Travelling gives you wisdom and experience that is beyond words and I am extremely lucky to have been able to tour to various parts of the world, though, most of it has been work related; Lollypop has made me explore European and Western world mostly to meet either new clients or catch up with the old ones. And, this time I feel like I have struck a jackpot – Vietnam!
This city has energy and vibes that is so enthralling that you have to take a step back and let the moment sink in. It’s fascinating how this place has witnessed endless battles, survived worst of the times and yet is one of the south-east Asia’s fastest-growing economies. Honestly, humans and economies never fail to appal me, Vietnam, labelled as a third world (by Western Economy) has fought three decades of bitter wars against them itself to gain independence. It just took me mere FOUR days, to have an absolute new outlook of this country. I have gained an unparalleled respect and love for this country. The constant urge to explore and discover this city made me dig a bit further and I have broken this article into 3 parts that amused me the most – City, People and of course Design.
CITY – Ho Chi Minh
Fresh and sparkling; it just makes you fall in love with it. Though, it is 10 times poorer than India, it is way cleaner and better. I have nothing against my country but I have to mention this here because really it’s just about individual’s efforts and attitude that speaks for one’s country and we Indians need to learn this. Another amazing thing about this beauty is BIKES, I personally am a biker by heart and it was an unusual experience to realize that Bike here is the basic medium of travel with no social tags. Be it rich or poor everyone is on bike, there is absolutely no concept of classic, sports or adventure bikes, A Bike is A Bike, simple and plain. And, yes the best way to discover this city is to hop on a “Bike Taxi”.
Next thing that leaves you gaped is the Food; it is just everywhere for dirt cheap. You can gobble all the food you need for less than a quarter and I am talking about healthy, good and nutritious food, now that is what I call a heaven! The city has developed much beyond my expectations and I even heard that everyone is developing a good traffic sense. Unfortunately, during my travel it was raining and I had to travel mostly on taxi which was bit expensive.
PEOPLE
A country is made of its people and the beauty of Vietnam equally reflects in its masses. The warmth and welcoming nature of everyone leaves a never fading smile on your face. There is a massive difference between Bangkok & Vietnam; Vietnamese are extremely soft, welcoming and warm hearted. But, the challenge here is of language and communication as not many are well versed with English and one can get stuck if you are outside the city limits. City thrives on service driven attitude and people love their 9 to 5 jobs with 2 hours of break; yes! 2 hours, 1 for food and another for quick power nap. They believe in moving with the flow and have little appetite for innovation. However, when you interact with locals, the keenness to learn and grow throws you off guard and you feel as if you are in a diamond mine, surrounded by precious gemstones.
DESIGN & IT
The best designers are generally rooted in the artists and Vietnamese art has a long and rich history, the earliest examples of which date back as far as the Stone Age. They are amazing when it comes to art and it is wonderful to discover how they are exploring new arenas of branching out; few have opted for print and animation but majority of them have chosen digital design. I was lucky enough to meet few designers and phew, saw some real exceptional work! The most marvellous thing was to know that all designers there knew UI Development by default; an artist turned designer with technical know-how, now that is what I call a master stroke. Here are some of the design samples from the designers I met:
1) This Designer here is amazing visualizer and perfect with design tools, the only challenge was communication gap.
2) This one blew me away! Literally, think of anything that is related to design and she knows it all; an amazing artist, designer, animator and brilliant communicator. One of the jewels, I was talking about.
Though, designs and designers had great impact on me, one thing that did offset me a bit and that was lack of individuality and their own identity; the designs there are predominantly influenced by Western world. However, the willingness of Designers to explore this part of the world given the right opportunity has my hope pinned.
To conclude my experience, all I can say is that a little guidance now to these emerging designing sensations will most definitely take world by design storm. And, I am extremely glad to be discovering them at an early stage. And, I am definitely over-whelmed to realize that Designers around the globe are realizing their worth and they know this is there era.
There has been a long-held assumption that data security threats originate from nefarious external forces seeking to steal an organization’s most sensitive data. Traditional security models were therefore designed with this view in mind and on the mistaken belief that everything within the internal network is trustworthy. But there is evidence that a majority of attacks come from internal sources, with healthcare, manufacturing and financial services firms at the greatest risk.
An insider threat may be intentional or accidental but, in either case, the risk can be that much greater because it is often difficult to detect and can continue to spread.
In healthcare, having electronic health records (EHRs) that collect a patient’s data in a single record is hugely beneficial to managing patient care and to patients’ ability to gain insights into their overall health and manage their own care. Securing sensitive data is of paramount importance to prevent data theft, identity theft and reputational damage to the provider. Therefore, access must be secure and accountable, regardless of whether the data resides on hospital servers, mobile devices or cloud services.
As the healthcare industry continues to digitize — bringing together EHR data with other data about the patient, including from smart devices — and as it shifts to care without borders, interoperability of data will become even more crucial, but so too will cyber resilience. Organizations will need to focus on hardening access to digital assets as opposed to making them inaccessible.
In an era of patient-driven care, patients expect to be able to trust those caring for them to safeguard their data. Violation of that trust with security breaches affects the quality of care those patients receive. If a reputable hospital suffers a breach, it will influence where a patient will go for care, which could affect the continuity and quality of care.
This is where the security approach known as zero trust comes into its own. With zero trust, there is no assumed trust of corporate devices or networks versus untrusted public networks or personal devices. The same security checks are performed on users and devices. Everybody is equally suspect, but everybody is also equally enabled to gain the access they need. Access policies are applied wherever data is held and across the interfaces of all systems when they are being accessed.
Such a system might sound onerous to operate, but zero trust is not about putting roadblocks on innovation, collaboration and open exchange. Rather, it’s about increasing cyber defense.
In healthcare, zero trust is about finding a solution that can preserve the sharing and giving of information in a patient’s best interest but that will safeguard the information at the same time. The zero trust approach does just that and is a viable option to support digital healthcare.
To achieve the objectives of data security through a zero trust approach, healthcare organizations need to consider three key elements.
Ensure that zero trust encompasses security at multiple levels. Applications need to be subject to strict login and monitoring rules and complete API security. This is one way an application can be executed, and these interfaces are vulnerable to attacks unless they are properly protected. The network must have strong security measures, such as physical segmentation and firewalls, plus security monitoring across all users and IT systems. Multilevel security programs should also address training for staff and patients to spot phishing attempts and practice good security hygiene, such as setting strong passwords. And the infrastructure needs to monitor all users logged into the overall system. Patients who read reports that their hospital is being investigated for security breaches will choose to go elsewhere. Once a hospital’s reputation is damaged, the stigma is hard to overcome.
Ensure that all patient data and resources are accessed securely with the appropriate permissions. Knowing where data is held allows controls to be extended to wrap and protect data on-premises, in the cloud and on personal devices. Once the data is classified, the correct access policies can be enforced when that data is being accessed. Healthcare organizations need to be able to audit who has accessed information to ensure accountability.
