iOS 14 Privacy Features and Their Impact on App Distribution

Criticism of Apple Inc. - Wikipedia

Apple has a habit of introducing revolutionary changes year after year with every new operating system launch. 2020 was no different. In fact, in many ways, it was the most revolutionary year for Apple in terms of advancing user experience and privacy. In case you missed out on the features that the new iOS 14 updates comes with, head on to our article – How to prepare your app for iOS 14.

However, we can presume that by this time you must have gotten acquainted with the key aspects of iOS 14 privacy features. But do you know that the update will carry an impact on the process of how your partnered iPhone app development company handles your app development and distribution?

Let us talk about it in detail in this article today.

The List of Privacy-Centric iOS 14 Updates

The biggest announcement that Apple has made in terms of the iOS update that will be made next year is giving users the option to clock IDFA identifiers at the application level. A move that strengthens the tech giant’s position in the Apple vs Android, which platform is a more secure debate, would require the apps to ask the users for permissions to gather and share users’ data.

There are other privacy-related moves as well, but let us attend to IDFA first.

1. Changes in IDFA and store-level control

Changes Coming to IDFA — Here's How to Future-Proof Your App Today

What is IDFA?

An identifier for Advertisers is a unique identifier for all mobile devices which is used for targeting and measuring the effectiveness of the advertisements on a user level across all the mobile devices.

What is the update about?

For every app install, users will have to opt into IDFA. When developing apps for iOS 14, app publishers will have to provide a summary of privacy practices on the basis of which users will decide whether they want to opt-in IDFA or not.

The impact of this update lies in ad campaigns becoming incapable of performing control recency, optimizing and measuring ad performance, or perform behavior-based segmentation. Additionally, the move is contributory to consent fatigue, which would increase the instances of users declining the data view request.

The impact of the update on the advertisers will be two-fold –

  • Retargeting to users will not work in the iOS application development process if the users opt-out of sharing their IDFA. Brands that don’t use deterministic variables like a phone number or email id (like Google and Facebook do) will witness a reduction in the targetable audiences.
  • Because of the limited access to IDFA, brands will not be able to show relevant ads to the users, a move that might direly impact user experience and ad monetization efforts of iOS app development.

2. Changes in app install attribution

4 Marketing experts discuss their mobile attribution strategies

iOS 14 comes with an updated SKAdNetwork interface that offers a method for Apple to notify the ‘ad network’ when a campaign creates app install conversion.

The impact of this update is the negligence of another type of app conversions for which a mobile app campaign would want to optimize other than app installs.

3. Control over geo-location access

Geolocation (article) | User data tracking | Khan Academy

Presently, iOS users have control over which apps access their location through the ‘Location Service’ setting. The new update will allow the users to opt-out of precise location sharing. And when that happens, only approximate geolocation data will be shared with the apps.

4. Privacy report highlighting ‘tracking’ companies

New Apple privacy ad highlights App Tracking Transparency | AppleInsider

Apple presently comes with the feature of Intelligent Tracking prevention or ITP which blocks cross-domain tracking. With iOS 14, there will now be a ‘Privacy Report’ passed to the users in addition to the ITP. It will tell the users which companies it is blockchain from viewing their data.

The impact of this update is more image-based than anything else. Brands have multiple use cases for tracking users – recency control, frequency capping, behavioral-based targeting, spend attribution, etc. But the update will give the users a perception that every company has the same tracking intent.

How is Anteelo Preparing for the Changed iOS 14 App Development Process?

iPhone app development has always been one of our strongest suits. We have always one of the first iOS app development company to run hypothesis testing on all the new updates. iOS 14 version is no different.

Our team of iOS app developers has deep-dived into how iOS 14 impacts app creation and promotion and while we have looked into the changes that we will have to make the app ready for iOS 14.

The primary step for us was to peruse the platform-wise recommendations for the iOS 14 update.

  • Facebook
  • Google
  • Apple

The documentations helped us get on top of the changes that were coming with iOS 14 and what we needed to do to prepare for them. Keeping technicalities aside, let us share our plans in terms of making your app pass Apple’s updated security principles in layman’s terms. But first thing first, let us look into the ways the app ecosystem is going to change in 2021.

The way iOS 14 influence app development will see the following things happening –

  • The space between organic and paid revenue and installs will get blurry
  • The efficiency of user acquisition and ad monetization will lower
  • The user-level ad reporting will become functionally impossible with iOS 14
  • Another impact of iOS 14 will be that retargeting campaigns will not be viable anymore
  • Apple’s SKAdNetwork is poised to become the source of ad attribution on iOS
  • Post-install events will majorly be attributable for around 24 hours

In light of these changes, the first thing that we will be focusing on is ensuring that the SDKs we use across our iPhone app development services are up to date. Virtually every SDK – analytics, attribution, and ad monetization, etc. will have to be updated for accommodating iOS14.

Secondly, we will shift our focus on top-of-funnel activities – like ad watch, tutorial completion, etc. – instead of button funnel-like subscriptions and purchases.

Lastly, we will be revisiting how we ask for consent from the users. After ensuring that the users are having a good experience within the app, we will plan strategically-timed push notifications explaining how the tracking will elevate their experience in the application. Here’s a snapshot of what that would look like –

Other than these, going by the statistics that over 30% of the iOS users have already disabled IDFA sharing, we will be exploring new approaches to help our clients retain their growth marketing expectations without relying on personal information. Here are some of them –

1.  Use SKAdNetwork for advertisement attribution

Apple has released SKAd Network that enables Apple to manage the attribution passed to the Registered Ad network. While there are ways to optimize and scale marketing with SKAdNetwork, like how it helps identify redownloads and track attribution, they are not very ideal because of multiple reasons –

  •  Allows only click-based attribution
  • No date stamp parameter is provided
  • The campaign IDs are limited to 100 per ad network.

2.  Non-individually identifiable IP address-based tracking

Another way brands can negate the iOS 14 impact on app distribution is by relying on the users’ truncated IP addressed for advanced contextual targeting and attribution. This way, they won’t have to identify any individual user.

If you are looking for an iOS application development company that is skilled to help migrate your existing application to iOS 14 while having a complete understanding and solutions to how iOS 14 impacts app creation, reach out to our team.

Microservices vs Monolithic Architecture

Microservices vs. Monolith Architecture - DEV Community

Microservices architecture has become a hot topic in the software backend development world. The ecosystem carries a profound impact on not just the enterprises’ IT function but also in the digital transformation of an entire app business.

The debate of Microservices vs monolithic architecture defines a revolutionary shift in how an IT  team approaches their software development cycle: Whether they go with the approach that brands like Google, Amazon, and Netflix chose or do they go with the simplicity quotient that a startup which is at the development stage demands.

In this article, we are going to get startups an answer to which backend architecture they should choose when they are starting their journey to become a startup.

Table Of Content:

  1. What are Microservices Architecture?
  2. What is Monolithic Architecture?
  3. Microservices vs Monolithic Architecture: Advantages and Disadvantages
  4. How to Choose Between Monolithic and Microservice Architecture?
  5. Migrating from a Monolithic Architecture to a Microservice Ecosystem
  6. Conclusion

What are Microservices Architecture?

Microservice Architecture pattern

Microservices architecture contains a mix of small and autonomous services where every service is self-contained and must be implemented as a single business ability. It is a distinct approach used for development of software systems which focus on developing several single-function modules with clearly-defined operations and interfaces. The approach has become a popular trend in the past several years as more and more Enterprises are looking to become Agile and make a shift towards DevOps.

Components of Microservices architecture that makes it one of the best enterprise architecture:

  • The services are independent, small, and loosely coupled
  • Encapsulates a business or customer scenario
  • Every service is different codebase
  • Services can be independently deployed
  • Services interact with each other using APIs

With the question of what are microservices architecture now answered, let us move on to look into what is monolithic architecture.

What is Monolithic Architecture? 

Introduction to Monolithic Architecture and MicroServices Architecture | by Siraj ul Haq | KoderLabs | Medium

Monolithic application has a single codebase having multiple modules. The modules, in turn, are divided into either technical features or business features. The architecture comes with a single build system that helps build complete application. It also comes with a single deployable or executable binary.

Now that we have looked into what is monolithic architecture and microservices architecture, let us look into the disadvantages and benefits that both the backend system offers to get an understanding of what separates them from each other.

Microservices vs Monolithic Architecture: Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages of Monolithic Architecture

A. Zero Deployment Dependencies

Dependencies Handling in Python

An organized and well-documented Monolith architecture makes it possible for Backend developers to not worry about which version would be compatible with which service, how to find which services are present and what they do, etc.

B. Error Tracing

Poor man's performance and error tracing (ft. HAProxy) | Sysbee

One of the biggest benefits of monolithic is that all the transactions are logged into one place, making error tracing task a breeze.

C. No Silos

no-silos – TeamStrength, Inc.

The one factor that works in the favour of monolithic in the microservices vs monolithic architecture debate is absence of silos. It becomes very easy for the developers to work on multiple parts of the app for they are all structured similarly, using the same tools, which makes it okay to have no prior distributed computing knowledge.

D. Cross-cutting concerns:

Cross cutting concern example - Stack Overflow

Spending time in defining the services which do not bleed in each other’s time is the time that you can actually spend in developing things that help the customers.

E. Shared Code:

The Problem with Shared Code. This is the first of a 4-part series on… | by Jeff Whelpley | Medium

No shared libraries where the complete scope needed for services to operate is sent along each request.

Limitations of Monolithic Architecture

A. Lack of Flexibility:

Lack of flexibility in the workplace kills productivity, says report - Employee Benefits

Monolithic architectures are not flexible. You cannot use different technologies when you have incorporated Monolithic. The technology stack which have been decided at the beginning have to be followed throughout the project, making upgrades a next to impossible task.

B. Development Speed:

How to Decrease Time for Software Development Projects - BIT Studios

Microservices speed development process is famous when you compare microservices architecture vs monolithic architecture. Development is very slow in monolithic architecture. It can be very difficult for team members to understand and then modify the code of large monolithic applications. Additionally, as the size of codebase increases, the IDE gets overloaded and gets slower. All of this results in a slowed down app development speed.

C. Difficult Scalability:

Scalability Complex Like A Puzzle - Pictured As Word Scalability On A Puzzle Pieces To Show That Scalability Can Be Difficult And Stock Illustration - Illustration of idea, analogy: 164219546

Scaling monolithic applications becomes difficult when the apps becomes large. While developers can develop new instances of monolith and load balancer to distribute the traffic to new instances, monolithic architecture cannot scale with the increasing load.

