As a parent, the days with your child in the NICU can be long, exhausting, and monotonous. But the staff at Good Samaritan Hospital helped make Halloween special for NICU babies and their families.

Ruth Lyons Children's Fund donations help make Halloween special for NICU babies, families

Economists expect the Fed to leave interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, allowing previous rate increases to take greater hold of the economy and granting the central bank time to assess whether another hike will be necessary.

Fed expected to leave interest rates unchanged despite stubborn inflation

Attentive, the world's #1 conversational marketing platform, today announced a new integration with Bazaarvoice, the leading provider of full-funnel authentic user-generated content (UGC) solutions, that allows brands to send review requests via SMS and email.

Attentive and Bazaarvoice Partner to Integrate User-Generated Content into SMS Channel

Pope Francis is pressing Catholic theologians to be more in tune with the challenges of ordinary people and urging them to dialogue with non-believers as well as believers of various religions.

Pope presses theologians to be in tune with challenges of daily life and talk with non-believers

Customers have given a big thumbs up to a new coffee shop and wine bar in Heysham. The Dispensary, on Heysham Road, opened its doors for the first time on Sunday and customers are already giving it rave reviews.

Take a peek inside new coffee shop and wine bar in Heysham which has opened to rave reviews

Maintaining good posture isn't just about physical health; it significantly influences your mental focus and concentration. Here are seven ways in which bad posture can hinder your ability to stay attentive and productive.

Stress to Back Pain Distraction: 5 ways bad posture can affect focus

Danish energy developer Orsted is scrapping two large offshore wind power projects off the coast of New Jersey, adding uncertainty to a nascent industry the Biden administration is counting on to help transition away from the burning of planet-warming fossil fuels.

Orsted scraps 2 offshore wind power projects in New Jersey, citing supply chain issues

Comfortable, clean, and calm is the attentive care that makes all the difference at. Located on the edge of Falcon in Black Forest, the resort is an

Dog grooming and boarding at Black Forest Dog Resort

Opinion: Rep. Paul Gosar is backing Blake Masters. Kari Lake is behind Abe Hamadeh. Let the cannibalizing begin.

Arizona’s MAGA wolves are preparing to eat their own to replace Debbie Lesko in CD 8

Retreating from the turmoil in Washington, D.C., Rep. Lauren Boebert arrived in bucolic southwest Colorado to turmoil of a different sort — the lingering impact of an embarrassing moment when she was caught on tape vaping and groping with a date during a musical production of “Beetlejuice.

Outraised and embattled, Lauren Boebert heads back to Colorado with a revamped campaign strategy

Attentive

attentive-mobile

Back at the dawn of the modern computing era, one Donald Knuth published a book titled "The Art of Computer Programming" that soon  became a bible of software engineering and defined many generations of computer programmers to come. This book, which was intended as a compendium of computer algorithms, had also put forward a very important idea: . At the time, that was the prevailing point of view. software engineering is a form of art That was then. Fast forward to the "mobile first", "internet of everything" interconnected ultra-computerized era of today. Computers have changed a lot, but what changed even more is the perception of the computer programming as a profession. Once considered a form of applied art, programming of today is nothing more than a relatively well paying job, one that requires sitting in a large dimly lit room and staring at the laptop screen for hours. Long gone are the days of programming competitions, replaced by "hackathons" that usually boil down to insanely long work days thinly veiled as a "party". Forget about finding the most elegant solution to the problem! The motto of the day is "ship it now, fix it later". Cheaper by the dozen. So how did we get there? The advent of mobile brought about a lot of revolutionary changes (that have been well documented and discussed all over the media) but one of the major paradigm shifts that came along with mobile gets very little attention. Mobile era put the concept of front and center and conditioned the crowds to . Before, the errors and bugs were grudgingly accepted. Now, they are . Nobody blinks when the app crashes - we just start it again. It's perfectly fine when the phone (or laptop for that matter) freezes - we just reboot it. With increasingly fast delivery cycles, the code has become disposable, and so has the approach to programming in general. disposable technology expect crashes and failures expected Writing quality code (never mind "elegant", just stable readable code) is no longer practical and is no longer expected - who cares how good or bad your code is when it will be thrown away in a year or two anyways. Keenly aware of the cultural shift, most major tech companies are slashing their testing departments and pushing the buck onto developers and end users. How do people who work in the industry feel about all that? How does the "technical talent" relate to the fact that their work becomes more and more mechanical, less and less creative? A few years ago, PayScale.com published a covering well over a hundred different industries. How did computer folks fare? Take a look: comprehensive job satisfaction survey The first number is the median pay, followed by percent of people who sees their job as highly meaningful. The last column is the share of people who are satisfied with their job. Fascinating, isn’t it? Computer “talent” group came well below bartenders. Below waiters and waitresses. And slightly above dishwashers. Only 29% of the programmers see their job as meaningful. The wast majority sees it as a waste of time. Houston, we have a problem. A number of problems, in fact. Those problems have nothing to do with technology and everything with the human side of the profession. As computer technology became disposable, computer professionals became disposable too. And they are keenly aware of that. Internet opened the borders and brought about global competition where the “talent” is measured in cents and most gigs are awarded based on the price point. Cheaper by the dozen. There is no point in developing a unique vision and style. There is no point in trying to be the best. Employers want cheap disposable commodity, and they want a lot of it. And you know what? They are getting it.