Have in place a “least access” strategy through an identity and access management solution, and grant access only to people authorized to access data. For example, if a physician is allowed to access a patient record, only that physician should be able to do so, not other clinical staff involved in caring for the patient. The objective is to ensure that the hospital is running an environment with the proper protection in place. Zero trust needs to be ingrained in human resources policies. Since hospitals typically have a large temporary workforce and a lot of personnel changes, the identity management system can automate safeguards to identify new employees and those moving into different roles or leaving the organization. So, if a nurse or doctor leaves the hospital, that person’s authorized access will be automatically revoked.
The patients’ trust and confidence in the healthcare system rely on healthcare organizations being able to safeguard their data and ensure that it is only used legitimately. Trust drives all consumers’ experiences in terms of whom they engage with. And in an era of patient-centered care, patients expect their hospital or clinician to also care for their personal data.
Before autonomous drones and machine learning came into foray, James Cameron enthralled the world with his dream project The Terminator in 1984 where he introduced ‘Skynet’, a futuristic artificial superintelligence network that wants to replace humans with machines. Much has been debated about the film franchise ever since as scientists passed it off as a fan service action series, yet the seed of technological brilliance was sown. Whether Artificial Intelligence will take over the world or not, it certainly has given businesses a means of revolution and to readers/debaters like us, food for thought.
Another important piece of disruptive technology that is equally changing lives is IoT which expands to the Internet of Things. Like AI, the IoT has come of age. Its utilities include not just making smart homes but also wearable devices, smart vehicles and smart cities. The role of Artificial Intelligence and IoT in business is currently at its epitome.
AI and IoT are redefining the way businesses used to perform. On one hand, AI with its powerful subset of machine learning, has paved the way for smarter task execution with real-time analysis and greater interaction between humans and machines; IoT, on the other, has upped the scale of communication between devices and humans via effective intelligent technology. The confluence of the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence makes each other’s applications more varied and powerful.
The merger: How AI and IoT joined forces
IoT accumulates large amounts of data through device connectivity via the internet and AI, especially through its powerful mechanism, Machine Learning helps in assimilating and evaluating this data. Machine learning in IoT devices helps to identify patterns and detect any faults in data collection through extremely advanced sensors. Intrinsic things such as stimulation to air, temperature, humidity, pollution, sound, vibrations, lights, etc. are derived with this technology over a period of time. Unlike traditional technology, IoT and machine learning make operational forecasts 20x faster with heightened accuracy. This is the reason why businesses that use AI technology sees a growth in their revenue numbers – a validation of which can be seen in the graph below
Revenues generated by businesses using AI from 2018 to 2025 (estimated)
AI’s role in IoT’s revolution has helped in a massive revenue boost which also means in the sale of more connected devices.
Below is a graph that shows how many IoT-powered devices were there in 2025 and the estimated curve predicts a huge nerve till 2025.
The demand for IoT is certainly going uphill. IoT, along with AI, are currently on demand by every business, whether it’s a Fortune 500 or a startup. Since there is no limit to either’s abilities, companies wish to use them to their full potential and unbridle their potentiality to the world. The following image draws a comparison among different technologies and shows which ones are the most trending.
As IoT keeps collecting data, AI takes the onus of converting it into meaningful and creative actions. Data exchange happens through sensors and in the process, a few of the following things happen:
Data insights are more accurately obtained, monitored and evaluated
The entire process becomes faster and more efficient
Surveillance against cyber-attacks is more defined and stronger
Advantages of AI and IoT in business
Together AI and IoT are unstoppable forces of technology. There are a lot of advantages which the two provide. The following elaborates the same:
Data collection, sharing and formulating user perceptions
Data collection is extremely vital for a business’ growth and development. A business with an IoT strategy knows how technology can transform data compulsion by offering greater access to consumer information. AI makes it easier to handle that information. IoT devices have this unique mechanism to track, record and observe patterns in a user and his/her interaction with the device(s). Businesses use the acquired data to devise better means to enhance consumer experiences.
Elimination of downtime
Oil and gas manufacturing organizations use heavy machinery which can suffer unseen/unplanned breakdowns. This causes downtime that can incur huge losses. Having an AI-enabled IoT platform makes it possible for predictive maintenance. It helps in anticipating machinery failures and breakdowns in advance by utilizing the analytics so that you can plan a course of action beforehand and not let your operations get affected. A study by Deloitte led to the following conclusions-
20-50% reduction in time taken for maintenance planning
5-10% cutback in maintenance costs
10-20% increment in equipment availability and uptime
Strengthening security measures
With the current rise in data breaches and theft of confidential information, security and safety are the most concerning factors for a business. IoT powered by AI provides militant support to your private information and doesn’t allow third parties to intrude. Machine-to-machine communication is being facilitated by various organizations to detect incoming threats and give out automated responses to hackers. A common example could be in the banking sector where illicit activities in ATMs are picked up by IoT sensors and conveyed immediately to law enforcement bodies.
Automated operational efficiency
IoT deployment streamlines your business and helps in making accurate predictions, all of which are extremely crucial for improving the efficiency of the business. Placing your money on the Internet of Things investment is very necessary in today’s time as the technology also helps in giving you insights into redundant activities and the ones which are consuming a lot of time. A good example will be Google’s reduction in expenditure in cooling their data centres which they could do with AI and IoT. Like Google, you too can find out which of your operational activities need some fine-tuning so that efficiency is not neglected.
Helps in processing business analysis
There needs to be a fine balance between demand and supply. AI helps in improving inventory management and letting go of the pressure on the stock as it will help you to know in advance when you need to restock. This provides an important aid to retailers as they at times hoard too many products to find out later on that all of them cannot be sold. This proves how accurate it is than manual methods. There are IoT applications which help them in gathering the data and analytics for the maintenance of stock.
Better at Risk Management
Earlier we mentioned how AI and IoT help in maintaining cybersecurity. When it comes to risk management, which includes handling financial loss, personnel safety and cyber threats, the pair effortlessly deal with situations and give out prompt responses so that such situations do not arise. For example, Fujitsu, a Japanese IT equipment and service provider makes certain worker safety is maintained through data collected from wearable devices with the help of AI.
Scope for new and improved products and services
The Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology which aims to improve communication via speech, text or gestures has augmented the transmission of information between humans and devices. AI-powered drones and robots give a whole new meaning to monitoring and inspection which never existed previously. It helps to fetch data that a human may never be able to do physically. This proves how strong the IoT and AI future is. For commercial vehicles, it helps in fleet management by monitoring every measurable information. Rolls Royce is a great example of AI-powered IoT use cases. Plans to use AI technology to implement IoT-enabled aeroplane engine maintenance needs. This will help in creating perceptual patterns and help explore in-depth insights.
Examples where AI and IoT are showing brilliance
Now that you’re aware of how AI and IoT solutions help in leveraging business opportunities, let us mention a few examples from real-life instances to prove how the role of artificial intelligence and IoT is helping to create new business models and provide better user experiences. Many of these examples also make up for the most cutting-edge and futuristic trends to watch out for.
