January 2019 - Page 2 of 9

From iOS 1 to iOS 13: The Apple Evolution

Posted on 25/01/201917/06/2021 by Tushar

Apple has given the world – made of millions of iPhone and iPad users and an ever growing developer community – 13 innovative updates over the years. Updates which have constantly upped the bar of excellence on a YOY basis.

On an annual premise, Apple gives the world, especially the app entrepreneurs, reasons for why they should choose reliable iphone application development company to start their app entrepreneurship journey in. Reasons that are driven by the innovation that they keep on adding, packaged within their yearly updates.

These updates are not just something that the iOS app developers of New York and entrepreneurs wait for but are also ones that Google waits to take inspiration from.

And now with the official iOS 13 release just around the corner, the waiting eyes have yet again turned towards Apple.

Talking of these innovative updates, let’s do a roundup of all the changes that iOS version history have seen over time, starting from the time when they were not even called ‘iOS versions’.

The Evolution of Apple iOS: The History of iOS from Version 1.0 to 13.0

iPhone OS 1

Released in 2007, Apple’s mobile operating system version was not even called iOS back then. It was iPhone OS – the FIRST iPhone OS. The exact stage where the comprehensive history of iOS started.

The breakthrough that the version brought is something that is very difficult to explain to the current modern-day iPhone users who have now become used to the shine of today’s iPhone and have little remembrance of where it all started.

It was the time when the features like Visual Voicemail, Multi-Touch Screen, and Integration of iTunes were considered a revolutionary advancement. A set of advancements that were brought around by Apple in iPhone OS 1.

Now although the iOS 1 was a major breakthrough in the iOS version history, it lacked elements that would in some year become an inherent part of the operating system – Photos, Calendar, Notes, Camera, Mail, support for third-party apps, etc. One that we would encounter as we continue to explore the evolution of Apple’s iOS.

iPhone OS 2

Released in 2008, a year after the iPhone became a big hit in the world, Apple released iPhone OS 2.0 to sync in with the launch of its iPhone 3G, which marked the step in the evolution of Apple iOS.

The biggest feature introduced with iPhone OS 2 was the Apple App Store which came in with support for around 500 third-party and native apps.

Next in line of innovations that came with iPhone OS 2 was the iOS SDK. It was with the second version of the OS when Apple provided iOS app developers of New York and California with a kit to help develop iOS apps.

Lastly, along with a few updates to its current offering, iPhone OS 2 started the trend of introducing a range of features that were present on other platforms – one of which was giving full support to Microsoft Exchange for calendars, contact, and push emails. Apple also introduced contact search and multiple-selection for emails with iOS 2.

iPhone OS 3

The release of iPhone OS 3 was aligned with the launch of iPhone 3GS.

It came along with a slew of changes which would define Apple’s iOS through the years that were to come. The changes included a new copy-paste feature, spotlight search, support for MMS in Messages app and the capability to record videos through Camera application along with push notification functionality – which was launched in the market for the first time.

Another notable element of the version was its support to iPad, whose 1st generation was launched in 2010 – the same time around which iPhone OS 3.2 was released.

iPhone OS 3.2 set new UI paradigm for a larger screen – this was the time when skeuomorphism was introduced in the Apple world. New app designs were also introduced to incorporate the large real estate that was now present in Apple.

iOS 4

The iOS that is up and active in today’s Apple ecosystem is what saw its foundations in 2010 with iOS 4. This was the stage where the complete evolution of Apple’s iOS started.

It was in iOS 4 when Apple shifted its focus on giving the power of multi-tasking to its users. Features like iBooks, FaceTime, Personal Hotspot, AirPrint, and AirPlay, which sees themselves to be a prominent part of Apple devices today were debuted back in 2010 with iOS 4.

Also, with iOS 4, Apple for the first time dropped support for a device, for iOS 4 was not compatible with the 1st generation iPod touch and original iPhone.

iOS 5

Apple replied to the rising trend of cloud computing and wirelessness with iOS 5 in 2011.

It was the first time when iCloud was launched in the Apple world along with the capability of activating iPhone wirelessly and also the feature of syncing with iTunes through Wi-Fi. Two other primal Apple features were introduced with iOS 5 in the face of Notification Center and iMessage.

The one breakthrough element of iOS 5 was replacing Voice Control with a virtual assistant known as Siri. The assistant, which has come to grow in the same popularity pool as that of iPhones was now giving answers to users’ questions ina natural language over both web and OS at a beta stage.

iOS 6

Announced at the Apple’s Developer Conference in 2012, the new OS version came with a number of changes along with the revamp of one major app present on the platform – Maps.

It was in iOS 6 when Apple dropped the support for Google Maps – a feature that it was using since the beginning of 2007. A new revamped Maps was launched with iOS 6 which featured turn-by-turn navigations, Siri’s integration, and 3D Flyover mode.

Siri which was introduced at a Beta stage in iOS 5 now saw an upgrade in iOS 6. Through the version, users could now get answers to schedules, sports scores etc. Also, users could now directly use Yelp, Twitter, and Facebook (which was now integrated into Apple devices).

Next in the iOS 6 additions’ list was Passbook. While still a little immature in the mobile payment sector, the app was seen collecting payment types, coupons, tickets, boarding passes, and rewards cards and everything else with a barcode in one place.

There were a number of other enhancements that we saw with iOS 6, such as enhancements in the reading list, iCloud tabs, FaceTime running over cellular and a much better Apple ID integration, etc.

iOS 7

Released in 2013, iOS 7 was a result of the efforts that Jony Ive took upon taking the place of Scott Forstall who parted ways with Apple following the backlash that Apple Maps received in the last update.

It was the first time in Apple’s history when skeuomorphism was replaced by Flat Design which was termed to be an overly simplistic UI design founded on the idea of layering.

In addition to the new design, a series of new features were added while several enhancements were brought around in existing Apple feature set.

To start with, a new Control Center which allowed quick access to several apps like Wi-Fi, Do Not Disturb, Bluetooth, Sliders for brightness and volume, etc. with a swipe up from the bottom of the screen was launched.

In addition to Control Center, the AirDrop functionality was also launched by Apple for the first time in iOS 7. It allowed the users to share files and media with the people around them using iOS as well.

With the launch of iOS 7, the days of opening App Store to click on “update all” to update the applications were long gone. Users now got the option to choose Auto-Update without being reminded to update an application.

The last prominent introduction of iOS 7 version was the Touch ID, the feature that now let the users unlock devices using only their thumbprint.

In terms of enhancements, the multi-tasking ability of iOS 7 saw a massive improvement both in terms of implementation and interface. By double-clicking on the home button, the users now saw full-page previews of their active apps while it was equally easy to close them.

iOS 8

While with iOS 7 brought around a massive amount of visual changes to the Apple platform, iOS 8 released in 2014, was a refinement of the designs with a special focus on expanding the feature set and improvement in the workflows.

The one impressive elements of iOS 8 were the interactivity that was now seen between iPhone/iPad and Mac computers.

Users were now able to seamlessly pass around information between desktops and mobile devices. AirDrop too allowed the users to transfer files wirelessly between the device types.

Users now even were able to send in messages and take calls from their Mac desktops as once limited to only mobile devices.

In iOS 8, Apple for the first time added the support for third-party widgets in the Notification Center that would offer real-time information to the users, specific to the stock information, weather updates, etc.

Besides these, iOS 8 was the first time Apple launched the idea of HomeKit and HealthKit in the market in addition to the Family Sharing functionalities.

HealthKit: Users could now save all their health data coming in from third-party fitness trackers in one place.

HomeKit: The feature made iPhones the remote that controlled the entire house, thanks to partnerships that Apple has now extended with several home automation products.

Family Sharing: The functionality allowed sharing of songs, TV shows, apps, etc between 6 different accounts linked with the same credit card.

Siri also faced several upgradations like activation through voice command and the possibility of making iTunes purchase through Siri interface, etc. All the enhancements brought Siri closer to what Apple had envisioned in its Virtual Assistant.

iOS 9

Released in 2015, iOS 9 was driven by the public demand on making the technical foundation of iOS stronger as compared to working on the design and feature side of it all.

And this is just what Apple did with iOS 9.

While a few features like Night Shift were added and apps like Notes app and Maps app were updated and Passbook became ‘Wallet’, the version focused mainly on solidifying the OS for the future to come.

A major round of improvements was made in the line of responsiveness, stability, speed, and performance. Several iOS 9 features like Low Power Mode were launched to ensure that the performance quality remains intact for the users even in case of low battery.

In addition to these, the official Public beta program was made open for the developers around the globe like iOS app developers of New York, California, and much more and users who wanted to experiment around new updates that came up in Apple.

iOS 10

The major features of iOS 10 which were released in 2016 were customization and interoperability.

Applications were now given the feasibility to interact with each other, allowing an app to use features of some other application, without even launching the second app. Siri also now became available for third-party app usage, while new apps were now being built in the iMessages. It was around this time when comparisons were drawn between iOS 10 and Android N.

