to go through the below sections to get an idea:

Carry out thorough research on Outsourcing Partners:

The process of carrying out thorough research to choose the best outsourcing partner is crucial. This step will assist to find the potential outsourcing providers rapidly without wasting your precious time. After you have chosen some of the relevant outsourcing partners, you must be able to filter down to four or five of the best outsourcing partners. Now based on your project requirements and budget, you need to choose the one. You can check if your choice is appropriate or not if you talk to prevailing client and request for references. Also, you can talk and ask questions in case of any doubts.

Decide what tasks to Outsource:

You must be capable to decide what things to outsource. At this point, you need to prioritize your tasks and think once before outsourcing a particular task. You need to ask yourself some questions like – What work will you outsource? Is it information sensitive? Will there be a need to give your credit card details to the virtual assistants? What is the complexity level of the project to outsource? The proper answers to these questions help a lot in finding the best outsourcing partner. The tasks which your company can efficiently do without the assistance of any outsourcing partner should not be outsourced. Only the tasks which are time-consuming and complex in nature should be outsourced.

Choose the Outsourcing Partner based on their Qualifications:

After you have determined what to outsource, it is essential to determine who is qualified to accomplish the task. Ask yourself questions like -Are you outsourcing the project to an individual or a company? Is there a need for an individual or a team? What are the qualifications of the outsourcing partner? How much experience does it hold? etc. Identifying the nature of the work is not sufficient, it is also critical to determine who is qualified for successfully accomplishing the job. The qualifications of these partners indicate their level of expertise in the field and their flexibility as well.

Project Experience:

While choosing the appropriate outsourcing partner, you must look for what types of projects the outsourcing company has accomplished in the past. This would provide an insight of what is the prime focus. It is also necessary to check whether the outsourcing partner has completed similar projects or not in the areas you are looking for.

It is also important to know whether your outsourcing company possesses sufficient experience in offering similar services matching your business needs. This would rely on the number of projects completed till date, turnaround time, types of clients the partner has worked with, a sector of expertise, etc. Getting details on the qualifications of the team members as well as communicating with them before signing contracts is recommended to guarantee the attachment between your team and the requirements.

Project Competence:

After you have verified the credentials and experience of outsourcing partner, it is significant to understand whether the company has proper technical knowledge and competence to satisfy your requirements. You should work on to get acquainted about the processes the outsourcing company follows and what method they are implementing to track results and solve issues. After that, you must be prepared with everything needed to estimate whether you are selecting the right outsourcing partner or not.

It is vital to choose experienced professionals with compatible project competence. The smaller outsourcing companies usually pay more attention to the requirements of their clients and they are careful in providing the finest service they can. It is best to commence with something smaller and then expand as you get acquainted. Adopting this way would decrease the risk of project failure.

Flexibility:

It happens occasionally that the project requirement alters and so the outsourcing partner needs to make the changes in their work accordingly. This means that the outsourcing partner should be amenable to changes and flexible in nature. They should be able to handle the project complexity even if it arises at the midway of completing it. The best outsourcing company is the one which is operated by management and the one which presents personalized services, considering the needs of customers as their highest precedence. It should be capable to quickly manage changes when required for obtaining your performance improvement objectives without any negative influence.

Don’t lay emphasis only on cost:

It is true that you get what you pay for, so higher you pay, the best you will get. The cost is the prime aspect a business focuses on; however, there are some other aspects which are equally as important as that. Suppose a business outsourced its project to a cheap outsourcing partner and saved some money. However, this is not an appropriate choice as the quality of the end result will not be high. Employing the project to less famous or low quality outsource partner will provide bad quality results. Your money and effort put on will go in vain. It is also possible that you may need to get the work done again.

Good Communication with Outsourcing Partners:

One of the most significant portions of your relationship with the chosen outsourcing partner is upholding a good level of communication. You may need to interact with the team leaders allocated for the tasks. They are required to communicate impeccably with your team because this lays great influence on the overall achievement of the business relationship. Generally, it is a recommended idea to request conference calls with employees involved in the process, in order to make sure they are the correct fit for you. It happens sometimes that there is a language barrier between you and the outsourced partner, leading to miscommunication.

Some of the business owners consider that outsourcing assists them to enhance their business. In that case, communication is regarded as a major role player facilitating fruitful coordination and improving business prospects. Thus, it implies that language compatibility must not be a concern. In addition to that, it is crucial to gain an understanding of the business communications. In absence of good communication, it is assured that more problems will arise.

Constant Improvement of Quality:

Your outsourcing partner must be capable to convey things to the next level and put the best effort to attain better results each time. This is possible if they focus on constant improvement of quality. If they compromise on quality, their service would be gradually criticized in the market and they will perceive decreased sale of their service. You need to choose an outsourcing partner which strives for perfection in each of their projects.  Moreover, it is great if they are capable to meet short and long-term goals.

Determining the Correct Partner:

After going through all the above points, it is necessary that you carefully assess the solutions providers for the outsourcing project. All the vital information is at your hands, so now make your decision. It is best to select the outsourcing company which is almost compatible with your outsourcing goals and only then sign a contract.

It is necessary to keep in mind that the achievement of your partnership with the correct outsourcing company depends greatly on the appropriate implementation of the outsourcing project, excluding any flaws. After you have allocated the project, the next step is to make sure that the project passes through the process as planned. If any problem arises during the process, you need to discuss with the outsourcing partner to find out the solution.

Concluding Note:

The choice of outsourcing partner may seem intimidating at first glance but following the above points helps a lot. After the appropriate partner is chosen, you can enjoy the outsourcing experience.

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Things you need to know about IoT Security

IoT Security India

Things you need to know about IoT Security

The IoT security is the prime concern nowadays but before that it is important to know what is meant by IoT (Internet of Things) actually. Industry experts define an IoT device as the one which are objects connected to the Internet (in some cases, they are connected to a Local Area Connection). Examples of IoT devices include smart TVs, wi-fi routers, internet-connected cars, smart locks, smart cameras, voice assistants, some medical devices, smart lights, fitness bands, etc. The IoT devices are the foremost preference among consumers and manufacturers. Consumers usually prefer these devices for the added functionality whereas manufacturers prefer them because they permit them to collect information regarding the ways in which consumers use their services/products. On this basis, they can customize future products.

