App Development Archives - Page 20 of 21

How to Resurrect Failed App Project: A Complete Guide

Posted on 07/02/201919/06/2021 by Tushar

Okay, so it’s a high alert situation. Your app development project has failed and you have no clue what to do next. You have invested all of your efforts, time and funds into the project and now, you are left with just a few questions in your head, like How to fix failed app development project? How to turn the situation in your favor? How to ensure that you never encounter this situation again?

I can sense what’s going on your mind. Being in the mobile app development industry, I have come across various Entrepreneurs and App Developers like you. I have gone on a time travel with them when they were planning to throw a champagne party but realized that their project hadn’t performed well in the market.

Based on the insights gained from their experiences and the mobile app project management skills we have, here I’ll share different ways to look recover a failed app development project in this article.

So, keep your notebook or note-making apps ready!

But wait, instead of directly jumping into the falling app development project recovery process, let’s look into the reasons behind this.

Reasons Why Mobile App Projects Fail

While it is difficult to predict the real culprit of the project failure, here are some of the reasons for app development project failure that are prevalent in the market:-

1. Missing Competitor Analysis and Discovery Phase

Many businesses are so fascinated by the success of applications like OYO, Uber, TikTok, and Instagram that they feel the urge to enter the mobile market at the earliest. They begin with the development process just the moment an app idea hits their mind – without determining if it’s a unique idea or not, and if the market needs an app like that. This results in loss of funds, effort, time, and opportunities to make your app a big hit in the market.

2. Unclear Requirements

Many a times, the team begins with the project development process without gaining a comprehensive knowledge of the idea behind. As a result of this, they come up with a mobility solution which is entirely different from the one that fits in the market, meet the stipulated goals, and make the target user base happy. This makes their app project go flop in the market.

3. Unrealistic Schedules

To ensure that their application hit the market at the earliest, many developers set the deadlines for every mobile app development phase without giving a thought to the time and effort required. As a result, they struggle to complete the tasks associated with each phase at the stipulated time and keep on postponing the project in the next phase, eventually resulting in piling up of the tasks and later, failure.

4. Lack of Resources

To create a mobile app, various resources and tools are required, including automated testing tools, analytics software, prototyping tools, etc. If these resources are not made available at the right time, it can delay the whole development process, affect the quality of the application developed, lessen its impression on the mobile market, and therefore, result in project failure.

5. Dependency Delays

In various app development agencies, different teams use the same resources or rely on each other for fulfilling their needs. In such a scenario, if a team fails to finish its tasks on time or provide the other team with the right assistance, the plans of other teams get automatically affected – which, on the long run, result in to app project failure.

Let me explain this with an example. Suppose you have hired a small app development agency where a single designer handles all the UI/UX design requirements. You want to get your app’s screens designed, but the team shares that he is occupied with some other app project. In such a situation, you are left with no option other than waiting for him to get free and make changes in your whole process accordingly.

6. Drift in Prime Focus

Shift from the prime intention behind development process is also one of the reasons for app project failure. This is so because every element of the app project has been crafted such that it fits to your prime vision and deliver some value to the target audience. When you make a transition in the prime goal, most of the elements lose their importance and the demographics of the target audience also changes, which eventually affect the success level of your mobile app.

7. App Design Without MindMapping and Wireframing

Many businesses and developers overlook the importance of investing in mind mapping and wireframing. They do not follow the right app design process; they create the app screens directly and then jump to the coding part. This prevents them from looking into the hidden opportunities and challenges, and thus face the failure.

8. Absence of MVP Concept

Though it has been proven that following the digestible guide to Minimum Viable Products (MVP) can help you with meeting the needs of the progressively changing market and testing your app idea, many businesses overlook this phase. This eventually results in failing of the project and making it necessary for one to watch out for how to get a failing app development project back on track.

9. Lack of Coding with Proper Structures

Most of the time the codes that have been written for creating an application performs its job well, but is too complex and cumbersome to read, understand and upgrade. This makes it challenges to update an app or simply optimize the code – resulting into app crash and even failure on a long run.

10. Unidentified Risks

When talking about mobile application development, there are various challenges that remain behind the curtain in the beginning of the development process. If you do not have an experienced team with you, it will become difficult for you to tackle the situation and mitigate all those challenges, resulting in app failure.

11. Uninvolved Project Head

Since a project head is the one who allocates tasks to the right team members, look into the challenges they are facing, come up with relevant solutions, and foster harmony among the team, absence of a project manager also ruin the success ratio of your app project.

With this attended to, we have now become familiar with some of the popular reasons which makes a mobile app project fail in the market. So, without any further ado, let’s look into different steps followed by top mobile app development companies like Anteelo for recovering a failed app development project.

Steps to Revive Your Failed App Project

1. Invest in Discovery Phase

There’s no denying to the fact that Discovery phase can help your application survive in the market. This phase can provide you with the right insights about the market, customer behavior, technologies and tools trending in the arena, and much more. This information can help you with validating your app idea as well as making a relevant development plan. So, look forward to investing efforts into this phase.

2. Perform Competitive Analysis

While the discovery phase will help you to know what’s popular in the market and validate your idea, competitive analysis process will provide you with detailed information about the features and technologies that you must add into your tech stack and the business model to opt. So, look into how to perform competitive analysis for your mobile app idea.

3. Revisit Your App Goal

When it comes to how to fix failed app projects, revisiting your app goal and comparing it with the failed mobility solution is also an effective way to make a fresh start. This is because most of the time unclarity of app idea or change in the prime focus has turned the app idea flop.

So, do not skip this step.

4. Gather Your Resources

The next step to turn your failed app project into a successful investment is to gather all of your resources and funds. By doing so, you will be able to evaluate how much funds and resources you need more to meet the needs of the recovery process and how to collect them, which will eventually help in lessening the risk of further app project failure.

5. Look into Code Reusability Possibilities

In this step, you will consult with the hired project manager and look into what extent of code can be reused for recovering your failed software and how much time can be saved. This will provide you with a new answer to how long does it take to build a mobile app and thus, proceed more effectively.