Dev Talent in the Age of Commoditization

Interstitial ads are one of the most common ad formats used on nowadays. They are full screen ads that appear as an overlay upon an app. Interstitials are usually shown at different transition points or natural breaks, such as between activities or levels in games. They require an action by the user who can either dismiss or click on the ad. mobile Within an interstitial, different types of media can be found such as static images, videos, playable ads, surveys and others. Interstitials are also one of the most popular ad formats on web. When they appeared on mobile apps, they resolved one of the biggest pains for advertisers looking to enter the mobile space, the limited real estate available on mobile. Marketer’s perspective | Ideal for storytelling and brand awareness Mobile interstitials are of high demand among advertisers and brands, so it’s really interesting to see why marketers prefer them. Pros A format that grabs user’s attention Mobile interstitials render in full screen, covering the user’s app and require an action by the user who can either dismiss or click on the ad. They are usually visually appealing and can easily grab user’s attention , resolving issues like banner blindness which can be found in banner ad format. Perfect for brands Interstitials, by taking advantage of the full screen experience on mobile, are ideal for storytelling and can make a brand stand out. There is enough room for a proper marketing message achieving this way a high memorisation rate. Advanced targeting options Since interstitials are a very popular format among the mobile publishers community, advertisers can have instant reach to millions of users and advanced targeting options on a global level. Cons Content requires more work Mobile interstitials cover the full screen space of an app and therefore require much more work from an advertiser’s perspective, to create compelling content. Source: AdMob Publisher’s perspective | A high converting format Interstitial ad format is heavily used by the publishers community too. Some of the pros and cons of using interstitial ads within a mobile app can be found below. Pros Easy to set up Interstitial ads are shown as an overlay, therefore there is no need for changes in the UI of an app, making them easy to integrate. Increased fill rate Interstitial ads are quite popular among brands and performance mobile advertisers, resulting to high fill rates. High conversions Interstitial ads force the user to either click to dismiss the full screen ad or click on it. Therefore, they have an excellent level of user engagement and high click through rates, resulting to high conversions. Cons Decrease in retention If publishers overuse interstitials and do not follow best practises, they can dramatically affect user engagement and retention within their app, resulting to app uninstalls. Highly intrusive Since interstitials render in full screen on top of an app, they can be highly intrusive for the users if misplaced to interrupt the flow of an app and can create user frustration. In some cases, users also have to wait for a few minutes prior being able to disclose the ad. Some users might find that irritating. Placement thought process Placement of interstitial ads within an app requires extensive thought during the design phase in order to properly be included in the strategy. The right time and place to show an interstitial ad is really important. User emotions are equally important when the ad is shown and can heavily affect conversions. monetization In this article we tried to understand the interstitial ad format both from the perspective of the app publisher but also from the side of the marketer. In the next article we will discuss some best practises when using interstitial ads, along with tips and tricks, followed by some real world examples.

Mobile Ad Formats Lab #4 — Interstitial Ads

Mobile testing is the process of testing mobile applications for functionality, usability or performance through the use of tools or open-source frameworks. Smartphones, tablet PCs, or every new release of the iPhone with the smallest changes, makes mobile testing, and automated testing, imperative to detect regression bugs and enables teams to ship quality applications. Selecting Mobile Testing Tools – Questions to Ask Working with open-source frameworks usually calls for installing separate components like JAR files, language-specific client drivers and libraries. If everything is already included in the tool itself, then you can just download the application and get started instantly. Is the tool easy to learn and use? From screening, debugging, cross-device execution, artifacts sharing to reporting, visit its technical documentation guide and search for some key features you expect to have. Does its feature sets cover essential mobile-specific testing tasks? Almost all tools support integrating with other frameworks, tools, ALMs or project management applications. However, if they are native integrations, then you wouldn’t have too many workarounds to connect to the toolchain your team uses. Are integrations with CI/CD systems or other platforms native? Scriptless methods like record & playback not only is beneficial for those who haven’t had a grasp in programming, but also helps in churning out more tests and expanding test coverage. Does the tool provide scripting and scriptless methods? Look at the size of your team, resources you have and the complexity of the application you’re testing to determine if it’s the right fit. Is the tool suitable for your budget and AUT? Top 10 Mobile Testing Tools Katalon Studio Katalon Studio is an automation testing tool for mobile, web, API, and desktop (Windows). all-in-one As the most popular alternative to Appium, Studio eliminates the hassle of building a test automation framework from scratch and programming prerequisites with low-code methods. Supporting both Android & iOS platforms, Studio is compatible with a variety of operating systems (Windows, macOS, and Linux). Feature highlights: Record & playback, built-in keywords, pre-made project templates for fast test creation Manual and Script Mode available to toggle between low-code and scripting options Local, remote, and cross-environment execution on real devices, simulators, or custom cloud-based devices (works with Sauces Lab, Kobiton, Perfecto, Lambda Test, etc.) Image-based Testing to capture and locate visual elements Page Object Model design and object refactoring to lessen maintenance efforts Test artifact sharing to easily