The communication is not encrypted:

It is found that there are many IoT devices which just lack fundamental encryption to conceal the data transferred between the central server and the device. The absence of encryption can reveal the personal information of users if a malicious hacker could spy in on his/her personal details. In addition to that, there are several IoT devices which ask for more permission beyond the requirement. During such situations, the device particular had permission to make procurement on its own. Each permission which is taken as an extra within an IoT device adds an extra vulnerability layer. This suggests that the security of the device is higher if the permissions are fewer.

Lack of relevant skills and manpower:

It is true that the process of development of an end-to-end IoT solution is difficult. It needs a pool of talent which is basically multidisciplinary in nature. For the purpose of increasing IoT security, skills in fields like cloud computing, designing embedded systems, IoT application development, cloud architecture, back-end management, security designs, and data analytics are critical. When analyzed properly, it came to know that there are not so many courses or colleges that provide a degree program in the field of IoT. The specialization classes are required to impart training to individuals for the different roles in the field of IoT.

If you are enthusiastic in the field of IoT then it is recommended to gain sufficient skills which would allow you to resolve the corresponding security issues. The outcome would be you develop quickly in this field and will gain a good payout.

 IoT comes with many security threats:

The key difference between the previous internet technology and IoT is that the number of possible threats is very higher in IoT. The reasons why security threats are high in IoT are described below:

Increased number of points of exposure: The increasing number of connected devices, systems, applications, and end users imply that there are more points of exposure.

High impact of attacks: There are many connected devices in different applications and the applications are centered on diverse standards, they interrelate with different systems and they even have diverse objectives. Particularly for critical infrastructure applications in which there is a high influence of attacks, the stakes are comparatively higher for hackers which elevate the threat level.

IoT devices turn out to be new attack points: In the IoT field, every compromised device turns out to be a new attack point, and this implies an increased possibility of attacks.

Raising automation of IoT security tasks

The anticipated growth of IoT devices is billions, so manually managing different security tasks like withdrawing certificates, separating compromised devices, etc. in the majority of IoT solutions presently today would not be feasible. Those security automation methods that combine artificial intelligence and security solutions are becoming prevalent.

For instance, the concept of next-generation activity monitoring allows anomaly detection, based on the latest machine learning algorithms. Depending on mathematical risk factors, you can classify the files which are malicious from the good ones. This will teach a machine to jump to the proper decisions on such kinds of files in real time. It is known that this method facilitates the autonomous decision-making process and also alters the way an IoT device comprehends, classifies, and regulates the execution of each file.

The user interface is at risk:

A malicious hacker will first look at the user interface of the device for checking any vulnerability. In order to understand this, for example, he/she may attempt to use the “I forgot my password” option for resetting it or merely to get your details like username or email. A seamlessly designed IoT device is the one which locks out a user from trying to log in many times. Working on this point will prevent dictionary and brute force attacks which actually target passwords, and provides great security to your device credentials. It happens in some cases that the password may be directed from the device towards the central server in form of plain text, which means that it is not encrypted. This indicates insecurity because someone may read all your data.

Lack of security in default login credentials:

It is of no surprise that lots of people keep their default usernames and passwords. The secured IoT device is the one which may hide the “Change password/Username” options within the UI, hidden for the majority of users. Whenever every IoT devices work to keep a randomized username and password then there would not be any security issues. However, it should be noted that it is a costly process to implement in competitive industries with low-profit margins.

Hesitation for Market-readiness:

It is usually found that people are still feared by the technology’s potential. For example, some people may extensively share articles and related videos on home automation systems as well as self-driving cars; however, they would hesitate if asked to adopt them personally. The major concern people have is to allow a machine to take the command of important things and this is essentially a thought process from a market viewpoint. It is true that IoT guarantees superior home security solutions but people are yet hesitant to leave their home under the automatic control and supervision. The situation will gradually improve as more and more people start valuing the technology’s worth.

Whenever the users of IoT based services and products increases, there will be improvements in regulations, bug fixes, the support provided, controlling the bodies and many more things in order to fulfill the demands of customers.

What are the major kinds of attacks against IoT devices?

It is a fact that smart devices can be hacked into many different ways, based on the type of vulnerability the hacker wishes to exploit. Let’s have a look at the major kinds of attacks prevailing against IoT devices:

1) Malware attacks

The device’s login credentials are being targeted by the recurrent and well-known malware attacks. It is observed in recent time that other kinds of malware like ransomware have uniquely influenced IoT devices. It is known that the malware is generally interoperable, needing only slight modifications. Devices like smart TVs and relevant gizmos are vulnerable to this type of threat because users may unintentionally click on some malicious links or they may download some infected apps.

2) Password attacks

Password attacks like brute force or dictionary usually target the login information of a device by attacking it with numerous username and password variations until it gets the correct one. The reason why these attacks are easily successful is that the majority of people make use of a simple password. In addition to that, as per a study, almost 60% of users make use of the same password repeatedly. Thus, if an attacker gains access to one device, it is quite possible that they gain access to every device.

3) Botnet enslaving

IoT devices are vulnerable to a botnet. The devices are easy to hack, and it becomes difficult to analyze if they are compromised. After your device is confined, it could be used for an extensive range of cybercriminal conducts, like DDoS attacks, directing pam emails, carrying out click fraud, and Bitcoin mining. It is known that Mirai is the largest IoT botnet and it was created based on default usernames and passwords. 

Sniffing (Man-in-the-middle) attacks

This is the type of attack in which a malicious hacker interrupts the Internet traffic that enters or leaves out of a smart device. For this, the common target is a Wi-Fi router because it comprises of all the traffic data directed to the network and it can later be utilized to control every device which is connected to the same, like smartphones or PCs.

Remote access

At first, instance, seeking control of an IoT device does not feel very threatening. For example, the attack is serious if the attacker attains control of your car when you are driving it. The situation is not hypothetical and it is real. In this example, the whitehat hackers were capable to hack in the car’s braking system as well as acceleration.

