You might think it Christmas crackers to believe a beardy, old sleigh driver donning a red hat, has anything remotely in common with an internet-based hosting solution – but you’d be wrong. Both of them, in their own unique ways, can bring us many benefits. So, as Christmas approaches and we begin to let our minds wander away from work and towards the festivities, here’s a more seasonal and humorous post for you to enjoy. Here are the reasons why cloud hosting is like Santa Claus.
When it comes to running critical operations, Santa relies on his sleigh just as much as businesses need their applications. Downtime for either can be disastrous. Sleigh failure can result in millions of unhappy children waking up to empty stockings – an unimaginable reputational disaster for the world’s most trusted brand. For others, the standstill caused by server failure not only damages reputations but can also result in significant losses.
Neither Santa nor businesses like downtime
While Santa relies on magic reindeer dust to keep his sleigh in action, for businesses, the best option is to migrate to cloud hosting where the possibility of downtime due to server failure is non-existent. The virtual nature of a cloud environment means that it delivers consistent performance with guaranteed 100% uptime. This is because its hyper-converged design protects against everything from hard disk failure to an entire server failure, enabling critical apps to be always available.
Reindeer fast performance
Speed is essential for both Santa and modern businesses. For Santa, dropping off presents to the world’s 2 billion children in a single night means he has to work fast. It’s been scientifically calculated that he needs to travel at approximately 650 miles per second to get everything done in time and to achieve this, he needs more than your average reindeer. Indeed, the average reindeer can only manage 15mph and most of those would be flagging after half an hour of pulling all that weight.
What makes everything possible for Santa is that he uses the cloud. Rather than taking the sleigh over rugged terra firma, riding high in the cloud provides an almost friction less environment to travel and where gravity has less of an impact. This massively improves his speed.
That same cloud, or one very similar to it, can also help boost the speed of your data. Indeed, as data is weightless, it can travel even faster through the cloud than reindeer, almost at the speed of light. And with high-performance servers featuring powerful Intel Xeon CPUs and super-fast SSD drives you can perform critical tasks quicker than an elf can say ‘Merry Christmas’.
Santa has been so impressed with cloud technology, he’s now adopted load balancing to prevent his sleigh tipping over on tight corners. For cloud hosting users, load balancing maximises speed and capacity utilisation so that when servers are busy, the load is distributed. This ensures that no server suffers from performance problems and, with multiple data centres at their disposal, cloud providers can always ensure optimised performance.
Both Santa and cloud hosting save you money
Whether you are buying presents for your children or cloud hosting for your business, it is important that what you buy offers you value for money. What’s great about the cloud is that you can save on the costs of running a data centre and the capital expenditure needed to pay for hardware. Everything you need is provided by the host. There will be no need to pay for premises, electricity, physical security, maintenance or insurance.
Similarly, with Santa, those who have well-behaved children can save on the cost of buying presents. Instead of spending a fortune on Amazon, simply get your ‘nice list’ kids to write a letter to Santa and put it in the nearest post box. Doing this automates the process of putting presents in stockings and under the tree on Christmas Eve. Although a small delivery fee of a mince pie and a shot of something warming is required, the savings are dramatic, especially when your child has an eye for expensive electronic gadgetry.
Unfortunately. If you have naughty kids, you’ll have to supply your own presents or make do with the small bag of coal that ‘bad list’ children get left.
Both come with expert little helpers
When you have significant workloads, it pays to have experts on hand to help you get things done. Santa, for example, has an army of elves who spend their days creating the presents, wrapping them up and loading them onto the sleigh. They’ll also manage the naughty and nice list and organise the presents in a way that enables delivery to be done with awe-inspiring efficiency.
If Santa has a technical problem, Mrs Clause offers 24/7 support, together with tea and biscuits, to help him find an effective solution. Last year, for example,Rudolph’s nose was a bit dim and Mrs Clause provided the right type of carrot to add to Rudolph’s food ‘til the luminous glow was restored.
Users of cloud hosting also benefit from expert little helpers. Working away behind the scenes is an army of engineers and technicians who ensure that your hosting is expertly managed. They’ll monitor and maintain the servers, update the software, scan for intruders and malware,and generally make sure your hosting is working as effectively as possible.
At the same time, should you have any issues, a good cloud host will provide their own 24/7technical support. While they may not know one end of a reindeer from the other, they will have expert skills in helping you with all your hosting needs and will be available by phone, live chat or ticket.
Wrapping up
So, as you can see, it is possible to compare Santa with cloud hosting. Comparing,however, doesn’t mean you have to choose between them. If you’re clever and have been good all year, you can have both. Now, that is good tidings.
If you have not come across BYOD before, it stands for Bring Your Own Device and is when businesses allow their employees to use their own laptops, tablets and smartphones for work, instead of supplying them themselves. When BYOD is used in conjunction with a cloud-based system, it brings many benefits. In this post, we’ll look at what these are.
Greater flexibility.
When businesses with cloud-based systems begin to offer BYOD, it enables employees to work away from the office whilst still being able to access the system over the internet. This means that where ever an employee is, they’ll still be able to access the data and files they need.
As a result, it offers companies a great deal of flexibility. For example, if there is no need for an employee to be physically in the office to carry out their work, they can work from home, using their own laptop. If this applies to enough staff, it is possible to use smaller office premises cutting the cost of business rents, rates, utility bills, maintenance and insurance.
It also enables companies to offer more flexible working conditions which are better suited to those who need to work around things like childcare. As a result, talented individuals who would have been put off by rigid 9-5 routines may be willing to work for you.
Keep employees happy and reduce training costs
We all have our preferred devices for work; some like to use Windows computers, while others prefer to work with Apple Macs. When you supply your own devices, it is easier for a company to lease these in bulk and as a result, everyone gets the same thing.
It can, however, be difficult for those who have always used Windows to work with a Mac and vice versa. It can take them time to learn the new skills and even require training to take place. Until they are up to scratch, their productivity levels will be less than expected. Giving them the chance to use their own device removes these obstacles and leads to higher morale and improved job satisfaction.
App compatibility and employee collaboration
If you think that application compatibility may be an issue with BYOD, you’ll be relieved to know that many apps can be used across a range of different operating systems and devices. For example, Office 365, perhaps the most widely used business suite, works with Windows, Mac, iOS and Android, enabling your employees to work anywhere, any time with its email and other applications. In addition, with Team Sites, which is included with Office 365, employees can improve collaboration while in different locations, editing documents simultaneously and taking part in online conferences.
Cuts the cost of device leasing
The obvious advantage of BYOD is that if employees are using their own devices to work, you don’t have to buy or lease them. Developments in computer technology mean that whether purchased or leased, hardware will become dated and even obsolete within a few years. As a result, there is the constant cost of replacing it. BYOD gets rid of this cost.