Wearables
By now you must have heard how wearables play a key role in the current IoT scenario. Fitness trackers, smartwatches, wearable panic buttons, remote monitoring systems, GPS trackers and music systems are some of the most popular examples of wearables which take up a large part in the IoT ecosystem. You need to simply download IoT applications in your smart devices to get the most precise information.
Robotics
The manufacturing industry was in dire need of adopting AI-focused IoT solutions. This helps in facial recognition, deep learning, big data analytics and especially robotics. Robots and robotics have always been the frontrunners of technology for decades and now, with the passage of time, they have become smarter, more reliable and more efficient. Through implanted sensors meticulous communication is facilitated. Using the fusion of AI and IoT, robots can learn and adapt to newer environments with precision. This makes the manufacturing process linear and saves time and money.
Smart Homes
The smart home ecosystem is growing and is currently valued at $91 million. It’s one of the most pleasing activities of technology where you do not have to get and go to a particular appliance and operate it. The AI-powered IoT technology enables the controlling of your light, fans, television, thermostat, ACs, etc. through your phone. Not just inside but even if you’re travelling outside, say to an outstation and you need to check whether an appliance has been wrongly set on, you can do it with a simple command. Or if you’re returning home after a tiresome day at work and need a bath, you can set the temperature of the water say 10 minutes before you reach home.
Self-driven vehicles
The thought of autonomous cars and vehicles seems exciting and thrilling at the same time. With powerful sensors, installed cameras and robust hardware and software integration, a car gathers monumental information roads, traffic, additional routes, navigation, weather conditions, consumer behaviour and whatnot. Self-driven cars are the perfect examples that will highlight the role of artificial intelligence in future technology. One major concerning factor is safety. Many will face apprehensions over their initial journeys in driverless cars, but that’s what the whole game is about. It has mindblowing learning abilities and high-powered AI mechanisms that will give priority to the passenger’s life at all costs.
Amazon Go
This is truly a masterstroke in AI technology use. To support its retail outlets, Amazon uses IoT to make the shopping experience more convenient for the user. With no cashier or even cash counters, the sensors present will optimise the entire process. For example, sensors are used to determine your activities. Like a supermarket or retail outlet, items are arranged and when you pick up any product, it automatically adds it to your cart and the moment you keep it back, it’s removed from your cart. It connects to your payment mode(s) so when you leave the store with the items, the total amount is debited from your account or online wallet. Just like self-driven cars, they used computer vision, deep learning algorithms and sensor fusion, procreating the ‘Just Walk Out’ technology.
Healthcare
This is currently the need of the hour. With the Coronavirus pandemic, everyone has become extra cautious with their health and technologies like AI and IoT are leveraging the entire healthcare system. The IoT applications and deployments powered by AI help in collecting data to provide preventive measures for a person/patient, early detection and providing drug administration. It draws data from internet-powered medical devices, medical records, fitness trackers, healthcare mobile apps, etc. Many healthcare companies around the globe are making IoT investments so that people stay safe under such hazardous conditions.
Smart Cities
This is the biggest example to show the prowess of the AI and IoT pair. If it is able to maintain civic decorum, then it speaks volumes about technology’s success. Things like smart traffic management, smart parking, smart waste management, smart policing, smart governance and many other factors are the components which constitute a smart city. The Internet of Things for smart cities changes the way cities operate and delivers amenities to the public which includes transportation, healthcare, lighting, etc. Smart cities are arguably a futuristic concept and have a lot of ground to cover. The above video explains how three cities have successfully implemented it.
There are many IoT application development company who have done a tremendous job of integrating the technology into various business types and creating something unconventional out of the banal scheme of things. AI is truly reinventing IoT along with other modern-day techs, and businesses that are vigorously using this technological emergence only have good things to say. No second thoughts need to be spared to explain — The future of IoT is AI and will remain so.
Scrum — a management framework that focuses on cutting through complexity to better meet business needs — maps out the elements required to run a successful project. However, many projects need to go beyond the typical Daily, Planning, Review and Retro meeting sessions used in the Scrum process to be truly successful.
There are ways to enhance your Scrum framework, increase control and improve cooperation with key stakeholders. Below are suggestions for additional meetings, taken straight from Anteelo best practices, that can help keep your process on track.
Scrum Master/Product Ownermeeting (SM/PO)
Who Should Attend: Scrum Master and Product Owner
When Should They Meet: Recommended weekly, depending on the size of your backlog
As the name suggests, this meeting takes place between the SM and PO. Since neither is required at the Daily Scrum, they do not have a formal time to share any news, focus on issues or align the responsibilities. But for teams with differing agile experience, the responsibilities of one and another might seem fuzzy. This meeting is dedicated to clearing out that fuzziness.
In an ideal world, every scrum project would be 100% compliant with the Scrum Guide. However, these projects are very hard to come by. That’s why one of the main goals for SM is to create and implement the final vision of the scrum framework for the project, one that’s unique, tailored to your project and containing your own “flavor.” This requires cooperation and alignment between SM and PO.
A useful tool to manage your work is the SM/PO Backlog. This is a separate document with a list of issues or questions you should solve to keep your project running. Examples include trainings for the development team, documentation or stakeholder management.
Who Should Attend: SM, PO, Program Manager, Development Team, relevant stakeholders
When Should They Meet: Recommended weekly, although it could be less often if merged with another meeting
The primary goal of RIOM is avoiding foreseeable issues. This is seemingly handled during the Daily Standups, when the development team shares any potential threats to the Sprint Goal. On the other hand, fixating only on the short-term risks may result in losing the big picture.
To counter that, we recommend having a separate meeting with relevant stakeholders. Inviting the development team makes sense, as they have hands-on knowledge of risks, issues or opportunities.
Steering Board meeting
Who Should Attend: Steering board, SM, PO
When Should They Meet: Should take place at least once a sprint. A rule of thumb is bi-weekly.
Every project needs control. Scrum makes it easier thanks to transparency and cooperation with the client. Ideally your Product Owner is part of the client’s organization, having a clear communication channel with business stakeholders.
As a Scrum Master, you still want to be able to inform or influence your stakeholders. Experience shows that Review meeting is not enough to avoid hazardous communication gaps. The overall status of the project needs to be tracked and managed closely. The more information shared with stakeholders, the more support you can muster from management.
Transparency is encouraged in the agile approach, and meeting with your Steering Board is crucial to ensure communication gaps are bridged before they cause delays or harm your project. Steering Board meetings can be successfully combined with RIOM.
Roadmap update meeting
Who Should Attend: Scrum Team
When Should They Meet: Quarterly and/or after major business changes of the project
Product Backlog is one of the key tools for Product Owner. Backlog is supplemented beautifully with the Product Roadmap. Product Roadmap outlines high-level directions, functionalities or areas of product development over a 1-year period (could be longer). In other words, it helps express the product vision.