Concluding Note:

IoT devices come with lots of advantages and they can be effective if the security issues are fixed properly. It is assured that shortcomings in this field are temporary and even researchers anticipate that the technology is the next big technology to influence our regular life.

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Problems that Blockchain Technology can Effectively Solve

blockchain app development

Problems that Blockchain Technology can Effectively Solve

The Blockchain app development technology is capable to keep track of who owns which thing, in absence of a certain central body to manage the process. The market of blockchain technology is an immediate and incorruptible one and it works fantastically. The advancement in the field of robotics and AI indicates a proof that humans have by now taken a gigantic leap forward.

In simple terms, Blockchain is known to be a technology that concentrates on enhancing transparency and incorporating decentralization which will permit the technology to allow people on the network to see the info saved on ledgers. The popularity of Blockchain is adhered to by many of the applications.

Presently, the Blockchain technology is influencing many leading industries. Also, there are several companies that are preparing a new blockchain trading platform capable to disturb the financial system and democratize the prevailing markets. Moreover, few are prepared to disturb the retail industry. Looking at the present advancement that Blockchain technology undergoes, it is anticipated that it will make its mark in almost every prominent industry.

Blockchain’s innovative applications are usually overlooked among the Bitcoin boom. The cyber security threats are increased due to increased dependence on networks, and blockchain allows protecting the integrity of saved data. In addition to providing financial services, the platform is by now resolving problems and eliminating inefficiencies from certain industries like real estate, healthcare, and electoral systems. Let’s have a look at the problems that blockchain technology is prepared to solve:

Incapable of keeping up with the deal:

Whenever an organization agrees to a deal with some another company, it asserts to adhere to the guidelines suggested mutually. In addition to properly adhering to the guidelines, they even agree on the sum and the payment mode throughout the tenure of the partnership.  It happens that even though the paperwork is in place, many companies face issues when its partner organization proves incapable to follow the suggested guidelines and the amount of money which they had previously agreed to pay mutually. In these kinds of situations, the responsibilities on the shoulder of an organization are less as they only need to negotiate with the other company to fix to the deal or give up the venture.

Altering the .com Course:

Blockchain technology is known to be one of the impending opportunities that will modify the course of ways in which .com used to function. Moreover, it is by now leading to lots of industries to choose from its platform and offering a key breakthrough. Presently, there are many other technologies which could be conveyed under the umbrella of blockchain and most significantly, for the industry chiefly belonging to digital and tech arena.

Blockchain technology solves problems in the supply chain:

In the supply chain of pharmaceutical and several other companies of these types, selling expired products is one of the key issues. With the assistance of blockchain, a person can discern the place from where the particular product has been acquired from, the name of the producer and how fine the producer is managing his/her production area. There are some companies like SKUchain and Provenance which caters to this issue with their blockchain technology. The company’s solutions are intended to facilitate safe traceability of certifications as well as other outstanding information in supply zone. This is accomplished by focusing on the smart deals and digital passports.

Theft of information:

Information is recognized to be one of the greatest critical assets that a firm or company holds. Presently, each and every organization comprises an excess of data at their disposal and the same needs maintenance. The type of information can assist firms in boosting their sales and handling the typical flow of operations. Though the attempt is made to secure information, a single downside within the central network’s security system may lead a hacker into obtaining access to the information which could pose an overwhelming blow to the particular company.

Blockchain technology solves issues in VR advertising:

Before some months, experiencing AR and VR in games and movies were the greatest enjoyment and people were passionate to allocate some amount to it. It is known that for content advertisers, acquiring placement in the AR and VR systems was difficult. This is because the companies had to launch and continue launching the similar stuff on a variety of platforms.

For example, with the help of blockchain technology, GazeCoin is working to resolve the concern of monetizing VR and AR Advertising. Moreover, Gazecoin permits its users to get the acquaintance of top-notch VR and AR videos with the help of monetized ads. In this regards, the entire idea behind this is to utilize Gaze control for the purpose of communication of the virtual world with the physical world as well as monetizing the content with the help of blockchain.

Blockchain Technology in Cloud Storage:

In order to understand how blockchain technology resolves issues in cloud storage, let’s look at an example. Recently an incident took place in India where more than 3.2 million banks Debit card information was put at risk. This actually left all those account holders into trouble, both financially and emotionally. It is found that human errors are usually the key reason amid the prevailing central server database management networks. The key principle of blockchain is depended on the concept of decentralized data storage points and the same could be retrieved by numerous people present in the same block. Therefore, changing any of the data within the block will get instantly informed to others, along with the details on the change in data. It is a fact that every data within the blockchain platform is encrypted. For example, StorJ.io is a kind of the company which is making distributed as well as open-source cloud storage platform, in order to make sure there is no data loss within the storage systems.

Can make positive changes in the music industry:

It is true that music companies usually dislike streaming services. Moreover, streaming services dislike file-sharing services. The content creators and artists dislike virtually those who intend to make enormous sums off their work and providing them the crumbs.

Due to lots of conflicts of interest, it is known that there are no business models or services that can serve in a manner that effectively meets the requirements of every party involved. After many years of passing through a difficult and complex relationship with the technology sector, it can be said that the music industry might ultimately get a chance to move towards positive path by leveraging this technology i.e., the blockchain, the technology capable to influence the bitcoin cryptocurrency.

In recent years, the blockchain technology has attracted the consideration of investors as well as professionals belonging to different industries. Furthermore, the technology is presently depicting secured signs to alter the music industry in some positive ways that may meet the requirements of everybody.

Discussing its fundamental aspect, blockchain is essentially a distributed ledger which can effectively authorize and list transactions, in absence of the requirements for a central authority. It is important to note that there is no one who owns the ledger. Moreover, it is encompassed over the nodes that make up its network as well as it is publicly accessible to everybody.

Blockchain Technology and Charity:

Charity is regarded as the purest form of sacrifice and society or people generally do it for the attainment of satisfaction. Moreover, charity is nowadays utilized as the prominent source of inefficiency and corruption. The issues of corruption and inefficiency could resolve every concern by making clear ledger balances within the organization which is vulnerable to such types of systems.