export and import test assets from one project to another Built-in advanced reporting to provide actionable insights and speed up troubleshooting Integration with common CI/CD systems (Jenkins, Bamboo, Travis CI, Azure DevOps, CircleCI, etc.) Free learning resources with detailed technical documentation, sample projects, and video tutorials on Katalon Academy Website: https://www.katalon.com/ Price: Free or $76/license/month Appium Inheriting the popularity of Selenium, Appium is a well-known and favored mobile test automation framework. Using the WebDriver protocol, Appium allows users to test native, hybrid, and mobile web applications. Feature highlights: Available scripting language: Java, Ruby, Python, PHP, JavaScript, and C# Easy to adopt for those experienced with Selenium Can integrate with other frameworks and testing platforms Removes the need to recompile applications, other codebase or frameworks Allows test and code reusability between iOS, Android, and Windows Website: https://appium.io/ Price: Open-source Espresso For those who have developed native Android applications, Espresso would not be a strange name. Developed by Google, Espresso is also a test automation framework for Android.  creates this platform-specific solution with a flexible and straightforward API; however, it only runs Android UI tests and supports the enhancement of the functionalities. Feature highlights: Supports Java and JUnit for native applications Lightweight APIs to make maintenance easier Automatically synchronizes UI elements and testing actions Able to compile Android UI tests to APKs Commonly used for unit and black-box testing Website: https://developer.android.com/training/testing/espresso Price: Open-source XCUI Test XCUI Test is a product of Apple for iOS developers to script and run UI tests with Xcode IDE. This automation framework is solely for iOS devices and doesn’t support Android systems. Feature highlights: Available scripting language: Swift and Objective-C Connects with Xcode, third-party tools and frameworks to record tests XCode integration to simplify coding using methods, subclasses, or assertions CI/CD integration support Suited for black-box testing Website: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xctest/ Price: Open-source Robotium Robotium handles automated mobile testing for Android v1.6+ applications, both native and hybrid. The setup requires having Android SDK, Eclipse, Android Development Kit, and JDK ready. Feature highlights: Available scripting language: Java Simple API for fast test generation Used to write functional, system and user acceptance tests Supports execution on Android emulators and real devices CI/CD integration supported (Maven, Gradle, or ANT) Website: https://github.com/RobotiumTech/robotium Price: Open-source Flutter Another item developed by Google to create mobile (iOS and Android), web and desktop applications. From Techahead, Flutter-built mobile applications have taken up over 10% of the Google Playstore. Feature Highlights: Easy code alters and update on emulators, simulators, or real devices, and view real-time results with Hot Reload Background caching through service workers Sound null safety to decrease the occurrence of null reference exceptions Build expressive and create UIs using widgets, rich motion APIs, etc. Website: https://flutter.dev/ Price: Open-source Robot Framework This keyword-driven test automation framework is capable of testing mobile, web, and desktop applications. It can be used for a wide range of testing types and levels, including acceptance test-driven development (ATDD) and robotic process automation. Feature highlights: Supports cross-platform testing Facilitates keyword-driven testing Has a wide range of standard and third-party test libraries Runs, builds, and edits tests in integration with various supporting tools Website: https://robotframework.org/ Price: Open-source Selendroid Native and hybrid Android apps as well as mobile web can be tested using this tool. With robust WebDriver API and Selenium integration, it eliminates the majority of the current obstacles. Feature highlights: Interact with multiple devices and emulators at the same time Capabilities for high-quality recording Automate tests without switching to a different AUT Can be used on both emulators and actual devices, as well as as a node in the Selenium Grid Website: http://selendroid.io/ Price: Open-source iOS Driver In comparison to real devices, this tool performs better on emulators. Using the Selenium/WebDriver API, iOS Driver can integrate iOS hybrid and native mobile apps with Selenium for testing. Since iOS Driver relies on two separate frameworks from Apple, be sure to verify the system requirements before installing. Feature highlights: Once compatible, selective features of Apple’s X-code can be used No need to jailbreak, alter app code, or load extra agents to test your apps Can be used as a Selenium Grid Node, reducing feedback time for GUI testing Website: https://ios-driver.github.io/ios-driver/ Price: Open-source Xamarin.UITest This tool is used for creating and running UI acceptance tests across iOS and Android applications on mobile devices. It enables the testing of both Xamarin apps and native apps: Xamarin for iOS, Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android platform. Feature highlights: A simpler option for Xamarin.Form-built apps Connects seamlessly to Microsoft Visual Studio products Enhanced cross-platform testing Website: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/appcenter/test-cloud/frameworks/uitest/ Price: Open-source Which Mobile Testing Tool is Your Best Fit? Choosing the right mobile testing solution can help your team automate tests faster and much more efficiently. When looking for the finest tool or framework for writing test scripts, pay close attention to the features it offers. A robust solution should support various programming languages, mobile platforms, and cross-platform integrations. If your team comes with experienced developers who have programmed applications and frameworks from the ground up, then open-source software like Appium would definitely be the right choice. But for teams with large skill gaps, consisting of transitioning manual testers, QA engineer freshers, and a limited number of coding-based members, Katalon Studio would not disappoint. Start your first project with Record & Playback, built-in keywords, pre-made project templates, advanced reporting to speed up troubleshooting, and many other features in the collection waiting to be tried out.

