Google’s New Flutter 3: All You Need to Know

Google’s Flutter, incepted a four years ago with the sole aim to build natively compiled applications! Recently, with the release of Flutter 3.0, the cross-platform technology has garnered all the needed attention for one winning reason—its stabilized support for building apps for Linux and macOS—apart from Android, iOS, and web apps already topping the list.Thus, charting the complete territory that will now allow Flutter Developers to build applications for all major platforms i.e. Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, and even the web all from the shared codebase.

At this year’s Google I/O developer conference, it was the major hit release to delivering the multiplatform UI development across phone, desktop and web. The team has also added its support for Apple Silicon, among many other new features (discussed below).

On macOS, the apps can run natively on Intel and Apple Silicon chips owing to its support for Universal Binaries. While for the Linux release as well, Flutter will come full circle in offering a highly integrated, best-of-breed option for application development, as a result of Google’s partnership with Ubuntu’s Canonical.

Google Flutter 3: Set to Cross All Targets

As Flutter is getting whopping cross-platform mobile applications (more than 500,000 apps) developed under its belt, the technology is proving its mettle in many niches. Being a feature-rich and comparatively new SDK, Flutter has helped developers build a range of modern apps belonging to several industries and businesses.

The usage niche scenarios range from eCommerce apps like Shein, eBay motors, Xianyu, and social networking and managing apps like WeChat, Hookle, PostMuse, and Lifestyle apps like My BMW, Fastic, Tabcorp, to name a few. The technology platform has also made its outstanding debut in creating official apps for government and public institutions such as the Brazilian government.

In a nutshell, Flutter was already radiating its brilliance across industries and with the release of Flutter 3.0, it has completed the loop by covering all the missing platforms out of the play.

Flutter app development, like earlier, will allow cross-platform developers to build beautiful app experiences for a total of six platforms with just one codebase. Here we enlist all the fresh features, updates, and development experience, Flutter 3.0 has in store for you.

Read Also: Top 10 Flutter App Development Tools for App Developers

Latest Features: What’s New in Flutter 3?

1. macOS and Linux Support 

Flutter is a most dynamic cross-platform development framework till now, which supports Android and iOS platforms. Now, with Flutter 3, its support has been extended at a great level and can now be officially used to build apps for Web, Windows, Mac, and embedded devices.

After the introduction of Flutter 3, the developers who have to put additional efforts into adding platforms or building their apps on other platforms, have now come to ease. Hence, as of now, the flutter developers can build applications for macOS and Linux devices in a hassle-free manner.

2. Firebase Support in Flutter

According to Google, 63% of Flutter Developers use and practice integrating Firebase in their apps. As a result, with Flutter 3 the integration of Firebase with Flutter has become now better than ever. The overall documentation, tooling, and widgets has been improved, for instance, FlutterFire UI- facilitates developers with reusable UI for profile screens and authentication.

Overall, Flutter 3 supports app development and maintenance, user analytics, storage, authentication, and cloud functionality, with detailed crash reporting. The services like AppWrite, Sentry, and AWS Amplify have played a vital role in improving the overall functionality.

3. Flutter’s Game Toolkit

It’s been going to be heart-warming news for game developers, as Flutter 3 has goodies for them as well in its basket. Google has provided a casual gaming toolkit that includes guidelines, tutorials, and templates for game developers who are planning or aiming to build a gaming app in Flutter.

This has widened the horizon for game developers to design more innovative, and engaging ideas for game enthusiasts. The game developers can have a tour of the Flame Game Engine to gain additional insights into how Flutter works with game app development.

4. Dart 2.17

Flutter 3 has also introduced updates for the Dart SDK, with the new language version 2.17. The developers can now access all the additional benefits of Dart, regardless of whether they use Flutter or not.

The Dart 2.17 version’s hallmark features provide the ability for developers to extend enums and override the default function as well. Hence, the enums can act similar to the custom written classes.

Mobile Updates in Flutter 3

1. iOS variable Refresh Rate Support

In iOS devices along with iPhone 13 Pro and iPad Pro, the latest version of Flutter i.e. Flutter 3 supports variable refresh rates with ProMotion displays. Flutter 3 version supports the increase in Hz rate i.e. from the earlier limit of 60 Hz to the latest limit of 120 Hz on devices. This speed increase supports a smooth user experience with animations.

2. Foldable Phone Support

By collaborating with Microsoft, Flutter 3 supports foldable mobile devices. This feature allows developers to infuse dynamic and productive experiences on foldable phone devices.

3. Streamlined iOS Releases

To streamline the release of iOS applications, the Flutter 3 version is available with a new option to build an IPA command (is an integrated security information management solution based on 389 Directory Server).

Web Updates in Flutter 3

1. Web App Lifecycle

With the updated version of Flutter 3, its latest lifecycle API for web applications, can allow developers to have the flexibility and gain control over the bootstrap process of Flutter app development from the hosting HTML page.

2. Image Decoding

The Flutter 3 version in web development can now automatically infer and use the imagecoder API in the browser. This API updation can decode images asynchronously off the core thread by using the browser’s built-in image codecs. With this feature, the speed of images gets increased by 2x without blocking the main thread. Additionally, it removes all the clutter which were earlier generated by images.

Additional Exciting Features in Flutter 3

1. Theme Extensions

By using the Theme Extensions in the Flutter 3 version, now the developers can add anything to the ThemeData of the material library. The developer simply needs to mention ‘ThemeData.extensions’ rather than writing for extending ThemeData and implementing copyWith, lerp, and other methods.

2. Advertisements

To build personalized advertisements and manage Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) requirements, the Flutter 3 app development version supports the publisher’s customized requirements. Google also provides a User Messaging Platform (UMP) SDK, which can efficiently replace the previous open-source Consent SDK.

Big Strengths Never Concludes

If the term “smooth experiences across the platforms” needs to be elaborated with a practical example, then the Flutter App Development and its significant releases would be the perfect one. Evidently, Flutter is the best framework for the Cross-platform app development, designed to give a tough battle to its counterparts with its high-end, rich, and naturally immersive user experiences.

Are you ready to burst all its spilling functionality power in your upcoming app? Move ahead with speed and stop crawling with old age technologies. Flutter is the offbeat cross-platform technology to develop and deliver natively-compiled applications.

What is IT Staff Augmentation? How it Works: Complete Guide

The soaring demand for business digitalization has exposed companies having dearth of skilled tech experts. According to Bloomberg, about 54% of companies all over the world experience shortage of proficient talent, and HR managers face difficulty in attracting and finding the skilled talent required to build their team.

Now, the IT Staff Augmentation process is completely transforming the workflow. As a result, web and app development is not just only confined to the team of in-house professionals, whereas it has widen its boundaries in all directions. To enhance the project quality and to explore the different market and tech trends, more and more companies are inclining towards outsourcing skilled personnel to fulfill their short-term project demand.

It is turning out to be a very effective and convenient model for companies, regardless of the industry domain to which it belongs. Overall, Staff Augmentation practice delivers multiple benefits for companies and skilled developers as well. In addition to that, the client can also demand a crisp deadline for the project delivery, and to make this possible the agencies can increase their staff instantly as per their requirements.

If you are the one exploring such an instant expansion solution for your business needs, then Staff Augmentation can be the most suitable tactic. Let’s understand this term in detail, its types, pros and cons, and the process of staff augmentation to fill the gaps in your business.

What is Staff Augmentation?

Staff Augmentation is a common practice in the IT industry that involves outsourcing specific staff for a definite time period to work on a definite web or app development at a time.

Recruiting the right talent for your project needs is quite a tricky and complicated task. For that, the HR managers have to explore the global market of developers and pick the right talent very precisely to deliver the project. These IT staff often work as an extension of an in-house developer’s team.

In general terms, Staff Augmentation is a type of outsourcing service from an external service provider on a contractual basis. These external staff should have to complement the skills and knowledge of the in-house team. It requires a strategized hiring module where the evaluation of existing staff capabilities is required to analyze the gap of tech-experts that a specific project requires.

The outsourced personnel is directly recruited by the vendor, as a result, the need and cost of hiring full-time employees are minimized. Let’s understand Staff Augmentation with a simple IT agency example.

Suppose, you want to develop an app which requires a team of 6 developers and 3 UI/UX designers. But currently, you are having only 4 developers and 2 designers. It might be possible that you can deliver the project with this limited resource, but meeting the project deadline won’t be possible. Therefore, you can turn towards practicing the Staff Augmentation model in your organization. As a matter of fact, hiring 2 in-house developers and a designer would require a month or two. It might lead to project delay or loss of client.

But while following the Staff Augmentation model, you can hire specific talent within a week or two for the specified period of time. It will help you to get your project developed and deployed within the assigned timeline. In addition to that, you don’t have to lay off the additional staff after the project completion due to shortage of work.

Types of Staff Augmentation

Before planning to implement an IT Staff Augmentation services, the agencies need to analyze their requirement first. The agencies can hire IT staff for a shorter or longer time duration as per the project demands. Analysis of time duration, expertise, and skills of the outsourced staff is very crucial to maintain the quality of the project.

After analyzing these details, you can consider any of the following types that suit your project’s needs. Generally, there are two methods that staff augmentation companies follow.

  1. Short-Term ServicesThe short-term staff augmentation service is used when a sudden demand for IT staff arises but for a definite or shorter time period. For example, when the in-house expert is on a long holiday or on sick leave.
  2. Long-Term ServicesThe long-term staff augmentation service is suitable for the entire project development or long-duration projects. Such experts are basically recruited when the project deadline is short and you need to fill the shortage of skill/resources gap, reduce operational cost.

Further, Staff Augmentation can be divided into three categories and are as follows:

  • CommodityThe commodity staff augmentation type does not demand any specific specializations. Under this model, the recruitment is done to fulfil the urgency gap rather than seeking specific skill expertise. It means an averagely skilled person can also fill the shoes when such urgent needs arise.
  • Skill-basedAs compared to the Commodity staff augmentation method, the skill-based staff augmentation requires a little bit more focus over skilled hiring. Still, the top quality skill is not required, yet basic skill and subject understanding are required. For instance, clerical work which can be taken care of by any educated or trained candidate.
  • Highly-SkilledAs the name suggests, the IT or software development companies consider highly-skilled staff augmentation type to fulfil the relevant expert gap in the team. Without a doubt, the highly-skilled staff augmentation method should be practiced to ensure the project quality. Hence, the recruitment manager needs to look for essential skills, training, and expertise of the candidate who can work efficiently in coordination with the in-house team.

Pros and Cons of IT Staff Augmentation

Pros of Staff Augmentation

  1. Recruit Global TalentThere are numerous global companies that follow staff augmentation model, hence the companies can explore the worldwide spread talent and need not be confined to a specific area. This enables companies to hire highly qualified and skilled employees to fulfil their project’s demand instantly.
  2. Cost-EfficientThe skilled manpower is spread all over the world but the charges significantly vary. So, from the outsourcing agencies the companies can recruit skilled candidate at a comparatively low budget. Overall, the development cost will reduce and clients can also feel good with a quality product but under the planned budget.
  3. Full Control on StaffAnother major benefit of preferring IT staff augmentation is the ability to have a firm grip on the existing staff. When you hire a part-time or a project-specific candidate for a definite time frame, then you have control over who leads the project and what to prioritize to ensure the product quality and timeline.
  4. Minimize Legal and Management IssuesWhile hiring staff, the companies have to provide employees everything necessary, including software, required devices, payrolls, insurance, etc. overall it is quite a lot to deal with. But with Staff Augmentation service providers or tech staffing agency, the company doesn’t have to take care of all such details. It is super convenient for such an IT business to find the right talent with minimum effort and post recruitment management activities.
  5. Resource SavingThe Staff Augmentation practices rely on business requirements and support to save hiring multiple resources as a full-time employee. The companies can hire relevant resources whenever required for a definite time period. Hence, it eliminates the presence of in-house ideal resources or employees when the company doesn’t have projects in the pipeline.
  6. Higher ProductivityUnder staff augmentation, the employees or developers can deliver 100% productivity as they are dedicated to a single project at a time. As a result, the client can experience top-quality dedicated work from the employee which leads to higher productivity.

Cons of Staff Augmentation

  1. Minimum Accessibility of Remote StaffIt is a bit tedious process to monitor remote staff, due to differences in time zone, instant accessibility, and reach as compared to the in-house inmates.
  2. Difference in Cultural BackgroundsDifferent cultural backgrounds can be a major hurdle in managing the team effectively. The teams might face language, time, and cultural differences that influences the person’s working style, habits, and mind-set.
  3. Potential MiscommunicationLanguage barrier can be the potential promoter of miscommunication in staff augmentation. Although English is the most common language spoken in many countries, but each country has a specific dialect that usually causes miscommunication.
  4. Higher Management CostsProject and staff management could be a tedious process to carry out remotely while adopting for staff augmentation. It may also result in higher staff and project management costs.

Staff Augmentation Process

The IT Staff Augmentation is applicable for companies that have in-house teams and require additional specialists to achieve their business goals. The process of staff augmentation used to vary depending on the outsourcing company or agency that is providing the employees. However, considering the standard practice, the staff augmentation process follows the following steps for ensuring the project’s success.

  1. Need IdentificationThe initial step of implementing staff augmentation services in your organization is to first analyze and define your outsourcing goals; with reference to a number of specialists/professionals, skills, and experience you require for your project’s on-time delivery while maintaining the budget.
  2. Choosing an Outsourcing PartnerExplore the IT Staff Augmentation market before hiring any specific outsourcing agency to fulfil your business requirements. Figure out the most suitable partner that can follow your business criteria among the available outsourcing partners list. But be cautious in terms of price tag while selecting the one, as neither the lowest price tag nor the highest price would be the guarantee of quality tech delivery. Therefore, choose the one after a thorough research.
  3. Interview and Negotiate with the Chosen PartnerBased on your project’s requirements, and the shortlisted outsourcing partners, interview every individual candidate to figure out the candidate’s expertise and their potential to manage the remote processes. After filtering a few numbers of the right talent, negotiate the budget and discuss the contract with every individual partner before making the final selection of tech-partner.
  4. Employee OnboardingAfter taking care of all the legal and monetary concerns, now you can remotely onboard your new team member. The first thing to be taken care of is to introduce these members to the team and define their roles and responsibilities in detail. Try to resolve all the queries of on-boarded expert, it will help him to smoothly associate with the team and be aware of the project’s requirements.
  5. Ongoing SupportThe staff augmented employees are assigned to communicate with HR managers and the team leads to ensure a productive and successful relationship during the ongoing partnership and futuristic requirements as well.

Conclusion

Recruiting new talents for your organization could be time taking and complex process. Despite such efforts, the results of hiring an employee could not be predicted. With evolving business requirements the demand for staff varies in terms of long-term or short-term commitment. For short-term staff requirements, the IT staff augmentation services works very effectively. It provides a competitive edge in the tech market and provides a firm grip over project progress.

The staff augmentation introduces a number of benefits, including transparency, cost-efficiency, and flexibility. However, before choosing the staff augmentation partner, ensure to perform extensive market research to find the most suitable tech partner.

Codiant has a team of skilled mobile app and web developers and collectively they hone more than a decade of expertise in staff augmentation. During this time span, we overcame all the hurdles that agencies usually face in outsourcing the staff, by providing them industry-wide domain experts under a single roof. Given that, we can effectively help you to build a brilliant business IT solution, no matter what. Get in touch with our experts, and we can support you efficiently in dealing with your web or app development needs.

Five Industries to Adopt Blockchain Development In Future

Blockchain is at an inflection point, with its momentum shifting towards practical business applications. Traditional industries had been in an effort to achieve greater efficiency, revenue resources and develop new business models through blockchain, as per the survey of Deloitte.

Since we are still early in blockchain’s development, the incessant maturation in the stage comes not as a surprise. Here we look at the perception of inflating blockchain trend in figures.

A Look At Some Global Blockchain Facts:

  • Over the last five years, venture capitalists (VCs) have invested more than $1 Bn in blockchain companies;
  • About 90% of the major North American and European banks are exploring blockchain solutions;
  • The global blockchain market is expected to be worth $20 Bn by 2024;
  • It is estimated that banks could save $8-12 Bn annually if they use blockchain technology;
  • In April 2018, a group of 22 European nations formed a new blockchain partnership aimed at exchanging information on the technology. The countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, and the Netherlands, signed a declaration on April 10, 2018, establishing the new group, dubbed the European Blockchain Partnership, according to a release from the European Commission, which led the effort.

Stats: inc42.comWhile we have closely seen the forecasts of blockchain, now let’s track the trends ahead and see what this technology packs within it for the industries in the future:

1. Healthcare

The key problems in healthcare technical infrastructure existing today that impedes interoperability and thus patient-centered care are information security and privacy concerns, lack of trust between providers, and scalability concerns.

Now let’s see the potential use cases that demonstrate how Blockchain addresses these interoperability challenges:

Source: Deloitte

  • Sharing Cancer Data with Providers Using Patient-Authorized Access
  • Cancer Registry Sharing to Aggregate Observations in Cancer Cases
  • Patient Digital Identity Management for Better Patient Record Matching
  • Data Sharing to Incorporate Telemedicine with Traditional Care
  • Personal Health Records for Accessing and Controlling Complete Health History
  • Health Insurance Claim Adjudication Automation to Surface Error and Fraud
  • Prescription Tracking to Detect Opioid Overdose and Over-Prescription
  • Supply chain management that enhances healthcare contract management and reduces costs by allowing such features as real-time contract tracking and execution
  • Online patient access that enables patients to more easily, effectively and securely gain access to their own medical records

2. Banking and Finance

Blockchain is dramatically revolutionizing the global financial system backed by the much-hyped bitcoin ecosystem, lets’ go through the basic principles underlying blockchain that helps in driving down the cost, automate the execution of transactions with full trust, and ensuring top-notch security:

  • Decentralized Ledger: A digital ledger that allows participants to access identical information at the same time across the distribution chain.
  • Consensus Validation: Any transaction to be added to the blockchain, has to undergo an agreed upon validation process which allows participants to keep trust in their transactions whether or not the central authority is present.
  • Immutable and Tamper-proof: Every transaction recorded in the blockchain is irreversible and immutable making it impossible for anyone to tamper with data without leaving proof of the same.
  • User Authentication with Cryptographic Security: The cryptographic security, aka private and public keys of user access, makes it almost impossible for identities to be hacked and data to be compromised.
  • Smart Contracts: Time-consuming contractual transactions held can tailback the growth of a business. Smart contracts allow automatic validation of agreements signed and enforced through a blockchain construct which eliminates the need for mediators, hence saving the time and money.

3. Insurance

As per the latest report of Mckinsey, Blockchain addresses the competitive challenges of insurance industry including many incumbents face, including poor customer engagement, limited growth in mature markets, and the trends of digitization. In the following, we outline the most promising insurance-related use cases in three categories: enabling growth, increasing effectiveness, and reducing cost by automating key processes.

  • Innovate products and services for growth
  • Increase effectiveness in fraud detection and pricing
  • Reduce administrative cost

4. Cybersecurity

The tampering ransomware attacks, major breaches such as Equifax holds true that companies cannot safeguard their current identity system which eventually, calls for a crucial need of cryptocurrencies, blockchain and iOT. This futuristic immediacy underscores a strong outlook that the emergence of blockchain cybersecurity tools may be the next big thing in blockchain and it will set its own kind of definition in redefining Cybersecurity.

5. Automation and Privatization

As per the trusted resources, Blockchain will drive digital transformation of the enterprise specifically with automation, digitization of processes, tokenization of physical assets and activities and codification of complex contracts.

In addition to these, Asia and the Middle East are expected to aggressively push blockchain, the speed of ICOs will grow faster, and will overtake venture capital funding.

Angular.JS Vs. Vue.JS: Which Framework To Choose In 2022?