In addition, if your IT department provides maintenance for BYOD devices (it’s worth doing as your staff will still have IT issues which might affect their work) it’s unlikely this will need as much input as it would with hardware provided internally. Staff generally take care of their own devices better than they do company devices and they are more likely to understand how to sort out minor errors themselves.
BYOD is compatible with data security
With the introduction of GDPR, one concern about BYOD is whether its use could ensure that confidential information and customer data remained secure. The answer is yes, provided that it’s properly regulated and monitored and that only those employees who need to use the data are given access to it.
Key to ensuring data is secure is having sound password management, including making sure that employees are trained on password safety and that strong passwords are used when connecting to business systems.
At the same time, employees must agree to regularly back up their systems and update software to more secure versions when they are released. This will prevent any security holes in older versions being exploited by hackers. If using software such as Office 365, these apps will be updated automatically.
Conclusion
For companies that use cloud computing, the option to allow employees to bring their own devices offers a number of advantages. It increases their flexibility, it keeps employees happier, it enables them to continue to use the same apps, it saves money and, if implemented wisely, is compatible with GDPR and other regulations.
The on-demand business sector has established itself to be a successful business model ever since it started mushrooming post-Uber launch. The concept with which Uber was launched – to give users the ease of booking a ride in real-time at a cost point that is lesser than the booking cost of traditional commutation models – took very little time to get adopted by other service industry sectors. While the on-demand economy was earlier restricted primarily to on-demand ride-hailing businesses, today it has become a part of a number of sectors: food delivery, at-home services, legal and healthcare consultation, amongst others. The result of this expansion is that the on-demand economy has today become a revenue and funding magnet. It is safe to say that the on-demand economy is reshaping the whole world around us.
While the expansion is good for the economy, it comes tagged with a prominent challenge for businesses – high competition.
This article cum mini-guide is for every entrepreneur who is brave enough to start their business in a crowded market. A guide on how to start an on-demand business.
Let us start by looking into the reasons that are driving entrepreneurs to enter the on-demand business domain.
Reasons Why On-Demand Service App Development Is Witnessing A High Demand
While the constant innovations made by the on-demand startups have played a pivotal role in the rise of on-demand industry demand, the inscribed advantages like accuracy, timely delivery, and cost advantages etc. have made them a prominent category in the overcrowded mobile app industry. Here is a bulleted view of the reasons that have brought a rise in on demand app for startups and subsequently in on demand app development company.
Convenience
People are generally more inclined towards services that they can conveniently book and avail for real-time usage.
Nearby Service Availability
Users find it attractive when the service they are seeking is being delivered on their doorstep or vicinity. This is the number one reason why on-demand remained the most profitable business model at the time of global COVID-19 lockdown.
Cost efficiency
The services offered by the on-demand companies are more often than not a lot more cost-effective than traditional services.
Easy Payment
Another factor that attracts users towards on-demand services is the fact that they offer a very easy mode of payment happening mostly over the app screen within a few clicks.
Even though these four reasons are the main ones acting as the driving force of the on-demand economy’s demand, the one that has given the industry a major push is a changed consumer behavior that acts on ease and convenience.
These reasons altogether have created an economy that is flourishing to great heights at a very lightning speed. A statement that can be validated by the fact that even after the fifties of on-demand companies on mobile, the industry is seeing no stoppage in terms of new app launches.
On this note, let us look at the on-demand market before we move on to the factors that the on demand app builders swear on to help you succeed in the industry.
The State of On demand App Solutions Market
While there are a number of statistics that prove the on-demand economy is flourishing, let us nevertheless look at the sector in terms of the potential of growth it shows, even when the industry is already crowded by a number of players.
Disclaimer: *The insights mentioned here are the excerpts of the researched-backed writeup we did on the state of the on-demand market (linked above).
Let us delve into the on-demand market from two fronts – A. On-demand Players and B. End Users.
The benefit that the on-demand market has to offer to the players who are active in the industry can be estimated on two fronts – A. In terms of Revenue and B. In terms of Investors’ Interest.
In terms of Revenue:
What was just an introductory trend has now become mainstream with increased revenue count. It is not just the domain that is witnessing great numbers in terms of revenue and profit, the growing revenue chart is making a regular appearance in the individual on-demand player’s Profit and Loss statement as well. This growth in revenue can be attributed to a number of factors like the ease that users get at the back of every on-demand app experience or the fact that the on-demand industry has emerged as the ideal work economy for millennials. This growing revenue number that has now become prevalent in the on-demand mobile app startup industry is only going to strengthen further – a statement that has been validated by PwC. According to a PwC report, the on-demand economy revenue which was $14 Billion in 2014 will reach $335 Billion by the time we reach 2025.
In terms of Investors’ Attention:
Business models of on-demand startups such as Uber, Airbnb, and Bird e-Scooters, which form the on-demand economy, are famous for the fundings that they receive from angel investors to get them the resources they need to grow further. The market that the on-demand industry has captured is the same which investors strive to take a share of. A match that has brought a rise in the funding to on-demand startups. There is a good percentage of investors who couldn’t be a part of the trend when the uber economy was getting incepted but are now prepared to book their share. The investment rounds focused on funding to on-demand startups that started in 2014 with $74 Billion and reached $10,293 Billion in the last quarter of 2017. And if you look into the details of the funding rounds in the on-demand economy statistics, you will find that the major portion of the funding has been coming in from the seed or angel investors.
While these two were the driving force behind the growing attention of business people towards on demand mobile app development, what cannot be ignored is the unwavering demand from end users.
According to the data collected by the National Technology Readiness Survey in the U.S., it was estimated that the total spending on on-demand mobile app services would increase from $48 Billion in 2016 to $75.7 billion in 2017 – an increase amounting to 58%. The segments of the on-demand startup market, which have witnessed the maximum growth consist of – housing items – from $5 billion in ‘16 to $10.6 billion in ‘17, transportation, which moved from $6.8 billion in ‘16 to $14.2 billion in ‘17, and lastly food delivery category, which shifted to $8.2 Billion in 2017 from $3.9 billion in 2016. Seeing this growing spending number, Rockbridge estimated that the number of on-demand mobile app startup consumers would reach 56 Million by the end of 2018 and 93 Million by the time we hit 2022.
From what you just read and what the industry is showing, it is clear that the on-demand industry is booming and has proved beneficial for everyone who is invested in the domain. It is now time for the sections where we take your intention to enter the booming on-demand industry and handhold you to become a success.
While we have talked about the whole mobile app development process in detail in our extensive mobile application development guide, the whole process for on-demand is a little different. The ideation stage is a lot more extensive in case of on demand business app development compared to other forms of app types.
Here are the different on demand app development services that are proven to provide success to entrepreneurs.
Which On-demand Service Should You Offer for Having a Better Shot at Success?