6. Make a New Plan

Whether it’s about how to overcome app development failure or revive a failed project, making a new plan based upon the insights gained from the above steps will definitely help you. It will provide you with a new approach to mitigate the challenges and build the application for driving higher ROI.

So, invest your time and effort into the process.

7. Set the Priorities

Now when you have curated a new development plan based upon the reasons behind the project failure, the next step is to assign priority to each element of the process. When you set a priority for each task, it becomes far easier to overcome further loss and recover your project effectively.

So, sit your development team and look forward to planning the priorities.

8. Address Issues in Real-Time

Another step that falls in the category of distressed app development project recovery is to addressing the issues in real-time.

When you encourage your dedicated project management team to test the application at regular intervals, it becomes easier to come across the unidentified risks and opportunities, which further increases the chances of success in the recovery environment.

Likewise, when you do not keep the audit process for the day of delivery and keep on sharing your feedback and suggestions on the recovery process, it becomes far easier to fix your failed app project.

So, keep this in mind.

9. Change Leadership

Though it is not directly in your hand – being a client – you can still suggest your hired application development team to change the leader of the team dedicated to your project. This will help in dealing with the challenges associated with the development process as well as that arisen internally in real-time and ensure that all the tasks are done on-time and in harmony.

10. Maintain Proper Communication

Last but not the least, prefer to have a streamlined communication throughout the development process. This will keep you and your hired project development team on the same page and prevent the chances of misunderstanding. Besides, it will enhance the chances of improving the app model by exchanging feedback and suggestions in real-time. So, do not overlook this factor.

With this, we have covered the reasons for app development project failure and how to recover your project from them. While this implies that it is the finest time to invest your effort and time into the process, there is one more thing you must look into – i.e., to determine if it is apt to recover your project or not.

This is because in various cases, the need of the project has changed so drastically since the day its development started that even if you recover your failed project, you will again have to upgrade it as per the current market trends, business plans, and customer needs. Or better say, give a complete transformation to the project which will demand efforts equivalent to that invested in development from scratch. In such scenarios, it is better to leave the failed project as it is and begin with the application development process from scratch itself.

So, taking the same thought forward, let’s wrap up this article by looking into how to decide when one should hire a project manager and recover their project and when they should simply leave it and make a fresh start.

When to Recover Your Project and When to Begin from Scratch

When it comes to distinguishing when to recovery your app project and when to build a new one, here are some of the questions that you can turn towards for clarity:-

Has the need of the project changed and to what extent?
Has the project priority changed? If so, is it required to hold the project for some time or abolish the idea?
Do you have enough funds to continue the app project? If not, how are you going to arrange funds and in what time interval?

Why is remote software development expensive?

Posted on 07/02/201914/05/2021 by Anteelo Master

Why is remote software development expensive?
While we are speaking to our prospective clients about their product development plans, one comparison that often gets discussed is why they should even outsource to us and not hire an in-house team?While there are many other factors in comparing remote vs in-house software development, one of the important factors in this comparison is the overall cost.Though seasoned entrepreneurs may understand this very well, as a first-time entrepreneur, it’s easy to miss out that when you are hiring a company for your software development, you’re paying for a finished product.

And a “finished product” is a lot more than the code that gets pushed on your servers. Here’s what all goes into building successful software:

Team salaries: The salaries paid to the team working on your product is the most obvious expense and hence this is the first item on this list. Duh!
Office space: A clean, well maintained IT office at an accessible location with all amenities including Internet connectivity, meeting rooms, projectors, whiteboards, pantry, etc. is a constantly recurring cost borne by the company.
Hardware and software licenses: The employee’s laptops and networking equipment, both of which require routine upgrades as per market standards is an important recurring cost an IT company has to bear. In addition, many software licenses and SaaS tools and services (ex. email services, testing servers, OS licenses, etc.) have to be paid for on a month to month basis.
Admin overheads: Admin and maintenance staff and office supplies needed for day to day office operations may seem like small expenses in isolation but quickly start to add up.
CA and Accounts: Any software company will need an accounting and CA services to handle their routine compliances, taxes, and payrolls.
Hiring and training costs: Hiring and training people is a stressful, expensive and time-consuming task. Not only is the hiring process difficult, but every organization also has to deal with the problem of employee churn. Every IT company also needs to spend considerable time in training and upgrading employee skills as per current trends and market expectations.
Team activities: A happy and satisfied team is much more than just offering market-rate salaries. Today’s workforce looks for perks, team activities, etc. and as an employer, these are important team building and retention strategies.
Operating profit: Over and above these costs, the software company will keep a profitability margin which will make the business sustainable over the long run.

If you are starting up, it may be a better idea to simply outsource all of the above to a software company so that you have only one thing to focus all your attention on – Your product

Improve AI Customer Experience Strategy [2019-2020 Guide]

Posted on 26/01/201917/06/2021 by Tushar

Artificial Intelligence is no longer science fiction. More and more businesses are showing interest in understanding the basic mechanisms of AI and ways to use the technology for enhancing customer engagement and experience.

But, is the technology really effective? And can it really make a difference in upgrading your customer experience strategy?

Let’s find answers in this article – starting from the very basic, i.e, why you should pay attention to Customer experience.

Table of Content

Why Should Businesses Focus on Customer Experience?
Role of AI In Customer Experience
Different Industries Delivering Higher Customer Experience with AI
Future of Artificial Intelligence in Customer Experience
Steps to Use AI for Delivering Better Customer Experience
Other Technologies that are Innovating Customer Experience in 2019 & Beyond
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about AI in Customer Experience

Why Should Businesses Focus on Customer Experience?

“Customer Experience is the new battlefield” – Chris Pemberton, Gartner

With people understanding the difference between User Experience and Customer Experience, the latter term is becoming the key to unlock unparalleled opportunities in the business market. It has become imperative to the process of understanding your customers and planning a marketing strategy using these insights to give a personalized experience. Thus becoming imperative to gain higher success in the marketplace.