Till now, numerous JavaScript frameworks have been released, but the most in-demand frameworks are React, Angular, and Vue.js. Angular and Vue.js, both are front-end development JavaScript frameworks having similar syntax, intricate web pages, mobile apps, and software. Having so many similarities in both the frameworks turns out to be a complicated decision for developers to choose the most suitable one in their respective circumstances.We have already done a detailed comparison of React.JS and Vue.JS. Now, in this article, we will perform a detailed analysis of Angular.JS vs. Vue.JS and understand which could be a better framework to choose in 2022.Like React.JS and Angular.JS; Vue.JS is another popular framework that is worth debating to making the choice. Thus, to brush off this confusion, let’s analyze Angular.JS vs. Vue.JS to propose an easy-going decision. So, keep reading.

What is Angular.JS?

Angular.JS is an open-source JavaScript framework, introduced by Google. It is considered one of the most demanding web frameworks of modern days. Mostly, Angular.JS is used to build Single Page Applications and dynamic websites and apps. Angular is one of the tools that fall under the MEAN stack, and it supports a wide range of code editors. It supports multiple platform project development and deployment through its reusable codes. It has dynamic object UI bindings and two-way data binding which is essential to its architecture. Initially, Angular.JS development was based on the Model-View-Controller framework, however, after a period of time, it shifted to Model-View-ViewModel which is based on components.

Features of Angular.JS

  1. Data Model Binding- No, specific binding codes are needed to write to bind data to the HTML controls. Angular does this, just by adding a few code snippets.
  2. Less Code Writing- To carry out DOM manipulation in designing an application, requires less code writing with Angular.
  3. Unit Testing Ready- Along with the Angular framework, the Google developers also developed “Karma”- a testing framework that helps in Unit Testing for Angular.JS Applications.
  4. MVC- It is a modern-day’s design pattern used for the web application. It is based on the separation of the business logic layer, data layer, and presentation layer, to ease the management of each section/layer.

What is Vue.JS?

Vue.JS is a progressive JavaScript framework for developing User Interfaces (UIs) and Single-Page Applications (SPAs). Based on development requirements, it can work as a library and framework at a time. It is based on an MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel) architectural pattern which supports a business model or logic, differentiated from a graphical view or User Interface. Basically, Vue.JS is an amalgamation of Angular.JS and React.JS, where the best ingredients of both are presented together, such as two-way data binding. This turns into the Vue.JS development and introduces a better version of both the Angular and React frameworks.

Features of Vue.JS

  1. Adaptability: JS ensures stress-free migration and efficient structure.
  2. Components: JS framework can design custom elements that are reusable in HTML.
  3. Transition: Vue development follows multiple strategies to implement customization in HTML components whenever it is included or excluded from the DOM (Document Object Model).
  4. Detailed Documentation: It promotes easy and quick learning which represents an overall simple learning curve through the availability of a variety of learning documents.

Angular Vs. Vue: Key Differences To Focus On

1. Performance Comparison

Angular.JS: When you aim for web and mobile app development, the performance of Angular is directly influenced by DOM (Document Object Model). As a matter of fact, DOM influences the entire web page performance. Angular.JS uses real DOM in which the entire app/web page is rendered just by changing a single component or more. For rendering, it uses the ‘Ivy’ renderer to make the application compact and fast for an unmatchable performance and compiles components really quickly to minimize the Angular.JS Web Development time. The advanced update detection process and quick compilation minimize the count of DOM manipulation. It also pre-compiles the HTML and app components prior browser starting downloading and using it. This could be the major reason for Angular to gain much-needed popularity to develop high-performing apps.

Vue.JS: In contrast to Angular.JS, Vue.JS works on Virtual DOM but the updates are reflected on the actual DOM, and only on the modified components. It ultimately improves the loading time and accelerates the overall performance of the application. Lazy Loading is one of the elite features of Vue, which helps in improving the load time. In an asynchronous manner, Vue manages a third-party library that automatically handles the critical dependencies. This becomes possible by categorizing the libraries that are required to be integrated into the application bundle and are left from the core bundle.

2. Application Architecture

Angular.JS: Angular implements MVC (Model View Controller) and MVVM (Model-view-ViewModel) to develop dynamic web applications and websites. MVC pattern supports Angular to differentiate the HTML interface with the logic and helps to organize components with logic and codes both. Hence, the two-way data binding feature of Angular ensures straightforward development by following the MVC pattern. It allows Angular.JS developers to create a simple and clean design by including MVC patterns and two-way data binding at the same time.

Vue.JS: Vue primarily focuses on the ViewModel only and shows/releases limited data. ViewModel works as a link between the view and model through data binding. Thus, ViewModel shows the changes that are carried out in the model to the view. The MVVM architecture helps to develop robust and quality web applications while integrating them with relevant plugins and tools.

3. Learning Curve

Angular.JS: The Angular.JS web development curve is quite typical as compared to Vue. The Angular.JS developers need to gain expertise in concepts like MVC, and TypeScript to take the front-end development ahead. Angular is quite a typical technology for developers to gain expertise over it, after working with it for years. Thus, it has a limited developers and users community.

Vue.JS: Vue.JS framework offers inbuilt app templates and fierce customization ability, which makes Vue.JS more preferred framework than React.JS and Angular.JS. As we learned in the previous post on React.JS vs. Vue.JS, Vue.JS is a combination of Angular and React, which makes it easier to develop React or Angular-based app solutions on the Vue.JS framework.

4. Scalability

Angular.JS: Angular is been in the market for quite a long time, thus ultimately it has gained continuous support from many established organizations, including Google. Angular can arrange components as folders and modules based on the features. This depicts it had a well-formed framework that enables Angular.JS developers to build an enterprise-level application. It is a highly scalable framework because of its fierce command-line interface and feature designs.

Vue.JS: In contrast to Angular, Vue.JS uses a template-based syntax which reduces code reusability in the application development. This generates complications in developing a large size application on the Vue.JS framework. In contrast to this, it is a lightweight framework and is preferred to develop lightweight applications that are not highly scalable.

5. Ease of Testing

Angular.JS: Testing is an integral component of the Angular framework, likewise all the JavaScript codes had to go through a series of detailed testing. It comes with advanced debugging and refactoring options that support developers to carry out testing and maintenance. Angular extends the opportunity to test the complete project codes with a single testing tool, like Protractor, Jasmine, and Karma. All these tools are highly effective in minimizing the Angular.JS developers’ hustle to ensure efficient results. Such, a convenient testing process allows developers to build the projects from scratch and seamlessly test the components. The dependency injection in Angular effectively manages all the controllers and scopes.

Vue.JS: For ease of testing, Angular turns out to be a better performing framework than Vue. Its testing abilities are simple and ordinary, yet quite efficient. It is not equipped with quality tools, despite that does not compromise with the testing ability of it as well. Unit Testing in the Vue framework usually uses Mocha, Jest, or Chai testing tools. Apart from that, some of the official testing libraries of Vue are Vue Testing Library and Vue Test Utils. These libraries allow access to the app and the user-specific APIs and make code debugging and refactoring quite an easy task.

6.App Size & Loading Time

Angular.JS: Angular is a suitable framework to develop large enterprise-scale applications, so it is quite common for the app size to be slightly bigger than expected. As compared to other front-end frameworks, the small and medium-sized Angular.JS web applications usually range between 250 to 500 Kb. In contrast to that, the large and complex applications will be bigger than this range, however, it can be considerably handled by using a compiler to compress the bundle size. As the app or site loading time relies on its size, it requires comparatively more loading time than Vue.

Vue.JS: Vue.JS is a lightweight framework, which ultimately indicates that the app size will not be heavy as compared to the other frameworks. A simple Vue app usually has a size between 50 to 100 Kb, which is quite nominal. The Command Line Interface of Vue makes the app size appear heavier when the code loads for the first time. Even so, implementing lazy loading components allows the breaking of codes into smaller chunks which ultimately enhances the loading time performance. The Vue.JS developers can avoid writing codes from scratch by using tools like Vuex, Bit, Vue-router, and NuxJS, which allows effective state management by predicting codes, and unnecessary functions to eliminate them. As, the loading time majorly relies on the app size, and the small size of Vue.JS web app development ensures faster app loading.

7. User Experience

Angular.JS: Angular is a very effective front-end framework for designing interactive and straightforward user interfaces. It manages user interaction through templates which are divided into classes, components, and segments to build a clean coding architecture. The well-defined way of presenting data to the users ensures data updates instantly and the feature of SPA routing between pages without affecting the whole page. It makes Angular popular among developers with built-in libraries that ensure a hassle-free development experience.

Vue.JS: Vue.JS could be an ideal choice for designing an innovative and interactive web app user interface. Virtual DOM allows Vue.JS developers to carry out experiments while designing the user interface. As a result, the developers can create simple, interactive, and attractive applications. The data binding nature of the Vue.JS framework allows developers to build HTML values and attributes which can be easily modified without hampering the existing code by using the v-bind feature.

Angular Vs. Vue: Comparative Analysis

Criteria Angular.JS Vue.JS
Developer & Author Google Evan You
Known as Full-Featured JavaScript Framework Progressive JavaScript Framework
Size 563 KB (compressed & minified) 33.5 KB (gzipped & minified)
Source Language TypeScript JavaScript (also supports TypeScript)
Performance Fast Comparatively Faster
Learning Curve Steep Easier as compared to Angular
Browser Rendering Shadow DOM Virtual DOM
Error Handling Compile-Time Run-Time
Developers Community More Popular than Vue Comparatively Small
License MIT MIT

Web Apps Built with Angular and Vue

Angular and Vue are the widely used JavaScript frameworks that deliver high performance, robust features, and ready-to-use components. So, it could be very helpful to be aware of which companies use these tools for their customized web app development. Popular Platform Developed on Angular.JS are;

  • Google
  • Microsoft Xbox
  • Forbes
  • Paypal
  • Deutsche Bank
  • WikiWand
  • UpWork
  • The Guardian
  • com

Popular Platforms Developed on Vue.JS are;

  • Trivago
  • Apple
  • Nintendo
  • 9GAG
  • Statista
  • Gitlab
  • Trustpilot
  • Behance
  • Alibaba, etc.

Angular Vs. Vue: When to Choose?

When to choose the Angular framework?

Angular is a decades-old framework equipped with excessive libraries, mobile-friendly features, reusable templates, and easy-to-use. We suggest you can choose the Angular framework when:

  • You are planning to develop a real-time, dynamic, and large-scale web application.
  • If you like to work with Object-Oriented Programming concepts.
  • You are having a handsome size of well-versed Angular.JS developers, as it allows easy data flow and delivers a structural architecture.
  • You require a trustworthy and easy to scalable application.
  • If you can learn TypeScript before starting the app development.

Note: If your app is small in size and has multiple static pages then the Angular framework won’t be the best web app development framework.

When to choose the Vue framework?

Vue is fast, flexible, lightweight, sleek, and allows easy integration of external features, which is making Vue the leading choice among a lot of front-end developers. We suggest you can choose the Vue framework when:

  • You like to develop a dynamic high performing application.
  • You want to design lightweight and Single-Page Applications (SPAs).
  • You are aiming for high performance and speed.
  • You need a lightweight web development framework.
  • You prefer clear codes.

Note: If the application is heavy in size and has too much dynamic data, then prefer another front-end development framework that seems more suitable for your application.

Summing Up

It is quite a challenging task to consider any of the two frameworks as not good. Well, both the frameworks are good in their aspects as the front-end development framework. It is just about selecting the right framework that fits your business needs. In case, you still struggle to deduce which framework is suitable for your digital solution, they prefer connecting with a web development company. Codiant is a proficient web development company that has expertise in multiple domains and technologies including Angular.JS and Vue.JS web development services.

Low-fidelity vs. High-fidelity Design Prototypes

”The main difference between low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes comes in terms of user interaction. Low-fidelity prototypes are often paper-based and do-not allow user interactions. Whereas, High-fidelity prototypes are digital and allow clickable user interaction.”

To innovate anything, we build a firm foundation and create pillars that ensure safety and take good care of the entire product. Innovation in Software development works the same way.

To innovate software, first, you must build a Prototype that meets your business goals and solves the user pain points.

Prototype is the basic element that software companies research, work & create before jumping on the complex and time-consuming code development process.

Also known as Software Prototypes, there are two major categories viz. Low-fidelity prototypes and high-fidelity prototypes. Each of these prototypes takes abstract ideas and turns them into a tangible product. By investing all our time in ideating these prototypes too early in project development, we save ourselves from making costly mistakes.

In this post, we will cover what these prototypes are, when, and how they are used.

What Are Prototypes?

A prototype is an early model or release of a software product created to test the basic concept or process. Designers create prototypes to test their designs and validate their concepts among the real users and key stakeholders.

The feedback they receive from the real users helps them to improve the design and enhance the user experience, just before they pass this design to the development team. This eventually, helps them fail quickly and inexpensively and save all the development costs before investing too much time and money on it.

There are two major types of prototypes: low-fidelity prototypes and high-fidelity prototypes. Let’s understand them in detail. But before that it’s important to know what fidelity is!

What is Fidelity In UX Design?

Fidelity

Prototype is an expression of design intent. Through it, the designers can show their design and see how it works like. The fidelity of the prototype refers to:

  • The look-and-feel of the final product
  • It’s level of details and functionality
  • The real-time iteration and accessibility to users

The type of fidelity is defined through its interactivity, visuals, content, navigation, etc. Some prototypes can simply be created on papers/stickies that involve limited interactivity. But some prototypes are presented digitally with high-level intricate details of interaction and navigation. They are just close to the look and feel of the final product.

This scale of designing prototypes from paper to digital and every medium that falls in-between defines the category of the prototype. This category can be broadly classified into two types:

  • Low-Fidelity Prototype
  • High-Fidelity Prototype

While starting to design prototypes, you must know how much time and energy you can invest in. Depending on that you can choose between designing low-fidelity or high fidelity prototypes.

What Are Low-fidelity Prototypes?

low-fidelity

Low-fidelity prototypes (low-fi) are simple and low-tech. You only need paper and a pencil to start with. They are just used to turn your ideas into tangible artifacts that can down the line help you to test, analyze, and collect the feedback in the early stages of the final app build. Or say they are used to point out UX problems when brainstorming.

The Basic Features of Low-Fi Prototypes

  • Visual Design Low-fi doesn’t have polished designs. It covers only a few visual attributes such as the shape of elements, visual hierarchy, etc.
  • Content These paper prototypes cover only the main elements of content. Rest can be Lorem Ipsum.
  • Interactivity Low-fi prototypes are not clickable and interactive. Still, you can introduce little interactivity through connected wireframes which are usually linked to each other in the PPT/keynote using a prototyping tool.

At Codiant, our UX teams often ideate through low-fi prototypes. The reason is quite obvious- let’s realize it through the many benefits offered by low-fi prototypes.

Benefits of Low-fidelity Prototypes

  • Inexpensive :  Low-fi helps companies save the costs that go in designing as they can fail quickly and inexpensively early on the project, before investing too much time and energy on it.
  • Speed :  Clearly, the main benefit of low-fi is speed. You can create them in just a few minutes.
  • Easy : It doesn’t require any special skill to create a low-fidelity prototype, any non-designer can create it easily.
  • Collaborative : All the designers and developers involved, including the client, can remain on the same page by validating proposed functionalities and flow.

Limitations of Low-fidelity Prototypes

  • Highly Ambiguous : The assuming and imaginative state of a low-fi prototype makes it unpredictable for users to test, what will actually work and whatnot. This uncertain nature limits the exact result of the user testing.
  • Limited Interactivity : With low-fi prototypes. Only limited interactions can be presented. This limits the visualization of navigations, thus, making it less intuitive.

Most Used Techniques To Create Low-fidelity Prototypes

Generally, designers use paper prototyping and clickable wireframes to create low-fidelity prototypes. Here’s a quick definition of the same.

1. Paper Prototyping

Paper prototyping is the most simple low-fidelity prototype that you can ever experiment with. What you imagine can quickly be pictured on paper. Without grappling with graphics, tuning perfections on the monitor, just without using any digital software, this technique allows UX designers to sketch a digital product experience on paper.

Allows them to sketch different app/web screens that connect each other to present various stages of the product interface. Thus, helping in exploring ideas, making the imaginations tangible with the quick refinement of what works and whatnot.

The major benefits of having paper prototypes are: even a non-designer can sketch paper prototypes, it allows users to quickly experiment placements of simple to complex features and test their interactions. They’re also handy to carry, make notes, do revisions, and work off-system.

2. Clickable Wireframes

Clickable wireframes are interactive prototypes of user interfaces that give users a more realistic experience of the final product.

They are just a notch above paper prototypes, wherein, they give an interactive visual representation of the user interface of a web or mobile application.

With clickable wireframes, usability testing can be identified easily. The seamlessness of user experience navigation can be tested in the initial stage itself, which helps you save time and money.

What Are High-fidelity Prototypes?

high-fidelity

High-fidelity (high-fi) prototypes are highly functional, interactive, and detailed prototype models. They look nearly the same as the final software product. The user interface and user experience in hi-fi are well integrated and give the same immersive experience as the real product gives. Like, if you will tap an image/button, it will emulate the look-n-feel and the actual navigation a real product will do.

Hi-fi prototypes are often used in the final stage when the product is ready to be pushed for coding but before that has to undergo a final validation from real users and stakeholders to test its usability and identify issues in the product’s general workflow.

The Basic Features of High-Fi Prototypes

  • Visual Design High-fi has realistic, detailed, and intricate designs. It’s a complete pack of visual artifacts that covers all interface elements, graphics, color schemes, animations, etc. They look just like real app/web products.
  • Content Hi-fi prototypes contain almost all the content that appears in the real product. The content used in it looks the same as a real app or website.
  • Interactivity Hi-fi prototypes are highly functional and interactive.

Benefits of High-fidelity Prototypes

  • Real Feedback :  Unlike, low-fi prototypes, there is no uncertainty attached to high-fi. Since it looks like a real product, usability testing goes easy. Real users testing it can experience a more natural workflow as if they are using a real software product.
  • Testability of Specific UI Elements or Interactions : With high-fi prototypes, UI components like animated transitions, micro-interactions can be tested with high interactivity.
  • Good for Demos to Stakeholders : Hi-fi’s like-real product nature gives clients and stakeholders a real simulative environment where they can test, touch and feel how their real product would work like.

Limitations of High-fidelity Prototypes

  • Costly : Unlike low-fi prototypes, high-fi prototypes cost more as the designers have to devote their time to graphics, color schemes, and micro-interactions. UX writers have to work on content workflow, microcopies, and copywriting. These aspects increase the total cost of prototype building.
  • Time-Consuming :  Creating high-fi prototypes consumes more time as compared to low-fi, as digital software used to build high-fi demands more time and precision.

Most Used Techniques To Create High-fidelity Prototypes

1. Digital Prototypes

Digital prototypes are the most popular and commonly used technique to build a high-fi prototype. This technique employs the use of online prototyping software that allows designers to create visually appealing and highly interactive prototypes. The software allows designers to present simple to complex animations with real-time behavior. These prototypes can be previewed in the web browser, desktop, or any mobile device.

2. Coded Prototypes

Coded prototypes are just close to the final version of the real product. Not very widely used, these prototypes require designers to be proficient in coding skills. This prototyping technique is mostly used when the fully-functional app has to be presented.

List of the Best Prototyping Tools:

  1. Figma
  2. InVision Studio
  3. Adobe XD
  4. Webflow
  5. Axure RP 9
  6. Origami Studio
  7. Justinmind
  8. Sketch
  9. Fluid UI
  10. Framer
  11. Marvel
  12. Proto.io

Related reading: User Experience Design Process

The Final Word

Early prototyping of any software product prevents costly errors in advance. Gives a sense of ownership to all stakeholders. Improves time-to-market by reducing the possibilities of errors. Gains early feedback to test what will work and whatnot.