PO is responsible for keeping the roadmap up to date. This document gives the Scrum Team a better understanding of how the sprints align with the overall direction of the project. Although roadmap is created and maintained by PO (in conjunction with the business stakeholders), it’s vital that the Scrum Team stays informed.
This is only a handful of meetings to enhance your Scrum framework, providing guidelines about possible shortcomings. Ultimately, it’s up to the Scrum Master to tailor the framework to the needs of the project.
Most government IT solutions were created only with the intention of automating the back office and focusing on efficiency. Requirements were gathered from case workers and then converted into functionality. The resulting IT solution is entirely focused on the internal operating model.
A similar approach has been taken with most government websites, which are often designed based on a government agency’s internal organisational structure, resulting in a poor user experience for citizens. Far too often, citizens start out on a promising home page, only to get lost in the weeds of dead-end pages, incorrect forms, and even other websites as they try in vain to navigate the unfamiliar organisational structure of the government agency.
But citizens no longer live in an analogue world and they’ve run out of patience. They expect governments to present digital citizen services in an easy-to-use, always-on, self-service, personal, and proactive way.
How to deliver a digital government experience
To deliver an experience that meets expectations, it’s clear that we need another approach — one centred around citizens. Requirements and functionality should be derived from the behaviour of the citizen as a customer – what information or service they need, what problem they need to solve, how they want to consume the content — and not from the organisational setup.
This also means that the government needs to provide a seamless and transparent interaction across channels. There is no time to develop a single application per service. Instead we must think in terms of platform models, where new services can be introduced quickly on top of existing services and a standard approach used to build applications.
This kind of transformation doesn’t just involve technology; it requires the transformation of the government organisation itself to improve how it provides services to its citizens via digital channels. It requires a strategy that is endorsed by the organisation’s leadership and mandates a transformation toward a new operating model, new capabilities and processes.
Balancing front- and back office digital programs
Going digital is not just about revisiting current processes and modernising legacy systems. It is also about balancing programs in the front and back office. This is a critical strategic point. Most digital programs are focused on improving the front office, i.e. the websites or apps that citizens interact with. That’s good insofar as it suggests a focus on citizen interactions. However, that model is unsustainable when the back office continues on as before – manual and labour-intensive, using the same legacy applications, and creating a backlog of requests.
Balance your digital programs with these five enablers
Some governments have already got the message and are redesigning their services with this model in mind. In the United Kingdom, for example, the government has published a set of best practices for designing a good citizen experience. The United States is following along the same lines.
Based on these design principles and drawing on our own experiences working with government organisations, Anteelo has identified five key enablers of successful citizen experience transformation:
Use design thinking. Also called human-centred design, design thinking is a creative problem-solving process that makes the citizen the central focus designing a better experience. It is ideal for tackling front-office related aspects.
Experiment in an agile way. Traditional approaches such as waterfall development take too long to deliver value. An agile, more iterative approach allows for the kinds of experimentation that can lead to process (and application) innovation in both the front- and back-office. This experimentation is a vital component of any digital journey and must be endorsed to get people, processes and technology aligned to optimise the workload.
Invest to drive automation. Governments can greatly benefit from introducing new technologies to automate administrative tasks and interconnect and then dynamically manage public infrastructure. Back-office applications can benefit from a surge in efficiency in applying RPA for example.
Get new digital capabilities. Having the right capabilities and people with knowledge and experience is key to executing a digital transformation program. No organisation will be able to introduce new technologies and change the operating model if it doesn’t have the right capabilities among its workforce.
Become data-driven. Government organisations that embrace data can transform services and become more predictive, proactive, preventive and personalised. Becoming a data-driven organisation also brings internal value. For one thing, greater efficiency means better utilisation of resources. Most of all, it brings value to citizens’ experiences by better understanding their behaviour and engaging them in meaningful interactions.
These enablers, of course, only describe a few key pieces of a more complex puzzle. We explore each enabler in considerably more depth and show how to turn each into concrete actions that drive better citizen outcomes, in our new white paper, Five enablers for governments to serve today’s digital citizens.
The glaring success of the on demand era has given birth to a school of thought among the tech community. They have started believing that following the uber business model and entering the on demand industry will be the only move that is keeping them from reaching complete success.
While it has worked for a number of businesses like GrubHub or Airbnb, the number of businesses that have failed are also extremely huge. In fact, if you sit down to make an excel sheet comparing the on demand services fail vs success ratio, you will find that the number of businesses that struggled to survive were more than those which didn’t.
But does this mean that you should give up hope on your on demand platforms’ business success and give up? Of course not. What it implies is that when you plan to succeed in the crowded on demand market, you should also factor in the reasons behind the application’s failure.
The intent of this article is to help with just that.
Table Of Content
Understanding Uber’s Success in the on demand sector
The List of on demand Brands That Failed Miserably
Reasons Behind on demand Business Failure
How Can on demand Businesses Save Themselves From Shutting Down Prematurely?
Conclusion
Understanding Uber’s Success in the on demand Sector
When you dissect the on demand economy, you will find that it is mainly built on three building blocks: delivery immediacy, consumption passivity, and a fixed cost. Uber did not just ticked all the three boxes of the on demand business model, but also aced some other factors that helped it build a seamless ride booking user experience.
Here are the two factors which added to the brand’s success, making it one of the most successful on-demand companies:
The company operates in populated urban cities where there’s enough liquidity for making the marketplace work.
The customer base were already very familiar with trusting a stranger to take them places. Thus, creating a trust in the market was never a problem.
The Uber model doesn’t care about the transaction’s intimacy aspect nor about the disintermediation challenges. Imagine once you on demand home service app users find a person they like for cleaning their house or planning their kids, how would you stop them from contacting those service providers directly, without going through your application? This disintermediation when continued can lead to greater burn, churn, and in some cases extinction of the business.
Since the Uber model didn’t include the need to care about intimacy, they could survive and grow on a much greater speed. But not every Uber-like story has a happy ending. There are a number of once top in the game on-demand platforms that have fallen owing to the on-demand challenges.
The List of on demand Brands That Failed Miserably
1. Happy Home Company
Happy Home Company was a twist in the otherwise traditional home service market. The idea behind the brand was to offer users home maintenance plans which included recurring things that had to be kept in top working conditions. Inspite of bagging $7 million from investors, Happy Home’s founder wrote a shutdown letter which stated, “Ultimately we weren’t able to make the transition from a scrappy startup to self-sustaining company.”
2. Pronto
The business was set out for helping people get healthy meals faster. The UK based service had the work with the intent of connecting the users with chefs while enabling food delivery in under 20 minutes. It had every element to make it one of the most flourishing on demand delivery apps. Even though the idea sounded good to investors and adopters, the company couldn’t keep up with the promotion budgets of Uber and Deliveroo – one of the very commonly occurring on demand challenges.
3. Workers On Call
AI has changed the face of work, this is something that has been established over time. The Workers On Call services used AI systems for streamlining matching of employers with freelancers who needed jobs. The application that boasted of freelancers getting matched and started to work in under 30 minutes, although backed by a powerful vision, was a little ahead of its time. The brand even after raising $30K funding, signed off with a tersely message saying, “Bye Bye. Sorry Workers On Call is closed.”