And this can be clearly proven from the following statistics:-

Now as we have taken a glance of why to focus on customer experience, let’s jump directly into where AI stands in all of this. What does AI means to the CX world in 2019. Or better say, what are the advantages of using Artificial Intelligence in your Customer Experience strategy.

Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Customer Experience

1. Know Your Customer

One of the foremost reasons why you should use AI to improve customer experience strategy is that it serves you with ample real-time user data. It helps you gather and analyze user data in real-time and in this way, enable you to remain familiar with the change in their behavior and expectations.

2. Simplicity, Efficiency, and Productivity

Another reason for using AI to improve customer experience is that it adds simplicity, efficiency, and productivity to the business processes.

The technology, in the form of Chatbots and self-driving software, automates repetitive processes which means the efforts and time required for performing repetitive tasks cut down to a half.

It also gathers and analyzes the user data in real-time to help you introduce the features and concepts that they want and in the way, they wish to interact with. Moreover, the inclusion of AI in quality assurance helps you to design an innovative mobile application with a higher scope of efficiency and simple structure.

Besides, these AI-powered bots and platforms perform most of the routine work and give the workforce an opportunity to perform other productive tasks.

3. Better Decision Making

Artificial Intelligence is also acting as the right companion for business in terms of the decision-making process. The technology looks into the user interaction history as well as the current market trends, which makes it easier for businesses to predict the future. This eventually provides them with clarity of what feature/functionality to introduce in their business solution for gaining huge momentum in the market.

4. Streamline Purchase Process

In the present scenario, various customers add products into their cart but never proceed due to slow loading, complicated check out process, and more. Artificial Intelligence, in this context, helps in understanding the challenges faced by the customers and deliver a seamless purchase experience – something that helps businesses to lower down app cart abandonment rate.

5. Fraud Detection

One of the prime uses of Artificial intelligence in finance, retail, and other industries, in terms of customer experience, is that it helps in detecting fraud. The technology, using its potential to gather, store and compare user data in real-time, is making it easier to identify any change in the actions of users, and thus, helping with taking a timely preventive measures against frauds.

6. Customer Analytics

Artificial Intelligence is also showing a remarkable significance in the customer data analytics process. The AI-enabled tools and platforms are simplifying the process to gather a heap of user data from different sources and arrange them effectively as per the key factors.

Furthermore, Artificial Intelligence is making it possible to predict the context of user interactions and build better customer engagement strategies using the right use cases of the technology and insights gained from the data quickly and precisely.

7. Self-Service

Many customers these days prefer doing everything on their own rather than hiring an agent or taking help from any machine. This is yet another reason why investing in AI is becoming the need of the hour.

Artificial Intelligence, as we already know, provides you with valuable insights about where customers get stuck and what doubts/queries make them connect with your support team. Using these insights, you can provide users with some options or FAQs that give them a feeling that they have found out the solution to their problem without any interaction, or better say, on their own.

8. Visual, Text, and Voice engagement

AI-powered platforms are also providing the opportunity to deliver optimal customer experience to the targeted audience based upon their voice or facial expressions.

The technology, using Facial recognition and Virtual assistants, is making it easier to get an idea of the users’ emotions and sentiments at any particular time, and identify ways to deliver an instant positive effect to them through offers or refunds, etc. such that businesses gain long-term profits.

9. Predictive Personalized Experience

Last but not least, AI is making it easier for startups and established brands to analyze the user interaction history and predict their next move and hence, use the information gained to provide them with a perfect marketing offer. And in this way, gaining higher customer engagement and profits.

While this is all about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) improves Customer experience in general, let’s figure out what the technology mean to different business verticals and their customer experience efforts in 2020 & beyond.

Different Industries Delivering Higher Customer Experience With AI

1. Retail

When talking about industries that AI is transforming, the very first business domain that comes into the limelight is Retail.

The technology, using a heap of transactional data and machine learning, is making it possible to track and analyze purchase history and behavior of customers, which in turn is helping with determining when and what promotional offer/message to be delivered for getting attention of customers and thus, gain higher ROI.

A clear evidence of the impact of AI in retail is that, as per a survey of 400 retail executives by Capgemini, it was highlighted that the technology will save around $340B annually for retailers by the year 2022.

The survey also revealed that the use of Artificial Intelligence in Retailing customer experience has resulted in a 9.4% increase in customer satisfaction and a 5.0% decrease in user churn rate. An example of how brands are focusing on the usage of AI for bettering customer experience can be seen in Nike’s acquisition of Celect for predicting users’ shopping behaviour.

2. Healthcare

AI is transforming healthcare in different ways – with customer experience being on the top.

The technology is proving to be the nervous system of the healthcare user experience ecosystem by making it easier to analyze the patient health history and come up with medical treatment (or surgery) that offers higher chances of success.

It is also helping healthcare organizations in providing the best assistance to every patient in the form of Virtual Nursing assistants and thus, taking care of everything – right form notifying about the medicine intake timings to sharing real-time health data with the corresponding doctors.

An impact of this is that the AI health market is predicted to cross $6.6B by the year 2021, with a CAGR of 40%.

3. Entertainment

AI and its subset, Machine Learning are also leaving no stone unturned in delivering exemplary customer experience in the Entertainment domain. Clear evidence of which is Netflix.

The Entertainment platform is able to get a clear idea of the user behavior, needs, and expectations, and thus, showcase personalized options onto the screen. This is improving the customer retention rate as well as boosting customer loyalty – eventually resulting in higher profits.

To know further about the use of Artificial Intelligence in delivering impeccable customer experience on the Netflix platform, check out this video:-

4. Mobile Banking and Finance

Artificial Intelligence is also revamping user experience in mobile banking and finance apps. The technology, in the form of Chatbots, is providing 24×7 assistance to users and helping them in determining the right financial plan for themselves. It is also detecting and lowering down the risk of fraud in the processes – ultimately resulting in better customer engagement and retention rate.