The Comparison of Top 10 Automated Mobile Testing Tools

Launching a product is always challenging. If you want to know how to start an app business, follow the advice of those who’ve done it. As a technology researcher, I want to help you with this. So I asked several mobile business owners how to launch an app startup, and they’ve shared their experiences. Many emphasized research and planning, while others unveiled some surprising secrets - even an unusual way to raise money. 1) Be Your Own Worst Critic Mobile app development continues to grow. shows that in 2020, users installed 218 billion apps. Out of this huge number, only of all the apps gain commercial success. This is because of them are abandoned after being used only one time. Among the most common reasons for failure are: Research 0.01% 90% poor market research (42%), irrelevant business model (17%), wrong market strategy (14%), weak product (19%), bad timing for launch (13%). Source: Business of apps Before diving into creating an app, you must spend time thinking everything over. Brainstorm how to start a mobile app business and check it for viability. These components are vital when creating a mobile app business plan: Evaluate Your Ideas “Evaluating your idea is a crucial move before going forward. A creative idea doesn’t necessarily mean it will become a hit in the industry. Ask yourself if your idea solves an existing problem. With this, you will know if there are people who need your app. There is no point in creating an app if you do not have a specific target market.” - says Sam Dolbel, Co-founder & CEO of . SINC Workforce Set Clear Goals and Objectives Co-Founder and CMO of David Bitton suggest: DoorLoop “Clearly define your objectives on what your mobile app intends to do: Is it intended to solve a problem? Reach more customers? Raise brand awareness?” He adds that every app serves a purpose, but each mobile app also must satisfy 2 goals: “1) the goal of your ideal user, and 2) your own business goal". To further help you define your objectives, David Bitton insists you ask yourself the following questions: What service do you want to provide in your mobile app? How will your mobile app solve a problem? What results do you expect from your app? Make Sure There is a Need that Competitors Don’t Already Address Before putting effort into this project, you must be sure that your product is unique and needed. If the market is oversaturated, your product may be lost in the quagmire of other options. Are you ready to compete with established brands? Brendan Martin who co-created the dictionary and language learning app says they built a startup by “focusing on a known problem or a problem that we personally had.” Cardinal Prepare to produce a product with a solid competitive advantage. This will help attract both clients and investors at the funding stage to see the profit potential. "Due to such a high volume of app developers, app development would need to serve a customized need that angel investors can easily see a possibility of high return because it services a recognizable need differently than another app." - says Roy Morejon, President & Co-Founder of . Enventys Partners 2) Find a Cheap Way to Validate Your Idea Don't play double or nothing. Before focusing all your resources on building a perfect product, try to get immediate feedback from the market after presenting your idea. There’s no point in creating a fully featured product if no one wants it. Validate your idea with the help of a Minimum Viable Product. In , Becky McCrea, Cindy Rockwell, and Molly Woodruff explain that “it is important to review the most important features of your app”, and be certain they are useful to the consumer. You may have grand plans for your app, but at first, the main idea is to get the minimum viable product (MVP) on the market quickly, and then improve it. Farmmee Did you know that there are as many as ? They vary depending on the product availability, from no product to minimal one. Each is effective at a different stage of your startup. Here are some details to give you a clearer idea: 5 types of MVPs Smoke Tests. You can test your idea about a product or service with just a description. Create a landing page and run an AdWords campaign to see if people will sign up for your product before you build it. “Validate your idea by using the Google Keyword Planner tool to look for the number of people seeking out what you’re trying to do.” - adds Miranda, Founder of . VinPit Sell Before You Build. You can raise money for your potential product with crowdfunding platforms. Be sure that your offer is appealing enough to attract attention even though it’s just an idea. Concierge. You must manually perform all functions of the future app. In other words, you will work with every customer providing everything yourself - communication, procurement, production, delivery, and so on. If your idea succeeds, then you can run with it. Wizard of Oz. Create a simulation of the app for customers, while every step is still made manually by you. That way, you will learn which features are vital and which are ineffective before building them. Single Feature Product. Find a function that solves a specific problem.  Once this stripped-down version of your product takes off, you can add more features. Source: Greenice While thinking about how to launch an app, use an MVP to save money and get realistic feedback about your product from actual clients. Then develop the most effective parts for your business. 3) Use Creative Funding How much does it cost to launch an app? Quite a lot. But this won’t stop you, right? The most common ways to fund your app are: Raising funds from angel investors Launching crowdfunding campaigns Bootstrapping However, this isn’t all you can do to cover your app startup costs. There are other ways to generate cash flow. For example, you can collect donations for your app using your current audience like Heinrich Long, Privacy Expert at , did: Restore “Before building my app, I put together a website that detailed all of my cybersecurity knowledge and shared it with my audience. The website took off faster than I ever could have imagined and I continue to grow my audience with it. The purpose of the website was to collect donations for the app I was building (that has many of the same educational tools the website has), and because the website became so popular, I was able to get the funding I needed.” 4) Start Thinking About Monetization as Early as Possible We are misled by the cheesy success stories of Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube that managed to live for years without monetization. Needless to say,  this doesn’t work for everyone. You can dream that Google will buy your project soon after launching. But most likely, magic will not happen, and good samaritans will not drop out of the sky.  Don’t ditch the rational idea of getting money from your app. Find a way to make your app profitable from the beginning. Here is advice from Dave Herman, President of : EZ Security Bonds “When building a mobile app startup, make sure you create a business model before actually developing the app to recoup the cost. This will be your guide that will help turn your app ideas into action. Start with visualizing the project and formulating the key concepts that will provide the basis for your startup. From the budget, monetization option, marketing strategy, and a lot more, you must have a business model ready to build your mobile app startup and make it successful.” 5) Use Wireframes A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when you think about how to sell an app idea. Wireframes can add clarity and excitement to your explanations and presentations for the team, investors, and other stakeholders. The text might give all the details but barely grab anyone’s attention. Images provide clear, visual information about your product’s features, interface, and design. They can be produced with good old pencil and paper or modern tools like Figma, Adobe XD, or UXPin. “Design your wireframes which are the visual guide of your app's layout and flow from different screens. You can do this offline using blank papers and pen or printable templates from SneakPeekIt. You can also do it online via wireframing tools. Later, you can test your wireframes with the use of Invision, which is what I use.” - says David Bitton, the Co-Founder and CMO of DoorLoop. 6) Use as Little Coding as Possible Here, we come to: “How to build an app.” In mobile app development, you have three options: native, cross-platform, and low-code. Native mobile development is the most resource-intensive as you must create two fully-featured apps - one for iOS and another for Android. For this, you will need two different teams of specialists to design, build, and market your solutions. This is time-consuming and expensive. If you cannot afford native development, there are other alternatives: Low code platforms are great for building systems\apps that use intuitive interfaces while not demanding in-depth programming skills. Such platforms include Visual LANSA, GeneXus, Zoho Creator. Becky McCrea from advises: Farmmee “Decide if you choose a low-code route to prove user adoption and viability with an accelerated delivery, or whether you have a technical team code the mobile app on a native friendly framework.” Cross-platform apps have one code-base and can be developed to function on several platforms. This approach can significantly reduce your development time and costs. Here are some examples of cross-platform apps: Progressive Web Applications are apps delivered through the web. They are available for all platforms. React Native is a development framework for app creation using JavaScript. Hybrid apps can be installed as native ones but use web technologies to display content. Examples of such apps are Apache Cordova and Xamarin. Flutter is another useful toolkit for building applications running on different platforms. Neil Parker, the CTO of , who is also  a software engineer at Uber and Amazon, insists that “using Flutter is the way to build a mobile app startup. Lovecast When you're starting a company, you don't have the resources to build and maintain mobile apps across multiple platforms while also rolling out new and innovative features. If you don't have mobile experience, you certainly don't have the time to learn everything. You need a way to move fast while delivering quality content. And that's exactly what Flutter allows. The web support, for example, enabled us to easily roll out a of our app directly to the web. And on mobile, it's almost indistinguishable from our native apps. We're able to maintain a single code base while moving at lightning speed with new features.” version If you are still not confident which way to go, : think about this native apps work faster and have direct access to all device features but are expensive to develop and maintain hybrids are quicker and cheaper to develop but have limited performance and functionality 7) Let Each Team Member Own Their Work Sharing is caring but also a way to achieve goals faster and more effectively. Create a solid team working together where everyone is responsible for their individual part. From decision making to task completion, every team member will be accountable for one piece of the puzzle. This system is especially compelling if every participant has equity in the company. Brendan Martin from liked “dividing the work equally among co-founders.” He says: “We were able to create a fast, stable, and beautiful app that solved core problems language learners had by essentially decoupling backend from frontend and having complete ownership of our own sides.” Cardinal How to Apply This to Your Business Creating a mobile app startup is not easy. You can't just let things go their course. Obviously, it is super important to analyze the market and have a strategy, but there is much more. You must come up with a decent idea for an app, consider finances, create a gripping presentation, develop solid coding,  and share responsibilities among team members. Hopefully, now you have a picture of how to launch a mobile app startup. I'd like to finish with a quote from founders Becky McCrea, Cindy Rockwell, and Molly Woodruff: Farmmee “Most of all, enjoy the excitement of launching your startup even when it gets tough. There will be hurdles, roadblocks, setbacks, and it is incredibly important to keep your focus on getting across the finish line no matter what.” Good luck with your startup, and may the force be with you.