4. Homejoy
One of the textbook examples of failed the businesses is Homejoy. Started with $20,000 seed funding in 2000, the business became a big name in 2013 when it raised $38 Millions – making it one of the most successful on demand startups. But soon the customers started failing to convert past their first booking. In fact, only 15-20% people re-booked in a month. The numbers were simply not enough for the brand to survive. Add to this the legal battles against classification of workers a s independent contractors led to the business’s death in 2015.
[Further Read: Why Did HomeJoy Failed]
The truth of the hour that still remains is that even after these on demand platforms failure instances, the fact how the internet has trained consumers to get services in real-time is not stopping budding entrepreneurs from entering the on demand economy. But how can businesses ensure that they are not destined to become yet another name in the list?
While one way to get some satisfaction would be to partner with an on demand software development company that has worked with the inception of popular on demand businesses, it would also help to know the on demand services failure reasons that can lead to their failure.
Reasons Behind on demand Business Failure
1. High Competition
The upsurge of hyperlocal service demand has led to a rise in demand of on demand services attending to the complete needs of their customers. One way entrepreneurs are competing in the market is by lowering their service costs. This, in addition to the high operational costs of transportation, infrastructure, and labour has been keeping on demand startups from flourishing.
2. Reluctance among Venture Capitalists
With on demand failure stories shooting off the roof, investors have started becoming wary of where to put in their money. As it is, getting funded on your application has been a difficult process and when you add in the unsureties that the sector now comes with, the probability of raising money lowers even further.
VCs are now becoming all the more cynical about the startup’s longevity. Businesses that are promising a strong long-term vision with a cash flow picture backing it have become the only answer to the types of apps investors will be backing in 2020.
3. Product Incompetence
If there is one event that follows every successful startup, it would be the fact that competitors are soon to follow. The value that your business once offered starts getting challenged and bettered by the competitors. This, in turn, is leading to the product becoming incompetent in the market, irrespective of the efforts that went behind on demand app development services.
Brands that are failing to keep up with the changes with timely pivots are soon finding themselves crawling out of the on demand space.
4. Inefficient Resource Set
The lack of an experienced set of people can most often than not result in the failure of on demand companies. The same applies for the on demand industry. Irrespective of which on demand domain you pick, you will find that the ones that survived were known for their skilled workforce. A lacking on this front can lead to on demand business losing their worth in the industry and thus get closer to their demise.
5. Not Being Able to Solve Real Problems
A number of on demand companies that fail deal with band-aid type of problems in place of emergency room type problems that make the solution extremely non attractive to the end users. Example: For example, imagine an on demand car wash service. Just how frequently would users demand the service? But the expenses a business will have to make to keep it afloat would be huge. In short, the business neither ends up being cost-efficient nor effective.
6. Under or Over Valuing Demand and Supply
The last in our list of reasons that tend to lead directly to business failure is under or over valuation of demand and supply that your on demand business would garner. Businesses, more often than not undervalue the demand that they would attract and thus plan low on supply. Likewise, they at times think too much of demand and end up with an underutilized supply of resources.
Now that we have enlisted the most common reasons behind an the app business failure, let us dive into the way outs – how can on demand businesses prevent this fate.
How Can On demand Businesses Save Themselves From Shutting Down Prematurely?
Market Expansion
One of the biggest issues with today’s top-on-demand businesses is that they don’t expand from their existing markets. The entrepreneurs who are very new to the industry end up being limited to a pool of loyal customers and don’t think of expansion opportunities. The problem with this is that the moment a new competitor with deep pockets enters the market, the probability of them getting out of business increases.
Here’s a look into the expansion roadmap that we generally share with our clients when we assist them with on demand app development.
Make Your Customer Needs Your Bible
In the fight between what you can offer and what your users need, your offerings should always prevail. Although it can be a sweet attraction to invest in tomorrow’s big need, it can be extremely unwise to let go of your customers’ present day needs.
The truth is that you will get a multitude of opportunities and time to pivot your startup. But what you won’t get is the current time and your users present day needs. Getting insights into this information is what a sound on demand mobile app development company can help you with.
Think of Being Monetarily Prepared First
The matter of the modern day fact is that it is very difficult to get funding on an application. No matter how well propositioned your application is or how green your cash flow statement looks, there is zero guarantee of you getting funded.
The solution on this front can only be to look into alternate financing options and not remain limited to VCs.
Conclusion
The growing cases of on demand industry failures have led to the sector getting the image of being a house of card. The only way for entrepreneurs to enter and succeed in the domain would be to do extensive user research. One way we suggest to achieve this effortlessly can be through the mode of product design and development sprint – one of the key practices that on demand app developers follow.
Cybersecurity has continued to be a major issue throughout 2019 and as organisations begin to rely even more on IT, it remains a serious concern. While most companies are by now aware of how important cybersecurity is, many have yet to implement the necessary measures needed to adequately protect them. In this post, we’ll look at what security threats 2020 is likely to put in their way.
1. Lack of cybersecurity education
Perhaps the biggest cyber threat to any business is the lack of knowledge and understanding within a company about cybersecurity. Today, the digital revolution is affecting the working practices of employees throughout companies big and small. With more and more employees using connected technologies as part of their everyday jobs, it is more important than ever to ensure all staff are aware of what cybersecurity risks they face and how they can work in a way that will enhance security.
In 2020, expect to see more organisations putting cybersecurity strategies into place that include ongoing training for staff on the latest technologies and threats and, importantly, letting them know how to work responsibly and respond to incidents.
2. The threat of data breaches
The enormous value of personal data to the criminal underworld means that data is a principal target for hackers. As a result, the threat of a data breach will continue to be one of the biggest issues that businesses will face in the coming years. This means companies will need to ensure personal data is secure end to end, from the moment it is sent to them to its safe disposal. The use of SSL certificates, encrypted data storage, logical access, password management and the rapid patching and updating of web applications is vital in this area.
For those who succumb to a data breach, tough fines, reputational damage and even lawsuits await.
3. Skills shortages
The complex nature of cybersecurity means that increasing numbers of organisations are employing the services of highly-skilled, security experts. Unfortunately, as these professionals are in short supply, there is a considerable skills gap in many companies just at the time when the need is the greatest.
In response, many companies are now implementing the use of intelligent, automated security tools that use advanced technologies to scan and block attempted intrusions, infections or other forms of attack like DDoS. These services can often be delivered by your service provider.
4. Leaky clouds
The majority of enterprises use the cloud for at least part of their IT solution and it is increasingly becoming popular as the place to store data and run operational processes. However, its popularity has not been kept a secret from cybercriminals and the number of cloud-based threats has continued to rise.
In 2020, companies will need to maintain the security of critical data and make sure they have real-time threat intelligence in place, to minimise the risk of data breaches or critical operations being taken offline.