Benefits of Microservices Architecture

All You Need to Know about Microservices Architecture in 2019

  1. The biggest factor in favour of microservices in the difference between microservices and monolithic architecture is that it handles complexity issues by decomposing the app into manageable service set that are faster to develop and easier to maintain and understand.
  2. It enables independent service development through a team which is focused on the particular service, which makes the ideal choice of businesses that work with an Agile development approach.
  3. It lowers the barrier of adopting newer technologies as the developers have the freedom to choose whatever technology that makes sense to their project.
  4. It makes it possible for every microservice to be deployed individually. The result of which is that continuous deployment of complex application becomes possible.

Drawbacks of Microservices Architecture

Microservice Architecture: 5 Major Benefits - Skelia

  1. Microservices add a complexity to project simply by the fact that the microservices application is distributed system. To solve the complexities, developers have to select and implement inter-process communication that is based on either RPC or messaging.
  2. They work with partitioned database architecture. The business transactions which update multiple business entities inside the microservices application also have to update different databases that are owned by multiple services.
  3. It is a lot more difficult to implement changes which span across multiple services. While in case of Monolithic architecture, an app development agency only have to change the corresponding modules, integrate all the changes, and then deploy them all in one go.
  4. Deployment of a microservice application is very complex. It consists of a number of services, which individually have multiple runtime instances. In contrast, a monolithic application is deployed on set of identical servers behind load balancer.

The benefits and limitations are prevalent in both monolithic and microservices architecture. This makes it extremely difficult for a startup to gauge which backend architecture to incorporate in their journey.

Let us help you.

How to Choose Between Monolithic and Microservice Architecture? 

The fact that both the approaches come with their own set of pros and cons are a sign that there is no one size fits all methodology when it comes to choosing a backend architecture. But there are a few questions that can help you decide which is the right direction to head into.

Are You Working in a Familiar Sector?

Akash - Aligarh,Uttar Pradesh : Take a step to be familiar with computer and start your career in IT sector.

When you work in an industry where you know the veins of the sector and you know the demands and the needs of the customers, it becomes easier to enter into the system with a definite structure. The same, however, is not possible with a business that is very new in the industry, for the amount of looming doubts are much greater.

So, the use of microservice architecture in app development is best suited in cases where you know the industry inside out. If that is not the case, go with monolithic approach to develop your app.

How Prepared is Your Team?

Who is on the Team?

Is your team aware with the best practices for implementing microservices? Or are they more comfortable with working around the simplicity of monolithic? Will your team and your business offering expand in the coming time? You will have to find answers to all these questions to gauge whether the people who have to work on a project are even ready to migrate.

What is Your Infrastructure Like?

The Big Three: Comparing AWS, Azure and Google Cloud for Computing - The Sunshower.io Blog

Everything from the development to the deployment of a monolithic web application would require a cloud-based infrastructure. You will have to make use of Amazon AWS and Google Cloud for deploying even tiny elements. While the cloud technologies make the process easier, The idea of setting up database server for every other microservice and then scaling out is something that startup entrepreneur might not be comfortable with.

Have you Evaluated the Business Risk?

The art of predicting business risks: Why non-experts do it better | Fortune

More often than not, businesses take microservices’ side in the Microservices vs Monolithic Architecture thinking it is the right thing for their business. What they forget to factor in is the chance that their application might not become as scalable as they are optimistically expecting and they might have to suffer the risks of adding a highly scalable system in their process.

Here is a short list of pointers that would help you make the decision of choosing to opt for software development processes with microservices vs monolithic architecture:

When to Choose Monolithic Architecture?

  • When your team is at a founding stage
  • When you are developing a proof of concept
  • When you have no experience in microservices
  • When you have experience in the development on solid frameworks, like the Ruby on Rails, Laravel, etc.

When to Choose Microservices Architecture?

  • You need independent, quick delivery service
  • You need to extend your team
  • Your platform need to be extremely efficient
  • You don’t have a tight deadline to work with

Migrating from a Monolithic Architecture to a Microservice Ecosystem

Migrate From Monolithic Applications to a Microservice Architecture: Part 2

The right approach for migrating a monolithic architecture to a microservice ecosystem is to divide the monolith processes and turn them into microservices. The result of this is a two-factor plan:

  1. Identification of existing monolithic elements which can get decoupled
  2. A validation that the new functionality can be developed as microservice

One of the main challenges that can emerge when initiating the migration from a monolithic architecture to a microservice architecture is to design and create an integration between existing system and a new microservice. A solution for this can be to add a glue code which allows them to connect later, something like an API.

API gateway can also help in combining multiple individual service calls in one coarse-grained service, and this in turn would help reduce the integration cost with monolithic system.

Conclusion

When you compare microservices architecture vs monolithic architecture, you will find the former being a hot trend. Every entrepreneur wants to say that their app is based on this architecture. But the temptation to focus only on the problems of monolithic architecture and abandon the architecture should be measured against the actual value of microservice architecture.

The right approach would be to develop new apps using a monolithic approach and move to microservices only when the justification of the move is backed by proper metrics like performance monitoring.

For established businesses, microservices tend to be avenues for continuous deployment, team based development, and an agility to shift to new technologies. But for startups, or companies that are just starting, adopting microservices can impact the software project success very negatively.

Creating a safe networking of linked devices

Creating a safe networking of linked devices

The number of connected devices is predicted to grow to 75 billion by 2025. This will create a massively connected ecosystem, and data security will be paramount.

Many of these devices will be cyber-physical systems, which closely integrate computation, networking and physical processes. The devices consist of a physical entity and its cyber twin, which can replicate the behavior of the physical machine and give insights into how the machine will react when prompted by various actions. Connect these devices to the internet, for data transfer, and the result is the internet of things. Smart grids, autonomous vehicles and medical devices are examples of cyber-physical systems.

In cyber-physical systems, digital and physical components interact with each other in a variety of ways that change with context. For example, an offshore drilling facility transmits sensor values from devices to check that machinery is functioning; the alerts from the devices will vary depending on whether it is a normal scenario or an emergency. Similarly, a connected medical device will send an alert based upon the patient’s condition.

In all contexts, it is imperative to maintain security and privacy of the data. This is particularly true in a data-sensitive field like healthcare, where there is growing concern about cybersecurity in connected medical devices.

A secure framework for cyber-physical systems

Cutting off stealthy interlopers: A framework for secure cyber-physical systems

We have created a secure framework for connecting cyber-physical systems by leveraging distributed ledger technology (DLT). DLT is a digital system for recording asset transactions in multiple places at the same time, making fraud and manipulation difficult.

Our framework addresses:

  1. Two-way tamper-proof device communication
  2. Financial transactions between devices (e.g., machine-to-machine micropayments using crypto currencies)
  3. Message transfer and data storage between devices with minimal or no transaction fees and mining (network) fees

The framework integrates edge computing components, which are industry-specific (such as medical devices), and has DLT at its core for data transfer and communication.

Edge devices communicate with a central system, the Directed Acyclic Graph distributed ledger, which powers data storage, transfer and access and ensures data security and data privacy. Click image to enlarge.

 

Inside the framework

 

We developed the framework’s components using directed acyclic graphs (DAG) — specifically IOTA — as the underlying DLT technology. DAG architecture is well suited for scalability and does not carry mining fees.

IOTA uses an invention called “The Tangle” at its core. The Tangle is a new data structure, based on DAG, that takes care of data privacy needs by providing restricted and private storage and retrieval options.

safenetworking

We describe each component with an industry example but the components can be extended to other industries:

  • Financial transactions – This component stores all transactions and automates micropayments between machines without any manual intervention. This component can be directly applied to the automobile industry for vehicle charging, toll payments, parking place payments and more. Details are available in this earlier post.
  • Tamper-proof data transfer / two-way remote communication – The underlying DLT technology of this component ensures data security and privacy in transmission, storage and usage. One direct application is remote patient monitoring in healthcare. This can be extended to any industry that needs remote device monitoring or secure data communication (e.g., offshore drilling and its machines).
  • Track and trace of a device’s location with indoor positioning – This component helps track and trace sensitive assets, when knowing the status of a device or machine is paramount. For example, use this component to optimize x-ray machine use in a trusted hospital network and reduce patient wait times.
  • Secure over-the-air firmware updates – This component addresses the exponentially growing need to push secure firmware updates to connected devices, with tamper-proof audit trails made possible by DLT. It is applicable to all connected devices in almost every industry including automotive, healthcare, technology and energy, and utilities.

The components are designed to work online, offline and in mesh networking mode (when Wi-Fi or cellular networks are not available). For example, if connectivity is lost due to an emergency or an outage, these systems can still transmit messages in up to a 65-mile radius. This is critical because it means your medical device stays connected if Wi-Fi or cellular goes down.

Cost of a Mobile Banking App Development- Determine

Ewallet Mobile apps | SMD Webtech

A massive percentage of the finance sector is willingly switching to mobile banking. But how much does mobile banking app development cost?

Irrespective of how slow we call the adoption of technology in the finance sector, there is one transformational event that can not be ignored – a massive percentage of people willingly switching from desktop and branch-visiting banking to mobile banking.

Mobile banking apps have today become one of the primary ways in which people log on to their bank accounts and perform transactions. The attraction towards mobile banking is so high and prominent that banks, across size and geographical locations, are not just expanding into the online banking app development offering but are also looking for ways to make them new-gen technology-rich.

In this article, we are going to deep dive into the different facets of banking application development and the feature-sets that come together to define how much does it costs to create a mobile banking app.

A Peek Into the Mobile Banking App Market 

A Peek Into the Mobile Application Development at Global Market

The ease that banking apps come with – real-time access of account information, ease in transactions, card-less ATM withdrawals, etc – has led to the fact that every bank now comes with their own banking applications.

But does it mean that the time for entrepreneurs to join the bandwagon has passed? No!

There are a number of statistics that validate the need for a mobile banking application. Here are some prominent ones –

In a decade’s time, mobile banking apps have taken over the combined user count of internet banking, branch-visit banking, and telephone banking. We can only imagine how big the market will be in the years to come.

The Top Players That Every Mobile Banking App Development Company Looks Up To

These are some of the top banking apps that the mobile banking application development companies look up to as benchmarks and the users compare other apps with.

The experience that these brands offer has played a massive role in increasing the adoption of mobile banking apps in the industry by showing the users that the process can be extremely seamless and automated.

Another factor that helps these applications become revolutionary is the feature-set that they come with.

Let us look into some of those features.

Must-Have Features of Banking App

There are a number of features that come together to define a well-strategized mobile banking app creation process. In order to get an idea of which is the best one, it can be helpful to look into the reasons why people use banking applications in the first place.

While the image gives a good idea of the kind of features that must be considered when you are looking for answers on how to develop an online banking application, let us reinstate the primary features.