We have already touched bases on which on-demand models have proven to be the most profitable year after year in this article here – 10+ Industries Backing the Staggering Growth of On-demand Economy
Now, irrespective of which service you pick what helps in starting an on-demand business is identifying services that masses use on an everyday basis and then bring them to the on-demand space. Look at the pain points of the masses, points that are not easily addressed through the mode of the internet.
For example, you can look at the babysitting space where parents usually don’t trust people coming in through the advertisements or craigslist to take care of their child. You can think of a business model which provides babysitting services at the back of proper verification checks.
The idea of finding a service that needs to come on the on-demand market is not to brainstorm around ideas that are yet to make an appearance in the industry but instead look at the existing services that could use some instantaneousness.
Once you have settled on an idea and have the potential that it comes with, the next stage is to ensure that the zeal with which you ideated the on-demand app transmits to the end-users as well. And the one way to ensure that – one which is present in almost every on demand app development guide for startups – is knowing what pitfalls to avoid.
Talking of pitfalls, what would be better than knowing what didn’t work for other businesses in the on-demand space, so that you don’t repeat the same mistakes.
Let us look at some of the on-demand companies that failed and the reasons behind their failure so that you don’t follow the same ones, something that your partner who is offering startup business services should give you a heads-up of.
Why Do On Demand Mobile Applications For Startups Fail?
While there are a number of reasons why businesses fail at ruling the market, it is time we look into some real use cases of why some businesses which were on the top of their game in the on-demand space failed.
1. Homejoy – Could not Retain Users
The problem Homejoy faced was that people only used the app until the time they were getting discounts and then they were abandoning the app to not return. What could have helped them is if they relied on other channels for customer acquisition as well, ones that were not restricted to giving freebies and offers but focused on creating a valuable image as well.
2. Exec – Could not Keep up With the Demand
The idea behind Exec was that of an app that would offer service providers a number of different handy-works. So, while to start with, the cost of acquiring skilled employees for all the different services they offered was costly, it then became difficult for them to keep up with the demand that they were getting on weekends and holidays. They should have focused on a niche set of services before expanding into other segments.
3. Dinnr – Giving Solution to a Problem that does not even Exist
The idea behind Dinnr was that people had to select a recipe on the app, following which the ingredients, in recipe specific quantities, and the instruction was delivered to them at home. Problem was that nobody needed this service, it was assumed that not knowing to cook but having a deep interest in the art, is a mass problem. Had they done proper research by getting in touch with an actual pool of end-users, they wouldn’t have faced this issue and ultimately shut down.
4. 99Dresses – Co-Founders Backing Out
An app for trading, selling, and buying less worn clothes in return for fees corresponding to the value of the item was shut down after two out of three co-founders bailed out. It is very important for enthusiastic entrepreneurs to find like-minded people who are equally invested in the project and have a business model that the masses are actually interested in being a part of.
While the reasons that you just read contributing to the failure of an on-demand business belonged to a number of different zones, there is one concurrent reason behind on-demand businesses shutting down – not thinking of the operation model.
What Are the Key Questions Which Should be Addressed Before On Demand Mobile App Development For Startup Business
Knowing and selecting the right business model helps in finalizing not just the operational process that you need to follow in your day-to-day business but also carries a huge impact on your profit model and the quotient of on-demand business success.
Let us look at some of the most commonly asked questions of the on demand business models that you should ask from your partnered on demand software development company.
1. Instant Delivery vs Scheduled Delivery Model
One of the most crucial decisions that you will have to take in terms of offering a real-time product or service is deciding whether or not to offer it in an instantaneous model.
For example, you can offer ‘Book Cab for now’ or ‘Book Cab for Some other Date’ (The same option can apply irrespective of which kind of on-demand delivery app development service you have invested in).
No matter what you decide to start your on-demand business with, know that you always have the option to expand to the other. For example, if you have an instant on-demand business model you can always add a Schedule feature to it later.
2. Own Delivery Agents or Partners’
The next business model is to make a decision in terms of whether you will be supporting the associated partners with a fleet or will you let them handle it themselves.
An example of this can be seen in the case of the food delivery market. There are two ways to form a food delivery business model – A. Have own riders do pick and drop off food orders from restaurant to end-user or B. Rely on restaurant’s delivery persons to do this.
3. Anonymity vs Choice
Let us explain this business model with an example.
There is an app like UrbanClap which allows users to choose a service provider on the basis of ratings and reviews, and on the other hand, there is an app like Uber which while gives the end-users an option to choose a mode of transport and its class, doesn’t give them an option to choose the driver or the car model.
Hope the examples explained what differentiates both the business offering type. While there is no clear answer to which of these two would be better for your business, it is safe to say that it would depend on the service you are planning to offer.
Now that you know what are the different operational models and what separates them from each other, we would suggest you make a choice after aligning them with the feature set you are planning to offer in the market.
With this, you have now seen all – the scope of the market you are going to enter, the way you can choose a service offering, the reasons why on-demand companies fail, and the business model you can choose from to gain maximum benefit.
And now comes the most important part of it all, getting started. Get in touch with our team of on-demand experts to get started with the development process of your app idea.
The easy approach to transitioning applications to the cloud is the simple “lift and shift” method, in which existing applications are simply migrated, as is, to a cloud-based infrastructure. And in some cases, this is a practical first step in a cloud journey. But in many cases, the smarter approach is to re-write and re-envision applications in order to take full advantage of the benefits of the cloud.
By rebuilding applications specifically for the cloud, companies can achieve dramatic results in terms of cost efficiency, improved performance and better availability. On top of that, re-envisioning applications enables companies to take advantage of the best technologies inherent in the cloud, like serverless architectures, and allows the company to tie application data into business intelligence systems powered by machine learning and AI.
Of course, not all applications can move to the cloud for a variety of regulatory, security and business process reasons. And not all applications that can be moved should be re-written because the process does require a cost and time commitment. The decision on which specific applications to re-platform and which to re-envision is a complex risk/benefit calculation that must be made on an application-by-application basis, but there are some general guidelines that companies should follow in their decision-making process.
What you need to consider
Before making any moves, companies need to conduct a basic inventory of their application portfolio. This includes identifying regulatory and compliance issues, as well as downstream dependencies to map out and understand how applications tie into each other in a business process or workflow. Another important task is to assess the application code and the platform the application runs on to determine how extensive a re-write is required, and the readiness and ability of the DevOps team to accomplish the task.
The next step is to prioritize applications by their importance to the business. In order to get the most bang for the buck, companies should focus on applications that have biggest business impact. For most companies, the priority has shifted from internal systems to customer-facing applications that might have special requirements, such as the ability to scale rapidly and accommodate seasonal demands, or the need to be ‘always available’. Many companies are finding their revenue generating applications were not built to handle these demands, so those should rise to the top of the list.