How to Launch a Mobile App Startup - 7 Tips from Industry Veterans

Table of Contents: What is mobile deep linking? App types and benefits from deep linking Mobile buyer’s journey What are the methods of mobile app deep linking? Reasons to use deep linking How to use deep linking in your mobile app? A lot of market players used to ignore new coming trends, such as deep linking for mobile apps, but the evidence so far suggests that there are significant benefits. As of October 2020, of all web traffic comes through mobile phones. Despite the slight decline if we compare to 2019 when we go back to October 2010, this figure was at a meager , so since then mobile browsing has soared in popularity dramatically. 48.62 percent (52.48 percent) 3.81 percent From everyday shopping, booking hotels, ordering food to surfing social media and managing your working space we all use our cell phones as mediators. That’s why digital entrepreneurs have to strive a lot to improve the user experience they produce through their apps, to deliver a smooth workflow, keep visitors for longer periods of time, make them share it with friends and give positive feedback. Mobile deep linking is one of the means (that probably can make a bigger difference than even fonts, designs, themes, features etc.) to engage more admirers, increase conversion and optimize marketing processes. As we know, game-changers lie in details, so this minor improvement can drastically enhance how users interact with your app but few are taking advantage of it. Wanna enter this chamber of secrets? We’re here to guide you through all the rough spots and teach you how to benefit from deep linking and implement it quickly and efficiently. What is mobile deep linking, actually? Without further ado, deep linking is a technique that allows you to funnel users deeply into your app through a specific uniform resource identifier (URL) and take them to a certain content inside the app, not to its web version. Technically, this practice not only guarantees better user engagement but also helps in tracking the most effective campaigns. Deep links will not only open your app but also will use the information in the link to perform a specific action. For example, some of them empower users to generate a deep link and share it with others, and if people don’t have that mobile app downloaded on their phones it redirects them to the AppStore or Play Market. Deep linking allows mobile app developers to push to a specific page within an application versus simply opening it, but its functions cannot be narrowed down just to downloading an app when it’s clicked. In other words, deep linking interconnects mobile apps similar to how the Internet operates with clickable links. When the user clicks a call-to-action (ex. push notification, affiliate links, email link), deep linking is the practice that takes users to a specific area within the app itself instead of simply loading the app. Moreover, the technological structure of mobile apps is not the same as that of websites, it does not provide the ability for mobile apps to navigate effortlessly from one app to another by means of hyperlinks. Yet apps can now be opened to specific pages – deep linking greatly reduces the friction of bringing users to certain sales pages in your app or downloading your app if necessary. Technical requirements for deep links: When setting up deep links in a mobile application, a custom URL scheme has to be built and have it registered with the operating system. Routes to target destinations or checkpoints in the app will be mapped, the same way URLs are mapped to Web pages. Our expert developers can set up Android deep-linking or iOS deep-linking apps rather quickly. Although, in the article we’ll provide some examples of code snippets and documentation needed for creating deep links. Let’s delve deeper into benefits. Look at your app’s user journey. How many pages on average do they explore before actual conversion? Think of every single step as a chance of clients bouncing. Now, imagine landing or forwarding visitors right to the target sales pages they are interested in. By means of deep linking you can get them closer to their end-goal. Sounds tasty? We think so. Here’s a visualisation of the process for your better understanding. It seems to be quite straightforward, but there are some pitfalls you have to be aware of. Let’s find out what types of applications can benefit from deep linking most. How Does Deep Linking Work with Different App Types Shopping Apps While trying to sell a product it’s much easier to forward users right to the target sales page in order to decrease time and number of pages they’re browsing before making an actual purchase. To land buyers directly on a product page, advertised or promoted outside the app you can create direct campaigns for individual bets-selling products for better conversions. It can either be done manually for featured products or by using App’s product feed to create dynamic product-level retargeting similar to what we practice on desktops. Travel Apps When it comes to traveling, deep linking can bring users directly to specific hotels, tickets, or holiday booking sectors. Even a featured hotel deal or specific air sector could be promoted leading users to a page with those offers or hotel details pre-filled. Boarding pass or booked tickets can be opened from the confirmation email sent, allowing for faster access. Food Delivery Apps Based on user preferences, promoted deals or time-limited sales you can provide deep linking for visitors to enhance their experience, prevent declined unsuccessful sessions and help them order quickly and hassle-free. This practice is widely used by entrepreneurs for promoting seasonal menus with exclusive dishes as well. Music Apps App owners can easily push albums or new singles before actual release to leverage the benefits of deep linking. Using targeting or remarketing methods, entrepreneurs are able to engage new visitors and drive them directly to the collections of songs they’re interested in. These approaches and methods increase your chances to catch new customers and keep them coming back. Gaming Apps Today it’s a common practice to promote games through ads in social media. After clicking on the screen, you’ll be immediately redirected to App Store or Play Market (since these ads are shown solely to those users, who don’t have the game installed yet) to download the game and play. But what is the mechanism that turns visitors into customers when it comes to mobile deep linking and how to implement it effectively? Mobile Customer Journey and Deep Linking Let’s point out: we’re all here to know how to leverage deep links to drive better performance to your app and improve user experience across different channels. To sort everything out we have to delve into details of the process and analyze how clients interact with deep links and why it may affect conversion in a positive way. That said, the customer journey is the path a user goes through to find use and share your application. In general, it’s quite similar to common algorithms or sales funnels a client experience when purchasing a product or service with minor differences. Here’s how it works with deep linking. Awareness It’s commonly known that mobile search outweighs desktop searches by an extra 28 billion and shares 40% of people search solely on smartphones, that’s why you have to know certainly how to generate more traffic from mobile devices and see an opportunity where others see difficulties. 