All this comes down to usability, accessibility, and pleasure.

A product that is user-centered, has a low learning curve, is memorable, and ‘easy-to-use’ will always be desirable and have a satisfying experience.

At Codiant, we lay the right foundation by designing a mobile app or web product that not only delivers satisfaction but gives users a compelling reason to come back.

How To Choose The Best iOS App Development Company in 2023?

The app development process goes through multiple phases and should be set on high priority, especially once you are confident with your idea. From those phases, the selection of an app development platform takes the first place on the list. Android and iOS are the two most popular app development platforms in the global market. Where a major market size is taken over by the Android operating system when smartphones are considered.

Arguably, when a wider market area is occupied by Android, then what is the need for developing an iOS application and hiring an iOS app development company to build the app?

As a matter of fact, the entire market has acknowledged the feature’s quality and technical competencies in iOS. The iOS app platform leads when it is compared on different parameters, such as quality, price, and performance level.

On the other end of the spectrum, iOS apps are more profitable as compared to Android, despite having less market share. iOS users are willing to spend almost 80% more than Android users – it is almost 1.8 times higher than Google Play Stores revenue.

Not only users but also developers too prefer iOS, not to mention due to various tech supports. It includes, simplicity, better accessibility, bug-free nature, easy monetization, high standards, development-friendly nature are the few. Thus, making iOS app development the preferred choice among businesses and app development companies, and developers.

Considering the acceptance and preference of iOS over Android in the market – to develop an iOS app, you require an expert team of iOS developers, who can develop an exceptional solution by leveraging the platform’s ability and can deliver a better solution than your expectations.

To hire the best iOS app development company or the right team of iOS developers, below we have prepared the checklist for your assistance with a detailed skill-set requirement.

Skills to Consider Before Hiring an iOS App Development Company or Developer

Multiple aspects should be considered to hire an iOS apps development company, such as experience, expertise, tech proficiency, market image, domain proficiency, previous works, client feedback, and user experience & feedback will help you to identify the right tech partner.

Before finalizing the company’s name for iOS app development, it is important to understand if the team fulfills all the aforementioned benchmarks.

a) Hard Skills

Over a period of time, an experienced iOS developer explores his skills in multiple domains. Thus, there is a great possibility that the developers have worked on numerous domains, like healthcare, banking, transportation& logistics, retail market, e-commerce, and many more. This demonstrates his versatility and will definitely be a positive point for you to work with such an expert and experienced developer.

Some of the mandatory hard skills that you must verify before hiring an iOS app development company are as follows;

  • Proficient with two crucial iOS programming languages i.e. Objective-C and Swift
  • Knowledge and working experience of Apple’s Integrated Development Environment i.e. XcodeIDE
  • Aware of Apple’s design guidelines and user interface rules
  • Standard knowledge of layout designing, UI/UX designing, and information hierarchy
  • Proficient in advanced code-writing tools
  • Knowledge of Metal and OpenGL
  • Working expertise with Realm or Core Data
  • Skilled in CSS, HTML, and JavaScript
  • Understands APIs and API Integration expertise
  • Expertise in using iOS SDK, APNS, Core Data, GCD
  • Basic knowledge of Object-Oriented Programming
  • Application testing and debugging

These are some basic yet necessary hard skills that one must possess before hiring an iOS app development company. Apart from that, the iOS developers also have a working knowledge of ARKit 3 and Reality Kit. All these skills in a developer will help to infuse next-gen experiences, like AR/VR user experience.

b) Soft Skills

Before finalizing an iOS, developer based on his hard skills; an efficient developer also possesses soft skills. This will make him culturally fit for your organization. Proper etiquette and a professional attitude are also responsible factors to influence the success or failure of the project.

Hence, when you are planning to hire an iOS app development company, consider the following soft skills that developers and the entire team must possess apart from their technical expertise and experience.

  • Critical thinker
  • Easily approachable
  • Actively participates and contributes to the group
  • To maintain efficiency, ensure to maintain the deadline
  • Self-presentable and negotiation skills
  • Good leadership skills

How to Judge the App Development Company Will Fulfil Your Requirements

The goals and targets of each app development company are different. Based on that, you have to find the right partner that can fulfill your requirements. Hence, check the following attributes of a company before hiring them as your app development partner.

1. Custom Development

According to Statista, it is predicted that the annual number of app downloads worldwide will be 299 billion, against 247 billion app downloads in 2020. It’s a huge figure, despite that the competition will remain very tough. Because not only a few or just you are the only ones who are aiming at their target audience.

The first and most important rule that any app development company follows is to offer something unique to their customers. But, creating an app as per the client’s expectation is not possible for every app development company. Therefore, choose the one name who has prior experience in fulfilling the client’s expectations by deploying tailor-made solutions. Customized iOS app development demands expert developers that possess’ hard skills and soft skills both in a balanced form.

2. Web-based Design

In this rapidly evolving and tech-reliant world, the differentiation between mobile and web apps is getting blurred. The expert web app development company’s development team has the skills to build a web-based design.

This means the app should be user-friendly and have a cross-platform design that allows users to seamlessly access the app and perform all the activities on a mobile app and web or desktop app as well. Such apps have multiple benefits as well to provide a much-needed smooth user experience, along with quick loading speed and less memory consumption.

3. UI/UX Design

Making an appealing app that gains users’ attention and selling the app, demands a well-defined and organized app design that can understand the user’s behavior. To gain all these things through your app, you need a highly creative and goal-oriented web and app designing company, that can easily understand your demands and study end users’ expectations simultaneously.

A poor UI/UX design leads to dissatisfied users, and negative market status, and also leads to app abandonment and loss of revenue. To avoid such situations, you require skillful and diligent mobile app developers having the ability to design an application that can provide an appealing design with a seamless user experience.

4. Mobile App Testing

Deploying software in the market without thorough testing is a huge risk and a severe blunder without a doubt. Therefore, it is vital to pick the right app development company that follows a rigorous testing process to ensure bug-free app deployment.

The proper testing process helps to find and correct any technical glitches, which may hamper the entire project if detected in the later stage or post-deployment. To avoid all the detectable issues, demand experience QAs, to find potential risks of app failure.

5. Mobile App Consultation

If you are not technically sound, then you need to pay extra precautions while looking for mobile app development services. Even if you know the tactics to succeed in the market, but wouldn’t be knowing what is required to make your application’s backend robust and everlasting.

So, to deal with such issues you need a web app development company, that can fill the gap between your idea and the working project. Only an expert and experienced team will figure out your specific needs and execute the idea in a guided manner.

Services You Will Get from an iOS App Development Company

1. Strategy Building

We offer iPhone app development services along with strategy building to streamline the entire process and implement effective business strategies.

2. iPhone App Development

For successful software, designing and exceptional user experience are the critical components. To achieve that, we ensure to maintain an outstanding and highly innovative team to offer our clients a high-quality design and streamlined user interface.

3. App Testing on the iPhone

We have a strong team of QA specialists that ensure to test the iPhone application and find any bugs or missing guidelines of the app. The testers maintain a proper structure to achieve the high performance of the application and offer the best solution to the end-user.

4. iPhone Game Development

We are one of the top iOS mobile app development companies, with an experienced team of game developers who provide high-performing, advanced tech-enabled mobile applications.

5. Business iOS App

Our expert team of iOS web and app developers possesses extensive experience in developing and deploying corporate solutions in the form of websites and mobile applications.

Tips to Choose the Best iOS App Development Company in 2023

1. Analyze your Business Requirements

To define your business requirements, you need to identify, store, interpret, and document all the specifics of your key stakeholders and their requirements that are most critical. For deducing all these details, you can carry out interview sessions with your stakeholders, build prototypes, use cases, and classify requirements under a specific label.

Analysis of a project on a superficial level won’t work, it also requires in-depth analysis to identify the requirements and involves some crucial steps;

  • Identify all key stakeholders
  • Extract all the requirements of each stakeholder
  • Categorize the stakeholder’s requirements
  • Analyze the feasibility of the requirement, and
  • Document and monitor those requirements

The in-depth analysis report in the form of business requirement documentation will work as a great foundation for the business’s success and land into the market with a right and proper introduction.

2. Analyze Technical Knowledge & Expertise

To develop an app, the technical expertise needs to be analyzed, which helps to perform a task. Basically, it is the practical knowledge that works as a foundation for iOS app development. Technical knowledge is very important to mark the project’s progress, for that, an iOS app developer must be fluent in two programming languages i.e., Swift and Objective-C.

You also need to look into multiple other factors to filter out the development company’s expertise, such as the quality of delivered products, delivery timeline, client feedback, and others. Additionally, interview the team leads of developers thoroughly before making any decision.

A detailed interview session will help you to understand their strength and weaknesses, and understand their knowledge and capabilities. Then make the final decision of hiring the iOS app development company or not.

3. Check Recognition and Recommendation

Go through the company’s portfolio and check what type and industry-related apps or websites they have deployed till now, along with the client’s feedback. This will help to learn about the quality of work the team is capable of delivering, and whom you are planning to hire.

Further, for more details, you can directly try to connect with the previous clients to seek their feedback and experience with that specific company. This practice will help to get transparent and unbiased feedback about the company. Moreover, you can also get to learn about their working methodologies and how they deliver their commitment.

Besides all this, you can also look into various business platforms, such as Clutch, Good Firms, Top Developers, Appfuture, etc. to check their ratings, awards, projects, companies, and accolades. Evidently, the years of industry work, experience, and recognition from past clients will endorse and make it easier to decisions making and hire the right iOS app development company.

4. Domain Expertise

Domain expertise is the skill in any specific activity, profession, or discipline in which the target system operates. Considering the domain expertise will help you transfer your views easily to the team and they can implement those things easily as they are already exposed to such things or industry-specific terminologies. This will make it extremely valuable and effective for the end-users.

The niche market experts can easily integrate advanced technologies without any delay or demanding any additional research, which ensures building a tailor-made solution for your end-users to make a difference against competitors. Also, these experts have the advantage of domain and testing experience with a detailed understanding of handling complex problems.

Undoubtedly, the niche market expertise will help the development team to deliver a quality project while maintaining the deadline, quality, and efficiency at the same time.

5. Adaptable to the Environment

In this staff outsourcing world, there is a great percentage of employees working remotely, from different regions and locations too. The market demands and updates with the latest trends and technology also slightly vary. Hence, the ability to rapidly adapt and learn new skills and behavior in evolving environment is crucial. So, while hiring an iOS app developer or the development team ensure that s/he is adaptable and socially fit with your working environment.

Despite being an expert professional, there might be scenarios when a developer fails to gel smoothly with your current project development team. There is no second thought that differences in the working environment can also cause confusion, miscommunication, or misunderstanding.

All these issues will definitely hinder the project’s progress and can lead to a goof-up with the project’s deadline. To avoid such situations and achieve your target on time, you need to hire a verified iOS app development company, that can seamlessly adapt to your company’s work process and deliver incredible output.

6. Effective Delivery Management

In terms of communication during project development, clients often experience or complain about poor coordination or untimely updates on the progress of the app development cycle. Such a communication barrier between both parties leads to poor project quality at the final delivery stage.

To get the desired product quality, it is necessary to maintain a regular and frequent communication channel to keep updated about the project’s progress. It also allows developers to take feedback from the client after each module rather than finishing the entire project and seeking updates – this maintains the project development pace, and quality and helps developers to maintain the delivery timeline as well.

It is suggested to prefer hiring a company that follows the Agile/Scrum Model. The scrum model allows a clear view of the project development progress and provides you a proper window to go through the small updates instantly and infuse any changes or updates.

7. Standard App Designing

The app design quality plays a vital role in the delivery of a successful tailor-made iOS application. An interactive and user-friendly UI design will ensure straightforward app navigation, which helps visitors/users to get their tasks done easily and in a hassle-free manner.

Hence, while hiring an iOS app development company ensure they understand your end-users context, and flow of tasks and fine-tune the most intuitive User Interface. To check out the developer’s and team’s sensibility and understanding of the design, you can go through their design portfolio. It will help you to learn about their skills and style, and analyze whether they follow the globally accepted design standards or not.

Cost of iOS App Development Services

The cost of the iOS app development service is often the crucial factor that determines the choice of a technical partner. Yet, it is understood that you will get what you pay for. So, don’t get the prey for the lowest price. As the project’s quality is the factor that can make or break you.

iOS app development is a tedious and a time taking process which only demands various experts from all the required fields and delivery of all the stages with perfection. However, the app development cost majorly depends on its features, functionalities, platform, technologies, design, and many other factors.

Moreover, define the pricing model you are fine with and the two common options are Fixed-price Model and Time & Resource Model. According to your requirements and preference for the project process, you can choose one of the models which suit you.

Some of the important factors that influence the cost of iOS app development services are;

  1. App Size: The size of the application can be small, medium, or large which directly influences the overall development charges. As the app size increase, its features also increase and resulting in an increase in development cost and time.
  2. Native or Cross-Platform: iOS app development follows two different approaches – native and cross-platform. Thus, the cost of the cross-platform app will be generally high because such apps are suitable for both Android and iOS platforms and can run effortlessly on both devices.
  3. Features Complexity: The complex features require more development time and experts’ hands to do so. It ultimately demands higher development charges to deliver the project quality as demanded by the client.
  4. UI/UX Cost: The app design also varies and is categorized as simple to complex, which leads to higher user interactivity and an appealing interface. All these micro-advancements demand utter precision, time, and subtle hands to do so. All these factors directly influence the iOS app development cost and hamper the overall budget.
  5. App Testing: Testing is another crucial aspect that defines the quality of the project and ensures the maintenance of an optimum performance level, security, and other factors. There are different types of iOS app testing methods, which influences the overall development cost.

To roughly estimate the development charges of an iOS app, the formula you can follow is;

App Platform + UI/UX Development Hours + (Development Time X Developers Hourly Rate) = iOS App Development Cost

Why Should You Hire iOS App Developers From Codiant?

Codiant specializes in developing mobile applications for various platforms, such as iOS, Android, Hybrid, and Cross-Platform app development.

For more than a decade Codiant is offering app development services and have successfully delivered diverse domain-based application. Till now, the expert and certified app developers of Codiant have successfully delivered 1000+ apps that are effectively running globally.

Till now, we have worked on a wide range of technologies to build a unique project with specific requirements that are catering varied industries. The industries we have served but not only confined to them are e-commerce, healthcare, on-demand delivery, real estate, finance, transportation, logistics, etc.

Profitable Taxi App Development Ideas to Follow in 2022

A comeback is more powerful than a setback.

We couldn’t agree more the pandemic has blanketed the entire planet with gloomy times and affected businesses financially across industries. Valuations got tumbled, startups swept, employees laid off, economy sunk—however, we still trust there are many ways businesses could see a silver lining. After all, Necessity is a mother of invention–and every problem comes with a solution.

Where COVID is no different. The novel virus became an accelerator to digital transformation; bringing almost every business online. Digitalization became a new norm. People now chase convenience and comfort more than anything else. Thus, opening gates to a sea of opportunities in the online ecosystem.

In this post, we will examine the range of possibilities emerging from the on-demand transport industry i.e. online taxi booking app business. Why have we chosen the “online taxi mobility” sector to give a new ray of hope to startups and investors have a different story to tell—that we will share later in this post! Without taking much of your time, let’s head towards the most modest, celebrated, and profitable taxi app development ideas that will surely change your red-inked balance sheet into black.

Online Taxi Booking App Development Ideas

  1. Carpooling App
  2. Online Car Rental App
  3. On-demand Bike Sharing App
  4. On-Demand Limousine App
  5. On-demand Delivery App
  6. Healthcare Taxi Service
  7. On-demand Chauffeurs Service
  8. An Employee Transportation App
  9. Online Bus Booking App
  10. Trucking & Logistics App

Let’s discuss them in detail.

1. A Carpooling App

An online car-pooling app or a ride-sharing app can prove to be a great venture in the online taxi-hailing industry. Reasons? The ride-sharing taxi service saves time and travel expenses of both taxi owner as well as the rider, it is cost-effective and cheaper, reduces the emissions coming from vehicle thus, playing a vital role in controlling the level of pollution. E.g. BlaBlaCar, UberPool, OlaShare, Quick Ride Benefits of Ride Sharing App

  1. Time Saving
  2. Convenient
  3. Budget-Friendly
  4. Energy Efficient
  5. Reduces Traffic Congestion
  6. Lower Transportation Cost

2. Online Car Rental App

  1. Select Your Favorite Car
  2. Book and Pay Online
  3. Receive the car on doorsteps
  4. Return to the preferred location

Also known as on-demand car hire, an online car rental service app allows users to book their favorite car at their suitable time and pay for it online. They receive the car on their doorsteps and then they can enjoy their drive for hours, days, or even months and return the car back to the preferred location. This type of business model works best for car fleet owners or single-car owners. By developing this online car rental app you can aggregate all such car lenders/owners who wish to get an extra source of income from their vehicles parked idle for months. E.g. Turo, Getaround, Kayak, Hertz, Virtuo, Revv, Zipcar

3. On-demand Bike Sharing App

Forget the big picture. A very fresh, cost-friendly yet profitable app idea for startups and entrepreneurs is on-demand bike-sharing app development. After carpooling services, bike sharing app became a new happy trend in cities globally. Customers looking to commute intercity or wishing to take a short trip around the city look for flexible transportation options. Renting a bike allows them to quickly get around with pocket-friendly prices and convenient experiences. E.g. Rapido, Mobike, Ofo, Ola bikes, Pedal, Limebike

4. On-Demand Limousine App

People craves for having a ride in style. People crave royal seating, comfortable transport, and luxurious interiors. On-demand limousine services tick it all. Whether it is a romantic date or an engagement evening, a business meeting or a corporate airport limo transfer, a birthday party, or a wedding night, limos are the classiest way to get around. You can always count on on-demand limo booking app as a new edge in conventional taxi-hailing app services. E.g. Limos, GroundLink, Carmel

5. An On-Demand Delivery App

A hyper-local pickup and delivery app is an excellent division of on-demand taxi mobility. People generally are stuck in work or prefer not to shell out their time in simple pick/drop errands. Having developed a feature-rich the on-demand delivery app like Postmates can enable customers to order and receive anything right at their doorsteps from their favorite store or maybe a home for a small fee. E.g. Postmates, Pickkup

6. Healthcare Taxi Service

No deny the on-demand healthcare taxi service apps have reaped immense benefits with it service in the COVID time. Less competition but cannot be downplayed—on-demand healthcare taxi booking apps can be a game-changer in 2021. Negate the prevalent proverb of “Pizza reaching home faster than the ambulance services”. Cash it out with an app service that equals to humanity and mankind. Start your own on-demand healthcare taxi booking app which also includes pre-equipped ambulances and hearse vans.

7. On-demand Chauffeurs Service

An on-demand chauffeur app service is a leading transportation choice for people looking to drive to major city attractions like theme parks/amusements parks or airport transfers and local transfers. Having a personal chauffeur not only offers flexibility to travel anywhere with frequent stops but also gives safety and peace of mind. E.g. DriveU, Wheely, Hopp

8. An Employee Transportation App

Many offices struggle for their team to get easy ground transportation for work travel where matching timings for offices is another level challenge. Developing a fully configurable and automated employee transportation app showing details like approved routes, timings, stops, arrival alerts, and more can prove to be a profitable idea. E.g. Uber for businesses, drive

9. Online Bus Booking App

An online bus booking app is indeed a good on-demand transportation app segment that targets travelers looking to book online reservations. By partnering with public transportation agencies you can plan of building an app that caters to travelers and tourists. Keep unique value propositions for bus owner partners with winning features like online reservation booking, online payments, geolocation tracking, customer support, and in-app ad services to gain and attract more customers. E.g. Redbus

10. On-demand Trucking & Logistics App

An idea that doesn’t talk small bucks- “Logistics and Transportation App Development”. Comprising of two different business models, this app connects movers and packers with customers looking to transfer their shipments in the least time of an hour. You can aggregate local truck drivers in your app who can safely move consignments from one place to another. The second model can be a trucking marketplace app solution that matches trucking companies with shippers looking to move freight. With stakeholders like carriers, shippers, drivers, and admin panel trucking and logistics app can help truckers eliminate empty truck miles and keep trucks fully loaded. E.g. Truck pulse, Rivigo, Convoy, GoShare, Bungii Related Reading: Reimagining the Transportation Industry for the Next Normal: Taxi App Market Post COVID-19

Why Taxi Booking App Is a Great Idea to Make A Fresh Start?