With the help of blockchain technology, users can seamlessly track their donations. This eliminates the chances of fraud and corruption. In order to understand the role of blockchain technology in charity, consider an example. Certain companies like Bitgive are resolving this concern of tracking the donations as well as offering a peer-to-peer access to the data within the organization or the system.

Decentralized Title Registry:

Majority of readers are acquainted that there are hundreds of databases, available in the industry for provenance information. Every auction house, gallery, institution, and leading collector operates software to mechanize their record and its history. Now the question arises how can a blockchain-powered update be useful in this regards?

As an alternative of relating analog derivation data with individual players, it is known that the blockchain technology presents a prospect to make a fully collaborative, publicly searchable, and tamper-proof title registry for artworks. The database would safely track many more things rather than merely the ownership changes. Moreover, it would even validate and collect an alternate event that influences an artwork’s value. This includes professional evaluation, conservation conduct, incorporation in gallery exhibitions or museum, and many more.

The decentralized nature of blockchain avoids provenance data from being either erroneous or lost. The best part is if a culprit attempts to maneuvers the ledger on one computer system, the remaining network hosting and the process of validating the blockchain would identify the deviance.

Concluding Note:

The prevalence of blockchain technology is found in many industries nowadays. Gradually, the technology is improving itself to solve problems even more effectively. If you are looking to get your first blockchain based application development then contact blockchain development company for free assessment and quotations.

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What is NoSQL Database and its Benefits

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What is NoSQL Database and its Benefits

A NoSQL (originally known as “non SQL” or “non relational”) database serves a method for storage and extraction of data that is modelled in a way different than the tabular relations applied in relational databases. It is known that NoSQL is essentially an approach to database design which can properly contain a wide range of data models, comprising of document, key-value, columnar and graph formats. It is basically an alternative to relational databases used traditionally in which data is positioned in tables and data schema is cautiously designed prior the database is created. The plus point is that NoSQL database development are particularly helpful for working with huge sets of distributed data. 

NoSQL vs. SQL:

The basic difference between SQL and NoSQL is actually not much complicated and the differences can be easily understood. Both of them adopt a unique philosophy for the way in which data must be stored and extracted.

Through the help of SQL databases, all data owns an inherent structure. Some traditional database such as MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, or Oracle Database applies a schema (known as a prescribed definition of the way data entered within the database would be composed. To understand this, for example, a particular column into a table might be limited to integers only. Due to this, the data entered in the column would have a high degree of normalization. Moreover, the rigid schema of a SQL database also lets it comparatively easy to accomplish aggregations on the data, say for example, by way of JOINs.

Through NoSQL, it is assured that data can be saved in a free-form or schema-less fashion. Moreover, any data can be saved into any record. You would find four general models for storing data along with the NoSQL databases, and this lead to four general types of NoSQL systems:

Document databases: Entered data is saved either in the form of free-form JSON or in the form of structures “documents.” In this, the data can be integers, strings, freeform text, etc. In this, there is no inherent requirement to indicate what fields, if any, the particular document would contain. (Example of Document databases -CouchDB, MongoDB)

Key-value stores: Free-form values ranging from strings or simple integers to complex JSON documents are easily accessed into the database by means of keys. (Example of Key-value stores -Redis, Riak)

Wide column stores: Instead of rows, data is saved in columns and this approach is identical to that of a conventional SQL system. You can group any number of columns or you can aggregate them as per the requirement for data views or queries. (Example of  Wide column stores -HBase, Cassandra)

Graph databases: In this, data is denoted as a network or graph of entities as well as their relationships in reference to every node into the graph or a free-form amount of data. (Example of Graph databases -Neo4j).

Benefits of NoSQL database:

Elastic scaling:

For many years, database administrators have stayed dependant on scale up (purchasing larger servers as database load increases) rather than scale out (allocating the database over more than one host as load increases). But, it is known that when transaction rates and availability requirements rises, and whenever databases shift into the cloud or over virtualized environments, the financial benefits of scaling out on the commodity hardware become appealing.

It is possible that RDBMS (relational database management systems) may not scale out straightforwardly on commodity clusters; however, the new type of NoSQL databases are developed to enlarge evidently to seek benefits of new nodes, and also they are typically developed keeping in mind low-cost commodity hardware.

NoSQL databases apply a horizontal scale-out method that lets it very simple to include or eliminate capacity rapidly and non-disruptively through the help of commodity hardware. The aspect removes the terrific cost and complication of manual sharding which is vital when trying to scale RDBMS.

No dependence on SQL magic:

Structured Query Language (briefly known as SQL) is essentially the predominant language utilized to query (RDBMS). Since many years, being capable to structure queries in order that they do well has become a difficult art. Moreover, complex multitable joins are also not simple to write from memory. Though many NoSQL databases support SQL access, it is certain that they do so in order to provide compatibility with prevailing applications like business intelligence (BI) tools. Furthermore, NoSQL databases works to provide support to their own access languages which can read the saved data, rather than requiring a relational model into the core database. This more developer-centric approach to the databases’ design and their access application programming interfaces (i.e., API) are known to be the cause behind why NoSQL databases have turned extremely popular among contemporary application developers.

No legacy code:

NoSQL databases are new, so they do not have legacy code. This implies that need not to offer support for traditional hardware platforms or keep occasionally used functionality updated. The type of databases enjoys a fast pace in matters of development. Every time, new features are launched, and recent and prevailing features are updated often. This is the reason why NoSQL vendors need not to maintain a huge code base. The plus point is that new major releases takes place on yearly basis rather than occurring every three to five years.

Big Data

Similar to the way the transaction rates have escalated over the past decade, the volumes of data that are being saved too gave escalated enormously. The databases are kind of industrial revolution of data. RDBMS capacity has been rising to match the increments; however, similar to the case with transaction rates, the restrictions of data volumes that can be practically handled by a single RDBMS are becoming unbearable for several enterprises. In present era, the volumes of “big data” which can be handled through NoSQL systems, like Hadoop, surpass those handled by the largest RDBMS.