Users now had new ways to customize their entire experience ranging from deleting built-in applications to adding new effects and animations in messages – known as emojis.

Maps also received a redesigned interface. The Home app now managed the HomeKit enabled accessories while Photos got introduced with an algorithmic search and media categorization known as ‘Memories’.

iOS 11

Apple announced the release of iOS 11 in 2017 at the WWDC.

It was the first time when ‘Files’ was launched – the app which went on to become iPad users’ go-to app for searching, organizing, and browsing files on their devices from the Dropbox, iCloud Drive, and Box application.

A new dock feature also found itself being introduced in the users’ devices which now allowed users to open and switch applications instantly with one swipe.

There was a new Drag and Drop function which allowed users to move photos, files, and text from one application to another. The Notes app too got a new feature that allowed users to search for handwriting and gave them the capability to scan and mark documents.

A new prominent addition in the iOS 11 version was that of ARKit – a prominent part of the evolution of Apple iOS. It allowed the developers to introduce the power of AR to millions of iOS devices active across the world.

In terms of online payment, Apple Pay was integrated into Messages, making it easy for users to send money to their friends through messages. Apple also introduced an Apple Pay Cash Card to enable users to shop online and inside the application in addition to giving them the ease to transfer money to their personal bank accounts.

In addition to these, a series of enhancements were brought in such as App Store redesign, Siri getting a new voice, Maps and Control Center setting getting introduced with a newer set of features, etc. Additionally, iOS 11 has come with a series of new APIs like ML API, Vision API, and IdentityLookup. These new APIs are impacting businesses in a number of different ways.

The functionality set that iOS 11 brought along gave the mobility world new stances to draw a comparison between iOS 11 and Android O, one where iOS stood several points ahead of Android.

iOS 12

The iOS 12 feature set released in 2018 came up with the intent to make devices going as back as 2013 a lot more faster and responsive.

A lot was happening on the AR front in iOS 12. Users were working around AR compatible hardware for sharing experiences, object detection and image tracking functionalities were added to make apps more dynamic. Pixar was looped in to design a new file format for AR apps known as usdz – which would make it possible to experience AR through any iOS app.

In addition to these, the now-famous Memoji characters were introduced for the iPhone X users for the first time. In fact, Memoji went on to become the feature that kept the weightage on iOS 12 when comparisons were drawn between iOS 12 and Android P. Group FaceTime was opened up to 32 users at once through audio or video.

And keeping the focus on Digital Health intact, Apple introduced Screen Time – a feature that would show users the time they are spending on their devices interacting with applications.

iOS 13

Announced at WWDC 2019, iOS 13 feature set is still on an elongation mode.

Both users and developers are getting news on probable features that would make their appearance on this Fall, every passing day.

But two of the biggest news attached with iOS 13 that are very concrete are – A. iPad will get its own OS – iPadOS and B. iTunes store is no longer operative.

Besides these two notable changes, there are another set of enhancements and new feature additions that iOS 13 is prepared to be launched with. Ones which places them right in front of Android Q in the iOS 13 vs Android Q debate.

Some of the new features that are set to be introduced in iOS 13 include –

Dark Mode
Quick device unlock through Face ID
Sign In with Apple in users’ account systems
New Portrait Lighting
Improved Siri voice
Look Around functionality in Map

While the real features of iOS 13 would only be revealed when we see its launch in the Fall of 2019, there is one surety – the level of innovation will remain intact. Just like the standard that Apple has maintained on an annual basis all throughout the iOS evolution 1-13.

How/When to Add Geolocation in Your App: Guide

Posted on 25/01/201917/06/2021 by Tushar

There was once a time when people used to think a million times before giving out their address to an unknown person or business. Today, people are more than willing to give out their addresses to businesses and applications if it would translate into them getting better services or a more personalized product offer. Such is the shift that the benefits of having a geolocation facility in the mobile apps have brought into their mindset.

In fact, it is not only the modern-day millennials who are open to the idea of their address and exact whereabouts being on the internet. It is also generation X that once took wary of the idea, who are now using it to a massive extent.

See how vastly location-based services are being used? But even amidst all this mass acceptance, there are still a number of businesses that have not yet accepted the reality of geolocation changing the business outlook. Businesses that are yet to realize the potential of Mobile Marketing and Geolocation partnership.

This article is for them – the businesses who are yet to realize the importance of adding geolocation in their apps and enjoying the advantages of location-based service. A guide to talk about the benefits of mobile geolocation in business and give them ways to integrate it into their current mobile app.

To make it extremely to the point, we have divided the whole guide into 3Ws and 1H – What. Why. Who. How.

Without further delay, let’s get started. Let’s see the whats and hows of using geolocation for targeted mobile marketing efforts.

The Whats.

The Difference in Geotagging, Geofencing, and Geotargeting

When we talk about Geolocation in a holistic manner, three similar-sounding concepts shoot up.

Geotagging. Geofencing. Geotargeting.

The similarity is uncanny, no?

Let us look at all the three Geos and help you understand what separates them from each other going by the book-level definition.

Geotagging

Effective mobile geotagging services include the process of adding a location tag on an image or other media type in the form of metadata. This way, it becomes easy for users to tag an establishment or location and then promote it on their social channels.

Geofencing

Geofencing means creating a virtual barrier around a location using your IP address and GPS. This way, you are able to see ads whenever your device is near the area where geofencing functionality has been activated.

Geotargeting

Geotargeting is closely related to Geofencing – so all easier to be confused with. The technology is about targeting specific people out of those who have entered the fence. After all, not everyone who enters the vicinity would be interested in becoming your customer.

The Whys.

The Benefits of Mobile Geolocation in Business

Get a Chance to Increase Your Business Revenue

Location-based apps work on the funda that you will be able to attract your users at the exact moment of their need – when they cross your store or when you give the drivers the exact precise direction of their address.

By giving them the facility to let in their impulse buying personality take over, you open the chances of you generating greater revenue – thus giving you the direct answer to how geolocation apps for business will boost your profitability. The same is the case when the users see that you are able to send the service at their doorstep precisely, you become the brand that can be trusted for repeat transactions. And you are truly able to take the advantage of the true benefits of mobile geolocation in business.

Collect Customer Data

Collection of customer data becomes a breeze when you have integrated location-based service in your mobile app.

And when we say collecting data, we don’t just mean their physical address update but also their lifestyle update, in terms of places they go, the time they visit those places, etc. which ultimately opens more promotion avenues for you. Ultimately proving itself to be one of the biggest benefits of mobile geolocation in business.

Help-Link Your Offline and Online Business

For businesses that have both brick-and-mortar establishment and digital presence, there is nothing more beneficial than a location-based service integrated into their application. In fact, it is the number one reason for how mobile geolocation can improve your business.

With the technology’s addition, you are able to give your customers the benefit of tagging your business in their social tags, especially when they visit your brick-and-mortar business. And this is something that has a direct impact on increasing your store’s footfall while creating a link between the store and its website or app version.

The Whos.

Apps Categories That Can be a Soft Spot for Geolocation

Social Networking Apps

By adding location functionality in the social media applications, you will be able to give your users the ease to create, share, and discuss while tagging a location in it. While it is not one of the core functionalities of Instagram like app development, it is one that most definitely takes user experience to the next level.

Recommendation Apps

Do you know what is the best way of promoting a business?

It’s testimonials.

And almost every business operating in the world today understands it. And with this understanding intact, they shift their focus to recommendation apps. Apps that allow users to compare businesses and their offerings.

And, when your recommendation app gives the users the ease to refine the search on the basis of geography, its viability automatically increases. And with it, you get the ways to use geolocation to increase revenue.

Dating Apps

The demand for dating apps is on an obvious high. There is a whole world of single people looking to find companionship in the world.

And what can be better than them finding their companion near the place they live or work? Nothing. So, when you give them the functionality to look for people whom they can connect with nearby their locality, you give them the opportunity to use your application with greater liking.

Health and Fitness Apps

Geo-location-based services have found a special place in the list of services offered by mHealth app development companies. It does not just help the users keep a track of the distance covered but also helps them find the nearest medical practitioners at the time of emergency.

AR/VR Games

Although this comes as a little obvious, the need for adding geolocation service in an AR/VR application can expand your business offering to a great extent.

You will easily be able to take the combination – AR/VR and Geolocation and apply it in a number of use cases like Direction-based apps, Gaming apps, Travel-based apps, etc. The possibilities are endless.

The Hows.

The Basics of How Geolocation Collects Location Data a.k.a How Does Mobile Geolocation Works

There are multiple ways through which geolocation data of the users are collected by the app and non-mobile businesses. Ways that answers how does mobile geolocation works:

GPS:

These are one of the most common ways of how to use geolocation tracking for marketing. These are the global satellite systems whose receivers are built-in smartphones by default. These GPS satellites are all scattered on the geostationary orbits around Earth because of which the device’s location can be identified with a fair accuracy point.