Re-platform vs. re-envision
There are some scenarios where lift and shift makes sense:
Traditional data center. For many traditional, back-end data center applications, a simple lift and shift can produce distinct advantages in terms of cost savings and improved performance.
Newly minted SaaS solution. There are many customer bases that have newer SaaS offerings available to them, but perhaps the functionality or integrated solutions that are a core part of their operations are in the early stages of a development cycle. Moving the currently installed solution to the cloud via a lift and shift is an appropriate modernization step – and can easily be transitioned to the SaaS solution when the organization is ready.
However, there are two more scenarios where lift and shift strategies work against digital transformation progress.
Established SaaS solution. There is no justification, either in terms of cost or functionality, to remain on a legacy version of an application when there is a well-established SaaS solution.
Custom written and highly customized applications. This scenario calls for a total re-write to the cloud in order to take advantage of cloud-native capabilities.
By re-writing applications as cloud-native, companies can slash costs, embed security into those application, and integrate multiple applications. Meanwhile, Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 end of life is fast approaching. Companies still utilizing these legacy systems will need to move applications off expiring platforms, providing the perfect impetus for modernizing now. There might be some discomfort associated with going the re-platform route, but the benefits are certainly worth the effort.
There are many benefits of migrating to the cloud: financial savings, increased agility, tighter security and uninterrupted service, just to name a few. But one often overlooked benefit is the improvements it brings to the customer experience and the positive effects this has on user trust and satisfaction, brand engagement and a company’s online reputation.
Improving the user experience is increasingly important for an enterprise’s success. According to Bloomfire, over 80% of businesses see the user experience as something which helps differentiate between competitors and, by the end of the decade, it is projected to overtake price and product choices as the main reason why consumers choose one brand over another.
Online, where consumers expect immediate, unlimited and uninterrupted access to information, products or services, businesses that still use non-cloud systems may miss out on the opportunities that the cloud has to offer. Migrating to the cloud provides the tools and services businesses need to participate in today’s competitive, on-demand marketplace, enabling them to enhance the customer experience and reap the rewards of doing so. Here are the ways migrating to the cloud can improve your customers’ experience.
Give customers 24/7 access to your products and services
The days where customers were prepared to wait for usual business hours to get in touch with a company are over. Today, they expect online operations to be available 24/7, whether that is to buy products, contact customer support or access online services. They also expect that these things can be done from anywhere, using any type of connected device.
By migrating to the cloud, it means that businesses have a much greater flexibility to put these things in place. For example, as employees can connect with work-based applications anywhere they have a connection, it means they can deal with customer service enquiries even when they are out of the office, helping expand operations and keeping costs to a minimum. Indeed, by using AI chat boxes, many of the inquiries a company has out of hours can be automated with only a minimal need for any human interaction.
This 24/7 availability can be provided for many services, such as product sales, ticket ordering, delivery tracking and much more.
Provide a one-stop shop
Ever had the experience of waiting for ages in a phone queue and then, when you finally get through, to be told you need to call a different number? There is nothing more frustrating for a customer than finding out they cannot access all a company’s services from a single point of entry, whether this is on the telephone or online.
Thankfully, the tools and systems available to companies which migrate to the cloud enable them to provide the integrated services that their customers demand, without them needing to leave the website.
The applications available in the cloud provide customers with easy to use interfaces from which they can manage all their services from a single place, whether on a website or smartphone app. Just think of all the things that online banking customers can now carry out on a bank’s website or apps. And if they have a problem, they can have access to support using the same interface no matter where they are, what time of day or what device they are using.
Offer personalised experiences
Despite all the concerns around data privacy, most customers prefer it when companies provide them with personalised shopping experiences. It’s great for consumers seeing products and services that are tailored to their needs and desires and putting these things directly in front of customers certainly helps improve sales. It’s a win-win situation for both consumer and company and something we are seeing a lot more of when we visit websites.
The reason companies can provide personalised shopping experiences is because of the vast amount of data that is made available. Websites can track browsing and shopping history; they provide wish lists to see what people like; if customers don’t inform them directly, their algorithms can quickly ascertain a consumer’s age, gender, family background, geographic location and similar data; and all these things can be compared with the data of those in a similar demographic. The result is that users of these websites see an increasingly accurate guess at the things they are looking to buy and this increases their chance of buying them – especially when the company uses this data to incentivise a purchase through offers and discounts.
To provide personalised shopping experiences, however, all that data needs to be collected, processed and analysed. And there is a lot of data to collect. Cloud computing offers the best way to do this, providing unlimited storage and processing capacity, charged for on a pay as you use basis while allowing the use of widely available big data and AI applications to undertake the data crunching.
Improve the trustworthiness of your brand
The cloud provides several ways to improve the reputation of your brand. With high availability cloud hosting, the bad press associated with application downtime can be a thing of the past; the security features available from service providers means that there is a reduced risk of IT systems becoming victims of cyber attacks, infections or ransomware; and the choice of cloud-based tools on offer provides a range of ways to ensure that customers’ needs are dealt with quickly. Together, these things ensure that customers see your online provision as something that is both reliable and trustworthy.
Conclusion
Migrating to the cloud can greatly improve the user experience, helping to attract new customers and retain existing ones. With many tools available, the cloud can help businesses give their customers the online experiences they demand, providing 24/7 access to integrated services and personalised shopping from a reliable and trustworthy business. With these in place, businesses will have a clear advantage over their competitors.
There are a number of benefits that come entailed with the integration of SaaS mobile app development within an enterprise solution, benefits ranging from low cost, easy maintenance, zero space invasion, and the freedom from worrying about system upgrades, amongst others.
While these are the customer/enterprise side benefits, for the SaaS vendors, the benefits are equally attractive – Easy expansion to the foreign market, Service delivery automation, and zero chances of piracy, among a number of others.
All these reasons along with a lot many others have created a huge demand for the SaaS offerings for easing the processes of millions of SMBs around the world.
The demand that comes with a huge revenue generation capability, has grown manifold with the advent of mobile apps.
In this article, we will be giving you insights on how you can start a mobile SaaS business and be an amazing value offerer.
But before we do, it’s time to get back to the basics –
What is SaaS?
Commonly referred to as on-demand software, SaaS can be defined as the software distribution model where a service provider hosts the software for their customers and make it available to them through the internet.
Because of the ease of access that SaaS offers, it has become a popular delivery model for a number of different business applications along with being incorporated in the delivery strategy of the enterprise software vendors – a popularity that has increased the offerings market share to a great extent.
There are a number of different SaaS application ideas which are being offered as part of business applications, such as – sending and receiving email, team collaboration, billing/payroll processing, customer relationship management (CRM), sales management, financial management, human resources management, enterprise resourcing planning (ERP), database management, document management, and content management.
Here are some of the most common uses of SaaS among the many SMBs around the globe –
The use cases of SaaS that we just saw are now slowly making a transition on mobile.