On-Demand Taxi Mobility Market Overview Ease of booking through mobile apps and online websites has meaningfully attracted customers to prefer online booking over offline taxi booking, owing to conditions like excessive comfort, convenience and usage of smartphones by people, across the world. Moreover features like tracking the driver’s location, pre-estimated ride fare, estimated time of arrival, driver contact, live customer support, and vehicle details available instantly within an app has inclined customers more toward the online booking option.

Source: Grandviewresearch

Some Key Accelerators:

  • The Market Value of on-demand taxi mobility is expected to cross $250 BN in 2025.
  • Increasing traffic problems and reliability issues have revolutionized the concept of on-demand ride-sharing with CAGR anticipated to reach 10%.

To leverage the rising trend, taxi operators should quickly adopt online taxi mobility.

A Simple Step By Step Guide To Meditation App Development

Anxiety, depression, peer pressure, mood disorders, uneasiness, etc. are the biggest enemies of humans these days. And agree or not these are the direct by-products of changing lifestyles and complex minds that are unequipped to handle the duality of human existence. How to control this horribly argumentative mind? Is there any psychological or physiological manifestation? Is there any instrument that can help us evolve in today’s era where almost everyone has their toes dipped in the dopamine of digitalization? Thankfully yes! Meditation with the wings of technology— also known as On-Demand Meditation App; they have been a pivotal instrument to help an individual achieve mindfulness and peace through mental training practices. These apps are enormously helping people in large to practice self-regulation and self-consciousness through mental exercises such as deep breathing, relaxation, guided imagery and visualization, and more. The unhealthy lifestyle and enhanced anxiety levels have increased the usage of meditation apps even more after the world got hit with COVID-19. The market of meditation apps is anticipated to outpace a market value of US$ 180 Mn by the end of 2032, witnessing a CAGR of 8.4% through 2022-2032.

Market Growth Figures of Meditation App

 meditation-app-stats

Image Source: Statista

The above stats showing leading health & meditation apps depicts the leading market players in the meditation app space who are doing exceptionally well and earning a good percentage of revenue. The calm app is at the top in terms of revenue generation which has supported society in providing a stress-free and healthy life. In addition to this, the user penetration of meditation app is expected to be 7.48% in 2022 and is expected to hit 11.23% by 2025. So, the above figures indicate the massive growth opportunities from both user and market perspectives and considering that you must think of investing in a similar field. In this post, we will be discussing all the essential aspects of meditation app development. There are already a few ruling meditation apps in the market like calm, headspace, shine, inside timer, etc. that can help you pull inspiration and business model. We have tried to envelope all those features as well. Consider reading this full guide and find a way ahead to bring a radical up-gradation in the meditation app development market and reach the peak to meet your business goals.

Steps To Follow While Creating A Meditation App

To ensure that you are making the right moves in your app development lifecycle, you need to include some of the essential elements in your app development process:

1. Bring Clarity Of The Business Idea

It’s always good to explore things before you actually begin. So, while you are already planning to invest in meditation apps, make sure you have a thorough idea about its basic concept and all the categories that are available in the market. Consider the different options like weight loss meditation apps, walking meditation apps, mental health tracker app, yoga apps, breathing meditation apps, morning meditation apps, guided meditation apps, and so on.

2. Choose The Right Product Platform

“When you keep your feet on the right street, your foundation becomes more concrete”. Said that, to make a concrete start conduct a deep study on the product platforms available for you i.e. both iOS and Android. The things you need to consider while choosing the platform are your target audience, user preferences, location, income, education, and so on. The choice of the platform is also necessary as it directly affects the overall costing of the app development project.

3. Upgrade Your Limits Using AR/VR Technology

Give your users near to real experiences with virtual lenses. The AR/VR technology is doing a remarkably great job in making it easy for the users to experience the best relaxing sessions; which are integrated with the meditation apps. This AR/VR-based UI will increase user engagement and encourage them to practice regularly. Thus, increasing your client retention rate.

4. Make Use Of The MVP Models

It’s always good to taste a piece before buying the whole cube. The MVP model works on the same concept. It is a kind of tester phase where a developer has the space to add or eliminate multiple features before moving on to the second phase. The developers are always advised to restrain from complex features like video streams, in-app payments, in-build chats, etc. in the MVP model initial phase. Rather they are tasked to focus on simple features to check the viability of the app with features like:

  • User profile with Sign-in/Sign-out feature
  • Initial introductory video
  • Customer progress statistics
  • Push-Notifications and other basic features

5. Select The Right Set Of UI/UX Approach

The key to success lies in what your customer gets to see. So, putting the right set of UI/UX approach is necessary. It assures you of a better ROI and helps in building your confidence. The things that need to be focused on deciding the UI/UX approach are the perfect combination of colors, prioritizing animations over fonts, and avoiding the cluttered and overloaded design patterns. Initially, you need to pay more attention to the above patterns because they can distract you from achieving your business goals on the first try only.

6. App Integration With Wearable Devices

The connections get stronger when things are closer. And adding meditation apps to wearable devices is reducing the distance between the user and technology. Users will feel more comfortable when doing meditation will be a super easy process for them. They will be able to get instant access to the processes using wearable devices like smartwatches, fitness trackers, etc.

7. Choose The Best Development Team

The right choice of the development team is what brings success to your meditation app. It is necessary that your development team must have in-depth knowledge about the features, functionalities and technologies that can make your app a superlative of all. Some of the essential features are explained here in detail:

Key Features of Meditation App Development

  • Profile & Sign-In/Sign-Up ManagementInitially, just to ensure that your users don’t lose interest, make sure to provide an easy and quick sign-up process. Allow them to register using mobile numbers, social media handles, or email ids. Moreover, provide a good process for profile creation where it is easy for them to save and access their personal information and all the activities that they perform.
  • Meditation Program ManagementThis is the core of your app. If you wish to stay ahead of the market competition then make sure that you are putting in a variety of options in your meditation programs library. Grab the user’s attention by regularly updating things and improvising on your basics or the app.
  • Push NotificationsStay connected with the customers by keeping them updated about all the essential information. This feature is usually used to promote promotional offers, remind users about their meditation time or recommend multiple other meditation sessions.
  • Play ButtonPlay button is a prerequisite to control the different types of meditation sessions and to make the process easier. To make it more attractive it is advisable to set the desired background to both photos and videos.
  • Easy SearchIt is the responsibility of the development team to categorize the right set of content under the required labels so that users can find the content easily.
  • Meditation LibraryThe user retention rate is likely to increase when people have multiple options to choose from. A meditation library will keep them engaged and develop a curiosity to try new sessions. Remember to list down the sessions in logical groups that make it easy for users to browse the library easily.
  • Personal ProgressIt is always good to have a track record of what you do. Reviewing reports and experiencing progress with rewards and badges increases a person’s motivation and helps them in sticking to it.
  • Payments OptionsThe payment stage is the most fragile one where the chances of losing customers are more if you fail to provide the payment option they use. So, integrate multiple payment options (i.e. credit/debit card, mwallet, and Apple Pay, Google Pay, or PayPal integration) only after understanding your target audience and their preferences.

Know the Business Model of Top 5 Meditation Apps

Before you jump into the meditation app development, take inspiration from the top meditation app leaders and plan your smart move to thrive in this industry.

Calm App

calm app This meditation app has the highest flexibility level. It is good for beginners, especially those who have less time. The app is less affected by the calming background sound and is really very easy to follow.

Insight Timer App

insight-timer-app It is known for its giant library having 45000+ free meditations along with seven days intro course. This insight timer offers easy search and filter options and also access to a free community of meditators.

Headspace App

headspace app The user-friendly interface of the Headspace app provides guided sessions for beginners and helps in coping with the external sounds from a bundle of pre-recorded meditations to choose from.

Shine App

shine app This app allows users to use features that are more than just meditation. It has the option to offer bedtime stories, self-care exercises, gratitude check-ins, etc. It also aids users with motivational text messages about life and positivity.

Ten Percent happier App

Ten-Percent-Happier-App People who are suffering from lack of sleep and heavy stress must use this app. This app enables users to connect with experts to ask relatable questions and provides more than 100 free meditations to learn.

How Much Does It Cost To Develop A Meditation App?

There is no fixed estimated cost for developing a meditation app. The app development cost entirely depends on its features, its platform, hourly development rate, the team structure, location of the development team, etc.

  • App Platform – Do you want to develop the app on the iOS platform or Android or both? The cost varies platform wise.
  • App Design – The user interface and user experience is the essence of any app that woo users’ attention and keep them glued. So, you should not compromise with the design for cracking down the cost and hire the best UI/UX development company after checking their portfolio.
  • The Development Team – The type of development team will affect your development cost because it will vary depending on the features like location, team experience, size, expertise, etc. Ultimately, the differences in these factors will fluctuate the cost.
  • Third-Party Integrations – Apart from the development of features and functionalities in the User app and Admin Panel, if you go for any third-party integrations it will add to the cost more as its development is time-consuming and require extra efforts.
  • Features and functionalities – It is obvious that app features play a crucial role and if the features are complex it will cost more. Therefore, it is always recommended to have a good budget if you are planning for a full-fledged app, or else you can either go for the basic app in a low or minimum budget.

A Ballpark Figure

But still if you’re looking for a ballpark figure, the estimated cost of the meditation app development starts from around 20k and it keeps on increasing as the requirement changes in your development process.

Wrapping Up!

Meditation apps are no doubt taking a huge market share these days and helping people to de-stress and increase concentration powers. But with technological advancement, the number of market players is increasing to offer the best in class services. So, if you need to take competitive advantage and join the leadership journey of meditation apps then focus on the leading companies and their marketing strategies. This post has covered all the essential aspects to include in the meditation app development, now just develop a thorough understanding and make a smart move. Let society be overwhelmed with your efforts of eradicating the rising issues of anxiety and stress among all age groups.

AWS Vs. Azure: Which Cloud Platform Is Best

Time and time again, Cloud Computing is proving its eternity in the world of technology. The shift from conventional software models has promised that Cloud is no more a fad. It’s a data hub promising new ways to collaborate anywhere, through mobile devices.

As cloud computing grows in popularity, a plethora of companies are simply testing their waters and increasing equities through cloud offerings. Among the various available cloud service providers; AWS (Amazon Web Services) and Azure (Microsoft Azure) are the top two cloud service providers that organizations are using to build robust, secure, and reliable platforms.

The cloud industry is a new entrant, thus it’s evolving regularly and enhancing the experiences of software development, deployment, reliability, security, and performance.

Well, we understand, just simply stating the names of the two best cloud service providers won’t be much of a help. As the question pops up which one is going to be the right solution for your business! Therefore, to drill down the best, we have prepared a comparative analysis on AWS and Azure. Let’s understand both the services and perform an informed comparison of AWS vs. Azure.

What is AWS?

AWS- Amazon Web Services is currently the market leader in cloud computing services. It is the most mature cloud platform, incepted in 2006 and offers a wide range of services to all its clients’ i.e. large organizations or individual developers, and even the government organizations.

The AWS cloud services are designed in such a way that they work with each other to deliver an efficient and scalable output. The services are divided into 3 categories;

  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS),
  • Software as a Service (SaaS), and
  • Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Overall, AWS offers more than 200 services, such as application services, deployment, database, compute, storage, networking, management, mobile management, developer tools, etc. The AWS evolved into a publicly available cloud platform, includes services like Amazon S3 cloud storage and Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).

Some of the prominent AWS clients are;

  • Netflix
  • Coinbase
  • Coca-Cola
  • Expedia
  • Lyft
  • Coursera
  • Airbnb
  • Intuit
  • Formula1
  • FDA (Food and Drug Administration), etc.

Advantages and Disadvantages of AWS Cloud Services

Advantages Disadvantages
Provides multiple services, ranging from networking to robotics. The developer and enterprise support needed to be purchased.
A mature cloud service. Could be complicated for a beginner to handle a number of available services and options at a time.
Provides top-quality security and reliability with cloud services. It has limited options for hybrid cloud, as compared to other cloud services.
As compared to Azure, AWS has more computable capacity and GCP.
The major software providers or companies can make their programs available on AWS.

What is Azure?

Azure is a Microsoft product and the second-largest cloud platform. Microsoft Azure was introduced in 2010 to provide a highly secure and competent cloud computing platform for businesses. It offers more than 100 services like networking, storage, computing, analytics, the Internet of Things, and many more. It also provides a wide range of customized services for Microsoft-centric organizations/enterprises.

Microsoft extends its support in making the switch to a cloud or a hybrid-cloud environment quite smooth for organizations. Its services can be categorized under two different phases;

  • Platform as a Service (PaaS), and
  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Azure is not only confined to Windows-based services, but it also supports open-source platforms, technologies, and languages. Hence, it allows the liberty to build and support any application. The global network of data centres supports Microsoft to enable the building, deploying, and managing of apps and services. 

Some of the prominent Microsoft Azure clients are;

  • Asos
  • McKesson Group
  • Starbucks
  • 3M
  • HSBC
  • HP
  • Renault
  • Mitsubishi Electric
  • Daimler AG
  • Nation Health Service (NHS), UKgg
  • Centre of Disease Control (CDC), US, etc.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Azure Cloud Services

Advantages Disadvantages
For existing Microsoft services, it becomes easy to integrate and migrate. As compared to AWS, it has lesser services to offer.
Provides multiple services, such as Analytics services, best-in-class AI and ML. Specially focused on enterprise clients.
Extends great support for Hybrid Cloud Strategies.
Comparatively Cheaper than other services, like AWS and Google Cloud Platform.

Amazon AWS Vs. Microsoft Azure

1. Computation Services

AWS- AWS provides numerous virtual computation services for effective computing. Some of the best computing infrastructures are AWS Lambda, Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Elastic Beanstalk, etc. AWS uses EC2 Container Services and EC2 Container Registry, as a primary solution for scalable computing and software container management with Docker or Kubernetes. The AWS EC2 users can configure their own Virtual Machines (VMs), customize Machine Images (MIs), or select pre-configured MIs. The user can choose the power, size, number, and memory capacity of VMs they require.

Azure- Azure is the largest cloud computing service provider. It provides numerous infrastructures, such as functions, services, container services, VMs. etc. However, for computing purposes, Azure prefers virtual machines, and to scale at a greater level, it uses virtual machine scale sets. For software management, in the Docker container, Azure uses Container Service (AKS) and uses Container Registry for Docker container registry.

2. Storage Services

AWS- AWS storage services rely on a virtual machine hosted on AWS infrastructure. The storage is basically for individual instances; the temporary storage is assigned once for each instance and destroyed after the instance is terminated. AWS uses Simple Storage Service (S3), and it provides an immense amount of documentation and tutorials. S3 is offered with object storage and data archiving services with Glacier. It entirely supports NoSQL, Relational Databases, and Big Data.

Azure- Azure cloud computing supports import-export, site recovery, and backup for retrieval and archival options. Azure primarily stores data in the Microsoft cloud and is built to provide feasible solutions for the ongoing data storage concern. It uses storage block bob for data storage, which is a combination of blocks and uploads large blobs easily. Azure also stores temporary data by using blocks, disk drives, and file system services.

3. Networking Services

AWS- It uses Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) to enable users to develop an isolated private network, network gateways, private IP address, subnets, and route table within the cloud umbrella. To make it possible, AWS uses API gateways for cross-premises connectivity. Hence, to provide smooth and cordial operations, it uses elastic load balancing while networking.

Azure- Microsoft Azure follows slightly a different approach. It uses a Virtual Network instead of VPC that gives the user the ability to develop an isolated network, subnets, private IP ranges, route tables, and network gateways. For cross-network connectivity, can use a VPN gateway. During content delivery to balance the load, it deals with load balancer and application gateway.

4. Database Services

AWS- To handle both structured and unstructured data, AWS uses relational databases for durability, and it also supports multiple database engines like MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, Amazon Aurora, and MariaDB. For caching purposes, it also provides NoSQL and DynamoDB solutions and Elastic Cache.

Azure- To manage structured and unstructured data, Azure uses PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQL databases, for the relational database, Redis Cache for caching purposes, and Cosmos database for NoSQL solutions. The Azure Stack allows bringing Azure functionality to clients’ on-premise data centers.

5. Deploying App

AWS- AWS allows its users/developers to deliver the application on multiple servers virtually by leveraging the capabilities of Platform as a Service (PaaS). It provides the solution with Batch, Lambda, Elastic Beanstalk, Container Service, etc. However, it doesn’t have all the supportive features of app hosting.

Azure- Azure cloud services provide a simple application deployment process. It also leverages the capabilities of Platform as a Service (PaaS). In Microsoft Azure, the user has multiple app deployment tools, such as container service, cloud service, app services, functions, batch, etc.

6. Pricing Model

AWS- Amazon AWS follows a pay-as-you-go model and charges on per hour basis. The user can save more with increasing usage i.e. the more you use, the less you pay. The user can purchase AWS cloud services under the following models;

  • Reserved Instances- Pay an exact or fixed amount based on the storage size; the client can reserve the storage space for 1 to 3 years.
  • On-Demand Instances- The user has to pay only for the storage space they are using, without paying any upfront charges.
  • Spot Instances- Based on the prediction of storage requirements and the available space, the client can bid for additional space requirements.

Azure- Microsoft Azure also follows the pay-as-you-go model, but charges per minute, which provides a more accurate pricing model. It also provides short-term associations with the options of pre-paid or monthly payment structure. However, Azure’s pricing model is less flexible and almost twice costlier than AWS.

Wrapping Up!

The selection of a suitable and correct cloud platform is entirely dependent on the structure and needs of an organization. Both Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure cloud services are dynamic and powerful platforms. Moreover, both AWS vs. Azure cloud services are stuffed with a list of features but the selection can only be made after analyzing the business requirements.

We hope you gained a good understanding of the services offered by AWS and Azure cloud services. If you are looking for a wider range of tools and services or Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) then go with AWS. On the other hand, if you are looking for Windows Integration or Platform as a Service (PaaS) then select Azure.

Well, we are here to make the entire process easier from start to finish. If you are looking for reliable and experienced hands to build or migrate your business data to the clouds, then Codiant could be the apt solution builder. For further consultancy, reach out to our experts, to get what you need.

The Ultimate Guide to Fantasy Sports App Development

The rise and rise of the Fantasy sports app is for the right reason. In a short span of time, the virtual gaming app has made people go frenzy with its spine-tingling features.

Hitting a $22.31 billion market in 2021 at a CAGR of 9.5%, the fun-tastic and thrilling online fantasy sports gaming has managed to fuel the requirement of Fantasy Sports App Development Company. Further, the market is expected to reach $38.60 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 14.7%.

The secret glory behind such a massive adoption rate goes to a big pie of the population that follows sports religiously.

More than ever before, the surge in demand for fantasy sports apps has opened up new avenues for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs looking to stack money exponentially in a short time. Consequently, leading to an unprecedented spike in fantasy sports app development across the world.

According to a Statista survey, about 85% of gamers prefer to play games via fantasy sports app, whereas only 7% and 8% prefer to play on desktop and website respectively.