1.  App access

12 Innovative Mobile Payment Apps | Practical Ecommerce

Like a majority of applications, a banking application also starts with authorization and registration. The sign-in option in the banking application should be simple but also highly secure. There are two options that brands generally follow when building a banking app – PIN entry and Fingerprint.  A multi-factor authentication system can help secure the application to a great extent.

2.  Account information

Updating Your Account Information | Help Center

You should enable the users to access their bank account information – account number, balance, card number, name, etc. There are a number of success stories that highlight the need of showcasing the feature of checking balance and other information in the first screen that opens when the user logs in. However, even if it goes differently than your plan, at least make the sections easily accessible for the users.

3.  Payment and transfer

How to Pay Chinese Suppliers by T/T Payment (Bank Wire Transfer) - QualityInspection.org

The next must-have feature of a banking application would be the ability to make real-time payments and transfers. There should be a specific section for the transfer activities containing the ability to add beneficiaries, view account balance pre and post-transfer, etc.

At the payment stage as well, you should ask the users to put in their password/PIN or fingerprint to allow money transfer.

4.  Transactions history

Payments Transaction History – Welcome, please choose a topic below.

Another primary feature of a banking application is real-time transaction history. On a usual note, you should give your users the feasibility of viewing their transaction history for the period that they want, i.e custom date setting.

5.  Push Notifications

Introduction to Push Notifications | by Ferenc Almasi | JavaScript in Plain English

A well-thought-of push notification strategy can not just help you retain your customers but also increase the engagement levels in your application.

Generally, push notifications are divided into three parts:

  • Transaction-based – notify users of everything related to their bank accounts
  • Promotion-based – inform the users about offers, discounts, and deals
  • Application-based – document submission or password change request

6.  Bank and ATM locations

ATM, Bank ATM, Bank Branches, ATM Locators, Bank Address | Citi India

It is one of the most convenient features present in a banking application. You should integrate Apple or Google Maps in the application to help guide the users to the nearby bank locations and ATMs.

7.  In-app chat

In-app Chat vs. Email Support – Which One is Right For Your Mobile App? – Customer Service Blog from HappyFox

There are a number of ways chatbots make banking better. The number one is making banking accessible to the users on a 24*7 mode. A securely devised chatbot can help keep updated with their account details, check if x amount was credited from their accounts, etc.

While these are the must-have features that define how to build a banking mobile app, there are a number of advanced features that can elevate the returns on mobile banking development services investment. They can be – regular payments, QR scan, integration of third-party services like investment portals, hotel or travel booking options within the app, etc.

Now that we have looked at the must-have feature sets of banking applications, let us get to the point where we look into the cost of banking application development.

How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Banking App? 

How to develop modern mobile banking? Which features should be first. – Softensy

The banking app development cost is dependent on a number of factors. Here are the top ones –

1.  Features

Mobile banking app feature-set is the first thing that contributes to the development cost estimate. The more advanced the features, the greater would be the development cost. For example, the more you move away from a standard mobile banking app and gravitate towards the integration of Blockchain for IoT in the application, the higher would be the overall cost range.

2.  App design

There are a number of information present inside a banking mobile application – account information, money transfer details, customer service information, an active chatbot, etc. It is very easy to create a design which tries to add all the information in place. But what is needed and appreciated is minimalistic design – something that carries its own place in the mobile app design cost list.

3.  Technology Integration

The other key factor that has a direct impact on the banking app development cost is technology integration. While we do suggest adding new-gen technologies like AI or Blockchain to future-proof your banking applications, it can increase the development cost to a great extent.

4. Location of the agency

The last element is the location of the agency. As you move from East to West, the cost of app development increases. The average hourly rate of mobile banking app developers in the US is usually in the $100 to $120 range, while in India it can be anywhere between $60 to $80.

All the elements come together to define the cost of banking application development. If you are looking for a numeric value, share your idea with our banking software experts. They’ll help you validate your app idea while giving you a costing estimate.

While you are working on your banking application idea, keep the banking trends into consideration which would help make your app 2021 ready.

Mobile Banking Development Trends That Will Rule 2021-22

ATM connectivity

Connectivity solution for the largest network of ATMs in Central America

Innovations in QR code scans and near-field communication technology will help customers manage their ATM transactions without fumbling to find their debit cards, while saving them from entering passwords in a public setup.

Voice commands

Voice Command App: Adapt Your Marketing to Voice | CleverTap

Voice technology will find itself getting adopted by the banking sector by a greater extent. Users will now be able to check their bank balance or transfer money to people in their contacts simply by initiating a voice request.

Greater integration of AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI): What's In Store For 2021?

This year will see a number of innovative use cases of AI in the payment & banking sector. Right from fraud detection to establishing a 24*7 connectivity between users and banks, AI and Machine Learning will be integrated by the banking institutions to a great extent.

Improved app security

8 Steps to Enhance App Security - Bluestone Apps

Although the banking sector is still one of the most secure sectors, 2021 will see it become unhackable. Here are a few elements that we will be adding in the banking applications to make them breach-proof:

  • Multi-factor authentication system
  • End-to-end encryption
  • Fingerprint authentication
  • Real-time alerts
  • Incorporation of AI to identify fraud instances, etc.

At this point, you have all the information needed to initiate a mobile banking application and the factors that will help you get an estimate on the project. The next step? Find a team of developers who can help you with the project. We are one of them.

Future of Applications Development- Is it Low-Code/No-Code?

Is low-code/no-code the future of application development? - TechRepublic

We are operating in a digital era where every company is a software company. With the growing advent of digital technologies, it has become impossible for a business to chart their success in the absence of applications supporting their internal and external functions.

This growing dependence on applications – enterprise and customer-focused – although a stepping stone for innovation and creativity, comes loaded with several challenges. Challenges that low code no code development methodology aims to address.

  • Bandwidth issues – The in-house IT team, across businesses, generally works on the everyday crucial business tasks. Because of this, they are generally left with minimal time for working on enterprise or customer-side applications.
  • Limited budget – Purchasing semi-custom apps or hiring a mobile app development company can be an expensive affair.
  • Demand for quick deployment – Even at a time when the adoption of DevOps is on a high-speed mode, the time it takes to develop an application is still high at large. The complexity-driven slow development speed almost every time results in delayed deployment time.

Although these issues can be solved by hiring a team of remote developers, businesses have started taking an alternate route – low code development. But does this mean the trending application development approach is the future of the sector? Let’s find out.

What is low code no code development?

Low code and no code app development benefits | App Developer Magazine

Low code no code platforms enable businesses to develop apps with the help of a visual development approach in place of the alternate development route that requires writing thousands of code lines. Here are some of the top reasons why businesses choose to take the route instead of investing in full-fledged custom application development:

Although low code app development and no-code software development work best when placed together, there are several inherent differences between them, making it impossible for them to be used interchangeably.

No-code platforms are ones that enable teams with zero software development and coding expertise to assemble applications with the help of functional, reusable building blocks.

Low code platforms are the ones that demand a level of coding but make it extremely easy for the developers to develop new apps in the least turnaround time.

Both no code and low code platforms offer IT with complete governance over data, systems, and functionality. When working together, they enable rapid application development which in turn helps businesses reach their goals with the resources they have however limited. Here are some statistics highlighting the opportunities for  Low Code Application Development (LCAD) and No-Code Application Development (NCAD) as the code for the future.

  • Gartner estimates that low-code app platforms would account for over 65% of development by 2024.
  • Forrester forecasts that the low-code market would top $21 billion spendings by 2022.
  • According to TechCrunch, the companies operating in the sector are paced to raise around $500 million by 2020.

Numerous benefits together have led to a rise in the LCAD and NCAD form of rapid application development. Let us look into them after looking into some of the most trusted low code no code app development platforms.

The best low code no code applications development platforms 

Business Apps | Microsoft Power Apps

When we enlist the best platforms for rapid application development, some names come on top – Microsoft PowerApps, Appian, OutSystems, Airtable, Amazon Honeycode, Salesforce.com Lightning Platform, Zapier, and Google AppSheet, etc.

The industry, however, is constantly expanding. Meaning the brands which are on top today might not make it to the list in the next quarter. What remains constant though are the benefits that businesses can draw from using low code no code app development.

Benefits of low code no code applications development

Fastrack your Digital Transformation with Low Code Development Platforms | Streebo Solutions

  1. High development speed – the biggest pro of low code no-code app development is that the development time gets cut off from months to days. You can not just take your app to the market faster but also quickly work on the user feedback and add newer features, functionalities.
  2. Lowered cost – at the back of low development time and high speed, fewer resource requirements the cost of developing a low code no code application is extremely low.
  3. Lesser bugs – the lowered amount of code leads to lesser bugs occurrences as well. And with lesser bugs in the picture, the development time gets further reduced by manifold.
  4. Better business stakeholder engagement – the inclusion of in-house developers in the low code no code application development process helps the stakeholders be involved in the deployment procedures.
  5. Multiple deployments – low code development platforms enable businesses to build apps for multiple platforms at the same time.  Usually, the deployment of an app on one platform is a complex task in itself. A task that becomes easier with low code no code mobile app development.

Amongst the many benefits of low code no code mobile application development lies the fact that it is fit for only certain app types – ones that generally lie in the ballpark of prototypes. The more you deep dive into the approach the more difficult it becomes to distinguish it from the white-label development methodology. The methodology is good on papers but has several ground-level issues attached to it.

Low code no-code application development shortcomings that keeps it from getting the title of software development future

The Future of Software is No Code and Low Code Programming | Quixy

Integration restrictions – Low code applications are more likely to give you integration issues when you connect them with legacy systems.

Absence of customization – Like every DIY software development platform kit, the platforms come with their fair share of customization limitations. At a time when the market favors those that have a competitive advantage, you will be forced to work on the platform boundaries and give up on certain planned functionalities.

Security risks – Multiple risks arise when you work on third-party platforms, especially the ones that make your application uncontrollable. Since you only get access to work on the frontend or the user interface, you have little to zero control over the backend data and process.

Coding is not everything – There is more to the application development process than coding. A custom app development agency works on user journey maps, design sprints, application testing, etc. While low code no code application development platforms can give you an application, there is no guarantee that there won’t be more apps similar to yours in the stores.

Does the code future lie in no code low code? Anteelo verdict

If you intend to develop basic applications that need little to zero customizations and come with low-security vulnerability, we recommend taking the LCAD and NCAD approach. But if your business goal is to enter the mobile app market with a high-quality successful product, customized application development would work best for you.

Irrespective of what your choice is, the future of application development, as opposed to general belief, doesn’t lie in low code no code development approach. The key to attaining a competitive advantage will require businesses to present a customized stand in the industry while ensuring that they have complete control over the backend and users data.