Mobile SaaS applications are what is soon replacing the traditional SaaS model. Businesses – both that are already an established name in the industry and those that are planning to enter the flourishing market, alike are investing heavily in the development or expansion of their SaaS offering on mobile.
This article is for both – Entrepreneurs who are just starting with Mobile SaaS and Businesses who are planning to expand their SaaS offering on mobile.
But before we move on to the guide, let us first look at the Mobile SaaS applications market – the growth tangent it is on and the reason behind that.
The Rise of Mobile SaaS Applications
There are a number of SaaS businesses that are moving on mobile with the hope of increasing their active users and user engagement count along with the benefit of making their business a common name in the corporate world.
Here are some statistics that prove how big the market for Mobile SaaS companies already is and going to be in a few years time:
Mobile SaaS is taking over a number of brands belonging to the small and medium enterprise level, across industries. Factors like increased user base and easier deployment have been driving the businesses who are in the SaaS domain or are willing to enter the space, expand their business plan to mobile apps.
Let us, deep dive, into the benefits that investing in SaaS application development services provides to businesses, instead of looking at it from a superficial level.
Reasons Why Your SaaS Business Need a Mobile App
There are a number of reasons why you should invest in a sound SaaS application development company, here are a few of them –
1.To Make it Accessible
Greater accessibility lies at the core of the mobile app concept. The moment you expand your business website to mobile in form of an app which does not function as an extension of your website but as its complementary addition, you open your business’s avenues to a greater audience who are practically against the idea of switching on their laptop to work the moment they get home.
By presenting your SaaS offering on the mediums that the world is comfortable being available on, you help businesses who then partner with you to be available at all times.
2. To Increase the Active User Count
When you look at the percent of users who are active on your software in typical office hours versus those who are active beyond the fixed office hours, you will see a declining value. Now whether you are a new entrant or a SaaS brand that has been in the market for a long time, a dwindling active user count is never good.
But when you bring your software on mobile, you give the thousands of businesses and their million employees an option to be available on a 24*7 mode – the need of every present-day business – on a device that stays active every waking hour of their day.
3. To Save on the Business Boosting Costs
It is no surprise that mobile apps reduce the cost of marketing, advertising, and keeping a staff just to keep users updated with the service. When you move your business to mobile, you are able to send out notifications and messages in a more real-time as opposed to being active on a website or desktop application, where multiple actions are happening at any given time, making the notification and message ignorance rate high. But the same when sent on mobile increases the engagement rate to a much greater rate. The heightened probability of user engagement that apps get you increases the probability of becoming more profitable.
4.To Have a Competitor Advantage
There are a number of SaaS agencies that have still not expanded to mobile, so the mobile landscape is still very open for the SaaS brands in terms of competition and it is presenting itself as a golden opportunity for businesses that are just starting their Software as a Service business. By becoming available to the users on the device they are most active on, before the other brands, your SaaS business development graph would automatically gain a high user base and an automatic competitor advantage.
Now that it has been established that your SaaS business needs a mobile app, let us now look at the platform you should focus on. If you have an idea of the mobile app ecosystem, you would know that there are three types of app choices that SaaS mobile app developers give you, which your businesses can choose from – Native, Hybrid, and Web.
Native vs Hybrid vs Web: Which Mobile App Should Mobile SaaS Companies choose
While there is no one answer of whether to choose Native, Hybrid, or Web for your mobile app expansion, as they all come with their share of pros and cons, there are factors that can help you decide which option to go for.
Before we get into them, it is apt to look at what differentiates the three mobile app types.
Native Apps: Native applications is deemed to be the best of the lot. The app type is known for its superior quality and better performance, along with giving businesses a direct link to the users’ devices. The idea of Native App is that the mobile application should be downloadable through the Play Store and App Store and give a direct access to the users’ device functionalities like Camera, Microphone, Contact etc.
Hybrid Apps: A mix of both Native and Web app, Hybrid apps appear as Native app but are actually web app that consists of Native UI elements which allow them to interact with the device’s functionalities, something that is missing in the case of Web applications.
Web Apps: It is a mobile application that users can access through the web when they go online. Since it is not a standalone application, it is not available on the stores to download and becomes dependent on the internet connection to function.
With the high-level meaning of all the three mobile app types now attended to, let us look into the factors that differentiate them.
Now that you have seen the contextual difference between the three types of mobile apps, it is time to look into which app type would be best suited for your SaaS mobile app. The answer lies in the functionality you are offering through your mobile app.
If the functionality calls for an online, real-time update with a lot less reliability on the device’s functionalities, go with Web or Hybrid apps. And if the app gives a focus on the superior experience or includes media sharing, go with Native app type.
Now that we have looked into the app type that would be best suited for Mobile SaaS companies, it is time to help you get an answer to a factor that would contribute to the future of your SaaS business – The Pricing Strategy.
What Pricing Strategy Should You Fix For Your Mobile SaaS App
Pricing is a very tricky nut to crack when you are starting your SaaS business. You don’t want to keep it very low to appear as a low-functionality, easy to be slid application and the same time you don’t want to keep it very high so that it becomes out of reach of the thousands of SMBs around the world.
Like the app type choice, there is no fixed answer to this, but what helps is knowing the different pricing strategies that you do have.
Let us look at some of the Mobile SaaS Pricing Strategies that are being followed by most of the SaaS brands.
A.Per User Pricing
One of the most SaaS pricing models, Per User Pricing is where you ask businesses to pay according to the number of users.
B.Per Storage Pricing
Offered by brands like Google and Dropbox, you pay a certain amount for utilizing X amount of storage and the moment space is utilized, you ask businesses to pay to use more space.
C. Feature-Based Pricing
In this case, you charge businesses on the basis of features that you are offering and they require. Here you set an advanced level of every feature and ask businesses to pay more depending on their growing requirement.
D. Freemium
Under this mobile SaaS pricing model, you offer the best features of your software to the businesses for free and then ask them to upgrade if they wish to avail the add-on services.
So here was your list of pricing strategy that you can find the majority of your Mobile SaaS apps following and now it depends entirely on your business model that which pricing strategy you think would best align with.
Now that we have looked at the things or factors that should be considered when building a mobile SaaS app, it is time to look into the factors that should be avoided at all costs. Because ultimately, the number of desktop SaaS users are a lot more than mobile users. And the reason behind this difference is the mistakes that SaaS businesses make when going mobile.
Here’s what those mistakes are:
Mistakes To Avoid When Starting a Mobile SaaS Business
While it is understandable that the complex functions a user can achieve through desktop or laptop are difficult to achieve through a mobile screen, it is nevertheless important to understand the actions your SaaS users would perform outside the office and ensure that your mobile SaaS is prepared for them.
When you make a Mobile SaaS with this aim, your app automatically comes one step closer to becoming a hit. Here are the mistakes that you should avoid in order to ensure that your business is offering the best solution to mobile users.