Capability to handle change over time:

Owing to the NoSQL databases’ schema agnostic nature, they are extremely competent of handling change. This is because you need not to rewrite ETL routines whenever the XML message structure between systems alters.

There are certain NoSQL databases take this a step forward and offer a collective index for the structure, values, and text seen in information. MarkLogic Server as well as Microsoft DocumentDB offers this capability. Whenever a document structure modifies, such type of indexes permit organizations to make use of the information instantly, and does not make them to wait for many months prior you can analyze and rewrite systems.

Comes with flexible data models:

Change management is usually a huge concern for big production RDBMS. Even the slightest changes to the RDBMS’s data model needs to be cautiously managed and may demand downtime or worsened service levels. It is found that NoSQL databases come with more relaxed and nonexistent data model restrictions. Moreover, NoSQL Key Value stores as well as document databases enable the particular application to digitally save any structure it wishes into a data element. The observation suggests that even the more strictly defined BigTable-based NoSQL databases (like HBase, Cassandra) usually permit new columns to be made without any hassle.

The flexible data models of NoSQL has a result that application modifications and database schema modifications need not to be managed as single complicated change unit. Theoretically, this would enable applications to iterate at fast pace, though, there can be certain adverse side effects whenever the application proves incapable to manage data integrity.

NoSQL provides the ability to employ flexible and fluid data models. It is certain that application developers can influence the data types as well as query options which are usually stared as the most suitable fit to the particular application use case in comparison to those that suit the database schema. Ultimately, the result is a seamless interaction amongst the database and application; also, it fosters faster and agile development as well.

Global Availability:

Distributed NoSQL databases have capability to reduce latency and guarantee a reliable application experience irrespective of the place where users are positioned. This can be accomplished by automatically replicating data over multiple servers, cloud resources, or data centres. An additional benefit is a considerably reduced database management load from manual RDBMS based configuration, allowing operations teams to have more time to focus on remaining business priorities.

High Availability:

NoSQL databases are commonly designed to guarantee high availability and prevent the complication that arises with a characteristic RDBMS architecture that depends on primary as well as secondary nodes. There are certain “distributed” NoSQL databases which make use of a masterless architecture that distributes data equally among multiple resources automatically; hence, the application stays accessible for read as well as write operations even during the instance one node fails.

Performance:

Simply by the addition of commodity resources, businesses can boost performance through the help of NoSQL databases. It facilitates business organizations to continually deliver swift and affordable user experiences with an anticipated return on investment for inclusion of resources. This is again accomplished in absence of the overhead linked with manual sharding.

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Outsourcing Pricing Models and Which One is Best Suited to you

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Outsourcing Pricing Models and which one is best suited to you

For calculating a price, the pricing model is basically a computerized system which considers costs, anticipated margins, etc. When interrelating with an outsourced partner for an outsourced project, choosing the appropriate pricing model could sound confusing. You need to maintain equilibrium between the risk and reward for both the parties while making sure that your outsourcing partner delivers solutions. Thus, it guarantees that you are getting the maximum value for the investment made by you. Based on your viewpoint, business has many pricing models to choose from while organizing their subsequent outsourcing agreement.

There are few pricing models which are suitable for maintenance tasks or product support, but there are several other payment structures which are found to be advantageous for long-term projects or evolving business objectives. It is necessary to have proper information in order to select a pricing model depending on the business objectives, kind of work outsourced, the length of the project and the quantity of work to be outsourced. Let’s have a look at different pricing models and how to choose the best one as per your requirement:

Variable Rate Pricing Model:

In a variable rate pricing model, you have to pay a fixed basic rate; however, you also get the flexibility to pay higher for extra services or make less payment whenever the market price declines. This pricing model is best suited to you if you wish to try out new vendor. When you are satisfied with the work quality, you only need to pay a little higher for availing extra services.

Fixed Rate Pricing Model:

In this pricing model, you would need to pay a fixed charge to the vendor during the outsourcing contract. There are lots of companies that emphasis on this pricing structure as compared to others because they can conveniently predict the outsourcing price in advance. It might not be the finest pricing model for a long-term outsourcing contract, and the reason behind this is you may be unable to decrease the cost, even when the market price declines. Moreover, it is known that this would be the perfect pricing model for short-term outsourcing projects.

Fixed price contracts could prove to be beneficial to projects as they come with a clearly stated scope and a steady set of requirements. It is found that fixed-price contracts apply all of the risks linked with the project not being accomplished on the outsourcing partner by waiting to pay them till the work gets finished. This protects your budget as well.

For long-term projects having a high value to the outsourcing partner, fixed-rate models are ideal as it incentivizes them to finish the work in an efficient manner and obtain high value from the particular contract. It is still recommended to be ready for your partners to enquire for convenience in payment terms. Certain outsourcing providers would inquire you to recompense a percentage of the contract price depending on the success of some milestones, such as finishing the front end design. Because they undertake all of the risks, it is common that they wish to confirm they are not left abandoned. Moreover, if you are very rigid on terms, it happens that you may finish up costing your business higher in the long run because certain providers will make the price of risk management within their pricing.

Pay per Unit Pricing Model:

You can choose this pricing model when you wish to pay only for the service you used. In this pricing model, the vendor would provide you a unit–based set rate and then you need to pay for the service, on the basis of n the quantity of your usage. In order to understand this, for instance, whenever you outsource maintenance services, it happens that you need to pay for the total number of units used by you to use the maintenance service.

Performance Based Pricing Model:

If you wish to pay the service provider based on their performance, this pricing model is the best one. When you are satisfied with service offered, you would need to recompense your vendor through incentives. But, if the situation is such that you find the services disappointing, then the vendor will recompense a penalty. When you choose this pricing model, you are assured of the work quality because your vendors are aware that they would be provided incentives depending on the level of their performance.

This pricing model is also identified as incentive-based pricing models, and the model is often an add-on to the other traditional models. The model encompasses bonus payments to the outsourced developer in the form of a reward for satisfying performance goals in addition to what is stated in the contract agreement. It is known that incentives can compensate for limitations in fixed-price or T&M models, making sure your partner’s enthusiasm is maintained up along with your own. 