The device finds out the user’s coordinates in the globe on the basis of the different visible satellites.

Cell ID:

The smartphone location can also be identified by the signals of cellular base stations to which it is connected to. This process of obtaining geographical coordinates relies heavily on the radio signals given out by the mobile operators.

Wi-Fi:

While it is difficult to find open access points when found, it can be a great way to get an accurate location. All users would have to do is keep their Wi-Fi option open on their phone – something that is a little challenging considering people usually keep their wi-fi on.

A-GPS:

The technology operates by supplementing the GPS positioning with the Wi-Fi geolocations and cellular, which allows them to reach higher accuracy levels.

On-Premise Position Technologies:

Technologies like Eddystone and iBeacon allow the collection of geolocation data inside of buildings. Using the data, users are able to navigate large-sized buildings through the notification system.

How to Add Geolocation in Mobile Apps

When it comes to the groundwork of location-based app development, both Android and iOS give developers the feasibility of APIs that makes it possible for them to detect user’ locations and in developing a geolocation-based mobile app.

The presence of these APIs makes it possible for them to not concentrate on the coding of drawing maps or determining the location coordinates of objects. All they have to do is connect one or at max two APIs – one for finding out the user device and the second for drawing maps.

In the case of Geolocation based Android apps, you will have to make use of either Google Maps API or Android. Location in addition to MapView class.

While in the case of adding a Geolocation facility in your iPhone application, you will have to make use of Google Maps Geolocation API, iOS Maps, or the Core Location API.

So here was the starter pack of geolocation functionality for your app business – what it stands for and why it is necessary, and some statistics hinting at its market status in the mix.

The next logical step? Getting in touch with our team of mobile app developers and getting the feasibility added in your mobile app – simply to take advantage of all the benefits of geolocation marketing that other brands enjoy.

7 Proven Methods for Boosting Website Traffic

Posted on 24/01/201919/06/2021 by Tushar

According to retail analyst, GlobalData, over 50% of UK consumers now shop online, with spending predicted to grow 30% by 2024. Indeed, by 2021, Statista forecasts 93% of internet users in the UK will be shopping online. While this is fantastic news for online businesses, it comes hand in hand with a growth in competition as more companies launch websites: 84% had them in 2018 compared to 70% in 2007. To be successful in such a competitive marketplace, companies will need to find ways of increasing website traffic and in this post, we’ll explain some of the main ways to achieve this.

1. Online advertising

For companies with new websites or those which struggle to get listed in search engine results, online advertising is often the chief method of attracting customers to your website. The main way to advertise is with Google and Bing, using paid search ads that appear in search results or display ads that appear on other websites. Alternatively, you can also advertise on social media sites. All of these options allow you to target specific audiences and track the progress of your campaign, helping to ensure your advertising budget is spent effectively. It can, however, be an expensive strategy.

2. Content marketing

Internet users aren’t always looking for products or services; quite often what they are seeking is information or ideas to help them solve problems. Providing content on your website which solves those problems can massively boost the number of people who visit as it can be found in search results and shared on social media. If that content subtly mentions and links to a product or service that you supply, it increases the chances of a sale. Take, for example, someone with a small garden looking for ideas to spruce it up. They find a blog article from a garden centre called ’10 ideas for revamping a small garden’ in which they find a picture of a table and chair set they like, together with a link to the product page. From this article, the visitor solves their problem and the garden centre makes a sale. This technique is widely used by businesses in all sectors.

3. Social media marketing

If businesses don’t want to pay for advertising on social media, they can always use these sites to promote their brand, their web content and their products or services. Social media is great for posting links to your website and with the ability to use eye-catching images and video, it can be a highly effective way to increase traffic, especially as other users can spread the word by liking and sharing your posts.

4. Improve SEO

Search engines are the main way consumers find the things they are looking for online, so optimising your website for them is vital if you want to improve the chances of your web pages ranking well in search results.

While the crucial factor in SEO is providing high-quality, fresh and relevant content on your pages, you must not overlook all the other key ingredients. These include having a well-structured, easily navigable website and placing relevant keywords in the titles, subheadings, meta descriptions and content.

5. A mobile-friendly website

A mobile-friendly or responsive website is a necessity in today’s online market. The main reason for this is the fact that users spend more time online on their phones than they do on laptops or other devices. Increasingly, users are also shopping more on mobiles too. According to Statista, at the end of 2018, smartphones generated the largest share of online retail revenue in the UK with many sources predicting the amount spent using mobile devices would double over the next few years to around £40 billion.

There are many reasons for this growth: there are more phone users, there is better internet access away from home, there are easier ways for people to pay using their phones and, importantly, more companies are providing mobile-friendly websites. For businesses, the last point is crucial, as without a mobile-friendly site, the growing market of smartphone shoppers won’t be able to fully access your store. That’s an issue which also makes search engines downrank sites which aren’t mobile-friendly.

6. Make use of email marketing

Email marketing has the highest ROI of any marketing technique and is very inexpensive to implement. There are various ways to grow an email list, such as using a pop-up that offers an incentive to sign up (e.g. 10% off your first order) or asking customers to sign up during the checkout process (e.g. ‘Get updates of our new products and latest offers’).

Once visitors have signed up, you can send marketing emails to them for free with links to your website included. Today, many companies combine email marketing with the use of personalised product recommendation software which tracks what a visitor has been looking at on the website and sends out emails with links to relevant products. This personalised form of email marketing can significantly increase traffic to your site.

7. Security and speed

Two other factors which can affect traffic numbers are security and speed. If your website is marked as ‘not secure’ on browsers, many users will not visit even if it appears in search results. Additionally, according to Google, 53% of visitors will abandon the site if it takes over three seconds to load on their devices. Solving these problems requires the installation of an SSL certificate on your website to make it secure and ensuring that the site is optimised to make it faster. Speed can also be increased by ensuring that your site is hosted on high-performance servers and that your hosting package provides all the resources to cater for the traffic your site needs.

Conclusion

The first step to increasing online sales is getting more people to visit your website. This has become increasingly difficult to achieve as growing numbers of businesses go online and compete for customers. That said, the internet market continues to grow, with more people spending more money online. Hopefully, the ideas presented here will help your business generate more online traffic.

AI Carrying an Impact On Your Business, Across Domains-How?

Posted on 24/01/201917/06/2021 by Tushar

Artificial Intelligence can Revolutionize Your Business. The AI impact on business can help you streamline your processes across all domains in a way that every outcome is real-time and efficient.

While the world is filled with instances of how Artificial Intelligence can transform even the most traditional of the areas like Education or Real Estate, the general impression that has gotten created is that AI is for the industries and businesses that work in multi-million revenue cycle and a team size of hundreds of employees divided into the fifties of the team.

But, what we aim to achieve here today is that AI is not just a rich man’s dream of expansion, it is something that businesses of all sizes can employ in their process and make themselves more efficient and over time add them into the league of the leaders – a reason why you should start your search for AI development companies.

In this article, we will look at what AI’ impact on business is, how AI can fit into every single domain of your business and make it better.

Let’s begin and help you understand what makes AI the need of the hour for making businesses become efficient and intelligent by looking into the role of AI in business domains.

But before we look into how AI helps businesses, let us look into a holistic level view of the benefits of artificial intelligence in business.

What Is Leading To The Growing Impact Of AI On Business?

Customer and market insights – Whether it’s coming from your system matrix, social media, or web matrix, there is no limitation of the data about your customer and market. The data act as raw materials needed to make AI systems efficient, which in turn helps make crucial decisions about your business and product marketing.
Process automation – Automation of tasks that takes up crucial manpower resources is one of the biggest AI benefits in business. Across industries, businesses have been using automation capabilities to not just lower the workload on their employees but also prevent the chances of data entry issues.
Better customer experience – The role of AI in business goes beyond automation and process efficiency. Technology plays a huge contributory role in bettering the customer experience. Some of the benefits of AI in business in the customer experience front can be seen in:
Personalization
Streamlining of the purchase process
Fraud detection
Effective self-service
Real-time text, visual, and voice engagement

Now that we have looked into the many ways how AI can benefit businesses and why should businesses hire AI developers on an asap mode, the next part is to dive into the answer of how AI is changing businesses across domains. We will be looking into the use of AI in business across HR, Finance, Operations, and Marketing processes.

Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Human Resources and Recruitment

Talent Acquisition

The artificial intelligence impact on business most visible in the field of talent acquisition as compared to any other field. Artificial Intelligence is being used in a number of areas falling in the Talent Acquisition superset like – sourcing the candidates, screening their resumes, employing chatbots to engage with the candidates, and then using face recognition AI-powered software to recognize the emotion that the candidate is showing.

Employee Engagement

With the advent of NLP, chatbot technology, and sentiment analysis, it is now a lot easier for companies to analyze and get real-time feedback from their employees in terms of taking the right action. All the while answering how can AI be adopted in business.