1. Thinking Responsive Websites are Enough for going “Mobile”
There are many SaaS-based companies who believe that offering responsive websites to the users solve the purpose of going Mobile and is enough to support the demand of the on the go businesses. But is it enough? No. When you develop a mobile app, you give users a mobile-centric experience that has been designed around their device and operating system. It offers them accessibility and speed that is impossible to be achieved through responsive websites.
2. Making a Mobile SaaS app just for the sake of it
There are a number of businesses who have a strong desktop user base and taking their mobile counterpart not so seriously, they don’t invest in the proper development of the mobile SaaS app. What they fail to understand that with a failed, unplanned mobile app they are putting their desktop SaaS product image at risk as well. The need of the hour for SaaS businesses starting with or expanding in the mobile ecosystem is to not deliver a low performing, buggy app but getting it developed from experience SaaS application development company, that understands the difference between the web and mobile experience and have a clear understanding of which events should a mobile app attend and which should be restricted to the desktop version.
3. Personalize the Experience According to Mobility based Use Case
There are a number of functions that a user can perform on a desktop SaaS but the mobility needs would be very restricted and ones requiring a quick in and out time. So you will have to identify the tasks first and then plan a mobile app around it instead of putting all the desktop features inside the limited space mobile app. With this, we have looked at the factors to be considered when starting a mobile SaaS business and the ones that should be avoided. Next, we will look at the challenges that you will have to overcome in order to become a valuable Mobile SaaS business entity of the industry.
Challenges Associated with Mobile SaaS
There are a number of challenges related to Mobile SaaS integration that are keeping businesses away from exploring them to the core. While some are at a more organizational level like making the employees use a mobile app in addition to the core desktop version, there are some at the functional level as well.
1. Data Related
SaaS Integration, whether on desktop or mobile has to deal with a great amount of data coming in from millions of users. In a scenario like this, it is important that you have proper data control, management, and security infrastructure in place. While developing a SaaS Mobile app we ensure that the ecosystem we are using and the cloud integration we are applying is hackproof. We also maintain a strong backup in case the data is taking time to be fetched so that there is zero time lag for hackers to enter the system.
2. Testing Related
One of the biggest challenge associated with Mobile SaaS apps is testing the apps. Here are some of the testing specific challenges that you may encounter –
Quick validation round for constant updates
Inability to authenticate the interface specific component in the backend
Difficulty in verifying security because of multiple data format
Mobile app not following any standards
Complexities at time of data transfer confirmation between a business and SaaS mobile app
We use automation tools for testing our SaaS application to avoid the issues associated with constant updates.
We segregate problem areas by categorizing them according to severity.
We apply hack-proof encryption algos for unbreakable security.
We develop standardized test cases and then validate them on basis of priority.
We thoroughly check the transfer of the data between the network, companies, and SaaS apps.
With this, we have now come to a point in the article where you are contextually prepared to start your SaaS business on mobile. The last thing that is left for you to know is the SaaS app development cost.
How Much Would It Cost You To Develop a SaaS System
If you break down the Mobile SaaS applications cost, you will get Five elements:
Coding and Development
Integration of Other Systems in the App
Building Tests
Alpha and Beta Testing
Marketing and Release
Noting the work that would go into the development of your SaaS system, the cost that you should be ready to pay would be somewhere in the range of $50k to $250k.
With this, you have read it all – The Mobile SaaS Market, the Benefit of taking the Mobile route, the Factors to consider and avoid, and the Cost of Mobile SaaS development. The only step left for you to take now is to get in touch with our mobile app development team and start your Mobile SaaS journey and make yours a SaaS based mobile app example.
When you are planning a move to the cloud, choosing the right partner is critical. Even though it can be difficult to know exactly what to look for, there are things you can do in your search for an implementation partner that can help you make informed decisions and mitigate risks along the way.
Learn to spot a re-badged reseller
With the systemic shift to move IT infrastructure and applications to the cloud, there has been a dramatic increase in the demand for IT consulting services. This cloud economy has precipitated a situation where many vendors and resellers are re-inventing themselves as service providers rather than simply as technology sellers.
Organizations are setting themselves up as cloud service providers despite lacking the necessary qualifications to do so. These re-badged resellers will have a number of flaws including limited experience within the team, limited knowledge about specific industries and solutions and a lack of service-oriented culture. These flaws can put the companies that choose to work with these new services organizations at risk.
They have neither the knowledge nor the experience to deliver specialized, high-value services to customers. They may hire some experienced staff but, without a strong strategic direction set by management and reinforced by an entrenched services culture, they are unlikely to be able to deliver the business transformation organizations seek.
Meet with the people who are actually doing the work
Organizations should beware of partners that introduce high-level consultants to the customer but get junior staff or offshore teams to execute the work. It is important to meet and speak with the team that is actually doing the work. The clarity and effectiveness of communications can suffer enormously when the team doing the work is not the same as the team speaking to the customer.
Come up with a list of demands
As an organization looking to move to the cloud – you may have a lot of questions and having a partner with the focus and experience deep enough to provide a high level of service is critical.
It is important to come up with a list of demands in your search for an implementation partner:
A mix of specific technology knowledge and business knowledge so the team can clearly understand the organization’s business imperatives and deliver cloud solutions accordingly
A strong physical presence and footprint in the industry with positive customer references, preferably from long-term customers in the same industry as your organization
A stable, well-qualified team with significant tenure at the organization, proving that the organization is a genuine player in the marketplace rather than a rebadged product reseller
Proven project control and governance methodologies that can be clearly explained
The ability to bring senior vendor representatives into any discussion to drive results
Ask questions
Organizations should ask the following questions to determine whether a potential partner is capable of delivering a successful cloud service:
What is your customer retention rate and how do you measure it?
Where will our data reside and what access controls are in place?
Is there a dedicated project manager for this implementation and what are his/her qualifications?
How will you ensure we have control of the system?
How will your team work with ours to ensure project success?
Once these questions are satisfactorily answered, the organization can move to the next stage of assessing whether the partner is suitable.
When it comes to defining a path to cloud, organizations should focus on providing increased business efficiencies, increasing user satisfaction and meeting business expectations, as well as addressing the risks identified. With the right partner in place, organizations can achieve enormous benefits and mitigate those risks.
Businesses have been doing some form of partnering for decades, but as companies seek to modernize and turn their organizations into digital enterprises, partnering has become more important than ever. With all the different technologies and systems that have to integrate, digital transformation can’t happen unless all parties are in sync and cooperating with one another.
In today’s business environment, true partnering means that all parties in the relationship are tightly aligned to the core. We’ve all read something similar to that before – it’s nearly cliché, but in this case it’s a real and absolutely critical distinction. When they step into a room, nobody should care if the person wears a badge from the global systems integrator (GSI), technology partner or the enterprise customer — they should all be on the same page working towards the same goal: delighting customers.