5. Mobile device risk
For many employees, the smartphone is now an essential work tool used not only to access the company system but to store important data. This puts organisations at risk from poorly secured connections, mobile malware and device theft. It is critical, therefore, that all mobile devices that can be used to access the organisation’s systems are secured. One solution is to ensure access is carried out via a secure web app.
6. IoT vulnerability
Mobiles aren’t the only remote devices that are vulnerable to attack; perhaps even more at risk are the IoT devices which have proliferated in use over the last few years and on which many organisations increasingly rely. They present a plethora of potential vulnerabilities that organisations need to protect themselves from, such as insecure wi-fi connections, hard-coded credentials, unverified firmware and unencrypted data. In addition, a compromised router or network attached storage server gives an attacker access to data and can serve as a platform to launch more attacks. In 2020, organisations which use the IoT will need to look carefully at how to ensure these vulnerabilities are protected against.
7. Rogue states
It is not just cybercriminals that are out to steal data and cause chaos, unfortunately, some governments are at it too – and these rogue states will have more advanced technologies, IT expertise and financial backing than the average hacker.
While cybercriminals are usually financially motivated, state-sponsored attacks can have a number of purposes, such as causing major security breaches to undermine companies, taking critical services offline using a DDoS attack, industrial or political espionage, spreading fake news to influence elections and even taking those who oppose them offline.
State-sponsored cybercrime is the new cold war and while major companies, public utilities, defence and political organisations are particularly at risk, all organisations need to be aware of their risk of attack and how to protect themselves.
8. Intelligent malware
The war between cybercriminals and cybersecurity teams isn’t being carried out simply by the human brain anymore. Both camps are now using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning as tools in their armoury. Unfortunately, this means that cybercriminals are now able to create extremely sophisticated malware and methods of attack and at a pace that cybersecurity companies are finding challenging to deal with. It may only be a matter of time before one of these stealthy attacks strikes with devastating effect.
Conclusion
In 2020, cybersecurity will continue to challenge organisations big and small. We’ll see persistent risks like data breaches remaining high on everyone’s agenda, while the development of new technologies brings new threats, such as intelligent malware and IoT vulnerabilities. As companies expand their use of IT, we’ll also see a need to protect the cloud and mobile devices while ensuring that there are highly skilled IT experts driving security strategies and educating everyone else how to stay secure.
“One man’s misery is the fortune of another”. This saying has become true for the JVM world. With the fall of Java – the programming language that entered the market in 1995 and changed the complete story, various other languages are gaining huge momentum. Developers have not only started using those JVM programming languages, but have also proposed them as the right Java’s alternative for app development.
Three of such programming languages that are enjoying limelight in the market are Kotlin, Clojure, and Scala.
While we will talk about Clojure some other day, let’s focus on the ‘Kotlin vs Scala’ battle today.
Here, in this article, I’m going to paint a picture of ‘What’s what’ scenario to help you make a smart and profitable decision of switching from Java to other JVM language on yourself.
TABLE OF CONTENT
What is Kotlin Programming Language?
A Concise Introduction to Scala
Kotlin versus Scala: A Detailed Comparison of Java Alternatives
Kotlin vs. Scala: Which is Right JVM for 2020?
So, Let’s dive into the Kotlin world first.
What is Kotlin Programming Language?
Kotlin is an open-source, cross-platform, statically-typed programming language developed by JetBrains in 2011. It was recognized as an official Android programming language by Google back in 2019 and has reached the latest version, Kotlin 1.4.
[As we have mentioned about cross-platform nature of Kotlin above, you can learn about it in detail here – Kotlin Vs Flutter: Who Will Rule the Cross-platform App Market? ]
The language offers developers with ample benefits as an answer to Is Kotlin better than Java. A few of which are as follows:-
Unlike other conventional languages like Swift, Kotlin has undergone various Alpha and Beta stages before entering into the market. Because of this, the latest version of Kotlin is highly mature, compatible and reliable to operate with.
2. Kotlin’s Higher Development Speed
Kotlin encourages developers to perform any functionality by writing a less number of code lines. This not only enhances productivity but also speed up the app development process.
3. Fail-fast System
Another advantage of going with Kotlin language is that it avails a built-in fail-fast system which reduces the risk of errors in coding.
4. Easy to Maintain
The language offers extensive support for various IDEs including Android Studio. This makes it possible for developers to build solutions on different platforms and maintain them timely.
Because of such advantages, Kotlin programming language has received support from various recognised brands. A list of which is as follows:
Limitations of Kotlin Language
1. Less Kotlin Developer Experts Available
Despite the sky-high popularity of Kotlin, there are only a few programmers with expertise in Kotlin development in the market. This is the prime limitation of considering Kotlin for JVM based application development.
Now, before you find yourself inclined towards Kotlin language, let’s jump to Scala.
An Overview of Scala Programming Language
Designed by Martin Odersky back in 2004, Scala is an open-source language that facilitates a perfect blend of object-oriented and functional coding in a statically typed programming environment. The language was devised to address the cons of Java programming language in terms of general-purpose and thus, can be an ideal Java alternative.
Scala, whose latest version is 2.13.1, is highly appreciated by various reputed brands, including:-
And the prime reason behind this is the following set of benefits it avail.
Pros of Going with Scala
1. Statically Typed
Scala comes with a highly expressive typing system that demands application of statistical abstraction in a particularly consistent and secure manner. Primarily, the type system supports:
General Classes
Upper and Lower typing limit
Clearly written self-references
Polymorphic methods
As a member of internal class and abstract type items
Variable Annotations
2. Concise Coding
One of the prime reasons why Scala is gaining a huge momentum these days is because it is highly concise. The language, when compared to other programming languages like Java, requires less number of code lines to perform the same activity.
3. Highly Scalable
Another advantage of Scala-based development is that it is highly scalable. Developers can merge different paradigms and introduce a vast range of features into the development environment while working with this JVM language.
4. Typesafed Language
Scala emerges as a good resource in terms of type safety. Besides, it enables you to create your own data types on the top of primitive ones and write a DSL for your project.
5. Enhanced Quality
Since a minimum number of code lines are written in Scala environment, it becomes easier for developers to deliver a bug-free experience, a.k.a, get better results from the Quality assurance process.
6. Multi-Platform Presence
Though Scala primarily targets JVM platforms, it can be a good option for creating software that runs on multiple platforms.
Cons of Preferring Scala
1. Difficult to Understand
Since Scala codes are an amalgamation of functional and object-oriented concepts, the information sometimes gets a bit hard to comprehend.
2. Slow Compilation Speed
Another disadvantage of Scala is that it takes a longer time to compile complex codes. This results into slow compilation speed when compared to what is observed in the case of Java or Kotlin.
3. Issues with Binary Compilation
It is not binary compatible with a few versions. For example, a code that is compiled with Scala 2.1 might not compile with Scala 2.11. This is yet another limitation of picking Scala language.
With this, you have gained all-inclusive information about the two JVM titans. Which implies you might be curious to hop over to the difference between Kotlin and Scala to see which one wins the JVM war.