As we have covered in this article so far, Artificial Intelligence is helping industries in revamping customer experience one way or the other. But, will this continue to happen in the future also? Will AI be a part of customer experience in upcoming years?

Let’s look into what is the future of AI in the field of Customer Experience to find definite answers to these questions.

Future of Artificial Intelligence in Customer Experience

The AI market has grown exponentially in the past few years. Over 1,500 companies including Microsoft, Google, IBM, and Amazon have invested their efforts into developing next gen apps for delivering higher customer experience and it is expected that many more will join the bandwagon. Many more companies will trust the AI’s ability to boost productivity and reduce the time and cost involved – something that can be predicted from the statistics shared below.

The technology will revolutionize the future of the business world and the customer experience in numerous ways, such as:-

It will automate routine work and encourage humans to focus on creative things. It will help pay attention to their vision and not on every minor detail of production.
It will make the business-customer interactions go from ‘one click’ to ‘zero click’ – giving a seamless and timeless experience to the target user base.
AI will also leave a significant impact on connectivity networks. It will encourage the idea of pattern analysis to troubleshoot any problem, pull out important user information from multiple channels to quickly and effectively get an idea of what users need.
Above all, Artificial Intelligence will also put the practice of gaining biased data to an end, eventually resulting in a better quality of information gained.

Now as we have covered what, when and how Artificial Intelligence drives customer experience, it’s the best time to head towards how businesses can integrate this technology to gain better insights and improve customer experience in 2020 and beyond.

Steps to Use AI for Delivering Better Customer Experience

1. Design a Customer Experience (CX) Strategy.

Before looking into how AI improves customer experience, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of your CX vision and strategy. So, bring your team on board to discuss your ‘CX-based’ expectations and ways you follow to meet those expectations. And, based on the insights gained, create/update a robust Customer Experience strategy.

2. Plan and Analyze User Journeys

Right from discovery to pre-sales, sales, customer support, and beyond, a user connects with your brand at different touchpoints and platforms. So, invest your time and effort into getting a comprehensive knowledge of all those connecting points, and deliver an AI-based omni-channel customer experience.

3. Have a Clear Understanding of AI solutions

The first step of AI project management lies in understanding that the technology can be used in different forms to improve customer experience strategy, such as Recommendation engines, Virtual assistants, Predictive search engines, Computer vision, Sentimental analyzing tools, etc. However, not all can be the right fit for your business needs and expectations.

So, the next step to employ AI in your Customer experience strategy is to determine what all forms of technology can be integrated into your business model.

4. Decide Whether to Create/Buy AI solutions

When talking about how to improve customer experience using AI, the next step to consider is to determine whether to integrate AI in your existing application or invest in a pre-made CX/AI solution.

Here, the former one will be the right option for your business, if you have a well-qualified AI expert team in-house or have a partnership with the right AI specialized mobile application development agency. Whereas going with the latter option can be a profitable deal when you have less time to develop an application and the vendor understands your customer issues and has the caliber to focus on critical points.

5. Track and Measure Success

Lastly, taking the backseat just after incorporating Artificial Intelligence in your CX strategy is not enough. It is imperative to keep a watch on key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to track the success ratio of combining Artificial Intelligence (AI) and customer experience. And hence, improve your strategy for a better future.

ALSO READ: Key Metrics to Evaluate Your Chatbot’s Performance

While this is all about how the use of Artificial Intelligence in Customer Experience can bring better outcomes and what steps to consider for implementing it in your strategy, let’s take this conversation further by exploring other possibilities.

Or better say, let’s look into what all other technologies can aid in the process to improve customer experience strategy in 2019-2020 and beyond.

Other Technologies That Are Innovating Customer Experience in 2019-2010 & Beyond

1. Internet of Things (IoT)

In 2019-2020, the number of connected IoT devices will reach 26 billion. Besides, the 5G technology will become more significant in the market with high-speed, lower latency, and other such features.

This will open new doors for universal connectivity – making it possible for the companies to find better insights to understand customer behavior and lifestyle and thus, come with valuable data points and strategies to deliver memorable customer experience.

Or better say, it will help companies to work with facts and not just assumptions about customer needs and expectations, and eventually redefine their Customer experience strategy.

2. Machine Learning

With a rise in IoT-based solutions, the volume of data points will also increase gradually. Clear evidence of which is that there will be around 45,000 Exabytes of data volume in the market the year 2020.

Now, with an increase in data volume, the process of gathering, optimizing, and operating data will become a challenge – something that Machine Learning will help with.

Machine learning, with its self-learning algorithms, will enable companies to perform better actions on the data and find new approaches to improve customer experience.

3. Blockchain

Blockchain is also acting as a catalyst in the process of improving customer experience. The technology, with its key features like decentralization, transparency, and immutability, is making it possible for companies to store user behavioral and demographic data on blocks securely, make them portable and letting users decide with whom to share their immutable details with. The technology enables users to know what exactly is happening with their personal information and thus, experience a sense of security and trustability throughout the process.

4. Voice Technology

Not only Artificial Intelligence, but Voice technology will also be seen playing an indispensable role in improving customer experience.

The technology, in the form of Voice search and Digital assistants, will continue to help businesses in delivering a faster, seamless and flexible experience to their target audience. It will enable businesses to engage users in a profitable manner and facilitate them with better actions.

And this can be proven by a study by Pindrop, which states that around 28% of companies have already embraced voice technology in their CX strategy while 57% are planning to deploy in the next one year. Also, another 88% believe that voice technology will give a competitive advantage in enhancing user experience.

5. AR/VR

Lastly, AR/VR is also one of the technologies that are reshaping the world of customer experience.

The technology takes users to the virtual world and enhance their customer journey effectively. It presents feedback form in different ways and increases the chances of getting a positive reply. And above all, it helps in product testing by exposing user/product to different situations and places.