Accelerating Fintech Change Through Digital Transformation

What Is Fintech And How Does It Affect How I Bank? – Forbes Advisor

Fintechs are taking advantage of digital transformation by bringing a start-up mentality to corporates to drive growth in businesses.

Coronavirus was a random economic test that no one could have fully anticipated and as social distancing, lockdowns across the globe and work from home rules became common around the world; companies that had seen the writings on the wall became accustomed to the digital age and were the first winners. In this article, we will be discussing in detail how digital transformation in financial services is accelerating the change in Fintech.

Startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have had to reorganize their digital transformation strategies and look to the lending regulatory agencies for quick funding to restart and adapt to the digital ecosystem.

Fintech Tribe Payments joins Microsoft for Startups programme

Fintech is not just limited to startups; it also forces large, well-funded enterprises to continue to compete and innovate if they want to stay afloat. Fintechs creates new ways for customers to access and deliver financial services, with simple ways to make payments on investments with quarterly advice and create a personalized budget with the help of the app. To bring difference using digital transformation, a plan with a strategic approach is required.

Professor Anne-Laure Mention, Director of the Global Business Innovation Enabling Capability Platform at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, in her 2019 paper- “The Future of Fintech” highlights the ways Fintechs are disrupting the industry with their faster, cheaper, and attractive service models that are inviting interest from the regulators.

Rapid Growth in Fintech Brought By Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation: Accelerating The Change In Fintech

While we know that the financial services industry has a traditional perspective and takes time to adapt to innovation, the pandemic has created a different picture. It has accelerated tangible change by adopting rapid physical and digital transformation, which requires the fintech industry to meet the challenge of equipping businesses with powerful computing systems.

Changes can also be attributed mainly to the rapid change in consumer behaviour and new emerging patterns set by the clear will of cash-less and contact-less activities.

Some stats below describe the rapid adoption of digital transformation.

  • According to a survey by ZDNet, 70% of companies either have a digital transformation strategy in place or are working on one.
  • Another report by PTC and CorporateLeaders states that 60% of companies which have undergone a digital transformation have created new business models.
  • The IDG’s Digital business research includes the top industries for digital-first business strategies with services (95%), financial services (93%) and healthcare (92%) being at the top.

How is Fintech Digital Transformation Making SMEs Efficient?

Greater lending flexibility

Why Marketplace Lending Needs Less Transparency | PYMNTS.com

In the current system, traditional lending models make themselves ineffective because they are not designed to measure and therefore, seem to impose a barrier on SMEs to earn money. Legacy systems are more expensive compared to fintech companies, which boast a reduced performance model designed to reduce costs. There is also a lack of flexibility in this system.

This is where a cloud-based lending approach can make a difference. Creating an application programming interface (API) that will integrate seamlessly with asset systems and provide an awesome and sustainable digital model that can drive a well-designed lending solution.

Channelling digital fintech offerings

A look at the fintech industry and contactless point-of-sale startups | PitchBook

With the increasing pace of digital platform acquisition during the pandemic, digital payment platforms and digital wallets and credit cards have seen a rise in demand in SMEs’ transactions. Additionally, SMEs and startups from across the globe have started taking advantage of the digital profits and loans available through simple, fast and secure fintech solutions backed by robust infrastructure processes. By informing high-end consumers and warm-hearted SMEs they have come up with the idea of ​​using fintech solutions to drive their financial operations.

Processing data for operational efficiency

Improving operational efficiency in the data management process

With innovative digital lending platforms, such as knowing your customer (KYC) and personal identity or KYC based on social security, financial consultants can easily access customer data and get their approval, thus ensuring better efficiency. Data Analytics can be used to improve the understanding of customer portfolios to enable better credit processing. Another useful area where data can be used to detect fraudulent detection, where customer behaviour is recorded and used to analyze potential fraud.

Digital Transformation Trends in Financial Services

Among all industries affected by the pandemic and changed by the digital transformation wave, the finance sector experienced one of the most drastic changes in its transformation. Fintech being one of the industries completely dependent on manual work and person-to-person contact, the road to digital transformation and fintech has been a new journey in this sector. The evolution of digital transformation in finance industry has become a business imperative to improve customer experience through development of new products and services.

According to Binder Dijker Otte (BDO), 97% of financial services firms are putting their resources into digital transformation after reshaping their business models to stay competitive in an evolving sector.

Growing enterprise agility

McKinsey Supply Chain Executive Academy: October 10-11, Kitzbühel | McKinsey & Company

After the numerous experiences gained from the previous financial crisis, an organization’s ability to expand its agility has become a vital trend in the industry. However, to support the type of constant advancement and improvement that shapes the foundation of agility, financial organizations need quick, reliable access to growing amounts of information without making tedious manual work processes.

Increasing mobile banking

Coronavirus crisis mobile banking surge is a shift likely to stick

The worldwide pandemic has seen customers rushing to mobile services for their financial requirements and bringing digital transformation in banking industry. While mobile banking is not a new concept, but as the first lockdown was imposed, according to Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), that works with the world’s largest banks, said that there was a 200% rise in new mobile banking registrations in April 2020; while mobile banking traffic rose 85% increasing the need for digital transformation in banking.

The universal utilization of smartphones in our day to day lives has increasingly shifted our choice to digital banking for everyday banking services like electronic bill payments, shared payments and instant transfers.

Increased collaboration

CEO Diaries – Are you a fierce competitor or a generous collaborator? | Sense blog

As entrepreneurs and business leaders across different industries embrace the team structure as an operational model and acknowledge the democratization of information, there is nowhere required to work together as solidly as in the financial sector. Since, financial enterprises need to adhere to administrative guidelines that implement a siloed way to select business units. But for other business units, the ability to effectively communicate and work can mean the difference between getting to the end goal first.

Risk assessment

What is the model risk in a risk assessment? - ACAMS Today

The collection, storage and analysis of big data is extremely important to financial services and digital transformation consulting firms. For instance, the quick and perfect finish of a due diligence process before a huge merger and acquisition can make great differences for the financial investors, organizations and employees influenced by it.

Mobile pay utilities

MOBILE ,DTH RECHARGE & UTILITY BILL PAYMENT | Smart Pay

A decade ago there was a time, when mobile wallets were a totally new concept to the people. As times are changing, thus, so are the methods of putting away riches and making payments. Mobile wallets have become the rule of the payment, be it merchants, shopping malls, and other sellers like to utilize mobile payments versus traditional cash and checks. All thanks to the comfort, security, and ease of availability have provided a route to digital development in finance sector over the years, which keep on developing as the time goes on.

Challenges Faced In Fintech Digital Transformation

Fintech Challenges and Opportunities - Read Dive

The first challenge they face is how to present investors and other stakeholders with a clear view of their proposal, especially if their offer is not in a certain way in the existing markets, and is not allowed by a certain number of customers. These difficulties present challenges in raising funds for commercial investors. These participants will want to see clear evidence that fintech digital transformation is innovative, capable of measuring and mitigating its risks as much as possible.

Fintechs faces a major hurdle in building relationships and trust within clients working with traditional financial services providers. Fintechs needs to fight the myth that their new invention calls for security and data management.

Fintechs needs a very supportive control framework that aligns boundaries, to be able to scale globally with minimal collisions.

The fourth digital transformation challenge comes in the form of international action; 95% of Fintech firms failed when trying to scale up. The reasons for this is that Fintechs are failing to operate beyond regional and national regulatory limits, and are failing to reach customers at critical times.’

Conclusion

The Challenges of Digital Transformation for Large Organisations

Financial innovation presents an important opportunity that exceeds its impact on financial services firms; the whole economy can benefit. It embraces changes in the supply of banks, insurance companies, investment funds and other digital strategy financial services firms, as well as the transformation of internal structures and processes, management systems, new ways of communicating with clients and distribution channels. emerged as the cornerstone of new financial institutions.

Digital strategy consulting firms and Fintech provides new ways for customers to access and deliver financial services, with simple ways to make payments on investments with quarterly advice and create a personalized budget with the help of the app. Fintechs brings corporate thinking to the forefront while also increasing competition, customer focus, and collaboration. These fashions bring clear benefits to consumers in the form of competitive pricing, as well as new and easier services to manage their finances.

After getting to know the growth of fintech through digital transformation, now it is time to select the appropriate digital transformation companies to reach your goals. For any information or query you can contact us at Anteelo– a known digital transformation consulting services company.

Must know emerging IoT Technologies for 2021

Why people are talking so much about IoT? Is IoT really future? | by Thinkwik | Medium

IoT currently is in its golden age, transforming various industries by storing and processing data in a distributed manner and making enhanced productivity.

IoT is a complex ecosystem of interconnected devices that can communicate with each other. These smart connected devices are able to gather, share, and analyze information and take actions accordingly.

Research shows that there will be 35 billion smart devices online by 2021 and this number will rise to 75 billion by 2025. So, it is safe to say that IoT is growing at an enormous rate and so are the use cases, trends and technologies surrounding it.

The emerging trends in IoT are majorly driven by technologies like artificial intelligence, blockchain, 5G and edge computing. Within this interconnected web of technological advances lies in the business value of IoT applications like smart wearables, smart homes and buildings, smart cities, autonomous cars, smart factories, location trackers, wireless sensors and much more. This level of connectivity helps consumers experience a comfortable secure household that they can control and monitor anytime. IoT also promotes cost and energy savings. From a business point of view, it helps make operation management more efficient, improves productivity of the resources and reduces human labour and above all it provides vast business opportunities.

Since we are well aware about what IoT is and how it works, let us jump straight to IoT statistics that you should not ignore!

Statistics You Need To Know

  • According to Fortune Business Insights, the global internet of things market size stood at USD 250.72 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 1,463.19 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 24.9% during the forecast period.
  • The Internet of Things (IoT) market in the U.S. is estimated at US $45.7 Billion in the year 2020. China, the world’s second largest economy, is forecast to reach a projected market size of US$169.1 Billion by the year 2027 trailing a CAGR of 29.9% over the analysis period 2020 to 2027.
  • The enthusiasm for IoT adoption is not only global, but also across all industries. Among the enterprise IoT decision makers Microsoft surveyed, 85% say they have at least one IoT project in either the learning, proof of concept, purchase, or use phase, with many reporting they have one or more projects currently in use. Adoption rates are similar across surveyed countries such as, US, UK, Germany, France, China, Japan and core industries like – manufacturing, retail/wholesale, transportation, government, and healthcare.
  • 94% of businesses will use some form of IoT by the end of 2021. Among current IoT business adopters, 88% believe IoT is critical to their business success.