But, wait.
Before we move on to the section where we compare Kotlin and Scala, let’s have a quick look at how Kotlin’s an improvement over Scala, and vice-versa.
Kotlin versus Scala: A No-Nonsense Comparison of Java Alternatives
1. Market Popularity
Kotlin, with support of Google, has achieved success in making its presence dominant in the market much faster than expected. As per Google trends, there’s a surge in searches related to Kotlin when compared to Scala. This gives a clear indication that Kotlin is more in trend than Scala.
But, if you focus entirely on the job posting platform, you will come across the fact that Kotlin is behind Scala with significant numbers.
Likewise, if you check for the developers’ salary for distinguishing Kotlin vs Scala, you will realize that the values are much uniform.
This, as a whole, concludes that both the languages are far popular and liked by the developer community in one way or the other.
2. Ease of Learning
Scala is a powerful language with highly-advantages features and flexible syntax. So, it is quite difficult for newbies to get their hands on this JVM programming language.
But, it is not in the case of Kotlin.
As reported by Java developers in various organizations, one can easily understand basic Kotlin syntax in just a few hours and start coding within 1-3 days. Also, Google introduced free Kotlin courses for Android developers, which again streamlines their journey in the Kotlin market.
So, the winner of Kotlin and Scala war is the former, if the entire focus is on ‘learning curve’.
3. Functional Programming of Kotlin and Scala
It’s true that both languages are known for their functional programming paradigm. But, when it comes to looking into Scala vs Kotlin comparison in terms of functional programming, the former wins.
Scala is more swayed by functional programming languages like Haskell than Kotlin. It encourages the use of functional coding along with some additional features like pattern matching and currying. Besides, the attempt of possible functional programming is more considerable in the Scala environment.
4. Pattern Matching
As already unveiled above, Scala offers better opportunities for pattern matching than Kotlin. Its match statement enables developers to match any type of data, including its own. Also, it shows full support for higher-end and macros types.
A result of which is that Scala is termed as “Java’s switch on steroids” and is considered as a good fit for Big Data processing tasks.
5. App Performance
Though app performance depends highly on the nature of the app, let’s consider an Android application for comparison of JVM languages.
Scala is a good option for employing highly scalable Android app development services. Whereas, a Kotlin-based application will be easy to code and debug. As a consequence, app performance will be higher in the case of Kotlin when compared to the other JVM language.
6. Inline
In the case of Scala, you are required to request the compiler to inline a method by annotating it with @inline. For example:-
@inline final def f1(x: Int) = x
Here, the compiler has the choice to see if the function is actually inlined or not.
But, in the case of Kotlin, the compiler will automatically consider functions with ‘inline’ keyword as inline. It is the developers’ responsibility to be careful with manual inlining to prevent the risk of inlining duplicates. Something that makes developers favour Scala over Kotlin for using inlines.
7. Null Safety Management Efficiency
One of the prime reasons why developers are showing an interest in other JVM languages is that they offer a better facility to handle hate-bound NPEs (Null Pointer Exceptions). So, it is again the main factor to consider while deciding the right Java alternative.
When comparing Kotlin with Scala, the latter’s approach is quite incompetent. One has to introduce null values with the option in Scala programming, which further adds to code complexity.
So, clearly, the winner of the battle here is Kotlin.
8. Operator Overloading
Though Java does not support Operator overloading, both Kotlin and Scala come loaded with this functionality. So, it is again important to consider this factor to know whether to choose Scala or Kotlin for JVM-based development needs.
Kotlin focuses on making a balance between power and readability. It empowers developers to overload the basic operators, but refrain them from defining new ones. This makes it easier for one to understand Kotlin operators (even to novice developers), but reduces the flexibility.
Scala, in contrast to Kotlin, goes with quite a lenient approach to operator overloading. This makes it easier for developers to write more human-readable codes, and thus, makes it a good fit while creating internal domain-specific languages. But, at the same time, it can result in confusion if used incorrectly.
9. Java Interoperability
Though both Kotlin and Scala are interoperable with Java, Kotlin leads the show if you wish to maintain full compatibility with existing Java-based projects and technologies.
Kotlin is designed to be 100% interoperable with Java. So, you can easily call Kotlin code from Java and vice-versa effortlessly. Likewise, you can employ existing Java-based frameworks like Java Server Faces (JSF), and ‘Vert.x’ framework while considering Kotlin for server-side development.
Whereas, when it comes to Scala, accessing Java classes in the development environment is easy. But, it is not possible to call Scala classes in the Java environment, especially when working with advanced features of Scala as they might lack Java equivalent.
10. Libraries and Frameworks
When talking about libraries and frameworks, both JVM languages are doing wonders in the market.
On one hand, Scala – taking advantage of its long span in the market – facilitates developers with a wide range of libraries and frameworks to work effortlessly with APIs and applications. This includes Cats, Slick, Shapeless, Akka, and Play Framework.
While, on the other side, Kotlin has also come up with a lot of offerings in terms of community libraries & frameworks. A few of which are Ktor, Exposed, and Arrow.
11. Documentation
When talking about Scala, its API documentation is simple, straightforward, and well-structured. It offers search functionality and an option to restrict the number of displayed elements with a filter. However, sometimes you might find it tough to search for pages on a particular topic.
Whereas, using the Kotlin API documentation is a bit tiresome. There’s no search function or filter option. However, it comes with a reference which explains all the concepts in a detailed manner (with examples). This helps Kotlin remain in the competition to Scala in terms of documentation.
12. Use Cases
Though both Scala and Kotlin prove to be good alternatives to Java in the JVM world, they come with different unique use cases.
Kotlin, besides Android app development, can be used for web development and server-side development. Whereas, Scala is a good fit for projects requiring a blend of OOPs and functional programming concepts, for Big Data-based solutions, or for operating with complex Machine learning patterns.
13. Community Support
Being in the market for the past 15 years, Scala has a bigger community than that of Kotlin. This makes it easier for app developers to find tutorials, solutions, and other resources related to Scala over Kotlin.
In fact, if you check in Q&A site Stack Overflow, you’ll find nearly 3.8K questions related to Kotlin and 68.5K tagged with Scala.
So, when focusing on community support, Scala beats Kotlin in the JVM war.
Service names and port numbers are used to differentiate between the various services that execute over transport protocols, such as TCP/IP, UDP, DCCP and SCTP. The authority responsible for assigning service names and port numbers is the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). IANA also maintains the registries which store service names and port numbers.
The port registries for transport protocols are divided into three number ranges: those for System Ports, User Ports and Dynamic/Private ports. Their associated number ranges are:
System Ports (0-1023)
User Ports (1024-49151)
Dynamic / Private Ports (49152-65535)
For services to work effectively, hosts that run them and those that access them, together with intermediate devices, such as firewalls, have to agree on which specific destination port is used with the particular service. Often, many services use a default port and it is these that are recorded in the IANA registry.