Cost plus Profit Pricing Model:

This pricing model is best suited to you if you have plainly defined business objectives accompanied by static outsourcing requirements. In this pricing model, you will need to pay the actual cost along with a fixed percentage to the vendor. There is one downfall of this pricing model, and that is it does not provide the flexibility to cover changing business goals or technologies.

Bundling Pricing Model:

It is observed that this kind of pricing model is typically opted for into the outsourcing of IT services. Being an outsourcing customer, it is confirmed that you will usually pay a fixed price for two or multiple IT products/services which are bundled collectively. By choosing this pricing model, there is no much load on you in terms of payment as you actually have to pay less for two or more than two outsourcing services. You must make sure that you actually do not bundle IT product support with short-term services because you need to pay for the services, even if you do not need them afterward.

Profit and Risk Sharing Pricing Model

If you wish to become partners in the outsourcing projects, in order to get reasonable profits, then choose this pricing model. In this, you and your vendor would be equal partners in the outsourcing project. Whenever the business goals in the project are satisfied, you and your vendor would enjoy the profits. However, it is true for the reverse as the loss too would be equally shared. When you are guaranteed about the capabilities of the vendor, choose this pricing model.

Similar to the Incentive-based model, this pricing model comprises of a flat-rate, and it also holds additional payments till the time your partner reaches particular objectives. But, in this model, the service providers and client generally share funding the development of contemporary products, permitting your partner some contribution in the rewards for a definite period of time.

The model is alternatively recognized as Shared Risk-Reward Model. It is the one provokes your partners to implement ideas that enhance your business by appropriately sharing the monetary risk between the two parties. Moreover, allocating responsibilities to the partner alleviates some risks linked with new technology, processes, or models. It is possible that the outcome of your partner’s work might be tough to measure; hence you should prepare your mind to tolerate downsides as well.

While choosing this pricing model, it should be remembered that the outsourcing is basically a partnership, and none of the two parties should involve into the discussion trying to seek the benefit of the other. But the point is that evidently communicating your prospect and selecting the appropriate pricing model can essentially pass through a long way to attain success.

Many people wonder that for whom the pricing model is best suited. Customers having the level of governance are required to partner with the provider on such kind of projects. It is important that the client should not be reluctant to share in the downside or upside potential.

The plus point of this model is that it motivates the provider to present new ideas to enhance the business and equally spread the financial risk amongst the two parties. Furthermore, it lessens some of the risks of recent processes, technologies, or models by allocating risk and responsibility to the vendor. The pitfall of the pricing model is that results can be tough to evaluate and rewards may be tough to quantify.

Time and Materials (T&M):

The T&M pricing model is traditional one among all the pricing models. You can choose this model if you wish your outsourcing partner to bid for the project depending on your requirements, the intensity of scope and the quantity of work that would be accomplished. It is known that the model functions seamlessly if your teams are expert at outlining your project requirements. By adopting this approach, your outsourcing partner would devote less time resolving problems, reducing your project completion time and also saving you from the excess money spent.

Concluding Note:

Based on your requirements, budget and time, you should choose the best and suitable pricing model which would let you set the correct price for your product. It is true that organizations utilize diverse pricing models, but each organization defines and applies them in different way.

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Software Product Development using Agile Methodology

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Software Product Development using Agile Methodology

The Agile methodology is basically an iterative approach to software product development that is carried out in a collaborative environment through the help of self-organizing teams. It is the methodology that efficiently produces high-quality software in a timely and cost-effective manner to satisfy the varying needs of stakeholders. It is known that majority of software development can be categorized as either Agile or Waterfall kinds of methodologies. Waterfall methodology focuses on the approach in which development of software flows serially from beginning to end. In Agile methodology, customers avail lots of prospects to look at the software product and create decisions and modifications to the project. Hence, it is widely prevailed and adopted methodology for software product development.

Why Agile is required?

Agile development enables to avoid wasted man hours and ineffective designs. Its iterative approach makes an environment for continuous progress towards innovation. There are key aspects to why using Agile to product development is a valuable undertaking, let’s have a look at them:

It pushes engineering teams by the help of DMU cycle at a quick pace for small section of the design-

By the help of the f cross-functional teams, it is found that workloads can be managed completely autonomously within every minute task. The software product development work can continually be carried out without bigger picture meetings concerning the entire engineering team. Agile development facilitates meetings to be kept brief, tasks to be done rapidly, and it facilitates continuous workflow. These aspects benefits engineers along with overall management in the process of software product design.

It establishes an environment for innovation–

The aim of every software engineer or the team of software engineers is to develop a project through continuous innovation, ultimately attaining the finest possible outcomes for the client. It is known that static waterfall processes just enable the finest possible solution conceivable when the preliminary specifications and the workflow blueprint were considered. Whereas, Agile works to bring constant change during the whole design workflow and prepares a setting that is ideal for innovation.

It provokes active thinking and preventative action–

In a typical software design process, blueprint of tasks is to get done and adhere to it as finest as possible. The corresponding “instruction-based” work process can function well; however, it motivates development over a straight and thin bath. Through the use of iterative Agile techniques, developers can be more intensely concerned with problem solving during the course of creation, perhaps even predicting possible concerns. It is found that this kind of active thinking occurs to some extent in waterfall processes; however, Agile enlarges its potential.

All such overarching advantages of Agile when merged with more explicit outcomes of its application in every design flow cover what makes it such a valuable philosophy for the process of hardware development.

Features of Agile Methodology

Agile is designed to decrease costs of software development and the time to market-

There are many software companies who wish to develop software products in a short time and for them Agile is just perfect. The reason behind this is it enables development of the software product at the same time that they are collecting the information and requirements. Moreover, the reduced development time also enables the software product to be more accustomed to the present time and state of the market, hence making sure that the product is pertinent and will be released.