With this, we have covered all about the process and use of Artificial Intelligence in Customer Experience. We have also unveiled what is the future of AI in the CX world as well as what all other technologies will disrupt the world of Customer Experience.

If you still have any doubts, feel free to check the FAQs shared below or directly get in touch with our AI mobility experts.

Frequently Asked Questions about AI in Customer Experience

1. What is the Role of AI in Customer Experience?

AI plays a crucial role in improving customer experience in the business domain in terms of automating repetitive tasks, streamlining processes, reducing the risk of fraud, and above all, delivering personalized options to every individual.

2. Why use AI to improve Customer Experience?

Artificial Intelligence, with its power to gather and analyze customer data in real-time, is helping in getting a better understanding of customer behavior and needs, and eventually creating a personalized customer experience strategy.

3. How AI and Machine Learning are improving Customer Experience?

AI and Machine learning are enhancing customer experience in multiple ways, including streamlining shopping experience, reducing the risk of fraud, and delivering personalized marketing schemes.

4. How to Start using AI to improve Customer Experience?

There are four steps to start using AI to improve customer experience:-

Design a Customer Experience (CX) Strategy
Plan and Analyze User Journeys
Have a Clear Understanding of AI solutions
Decide Whether to Create/Buy AI Solutions
Track and Measure Success

5. How AI will shift Customer Experience to the Next Level?

AI will bring a drastic shift in Customer experience in the future in the following ways:-

It will encourage users to focus more on their vision and creativity, rather than looking into minor details of production.
It will turn ‘One Click’ experience to ‘Zero Click’, providing target audience with a quick and seamless experience.
It will improve connectivity networks.
It will encourage the idea of gathering and employing unbiased society data and deliver quality to all.

From iOS 1 to iOS 13: The Apple Evolution

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

iPhone OS 1

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

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

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

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

iPhone OS 2

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

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

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

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

iPhone OS 3

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

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

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

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

iOS 4

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

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

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

iOS 5

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

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

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

iOS 6

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

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

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

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

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

iOS 7

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

iOS 8

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

iOS 9

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

And this is just what Apple did with iOS 9.

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

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

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

iOS 10

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

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

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

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

iOS 11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

iOS 12

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

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

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

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

iOS 13

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How/When to Add Geolocation in Your App: Guide

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Whats.

The Difference in Geotagging, Geofencing, and Geotargeting

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

Geotagging. Geofencing. Geotargeting.

The similarity is uncanny, no?

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

Geotagging

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

Geofencing

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

Geotargeting

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

The Whys.

The Benefits of Mobile Geolocation in Business

Get a Chance to Increase Your Business Revenue

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

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

Collect Customer Data

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

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

Help-Link Your Offline and Online Business

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

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

The Whos.

Apps Categories That Can be a Soft Spot for Geolocation

Social Networking Apps

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

Recommendation Apps

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

It’s testimonials.

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

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

Dating Apps

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

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

Health and Fitness Apps

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

AR/VR Games

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

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

The Hows.

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

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

GPS:

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

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

Cell ID:

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

Wi-Fi:

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

A-GPS:

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

On-Premise Position Technologies:

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

How to Add Geolocation in Mobile Apps

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Human Resources and Recruitment

Talent Acquisition

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

Employee Engagement

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

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

HR Management

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

Career Management

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

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

Performance Management

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

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

Impact of AI on Marketing and Sales

Research and Development

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

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

Customer Support

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

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

Content Creation

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

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

Heightened User Experience

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

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

Emotion Recognition

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

Sales Forecasting

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

Optimization of Lead Generation

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

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

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

Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Finance

Accounts Payable

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

Supplier Onboarding

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

Procurement

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

Audits

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

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

Expense Management

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

Impact of AI in Operations Management

Log Analysis

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

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

Capacity Planning

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

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

Infrastructure Scaling

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

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

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

Cost Management

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

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

Performance Tuning

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

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

Building Maintenance

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

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

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

Expectations vs Reality of Enterprise Application Development

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

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

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

What Are Enterprise Apps?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How Enterprise App development should work?

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

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

User-Focused:

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

Highly secure:

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

Integration and connection:

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

Speed:

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

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

How Enterprise App development actually works?

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

Project-Focused:

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

Slow:

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

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

Key challenges in Enterprise application development:

Data Encryption:

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

Access to data:

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

Device Fragmentation – BYOD

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

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

Overcoming the Challenges in Enterprise App development

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

B. They are Pro-AI but with Concerns

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

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

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

D. An Ease of Access is what the Learners Want

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

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

E. The Mode of Learning Was Not Restricted to Reading

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Benefits of Corporate eLearning Solutions for Your Business

1. A Competitive Advantage

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

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

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

2. Easy Accessibility of Resources

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

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

3. Bridging the Skills Gap

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

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

4. Cost Reduction

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

5. To Attract and Retain a New Age Workforce

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

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

6. To Unite the Global Workforce

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

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

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

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

Popular mLearning trends of 2018

BYOD is the news

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

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

The hiking popularity of Mobile Analytics

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

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

Keeping it small to keep it effective

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

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

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

Mobile phones for performance support

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

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

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

mLearning trends to be seen in 2019 to 2020

Mobile Coaching

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

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

Micro-assessments on mobiles

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

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

Augmented Reality will become a part of the process

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

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

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

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

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

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

On-Demand App Development Guide: Startups to Rule

Posted on 21/01/201917/06/2021 by Tushar

The on-demand business sector has established itself to be a successful business model ever since it started mushrooming post-Uber launch. The concept with which Uber was launched – to give users the ease of booking a ride in real-time at a cost point that is lesser than the booking cost of traditional commutation models – took very little time to get adopted by other service industry sectors. While the on-demand economy was earlier restricted primarily to on-demand ride-hailing businesses, today it has become a part of a number of sectors: food delivery, at-home services, legal and healthcare consultation, amongst others. The result of this expansion is that the on-demand economy has today become a revenue and funding magnet. It is safe to say that the on-demand economy is reshaping the whole world around us.