The growing use of Windows and single-user Linux systems over the years, however, means that the original port model above is not strictly adhered to. It can no longer be assumed that a specific port number necessarily denotes a particular service. For example, if a host runs multiple instances of a service, they cannot all listen on the same port. Similarly, if there are multiple hosts behind the same NAT gateway, they cannot all map the same port on the external side of the gateway.
Today, there are thousands of applications and application-level protocols which have been assigned service names and port numbers and this number is set to rise in the future. Further confusion over port numbers can arise because IANA can de-assign a number no longer in use and reassign it to another service.
Common service names and their port numbers
The most common service names and their ports are listed in the chart below:
Service Name
Port Number
FTP
20, 21
SSH
22
Telnet
23
SMTP
25
DNS
53
DHCP
67, 68
TFTP
69
HTTP
80
POP3
110
NNTP
119
NTP
123
IMAP4
143
LDAP
389
HTTPS
443
IMAPS
993
RADIUS
1812
AIM
5190
On Linux machines, the /etc/services file stores the information about the various services that client applications might use. The file contains the service name, port number and the protocol it uses, as well as any aliases.
On Windows machines, the service names, port numbers and protocols can be found in the C:windows\system32\drivers\etc\services file. The file tells Microsoft services which ports to use.
Cloud adoption is not just something for big business. Today, schools across the globe are adopting it for the numerous benefits it brings, including for staff, students and parents. Here, we’ll look at the ways cloud technology is transforming education and bringing schools into the 21st Century.
1. Cut costs
With staff costs swallowing around 80% of school budgets and changes to school funding having an impact, business managers are hard pushed to make ends meet. Over recent years, school savings that have taken decades to accrue have dwindled. At the same time, schools are increasingly having to modernise their IT infrastructure in order to keep pace with technological developments and keep their curricula up to date. This often requires the purchase of expensive servers, as well as paying for the additional IT expertise to manage them and the ongoing energy costs to keep them running and cool.
Moving to the cloud technology eliminates the need to buy on-site servers completely, replacing them with a vendor-hosted infrastructure that is paid for with a more manageable monthly cost. And with no hardware to manage and maintain at school the burden on IT staff is reduced, freeing them up to work on more important, school-related tasks. In addition, with no 24/7 air-conditioning and power to pay for, further cost reductions can be made.
The hardware savings and reduction in other costs is even bigger for multi-academy trusts, as they will only need a single cloud package to cover all of their schools. This trust-wide system can then be controlled by a single team at the trust’s HQ, rather than needing staff in each school.
2. Everywhere accessibility
One of the biggest practical advantages of moving to the cloud technology is that it enables data and information to be accessed anywhere with an internet connection. This means teachers and pupils can access files, documents and other learning resources anywhere – something that has been absolutely critical during the pandemic. They can also collaborate and communicate far easier using a wide range of devices, communication channels and specially developed education platforms.
With highly secure logical access control in place, schools can restrict access to information so that only those given permission can have access. This can be done on an individual basis so that each person is given the right access to the information they need. With logical access in place and school data and files stored centrally online, the possibilities for extending learning beyond the classroom and enabling staff to collaborate are endless.
3. Better parents’ evenings
The cloud opens the door to a new way to hold parents’ evenings. Over the last year, we have seen many schools using the cloud to replace face to face parents’ evenings with video calls – something that both parents and staff have found favourable. Parents are happy because they can book appointments to suit online and don’t need to travel to the school, struggle for a parking space or wait endlessly in a queue while appointments drag on over the allocated times. Online, they last exactly as long as the school sets them, usually five minutes.
Online parents’ evenings are also good for the school. They reduce the burden on staff as no one has to timetable the appointments and send hundreds of print outs, the school doesn’t need a super-clean and furniture rearrangement, and there’s no need to provide refreshments or pay someone to serve them. Teachers, meanwhile, can hold their appointments from home instead of having to stay late and wait for hours before the event actually begins. Online, they’ll also have access to the data they need for the meetings and can even share it on screen. Additionally, the school doesn’t need to be heated or lit and the caretaker doesn’t need to be paid overtime. There are also benefits to the wider community as local roads won’t be blocked by traffic, residents won’t find their parking spots filled and there’ll be less pollution.
4. Real-time data – on tap
The use of data has become vital for schools in helping them drive everything from whole-school initiatives to improving the progress of individual students. Increasingly, school leaders, classroom teachers, pupils and parents need to access that data and want it up to date. This is incredibly difficult to achieve when that data is not held centrally. If individual teachers or departments store their most recent data on local machines or even portable drives, what’s available to everyone might be out of date and won’t give the current picture.
The cloud can transform the way data is stored, managed and accessed. Held centrally, everyone can access the data they are permitted to access and be assured that it’s the most up-to-date version available. What’s more, data held centrally doesn’t get lost when people accidentally delete it from a machine or lose their portable drive. It also means data can be backed up online quickly and securely, instead of IT staff having to make daily backups to other drives or disks in school.
5. Cut the costs of print and paper (financially and environmentally)
Schools spend a fortune on paper and printing, much of which, today, is unnecessary. Instead of handing out numerous worksheets for students to complete classwork and homework with pen and pencils, they can be completed and marked online. This also ensures there’s a permanent copy of them which doesn’t go missing and reduces the amount of old schoolwork taking up valuable storage space in stockrooms across the building.
The same goes for the copious amount of literature that schools send home: letters to parents, newsletters, consent forms, pupil guides, uniform regulations and so forth. All of these can be made available online and parents can be sent text messages or emails with a link to download them. What’s more, making them available online means parents can go back and relook at them at a later date which is hard to do if paper and email versions have been put in the trash.
Of course, the financial benefits are boosted by the environmental ones. The CO2 generated by manufacturing and transporting paper and printing out messages are vastly reduced. That’s not to say that sending electronic communications is carbon-free, it isn’t, but the environmental impact is significantly less.
6. Personalised environments
Personalisation is one of the major benefits of cloud technology and has been seized upon by businesses to improve the customer experience. Just think of how your Amazon homepage is personalised for you when you log in. This is something that the cloud also enables you to achieve as a school.
Its main benefit is for students. Here children can have personalised learning environments created for them, helping schools address accessibility issues for individual students and providing all pupils with schoolwork that is customised for their individual needs. It’s a highly effective way to provide all students with individual learning plans that can be easily managed and implemented. This, indeed, is a far more beneficial project for your IT team to work on than managing an on-site server.
It’s not just pupils that benefit either. Teachers can have personalised areas of their school portal making it easier to access the data, files and information they need, helping them do their jobs more effectively, instead of having to sift through a portal designed for everyone’s use. The same applies to parents. Overall, it improves everyone’s experience of accessing the school online.
Conclusion
Schools can no longer ignore the digital transformation that is taking the world by storm. Digital products and services are benefitting users in all aspects of life and staff, students and parents expect to be able to make use of these technologies in the school environment. From a school’s perspective, adopting cloud technology is essential to make use of these digital services and benefit from the advantages they bring.
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