Talking of employee engagement, one of the biggest concerns that employees tend to show on this front is in terms of them meeting their reporting managers once a year to discuss how the work is going and discuss their performance. A solution to this concern is given by Peakon, an AI-based software that enables all employees to reach their fullest potential.

HR Management

There are a number of AI products in the market today to help HRs in the management of administrative tasks. Personnel teams around the globe are now using Chatbots to answer employee queries and using Big Data to develop employee schedules, which in turn are helping businesses with prediction and meeting of demand via fair and effective staff rotas.

Career Management

When talking of the usage of AI for learning and development, there are a number of applications that come up – career pathing, personalized training recommendation, coaching delivered by the chatbots, and manager development led by real-time feedback from the team.

An example of AI for bettering learning and development can be seen through Gweek. The platform helps improve the presentation and communication skills of the users. There is another site called Sidekick that enables confidential coaching for the employees through the medium of messaging platforms.

Performance Management

Because the AI-driven assessments happen instantaneously, in real-time (with algorithms monitoring the quotas, targets, and how they are varying on a day to day basis for every employee), it becomes a lot easier to note all the good and the poor performances instances, ultimately helping in the correct measure of performance and giving an answer to how will AI benefit business internally.

The real-time access and monitoring also help in flagging the shortcomings on a per-day basis, enabling businesses to take action before a problem worsens.

Impact of AI on Marketing and Sales

Research and Development

Artificial Intelligence comes loaded with the ability to develop a deep understanding of a range of different industries and customer bases. By gathering and analyzing the humungous amount of data that floats about a business and market helps businesses research issues and build solutions that weren’t thought of before.

In addition to automating tasks, AI can open avenues for new discoveries, methods of product improvement, and finding ways to accomplish a task better.

Customer Support

The most common answer to how is artificial intelligence used in a business environment lies in Chatbots. Deep Learning powered AI-powered Chatbots allows businesses to access the layers of data from the neural networks such as customer data and information, which have been built up over time.

When filled with real-time access to the preferences that customers come with and their purchase history, gives chatbots an edge over the human counterpart.

Content Creation

There is a chatbot for every content marketer who is bored of developing the monthly content across spreadsheets. There is a software, Wordsmith, which is known to transform a series of structured data in the written doc, with great success.

While at present the use case of AI in content creation is limited to articles having a rigorous format, there are a few agencies that have used platforms like Wordsmith for the development of content for fantasy football drafts.

Heightened User Experience

The answer to why is artificial intelligence good for business lies in this one statement – Your customers and consumers are a lot more demanding than they were ever before. They need a huge amount of products, information, and services – all at a real-time and lightning speed mode – all in one place. And when using AI, you offer all the services in one place in an instantaneous mode, which ultimately helps in elevating your users’ experiences.

Another thing that AI makes possible is Personalization. By incorporating artificial intelligence in mobile app development, businesses get a chance to study the customers’ preferences. AI technology makes it possible for marketers is to send personalized content in time and space that suits the customers. And there is nothing more user experience elevating in the world of marketing than personalization.

Emotion Recognition

The capability to identify human emotions is known to be the biggest challenge for an AI – a question that is solved by the answer of how is AI helping businesses. When an AI-powered Chatbot when backed by the NLP facility can gauge when someone is getting frustrated and can adjust its offering and tone automatically – by either giving them a discount or forwarding the call to a human consultant.

Sales Forecasting

Prediction is a forte of Artificial Intelligence. By analyzing the past sales performance and trends, it can help predict what would the sales figure be this time around or what deals would work and which won’t. Ultimately, an inclusion of predictive AI in app development made around the sales domain will help the sales professionals plan their tactics between upselling and downwelling based on qualified data coming in from their past trends.

Optimization of Lead Generation

Rather than someone from your sales team going through the potential clients’ on Google, or social media, you can incorporate Artificial Intelligence to review them for you.

In addition to reviewing the prospects, you can use AI for two more crucial sales tasks: A. To identify the right job title and brands to target and B. To analyze sentiments made on competitor’s sentiments made on email or social media. It means that AI-powered intelligent mobile apps can help identify the unhappy set of clients while giving you insights into whether the client is unhappy with the service they are getting from the competitor or are seeking something new from the market.

When you get a database of prospects who are unhappy with the service they are being offered by someone else, the probability of your closing the deal by offering them what they need, increases by manifold.

Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Finance

Accounts Payable

There are a number of AI-based invoice management system that makes invoice processing a lot more streamlined because of the digital workflows which are implemented. To achieve this, the machine learning algorithms are designed in a way to learn accounting codes that are appropriate for invoice creation and management.

Supplier Onboarding

Through the combined power of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, AI development companies can help businesses shortlist suppliers on the basis of their tax information and credit scores and set them in systems without any human intervention.

Procurement

The purchase and procurement process of organizations is generally filled with a lot of paperwork and make use of different files and systems which more often than not are not compatible with each other. By taking the help of the combination of APIs and AI to integrate and process the unstructured data through AI powered mobile apps, the procurement process will become a lot more paperless and would call for less human intervention.

Audits

The digitalization of the audit process helps in increasing security by allowing a digital trail of when the file was accessed and by whom.

Using Artificial Intelligence, auditors will get real-time access to the digital files, thus removing the need to search the file cabinet for documentation – something which not just lowers the time gap in getting access to the information but also makes the whole process a lot more efficient. To make your audit process intelligent, you should get in touch with an AI app development company that specializes in the whole powered Audit processes.

Expense Management

Review and approval of expenses in a way that it is ensured that they are compliant with the organization’s policies is a time-consuming task for any accounting team. While though AI, people can employ machines to read the receipts, audit the expense, and then alert the finance team in case there’s any discrepancy.

Impact of AI in Operations Management

Log Analysis

Analysis of log is the biggest use case of AI-powered Operations. Every layer of the stack – operating system, server, hardware, and applications – leaves traces of data stream which can be gathered, stored, processed, and then analyzed by the Machine Learning algorithms. The data then is used for performing root cause analysis of events.

By incorporating the power of AI in Log Analysis systems, businesses can find lacks in the system even before a failure happens, marking a use case of AI benefits for business.

Capacity Planning

IT Architects spend a lot of time planning the resource needs of the applications. It can be very challenging for them to define server complications for the development of a multi-tier, complex application. Every physical layer of application should be matched with CPU cores, the amount of storage capacity, ROM, and the network bandwidth.

Artificial Intelligence comes in handy here by helping architects define the right specification of the hardware or for selecting the right instance type in the public cloud. These algorithms tend to study the present deployment and performances for recommending an optimal configuration for every workload.

Infrastructure Scaling

Auto Scaling can be configured to be reactive and proactive. Under the reactive mode, the monitoring infrastructure will be able to track the key metrics like memory usage and CPU utilization for initiating scale-out operations. And when load returns to normalcy, the scale-in operation takes place bringing the infrastructure back to its original form.

In the proactive mode, admins schedule scale-out the operation before an event.

One of the AI benefits for business lies in the fact that through Artificial Intelligence, IT administrators can configure the predictive scaling which learns from previous usage pattern and load conditions. This way, the system becomes intelligent to decide when it should scale with no mentioned rules. This new mechanism complements capacity planning through adjustment of runtime infrastructure needs.

Cost Management

Assessment of infrastructure cost plays an important role in the IT architecture. And when you work with a public cloud mechanism, the forecast and cost analysis becomes a lot more difficult and cloud providers tend to charge for a number of components like – VMs usage, storage capacity, external and internal bandwidth, API calls made through apps, and IOPS.

Through the analysis of workload and the usage patterns, Artificial Intelligence can estimate the cost of infrastructure by offering cost breakup around a number of applications, components, subscription amounts, and departments – something which would help the operation unit in securing the IT budgets accurately.

Performance Tuning

Once the application gets deployed in the production, a good amount of time is then spent in tuning the performance, specifically in the case of the database engines which deal with a good amount of transactions as they experience the most reduction in performance over time.

By analyzing logs and time utilized in attending to tasks like processing of a query or responding to request, Artificial Intelligence algorithms developed by a sound AI software development company can offer an exact fix to the issues. It comes very handy in augmenting log management through taking respective action in place of escalating issues to the operations team, which have a direct impact on the cost of support and on running the enterprise IT help desks.

Building Maintenance

The last point in our list of the benefits of AI in business operations is the help it offers with building maintenance. The technology can help facilities managers better the energy use while keeping their occupants’ comfort into consideration.

One example of this can be seen in the building automation services that an AI development company offers. In this, AI is merged with IoT to help manage the buildings’ equipment, light, cooling/heating system, etc. in addition to using computer vision for monitoring the building.

So here were the four domains which are considered to be the pillars of any business. The domains that the AI development services providers believe can have a massive impact on and can make more efficient. If you too wish to reap the benefits of AI by making your processes efficient, streamlined, and high revenue-generating, contact our team of AI Developers today.