Now that you are aware of the facts and numbers regarding IoT, let us discuss emerging IoT trends, shall we? Past turn of events such as the unfolding of the 5G technology, latest developments in AI Blockchain, the on-going pandemic crisis will dictate the trend of IoT emerging technologies. But we cannot deny the fact that the future with IoT will be smart, secure and reliable,let’s understand how:

Top IoT Technology Trends 2021

1.  IoT security

IoT Evolution World Announces 2019 IoT Security Excellence Awards Winners

Till date, security is one of the major concerns when it comes to such an extensive level of connectivity. A security vendor has detected over 100 million attacks on IoT endpoints in the first half of 2019 alone, highlighting the continued threat to unsecured connected devices. As a result, security is an evolving IoT trend and many companies around the globe are developing IoT security solutions using different technologies. 

2.  IoT fueled with 5G technology

6 Examples of How 5G Will Improve IoT Deployments

5G technology is not just a new generation of wireless technology, it is a  foundation to release the full potential of IoT thus revolutionizing technological growth. It is without a doubt the most important internet of things emerging technology since reliable connectivity will result in better performing IoT devices. Real time data processing, lower latency, network slicing, higher transmission speed and extensive coverage are a few things that 5G brings on the table. 

3.  Blockchain 

What Is Blockchain Technology? How Does It Work? | Built In

Increased adoption of blockchain technology is one of the latest IoT trends.

Blockchain can ensure data protection in IoT devices. Blockchain allows successful interaction between multiple network nodes and ensures safe record keeping and that is why it is a great fit for IoT applications since they are also distributed by nature. 

4.  IoT enabled AI applications

Smart City, IoT and AI | Ribera Solutions

Two very different technologies such as the internet of things and artificial intelligence can together provide commercial solutions. AI algorithms now need very less data in order to deliver good and effective results. In industries, these two technologies can help automate many processes and reduce downtime, reduce operating costs, increase efficiency and enable predictive maintenance. 

5.  Digital twins

Part One: Digital Twins Explained - Which-50

The digital twin technology trend came into limelight in 2020. A digital twin is a virtual representation that serves as the real-time digital counterpart of a physical object or process. A digital twin can be used for multiple things such as monitoring, diagnosing, optimizing and controlling asset performance and utilization. From US $3.8 billion in 2019, the projected compound annual growth rate of the digital twins market will be US $35.8 billion by 2025.

6.  Voice activated IoT devices

Voice-Enabled IoT Security Risks - Identity Management Institute®

Amazon Echo, Siri, and Google Assistant have taken voice-based user interfaces to a different level. Voice interactions will now be used in other applications across various industries that will allow us to change settings, giving commands and receiving results from our smart devices. Banks and FinTech startups have been one of the earliest adopters of voice and speech recognition technology. Another impressive development in voice recognition technology is voice biometry. It allows organizations to create a digital profile of someone’s voice, by analyzing a series of specific characteristics such as tone, pitch, intensity, dynamics, dominant frequencies, etc. Companies are confident that this process will be more secure than the methods that are currently in place. 

7.  Smart cities 

smart city: Opinion: Why Smart Cities will evolve into hyper-connected cities, Government News, ET Government

While witnessing the emerging technologies in IoT, one cannot ignore smart cities. Since the past five years, many governmental institutions have begun IoT projects that will impact the entire cities. With enormous amounts of data, the government will be able to implement various intelligent solutions for multiple issues like traffic congestion, citizen safety, energy utilisation, sustainable development, etc.

For example: In order to improve urban planning, transportation and public safety, Singapore collects, analyzes and shares data from connected sensors.

Business owners, entrepreneurs  and governments are using IoT in order to increase work efficiency, save money, and to create a better user experience. While top IoT technologies are still in their early stage of development in many applications but their overall impact on the top industries is tremendous. Let us look into some applications in IoT devices for specific industries.

The Emerging Industry Wise IoT Applications 

 1.  Agriculture

PAU KISAN APP', A HIT WITH STATE FARMERS - SmartAgriPost | Smart Agri Post | Worldwide Agriculture News | Smart Agriculture Forum

Did you know that the world population will reach gnarly 10 billion in 2025 and global food demand will witness a 70% increase? We do have a simple solution – smart agriculture (IoT agriculture). With the help of IoT sensors, farmers can make more informed decisions. This will help them achieve higher and better quality crop yield. It will also reduce costs by reducing the use of resources such as pesticides, water, and electricity.

2.  Transportation

10 best transit apps and transportation apps for Android - Android Authority

In 2021, the upcoming cars will be smart cars, which means they will be connected to the internet. These cars will ensure better safety not only for its drivers but also for other vehicles on the road. They will also be capable of software updates and lower emissions. Right now we do have e-scooters, bicycles and skateboards but with IoT evolving companies will be able to reduce their operational costs and deliver a better experience to the drivers and passengers of the vehicle. 

3.  Healthcare

Top 10 telehealth stories of 2020 | Healthcare IT News

Due to the recent turn of events, the healthcare sector has experienced a boom of IoT innovation. During the Covid-19 crisis, demand for IoT health applications like telehealth, digital diagnostics, remote monitoring, etc have skyrocketed, thus enabling real-time tracking and alerting the patient’s health IoT has improved the patient engagement and satisfaction with doctors by making interactions and procedures easier and more efficient. 

4.  Consumer electronics

The consumer electronics industry isn't dead; it just needs to adapt its business model | by Matt Trotter | SVB Inside Innovation | Medium

IoT can enhance user experience and customer satisfaction simultaneously by providing convenience in people’s everyday lives. IoT helps in collecting consumer’s data efficiently and allows the producers to analyze and optimize the usage of their devices or applications.

For example: Due to the on-going pandemic wearable health monitoring devices will become a way of life.

Conclusion

IoT solutions are growing worldwide and the future trends of IoT will play a significant role in the near future. Major technologies such as blockchain, AI, 5G, cloud computing, and so on, are going to play a very crucial role in the advancement of global connectivity and the internet of things. IoT is taking over all aspects of our lives so, if you have an out of the box idea, now is the time to get in touch with an IoT application development company. We are one of the top IoT app development company in USA that creates applications which operate using sensors and deliver outstanding results.

A Descriptive Guide on How Free Apps Make Money

25 Must Have Android Apps | ZDWired

For any regular person, it is hard to associate the term “free” with “revenue”, right? Why wouldn’t it be for free means no cost?

In this article today, we will take up this unlikely association of terms and see – can they really compliment each other, i.e., Can a business really make money with a free application?

However, before everything, let’s discuss why one should even consider taking a step into the direction of developing a free application for business, where they could develop a paid app and generate revenue upfront.

We have some mind-blowing statistics up our sleeve that would make you reconsider everything and change your perception towards free apps.

Free Apps Vs Paid Apps

Paid vs Free Apps: Which mobile app monetization model should you choose - App My Site

On comparing free apps with paid apps, the numbers we received were ground-shaking. As per Play Store statistics, the number of free apps alone is approximately 2,589,804 as opposed to 1,25,894 paid apps. Whereas, according to the App Store statistics, 90.3% of total apps are free. Similarly, the difference between the number of paid apps downloads vs. free apps downloads is huge and is in favor of the latter.

These stats speak volumes about the preferences of users, globally. Therefore, it is proved that developing a free application is going to fetch you a wider user base.

You might be wondering about “How Do Free Apps Make Money on Android and iOS?” or the question buzzing in your mind right now might be – “Is it even possible to make money from a free app, let alone higher revenue?”

Absolutely!

What you need is a success recipe (in our case, a powerful app monetization strategy) that will provide you detailed insights on prevailing monetization models, enabling free applications to become money-making apps.

Proven Free Mobile App Monetization Strategies

Now that we have witnessed the proliferation of the popularity of free apps, let’s get straight into the strategies that make it possible for these free apps to make money without explicitly earning from users.

Advertising

Being a pretty familiar concept, advertising is one of the most popular and influential ways to earn money from an application. When talking about this trend in the app monetization, you promote services or products for third-party clients on your application and in return, you get paid. There are many parameters on which a company pays for the advertisement –

  1. Per impression
  2. Per click
  3. Per install

The discussion doesn’t end here. There are five variants or ways in which you can display the ad on your app –

  • Banner ad

Banner Ads | Brafton

These are the type of ads that you might have seen at the top or bottom of any app. This placement is considered less intrusive and hardly tampers with the user experience. Although, studies show that these banner ads have a very low CTR; meaning there are fewer chances of any user clicking on that ad. Nevertheless, the fact that banner ad growth in 2017 increased at CAGR 7% is a clear indication of its effectiveness despite everything.

  • Rich Media ads 

What Are Rich Media Ads: The Complete Guide For Publishers

Evident from the heading, rich media alludes to popular mediums of media such as engaging videos induced with dynamic CTAs, Parallax scrolling, other social media components, QR codes, and more.The case with videos is that an advertisement video would start playing when there are any natural pauses in the app (mostly random). Many apps also reward users upon watching the whole video. One case in point is the “Ludo King” app that offers coins for playing a video.

  • Native ad

What Is Native Advertising and How to Use It | LinkedIn Marketing Blog

Native ads are the most artful of all. These ads are so well integrated into the app’s interface, making it hard for the users to recognize them as ads rather than as part of the content of the app. Facebook’s ads appearing as user-generated content is a prime example.

  • Interstitial ad

What are Interstitial Ads & How to Use Them Without Being Penalized

Though might be considered a little too much on-the-face, these ads are a great way to promote third-party services or products. There is a high chance of getting more CTR via this ad type as they cover the whole of the device screen, obtaining the full focus of the users. Users can either choose (X) option placed on the ad or can click on it.

  • Incentivized ad

Top Incentivized Advertising Networks (2020) - Business of Apps

These types of ads include incentives for users in return for performing specific in-app actions such as filling out a survey or poll, sharing content, and so on. It is like killing two birds with one stone, for you not only earn through advertising, but you also get a loyal customer base via giving out incentives. One of the catalysts of this trend is the RunKeeper app.

  • List ads

Being self-explanatory, List ads are displaying multiple ads (advertisers) at a time.

Referral Marketing and Affiliate Income

How to Set Up a Referral Marketing Program For Any Industry (With Industry Examples)

This is a proven free mobile app monetization strategy. Under referral marketing, the content containing information about any affiliated company is shown in the application. Here also, your earnings will depend on the clicks and number of installs done through your app. The rewards earned are based either on the revenue share or the cost per action (CPA) model.