Partnering starts with the executive suites of all the parties fully on board and headed in the same strategic direction. It then continues through every part of the organization, where business partners work on joint operating plans, joint marketing campaigns and joint software and app development projects.
Here are five important trends we see as GSIs, technology partners and enterprise customers look to grow their businesses in the 2020s.
1. Deeper relationships. As these deeper business relationships develop in the 2020s, tech partners, GSIs and enterprise customers will operate in unison, seamlessly sharing information and jointly developing solutions designed to solve end-user customer issues. For example, in an IDC FutureScape report focused on Australia, the research group predicts that by 2022, empathy among brands and for customers will drive ecosystem collaboration and co-innovation among partners and competitors, which will drive 20 percent of the collective growth in customer lifetime value.
Strategic partners will develop a more cooperative relationship at all stages of the customer lifecycle, from recognizing an opportunity, to sales, developing a solution, delivering that solution, and finally, managing the long-term customer relationship. On the back-end, there will be more joint training between partners in areas such as sales, including becoming conversant in the products and services that each partner delivers.
Enterprise customers benefit from these deeper partnerships by having everyone working together as a single entity throughout the entire end-user customer lifecycle.
2. Vertical offerings. Once key strategic partnerships are established, the partner teams can jointly develop full-featured solutions tailored to vertical industries. If gaps appear, a GSI must demonstrate that they can assemble the right people and get them working together on a project. For example, at a medical services provider, the GSI may have a strong relationship with the CIO or CTO, but it’s the niche medical technology partner that has worked closely with the chief medical officer and all the nurse and physician teams over the years. Enterprise customers look for GSIs that can identity the right players and get them in a room where they can talk through the challenges and meet the customer’s goals.
3. Data-driven decisions. Enterprise customers will use data analytics to make decisions on the GSIs and technology companies with which to partner. These global businesses are looking for the technology processes and solutions that deliver efficiencies and the most profitability. They also look for industry-specific customer success stories in which the GSIs and technology partners have a proven track record working together and can show clear metrics to back up their use cases.
4. Agility. It’s likely that many enterprise customers already have preferred technology partners in areas such as cloud services, ERP, CRM, and IT security. GSIs must be agile enough to pivot quickly, responding to customer preferences and established relationships. They must demonstrate that they can match the right partner for each specific project and be ready to respond to an enterprise customer’s mission critical issues – whether those issues are already identified or lurking around the corner. Partnering allows the GSI the agility and speed to respond to the customer, in many cases, faster than through M&A activity or developing a new capability in-house.
5. Continuous monitoring. The GSI must be on top of all of the new features and upgrades that its technology partners develop. An enterprise that works with a GSI shouldn’t have to keep up with all of the tech upgrade cycles, and should never worry about missing out on important new capabilities. The integrator will understand the new features and benefits coming from tech partners, and also have unique insight into the enterprise customer’s environment so it can make informed recommendations as to whether an upgrade to a new release makes good business sense.
Partnering trends deliver business benefits
With the deeper integration between GSIs, technology partners and enterprise customers, important global businesses will reduce costs, make their customers more efficient and successfully transform their organizations, becoming digital enterprises that can compete and thrive in the 2020s and beyond.
Suppose you have a brilliant idea, one that you think would revolutionize the whole mobile app industry. Now, of course, you will get a sense of urgency when it comes to protecting the idea from getting copied, right? Well, you are not alone. Almost all the entrepreneurs who enter the mobile app industry with a revolutionary idea do so only after they have ensured that their idea will not be copied or stolen or modified by those with whom they share it. This need to ensure that the idea is protected is what calls in the need of bringing a Non-Disclosure Agreement for mobile app into the picture. But believe it or not, NDA for mobile app development is one of the most controversial topics in the mobile app industry. While on one side there are entrepreneurs who believe that they have a revolutionary idea that needs to be protected, on the other, there are agencies which, having seen it all, have come to an understanding that no idea is actually a one-of-a-kind idea, and so the presence of NDA only restricts them.
In this article, we will be looking into the whole NDA protection for mobile app conundrum in much detail, by giving you an answer to how to protect your app idea.
But, let us start with the basics first.
What is NDA for Mobile App Development
Non Disclosure Agreement or NDA for app development is a contractual agreement that states both the parties involved – Client and the Mobile App Development Agency will work to safeguard the confidentiality of the app idea and no matter what the situation is, they will not disclose the idea to any third party.
Now that we are done with the NDA for Mobile App Development definition, the next thing to look at is why do businesses even ask the mobile app development agencies for an NDA?
Is it because they want to be doubly sure that their idea is protected till indefinite time or is it because there are trust issues in the picture.
Let’s find out.
Why do Businesses Ask Mobile App Development Agencies for NDA
Even in the present day time when there is rarely an idea that has never been heard before, we get client queries almost on a daily basis asking for an NDA before they get on the introductory call. The reason behind this emphasis on NDA for app development can be many but the ones that we have analyzed over the development of more than 700+ apps are –
Follow up on a Tradition
In the service industry, it has become the norm to ask for the signing of NDA before any mobile app idea is shared and the trend has gotten so instilled in the whole industry that it has become a part of every mobile application development process guide.
And now, without even taking a moment back to analyze if it is even required, the mobile app industry has made NDA a quotient of an agency’s transparent work culture. But the fact that there is nothing specifically wrong in giving the promise of safeguarding the app idea is something that has led to us carrying forward the tradition.
The Distrust on Mushrooming App Development Agencies
The present-day truth of the mobile app development industry is that there are a number of mobile app development agencies in the market, all competing to close the biggest and most innovative deals coming their way.
In an ode to winning the race, small-level mobile app development agencies tend to suggest the idea, which should have been protected, to clients in order to appear well sound – something which gets protected when the idea is safeguarded with an NDA.
Now that we have seen the reason why businesses insist on the signing of NDA for app idea protection, let us now delve into the contents of the NDA to see exactly what is there in the document which would give businesses or entrepreneurs the guarantee that their idea is protected.
Clauses Included in a Mobile App Development Centric NDA
1.NDA Timeframe
There should be a clause highlighting the timeline of safeguarding the idea. Generally, the NDA is signed for the time that ranges from the day when the idea is shared to when the mobile app development work starts.
2.Information that has to be Protected
In this section, the information or data which has to safeguarded by the agency is mentioned in black and white.
3.Duty and Obligation of Parties to NDA
This section will talk about the obligations and duties that the parties will have to cover to ensure that the app idea is safeguarded. This is the place where the actionable elements of how to protect your app idea are mentioned. It can have elements like the mode of communication that will be followed by the agency, the tools that they are supposed to use for development, etc.