Cloud-automated IT eliminates shorcomings of Traditional IT model

Posted on 23/01/201918/06/2021 by Tushar

For small and medium-sized companies, the traditional IT model of an on-premises network built and operated with an in-house IT staff is often fraught with problems. IT teams are stretched to capacity simply keeping the lights on and there are always going to be issues with systems performance, network reliability, end user productivity, data recovery, security and the help desk. Staffing is another constant challenge. And if companies decide to outsource some IT functions, they end up with multiple service providers, which creates additional headaches.

The problem is highlighted in the 2018 State of the CIO survey conducted by CIO Magazine, in which CIOs said their role is becoming more digital and innovation focused, but they don’t have time to address those pressing needs because they are bogged down with functional duties.

The common business challenges reported in the survey are often symptoms of needs that are misaligned with technologies and service providers, plus the lack of budget to address the problems. Those challenges typically revolve around:

security and disaster recovery
lost productivity due to downtime and end users waiting for support
shadow IT and users not following security training
escalating or unpredictable costs
outdated infrastructure
shortage of talent
multiple tech providers and systems working at cross-purposes

Smaller businesses that may have turned to traditional managed service providers quickly discover these services lack seamlessness and result in reactive support challenges. According to the Ponemon Institute’s State of Endpoint Security Risk Report, 80% of these reactive issues can be eliminated through standardization and automation.

Moving to a cloud-based IT infrastructure

Cloud-automated IT services can address these challenges and free up IT teams so they can align their strategies with the business. Cloud-automated IT does all this by providing seamless, proactive support, enterprise-level security and compliance, redundant systems, highly available virtual desktops, continuous upgrades, predictable costs and improved end user productivity. The cloud-based IT infrastructure is managed by a team of experienced, knowledgeable, highly trained professionals who apply industry best practices.

Aligning the technologies in the IT infrastructure and having experts managing them delivers several key benefits:

Cost predictability: Not only are ongoing costs for an IT infrastructure that supports the business predictable and easy to budget for, surprise costs for disasters like outages, ransomware and security breaches are essentially eliminated.

Reduced Friction and Risk: By standardizing on best-in-class, constantly updated technologies, friction is reduced between equipment, vendors, integration points, and service providers. This results in stronger security, performance, and ease of use.

User Satisfaction and Productivity: If you’ve ever muddled through a few days of work on a loaner laptop you understand how important the user experience is to employee satisfaction and productivity. VDI and proactive management deliver a better computing experience and increased productivity. Instances can be refreshed just like you would with a cell phone.

With cloud-automated IT, the entire IT infrastructure moves to the cloud in a well-planned, efficient manner. The service provider helps create a personalized upgrade plan based on the specific needs of the organization, does a health check on existing applications, makes sure everything is configured properly and updates applications to the latest releases.

And cloud-automated IT goes far beyond simply lifting and shifting existing systems to the cloud. It is a holistic approach that aligns cutting-edge technologies and fully managed services to provide smaller companies enterprise-grade IT that can make a significant impact on the security and effectiveness of the business.

In 2019, new cyber security threats are predicted to emerge.

Posted on 23/01/201919/06/2021 by Tushar

Cyber security remains a major issue for all organisations and 2019 will continue to prove challenging. Expect to see more large-scale data breaches, new forms of malware and the continuing plague of ransomware attacks. In addition, we need to prepare for threats to Internet of Things devices and attacks on infrastructure, such as banking and payment systems and public transport. Perhaps more worrying than these are the unknown, emerging threats that are on the horizon. Here weâ€™ll look at four you should be wary of.

AI versus AI attacks

Artificial intelligence is being increasingly used by all manner of businesses and in a wide range of ways. Crucially, it is a key tool for cyber security firms which use AI models to find better ways to defend our systems.

Unfortunately, AI is also available to cybercriminals who now use it to counteract the work done by security companies. This is carried out using a generative adversarial network (GAN) which creates a situation where two neural networks compete against each other to discover the AI algorithms each is using. If the cybercriminals discover the algorithms being used by cyber security companies, it gives them a much better understanding of how to evade being detected.

Indeed, these increasingly sophisticated hackers can use AI and machine learning to infiltrate the data sets used by security companies, for example, injecting malicious code and modifying labels, so that threats can be re-identified as safe.

Fake media exploitation

Most people are now aware of the problem of phishing emails where criminals send fake messages to employees in the hope of conning them into giving away important data, access details or, in some cases, getting them to transfer money to the criminalsâ€™ accounts.

While many of us have learnt to spot the tell-tale signs of most fake emails, advances in artificial intelligence have now produced an entirely new and potentially much more difficult to spot threat – fake video and audio messages. Simply by analysing online images, video and voice recordings, AI-enhanced software is now able to create highly realistic video and audio that can fool even the most cautious of viewers. In the video below, youâ€™ll see how this is done.

As you can see from the video, even the creator of this technology has concerns about how it can be used for malign reasons. Cybercriminals with access to it can deliberately spread misinformation that can have a devastating impact, for example, making statements purporting to be from a leading CEO that affects stock market volatility. Criminals can also use the technology to send fake video and audio messages to employees and customers that con them far more easily than a phishing email.

For now, this technology is difficult to use and expensive to own. However, it wonâ€™t take long before itâ€™s available for use on the average laptop or even as a phone app. Luckily, as the video shows, there are efforts in place to develop technology that can detect these fake videos. For the time being, it is important to remain vigilant.

A quantum leap in encryption cracking

Understanding the bizarre world of quantum physics is a challenge even for the most gifted of scientists. However, we are now at a stage where quantum computers are being developed that have the processing power far beyond that which we have ever been able to produce before.

With such potent technology, experts believe that cybercriminals with access to quantum computers would be able to crack the encryption we currently use to protect data. While it is possible to create even more secure encryption to combat this in the future, the problem lies with technology that is already in use. Products like TVs, vehicles and phones, together with many IoT devices, which are going to be around for quite a few years and which have todayâ€™s levels of encryption built in, may become far easier to hack in the future.

Smart contract hacks

Blockchain technology is increasingly used in business because it offers both transparency and the security brought by encryption. One way in which it is used is for smart contracts, where apps housed on blockchain automate processes when the right conditions are met, for example, carrying out financial transactions or delivering intellectual property.

While blockchain has a potentially very useful role to play, this relatively new technology still has issues. One of the concerns is that the inbuilt transparency of blockchain makes it difficult to keep smart contract data private. This vulnerability has already been exploited by cybercriminals who have used it to get their hands on large amounts of cryptocurrencies.

Conclusion

As you can see, in 2019, the new cyber security threats are far more sophisticated than ever before, using technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and quantum computers to launch their attacks. They are also finding new things to attack, such as the media, blockchain and even other AI models. With this in mind, 2019 is certainly a year to keep security threats as a priority in your organisation.

Expectations vs Reality of Enterprise Application Development

Posted on 23/01/201917/06/2021 by Tushar

Every time there is a mention of new technology, the first impression that is made on the non-technical population is that it is identically Magic. Enterprise applications are the same. People expect them to glide over in functions and perform flawlessly – like magic. But do they tend to this expectation as well as they can?

In the next 7 minutes, we will find out the answer to this question. But before we move over the deets of our magical expectations from enterprise apps and the reality of their working, we need to dig into the answers to What are Enterprise Apps and what is Enterprise App development?

What Are Enterprise Apps?

As per the definition from Techopedia, An enterprise application or EA is a specially designed (and large) software system platform that operates in a corporate environment like a local, state, or federal government body, a medium to large business, Schooling systems, or districts, non-profit groups, etc.

Though there is no defined set of properties that Enterprise apps or software should have, there are some characteristics that are found common across different enterprise applications, such as:

Central management
Scalability
Robustness
Business-orientation
Critical for the vision and mission of the enterprise
The built-in ability or communicate over interfaces of other enterprise software.

These characteristics are what make an Enterprise app better than normal applications. And As it can be made out that Enterprise app Development is becoming More evolved in order to become more collaborative and Agile.

Also, it has been made possible due to the prompt adoption of cloud-based technologies. IT sector around the globe is working in a collaborative way to build mobile applications with, both, internal business teams and external agencies that a company depends upon. With the availability of services and solutions through online mode, enterprise software development services in California or anywhere else focus on an approach to business transformation that puts people first.

And when we say “Enterprise App Development”, we are enclosing all the unique requirements there are in order to build an Enterprise app, such as:

Having multiple users with identical requirements that have to use the same app
A need for the said application to deliver value consistently and at scale.
Mammoth reserves of data to manage and integrate (sometimes at multiple levels).
Following all the above-mentioned conditions along with industry-specific guidelines and strict regulations, for instance, the Financial sector or healthcare.
Catering to Forever evolving and changing roles and responsibilities.