While the expansion is good for the economy, it comes tagged with a prominent challenge for businesses – high competition.

This article cum mini-guide is for every entrepreneur who is brave enough to start their business in a crowded market. A guide on how to start an on-demand business.

Let us start by looking into the reasons that are driving entrepreneurs to enter the on-demand business domain.

Reasons Why On-Demand Service App Development Is Witnessing A High Demand

While the constant innovations made by the on-demand startups have played a pivotal role in the rise of on-demand industry demand, the inscribed advantages like accuracy, timely delivery, and cost advantages etc. have made them a prominent category in the overcrowded mobile app industry. Here is a bulleted view of the reasons that have brought a rise in on demand app for startups and subsequently in on demand app development company.

Convenience

People are generally more inclined towards services that they can conveniently book and avail for real-time usage.

Nearby Service Availability

Users find it attractive when the service they are seeking is being delivered on their doorstep or vicinity. This is the number one reason why on-demand remained the most profitable business model at the time of global COVID-19 lockdown.

Cost efficiency

The services offered by the on-demand companies are more often than not a lot more cost-effective than traditional services.

Easy Payment

Another factor that attracts users towards on-demand services is the fact that they offer a very easy mode of payment happening mostly over the app screen within a few clicks.

Even though these four reasons are the main ones acting as the driving force of the on-demand economy’s demand, the one that has given the industry a major push is a changed consumer behavior that acts on ease and convenience.

These reasons altogether have created an economy that is flourishing to great heights at a very lightning speed. A statement that can be validated by the fact that even after the fifties of on-demand companies on mobile, the industry is seeing no stoppage in terms of new app launches.

On this note, let us look at the on-demand market before we move on to the factors that the on demand app builders swear on to help you succeed in the industry.

The State of On demand App Solutions Market

While there are a number of statistics that prove the on-demand economy is flourishing, let us nevertheless look at the sector in terms of the potential of growth it shows, even when the industry is already crowded by a number of players.

Disclaimer: *The insights mentioned here are the excerpts of the researched-backed writeup we did on the state of the on-demand market (linked above).

Let us delve into the on-demand market from two fronts – A. On-demand Players and B. End Users.

The benefit that the on-demand market has to offer to the players who are active in the industry can be estimated on two fronts – A. In terms of Revenue and B. In terms of Investors’ Interest.

In terms of Revenue:

What was just an introductory trend has now become mainstream with increased revenue count. It is not just the domain that is witnessing great numbers in terms of revenue and profit, the growing revenue chart is making a regular appearance in the individual on-demand player’s Profit and Loss statement as well. This growth in revenue can be attributed to a number of factors like the ease that users get at the back of every on-demand app experience or the fact that the on-demand industry has emerged as the ideal work economy for millennials. This growing revenue number that has now become prevalent in the on-demand mobile app startup industry is only going to strengthen further – a statement that has been validated by PwC. According to a PwC report, the on-demand economy revenue which was $14 Billion in 2014 will reach $335 Billion by the time we reach 2025.

In terms of Investors’ Attention:

Business models of on-demand startups such as Uber, Airbnb, and Bird e-Scooters, which form the on-demand economy, are famous for the fundings that they receive from angel investors to get them the resources they need to grow further. The market that the on-demand industry has captured is the same which investors strive to take a share of. A match that has brought a rise in the funding to on-demand startups. There is a good percentage of investors who couldn’t be a part of the trend when the uber economy was getting incepted but are now prepared to book their share. The investment rounds focused on funding to on-demand startups that started in 2014 with $74 Billion and reached $10,293 Billion in the last quarter of 2017. And if you look into the details of the funding rounds in the on-demand economy statistics, you will find that the major portion of the funding has been coming in from the seed or angel investors.

While these two were the driving force behind the growing attention of business people towards on demand mobile app development, what cannot be ignored is the unwavering demand from end users.

According to the data collected by the National Technology Readiness Survey in the U.S., it was estimated that the total spending on on-demand mobile app services would increase from $48 Billion in 2016 to $75.7 billion in 2017 – an increase amounting to 58%. The segments of the on-demand startup market, which have witnessed the maximum growth consist of – housing items – from $5 billion in ‘16 to $10.6 billion in ‘17, transportation, which moved from $6.8 billion in ‘16 to $14.2 billion in ‘17, and lastly food delivery category, which shifted to $8.2 Billion in 2017 from $3.9 billion in 2016. Seeing this growing spending number, Rockbridge estimated that the number of on-demand mobile app startup consumers would reach 56 Million by the end of 2018 and 93 Million by the time we hit 2022.

From what you just read and what the industry is showing, it is clear that the on-demand industry is booming and has proved beneficial for everyone who is invested in the domain. It is now time for the sections where we take your intention to enter the booming on-demand industry and handhold you to become a success.

While we have talked about the whole mobile app development process in detail in our extensive mobile application development guide, the whole process for on-demand is a little different. The ideation stage is a lot more extensive in case of on demand business app development compared to other forms of app types.

Here are the different on demand app development services that are proven to provide success to entrepreneurs.

Which On-demand Service Should You Offer for Having a Better Shot at Success?

We have already touched bases on which on-demand models have proven to be the most profitable year after year in this article here – 10+ Industries Backing the Staggering Growth of On-demand Economy

Now, irrespective of which service you pick what helps in starting an on-demand business is identifying services that masses use on an everyday basis and then bring them to the on-demand space. Look at the pain points of the masses, points that are not easily addressed through the mode of the internet.

For example, you can look at the babysitting space where parents usually don’t trust people coming in through the advertisements or craigslist to take care of their child. You can think of a business model which provides babysitting services at the back of proper verification checks.

The idea of finding a service that needs to come on the on-demand market is not to brainstorm around ideas that are yet to make an appearance in the industry but instead look at the existing services that could use some instantaneousness.