4.Consequences of NDA Breach
The after-effects of NDA breach of app idea protection are clearly specified in the agreement. Usually, the consequences are in the sense of monetary terms but at times the grieving party can seek an injunction as well, thus holding the right to make a legal case if the agreement is breached.
5.Return of the Information
This clause makes it necessary for the agency to return or destroy the information or data that they have gathered from the client once the introductory call does not turn into a closed deal.
Type of NDA in App Development
There are three types of NDA that are usually signed between the entrepreneurs and their mobile app development agencies –
Unilateral NDA:
It involves two parties – one disclosing the information and one receiving it. It restricts the receiving party from disclosing information to anyone else.
Bilateral NDA:
Both the involved parties sign the NDA declaring that they both won’t reveal the information to the world.
Multilateral NDA:
The agreement involves three or more parties where all the involved parties are abided by law to not reveal the content of the information shared with them.
Now that we have seen the basics of the NDA concept, it is time to hit upon the questions that the mobile app industry faces with almost every deal – Should NDA be signed or should it be passed?
Without releasing the dragon of debate, let us simplify it by giving you the situations where NDA makes the most sense and where they don’t.
When Should You Insist on the Mobile App Development Agency to Sign an NDA
A. When you have a Proprietary Information
If you or your organization represent some concrete proprietary data which may be eligible for patent or copyright, it becomes mandatory for you to get an NDA signed.
B. When the contractor or freelancer is not against the idea
If the agency or freelancer you are getting associated with is not against the idea of signing an NDA, go ahead and sign it, but ensure that the agreement terms are too restrictive for either one of you.
C. If the project has to remain a secret
If there is a situation where the whole project has to remain hidden from the public eye, insist on getting an NDA signed. Doing this will prevent the agency from placing your project in its portfolio.
D. There is a need to maintain short-term secrecy
There might be instances that you would need your idea to be protected for short-term or a fixed period of time, in cases like these, it is best to get an NDA signed so that the information remains protected till the short-term passes.
When Should You Not Ask the Mobile App Development Agency to Sign an NDA
A. When all you have is an idea
It is not uncommon for businesses to believe that their idea is something that will create a dent in the industry. But the truth remains, that rarely happens. So, until you have practical, statistical reasons to believe that the idea is indeed pioneering, don’t insist on an NDA.
B. When the Project is Short Termed
Having an NDA signed makes sense when you are working on a long-term project or on some revolutionary feature, but if your project is short-term and something that the world has already seen, choose to stay away from NDA signing.
C. When your dream agency is against the idea
As entrepreneurs who are willing to get their idea transformed into a business, it is not uncommon for them to get fixated on one agency who they feel would do it best justice. If you too have an agency of this sort insight and they are not willing to sign an NDA, take a few steps back and analyze if it’s really that important in the first place.
D. The information that you are trying to protect is public information
Let us explain this through an example. Suppose your next big idea is a take on the Uber app. Now, the industry has already seen a lot of those, so much so that it has become public information or an idea that the masses have already seen. In a situation like this, it is best to stay away from the formality called NDA.
After all said and done, the one innocent question remains. Let us attend it now.
How long does a Mobile App Development Centric NDA last
There is no direct answer to it, it varies from one client requirement to another. Usually, the NDA lasts until the project and some months after that. Also, every once in a while there are instances where the clients insist on signing an NDA for an indefinite period of time, but it is not recommended on the grounds of plain unjustification.
So, ideally, you should add the NDA tenure to just a few months after the app is developed or till the day of it getting published in the stores.
With this, you now know everything about NDA – What it is – clauses and types, why do entrepreneurs like you generally emphasize on having it signed, and the situations where they make the most sense and situations where they don’t, the time has now to keep our promise and give you the Sample NDA for Mobile App development that we use here Anteelo factory.
To make the whole decision of to-do or not-to-do a lot easier for you, our team of business development executives has also created an FAQ that answers some of the most common questions associated with the Non-Disclosure Agreement.
Want to succeed in a digital world? You’re going to need agility, agility, and more agility – and that means building your business on an agile infrastructure and using agile software methodologies that include continuous delivery (CD), a technique designed to infuse users’ input and experience.
CD extends the automated testing used in continuous integration (CI) all the way into production environments, where feedback can be captured directly from users. It relies on an automated infrastructure that provides on-demand capacity and API-based integration.
CI is typically implemented as a pipeline where committed code runs through automated unit and integration tests.
CD allows code that passes CI tests to be deployed directly into production. It’s important to note that there’s a deliberate process break so decisions can be made about which version — and hence which features — will be deployed into production. This differs from continuous deployment, where code that passes tests is automatically deployed into production without human intervention.
Large enterprises, particularly those that are regulated, tend to prefer continuous delivery over continuous deployment because the act of deciding which versions to promote into production aligns well with segregation of duties, change management practices, and a general sense of being in control. Continuous deployment is more favoured by consumer internet companies seeking to optimize the speed of their feedback loop regarding new features.
DevOps needs continuous delivery
CI pipelines can be built entirely by development teams. But this can lead to the phenomenon known as deploy to shelf, where engineers complete multiple sprints without their code ever being deployed into production, thus denying themselves of the user feedback that’s essential to proper agile development. If developers do two-week sprints, and operations does quarterly releases (13 weeks), then six or seven sprints will stack up before getting any user feedback.
By extending a CI pipeline into production, it becomes a CD pipeline and crosses the traditional divide between Dev and Ops, and the decisions about which versions get deployed to production happen at the border. The pipeline extension may rely on the same tools as CI, such as Jenkins, or on tools specifically built for CD, such as Spinnaker.
CD pipelines use automation that spans dev-test-production, so they need an automated, cloud-enabled infrastructure. There are two important cloud characteristics that come into play:
Capacity on demand – Integration tests are, by their very nature, transient. An environment is spun up to verify something works or fails, and then its work is done. Such activity naturally lends itself to parallelisation, where it’s possible to get quick feedback and queuing as needed, so the maximum number of tests can be run on a minimum-resource footprint.
API-based consumption – APIs connect pipelines to infrastructure. Without them, there are more process breaks, slower flows through pipelines and an overall lack of automation. So-called ticket clouds, where a request for resources becomes a queued ticket requiring action by a human operator, quickly get overwhelmed by the throughput of even a relatively trivial CD pipeline.
Is CD worth the effort?
As organizations advance their DevOps initiatives and consider CD, they may ask whether it provides the necessary resources to ensure that the code being developed is ready to deploy. Does it slow development times because of the need to ensure code is deployable? And is the customer feedback on deployed software worth the effort?
We believe organizations need CD capabilities to be truly agile so, yes, CD is worth the effort. Digital business demands agility at three levels — how the business responds to customer needs, how software is built to meet those needs, and how infrastructure is made available to run that software. CD pipelines let modern organisations connect customer needs to their infrastructure, and that infrastructure must be automated to provide sufficient flow through the CD pipeline.