This marketing model is used for –

  1. Promoting other apps via banners or pop-ups,
  2. In-app advertisements
  3. Advertise via in-app store

Similar to the previous advertisement model, campaigns that are used in affiliate marketing are:

  • Cost-per-Mille – Popularly known as CPM, this is where you get payments depending on the number of impressions. The advertiser is charged every 1,000th time the affiliate ad is shown (known as mille in Latin). In comparison to the Android platform, iOS affiliate ads are usually more expensive and sometimes can differ upto 30%. AdMob, operated by Google has the highest end of CPM rates.
  • Cost-per-click (CPC) – The term is self-explanatory pertaining to the revenue generated by the number of clicks on the advertisement.
  • Cost-per-sale – Also called  as PPS (Pay-per-sale), this where a developer is charged when a sale/purchase has taken place. The publisher of the app is paid a fixed commission (a specific percentage of the purchase).
  •  Cost-per-view – With CPV, you are paid on every view on the advertisement video or other rich media ad interactions.
  • Cost-per-install – Under the CPI model, you generate revenue via per install of any software product.

One case in point for affiliate marketing here is Amazon. You can select a product to advertise it in your app and then get the ad fees depending on every redirected purchase.

In-App Purchase & Freemium

In-App Purchase - Apple Developer

Another great strategy to turn your free app into a money-making app is to engrain the in-app purchases model in your application. With this functionality, any user who makes in-app purchases will be given some sort of bonus or premium functionality. You can sell any virtual product under the in-app purchase model including gaming currency, or ability to unlock any stage or purchase any fictitious thing relating to any particular game.

Now, there are three types of in-app purchases-

  • Consumable – It is a product that can be used only once within the application, i.e., Gaming currency.
  • Non-consumable – It refers to any product purchased for long-term and repeated use, i.e., unlocking any gaming level or buying any virtual book, etc.
  • Subscription – It’s a model allowing users to access premium features functionalities of a product for a limited time. This is what we are going to discuss next in detail.

Subscription

Subscription models and the IoT - HP Instant Ink · Information Matters

As explained above, this is one of the most in-trend monetization models and a way through which a free app brings profit, mainly employed by online newspapers and magazines, cloud services like Dropbox and SoundCloud, and entertainment apps such as NetflixSpotify, a ride-sharing app like Uber, etc. Though the app is free to download, a user will have to buy a subscription plan to access any kind of feature which the app is mainly famous for.

Netflix - WikipediaSubscriptions, Payments & Billing FAQs – SoundCloud Help Center

In fact, as per the report by Sweet Pricing, 5% of the overall successful apps are using this model. Though, not a money-magnet primarily, it can help you generate big bucks in the long run.

There can be many options under this model –

  1. Monthly-based subscription
  2. Yearly-based subscription
  3. Per-day subscription

Major platforms like Google and Apple allow the app owners to manage subscription transactions through them. Consequently, Apple enjoys 30% of the first year’s overall subscriptions followed by a decrease to 15% after a year of paid service. Whereas, Google is more generous in this regard by taking only 15% of first year’s revenue.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship Management | Definition & Meaning | Optimy Wiki

Being one of the most effective free mobile app monetization techniques, the sponsorship model is ideal for those apps having an existing strong user base and on the top of it, caters to a particular market niche. This way, you can connect with the sponsors belonging to that industry and match their brand with ads, info in the app, or even adapt the design of the app to that particular brand.

There are primarily two kinds of deals – Revenue from the app divided equally or setting a monthly sponsorship fee.

Crowdfunding

The Potential of Crowdfunding for Water P3s | Water Finance & Management

Rather a new cog in the machinery of monetization, Crowdfunding is another way how free applications make money. There are several renowned platforms like CrowdFunder, AppsFunder, Indiegogo, Kickstarter, etc that developers use for generating funds for app like vinted.

In fact, in 2017, 138 app ideas received fundings amounting between $10k-$100k on the Kickstarter platform.

Email Marketing

The email has been a great source of marketing to many organizations since its inception, something that also became a crucial option for every mobile app development company and app marketing team to promote mobile apps.

The process consists of accumulating user data (email address) and then sending them corresponding marketing materials to procure the interest of subscribers in the product.

Certain ways through which you could collect the email addresses are:

  • Asking for the email address in return for rewards (coins, bonus, etc.)
  • Employing third-party tools
  • Encouraging them to sign up via Facebook SDK

Note: Always ask for permission or inform the users before collecting any data along with stating the purpose.

Pay Per Download

How to Earn from Pay Per Download Websites

Under this popular free app monetization model, an app is offered at a one-time fee charged at the time of download, giving access to all its functionalities and features, as opposed to the premium model.

Though this model ties all the profits and revenue to the number of downloads, this might not be the first choice of many app developers. The reason being, users might not feel comfortable paying for the app upfront without even getting a trial.

One way to go around it is to have an impeccable marketing strategy with exceptional app listing, press, and reviews to promote the app’s features and values.

Though, there were the most popular and prominent ways to earn money via free apps, there is one more not-so-avidly-used app monetization model –

Accumulating And Selling Data

Sales Data Analysis | How to Analyze Sales Data | Pipedrive

It might not be the most ethical practice, but there are many apps out in the market that earn profits on their free apps by selling their databases to third-parties. The information traded might be the email addresses, personal preferences, and searches of users, and social media accounts.

If this is something you do not support (which is excellent), you can make use of this raw data to tap into the minds of users and improve your product/services based on their preferences.

How To Choose The Right Free App Monetization Strategy?

Any app monetization strategy is deemed futile which doesn’t compliment your business model. All the efforts will turn to dust if you can’t procure expected results from your endeavors. This makes it prominent for you to find out which strategy would render positive results, something that we have eloquently covered in our article “Choosing the right app monetization strategy”.

Free App Monetization Tools 

Here are some tools that will help you in integrating your application with one of these free app monetization models.

For Freemium App Model

The Ultimate Guide to Freemium Mobile Apps - Sweet Pricing

Play In-app Billing – A powerful tool by Google for every Android app development agency to easily integrate the freemium model into their app. The tool takes care of all the checkout details, negating the need for your app to process financial transactions.

Apple In-App Purchase – This Apple tool enables the users to buy the in-app content/services or subscription and treats it as a software download from the store.

AdWorkMedia – It is a perfect tool to integrate advertising methods with gated freemium tools in a system. It allows you to implement content and product lockers, provides walls and other similar monetization tools.

For In-App Advertisements

Top In-App Advertising Companies (2020) - Business of Apps

Google Admob – This tool from Google helps the users to analyze the data accumulated on the activities and preferences of customers via Google Analytics. This allows users to improve their advertisements, based on the understanding of the analysis.

Apple iAd – This poses as a great tool for users to show ads of other companies while also managing their own advertisements – all in one place.

NativeX (for games) – This tool is developed by Venture beat. It renders incredible no lag video with creative ad units for impeccable game app monetization and user acquisition.Unity (for games) – Only targeting ads for gamers, this tool displays customized ads based on each user’s behavior in the game app.

For In-App Video Advertising

In app Advertisements: What's Trending Today?

Vungle – It is a remarkable tool that has the SDK working on all major platforms, i.e., iOS, Android, and Windows.

Adcolony – It employs its proprietary Instant Play ID technology and buffer-free video playback in order to engage and monetize users.

For M-Commerce Purchase

Shopify Becomes Canada's Top 10 Biggest Public Firms | Restaurant Tech NewsAdrian Gordon - Head - Technology @ MobiCart - Crunchbase Person Profile

Shopify – This tool is excellent for adding e-commerce to the native app that allows customers to buy directly from within the app.

MobiCart’s tool – It effectively allows the application to act as a website, facilitating the buying and selling of products.

App Monetization Mistakes To Avoid

The occurrence of mistakes is probable in the initial stages of any process, which resultantly invites blunders creating great losses. In which case, a pre-insight into these mistakes is helpful in avoiding them completely. So, here they are –

1. Not Analyzing And Targeting A Particular Niche

Niche Marketing: Identify Your Target Segment

Understanding the geographical needs of the users is pivotal. Your app might be preferred by users from one country and not obtain attention at all from others. This is why it is important for you to study the market niche and its feasibility in relation to the location of the targeted user base. So, instead of crying over spilled milk, it is better to analyze your potential users first and then develop a monetization strategy around it.

2. Selecting The Wrong Pricing Model

Choosing the Wrong Pricing Strategy Can Be a Costly Mistake - Knowledge@Wharton

A crucial part of the app monetization strategy is setting up the prices and rather a sensitive one as well. Carelessly or assumingly setting up prices can blow up in your face, obliterating everything you have worked hard for. For instance, $5 may sound fair to you for the US audience, as iOS users’ average spending on mobile apps is $88 per year, but the same pricing would not work for users in developing countries. So, always make sure to study your audiences well before finalizing anything.

3. No Strategy For The Localized Version

5 Smart Ways to Approach Mobile App Localization | Crowdin Blog

Let’s understand this via an example. Say, you are charging 1 USD from users to jump a level in the game in the US. This might be an acceptable amount for US users to pay for in-app purchases but may not appeal to users in other regions where finance is a concern. There are even some regions where the in-app app monetization model might collapse, i.e., Latin America, where users are not in the position to spend as much.

However, you can here choose another monetization strategy i.e., in-app advertisements to bring in revenues.

4. Not Having A Strategy At All

Your Strategy Needs a Strategy

More often than not, Indie developers publish an app just for the sake of it or for fun and give no heed to making the app a lucrative business. Planning an app monetization strategy is something that should be done while the development process is on-going.

Of course, you can mix up all these models and integrate them together into your app in a tasteful and practical manner.

Conclusion

Based on our understanding of this article on “How do free apps make money”, it is evident that in-app advertisements is the easiest and effective app monetization model that can be adopted for free apps along with other kinds of applications.

Whereas, other strategies such as in-app purchases, subscription, and freemium models are those that are suitable for certain types of applications, offering particular functionalities.

 

A Guide to Using Flutter to Construct a Startup Mobile App

GitHub - flutter/flutter: Flutter makes it easy and fast to build beautiful apps for mobile and beyond.

The open-source Flutter SDK is a Google UI toolkit that creates attractive, natively compiled mobile app, from a single codebase.

With apps being downloaded and used by millions of people in a rapid way,  the mobile app development is skyrocketing.

There are many companies that are making use of this trend and contributing to the increase of app downloads. Here are some facts:

Did you know that android users can choose from 2.7 million apps, making Google Play the biggest app store?

The Apple App Store is the second-largest app store with almost 1.82 million available apps for iOS.

You should know that the accurate number of applications change because both the app stores regularly remove low quality content from their app stores and accept apps from the developers on a daily basis. However, the number of apps has been steadily increasing over the years.

In 2020, global mobile app revenues were over 581 billion U.S. dollars. In 2023, mobile apps are projected to generate more than 935 billion U.S. dollars in revenues via paid downloads and in-app advertising.

After reading the above facts and data,  it is clear that the app development market is rapidly growing, and mostly the startups are taking the lead in developing apps and increasing their reach. If you have an idea and are confused about which platform to use, the best suggestion would be mobile app development with Flutter.