Agile is capable to provide great responsiveness with product development teams’ –

Most of the times, software product development teams are facing issues with unpredictable situations, and it does not promise well if one or two of such scenarios hit them while they are already halfway into an ongoing product development process. This implies one of the two things: either they scatter all the previous work involved into the previous phases of the cycle and begin fresh again, or they overlook the proposition of such scenarios and proceed with the product development, with the hope that the product will still sell after it is launched into the market. In Agile methodology, it is known that, the teams can respond instantly whenever such unexpected scenarios come up, and also they can adjust accordingly.

Agile is “incremental” in nature –

At the completion of all the iteration, the groups and teams involved into software product development team are mandatory to depict a product increment. It can serve as a prospective feature that they believe would increase the value to the product they are developing. Alternatively, it can be a nominal change that they consider will enhance the final product. 

The backlog: A list of prioritized requirements –

Every software product release initiates with a list known as a “backlog,” which comprises of a detailed list of prioritized requirements. Actually, this is not a surfeit in the negative sense but it suggests a list of work to be accomplished. While deciding the product release, you should choose between scope, schedule and cost.

Through the use of Agile methodology, the software product development team will always regulate the scope of work in order to make sure that the most significant items are accomplished first. This list serves as order of importance and based on that software developers work. The backlog is essentially a collection of requirements that can modify weekly based on the extent of your iterations. When you decide to launch a product on a specific date with your present team, the scope of what requirements that would be completed will constantly adjust. If the target is to fulfil all the requirements, then your process would need additional iterations.

Iterations in Software Development –

As an alternative of delivering the complete backlog at the completion of a release, one can separate the work into “iterations.” Basically, iterations are tiny quantities of delivered requirements, taken from the backlog in their specific order of significance. Generally, iterations have tiny timeframes that continue from one to four weeks, based on the experience of team. In case you are functioning with a team that has not functioned in an Agile setup, it is recommended to use one to two weeks iterations, because they allow you to swiftly alter priorities at the completion of the iteration.

The chief component of iteration is that the priorities in respect to which particular requirements must be built do not essentially alter inside the iteration; however, this list must only alter from previous iteration to the next. It is important to note that single iteration may not yield a marketable release; multiple iterations may be essential for a release and to accomplish all backlog items. Though, the team must be capable to exhibit all agreed-upon functions at the completion of the iteration.

Cross-functional Teams –

An Agile team which comprises of five to nine people cover the functions of a bigger development organization, like testers, developers, documenters as well as product managers. The software development team members are self-organizing and they determine who and how to deliver the requirements inside the iteration. In Agile methodology, whenever there are issues throughout the process, gaining access to a product manager enables fast resolution to the issues.

Risk Management –

The Agile methodology accepts that project change is inevitable. The use of small iterations allows changes to be absorbed quickly without inflicting significant project risk. The backlog order can adjust as business priorities evolve; with the next iteration, the team can adapt to those priorities.

Product Manager’s Role –

The function of the product manager is incorporated into the Agile methodology. The product manager prepares and upkeeps the backlog and offers the requirements for the launch. He/she involves in the process by replying to questions when they arise. It is known that the Agile methodology concentrates on face-to-face conversations as well as test cases to facilitate collaboration and to maintain teams aligned into their focus. Moreover, this method too focuses on demonstrable features in form of the key measure of tracking progress. Based on such factors, the Agile methodology yields less written documentation as compared to several other product development methodologies.

Customer Input-

As the software product team provides demonstrable functions at the completion of all the iteration, the procedure of protecting customer feedback is greatly simplified because features can be depicted to customers then, in its place of having to wait till the last released product.

Daily Stand-ups –

Each day during the process of iteration, the software product development team will manage a stand-up meeting (alternatively recognized as scrum). Throughout this meeting, every software developer will summarize their progress from the previous day, along with any obstacles met. The ultimate goal is to solve problems and enhance developers’ productivity. The scrum master (known to be a head of the process) eliminates obstacles and they will make sure that the right persons are brought together to converse a business issue.

Concluding Note:

Business today needs cost-effective and fast methodology for implementation of software projects and for them Agile methodology is the best. The method is rapid, iterative, and safe.

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IoT – Internet of Things: STEP BY STEP

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Internet of Things: STEP BY STEP

Caution: The world is straying down the basics of IoT development, but you shouldn’t.

While the world has been humming with the mesmerizing phenomenon of IoT, the overcooked concept does come with a hidden, ignored risk for you. The analysts and the tech leaders have thrown alarming signals redirecting the industry on how they go about breeding IoT within their boardrooms and cubicles. In eGlobal’s pro-actively informative blog, this article gives you a how-to-go-about guide while you indulge in IoT product development.

The Most Crucial Pre Requisite 

The potential of the data provided by IoT needs to be believed in and further made apparent at product development. There have been numerous examples (right here, within our industry) where IoT has been used to eliminate the guesswork about the precise needs and the customizations required by the targeted catchment. They have been improved and inculcated in the product development which has taken the businesses to an altogether next level.

Since we have laid the due emphasis on the requirement of data, it’s time to get going with the further tips to act with. We are sure that this has the potential of lifting all sorts of large and small businesses by helping them design, develop and launch their IoT products on the scale that suits their business scenario.

Here are a few tips and pieces of advice that eGlobal finds worth sharing after its journey in IoT development over the years:

Build the prototype faster; cost can be managed later

Cost is the major player in almost every project in any kind of industry, IoT in the computer world is no different. It has been observed and suffered by many active industrialists in the IT sector that the whole project is tipping over the vital cost management part which will directly influence the savings and thus the profits procured.

The industry has always been hurdling the barrier of optimising the hardware and connectivity, it has been time-consuming and difficult all this while. More often than not, the development teams are directed by the company officials to take part in product formulation, still, it hasn’t turned the wonders to face for the mainstream.

eGlobal suggests you follow the approach to building a ‘minimal costing’ prototype that enables one to skillfully manage the business case. One done, the teams can probably divide themselves for further work allocating the cost management for a few. This has been noted to help most of the industry, including eGlobal.

You should be mentally prepared and ready to work as per the feedback you get while the product is reviewed first by the sales teams and later by the customers.