Once you have settled on an idea and have the potential that it comes with, the next stage is to ensure that the zeal with which you ideated the on-demand app transmits to the end-users as well. And the one way to ensure that – one which is present in almost every on demand app development guide for startups – is knowing what pitfalls to avoid.

Talking of pitfalls, what would be better than knowing what didn’t work for other businesses in the on-demand space, so that you don’t repeat the same mistakes.

Let us look at some of the on-demand companies that failed and the reasons behind their failure so that you don’t follow the same ones, something that your partner who is offering startup business services should give you a heads-up of.

Why Do On Demand Mobile Applications For Startups Fail?

While there are a number of reasons why businesses fail at ruling the market, it is time we look into some real use cases of why some businesses which were on the top of their game in the on-demand space failed.

1. Homejoy – Could not Retain Users

The problem Homejoy faced was that people only used the app until the time they were getting discounts and then they were abandoning the app to not return. What could have helped them is if they relied on other channels for customer acquisition as well, ones that were not restricted to giving freebies and offers but focused on creating a valuable image as well.

2. Exec – Could not Keep up With the Demand

The idea behind Exec was that of an app that would offer service providers a number of different handy-works. So, while to start with, the cost of acquiring skilled employees for all the different services they offered was costly, it then became difficult for them to keep up with the demand that they were getting on weekends and holidays. They should have focused on a niche set of services before expanding into other segments.

3. Dinnr – Giving Solution to a Problem that does not even Exist

The idea behind Dinnr was that people had to select a recipe on the app, following which the ingredients, in recipe specific quantities, and the instruction was delivered to them at home. Problem was that nobody needed this service, it was assumed that not knowing to cook but having a deep interest in the art, is a mass problem. Had they done proper research by getting in touch with an actual pool of end-users, they wouldn’t have faced this issue and ultimately shut down.

4. 99Dresses – Co-Founders Backing Out

An app for trading, selling, and buying less worn clothes in return for fees corresponding to the value of the item was shut down after two out of three co-founders bailed out. It is very important for enthusiastic entrepreneurs to find like-minded people who are equally invested in the project and have a business model that the masses are actually interested in being a part of.

While the reasons that you just read contributing to the failure of an on-demand business belonged to a number of different zones, there is one concurrent reason behind on-demand businesses shutting down – not thinking of the operation model.

What Are the Key Questions Which Should be Addressed Before On Demand Mobile App Development For Startup Business

Knowing and selecting the right business model helps in finalizing not just the operational process that you need to follow in your day-to-day business but also carries a huge impact on your profit model and the quotient of on-demand business success.

Let us look at some of the most commonly asked questions of the on demand business models that you should ask from your partnered on demand software development company.

1. Instant Delivery vs Scheduled Delivery Model

One of the most crucial decisions that you will have to take in terms of offering a real-time product or service is deciding whether or not to offer it in an instantaneous model.

For example, you can offer ‘Book Cab for now’ or ‘Book Cab for Some other Date’ (The same option can apply irrespective of which kind of on-demand delivery app development service you have invested in).

No matter what you decide to start your on-demand business with, know that you always have the option to expand to the other. For example, if you have an instant on-demand business model you can always add a Schedule feature to it later.

2. Own Delivery Agents or Partners’

The next business model is to make a decision in terms of whether you will be supporting the associated partners with a fleet or will you let them handle it themselves.

An example of this can be seen in the case of the food delivery market. There are two ways to form a food delivery business model – A. Have own riders do pick and drop off food orders from restaurant to end-user or B. Rely on restaurant’s delivery persons to do this.

3. Anonymity vs Choice

Let us explain this business model with an example.

There is an app like UrbanClap which allows users to choose a service provider on the basis of ratings and reviews, and on the other hand, there is an app like Uber which while gives the end-users an option to choose a mode of transport and its class, doesn’t give them an option to choose the driver or the car model.

Hope the examples explained what differentiates both the business offering type. While there is no clear answer to which of these two would be better for your business, it is safe to say that it would depend on the service you are planning to offer.

Now that you know what are the different operational models and what separates them from each other, we would suggest you make a choice after aligning them with the feature set you are planning to offer in the market.

With this, you have now seen all – the scope of the market you are going to enter, the way you can choose a service offering, the reasons why on-demand companies fail, and the business model you can choose from to gain maximum benefit.

And now comes the most important part of it all, getting started. Get in touch with our team of on-demand experts to get started with the development process of your app idea.

How is NDA a Crucial Part of Mobile App Development Process

Posted on 19/01/201917/06/2021 by Tushar

Suppose you have a brilliant idea, one that you think would revolutionize the whole mobile app industry. Now, of course, you will get a sense of urgency when it comes to protecting the idea from getting copied, right? Well, you are not alone. Almost all the entrepreneurs who enter the mobile app industry with a revolutionary idea do so only after they have ensured that their idea will not be copied or stolen or modified by those with whom they share it. This need to ensure that the idea is protected is what calls in the need of bringing a Non-Disclosure Agreement for mobile app into the picture. But believe it or not, NDA for mobile app development is one of the most controversial topics in the mobile app industry. While on one side there are entrepreneurs who believe that they have a revolutionary idea that needs to be protected, on the other, there are agencies which, having seen it all, have come to an understanding that no idea is actually a one-of-a-kind idea, and so the presence of NDA only restricts them.

In this article, we will be looking into the whole NDA protection for mobile app conundrum in much detail, by giving you an answer to how to protect your app idea.

But, let us start with the basics first.

What is NDA for Mobile App Development

Non Disclosure Agreement or NDA for app development is a contractual agreement that states both the parties involved – Client and the Mobile App Development Agency will work to safeguard the confidentiality of the app idea and no matter what the situation is, they will not disclose the idea to any third party.

Now that we are done with the NDA for Mobile App Development definition, the next thing to look at is why do businesses even ask the mobile app development agencies for an NDA?

Is it because they want to be doubly sure that their idea is protected till indefinite time or is it because there are trust issues in the picture.

Let’s find out.