What Makes Flutter a Better Choice for Developing a Startup App?

Google Developers Blog: Flutter: a Portable UI Framework for Mobile, Web, Embedded, and Desktop

As they say, numbers never lie. Let us look at some data revolving around Flutter app development services:

  • According to a 2020 developer survey, Flutter is the second most popular cross-platform mobile framework used by software developers across the globe. According to the survey, 39% of software developers chose Flutter development services for apps. This usage is expected to grow in 2021 as well.
  • Google broke down the share of Flutter developers and maximum work for a startup. Here is all you need to know: 35% work for a startup, 26% are enterprise developers, 19% are self-employed, and 7% work for design agencies.
  • Google reported a 80% spike of Flutter built apps in Play Store after version 1.20 was released. The number of apps built with Flutter in the Play Store has increased from 50,000 to 90,000 since April 2020.
  • As per Google Trends, Flutter is the leading programming language since February 2021 followed by React Native to develop customized cross-platform mobile apps.

Creating a startup mobile app with Flutter is in vogue and why would it not be? Flutter provides mind blowing benefits! Let’s discuss some benefits, shall we?

Benefits Of Building A Mobile App With Flutter

1. Fast development process

How to Speed up the Web Development Process | Codementor

Flutter cross-platform application development is a huge buzz creator due to its “Hot Reloading” or “Hot Restart” features. With the help of this feature developers are able to write codes and finish the project development in real-time. As a result, coders increase their productivity and save a lot of valuable time.

2. Utilization of widgets

App Widgets Overview | Android Developers

Flutter integrated apps provide a wide range of widgets including navigation, scrolling, fonts, and icons that are customizable regardless of the screen size. These widgets are easy to customize and make the app development process fast and simple.

3. Single code base for multiple platforms

Native App Development: One Codebase. Four Platforms.

The reason why Flutter is trending is because of its ‘write-once’ approach. Writing multiple codes for different platforms is no longer significant. Flutter mobile app developers only have to code once and not separately for both operating systems, that is Android and iOS, that is why Flutter is considered by most of the developers. As a result, Flutter makes the app development process as cost effective as possible.

4. User-friendly interface

user-friendly-interface | The Realtime Report

Flutter can customize almost anything visible on your startup app. Be it shapes, colors, shadows, clipping or transforming elements, Flutter allows developers to execute everything seamlessly. Hence, it is needless to say that Flutter makes the app development process flexible and simple without adding extra workload.

5. Potential to move beyond smartphones

5G points the way to life beyond the smartphone | ZDNet

If you want to create a startup app, why do you want to limit it to just smartphones? Flutter cross platform app framework works as a full-fledged development tool. With Flutter you app can function on any platform- Windows, Android, Linux, IOS etc.

6. Serverless apps

Building Serverless Apps on AWS

Flutter allows the creation of serverless apps. Developers can use Google’s firebase support as back end and create serverless startup apps. Flutter provides a quick development cycle to help developers achieve their targeted time frames.

Numerous companies are choosing Flutter to develop exceptional apps in record time. Due to all the benefits, features, and functions listed above, creating an app using

If startup app development companies choose Flutter, then it’s the correct choice made. Flutter eliminates the struggle of time constraint and limited budget faced by startups trying to release apps across multiple platforms. Also, it is a blend of all the best Google ideas and technologies, a mixture which results in the creation of a powerful mobile framework.

Step By Step Guide To Flutter App Development

Step-1: The idea

Sail in a Moment | IDEA – Antistress & Creativity Booster

This one is a cliché but don’t all great applications begin with an out of the box idea? Once you have an idea, you need to conduct a market research and find out your target audience. If you wish to create an app then don’t just begin blindly; instead, dig deep and research the facts, concepts and competitors. It is always important to find out how you are better than your competitors.

Step-2: Flutter for MVP

Why Flutter is the Best Solution for Building MVPs?

A minimum viable product or MVP acknowledges business owners to validate their idea, gather feedback, and identify customer’s needs. MVP is useful in avoiding market failure and investing on a product that is not backed up by proper market surveys and research.

Being an open source, Flutter complements MVP development. With Flutter increasing the pace of the development process, the process has become more simplified and efficient. Also, Flutter’s compatibility with Firebase, doesn’t require you to separate backends for building simple MVP. Creating MVP with flutter provides an added benefit of delivery of an intricately designed solution.

Step-3: User interface and user experience

Evatronix - Graphical User Interface design

Flutter not only provides us with native performance and hot reload for fast development but also access to beautiful, native components. The Flutter toolkit has opened a gateway to allow for a multitude of UI/UX and, by using its own source code, eliminating platform limitations.

Flutter is becoming an all-platform framework. What about when you want to use your startup app or a smaller or a bigger device? Be it a smartwatch, TV, laptop or smartphone. So, you can build native mobile apps using flutter to provide a wider range of devices that the app can function on.

Flutter’s adaptive components help you overcome such challenges. Adaptive layouts means how your app proficiently displays the UI on the device where it is being viewed on.

There is no need to build separate code for a multitude of devices, as Flutter already supports that using a single code-base. There are packages you can rely on which are equipped with native iOS & Android widgets to help your app give a platform-specific look.

Step-4: Development, integration and deployment

Practical continuous deployment: a guide to automated software delivery

Startup mobile app development is a highly interactive process. The process includes- planning, development, coding, testing and reviewing. This is the step where you must look out for a Flutter mobile app company that can develop an android app using Flutter.

Mobile app development comprises three integral parts that are – backend, API and mobile app front end.

  • Backend: The Backend has the information that the end user cannot see. It includes databases and server-side objects that are important for supporting mobile app functions.
  • API: Application Programming Interface is a communication method between the app and the backend.
  • Front end: The front end of an application is what the user uses. Mostly an app has an interactive UX that uses APIs and backends in order to manage the data.

Once everything is in place, the next step is deploying your web server (API) into a production environment that is scalable. The second is deploying the app on Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

The Bottom Line

Financial Analysis: Analyzing the Bottom Line with Excel

The current app development market is extremely competitive! In order to make a new app stand out within a limited budget, the product should be extraordinary enough to drive the attention of the crowd.

If you are launching your startup app, Flutter is the platform to choose as it allows you to develop user-friendly apps across multiple platforms in a cost-effective way. Unlike other platforms, Flutter app developers create apps with a smooth UI for their users.

Flutter is bound to transform the cross-platform app development industry with its capabilities to emboss customization and expedite the app development process. Dive deep into the world of Flutter app development company and join the transformation.

Determining the Chatbot Development Cost

14 Best Chatbot Examples 2021: Most Intelligent and Innovative - thecxinsights
The modern-day business world has found a number of uses for chatbots. From increasing the user engagement count to play a major part in the lead conversion process, chatbots have entered the world across industries. The fact that chatbots are equally famous among baby boomers and millennials, increases the user base of the technology to a great extent. Seeing the business benefits and the flourishing market size, there are a number of businesses that are looking forward to launching their chatbots, both for their own app and for others to use. In this article, we will be looking at how much it costs to build a chatbot and everything surrounding the transformative technology. But before we get into cost benefit analysis of chatbot part, let us first look into what the flourishing chatbot market looks like.

Chatbot Market

Chatbot Market Size & Share | Growth Forecast Report 2024

Within the past one decade, chatbots have witnessed an unprecedented demand from a number of industries around the globe, including logistics and on-demand. What was earlier restricted to only eCommerce has now shifted to a number of other domains ever since the advent of mobile apps. All this has been the doing of growing inclusion of growing level AI in customer experience.

By the time we reach 2024, the market size of Chatbots would have increased to $1.34 Billion – a number that is driven by the inception of disruptive technologies like Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in the chatbot mechanism.

From the simplistic rules specific chatbots developed to manage uncomplicated queries to cloud-based self-learning bots that are designed to understand the user intent and automatically modify the output, chatbots, no matter how learned or simple are being used extensively in fields like eCommerce, Healthcare, etc. via business data integration.

The fact that chatbots have proved themselves to be this useful in the world, has prepared them to contribute $1250 million by 2025.

Seeing the market share that chatbots hold, one thing is clear – Chatbots are going to be a very prominent part of businesses across industries. And why not, after all, the business benefits that they have to offer are unmatched and unparalleled.

Talking of business benefits of Chatbots, let us look at what they are before we move on to the chatbot development cost.

Business Benefits of Chatbots

It is invalid to ask the question ‘How much does it cost to build a chatbot’ until you are convinced that they are needed.

Besides the obvious benefit of making your business a 24*7 business, Chatbots, no matter how much you pay in the name of chatbot development life cycle, come with a number of advantages that are known to lower the cost of business operation, which tend to unnecessarily tend to close the gap between gain and loss numbers in the balance sheet. All aimed at changing your business growth story.

Here’s what they are:

A report by Juniper Research validates that the cost of building a chatbot is going to be a much smaller amount in front of the costs that chatbots are all set to cut down – $8 Billion on a yearly basis  – by the time we reach 2022.

Let’s see how:-

Lowered operational cost

Five Ways To Reduce Cost Of Goods Sold For Your Retail Business - Biz2Credit

The biggest operational cost in businesses is around the number of incoming calls. By giving the visitors answers to what they are looking for, chatbots are able to save on the cost associated with the increasing call volumes and in fact the whole interaction volume.

In addition to this, when users call businesses after having the preliminary level of interaction with a chatbot, the time of customer care executive that would go behind answering the first level interaction gets lowered to a huge extent.

Cut down labor expense

How to Cut Labor Costs and Keep Your Employees Happy

In a report, McKinsey estimated that around 29% of customer service position in the US can get automated via a properly designed chatbot. The fact that chatbots can interact with multiple people at the same time, hints at a time where the customer engagement industry would be dominated by chatbots.

In addition to this, businesses who have employed chatbot in their customer service program know how chatbot implementation costs much lower than the annual salary of an employee while doing twice their work.

Cost effective 24*7 availability

Why 24/7 self-service availability is vital in the mobile era | ATM Marketplace

Modern-day customers expect businesses to be available 24*7 to answer their queries at all hours. The fact that a number of businesses are still not able to function on a 24*7 mode has not just made them lose on to prospective sales but also has affected customer loyalty to a great extent.

But when you employ a chatbot that has been designed to answer to the customer requirement in the off hours when your customer rep is not available, you make them more receptive towards your business, altering your brand image 180 degrees.

Better resource allocation

Value segmentation leads to better resource allocation | Alexander Group

When the customer representative doesn’t have a list of customers to attend to and knows that even in their absence their customers will be handled with equal attentiveness through a chatbot, they are able to concentrate on devising strategies on keeping the users hooked and finding ways to help chatbot close more leads.

This way, chatbots prevent sales reps from falling into the cycle of mundane work and monotonous job cycle, giving them the opportunity to keep learning.