52,1% of the global market. Instead of having a single search engine listing, Google indexes deep links from your app and enables you to acquire more users and increase brand awareness as well. Users discover your app in search results, click the link and open it directly through the app instead of an internet browser. Since mobile apps have better interfaces and are more tailored to users’ needs than web pages, you’ll have increased chances to impress visitors this way. Comparison Today’s market is highly competitive, so it’s not enough now for your application to be designed for discoverability and put ease on the user. When top options have been narrowed down, people will want to find the absolute best that suits them personally and compare you to other market leaders. Here’s the point where previous statements come into the limelight as well: customers will investigate pricing, ease of use and features, and (what’s more important!) analyze the experience they get when dealing with different apps. Deep linking allows you to set the users’ focus on your strong sides, benefits, strengths, reviews and make adjustments to customize their path through the app and stay ahead of your competitors. Decision-making The third, but probably one of the most important stages is making a decision and commitment to your app. It’s defined by how you have been compared to other solutions and whether you’re able to stay ahead of the curve or get lost in the crowd. If you opt for contextual deep linking, it allows you to collect more accurate data and tailor an app to your buyer’s persona, aligning their needs with your value proposition, performance and UI/UX you provide. Customer retention Whether the term Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) sounds familiar to you or not, it’s absolutely clear that once you acquire more users through multiple campaigns to have to keep them coming back. When you navigate users back to your application via standard or deferred deep linking from social media, search engines and other platforms it helps you to understand accurately why and how they interact with your software. Mobile App Deep Linking Methods Traditional deep linking Deferred deep linking Contextual deep linking Custom deep links iOS universal links Android app links Reasons to Apply to Deep Linking Enhanced user experience Being an entrepreneur, your prior task is taking them as close to their destination as possible. So if you can bring them to desired pages or specific products through one click and remove any extra steps from their path, why wouldn’t you? By skipping the App Store redirection phase if the app is already installed you make the life of users easier and get them where they want to go, giving them better experience and impression as a result. Improved customer retention and engagement If the reality turns out to be far from customers’ expectations, all new downloads will be lost right after the first visit. According to , after three months of use the average user churn rate was 71% as of 2nd half 2018. Statista The same tendency remains for websites: a lot of people leave it without taking any actions and never come back. That’s why we have to implement various strategies like email options through popups and exclusive content to capture those visitors before they leave. To put it non-technically, deep linking is a practice to bring more engagement, ensure high retention and usage through active personalization to users’ interests. Moreover, powerful potential of deep linking may be doubled if you combine it with heavily tailored ads to activate clients’ loyalty and conversion. Better onboarding process for newcomers Speaking of deferred deep linking approach, application owners are able to acquire more users, since going through the mobile browser version of your application, they will be automatically forwarded to the appropriate download location in the store immediately. When it comes to contextual technique, your tech team can assist you with the onboarding process to welcome newcommers in different ways depending on where they originally downloaded the app from. If you certainly know something about your customers’ online behavior, common experiences and habits, they can be navigated to a specific section or product category automatically. That’s only one scenario from the myriad of personalized strategies you may develop. Increased reengaging potentials According to , retargeting can lift ad engagement rates up to 400%. So now answer the question, do you use its potential to the limit, especially to catch the attention of inactive users? Kenshoo To reengage a segment of users who downloaded your app, viewed product pages, and bounced, you have a chance to retarget them in advertising campaigns and use deferred linking to forward them back to the high-interest specific product pages they have already visited. You can also send them push notifications and navigate to the content of their interests. Intensified marketing capabilities Today the one-fits-all solutions don’t work anymore, so marketers need some extra edge, such as deep linking. Align your strategy with users’ requirements through personalization and retargeting campaigns to get them to the exact point where they dropped off and increase both the sales and revenue strategically. For example, we all are used to the following sales funnel: the user sees your website in search engine results, lands on the home page, navigates to the product section, adds wanted items to the cart, confirms the order, pays and checks out. This scheme might be cut in half successfully by helping customers straightforwardly to sales pages or even use tickets and discounts to deep customers’ loyalty. Reinforced app discoverability Take advantage of free exposure from Google, since all your deep links can be indexed and drive more users to the app. Do not limit your ranks to a homepage solely, your app may be ranged for thousands of queries and enable customers to visit deeper functions and features versus landing on the welcome page. Reliable analytics and insights The effectiveness of marketing campaigns can be significantly improved with the information you get mobile deep linking analytics. You can monitor, track and discover which links are being clicked the most and by whom, what product categories they enjoy the most, then offer a discount for them to align with this behavior. How to Implement Deep Links? The approach to implementing deep links can be two-folded: URL scheme Universal links The first option is more well-known and wide-spread, while Universal links have been implemented by Apple afterwards, to provide the connection between webpage and application through the same link. Here’s how to create React Native deep links both for iOS and Android.