For all of these reasons combined, there is always a gap being created between what the customers expect and what is being delivered to them. And thus, Enterprise app development is a gargantuan task and people often fail to either understand the customer needs or to deliver them well. For a better understanding, let us take a trip of the user expectations from Enterprise apps.

How Enterprise App development should work?

An Enterprise App Development task is almost always taken upon by a well-managed enterprise mobile App Development company. And a team is designated for this purpose, wherein, everyone in the team has specific tasks to attend to. And thus, depending upon the role assigned to different people, they end up having a different vision about what the Enterprise mobile app development process should look like.

This is where the first loophole is created when the vision of the team is not aligned. Nevertheless, whether your role in the team is of a developer, tester, or deployer, there are some key values where we can linearly define our visions. So, in the end, we all want the process of Mobile Enterprise app development to be:

User-Focused:

This goes without saying that Enterprise App Development must be User-Centric. Every user expects the mobile apps (Enterprise Applications, here) to provide them with a high, consumer-grade user experience. And besides, the primary intention of all mobile app developers and designers to build applications that actually get used by as many people as possible and thus help both, their external and internal clients. Only then will they be able to meet their ultimate goals.

Highly secure:

Before the commencement of the Enterprise App development process, the primary question from the client’s side will be raised about the safety and security of the app or in other words, the security of their own data fed into the app. In the present world, the media reports are filled with the news of security breaches, even in the highest level of company software. In such scenarios, it is crucial for enterprise app developers to pay attention to safeguarding the valuable user data that is stored in the app.

Integration and connection:

The unique thing about Enterprises is that they use a number of software and applications that can be built independently as the need arises. But, it is one of the main requirements of enterprise app development that every new software or application must be able to seamlessly connect with all the existing data sources. This ensures better user experience and eliminates the extra work for software integrations.

Speed:

With the release plan of 5G technology in the world, it is only obvious that today, digital technology users give utmost priority to the high speed of networks and applications. Gone are the days when people were patient enough to watch their web pages load in the dial-up internet service. And besides, with the ever-rising backlog of data, the developers are more concerned with working on critical projects, rather than writing and rewriting front-end and back-end codes. After all, the business leaders require the updated technologies to be delivered to them as quickly as their business plans need change.

These four characteristics make up the foundation of an ideal enterprise app development process. But as we all can guess, the reality may not always align with our expectations of the ideal scenario. So, let us take a look at how the Enterprise app development actually works.

How Enterprise App development actually works?

There might be a few myths around Enterprise app development that are circling around the world, In all reality, there’s a diametrical difference between the ideal and the real scenario of Enterprise app development. Let us take a look at what the actual process goes like:

Project-Focused:

Even though all the developers and other people involved in Enterprise application development projects are well aware of the need that every app should be made keeping the end-user requirements in mind, too often, the teams working upon mobile app development for Enterprises with all the other enterprise mobility solutions, the reality-check says otherwise. In actuality, the apps are siloed and the enterprise ends up on multiple disengaged and stand-alone databases stored in different digital systems which are either impossible to integrate or are an extra burden for the enterprise’s IT team.

Slow:

Yes, even in today’s forever-rushing, technologically advanced world, custom enterprise application development is a tough task. Hence the project of enterprise app development ends up taking longer than contracted. Somehow, there are never enough man-hours available for timely delivery.

But of course, the blame can not be put on the app development team alone. Enterprise app development is a big task and there are significant challenges attached to it.

Key challenges in Enterprise application development:

Data Encryption:

One of the biggest challenges faced in enterprise application development is the proper and secure encryption of sensitive data stored on smartphones. And as mLearning is getting more and more popular at workplaces, the concept of BYOD (Bring your own device) is making it more difficult for app developers to keep the data encrypted. Nevertheless, encryption and secure containment of data are crucial for enterprise app development because they can save the data from leakage in case of device theft.

Access to data:

Mobile applications for enterprises have a number of challenges that are faced by developers at different degrees. One of the most crucial and common problems is offline access to data. This has become one of the biggest challenges that are faced by mobile app development companies, especially in big enterprises that see a need for urgent access to data even when there is no connection to any online portal.

Device Fragmentation – BYOD

BYOD is sure the talk of the town but it has shown an equal amount of challenge to the developers. With the rise in “bring your own device” policies across multiple enterprises, mobile app developers are facing the challenge of accommodating a plethora of mobile devices in their enterprise applications. Previously, developers had to focus on only a few kinds of operating systems and mobile devices which is not the case with BYOD. This scenario has given rise to the challenge of device fragmentation because of the adoption of “one size fits all” technique for the development of Enterprise mobility solutions.

There are numerous ways to increase the chances of your enterprise app failure, But the good thing is that every challenge has a solution. It might not be the best solution but it can substantially decrease the problem that was being faced initially so as to make matters simpler. For instance, we, at Anteelo, ensure that these issues don’t show up in your enterprise app dev.

Overcoming the Challenges in Enterprise App development

There is a major requirement of a strong defense system in place for all the digital devices that comprises data encryption, firewalls for individual applications, and at the host and network levels.
Since the data stored in an enterprise mobile app is highly crucial to the enterprise. Therefore, the use of competent security software in place to make the data security is required. Along with other data, the privacy of sensitive user data and information is to be protected.
Web applications and mobile applications which are cloud-based are highly prone to cyber-attacks. Therefore, in order to safeguard the data of this software, the security software must be competent and updated which the latest security patches.
Application vulnerability tests must be held on a periodic basis.
The environment that includes multiple systems must ensure careful designing keeping in mind the diversity of devices.
To avoid the problem of device fragmentation, developers must recognize the most common digital system or device in order to make the enterprise mobile app compatible with a maximum of devices.
A smart link can be established between applications that are using a similar set of data in order to achieve optimization.

Of course, there is a gap being created in the enterprise app development process. The reality of the scenario is much different from the one we expect in reality. However, every loophole can be fixed with careful operations and systems in place. Hence, it is safe to say that even though there is a gap in the app development process, there is enough room for improvement as well.

We, at Anteelo, as an Enterprise mobile app development company are working towards a standardized procedure to minimise all the possible gap in these processes. But, the roadmap to being a successful app startup company consists of more than just following the SOP.

And we all are aware that the enterprise software development services in California and around the world have created some very intricate and reliable mobile applications for big enterprises which can only be cited as a development in the course if nothing else.

How Analytics Can Assist Businesses in Ensuring Safety

Posted on 22/01/201918/06/2021 by Tushar

the growing threat of cyberattacks, many are turning to analytics to help protect their systems and comply with regulations. Here, we’ll take a close look at what security analytics is and how it can benefit businesses.

Security analytics – an overview

Like all forms of data analytics, security analytics involves the collection and aggregation of a wide range of data from numerous sources. The purpose, however, is to analyse this data to discover vulnerabilities and threats to the security of a company’s systems and data. Data can be gathered from firewalls, routers, network traffic, antivirus software, OS event logs, businesses apps, cloud resources, ID verification and access management logs and endpoint data. It also uses employee and user behaviour data and third-party threat intelligence information. This is then analysed using specially developed security algorithms which seek out patterns and sequences that give insights into potential, emerging or existing threats.

Modern cybersecurity analytics tools also employ AI and machine learning, which enables them to learn from past experiences to continually improve their ongoing threat detection. So, as new threats evolve, they will be able to detect these too. Of crucial importance is that this is done in real-time so that threats can be dealt with proactively and stopped before an attack inflicts damage.

Ways in which security analytics can be used

Security analytics can be used for a wide range of measures. It can detect links in network traffic activities which signify the emergence of a potential attack. It can discover attackers threatening to infiltrate a system’s endpoints, such as its laptops and mobile phones. It identifies vulnerable, compromised or prohibitively shared user accounts. It blocks unfamiliar communications channels, preventing data being copied, downloaded or transferred without authorisation. It can also safeguard against identity theft by stopping users from sending their details to other sites.

Security analytics can even be used to protect against internal threats; monitoring employee activity to identify intentional or negligent behaviours which put the system’s security at risk. It does this by employing algorithms that uncover suspicious actions which indicate threats or vulnerabilities.

Compliance is another area in which security analytics can play an important role. Here, it can help automate compliance requirements, such as the gathering of log data, the management of data networks and the monitoring of data actions, enabling the company to compile reports and detect users not working in compliance with internal IT policies. Where incidents occur, security analytics can also assist in any forensic investigation, unearthing the activities and sources of the related events.

The benefits of using security analytics

The chief benefit of using security analytics is that, aside from detecting threats and potential security breaches, it also alerts the company when these incidents are likely to happen and before they actually do. In this way, its insights enable the company to be proactive in its security.

With threats coming from a wide range of sources, such as hacking, malware, ransomware, phishing, internal sabotage and negligence, and with cybercriminals using far more sophisticated tools, some of which also make use of AI and machine learning, many businesses can see real value in security analytics.