The fantasy sports app hooks rewards, cash prizes, and a rollercoaster experience that users from different age groups vie for. Witnessing this addictive behaviour, wild popularity, and massive demand, We were compelled to prepare a detailed guide that can be prove to be a treasure trove for entrepreneurs or investors planning for a fantasy sports app platform.

What is a Fantasy Sports App?

Fantasy Sports app is a fun, inexpensive, and low-energy online prediction game played on the mobile app where the fantasy gamers (person that plays the game) create a virtual team of real sports players. They earn points based on the players’ performances in real-life sports that are converted into fantasy points.

There are two types of fantasy sports widely popular i.e. season-long draft system and daily fantasy leagues (DFL). The fantasy sports platform hosts multiple sports for engagement, including Football, Cricket, Basketball, Golf, Soccer, Hockey, etc. majorly from the Indian Premier League (IPL), English Premier League (EPL) the National Basketball Association (NBA), among others. The app makes the real-time game going on the field interesting for viewers by allowing them to play and be a participant in the app.

How Do the Fantasy Sports App Function?

The app user/participant simply has to create a virtual team of real sports players with a selected budget who they think will score the most points for the selected match. Once the game begins, the individual player’s performance gets converted into points (as decided by the app manager) which in the end gets summed up to declare the result. The team with the highest points is declared as the winner of the contest. Here is a step-by-step process to start with.

  1. Join a Match: After registering or logging in to the app, the user can select the match from the available options.
  2. Build a Team: Based on the game’s requirement, user can pick the team members.
  3. Choose the Leader: After finalizing the team, the user can select the team captain.
  4. Team Division: Based on the sport’s guidelines and rules, users can divide the team where virtual players are allowed to join.
  5. Team Management: As per the game’s rule, the user can change their team members.
  6. Earning Points: Based on the match performance, the players are assigned points, and these highest total points help to announce the winner.

Why Fantasy Sports Apps are Quickly Gaining Popularity?

Since, the inception of the virtual gaming concept, Fantasy sports apps are making rapid strides and going mainstream in many countries. The increasing growth of daily fantasy sports is subjected to reasons like;

  • Let’s users participate in quick and easy real money games.
  • It offers near to real experience for sports enthusiasts.
  • Users can also participate in polls and earn bonus cash through referrals.
  • It enhances skills and interest and chucks off monotonous life.
  • It helps to build a connection with globally like-minded people.
  • It gives an opportunity to sport lovers or fans to change the result of the actual game on a fantasy sports app.
  • It also works as a brilliant community building for the fans to empathize with each other.
  • According to Statista, there were 45.9 million fantasy sports players in United States in 2019.

fantasy-app-statistics1640855778

What are the Must-have Features of A Fantasy Sports App Development?

A fantasy sports app comprises of two stakeholders, i.e., User/Participant and Admin Panel. We have narrowed down some vital features that both stakeholders’ apps require in efficient functioning of Fantasy Sports App Development.

Participants/Users App Features

  1. SignUp/LogIn Option: It is one of the primary and mandatory features of a fantasy sports app. Users can signup with an email id or phone number and password or can use social logins as well.
  2. Home Screen: It’s the first page that the user gets after signup/login. The page contains a variety of information about sports, profiles, settings, tournaments, offers, etc.
  3. Build Profile: User can manage their complete profile and perform modifications like add, edit, or delete the details.
  4. Live Score: It allows users to get the live match scores and feeds.
  5. Select Team: The user can build his team by choosing the favorite and well performing team players. To make such decisions right, users can view the statistics based on the real-time performances of each player.
  6. Join Game: This feature allows users to join the ongoing or be a part of any scheduled match.
  7. Match Result: Here users can track all of their played matches or tournaments along with their results, awards, and rewards.
  8. Match Analytics: Through this feature, the user can predict team players’ real-time performance and team’s historical data.
  9. Mail Reminders: User should be able to receive a reminder mail and notifications for events such as upcoming matches, match invites, payments, renewals, new updates, etc.
  10. Payment Mode: To make in-app purchases or retain earnings, users can exercise multiple modes of payments.
  11. In-app Chat: With this feature users can chat with their fellow teammates and other app users globally.
  12. Social Media Sharing: The user can share his match performance or updates on his social media account and can invite others to join.
  13. Invite & Earn: User can invite their friends to join the application, and on each successful joining the user earns reward.

Admin Panel Features

  1. Signup/Login: Admin can signup/login to his account through email id/contact number and password.
  2. Organize Leagues/Tournaments: Admin can organize the sporting event to attract global users to connect and play, rather than playing with their known community.
  3. Manage Results: Through this feature, the admin can keep track of the results of all the matches played and every individual earned points.
  4. Track Payment: Admin can take care of all the payment details and the user details as well.
  5. Rewards Management: Admin can maintain track of all the rewards and prizes earned by each player in all sporting events.
  6. Manage Players, Team, Matches, and Tournaments: Admin can manage all the details of players, team, matches, tournaments, etc.
  7. Notifications: The notification feature informs users about the latest updates, player performance, proposed events, daily offers, etc.
  8. Merchandise Sales: Admin can handle merchandise sales of collaborated brands and teams to generate revenue.

How To Get Started? Steps To Develop A Fantasy Sports App

Here are a few simple steps to start with a promising Fantasy sports app development.

Step 1- Define Your Fantasy Sports App Objective

To develop an app, first, you need to define your business objective and niche market, i.e., which type of fantasy sports app you are planning to build.

Step 2- Conduct a Market Research

To ensure the success of your business, it is important to perform a detailed market research. It is a crucial component of any fantasy sports app to develop an updated product with the latest features and trends.

Step 3- Select an Online Platform

There are multiple app development platforms available in the market i.e. iOS, Android, and Cross Platform. As per your target audience, earning goals, deadline and budget, you can easily decide on what all platforms your fantasy app idea will deliver the best result.

Step 4- App’s UX Design

The design of the app is the crucial step of fantasy app development. The UI/UX is the basic building block that attracts users and retains them for longer. But, the app should be simple in design, so that user doesn’t have to experience a hard time while interacting with the app.

Step 5- Coding and Database Designing

Front-end is how an app looks but the back-end development is responsible for that front-end smooth functionality. The developers will develop the user app and admin panel of the fantasy app based on the wireframes. These back-end developers sync the visual elements, features, and functionality to work smoothly. Apart from that, an app also requires a well-curated database to store all the data in a proper format that keeps it safe and secure.

Step 6- App Deployment

After finalizing and developing the app accurately, now it’s time to deploy the app on a suitable platform. When the app is deployed on the right platform, the user can find, download, and access it easily.

Step 7- Optimize Mobile App

Also known as App Store Optimization (ASO), this is the process to higher your app rank in the App Store or Play Store’s search results. Higher rankings makes your app more visible to its potential customers. So, ensure you optimize your app for the app store.

Step 8- Monetize the App

The main purpose of any app or business is to make money out of it. To make this happen, you need to monetize the app through multiple modes, such as in-app advertisements, brand promotion, in-app purchases, commission, different packages or premium subscriptions, etc.

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5 Strategic Ways to Monetize Your Fantasy Sports App

  1. Participation FeesThe fantasy sports app can be monetized by enforcing the minimum participation fee. The user had to pay nominal charges to enter into any league or tournament. It can be the most prominent yet effective way of monetizing the fantasy sports app. Part of these fees can be used in defining the cash prize of the tournament.
  2. AdvertisementsAdvertisements are a brilliant mode of generating revenues, especially when the app is performing well among competitors. The companies tend to prefer such demanding and well-performing apps to market their products and are willing to pay a hefty amount to use the fantasy sports apps for the advertisement of their products.
  3. MerchandisingThe fantasy sports app can monetize their business by introducing customized merchandise, accessories, and apparel. It can also be a good marketing strategy to reach more audiences along with generating revenues. There could be a variety of merchandise related to sports, popular events, etc.
  4. Organizing Leagues or TournamentsOrganizing frequent leagues or tournaments can increase the customer base and make them pay registration or participation fees. It can also boost revenue generation along with attracting and retaining customers. These leagues or tournaments are highly engaging for sports enthusiasts, and sometimes it works like an ethical gamble to make a safe bet.
  5. Daily EventsAlmost every participant in a fantasy sports app seek instant or daily rewards. Such strategies can motivate curious players to participate and play more frequently. These daily events, award of fantasy sports app attract these types of players on the app which compels them to register on the app and pay the minimum on-boarding charges.

Major Players In Fantasy Sports Market Making Headlines

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Cost Estimation of Fantasy Sports App Development

After analysing the features of an app and its development process, now it is important to figure out the approximate budget of the app development. The cost can be influenced by multiple factors, such as the location of the Development Company, size of the development team, the complexity level of the app, experience level of developers, quality of UX design, size of the project, project timeline, and many more.

All these factors greatly affect the overall budget of any app. So, while considering all these factors, along with the features of the app, the estimated development cost of a fantasy sports app will somewhere range around US $30,000 to $40,000.

Related post: How to Develop a Fantasy Sports Mobile App like Dream11?

Striking the Right Chord!

The fantasy sports app has a worldwide fan base and is one of the potential market segments that predicts huge growth in the upcoming times. As of now, there are many fantasy sports app available in the market, such as DraftKings, SuperDraft, FanDuel, LineStar, etc. that have covered a huge market, received good reviews, and attained credibility amidst the users.

Put simply, no time can be greater than now to invest in fantasy sports app development. Those who are interested or are planning to get into the e-gaming industry with a fantasy sports app, should not waste a second and quickly touch base with the best Fantasy Sports App Development Company that religiously develops apps that tend to go viral with its infectious UX. Not to forget, Codiant can be your best bet to develop an offbeat fantasy sports app that evokes interest on every tap.

Top 10 Benefits of On-Demand Delivery Apps Offering Better Business Outcomes

When COVID-19 hit the markets by shutting them down for almost a year-round, it was only the on-demand delivery app that kept the head above water to save both lives and livelihoods.

Right from supplying daily necessities by running errands to buy grocery, food, dairy, medicines to providing on-demand pick-up and delivery services- On-demand delivery app development was no less than a technology boon for society as a whole.

In 2020, the revenue of U.S. food delivery apps reached $26.5 billion — a whopping 204% increase since 2015. This swiftly developing sector is now projected to reach between 55% and 66% of U.S. consumers by the end of 2024, depending on how long the pandemic lasts.

The on-demand delivery industry is going through a revolutionary phase with the market showing huge prospects and attracting heavy investments.

These extremely useful apps help to match the soaring demands and supply with full ease and convenience to the customers looking for instant door-to-door services. Beyond instant service delivery, the app also helps businesses increase their online recognition, build a huge customer base with increased customer retention, and boost their ROI significantly.

If you’re an entrepreneur or a service aggregator looking to learn about the direct benefits an on-demand delivery mobile app can provide to businesses and direct consumers, then this article has got you covered.

What Is An On-Demand Delivery App?

An on-demand mobile app gets consumers what they want, when they want. An on-demand mobile app product integrates a set of features that allows consumers to make instant requests for any kind of delivery service. The app consists of majorly three user roles: Customer, Delivery Boy and Service Provider.

How Does It Work?

  • Customer browses and selects the desired product
  • Books the order
  • Track the delivery through geo-location map
  • Receives the order at doorsteps
  • Makes online payment or pays cash on delivery

Top 10 Benefits Of On-Demand Delivery Apps

  1. Makes Business Processes Easy
  2. Meets Financial Targets & Increases ROI
  3. Suitable For All Business Type and Size
  4. Help You Reach the Right Audience
  5. Collects Valuable Customer Data
  6. Gathers Customers’ Feedback
  7. Enhances Cost-Effectiveness Of The Business
  8. Offers Uninterrupted Mode Of Payment
  9. Takes The Competitive Advantage Of The Market
  10. Supports In Acquiring VCs and Investors Easily

1. Helps You In Making Business Processes Easy

Seamless customer interaction acts as a catalyst to any B2C business. On-demand delivery apps provide a perfect online platform to quickly connect with the customers looking for instant services at their doorsteps. Features like searching nearby services, online booking, calling the servicemen, multiple payment options ensure customers get full convenience in just a few taps.

On-demand delivery apps also benefit businesses to showcase their offers, discounts, and new arrivals. Thus, enabling businesses to carry out all laborious tasks online with full ease in less time and resources.

2. Helps You In Meeting Financial Targets & Increasing ROI

Mitigating the current issues & modifying everything as per the customer’s requirements is what a business needs to be successful these days. Mobile apps have become a crucial tool to satiate the ever-demanding customers. So, it’s always a worthy investment to invest in on-demand delivery apps as the app gives you full flexibility to offer custom services, make an informed decision, and tune strategy and pricing as per the current market scenario.

That said, there lies a great opportunity for all those who are running businesses like Grocery selling, food/restaurant business, service delivery, taxi services, etc. An on-demand delivery app will not only provide better ROI but also help to scale up your daily business activities remarkably.

3. Suitable For All Business Type and Size

No matter what is the scope, scale, or sector of your business, you can still choose to have an on-demand delivery app & modify it according to your niche. The customizable nature is the basic reason why this app is getting so much popularity these days.

Apart from this, multiple features can be added with the altering trends which are user-friendly to the audience.

The most popular types of delivery apps flourishing in the market are:

4. Increases Visibility & Help You Reach the Right Audience

The major part of the business revenue is invested in promotions & advertisements to reach a wider audience & spread awareness about the business which is too heavy to pocket. The on-demand delivery removes this obstacle by providing an edge to reach the right audience and a wide range of people.

So, if you are looking to invest in digital to scale your existing business operations with increased visibility, there is no better choice than an on-demand delivery app.

5. Helps To Collect Valuable Customer Data

People using the on-demand delivery apps have to onboard on the app via account login/sign up in order to avail benefits offered by service providers. This helps app owners to capture important customer details like name, mobile number, email id, address, etc.

Information like these can help businesses categorize their customers in divisions of age, location, lifestyle, behavior, and preferences. Eventually, helping them to connect their customers better by targeting them with their specific demands and preferences. Like for instance, this data can help in email marketing, providing the right offer at right time, adding customer-centric features to the app, etc.

6. Gathers Customers’ Feedback And Helps To Act On It

“If we don’t know how our customers feel, what makes them tick, or where they are frustrated …we will fail.” And it all starts with gathering customer feedback and knowing if your customers are happy with your services or where do they face problems!

On-demand delivery apps offer an in-built system of gathering customer feedback which makes the process smooth. Now, as a business owner, you will be able to find out loopholes in your services, functions which need attention. Eventually, helping you to focus on improving your products & services. In short, getting customer feedback is an amazing way to ensure quality services without investing much time & effort.

7. Enhances Cost-Effectiveness Of The Business

One of the excellent benefits of using the delivery app is to reduce the operational cost & human dependency which was not possible without digital automation. The whole process from accepting orders, resolving queries to delivery or payment can be done easily and therefore on-demand apps are termed as cost-effective to run business in this advanced technology world.

In addition to this, the on-demand delivery app also helps in cutting promotion or advertisement costs as businesses can promote offers/discounts/updates in the app itself.

8. Offers Uninterrupted Mode Of Payment

Online payment has become a popular trend, especially after the pandemic. The multiple safe and secured modes of payment offered to the customers like UPI payment, net banking, credit/debit cards, wallet balance, etc. adds convenience to make an impulsive buy.

Thus, leading to increased customer satisfaction, a better flow of transactions, increased sales and outreach to the national market, and a full stop to any kind of fraudulent activities during the purchase or sale.

9. Helps To Take The Competitive Advantage Of The Market

Carrying modifications to the app according to customers’ needs and wants becomes easy with on-demand delivery app development. Businesses lose popularity because they lack in fulfilling the customer’s demand which is essential to scale up the business.

The on-demand delivery app will help in understanding customer preferences, the demand for new products, new trends which can be easily developed in the app. Hence, investing in on-demand mobility is beneficial to take a competitive advantage, as you will be way ahead of competitors who do not have an on-demand delivery app till now.

10. Support In Acquiring Venture Capitalists and Investors Easily

Many startups or businesses fail to scale up because they do not have enough budget to spend on their trade. The on-demand delivery app is poised to attract investors progressively as the idea is market validated with high growth potential.

There are many brands that have historically lured funders showing exponential growth and raised funds to expand their operations and go global from local. Ultimately, helping app owners lead with high business growth, streamlined businesses processes, and speedy flow of other trade activities.

The Final Words:

By now you must have understood that an on-demand delivery app is a lifesaver for businesses even during the pandemic time. Businesses managed to survive even in the darkest phase of life and all that was possible, because of on-demand delivery mobile apps.

It is now your responsibility as a business to leverage the multiple benefits that come along and make a positive impact on your bottom line.

So, why wait? Take your business to greater heights of success with on-demand delivery app development.

Armed with cutting-edge technologies, Codiant has a special knack for developing apps for diverse industries like grocery and food delivery, healthcare & telemedicine, medicine and cannabis, on-demand service marketplace, fitness, and more.

How Logistics Management Software Will Transform Business in 2022

The logistics sector awaits disruption. The history of inefficiencies witnessed in the pandemic needs to be transported. Flexibility and productivity should be the heart of supply chain organizations.

Put it all together, as we write the new chapter of 2022, unlocking automation in the transport and logistics industry has become the only answer.

The logistics sector has always been a key player in connecting different national economies and cementing the way for the cyclic flow of goods exchanged globally. It is the nucleus of economic affluence and worldwide interconnection.

As the E-commerce volumes soar, automating freight flows, digitalizing every touchpoint of the supply chain to efficiently handle a gamut of operations in a cost-effective and agile way should be the first agenda of logistics CEOs.

If reports are to be believed, by the year 2024, global freight volume will surge to 92.1 billion tons owing to external factors such as cost pressure, demand fluctuation, sustainability, complex and dynamic market, and changing consumer behavior.

In such a fast-paced environment with growing transport volumes, Logistics and transport management software play a key interface for the managers in the supply chain. Giving them an efficient medium to monitor their shipments, optimize delivery routes, communicate with partners, and oversee distribution with full transparency.

With this article, Codiant- a leading logistics management software development company offers an overview of the market for transport management systems and talks on the upcoming technology trends that will reshape logistics management. Hope it helps you to gain new insights and inspires you to make technical advances.

Major Hurdles and Challenges In Logistics Industry

Lack of Coordination

The major challenge the logistics industry goes through is inconsistency and fragmentation. In the logistics and trucking sector, multiple parties are involved —right from manufacturers and storekeepers to carriers, shippers, and end-users— which makes the coordination quite a tedious process. Certainly, monitoring each activity at every touchpoint without any central control is a time-consuming process that also misses the guarantee of accuracy. This open-ended fragmentation often causes inefficiency in establishing a synchronization among multiple parties.

Blunders In Warehouse Management

Warehouse management is another concern for the logistics industry to track and manage a huge number of goods and cargo. Feasibly it is quite complicated to manage a bulk of cargo. A single stock error results into misplaced or lost goods, thus, making product stacking in the warehouse a critical process than ever.

Given the chances of errors, companies prefer adopting warehouse management mobile applications powered with barcode scanners and voice technologies to automate the products’ stacking & loading process and identify goods digitally.

Absence of Internal Communication

Maintaining smooth internal communication and building organizational trust is the major challenge for any business to sustain in the competitive market. The culture of facilitating work processes directly bears on employee’s productivity level.

Apparently, companies lack the innovation to interact with employees or train them to adopt new tools or technologies to introduce changes in the work environment. This, as a result, decrease efficiency as well as divides the strategic vision organizations look to achieve.

To overcome this prevailing issue, companies must look for logistics app development that integrates management training functions.

Not Keeping Customers Well-Informed

Honest interactions with customers increase loyalty and build long-lasting relationships. This is where typically the logistics industry fails. Customers like to have flexibility—in placing orders online or offline, door-to-door package delivery or pick up from the store, tracking the shipment anytime—in addition to the urge to have a quicker and safer delivery.