Mobile Deep Linking for Your React Native App: How to Bootstrap Conversion Easily

Mobile devices have redefined the way we interact with digital technology, and enterprise mobile applications are probably the most interesting example of this shift. While they hold considerable potential for improving business operations, you’ll be right to wonder whether they can really fulfill all the trendy promises seen in the media. Below is a detailed analysis of what these apps can really do and how to harness their potential while avoiding the risks. What Is an Enterprise Application? Broadly speaking, enterprise applications, also known as enterprise or project management systems, are software solutions used by organizations to automate and optimize processes related to their activities. Quite often, the term is used in the business-oriented context and involves financial transactions or resource management of some kind. However, their functionality is equally relevant for non-profit organizations and governments. Here are just some of the areas covered by enterprise applications: Payment processing Project management Human resource management Supply chain control Manufacturing automation Enterprise resource planning Collaboration Business intelligence Data gathering and analysis Customer relationship management Depending on their purpose, enterprise solutions may vary in scope from employee-oriented applications to multi-component suites that span the entire company. Why Go For Enterprise Mobility? The popularization of personal mobile devices made it possible to enhance enterprise software by introducing enterprise mobility solutions. There are several reasons for this, most of which have to do with the general . On the one hand, an increasing number of users engage with digital products and services from their phones, mainly due to all the quality-of-life improvements they offer in terms of user experience. shift from desktop to mobile On the other hand, smart technologies are , which is a major blow to performance and competitive advantage. Simply put, the mobile-first approach to enterprise app development has now become both more attractive from the user perspective and more feasible in terms of functionality. rendering legacy systems obsolete Advantages of Enterprise Mobility Solutions Enterprise mobile applications offer a host of benefits to individuals and organizations. Most of these can be assigned to three core domains: Utility: Functionality that enhances productivity and	optimizes resource utilization Innovation: Aspects that encourage creativity and provide insight to inform decision-making User Satisfaction: Features that help meet the expectations of customers and improve the experience of employees To help you understand whether these are trendy promises or real outcomes, here is a closer look at each of these domains. Utility Different organizations will likely have different requirements to their enterprise applications. Nevertheless, there are certain categories that are universally in demand. For instance, enterprise mobility solutions provide two-way interaction possibilities. In simple terms, this allows employees to input data into resource planning systems from their phones (which essentially means “from anywhere”), increasing workflow participation. Next, these applications can take advantage of phone features such as alerts and push notifications. Having the ability to notify a certain group of people in a timely manner has obvious advantages for dynamic workplace environments and may be a viable strategy to . enhance engagement with the application Flexibility and personalization is another aspect of enterprise systems that have benefited from the mobile-first approach. A good example of this is analytics: with a mobile app, it becomes possible to customize which data to send to each group and what to emphasize to maximize its relevance for a specific department. In the same way, location information can be used to optimize the operations (e.g., adjust directions for delivery). Finally, mobile apps allow for seamless embedding of multimedia information. While it may not sound particularly groundbreaking, it does have a noticeable positive effect on information delivery and distribution. In many cases, a short instruction video in place of a long list of directions can save a considerable amount of time and resources. Innovation The second aspect of mobile enterprise systems is their capacity to promote innovation. In many ways, it intersects with utility. For example, data analytics are as relevant for the company’s performance as they are for gaining business insight and identifying novel and promising directions. In this light, apps have an advantage of continuity: not only can they gather data on the fly, but also process multiple data points and issue real-time updates. The first advantage of such comprehensive monitoring is the high precision of insight gained from the analysis. Let’s take a delivery service as an example: a mobile app makes it possible to obtain performance metrics on each vehicle in the fleet and identify areas that cause setbacks at specific times of the day. Similarly, it allows to focus on bottlenecks in the production line or a supply chain. What’s more, the modular nature of these systems allows to integrate components that will automatically send instant alerts and recommendations or suggest cumulative updates to eradicate issues. The same goes for the applications themselves. By tracking user activity, it becomes possible to better understand the needs of employees and improve user experience while also making interactions more productive. In other words, they create an environment that encourages continuous improvement across the organization. User Satisfaction Enterprise software is an inherently complex product that needs to manage numerous systems and respond to the needs of different departments. This is especially true for the contemporary business environment that often incorporates multinational teams. The mobile-first approach addresses this challenge in two ways. First, mobile apps are simpler and more accessible than the legacy software thanks to the existence of well-defined . These guidelines are developed with user experience in mind, which lowers the entry barrier. Even the most advanced solution will only work as long as users know how to make use of its features, which is why the incorporate these principles in their design. sets of guidelines best enterprise team management apps Performance and usability aside, mobile apps are also more user-friendly than legacy alternatives. This user-friendliness stems from the degree of customization they offer, support of multiple languages, and even subtle design details like the alignment with brand aesthetics. In combination, these factors provide a cohesive user experience that can boost employee satisfaction and strengthen the commitment to the company’s vision. Who Benefits from Project Management Tools? Because of their grand scope, enterprise systems are often perceived as sophisticated tools relevant only for upper-level management. This couldn’t be further from the truth – a modern enterprise app suite can bring value on several levels of the organization: Employees can enjoy simplified record-keeping, more reliable task management, and get a greater degree of flexibility by having access to work-related information at all times. Teams can achieve better cohesion and coordination of efforts, distribute talent and resources more effectively, and establish reliable communication channels accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. Departments get the ability to share data in a unified format supported across the company and receive relevant insights in accessible form to aid decision-making. Companies benefit by gaining reliable, verifiable, and timely business insights, maintain compliance of reports with legal and regulatory standards, and easily share the strategic vision with the entire staff. Enterprise Mobile App Development: Important Points Despite all of their advantages, enterprise apps do not solve all problems by simply being there. As any sophisticated technology, they need to be implemented and maintained in the right way. Here are things to consider when choosing one: Development Cycle As any fairly sophisticated product, an enterprise management system takes time to develop. What’s more, a significant proportion of this time will be spent on understanding what the final product is expected to do and what are the most effective ways of doing it. So, realistically, be prepared to go through the following stages: Concept Development Planning Requirement analysis Design Development Testing Implementation Maintenance While the list might look intimidating, these stages are there to prevent difficulties in the long run, so factoring them into strategic planning is a must. Platform The days of desktops ruling supreme in the corporate world are long gone, so business owners should be prepared to deal with a plethora of platforms. Naturally, developing for Android and IOS, or even different iterations of Android, can inflate the budget considerably. So a good place to start will be to weigh the benefits and risks of developing for several systems versus choosing one and switching your business to it. Integration While sufficiently effective on their own, it is after the integration with other software that enterprise apps really work miracles. A fully integrated system is capable of gathering data, converting it to the right format, and managing processes automatically. This approach is equally useful for accounting, HRM, and knowledge management, so identifying points of integration early in the development is absolutely crucial. Cost Enterprise applications have a reputation of being expensive to develop and maintain. While this might have been justified in the early days of digital revolution, this market segment has since become much more diverse. Nowadays, it is possible to choose the option of the right scope and price to suit your business requirements. So with a clear understanding of needs, there are plenty of ways to cut expenses on their development. Security The issue of safe corporate data management is a serious issue on its own, and the use of mobile enterprise apps elevates it to the next level. Granting access to sensitive information from multiple portable devices is a , with or without the BYOD policy in place. One way to tackle this risk is to implement a robust enterprise security system. However, it is equally important to develop security policies and educate employees on risk mitigation approaches. major security risk Team’s Experience While there is no shortage of , not all of them will work for your business. To know which do, spend some time to familiarize yourself with the developer’s portfolio and check if their previous work looks like what you would expect. Try to match their experience with your goals – after all, a suite for a multinational corporation is not the same as an enterprise app for a small business with a dozen employees. enterprise app development services Conclusion Mobile enterprise apps offer tremendous value to businesses. However, the advantages come at the cost of careful planning, responsible development, tight integration, and maintenance. Skip those steps – and your company will spend months just to end up with an expensive yet useless tool. Invest some time and attention into the process – and it will pay off in performance, reduced costs, and higher employee satisfaction. So, whether you are looking to simplify operations or gain a competitive edge, enterprise mobile systems may be just what you are looking for.