Security in the cloud

For businesses using cloud-based systems, it is possible that your vendor already provides a wide range of robust security measures to protect your systems from cybercrime. Here at eukhost, for example, our cloud servers are protected with enterprise-class security. We work in partnership with Fortinet to offer next-gen FortiGate firewalls which feature intrusion prevention and inflow virus protection systems that detect and isolate threats before they reach your server.

In addition, we provide extensive VPN features, DDoS protection, email security, SSL certificates, email signing certificates and more. For added peace of mind, we also provide the industry-leading Veeam backup solution, designed for cloud infrastructures. It features virtual machine backups, replication and encryption which keep your data secure in case of system failure, data corruption, bad updates, ransomware or human error.

When it comes to compliance, the security we provide helps companies meet regulations such as GDPR and PCI DSS. With regard to the latter, all our cloud servers are PCI compliance capable and we can provide the server environment required for this purpose.

Conclusion

As threats become increasingly more advanced, it is good to know that technologies to protect IT systems, such as security analytics, are being developed and deployed to combat them. The best place to host such big data analytics, of course, is in the cloud. It’s reassuring, therefore, that the cloud, itself, already comes with a range of robust security measures to protect you, whether you use security analytics or not.

How Google Home and Amazon Echo Will Affect the Content of Your Website

Posted on 22/01/201919/06/2021 by Tushar

The way we interact with the internet is changing. Many of us now use voice to search online and the answers we get are increasingly being spoken to us. This isnâ€™t just happening on smart speakers, which are becoming commonplace, it is also being used on phones, computers and even on devices like smart TVs. If this is the future of how we use the internet, it is obviously going to affect the content that organisations place on their websites and in this post, weâ€™ll look at what changes are likely to be needed.

Why you need to act now

It is estimated that by 2020 over half of all internet searches will be done by voice. This is due to a number of factors. First of all is the low price of smart speakers. You can pick up a basic Amazon Echo Dot or a Google Home for around Â£30; cheap enough to put several around the home so voice searches can be done anywhere without having to touch a keyboard.

Hand in hand with their low price are the consistent improvements in natural language processing. Computers can now understand what we say and speak back to us in intelligible ways and their ability to do so is getting better all the time. While, for the time being, what we can do with voice search is fairly limited, the scope of their abilities will no doubt expand to help us in ways we currently havenâ€™t begun to fathom.

For website owners, this means that what you publish on your sites will increasingly be read out to the searcher rather than being presented to them visually and this will impact how that content is created in the first place.

Voice search results

One of the biggest differences between voice and keyboard searches will be in the way that search results are presented. As we all know, when we search using a keyboard and screen, we are shown a list of search results and click on the one that most appeals to us. This is why most websites strive to be on the first page of results.

With voice search, this isnâ€™t always going to happen. Where there is a screen on which to view the results, for example when using Cortana, Siri, or Google Assistant on a computer or phone, the results may show up as we are used to. However, on smart speakers and other devices, reading out a long list of titles and snippets would not be user-friendly; instead, the google search engine will make the choice for us and read out what it considers to be the most appropriate answer.

Indeed, even screen-based search is moving in this direction. Type a question into Google , today, and before it presents a list of websites to look at, it will show you what it considers to be the best answer in the knowledge graph at the top of the page. This is a move which keeps the visitor on a Google page and reduces the chances of any other web page being visited.

Whatâ€™s the solution for website owners? It means that for voice searches, it is even more crucial that the titles and metadata are focused on the search query and, in doing so, provide answers in themselves that can be read out. Websites that can feature in the knowledge graph are the ones which are most likely to be visited.

The rise of natural language generation

With the use of AI and machine learning, the information supplied by voice searches is going to get more sophisticated. At present, it uses natural language processing to understand your enquiry and then uses this to identify the most relevant content to speak back to you. In the future, it will go beyond this. With natural language generation and AI, the search engine will be able to gather the essential information from the internet, perhaps taking small elements from many different sites and will reformulate these into a single, cohesive and comprehensive answer. So, rather than speaking out verbatim what it finds, it will generate specific answers to specific questions. For example, if you ask what restaurants are the best in your local area, it might search all the various review sites, looking beyond star ratings, to consider the actual text individuals write in their reviews. In addition, it may also take into consideration the browsing and purchase history of the customer in order to offer what it considers the appropriate response. In this sense, search engines will morph into concierges offering personalised customer services.

Will there be an end to screen searches?

There will always be a need for screen searches. If consumers want to purchase something, they usually want to see it first. Indeed, it goes against freedom of choice not to give a customer options and if they removed these, google search engines will lose massive revenues from their advertisers. This is perhaps why so many smart speakers with screens are already being produced, in order to give us the best of voice and screen searching.

How will this affect content creation?

All these developments point to several changes that websites need to make to help them stay relevant in the age of the voice search.

Firstly, the content published on a webpage needs to be structured and written in a way that makes sense when read aloud. This means writing in a way which sounds natural and using vocabulary that communicates information clearly. Accurate punctuation, which is essential for ensuring meaning is communicated clearly, will become more vital than ever.

Another factor is in creating different content for different searchers. The use of subject orientated terminology might be suitable for some readers but not for others. A search engine could determine the level of understanding that a searcher has and look for search results that the user could understand when the website was read out to them. For some businesses, therefore, the solution would be in creating both a laypersonâ€™s and a subject specialistâ€™s page.

Graphical data is one area, in particular, which needs to be looked at carefully when considering voice searches. Tables and lists work very well for visual searches and can save users lots of time when they look for information on your site. However, when read out, they donâ€™t always make the best sense and it would be easier to understand if the information was put into sentences and paragraphs. The obvious answer to this is the development of a new type of responsive site â€“ one which provides different versions depending on whether the results are shown or read. This, however, is a development for the future. For the time being, it may mean making both sets of information available.

SEO also has a part to play in helping websites do well in voice searches. Indeed, Google recommends that SEO focuses on making it simple for the search engines to understand what the content is about. This should be done through the use of titles, meta descriptions, headings and subheadings as well as using proper descriptions rather than just keywords in image alt-tags. Just remember that most of these things need to work for visual consumption at the same time.

Conclusion

With the advance of voice search technology and the popularity of smart speakers, we are moving into a new era of internet use where there is less need to be stuck to a screen to find the information we want or to carry out actions. For website owners, this will push you towards creating content that is suitable for both kinds of search and which makes sense when read aloud.

Corporate Learning Mobile Apps’ Role in Business(2019-20)

Posted on 22/01/201917/06/2021 by Tushar

2018 ended with the size of the corporate Learning mobile apps market at $165 Billion, a number that is anticipated to grow to $240 Billion by the time we hit 2023.

With the constant demand for transformation and innovativeness, a ripple demand has fallen on the need for constant learning that promises a skilled team that is updated with everything happening and entering the industry and is ready to make the most of it while making the whole business all the more efficient.

This demand has single-handedly increased the market size of the corporate mLearning solutions – something that would draw the corporate learning market to grow further in 2019-2020.

The graph here is a sign of how while mobile apps have already established a prominent part in the education industry revolving students, the trend is on a high even in the case of corporate learners.

Before we move on any further, it would help knowing what learners feel about digital learning in the corporate world.

*The insights into the corporate learners that we are about to share here will also allow you to devise your corporate learning and development mobile apps accordingly in 2019-2020, in a way that your learners get the maximum output.

Without further ado, let us get to what corporate learners have to say about mobile based corporate training solutions for businesses. This will give you an idea of the extent of the importance of mobile learning in businesses –

How is the Corporate World Responding to mLearning – The Learner Side of Corporate eLearning Market

A. Career progression is the Driving Force of mLearning Apps for Corporates

78% of employees feel that they are most likely to enroll in a course when they believe that it would have an impact on bettering their job or would help in reaching their future role. The other big motivator besides this in using the eLearning mobile apps that offer recognition is the attraction of getting recognized by a prestigious corporation or university.

B. They are Pro-AI but with Concerns

While around 60% of learners said that they are more than willing to use AI for identifying skills and recommendations of courses that would help fill any gap in their present skill set, they were worried about how their manager would react. They were tensed about the fact that either their managers would feel that they are looking for a job change or might think that they are not capable of handling a task according to the selection of course.

C. Learners Wish to Have a Portable Record of Education Achievements

Around 73% of corporate learners said that they would prefer corporate learning apps more if it allows them to take the record of what they have learned and achieved in the course to the next job. In short, they would appreciate it if they had complete personal access to their records.

D. An Ease of Access is what the Learners Want

Around 78% of learners felt that they would appreciate it if all the learning was there in one place along with the presence of well-synced learning recommendations.

The convenience to access the course from all devices and on an offline mode along with quick load time are some of the things that the learners felt a necessity to define the importance of mobile learning in education.

E. The Mode of Learning Was Not Restricted to Reading

All the learners were divided into several media of inculcating corporate learning and development. Modes ranging from – Reading, Online Courses, Webcasts, Audio, and Video.