To make all this possible and provide transparency to the customer at each step, while keeping them well informed remains a major challenge for the industry. Thanks to digital technologies, logistics apps powered with CRM solutions are acting as a forerunner to keep customers up-to-date about the delivery steps.

Fleet Inspection & Maintenance

To ensure smooth cargo shipment and eliminate downtime, companies require well-maintained vehicles. But to track the condition of all the vehicles on the daily basis is very complicated to do manually. Therefore, having a centralized system to inspect, take an update and status of each vehicle from any location will make it handy.

With Fleet management solutions, companies can adhere to routine vehicle check-ups, set service schedules, and receive automatic updates in real-time.

Influence of Technology In Logistic Software Development

Meeting Customer Expectations

As we inch closer towards digitalization, customers’ expectations are rising quickly. They expect quick and flexible delivery of goods with easy tracking. In fact, they seek order delivery flexibility by changing the shipment location just after the product left the warehouse.

How to Design and Develop a Healthcare App?

The hallmark of a robust, resilient, and possessive healthcare app is its ability to become a collective solution for its most vulnerable users. Few taps, simple navigation, and no rocket science – and you are the winner!

The root of the ‘healthcare app development’ lies in better connectivity between patients and doctors. Design-thinking led strategic user experience supported with advanced technologies and third-party integrations makes this demanding task a school play.

We’re excited to share the growth formula of starting a new healthcare app development project with full ease.

10 Steps to Design and Develop a Healthcare App

As tech trends are gaining new heights with dynamic market demands, doctors and patients are relentlessly pinning their hopes on new tech-oriented features that could bridge their gap to connect with each other. In this chase for seamless connectivity, telehealth mobile apps are capturing the biggest market pie with an unprecedented revolution.

To be distinct from the competition, introducing a unique idea or developing a healthcare app is not an easy process, so let’s understand in detail how to lay down the stepping stone.

1. Identify the Problem You Want Your App To Solve

There are numerous competitive healthcare apps existing in the market, so it is crucial to analyze the market requirement and your niche expertise and then develop the app. Based on the analysis, gear up to propose the right solution to the customers through healthcare app development.

If in case, you fail to culminate the right issues, then try to answer the following questions-

  • What problem your app is addressing and how the user’s life will become easier?
  • Does your healthcare app fill the existing market gap?
  • Will your app idea beat the competition?

The mobile app industry is heavily crowded, so it is crucial to pick the right business idea to attract users. If your app fails to deliver the proper solution to the user’s problem efficiently, then you are also going to be part of the cluster, rather than being one of the market leaders.

Bonus: Some of the pressing issues of the healthcare apps that you could solve through advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, symptoms trackers, and training programs are:

  • Mobile healthcare apps have serious ongoing problems with “Privacy”. Confusing privacy disclosure makes it tricky for users to know the implications.
  • “Misdiagnosis” is another concern that is affecting patient-doctor relationship trust. Healthcare apps powered by AI and symptom trackers can help Doctors diagnose more accurately.
  • “Limited access to advanced clinical training” is also a matter of distress that directly impacts seamless delivery of healthcare services. This issue can be solved through online training programs.

2. Analyze Your Target Audience

“One Size Does Not Fit All”. Market Segmentation is the key. Since you are delivering the mobile app solution to the users, so it is recommended to design your products and services by studying your prospective users in the early stage only. It will help you to understand the users, the demographics, and their heterogeneous needs to define your specific target audience. A useful construct is to look at:

  • What is the location of your prospect users?
  • What preferences do they have with healthcare app solutions?
  • What demographic segment do they belong to?
  • What type of devices does your target market possess?
  • Does your target audience suffer from some chronic diseases?
  • What do they demand or expect from the healthcare app solutions?
  • What are their priorities, values, and attitudes when they go to consult a care provider?

This can also be carried out well through the segmentation of health-care consumers on the determinants of psychological, socio-demographic, and socio-economic variables. The survey will help you to align supply and demand and facilitate the selection of target groups through the right solution.

The other benefits of healthcare market segmentation are better engagement with patients and a clear approach to delivering tailored healthcare services with strategized healthcare marketing.

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3. Define the Type of Healthcare App Solution You’d Like to Build

“List out, define, and scrutinize”- should be your go-to strategy! Clearly, if you are looking for the types of healthcare app solutions that seem more appropriate for your business idea to introduce in the market, then you will witness a plethora of app ideas while considering three different users i.e., Patients, Medical Practitioners, and the Administrator. To make your search easier, here we dropped down the list of such healthcare app ideas.

Healthcare App Ideas for Medical Practitioners and Administrator

  • Telemedicine/TeleHealth App
  • Remote Patient Monitoring App (RPM)
  • Doctor Appointment & Clinical Assistance Apps
  • Medication Prescription or Dosage App
  • Medical Record App
  • Professional Networking Apps
  • Medical Training Apps

Healthcare App Ideas for Patients

  • Health Tracking App
  • Medication Tracking App
  • Ambulance Booking App
  • Mental Health App
  • Medical Education App
  • Diet and Fitness Apps
  • Women’s Health Apps

4. Choose Your App Features & Advanced Technologies

Once you decide on the type of healthcare app solution, you can proceed to the development phase. But, before development, you need to jot down the functionalities and relevant advanced technologies you like to introduce in your mobile application.

Key Features of Healthcare App Development

Apart from basic features, here are the popular key features that every telemedicine mobile app requires.

  • Schedule Appointments- Based on the doctor’s slot availability, users should be able to book an online appointment and visit with the specialist from your healthcare app.
  • Real-Time Video/Audio Chat- The real-time video and audio calling feature in the healthcare app design helps patients to connect directly with the doctor on an appointed time schedule to get online consultation, discuss health issues, get treatment, and receive e-prescription.
  • Chat and Messaging- This feature enables communication through chat & messages when call interaction is not required.
  • Secure Payment Integration- Providing multiple modes of secure online payment is a good option for global patients to reach out the specialist for consultation.
  • Geolocation- This feature enables patients to find doctors, clinics, pharmacies, and medical facilities based on the location search.
  • Progress Tracking- This means storing the current and previous data to do a comparative study and track the progress. This feature is useful in monitoring heart rate, calories burn, blood pressure, sugar level, etc.
  • Third-Party Integration- The healthcare application enables to connect HealthKit, Samsung Health, and Google Fit with measuring devices, such as smart scales, smartwatches, etc.
  • Analytics, Reporting, & Charting- It is intelligent to present patients or doctors data through visual reports and charts.
  • Cross-Platform Access- Develop a healthcare app that works properly on multiple platforms and devices i.e., smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
  • Offline Mode- In offline mode users can access frequently visited pages, such as user profile, chat, medical history, prescription, etc.
  • Push Notifications- The App sends notifications to the users to remind something, or educate them about something unique such as a new feature or functionality added, A new doctor joining the panel, and many more.
  • Real-Time Update- Providing updates in applications is important for healthcare applications that regularly refresh the data to ensure better analytics.
  • Security and Privacy- Telemedicine mobile apps take users’ sensitive and confidential data very seriously, therefore such apps should have quality privacy and security features.

Advanced Technologies Included In Healthcare App Development

The advanced technologies promote innovation by maintaining the trends and status quo in today’s healthcare app development. Such advanced features significantly upgrade the user experience. Let’s find out what such advanced technologies are.

  • AI & ML- AI is a smart technology that learns from the previous activities the software performs. Hence, AI-powered apps can easily track & identify health trends, ease diagnoses, and analyze a pool of data at a time. AI & ML work side-by-side; after data analysis, the ML technology can help medical personnel improve their ability to diagnose, by suggesting the right prescription, preventive measures, along with behavioral monitoring.
  • Blockchain- Blockchain-based healthcare apps provide a secure and tamper-proof environment to store and access data. Likewise, the healthcare apps possess a lot of personal details about patients and doctors as well, which requires good quality security to prevent any type of fraud or data theft. Blockchain can perfectly match the increasing need for the security of medical sensitive data.
  • IoT- Tracking physical activities using wearable devices has become a popular method to help people better monitor their health status both at an activity/fitness level. The IoT-enabled devices are wearable health devices, smartwatches, and fitness trackers. These devices track patient’s health data and send it to the doctor, which helps the doctor to monitor the progress and suggest prescriptions without their physical presence.
  • AR and VR- AR & VR technology work simultaneously to yield the best results and are very effective technologies in the healthcare industry. Both the technologies can be used to carry out physical therapy sessions remotely, whereas doctors can also educate and train their students safely to perform a surgery. Moreover, VR is also useful for biomedical education and medical training and also assists patients in understanding their diseases through a simulated environment.

5. Choose a Right Tech-Stack

Technologies are your app’s engine. Thus, choose the tech-stack very precociously. As it can influence the features you are looking to add to your healthcare app. You can develop a native or an Android or iOS-specific application.

This decision depends on your target audience’s device usage. So, keep in mind your users while developing the healthcare app and support different screen sizes as well, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops/computers. These devices ensure quick and instant access to the app.

For Healthcare App Development, the following technologies are recommended:

  • Programming Languages- Kotlin, Swift, PHP, Node.JS.
  • IDE- Xcode, Android Studio.
  • Application Framework- Ruby on Rails
  • JavaScript Framework- React Native
  • Automation Framework- RSpec, Capybara
  • Cloud Storage- Amazon S3
  • Database- PostgreSQL, Mongo DB, Redis, MySQL
  • Utilities- Google Analytics, Visual Website Optimizer, Mixpanel
  • Payment Gateway- Stripe, Paypal, Braintree
  • Deployment Platforms- Cloud, iOS Native, SaaS, Android Native

6. Research Privacy & Compliance Issues

The patient pool is continuously rising. So, is the sensitive medical data! Therefore, it is extremely crucial to address this alarming issue of privacy leakage in your app. While developing a healthcare app, make sure you comply with data privacy and medical regulations.

And In order to ensure the patient’s data always move to and fro in the app in a secured format and through a secure connection path, comply with the country/regional industry’s privacy regulations.

Like if you are developing an app in the US, then the personal health information should be protected by HIPAA. In European Union, the app needs to be compliant with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and In Canada, you must adhere to regulations of PIPEDA (the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) Likewise, The UAE Ministry of Health (MoHAP) for UAE.

Related Reading: What is HIPPA Compliance and Why is it Important for Healthcare Organizations?

7. Design UI/UX of Healthcare App Considering Users Requirements

Introducing a striking UI (User Interface) and effortless UX (User Experience) design is important for telemedicine apps’ success. A great UI/UX keeps users involved, attracts more users, and promotes trust in your product and services.

Such apps are frequently used by doctors and patients and they tend to invest a good amount of time along with providing sensitive and personal details. So, make sure to create a simple and easy-to-use app that does not take a cognitive toll on the user’s mind.

Consequently, avoid implementing complex designs that need high mental efforts, instead, promote a simple app. As, in vulnerable states, patients might struggle to use the app or in the worst case could stop the app usage and adopt a traditional mode of treatment.

To avoid such scenarios, it is suggested to implement a smart and user-friendly interface that drives patients to exercise all the services the healthcare app is offering in a hassle-free way.

8. Hire the Right Healthcare App Development Company

After analyzing all the aspects of healthcare app development, now it’s time to hire an experienced healthcare app development company with an expansive portfolio. Not every development team can accurately take your business idea on-floor. So, look for the right technical skills, expertise, and most importantly the experience in this domain.

To develop a detailed and quality product, a team of professionals is required who have already developed a series of successful healthcare mobile apps including telemedicine/telehealth, online appointment booking, doctor on-demand, remote patient monitoring apps, etc. Aim to hire the best healthcare app development companies, because they are experts on their craft and can help you to formulate strategies in a guided manner and can also suggest the latest trends and technologies whose demands are going to escalate in the near future.

9. Perform Testing and Quality Assurance

Before deploying the healthcare app in the market, it is essential to test the developed product and ensure the quality of the finished app. The Quality Assurance (QA) are specialists, who are responsible for maintaining the app quality while keeping the end-user in mind.

Apart from that, QA check also ensures that the app complies with the data security and follows the healthcare norms and regulations. Thus, to maintain the quality multiple types of testing can be performed by QA, such as A/B Testing, Black Box Testing, Alpha Testing, Beta Testing, Unit Testing, Acceptance Testing, and many more. Quality Assurance is crucial for an app because it identifies all the issues that must be resolved before app release.

10. Product Release and Continuous Support

After testing and debugging the healthcare app, now it’s time to deploy it on the relevant platforms i.e., App Store, or Play Store, or on both. Deploying an app is also a critical step because these platforms have norms that an app must follow. However, an expert healthcare app development company is aware of all that and can carry out product releases smoothly.

Once the app is deployed on respective platforms, you are not yet done with the development companies. Your app still requires continuous support to maintain the quality of the app and sort out any real-time technical issue, if arises. This phase also includes the introduction of app updates, which depicts that regularly your app has something new to offer to its users.

Develop A Healthcare App That Works for Your Target Market

The healthcare mobile app has a bright promising future due to its escalating market demands and increasing dependency post COVID. Therefore, to build a successful healthcare mobile app, the patient’s best interest should be the top priority.

If you are looking for a customized healthcare app development but experiencing a hard time finding the healthcare app development company, then don’t worry, now you have landed at the right place. Codiant has a team of experienced healthcare app developers and is ready to execute your idea and take it on a competitive level.

How to Develop a Bike Taxi App

On-demand bike taxi apps- the fresh addition to urban commutes is increasingly gaining popularity in the hustle and bustle of highly-populated cities like Vietnam, India, Cambodia, etc.

Hailed as a cheaper and faster alternative to taxi booking apps; the Bike taxi app development solution has emerged as a lucrative business investment idea.

Ease of riding bikes in the congested traffic, low incomes of a rising middle-class family, and the reduced riding rates are the key drivers of success in the Asia Pacific Taxi Market.

As per Statista, the estimated revenue of the ride-hailing market is expected to show an annual growth rate of 11.02% that means the projected market volume will grow to US$ 392,580m by 2025; with 48% of total revenue to be generated alone by online sales.

This soaring market of bike taxi software definitely calls for a post that dives in-depth into the tried, tested, and successful way to develop a market-leading bike-taxi app.

Let’s quickly get started!

How Does A Bike Taxi App Works?

After successfully registering on the app, the bike taxi app works in 3 simple steps:

  1. Passenger enters a pickup and drop off location(Views estimated trip fare with the time of arrival)
  2. Taps on ‘Book a Ride’(Passenger receives the driver’s detail, estimated trip fare with time of arrival)

    (The biker accepts the ride request and reaches the pick-up location)

  3. As soon as the trip ends, passenger pays the bike rider via m-wallet, card, or cash.(The passenger can rate and review the overall ride experience)

Top Market Players of Bike Taxi App

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  • Gojek An on-demand bike and taxi booking app platform offering ride-hailing and hyperlocal delivery services for consumers and businesses. Founded in Jakarta (Indonesia), Gojek is also hailed for offering on-demand delivery services of food, groceries, and packages.

    Note: This can be your 2nd USP if you look to add value to your bike taxi app development solution.

  • Rapido Rapido is India’s leading bike taxi app available for both Android and iOS app platforms. Power-packed with features like GPS, insured rides, real-time tracking, multiple payments, and more, Rapido has established a dominating presence on the streets of India. Rapido is founded in Bangalore (India) and is currently running in more than 100 cities with 25 Million+ app downloads.
  • Ola Bikes Ola Bikes app is the most popular ride-hailing service in India that offers a well-protected ride with top-of-the-line features like multiple payment options including Ola money, real-time tracking, secure OTP for every ride, Ride scheduling, corporate rides, and more.
  • UberMoto UberMoto is a unique personalized bike service launched by Uber. The app allows users to book bikes and scooters and match shorter distances from point A to point B; which also includes last-mile connectivity.
  • SafeBoda Safeboda is an Africa-based on-demand moto-taxi booking app that works on the ethics and social mission of safety, reliability, and trust amidst the driver and passenger. With Android and iOS app platforms, the SafeBoda app provides a safe, more convenient, and mobile-first alternative to urban transportation for Africa’s flourishing population.

The Must-Have Features in a Bike Taxi Software

There are 3 major stakeholders in the bike taxi app development solution that makes the ride-booking process seamless and easier for both rider and driver.

  1. Rider/Passenger App
  2. Driver App
  3. Admin Panel

Rider/Passenger App

  1. Easy Onboarding The rider should be able to quickly register in the app through mobile number, social accounts, and email id.
  2. Request a Ride Riders should be able to book a ride with a few taps i.e. simply by entering the pick-up and drop-off location.
  3. Maps Integrate maps for live route tracking, location visibility, and matching pick up and drop-off locations.
  4. Multiple Payments Mode Riders should get multiple payment options such as cash, card, digital wallets, and UPI payments.
  5. Push Notifications Riders should be able to get real-time alerts for updates like driver arriving, reached, offers, promotions, etc.
  6. Trip History Allow riders to check the previous booking history made through the app.
  7. Contact Driver Riders should be able to contact the driver for pick-up coordination.
  8. Rate and Review By enabling user feedback on the app you can increase the positive evaluation rate and increase engagement.
  9. Offers and Promos Offers and promo codes lure users to book rides. It’s a good way to increase your app installs and ride bookings.

Driver App Features

  1. Easy Registration Drivers’ registration should include a collection of all necessary documents like scanned copies of driving license, photo, vehicle insurance, etc.
  2. Set Active Status Give drivers the flexibility to operate part-time or full-time, go for a break when they want. All this can be done by allowing them to set their active status through toggles of online/offline.
  3. GPS Navigation A great pick up and drop off happens only when the driver reaches on time. Thankfully by integrating GPS navigation, you can enable drivers to track the optimized pickup and drop off route of customers on live- maps.
  4. Track Earnings Drivers are motivated by an income target for sure. Allowing drivers to track their daily/weekly earnings helps them to set their monetary goals and maximize productivity to reach goals.
  5. View Ratings Ratings are always seen as a performance report for Admin as well as the Driver. After each trip, as the rider rates the driver based on their trip experience, drivers should have the opportunity to view the individual ratings sent by the particular trip or person.

Admin App Features

  1. Interactive Dashboard Admin should have a bird’s-eye view of all the ongoing rides, total earnings, total active riders and drivers through an interactive dashboard.
  2. Manage Drivers Admin can add/remove drivers, see their personal details, message them personally, or broadcast messages to all drivers.
  3. Manage Customers Admin can activate/deactivate customers, access their contact details, book a ride on behalf of them and send them messages.
  4. Manage Notifications Admin should be able to manage the notifications to be sent to drivers and passengers.
  5. Manage Offers Admin can set offers, promo codes and discounts and incentives to referral rides.
  6. Manage Reviews Admin can manage reviews submitted by riders and take action on them like reading, replying, and removing.
  7. Manage Earnings Admin can check total daily earnings, manage the mode of payments and check earnings made by individual drivers.

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Total Cost To Develop A Bike Taxi App Development Solution

The total cost to developing and maintaining a Bike taxi management software ranges somewhere between USD 20, 000- USD 40,000.

However, there are several factors that decides the cost of creating an app product. Since serious mobile apps require a strong conceptual foundation, there goes an excellent ecosystem involving top talents in-app project planning, designing, and engineering. Therefore, the true cost to bike taxi app development bifurcates into different phases performed by the taxi app development company.

The activities that include major cost breakup are:

  • Project planning and management
  • UI/UX prototype development and designing
  • iOS and Android app development
  • Quality assurance and testing

Perhaps, the most important foundation to gearing up for all these points and creating a great taxi app is doing your research. Take the time to make sure how your app will play out in both long-term and short term. As per the research, draft your app-building strategies.

Bonus!