Greater revenue

Higher Profit Or Greater Revenue? | StartUs Magazine

There are a number of businesses that have been using Chatbots for lead conversion and greater sales. Through chatbots, you can keep alerting your customers of the discount opportunities and increase the engagement and upsell count.

Along with making a business a sales conversion magnet, chatbots help create a strong brand awareness when integrated with social media messenger platforms.

Increased customer engagement

5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Customer Engagement | by Lydia Priyadarshini | PayUmoney | Medium

It’s vital to keep your clients involved with your brand. As indicated by companies, organizations that involve with their customers through social media were able to increase the user spend by 20% to 40%. While social media is doing its work, chatbots can contribute by making customer engagement interactive and easy.

Monitoring consumer data & gaining insights

Social Media Analytics: the Complete Guide | Socialbakers

As you already know that chatbots are great devices and tools to chat with customers. With the input they gather through basic inquiries, you can make improvements on your administrations/products and even upgrade your website by adjusting low converting pages. For instance, if your landing page creates a decent measure of organic traffic but doesn’t convert well, your chatbot can contact customers visiting the page with a study to gather more data on why they are leaving the page without buying or making action and so forth.

The chatbot benefits are equal among all the different types of bots. No matter what type your chatbot gets categorized the benefits mentioned above will hold true for them all.

Speaking of types, let us look at the different Chatbot types that are most commonly employed by businesses across the world.

Type of chatbots

When we look into the types of chatbots, we have to look at both – the Superset and the Subset wise demarcation of Chatbot development type, having elements that goes into interactive chatbot development.

The supersets

There are two categories of chatbots that you can invest in.

  1. Bots Implemented in Own App – These chatbots work inside a mobile app which performs a specific function for the sake of automating the interaction happening between the app and the user.
  2. Bots which Function Within Messenger – These chatbots stay in messengers which support bot interaction. These work best for businesses that do not have a standalone app or wish to keep social media at the center of the business model.

The Subsets

Within the prime categories of the chatbot mentioned above, there are a number of chatbot types that you can get made –

  1. FAQ chatbot – A basic QnA or FAQ Bot provides its users with automated responses to frequently asked questions in a natural, intuitive question-and-answer conversational style.
  2. Conversational chatbot – The chatbot type uses language understanding services to have easy flowing conversations with the end users. They are usually made to A. collect the basic information about the users and B. keep them engaged till a human customer care executive is online.
  3. Transactional chatbot – These are the chatbots that help the app users to inquire into and buy something off the app without ever talking to a human customer care representative.
  4. Predictive Chatbot – These chatbots are the most advanced ones in the market at this time. They are developed and designed on a case by case scenario. By incorporating heavy machine learning in them, businesses use predictive chatbots to analyze how users might react next.

Irrespective of what type your chatbot belongs to, the elements that go into it are all the same. Something we will be attending to, next.

MVP Chatbot Features

Conversation

The Conversation chatbot launches in Facebook Messenger

Conversation, one of the primary needs and features of chatbot should be based on a fundamental principle. In the basic principle, the request for messages ought to be logical and comprehensive for each customer. For example, when a customer asks about the contact number of your organization, the chatbot should tell the user just a number. If it informs about the address, it implies that the entire rationale is broken.

What’s more is that, ensure that your chatbot doesn’t commit grammatical errors and follows the overall pace of the discussion. Keep an official discussion tone in case you’re focusing on business people. If the task is somewhat hard for you, it’s smarter to hire a freelancer to produce content for the messages.

Payment system

Payment Processing With Your Chatbot - discover.bot

This feature suits e-commerce chatbots. If your bot’s main goal is to boost sales and create new distribution channels, you should take care of at least one payment method. This is the point for you to choose between the third-party system or a custom payment solution.

A well-designed payment system eases the flow of the payment security and allows to analyze the payment and customer behavior. What’s more is that you don’t need to stress over expenses that are generally charged by third-party systems. Regardless of advantages, the expense of a custom payment framework is excessively high. That is the reason why most of the small organizations execute services such as PayPal, Braintree, Stripe, and others.

Geolocation

Facebook Messenger Chatbot how do I collect the users geo location that they send? - Stack Overflow

Online mapping is another helpful feature for a chatbot to attract new customers by pinpointing the area of your business on the map. For instance, users can request the bot to help them navigate to the restaurant or street they’ve never been to. Google Maps Platform permits you to make this feature with zero effort. All things considered, it draws customers to visit your place.

If we take an example of food delivery, then this feature is the best. All that your users need to do is to place an order using the chatbot, make payment through an integrated payment gateway, share the location with the delivery personnel, and enjoy the food after arrival.

Personal touch

Bringing back the personal touch in a digital age with conversational AI

The personal touch is more about the personality and character than the technologies. Mentioning users by their name rather than pronouns, elevates their feelings and emotions. The personal mentality to every customer ensures increased brand loyalty and positive input about your chatbot.

To make a remarkable and unique chatbot, you can utilize the knowledge of a brand expert. In case you’re on a tight budget, you can always bring into play your imagination and creativity.

Account synchronization

Perspectives Chatbots in banking industry in 2018 (Finance & payments)

The first use case of account synchronization that rings a bell is redeeming rewards. If there is a promo system, then the users have some awards or bonuses from the past purchases, which users can spend during further purchase. Nonetheless, if the chatbot isn’t synchronized with the website, it doesn’t display the rewards. Thus, you need to ensure that your platforms have a typical database that continually shares data with one another.

A synchronized record permits you to carry out efficient marketing campaigns. Whenever there’s a discount or sale on a product from the customer’s wish list, the chatbot sends a warning about it. This methodology is more successful than promotional e-mails and messages.

The Composition Required to Build a Chatbot

There are a number of components and chatbot design strategies that come together to develop a chatbot that goes on to revolutionize the customer experience that a business offers, all coming as an addition in the breakdown of chatbot pricing models.

Before acquiring the knowledge of building a chatbot, let’s have a look at the image that describes the working of it.

As a business who is looking to partner with an agency that excels in chatbot development services, you should look at their approach in the context of all these components before making any decision.

Backend

Backend Design/Architecture Practices for Chatbots | by Mustafa Turan | Chatbots Magazine

Chatbots need a backend to manage messages coming in from different channels and to process them with NLP offerings like Api.ai, LUIS, or Wit.ai. The backend also holds business logic and integration within the current systems and is used to develop conversational intelligence on the basis of which conversation happens with the end users.

Channels

After your backend is set up, you will have to create the endpoints for the integration with every specific channel. While every single channel integration is different, they mostly follow the same method of endpoint set up in the backend for the purpose of sending and getting messages which rely on the access token authorization. Also, you will have to implement the channel-specific user interface in places like quick reply, visual cards which guide users during a conversation.

NLP

The moment you receive messages from a specific channel, you are going to use NLP services like Luis, Api.ai, and Wit.ai for extracting the entities and intents out of the user message. While the set up of NLP service and processing of messages with the help of SDK is pretty direct, training the NLP entities and entities which might be present in an external system is not an easy task. You will have to understand the entities which map to specific objects which exist in systems like Contacts, Products, or Employees. You will also have to implement business logic validation on the extracted data which can range from simple validation to custom.

Conversational intelligence

Conversational AI For Enterprise | Enterprise system, Enterprise, Customer engagement

This is the most complicated component of the whole chatbot development process. You will have to design intelligent conversations on the basis of NLP entities and intents – something that is not easy. To achieve a stage where you build an intelligent chatbot, you will have to create an algorithm for every single conversation and navigation so that users can start from scratch. You will have to make use of decision trees, slot based algos, state workflows, or other deep learning methodologies for controlling the conversation.

Integration

Because of prime purpose of your chatbot is the execution of processes like booking appointments, buying products, ordering items, etc. you will have to integrate the chatbot in an existing mobile application. Integration here will involve factors like business logic rules and validations, the persistence of data which would be required as a part of the business process.

Now that we have looked at the different components that come together to make a chatbot, it is time to attend to the things that matter to you on a more intricate level – the time it would take to develop a chatbot and the cost of chatbot development, in accordance with the different metrics that chatbots are evaluated on.

The time it takes to develop a Chatbot from scratch

A very important part of the whole chatbot app development process for businesses and an answer to the cost of chatbot development is knowing how much time it is going to take for chatbot app development company to develop them so that they get a rough idea of when to start witnessing unprecedented customer satisfaction graphs.

Well, here’s an answer to the hours it would take to develop a bot, something that will have a direct impact on your chatbot cost –

Integration with an app – the duration of it depends on the chatbot complexity, but usually it takes up 40-56 hours. Development of communication interface

  • Command language user interpreter takes up somewhere around 40-56 hours.
  • Natural language user interface takes somewhere around 120-160 hours.

Business logic

  • Adaptation of an existing business logic, takes up 120-160 hours, depending on the amount of logic.
  • Development of business logic from scratch takes around 160-192 hours.

Since you now know the approximate hours it would take to attend to different parts of chatbot development, it is time to translate those hours into the cost of chatbot development.

Decreasing the Chatbot development Cost

There are a number of aspects that increase the price of chatbot development. But there are also the option to stabilize the financial impact like the chatbot development tools that save time for developers and decrease the eventual final cost.

Third-party platforms

Developing a chatbot from the scratch without any preparation is quite expensive. Thus, to solve this people generally use third party platforms. With the assistance of these popular platforms, you can make a chatbot with less efforts and time.

Despite the fact that these platforms guarantee rapid development, they also provide flexibility and adaptability which lets the developer use them often.

Some of the common and popular chatbot platforms are:

Chatfuel — amoCRMBotsify Review - No Code Chatbot For Customer Support and MarketingA brief introduction to Chatbots with Dialogflow - Margo

Botpress Installation Tutorial | The Quickest Way for Beginners to Get Up and Running Using Your Own Hardware - Cyklon Storefront

Chatfuel

Botsify

Dialogflow

BotPress

Mobile Monkey

How Much Does It Cost To Develop a Chatbot? – The Exact Chatbot Development Cost

Now that we have seen all – The market of chatbots, benefits that they have to offer, types of chatbots that are presently ruling the world, and the components that come together to develop them along with the time it takes to develop chatbots, it is now time to look at how much it is going to cost you.

Seeing the work that goes into developing a chatbot, the approximate chatbot cost that comes for development of your bot is in the range of $25,000 to $30,000.The cost range includes the design, development, and integration part of the whole chatbot development framework.

With this, we have now seen all – the benefits of chatbots, features and components that helps to devise a well-structured chatbot, the market size, the type and the cost you will have to pay to get your chatbot developed, the only thing left for you to do here is to get in touch with our chatbot developers and avail the best chatbot app development company in USA.

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