These reviews are the signboards for the product to reach its fate of a better, meaner and more reliable product. You can expect the feedbacks to be tricky and single-minded but summing them up as a whole can do a whole new world of good for the product. And once you are through, one has to be intelligent enough to be able to look for an assessment of the product as for how nearer you could steer it to perfection rather than thinking of the gaps it couldn’t fill.

One at a time

It is extremely important to clear the notion of IoT being the one man army for all your problems. Although it truly is can definitely be one, but deploying it solve a pinpointed piece of a problem will let it do a better bag of wonders. For a bare minimum, your IoT application should be to manage the intake of data, further transformation and storage management.

It well might be a case where you can easily find the off-the-shelf application for the requirement you have been building a one for your own. In such a scenario, you need to be patient as the further usage and user reviews will pave ways for you to update and upgrade your present application which is only possible with a customised one.

There will be a genuine requirement for the development of the original software to build the functionalities you are looking for. There might even be a slight possibility that the time spent deciding the perfect platform goes in vain. The developers you deploy will definitely have inclinations and preferences of their own. You can always keep a good design criterion as a trade-off over extensibility and scalability.

Don’t panic. Manufacturing can be expensive and time-consuming

While you delve deeper into the operations revolving around product development, you will reach a point where your mind registers designing, manufacturability, and testing as distinct disciplines of their own. It is advised to make sure that the lack of industrial design doesn’t make the overall product lackluster.

The design, aesthetics or UI (in some cases) shouldn’t delay the extensive prototyping, you shouldn’t waste time with it until you have a design readily served on a platter.

The in-house team might not be enough

While it is important to trust and believe the abilities of your team development team, you shouldn’t refrain from comparing their skill and the background knowledge for the same. It has to be realized that the horizon of IoT is too wide to be mastered the same along the length.

You should be all equipped and vigilant enough to ensure that the solution system your team is building is the best way to solve that particular problem or serve a client requirement. And also, please be legitimate while appraisals and reviews at work to understand that a flaw in the marketing approach remains differentiated from the one at development.

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The Potential of AI for a Brighter Future

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The Potential of AI for a Brighter Future

How bright would the ‘light’ be after a starry night of AI?

The present calendar year has witnessed artificial intelligence as it has made the world its playground – from learning platforms to retails, from business solutions to corporate investments, there is nothing in the industry that hasn’t found itself out of the broad spectrum of AI trend. Obeying the laws, as something goes up it is sure to come down, AI is maturing with time to see off this phase of abundant hidden scope.

As the world has seen technologies being rejected, then gradually adapted and reaching their fates to saturation, AI does look like a photon following the same beam of light. Slowly the industry has been realising that the next phase of AI is all about smarter, solid adaptive technologies and not the fancy glimpse of shallow bucket from the ocean of AI. Now the focus has drastically shifted towards establishing and strengthening real businesses that can help you plan for generations.

The tech drivers like Facebook, Google, and Amazon are galloping their way on the road to better AI as swiftly as a streak—displacing smaller competition by releasing new products or open sourcing more AI tools. In a world that is on an infinite iteration of the greedy algorithm, technology just isn’t enough for the young start-ups to compete and survive with these fat traders of technology.

The on point market analysis by eGlobal chalks out the prerequisites and ingredients for a successfully flourishing AI-driven business.  There are a few key points to ponder for you as this piece of blog gives away a few generic characteristic that we have found evident in the strongest players of the technology. Our experienced analysts feel they can be of great help for you to create the much sough value for your customers.

IMPORTANCE OF YOUR ‘OWN’ DATA

It has to be realised with utmost consciousness that integrating AI functionality into the products ‘gave’ (keep the tense in mind) companies an upper hand in the market. But, AI-as-a-Service doesn’t seem to have sufficient legs to you run the enterprises in long term. Slowly the AI algorithms are expected to be meaner, leaner, and universally interoperable which automatically leaves the true value in nothing but the data itself. Young ones in the industry need to question the tech entrepreneur within, “what is the long-term value of their data?” they should have a crystal clear perspective if their data exclusively belongs to them or they are an easy target  for replication by a contemporary. The ability to breed and maintain exclusively owned data has the potential to determine if the company will maintain a meaningful differentiation in long-term.

EXPERTISE IN TARGETED SKILLSETS

More than the depth or the quantum of AI being put in application, what matters is that the team can assess the view of their data which they rightly need. It doesn’t take a data scientist or a computer geek to make an AI system learn to figure out what is right and what is not. You need someone who creativity being a geeky UI/UX designer. Or a market analyst (actuary preferably) for an insurance company. These domain experts give AI teams a leg up in making their products relevant, practical, and indispensable to their target markets. As humanly as ur AI be, the higher you stand on the peak of the markets.

HOW THE DATA RESONATES WITH WORKFLOW?

With the above stated requirements of ‘unique’ data and a targeted skilled team the next stone to b flipped is the boulder of your regular work flow. What handsomely characterises the best AI solutions is an “operational loop that is sensitive to the new floods of data maintaining the regular user engagement. The extensive domain knowledge plays a part while designing AI system that is appropriately trained for pattern recognition oriented interrogation. The humans leave a mark of liveliness by growing and developing. Finding an analogy, you AI should be learning, adapting, and becoming an increasingly more efficient to manage and manipulate user’s workflow. The Amazon’s system of online shopping and the CMS is great subject for a case study over the same.

CUSTOMER VALUE ENHANCEMENT

After seeing how the world has been reacting to AI solutions and companies stepping in to the arena, there seems a definite need to recollect the basics and decide if there is a need for AI for the value addition or simply a status symbol.

To take it further, the AI is a component in the system to add a better customer experience. This level of near total automation calls for a handful of precision so the vitality of domain experts at AI learning to capture data, patterns, and insights underlines itself to the best of highlights.

To all the entrepreneurs out there, it’s a piece of advice from eGlobal to start looking for a solidity in their AI solutions as the strongest AI companies will be able to a big pack of tech companies. We feel that for a span of another 5-8 years, AI will continue to expand from sales to marketing, customer service and everywhere else in the sides and corners of your business.  It is your question of survivable that will make you ensure that it spreads thick for however wide it does.

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