Need help in-app research and planning? Competitor assessment and strategy building? Don’t fret. You’re at the right place. Codiant is your end-to-end mobile app development partner having strong expertise in building bike taxi app software and other leading on-demand mobility solutions. Connect with us for a quick app demo that exactly matches your requirement. Let’s together build a great story of your brand.

How To Upgrade & Advance Your Grocery Business Using On-Demand Grocery App

Shoppers’ sensitivity towards buying groceries has increased. Nowadays, not only they are looking for convenience but aspects like transparency, product reviews, social shopping, and personalization are also taking the front seat in their lives.

This changing consumer behavior poses the biggest challenge for grocers operating their business in traditional brick n mortar stores.

To cut to the chase and to increase the customers’ trust and loyalty; grocers are compelled to upgrade their business with an advanced Grocery Delivery App Solution.

Hence, we have come down to this post to narrow down your search to upgrade your Grocery delivery business and power your grocery app with a smart feature counter.

But before we delve into the details, let’s understand what exactly a grocery delivery app is and why it is driving consumers at a large! Read on.

What Is On-Demand Grocery Delivery App?

The term in itself is self-explanatory! The on-demand grocery app is a real-time platform with a large variety of grocery listings to order 24/7 from the comfort of your couch & get delivered to the doorsteps. The grocery delivery app is helping businesses to reach a large number of people and offer them convenience by quick deliveries and instant discounts for the available products.

Types of Grocery Delivery Business Model

1. Brick & Mortar and Store Pick Model

In this type of model, the companies (app owner) either have a wholesale or retail grocery store like another store in the market, or else they have partnered with other grocery vendors just like the aggregator model.

The aggregator model explains that business owners will partner with multiple grocers in the market and then collect the delivery orders from the customers and deliver to the desired location.

This is a popular business model because there is a very low investment as an owner doesn’t need to invest in a warehouse facility or any other inventory management, they can take the goods directly from the grocers and confirm the availability of the same.

2. Pure-Play And Warehouse Pick Model

It is a different model where business owner does not own any personal store and neither they partner with any of the vendors rather, they directly buy products from producers/manufacturers and keep them safely in their warehouse for the further sales process. This model needs an investment in handling warehouses and goods especially the perishable ones.

3. Hybrid Model

As the name suggests, this model is the mixture of the aforesaid models in which the owner does not have their store but in some places, they can partner with the vendors for the product procurement and make the process convenient for them as well as the customers.

What Drives Consumers to Shop for Groceries Online?

Extra icing on the cake is cherished by all and the concept of an on-demand grocery app is just similar to that. The app gives you multiple ways to entice your customers like the app allows grocers to offer a wide product assortment and detailed product information, the app facilitates price and product comparisons, appealing discounts, easy payment gateways, quick customer feedback, speedy delivery, access to a large audience and many more. Also, there is not much extra spending in the up-gradation process of your grocery business rather you will be surprised with its ever-growing profits.

But success does not come overnight. Businesses have to follow the hallmarks and signs of winning customer experience maxed out by the right customer engagement strategy, user-centric design, and impeccable services.

To ensure that accuracy, you have to strategize your grocery delivery app in such a way that it is easy for the user to use & understand the features of the grocery app.

Let’s have a look at those simplified features that you need to include in your grocery delivery app to gain their trust & confidence and build an incredible brand image in the market.

Key Features of Grocery Delivery App

There are three main stakeholders of Grocery Delivery App that catapults the successful execution of the delivery economy.

  • Customer App
  • Delivery Boy App
  • Admin Panel

All these apps when power-packed with A-Z features and current trends that satiates the customer to the core helps grocers & aggregators thrive in the hyper-competitive market.

To make this brainstorming development journey a low-hanging fruit for you, here we come up with a brand-new list of trending grocery delivery app development features.

Customer App Features

  • User Login : Make the login process easy by offering login through social media credentials, phone no., or email. This saves the time & effort of the user.
  • Google Map : Users don’t need to put the address, every time they place an order rather the location will be automatically detected and there will be an option to save your permanent/office address.
  • Quick Search/browse Items : List down all the categories of the available items and also provide subcategories along with other additional product details. This feature offers an excellent experience to users help in taking quick actions.
  • Avail Offers : Before placing the order, users check out the available offers/discounts so that they can apply them in their order & cut down the cost. Thus, offering discounts, promo codes at this stage is a good way to reduce the chances of cart abandonment.
  • Live Location Tracking : This feature allow the user to track the on-process order.
  • Notifications : The user likes to stay updated and this feature will allow the user to get information via popup notifications like order acceptance, order packaging, order picked up by delivery partner, order on the way, and order delivered.
  • Schedule Order : The user can place an order and schedule a suitable delivery time from the available slots.
  • Payment Mode : Different modes of payment integration will allow the user to pay using an e-wallet, UPIs, Net-banking, debit/credit cards or cash on delivery.
  • Cancel Order : User will enjoy the freedom to send cancel order requests in a given time frame i.e., within 30 mins.
  • Feedback : After completion of the order delivery, the user will have an option to rate the app & share review/feedback about the services.
  • Delivery Tip : If the user enjoys excellent delivery services like speedy delivery, quick response, better communication then, they can add a tip for the delivery person.

Delivery Boy App Features

  • Delivery Person Registration/login : The delivery person will register himself by filling in all the required details like name, license, photo, contact details, etc. to ensure authenticity & security.
  • Order Detail/management : To view order details like order request, sending acceptance or rejection of the same.
  • GPS/ Live Tracking : This will support the delivery person to find the exact location where the order has to be delivered and also suggest the best-optimized route to reach the destination.
  • Delivery Status Update : Using this feature the delivery person can update the delivery status to the customers like order picked, on the way, in-progress, delay in delivery, and so on. The notifications will be sent to customers via text messages or email.
  • Delivery History : This feature will allow the delivery person to track the no. of deliveries he has made so far and the total amount of payment received.

Admin Panel Features

  • Profile Management : Admin will get access to manage all the accounts like product categories, subcategories, the account of retailers, drivers & customers.
  • Dashboard : This feature allows us to take a God view of all the activities like orders, deliveries and payment of the items.
  • Order Management : Admin can check the status of the order and assign orders to the available delivery person.
  • Report Management : Admin can manage daily/ monthly reports like how many total registrations are done including customers, retailers, deliverers.
  • Notification Management : Admin can send notifications like discount/offer, order updates, other related notifications based on customer order history.
  • Feedback Management : Admin will get full access to customer comments for deliverers, services, apps, retailers, etc.

Advanced Features

  • Order History & Repeat Orders

    The user should be able to check the order history bifurcated by active orders, scheduled orders, past orders, and reorder. The user should also be able to repeat their past orders.

  • Prebook & Schedule Order

    Give users the liberty to pre-book their orders ahead of the time like 2-3 days or 48 hours earlier and schedule a time for delivery. This feature will allow supermarkets to better predict the demands, which will eventually help them to improve efficiency in delivery. Further, it will also help them tap customers who might not end up ordering last-minute groceries due to long delivery times.

  • Special Offers

    Bombarding offers at the right occasion, right time, and place can surely elevate your sales, par excellence, to a record high. Make a list of occasions, events, even the trivial ones, and rebrand offers around it.

    For instance, if Christmas is around the corner, you can come up with promo codes related to SANTA and set a threshold of minimum buying in order to apply different promo codes for bulk discounts. This is just an example of shooting offers, it can oscillate from earning prime memberships through loyalty points, giveaways, and flash sales to competitions and free shipping.

  • Machine Learning-Empowered Ordering Solutions

    Improve customer experience and customer satisfaction by optimizing order fulfillment using machine-learning empowered app ordering solutions.

    Machine learning-based data makes use of real-time data, both to see and react quickly to problems that may arise.

  • Data-Driven Restaurant Management Solutions

    Data-driven decision-making can bear fruits for any grocery business in its infancy. With data-driven grocery delivery management solutions, supermarkets can optimize their decision-making at a more granular level.

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Marketing Tips To Cut The Competition and Race Ahead!

1. BOPIS

Tap shoppers’ affinity for buying online and picking up in-store. Shoppers today want choice as well as flexibility in how they want orders to be delivered. BOPIS allows shoppers to save the walk-in and searching time spent on aisle and item shelves in the supermarket. Through BOPIS, they can immediately purchase the items they are looking for through quick search functionality in the app.

Retailers nowadays are increasingly implementing BOPIS into their omnichannel retail strategy. You only need three things to execute it smoothly:

2. Curbside Pick Up

Also known as pick-up only spots, this idea allows shopper traffic to gain traction post-pandemic world. You can either create in-store pickup towers like Walmart did or create an outdoor pickup solution with temperature-controlled zones for hot and cold groceries. This can help people solve last-mile challenges.

By bringing this type of pickup capabilities, grocers can increasingly drive profitability.

  • A Grocery Delivery App or website for placing the order
  • One physical store where customers can walk in to collect the item
  • Real-time inventory capabilities to create analytics on order status, workflows, overall cycle time, and customer engagement

Codiant Opens A Pool Of Opportunities For The Grocery Business Owners And Supermarkets

Codiant in its fresh drive to support independently-owned supermarkets and grocers to drive profitability is creating a compelling mobile app ordering experience and E-commerce website.

Our deep industry experience in on-demand mobility solutions has led us to create an impressive roster of advanced technology offerings and functionalities that create immediate and long-term value for expanding the base of grocers and supermarket chain owners.

From independent supermarket owners to large multi-unit brands, Codiant now provides a holistic suite to cater to the the ever-changing needs of your customers in this digitally-maturing world.

How Healthcare Providers Benefit From Clinical Collaboration Platforms

Collaboration is key. A key to effective working. A key to improved efficiency. And a key to productivity. Irrespective of any industry. Benefits stand the same. But for the healthcare industry, it’s a matter of life and death. Clinical collaborations make it easier for healthcare providers and patients to effectively communicate and collaborate with the right tools and software. Allowing them to help patients receive a timely and broad spectrum of care—anytime, anywhere. Besides, clinical collaboration tools also help clinicians to instantly and securely share updates with patients about their own treatment and health. As a result, these platforms and tools deliver powerful benefits for both- doctors and patients.

How Doctors and Patients Benefit From Clinical Collaboration

  • Improved care delivery
  • Reduced hospital stays
  • Reduced costs and medical expenses
  • Fewer hospital readmissions
  • Effective patients and providers communication
  • Improved clinical productivity and efficiency
  • Streamlined clinical workflow with zero confusions

True to its name, clinical collaboration. To leverage it fully healthcare organizations must strategically identify, adopt, or deploy and manage healthcare tools and mobility devices that effectively support collaboration use cases in their ecosystem. Among all the solutions and platforms that contribute to enhanced providers and patient collaboration are mobile apps, telehealth solutions, device management, IoT sensors, and clinical collaboration and communication solutions. Let’s understand them separately.

Key Solutions That Improve Clinical Collaboration

Telehealth App Solution

Telehealth aims to enhance patient experience and provider’s convenience through its video collaboration, messaging, and voice tools. Care providers are adopting the use of telehealth app in the form of mobile devices, laptop to collaborate more effectively. Physicians can treat patients outside the clinical walls and other than normal business hours in case of emergency care. Telehealth platforms also allow physicians and clinicians to engage in training, observation, consults without having to commute long distances. Moreover, there are several other advantages of telehealth and telemedicine app solutions in shaping the future of healthcare:

  • Telemedicine apps facilitate rapid stroke diagnosis and treatment
  • Significantly reduce hospital readmission rates
  • Solves healthcare challenges in rural areas
  • Simplifies acute, chronic care, and dermatology consultations

How Physicians, Clinics, and Hospitals Are Benefitting From Telemedicine Platform

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The role and benefits of mobility in clinical settings are now more important than ever. Speed, accuracy, peace of mind are some of the direct outcomes that ease the workflow of hospitals, doctors, and patients. From patient’s medical record retrieval to ePrescription, remote monitoring to health status tracking, hassle-free checkups to performance improvement in clinical decision making, Mobility in Healthcare has tremendously helped Doctors to foster collaboration, make timely critical decisions and boost patient outcomes at a greater scale.

Mobile Device Management

Healthcare organizations are continuously coping with data and security breaches where patients’ data is the foremost target. “42% of healthcare organizations have reported that they had experienced a data loss or system downtime as a result of a breach involving mobile devices in the previous 12 months.” The concept of mobile device management evolved here and many hospitals adopted a unified endpoint management approach. MDM solution allows caregivers to access patient data history, treatment updates, and other important medications and reports through securely managed mobile devices. These secured devices help them to battle with challenges like improper data handling, real-time information sharing, record-keeping, and mobile report management.

Clinical Collaboration And Communication Solutions

Clinical collaboration and communication solutions have their own individual benefits for patients, clinicians, and healthcare organizations. Given, healthcare providers are unable to meet their holistic needs with traditional apps due to concerns like patient’s privacy and security; healthcare organizations seek app platforms and solutions particularly designed and developed to meet the needs of clinical collaboration to prevent such scenarios. These type of app platforms enable features like:

  • Secured messaging and data sharing
  • Video, voice, and text integration
  • EHR mobilization
  • Doctor-nurse communication
  • Nurse-nurse communication
  • Doctor-patient communication
  • Patient engagement solution

As a result, these technologies individually helps healthcare organization in facilitating enhanced care delivery to patients, reduce hospital stays, and readmissions. For clinicians, they can streamline the workflow through automation, help doctors to understand patient’s health better, and improve inter clinic collaboration. While for patients, these solutions can help them improve their quality of care, save time, cut costs, and reduce the dependency on in-person hospital/clinical visits.

Top 5 PHP Frameworks for Web Development in 2023

For developers, the introduction of the concept of frameworks is no less than a boon. These frameworks are equipped with actual programs based on which the software is built. The frameworks provide ready-made components and libraries to fasten the overall development process.

In this reference, PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a web development programming language, which is stuffed with a great number of frameworks facilitating different dimensions. Now, PHP is a widely used web development programming language. It is responsible for almost 79% of the websites globally as a server-side programming language.

The popularization of PHP for web development is because of the availability of a wide range of high-quality web development frameworks. Despite that many consider PHP as a dead web development language, however, Google search trends narrate quite an opposite story. Well, this debate is unending, however, rest assured that PHP is not dying anytime soon.

Based on the ongoing trend, it is clear that many websites are preferring PHP, and using the PHP framework is undoubtedly a good decision. But the question is which could be the best PHP framework that can fulfill your business specifics.

To minimize your struggle, we have distilled down the top PHP frameworks that you can choose to optimize your business processes in the best possible manner!

Top 5 PHP Frameworks for Web Development in 2023

1. Laravel

Laravel is an open-source web development framework. It was developed by ‘Taylor Otwell’ and released in June 2011.

It can handle complex web apps with high security and comparatively faster than other PHP frameworks. Hence, with the Laravel framework, authentication, routing, session, caching, etc. operations can be handled easily. There are many Laravel web development companies that claim to provide all such operations and build a unique solution.

Key Features:

  • Laravel makes scalable web development and provides more high-security features than other PHP frameworks.
  • Websites developed on the Laravel framework are highly secure, easy, and resistant to numerous web attacks.
  • It includes namespace and interfaces, that support organizing and managing a variety of resources.
  • Laravel framework can reuse the existing components from the different frameworks that minimize the overall web development timeline.
  • It saves a lot of testing time and resources by supporting automation testing.
  • The Laravel framework uses its template engine i.e. ORM and Blade called Eloquent.

Companies Using Laravel Framework for their Web Development

  • Razorpay
  • Olx
  • Mastercard
  • TransferGo
  • 6GAG
  • Wattpad
  • Fox47
  • BBC
  • Pfizer, etc.

2. CodeIgniter

CodeIgniter is a web development framework with small footprints of merely 2MB of size (including the documentation). This makes it quicker than other PHP frameworks. It was developed by ‘EllisLab’ and is released in February 2006.

CodeIgniter is not entirely dependent on the MVC framework. Without a doubt, it is one of the oldest frameworks, which supports quicker and high-quality performance. This PHP framework is apt for dynamic website development. It is equipped with a wide range of prebuilt modules that support robust platform development and reusable components. It also offers quality error management and easy-to-read documentation.

Key Features:

  • It performs quick operations based on database processes as compared to other frameworks.
  • It is a great framework for beginners to work with because of its easy installation process and well documentation.
  • It offers built-in security tools.
  • CodeIgniter framework provides exceptional performance.
  • It offers valuable features that enable to provide a secured web application from external threats, such as remote code execution, SQL injection, and cross-site scripting attacks.

Companies Using CodeIgniter Framework for their Web Development

  • Udemy
  • Medical Guardian
  • Adobe
  • Ola
  • Accenture
  • Amplify
  • BigBazaar
  • Buffer
  • 3M
  • Grindr, etc.

3. Symfony

Symfony is a modular-based PHP framework and is most suitable for large-scale corporate applications. It was introduced by ‘Fabian Potencier’ in 2005. It is an open-source PHP framework sponsored by SensioLabs.

It is an extensive PHP MVC framework, it can easily integrate with PHP Unit and independent libraries. It is mostly the first preference of developers because of the availability of reusable components and libraries. By using these tools, authentication, object configuration, templating, and other varied tasks can be done easily. Symfony framework is used to build not only apps, but also web apps, microservices, and APIs too.

Key Features:

  • It uses open-source Doctrine ORM for database operations and is one of the most suitable alternatives to write repetitive SQL codes.
  • Symphony supports a variety of databases, including Oracle, MySql, SQL Server, SQLite, SAP Sybase, etc.
  • It is highly flexible and can integrate with big projects like Drupal.
  • It uses Twig templating engine, which is fast, secure, and easy to learn.
  • It is equipped with a robust and flexible debugging toolbar that displays all the required details to make debugging simple.
  • It’s quick to deploy Symphony, hence it doesn’t require any time or effort on manual deployment or developing an automated deployment.

Companies Using Symphony Framework for their Web Development

  • Spotify
  • BlaBlaCar
  • Practo
  • com
  • Statista
  • Magento
  • Sony VAIO UK website, etc.

4. CakePHP

CakePHP is a rapid-development PHP framework modelled after Ruby on Rails. It was released under the MIT license in April 2005. It is an open-source web development framework that follows ORM techniques and is based on MVC architecture.

It is an easy-to-learn web framework, as it is a CRUD framework, i.e. Create, Read, Update, and Delete. CakePHP framework follows CoC (Convention over Configuration) approach which defines the coding guidelines that developers need to follow. It is equipped with a huge number of libraries, which is considered one of the most diverse collections of useful components. The PHP developers can build scalable and secure web apps for different industries, such as eCommerce, social networks, and digital collaboration platforms.

Key Features:

  • CakePHP is simple to set up on a device. It requires simply a copy of the framework and a web server.
  • It supports different renowned design patterns like Front Controller, Associative Data Mapping, etc.
  • CakePHP leverage scaffolding and code generation feature of rapid prototype or MVP development. The scaffolding technique enables to access databases easily or generate codes using some high-level tools.
  • It supports numerous security features, including input validation, SQL injection prevention, cross-site scripting (XSS), and cross-site request forgery (CSRF) protection, which makes it an incredible option for business applications.
  • It also offers exceptional documentation, and a wide range of supporting sites, and extends premium assistance via Cake Development Corporation.

Companies Using CakePHP Framework for their Web Development

  • Glen Raven
  • Citizens
  • InSync Solutions
  • Hyundai
  • BMW
  • Edureka
  • MIT
  • Billabong
  • House Party
  • Blendtec, etc.

5. Yii

Yii is an open-source, high-performing PHP framework for developing web apps rapidly. It is simply pronounced as Yee or Ji – which means simple and evolutionary. It also stands for, ‘Yes it is’! Yii – The PHP framework was released in 2008.