They believed that when given options to meet the different style of learning, varying learning goals, and the difference in circumstances, they witnessed an increase in engagement and value.

F. 25 – 40 Minutes of Session was Best for Effective Learning

Around 50% of the corporate learners said that around 25 – 40 minutes of a session in the mLearning app was the most efficient for them, followed by sessions ranging from 1 to 2 hours of learning and those lying in the 5 – 10 minutes duration range.

Now that we have looked at how the corporate learner world is reacting to the idea of Corporate eLearning solutions, it is time to look at the benefits that have helped shape the high growth and engaging online corporate training market.

But before we do that, it would be apt to look at how far the mobile learning apps for business have come in the corporate world. So, let’s take a quick detour and look into the journey the digital corporate eLearning platforms have taken.

See how the corporate mobile learning solutions continued to grow and are even more persistently prepared to expand in the many corporates around the world?

Weel. The place that these mobile learning apps for corporates are able to create for themselves is the doing of the impacts of the learning apps on corporate, something we are going to look into next.

The Benefits of Corporate eLearning Solutions for Your Business

1. A Competitive Advantage

With the business world as our witness, if there is one thing that stands between an averagely performing company and a true industry disruptor, it is the time that the disruptors put in learning and adapting to new technologies.

In fact, brands like Uber, Bloom Energy, Amazon, and the likes directly link their speed of innovation and intensity of growth to constant training and learning.

In such a scenario, a Learning Management System Software that is designed to keep your employees updated with the technologies that are not just mainstream now but have the potential to be major holds the ability to put you points ahead of your competitor.

2. Easy Accessibility of Resources

Today’s businesses are coming out of the geographical boundaries shell, culture conventions, and time limitations. To work alongside them, learning apps would have to deliver training in a small time span. Depending on the job role and geographical location, it can be very difficult for businesses to deliver learning in a face-to-face mode. This is where the accessibility offered by mobile applications can come in handy.

An example of this can be seen in the ATLNext app developed by India’s leading construction organization, L&T. it enables its employees across the nation to learn anytime.

3. Bridging the Skills Gap

The present era belongs to transformation. The skills that you require now to succeed in the market are a hundred times more complex than what they used to be when the industry was in an infancy stage.

By incorporating well-devised mobile learning apps for corporations in your day-to-day work activities, you will be able to not just be updated with how the industry is moving but also know where you are lacking in the worldwide scale and take measures to fill the gap while there’s time.

4. Cost Reduction

Consider the cost of traditional training practices for a minute. Note the cost of accommodation, food, venue, per hour trainer cost, operational costs of materials like projectors, notepad, pen, etc. These costs can be brought down drastically if you employ a mobile app in the process. The cost of education application development will always be a one-time expense.

5. To Attract and Retain a New Age Workforce

As the well researched educational software development services would tell you, it is estimated that by the time we reach 2025, millennials would have made up 75% of the world’ workforce.

And this new age workforce is on a constant thrive to learning and growing to a newer self. Sophisticated learning programs developed in modes that entice them can be your only way to keep them hooked with your company for they will not just be interested in the money but in an expansive career path and the diverse experience that it offers.

6. To Unite the Global Workforce

One of the biggest challenges that every business which operates on a global platform faces is passing off learning in a unified manner across the whole wide business comprising multiple offices distributed across various countries.

For a business that is not confined to any one geographical location, it becomes of prime importance that all the millions of employees are brought on the same page and given the exact same training and LMS modules. Brands that make use of regional language courses specific to individual regions are able to achieve an across company growth with much ease.

With this, we have seen the benefits that come associated with every business learning app for Corporate there is but it is important to note here that all the information that you read above would be incomplete until you are able to design a learning solution that is prepared to offer all those benefits and be a part of the constantly growing mLearning industry. Until you design the mLearning app right, you will not be able to offer the right set of experience – something that your mobility partner who excels incorporate mLearning application development services should tell you.

On that note, let us now look at the features that are commonly present in every Corporate mLearning solution and mLearning apps for corporate employees before we head on to studying the trends that would define the digital corporate mLearning industry this year and beyond.

Popular mLearning trends of 2018

BYOD is the news

BYOD or Bring your own device is one of the major mobile Learning trends that turned up in 2018. It was projected in a report by Sailpoint that 2018 will see approximately 70% of working professionals will prefer working upon their own electronic devices (mobiles and PCs), at homes as well as at workplaces.

This is so because people today are used to working with the comfort of their own devices. Being habitual of the convenience of smartphones which allow us to access any knowledge resource anytime anywhere, BYOD becomes an obvious next step. And with the majority workforce being tech-savvy, BYOD is one of the most appropriate strategies to be adopted in any workplace.

The hiking popularity of Mobile Analytics

Mobile analytics is the way to deciphering learning patterns of different individuals at a workplace. And as more and more organisations are identifying themselves as L&D (Learning and development organisations), “the adoption of having personalized learning models developed for all the employees at a workplace” as an idea is catching fire.

In short, more organisations are addressing the importance of having personalized learning models.

Keeping it small to keep it effective

The average attention span of the present time’s learner is passably low. Therefore, in order to keep up with that, things need to be kept curious enough for people to respond to them. In fact, people tend to lose interest in anything that they know is a long winding course.

Thus, the best retention strategy for people is to keep the content portion small. It is better to keep the content focused on a single topic than to diverse out the things to learn in terms of topics.

In order to achieve the best results, this kind of micro-learning modules can be easily delivered through personal mobile devices of people and are highly effective.

Mobile phones for performance support

Now that we have already learned that corporate education mobile app development is directly related to enhanced performance, it is time that we learn how can mLearning help in providing performance support to our teammates.

In other words, the support that they need to perform their jobs perfectly anytime they need and anywhere they need it. For instance, personal sales meetings can be tricky while demonstrating a tech product, an app or a functional software. And, in many cases, the sales personnel on field end up requiring the support of the backend development team for a smooth presentation. And, mLearning tools can be of great help in such scenarios. Access to all the required information from the ease of a mobile device can work wonders for all the teammates in enhancing their overall performance at work.

With the rising number of mobile learning app development practices, it is safe to conclude that mLearning has become a dependable technology. In fact, The above-mentioned work trends have worked well with all kinds of business structures in this year and since technology is forever bettering itself, trend forecasts can be made for the coming year as well. Let us take a look at what 2019 and 2020 has in store for mLearning.

mLearning trends to be seen in 2019 to 2020

Mobile Coaching

As cool as Mobile Coaching sounds, it is, in fact, a great source of having a subject matter expert right in your pocket. So for instance, before an important sales pitch or business meeting, your teammates can easily log in to the “mobile coaching” application and have a real expert prep them for the meeting in real-time. Mobile coaching, with the benefits that it offers, single handedly makes Mobile apps a growing trend in the Education industry.. And this is not just an online portal but it also works as an offline video directory for people to browse through the videos to watch anytime.

Having Education apps in enterprises opens the possibility of learning on the go, especially in case of critical meetings and deals.

Micro-assessments on mobiles

Training and learning never end even when your teammates complete their courses. As an aid to knowledge retention, mobile micro-assessment tools will be a big high of 2019-2020. As for mobile micro assessments, the mobile apps for corporate training would enable trainers to create short questionnaires and have them scheduled to be sent at fixed intervals to the teammates after the completion of their training.

These assessments can even be taken via text messages or chat applications and services. In fact, It will not be wrong to say that training and learning, either in Workplaces or in learning institutes, Mobile learning technology will revolutionise Education as we know it.

Augmented Reality will become a part of the process

Development of m-learning tools is on an all-time high now and for the future. Mobile learning apps are now moving towards AR and VR. With AR performance support tools, all the teammates have to do is hold their smartphones up to anything they require information about and they can get real-time information about the object to guide them.

No matter how rigorous training is given to the employees, real knowledge retention takes place with hands-on-experience of the job. And there is no better way of embedding experience with learning except through augmented reality.

Today we have access to Some of the best mobile learning learning platforms, right through our app stores, like Coursera, Duolingo, Linkedin Learning and the list goes on. mlearning and education app developers are seeing a high demand of such apps among the over 2 billion smartphone users of the world. If truth be told, Mobile app development companies around the world have dedicated teams for mLearning apps.

The time is not far away when mLearning will be seen as the only way of learning in many diverse scenarios of life. In fact, mobile learning apps for enterprises and other educational bodies are being adopted rapidly. Future of mobile learning is not a dream anymore, rather it is already a practical, practicable technology which is seeping very rapidly into our training courses. And with this ever-improving technology, the scope of m-learning app development is also taking a leap.

Now that we have seen it all – the corporate eLearning market, how far it has come, the benefits that it offers to the many corporate learners around the world, the must-have features, the trends which will soon go mainstream in the corporate mLearning market – the only thing now left to do is to get a corporate eLearning solution devised and enter an era where your business emerges as the industry disruptor.

Not sure how to achieve this? Let us help you. Contact our team of mLearning App Development experts, today!