Why do Businesses Ask Mobile App Development Agencies for NDA

Even in the present day time when there is rarely an idea that has never been heard before, we get client queries almost on a daily basis asking for an NDA before they get on the introductory call. The reason behind this emphasis on NDA for app development can be many but the ones that we have analyzed over the development of more than 700+ apps are –

Follow up on a Tradition

In the service industry, it has become the norm to ask for the signing of NDA before any mobile app idea is shared and the trend has gotten so instilled in the whole industry that it has become a part of every mobile application development process guide.

And now, without even taking a moment back to analyze if it is even required, the mobile app industry has made NDA a quotient of an agency’s transparent work culture. But the fact that there is nothing specifically wrong in giving the promise of safeguarding the app idea is something that has led to us carrying forward the tradition.

The Distrust on Mushrooming App Development Agencies

The present-day truth of the mobile app development industry is that there are a number of mobile app development agencies in the market, all competing to close the biggest and most innovative deals coming their way.

In an ode to winning the race, small-level mobile app development agencies tend to suggest the idea, which should have been protected, to clients in order to appear well sound – something which gets protected when the idea is safeguarded with an NDA.

Now that we have seen the reason why businesses insist on the signing of NDA for app idea protection, let us now delve into the contents of the NDA to see exactly what is there in the document which would give businesses or entrepreneurs the guarantee that their idea is protected.

Clauses Included in a Mobile App Development Centric NDA

1.NDA Timeframe

There should be a clause highlighting the timeline of safeguarding the idea. Generally, the NDA is signed for the time that ranges from the day when the idea is shared to when the mobile app development work starts.

2.Information that has to be Protected

In this section, the information or data which has to safeguarded by the agency is mentioned in black and white.

3.Duty and Obligation of Parties to NDA

This section will talk about the obligations and duties that the parties will have to cover to ensure that the app idea is safeguarded. This is the place where the actionable elements of how to protect your app idea are mentioned. It can have elements like the mode of communication that will be followed by the agency, the tools that they are supposed to use for development, etc.

4.Consequences of NDA Breach

The after-effects of NDA breach of app idea protection are clearly specified in the agreement. Usually, the consequences are in the sense of monetary terms but at times the grieving party can seek an injunction as well, thus holding the right to make a legal case if the agreement is breached.

5.Return of the Information

This clause makes it necessary for the agency to return or destroy the information or data that they have gathered from the client once the introductory call does not turn into a closed deal.

Type of NDA in App Development

There are three types of NDA that are usually signed between the entrepreneurs and their mobile app development agencies –

Unilateral NDA:

It involves two parties – one disclosing the information and one receiving it. It restricts the receiving party from disclosing information to anyone else.

Bilateral NDA:

Both the involved parties sign the NDA declaring that they both won’t reveal the information to the world.

Multilateral NDA:

The agreement involves three or more parties where all the involved parties are abided by law to not reveal the content of the information shared with them.

Now that we have seen the basics of the NDA concept, it is time to hit upon the questions that the mobile app industry faces with almost every deal – Should NDA be signed or should it be passed?

Without releasing the dragon of debate, let us simplify it by giving you the situations where NDA makes the most sense and where they don’t.

When Should You Insist on the Mobile App Development Agency to Sign an NDA

A. When you have a Proprietary Information

If you or your organization represent some concrete proprietary data which may be eligible for patent or copyright, it becomes mandatory for you to get an NDA signed.

B. When the contractor or freelancer is not against the idea

If the agency or freelancer you are getting associated with is not against the idea of signing an NDA, go ahead and sign it, but ensure that the agreement terms are too restrictive for either one of you.

C. If the project has to remain a secret

If there is a situation where the whole project has to remain hidden from the public eye, insist on getting an NDA signed. Doing this will prevent the agency from placing your project in its portfolio.

D. There is a need to maintain short-term secrecy

There might be instances that you would need your idea to be protected for short-term or a fixed period of time, in cases like these, it is best to get an NDA signed so that the information remains protected till the short-term passes.

When Should You Not Ask the Mobile App Development Agency to Sign an NDA

A. When all you have is an idea

It is not uncommon for businesses to believe that their idea is something that will create a dent in the industry. But the truth remains, that rarely happens. So, until you have practical, statistical reasons to believe that the idea is indeed pioneering, don’t insist on an NDA.

B. When the Project is Short Termed

Having an NDA signed makes sense when you are working on a long-term project or on some revolutionary feature, but if your project is short-term and something that the world has already seen, choose to stay away from NDA signing.

C. When your dream agency is against the idea

As entrepreneurs who are willing to get their idea transformed into a business, it is not uncommon for them to get fixated on one agency who they feel would do it best justice. If you too have an agency of this sort insight and they are not willing to sign an NDA, take a few steps back and analyze if it’s really that important in the first place.

D. The information that you are trying to protect is public information

Let us explain this through an example. Suppose your next big idea is a take on the Uber app. Now, the industry has already seen a lot of those, so much so that it has become public information or an idea that the masses have already seen. In a situation like this, it is best to stay away from the formality called NDA.

After all said and done, the one innocent question remains. Let us attend it now.

How long does a Mobile App Development Centric NDA last

There is no direct answer to it, it varies from one client requirement to another. Usually, the NDA lasts until the project and some months after that. Also, every once in a while there are instances where the clients insist on signing an NDA for an indefinite period of time, but it is not recommended on the grounds of plain unjustification.

So, ideally, you should add the NDA tenure to just a few months after the app is developed or till the day of it getting published in the stores.

With this, you now know everything about NDA – What it is – clauses and types, why do entrepreneurs like you generally emphasize on having it signed, and the situations where they make the most sense and situations where they don’t, the time has now to keep our promise and give you the Sample NDA for Mobile App development that we use here Anteelo factory.

Our team has prepared an NDA template for app development that you are free to use, you can download it here.

To make the whole decision of to-do or not-to-do a lot easier for you, our team of business development executives has also created an FAQ that answers some of the most common questions associated with the Non-Disclosure Agreement.