It is a fast, flexible, and a secure PHP framework for web development, and specifically extends its brilliant support in building MVC architecture websites. Yii is a strict object-oriented PHP framework and requires an understanding of polymorphism, inheritance, etc. The documentation of the Yii framework is very well prepared and organized. This not only helps to learn about how to build an app, but the user can also learn about working with databases, MVC patterns, and other functionalities.

Top Features:

  • Yii has easy-to-follow guides for implementing different types of caching, such as data caching, page caching, query caching, HTTP caching, fragment caching, etc. All of this is suitable for server-side caching to client-side in-browser caching.
  • This framework also provides guidelines and framework for boosting security by implementing authorization, password handling, authentication, trusted proxies, cryptographic features, and headers.
  • It is quite a flexible PHP framework that allows developers to modify every line of code. Hence, it could take some time for beginners to have a grasp of it.
  • Yii is developed by specialists and a team of core developers. Even, one can submit the issues they are facing while developing on the Yii forums and receives assistance and support from the large community.
  • MVP and prototype can be developed rapidly on the GII2 code generator provided by the Yii framework to implement CRUD operations on the database.

Companies Using Yii Framework for their Web Development

  • Lenovo
  • Deloitte
  • Utrip
  • Discovery
  • Fujitsu
  • Lulo

Conclusion

PHP framework simplifies the web development process and supports reducing the workload. Each PHP framework is equipped with its strengths and weaknesses, which vary in the context of the database, documentation, and community they support.

We hope the blog is precisely providing all the vital details of the top 5 PHP frameworks for web development in the market. However, to get the most out of the PHP framework, and avoid errors, and frustration, ensure to have a decent knowledge of the PHP framework and its concept.

Apart from that, if you are having a hard time selecting the right PHP framework for web development or looking for an expert PHP web development company, then hire Codiant to answer all your business requirements and you can’t go wrong with this.

What is Digital Transformation & Three Steps to Get Started

Imagine a company ecosystem, “where products and marketing campaigns are launching at record speed, where data and insights are available in a click for rapid adjustments, where results are reflected in a fly, and where uncertainties are faced boldly”. – This is a digitally transformed organization.

Today, companies are looking for a nucleus giving a ripple effect on all companies’ touchpoints to deliver an unmatched customer experience, to seek a manual that dictates ahead strategy, and to create a prediction model that foresees market opportunities.While Covid-19 has been the accelerator of digital transformation, 79% of companies have admitted that the pandemic has increased the budget and if they do not adapt to digitally transform within a year, the organizations will start to lose the business.

What Is Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation means the integration of digital solutions into all areas of the business to fundamentally change organization’s business model and operating model to address and capture new market opportunities and improve customer experience.

While digital transformation looks different and works differently for every industry, but the DNA of its process and capabilities applies the same for every company.

Deloitte, explains this definition very well. Digital transformation means “Bringing the real-life experience of transformation as well as digital solutions to support our customers on their transformation journeys”.

In this process, we help companies to move away from the long-standing business process, resist getting comfortable with inefficiencies, workforce burnouts, and in turn, challenge the status quo and focus on a longer-term horizon. This outside-in transformation helps companies accommodate in uncertain markets of today and future, makes them market-ready, and agile enough to make winning moves.

Know Your Customers Better: Here‘s A Digital Transformation and Modernization Guide to Help Your Business Outshine.

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Defining the Scope of Digital Transformation

The scope of digital transformation is harnessing the ‘5D’s of Digital’ defined by Dave Chaffey in his book Digital Marketing: Strategy, Planning, and Implementation. The 5Ds outlines the opportunities for customers to interact with the companies and for businesses to reach and learn from their target audiences in different ways:

  • Digital Devices –Owing to this reason, visitors connect with brands and companies through their digital assets like websites, mobile apps, and official social media handles- all executing and running through digital devices. Thus, its role can be positioned through a combination of connected devices including smartphones, tablets, desktop computers, and TVs.
  • Digital Platforms – A consumer interacts with a brand through its most active digital platforms like mobile app and web and social media handles that’s Facebook and Instagram, Google and YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
  • Digital Media – Digital media includes different Paid, Owned, and Earned Media communication channels for increasing audience reach and engagement including advertising, email marketing, messaging, social media, and search engine optimization.

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  • Digital Data – The amount of insights businesses generate by collecting information about their visitors, customers, and their interactions with businesses, at a day-to-day level. This can be done by data analytics technologies and techniques. However, this now needs to be protected by law in most countries.
  • Digital Technology – The marketing technology or martech stack that businesses use to create interactive experiences from websites and mobile apps to in-store kiosks and email campaigns.

Digital Industrial Transformation: The Three-Step Approach

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Organizations and companies seeking digital transformation as a growth driver must start from the following three-step approach:

  • Defining the playing field: Markets and segments in which they choose to play
  • Services and Solutions to offer: Decisions around services, new products, and solutions
  • Monetization: Bundling those offerings and solutions to create pricing tiers and a monetization model.

1. Define The Playing Field

Intersection of industry verticals and use cases infused with the outcomes of the outside-in lens defines the play-field of enterprises.

Still, there are brands and enterprises, nascent to determine where to start and how to start; which market segments should they pick and take ownership of. In such cases, where choices are many but the bull’s eye is not clear- an outside-in lens that focuses on fencing those industry verticals and use cases having the greatest market potential calculated on behalf of projected market size, market growth rate and competitive intensity – come into play.

An outside-in lens, make strategic adjustments to see the future market shifts, risks and uncertainties, and challenges in productivity. It helps companies understand their own abilities in the realm of the current market segment. Their proximity to commercialization of innovation efforts and internal capabilities.

2. Determine the Services and Solutions to Offer

Define Where, What and How on the Land Of Uniqueness

Now once the company has its playing field defined in terms of where to operate, the market segments, it’s time to distill and narrow down its winning moves. It’s time to decide and introduce their services, new products and solutions with competitive differentiation on the land of uniqueness.

The questions that evolve during this phase are:

  • What will you sell? – Like what will be your solution archetype? Will you offer integrated solutions or will you offer services to help deliver and implement your solutions?Trade-off suggests, “Discrete products provide maximum flexibility with near-term revenue potential. Whereas, integrated solutions build a brand with long-term revenue potential.”Next implication, will you target and sell solutions to owners/operators? Or to manufacturers (OEMs)?Trade-off suggests, “Selling solutions to owner/operators to reduce costs may reap only short-term benefits but selling to OEMs may see long-term value-added benefits. “
  • How do you sell? What will be your market routes or channels mix? Will you rely on direct sellers or sell-with or sell-through?Trade-off suggests, “Selling direct to customers provides a higher degree of brand and price control, decreases time to market, provides you goldmine of customer data, but limits reach, thus, restricting your possibilities”.For selling direct to consumers, you’ll need a comprehensive digital strategy. For instance, if you belong to the eCommerce sector, you’ll have to pick a flexible eCommerce platform capable to support both B2C and B2B models.The other touchpoints you’ll have to consider would be order fulfillment and tracking, payment security, customer service management, sales and marketing activities with a special focus on B2B and B2C customer interactions.
  • How will you earn? What will be your monetization model? Will you offer a subscription model, a consumption-based model, or an outcome-based model? Or a hybrid of all these three?Trade-off suggests, “Subscription-based models lock the customers for annual or monthly basis, makes it easier to budget, foresee, and plan out revenue forecasting but the outcome-based service model increases collaboration between suppliers and customers that comes with challenges like adapting to a new mindset, working out a contract specific targets and minimum performance levels.

3. Identify Monetization Techniques Through The Business Model

Digital Transformation for Innovation vs. Growth Driven By Operational Goals

This is the stage where organizations hustle and act to yield significant returns based on the playfield (market segments) and monetization model created by them. This is the last step where brands must be practical, customer-driven, and acute in identifying stepping stones, internal capabilities, and strengths in accomplishing the desired future opportunities. And then packaging pricing models and pricing tiers to make a tactical yet informed move.

How Codiant Can Help Organizations In Digital Transformation?

The net global spending on digital transformation in 2018 was approximately $1 trillion and this number is expected to increase to more than $2 trillion by 2022. Between this acceleration, one thing is quite clear- it is the digital customer who’s is in the driving seat! And in order to drive right, the digital customer experience must be enhanced.

At Codiant, we start by defining your strategy first, then reimagine and reinvent your customer journey, create an agile, flexible and scalable IT environment then personalize the customer experience and create a seamless multi-channel experience on various digital interfaces such as mobile applications, websites, social platforms, etc. to offer a single, user-friendly customer experience.

How We Create eCommerce Websites with Scrum?

You asked and we answered. Today we are excited to share how we empower and equip eCommerce brands to build high-performing, customer-centric websites that boost conversions with the Agile scrum model.

Over the past few years, since our inception, we’ve worked closely with eCommerce brands to large-scale retail giants and helped them grow from the roots. From web and app development to digital marketing and running campaigns, we have been an end-to-end web development partner of top companies.

Here we give a complete trip to how we develop a robust eCommerce website built in frequent sprint cycles, able to be tested on dedicated UAT systems.

What Is Scrum? How the Process Starts.

scrum

Know the terms used:

1. Product Owner (PO)-

  • The direct point of contact with the client, stakeholders, developers, customers, users, etc.
  • PO is the person that collects input from all stakeholders, defines stories, and ensures the stories meet the user’s needs.
  • PO streamlines the execution of the program, addresses the technical integrity, features and components.
  • PO collaborates with the team and takes stand-up gatherings to improve the processes.

2. Product Backlog

The product backlog contains the list of new features, changes to new features, infrastructure changes, bug fixes, and an ordered list of all activities that a team needs to complete to deliver the project.

Here’s how the process with a single scrum sprint starts…

  • Product owner conducts a planning meeting with a developer team. Collectively, they create user stories, list of tasks or key activities to be done known as the product backlog.
  • This dynamic product backlog enables developers to break it down into small iterations to be completed in a short timeframe called “sprints”.
  • Once the timeframe of sprint runs out, the sprint is considered complete. The undone tasks are moved back into the product backlog.
  • Then at the point of tracking the sprint progress of each developer, the Product owner holds a stand-up meeting with the development team (aka scrum meeting) where the outcome of the sprint is reviewed.
  • The team discusses what worked well and what didn’t and finally the points that need improvement are processed to the next sprint. This is also known as “Sprint Retrospective”.

Why Agile Scrum Methodology is best for eCommerce Development?

Every mobile eCommerce application comes with its own set of challenges depending on its unique features. To prepare a better product that allows regular and rigorous quality checks ‘Agile methodology’ works best. It allows the team to improve product quality at incremental stages and gives full flexibility to make changes, requirements and adapt to any environment at any stage of product development.

  • The Agile strategy empowers quick and flexible reactions to change.
  • It encourages the website developing processes to accept the new changes at any phase of the project. This increases the scope of improvement at any time.
  • We can deal with our clients independently as our team members and recognize and iron out the unpreventable developmental changes.
  • Gives our clients clear visibility of the project development progress.
  • Issues are identified in advance and hence can be resolved rapidly.

Agile Software Development Lifecycle Phases

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Now underneath the Scrum there goes a six steps approach to eCommerce software development known as ‘Agile SDLC’ that empowers the software with efficiency and high performance.

1. Requirement Analysis

The first stage of six steps design process starts from requirement analysis where the Product Owner create the initial documentation of project that lists non-functional and functional requirements. The activities done during these stages are:

Non-functional:

  • Who is your target audience (location, preference, needs, gender, and age)?
  • What are your marketing channels and selling points?
  • Who are your closest competitors?
  • What is your app scaling plans 3 years down the line?

Functional:

  • Analyzing user roles and given access to them
  • Capturing user actions on the website (like searching and sorting the products, adding products to the wish list, making promo offers and discounts, and other stages)
  • Knowing the third-party integrations to integrate
  • Figuring out currencies, languages, to work on
  • Types of payment gateway integrations
  • Resource planning for both Development and QA team

2. Planning

In the project planning phase, the Product Owner refines the project objectives gathered during requirement analysis phase, establishes cost, list of deliverables, delivery dates and obtain management approval. Activities conducted during this phase are:

  • Project schedule development (we list the entire schedule of the activities and detail their sequence of implementation).
  • Resource planning (who will work, special skill set required).
  • Roadmap building- with an estimation of timeline and cost of the deliverables also known as budget planning.
  • Work-breakdown structure (WBS) (breaking down the project into tasks and sub-tasks).
  • Technical infrastructure requirements (planning the technologies and third-party APIs).
  • Service Level Agreements and its conditions.

3. UI/UX Designing

At this stage our design team that involves UX Analyst, UX Architect, UI designer create rough mockups of the UI after having a brainstorm session in design thinking workshop. This process help us understand and create an Interactive Customer Experience. The major activities done during this phase are:

  • Wireframe creation (sketch on paper)
  • Prototype building (Low fidelity- UX)
  • High fidelity design and working prototype
  • Usability Testing

Also Read: Know How We Developed A UX of an On-demand Delivery App – Groceeri

4. Development

This is the longest stage of SDLC and is the backbone of any software development. It involves stages like:

  • Writing code (converting design to development)
  • Search engine optimization to improve website visibility

5. Integration and Testing

At this stage of integration and testing, we test the application product’s performance, functionality and reliability. It helps us to identify all the bugs and errors in the software. Which are later resolved by the development team and then the product is pushed for deployment. Activities involved during this stage are:

  • Test case development (based on specific features and requirements test cases are created)
  • Testing environment setup (consist of testing conditions such as hardware and software specifications. The environment of the end-user is imitated)
  • Test execution (testing is carried out as per the test plans and test cases created by the team)
  • Software testing in performance lab (to make sure no bug gets through, we conduct software testing services like unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and acceptance testing.)

6. Implementation and Deployment

We deploy the application on the servers and do testing with real users. Introducing new features, resolving bugs is the continuous or ongoing activity post-deployment.

7. Review

Once the development phase is complete and the application is deployed, the following activities takes place:

  • Product owner does standup gathering with the development team.
  • Reviews the progress and discuss the ideas to resolve the issues in previous phases.
  • A new iteration or next scrum starts and scaled Agile.

So… what does this all mean for you?

With the agile software development approach, you can now:

  1. Design and build eCommerce or any website with full flexibility and scalability by leveraging the scrum model and customizable workflows.
  2. Fulfill customers’ needs and satisfy them as you are open to give constant feedback to the team and make continual progress in software on the go.
  3. Get clear visibility into the project and identify what you want and what not as you see the real-time development.

For eCommerce brands that are looking to develop a stunning, customer-centric eCommerce website with a great user-experience, customized as per your brand needs and wants, we’ve got you covered. Our agile scrum model and incremental web development technique allow you to customize the web platform the way you need it.

Why a Progressive Web App Is The Best Alternative to Mobile App and Mobile Web?

Phew! Finally, no more, not anymore- a confusing state of Mobile App or Web! The debate that continued for a decade, had been solved by a hybrid solution that evolves between Mobile App and Web.

Progressive Web Apps (PWA) is an emerging solution that takes the benefit of the strengths of both Mobile App and Web to create a smooth user experience- regardless of platform.

Works same like a mobile app, PWA has the same functionalities and ease-of-use as actual apps that make it the first choice of big brands like Alibaba.com, Twitter, Trivago, Lancome, Pinterest, Starbucks, Makemytrip, The Weather Channel, amongst others.

Designed to deliver a faster loading experience, let’s see how PWA can help you make the right cut by increased effectiveness and smoother user experience. Before that, take a quick look to understand what PWA is.

What is Progressive Web App?

The Second Name of High Performance and User Experience

A Progressive Web App (PWA) is an app that uses modern web capabilities to deliver a native app-like experience to users. They call it “progressive” because the app is the next level of innovation opening up a series of new features to enhance the user experience. They are perceived as a modern website but behaves like a native mobile app.

PWAs are responsive, secure, and searchable. Recruited first in the hiring of high performance and faster loading speed. No doubt, the app’s new standard of web interactions has addicted hundreds of global marketers to create sticky and immersive user experiences.

What Makes PWA An “Attention Seeker”?

Here Is A Sneak Peek To Its Action Features:

pwa-features1631783585

  • Progressive : No matter what browser you choose, PWA works for every user.
  • Responsive : PWAs adapt to various screen sizes: from desktop to mobile to tablet or any dimension. It has a native-like look and feels.
  • Secure : The app is secured over HTTPS protocol thus preventing the connection from displaying information.
  • Searchable : These sites are recognized as “applications” and are indexed by search engines.
  • Installable : The app icons can be “saved” on the mobile’s home screen, making them easily accessible, without having to follow the long and tedious steps of finding and installing from the app store.
  • Shareable : The app installation link can be shared via URL without any complications.
  • Fast Loaded : 53% of visits are abandoned if a mobile site takes longer than three seconds to load. PWA apps are a great option for marketers as it loads faster and uses less data.

How Brands Used PWA to Write Their Success Stories

Rich with Features, PWA Is a Sales Booster for Brands

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1. Twitter Lite PWA

Twitter has nearly 320 million monthly active users around the world that consume, create, and share information. With over 80% of users on mobile, Twitter aimed the mobile web experience to be faster, more reliable, and more engaging.

Twitter Lite PWA helped the microblogging platform combine the best of the modern web and native app features. It helped deliver a robust experience with instant loading capabilities, increased user engagement, and lower data consumption. Thus, recording a 20% decline in bounce rate and 65% increase in page per session.

2. MakeMyTrip

MakeMyTrip a travel booking site operative in India saw a 160% increase in shopper sessions (a triple conversion rate) after launching a PWA that allows users to seamlessly book travel tickets and hotels regardless of time, location, or network availability.

3. Alibaba.com

Alibaba.com, the world’s largest online B2B trading platform, serving 200+ countries and regions saw a 76% increase in total conversions across browsers after upgrading their site with Progressive Web App (PWA).

With PWA, Alibaba was able to hook both first time visitors as well as repeat visitors. With “Add to Home Screen” prompt and push notifications the company was able to re-engage users by four times as compared to other mobile users.

4. Lancome

Lancome the luxury cosmetics brand wanted a fast app-like solution to drive traffic and sales. The beauty brand built a PWA and saw a 53% increase in session length, 17% increase in conversions, and 8% increase in conversion rates on recovered rates via push notifications.

5. Pinterest

Pinterest when came to know of their slow website experience and after they identified only 1% of their visitors converted to signups and installs for iOS and Android, they decided to build a PWA. Interestingly, after upgrading their site to PWA, Pinterest experienced a 40% increase in traffic, 44% increase in ad revenue rate, and a 60% increase in user engagement.

The Pinterest PWA requires only 150 KB of data storage, which is much less than the native Android (9.6MB) and iOS (56MB) apps.

The CRUX: Top Five Benefits of Progressive Web Apps (PWA)

  • Increases the session lengths or time spent by the user on the mobile app.
  • Push notifications help in keeping users engaged and increase repeat visitors without letting users download the app.
  • In terms of reliability, PWAs loads instantly, are faster and light in weight.
  • If speed is to be considered, PWAs load in fewer than three seconds without any delays in content loading and scrolling.
  • PWA dramatically saves costs. The single web application works for all platforms.

Technologies Used to Build Progressive Web App

Among the top technologies used to build PWA, most of them are based on JavaScript with different characteristics. The mains are:

  • React
  • Polymer
  • Angular
  • Ionic
  • Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

components-of-pwa1631783637

How to Build a Progressive Web App?

  1. Serve over HTTPS
  2. Create an application shell
  3. Register a Service Worker
  4. Add Push notifications
  5. Add a Web App Manifest
  6. Configure the install prompt
  7. Analyze the app performance
  8. Audit your app with Lighthouse

How Codiant Can Help You Win The Game With PWA?

Codiant is your end-to-end Progressive Web App Development Partner that helps brands leverage the incredible benefits of PWA and increase user engagement and customer retention rate at a large scale.

We’ve helped brands from different industry verticals and domains to develop a progressive web app and drive extra reach with a positive effect on their bottom line.