Enterprise Mobile Applications: Are they a Trend or a Necessity?

Mobile web market is flourishing with tremendous activity. Every company endeavors to expand its panorama of work. In fact, modern-day companies are putting in tremendous efforts to capture the entire market via apps and sites. But, in order to make sure that required apps, as well as sites, turn out as per their specific needs, there is a need for the proper team whether you have it in-house or you outsource it. Employing the wrong people who execute faulty project methodology can actually turn your thrilling project into a failure. There are challenges in both in-house software and outsourcing. Below we will discuss in detail about both of them. management development At an initial glance, maintaining an in-house software development seems to be just plagued with the monetary issue, but if you delve deeper, you will get to know that having an in-house software development team will rope in a plethora of issues to handle before you. What most people like about having an in-house team is that you will have people dedicated to working for you. In case of an emergency event, you will be their first priority. Also, in course of time, they will fully understand all your needs and offer you solutions accordingly. Whereas an outsider will always view you as a vendor and might not fully offer you a product as per your need. There are some big obstacles which come with having an in-house team - The hiring of the right team Over expenses Varying intensity of work If you want a permanent software development team, this calls for a major investment from your end. Even if you have the required resources finding skilled developers is also not a very easy task. If at all you are not developing software on a regular basis your work intensity might vary and keep having idle workers will pinch you a lot. Regardless, of the quantum of work, you will have to pay fixed salaries to the developers. So, in such a scenario outsourcing software work seems to be the most viable proposition before you. There are various types of software development outsourcing. There are certain companies which go in for body shopping. This means they rent the services of the developers as per their requirement. You can even hire in order to build up your whole project. software development houses as outsourcing providers Depending on the location of your outsourcing partner, you can categorize it as local or offshore software development outsourcing. All you need to concentrate is on the quality of work offered by your outsourcing providers. Several business houses go in for a highly trained in-house team for software development. Nevertheless, a lot of companies opt for the outsourcing alternative, but it is you who has to decide on what is ideal for your business? Take an informed decision for your company if you wish to touch true realms of success. Challenges during in-house software development A huge amount of investment Cost is the main issue which any company has to deal with if it plans to go for in-house development. For in-house software development, you do not need to recruit a full team of developers you even have to put in place a proper infrastructure to execute the entire process. Money is also required for imparting proper training to the employees. It is akin to expansion in work and any kind of expansion calls for input of resources. So, basically significant investment is a prerequisite for in-house app development. Recruitment Process is quite tough Even if you have the money; hiring the right people and setting all other things is not easy. This process consumes a lot of time as well effort. Every company is on lookout for the best in the industry, so getting in touch with the right people isn’t a child’s play. The dearth of skilled people Even though the market is flooded with developers, finding the right one is a big task. There is a serious paucity of professionals with the right skills. At times, if you find the right person, he might be charging too high. So, basically finding a skilled person in your budget is what actually holds relevance. Dependency Once, you hire an in-house developer, your whole work becomes dependent on him. If the developer goes on a leave or is fraught with some issues the entire project will suffer because of him. This turns out to be a grave concern for the company as it also prolongs actual project completion time. Varying areas of Domain Expertise There are so many different aspects of app development. So, basically, you will need a domain expert to handle the different range of issues. For instance, the task of an app developer is just the development of the app, nevertheless, there is a need for a competent designer who can carry out the task of designing the app. In the same way, if you are getting the site made in PHP, there is a need for Flash for a particular webpage. This need for several domain experts infringes spontaneity and even enhances problems in the course of efficient project development. Tools and Technologies Even though there are quite a number of development tools which are available free of cost and do not necessitate any kind of permission for distribution, there are several other technologies that call for permission for purpose of distribution. Thus, getting apt tools as well as technologies for development is a huge faltering block when you opt for in-house software development. Maintenance of Workforce There are many huge corporations for whom setting an in-house software development team is a minor thing. But, for them, the problem shows face when the project is completed or when the requirement ceases. These companies find it hard to maintain the required infrastructure as well as resources later on. This maintenance expenditure is actually uncalled for the burden on the shoulders of these big companies. Conclusion on Hiring In-House Software Development Team The most viable solution to overcome all these different stumbling blocks is outsourcing the task of software development to a service provider firm. There are several companies who are ready to do your task with perfection thus leaving you to hassle-free and comfortable. Not only will this keep the capital cost within budget but you will also get a solution as per your need. Also, when your project is outsourced, you can pay attention to other important things. Companies offer different software development models. Choose one in accordance to your need and budget. Going in for in-house development might seem to be beneficial in the beginning, but when you put things into action, there are more stumbling blocks than what you anticipated. So, take a wise call and do what is ideal for your company. How to Maximum Benefit While Outsourcing? Top Outsourcing Issues and their Solutions The industrial revolution gave a huge spurt to outsourcing. In fact, since late outsourcing has emerged as a full-fledged industry. Initially, outsourcing started with just the manufacturing sector but now there is hardly any industry which does not resort to outsourcing. Outsourcing is basically a routine of passing on work to the outside suppliers. Work is then completed by vendors rather than on-site. Outsourcing is a highly effective cost-saving strategy as a lot of times it is better to get the work done from outside than getting it done in-house. Outsourcing service providers now put in huge efforts to deliver products as per expectations of the clients through enhanced strategies. From the owner point of view when you outsource work, you can apply all your energies and efforts on core tasks, leaving the non-core activities for the others. In the long run, the organization benefits from the same as it leads to efficiency and good organization. Also, companies advantage from cost reduction. Outsourcing is actually based on the principle of delegation of work. When you hire outsiders to do tasks which either you are not good at or which follow predictable patterns, it leads to fluidity in business. The significance of outsourcing is fast rising in our present times. Companies now go for outsourcing for various vital functions. This is due to the internet and constant communication that outsourcing for significant tasks is now possible. Nevertheless, the road to outsourcing isn’t easy. Various challenges crop up during the course of outsourcing. Given below are some of the challenges along with their solutions. Challenge № 1 Feeling of uncertainty amongst the In-house employees It has been seen that mere mention of outsourcing lowers the morale of the existing team of employees. They develop a feeling of uncertainty and this propels them to look for the greener pastures. This can be a big shake-up to the organization as it can interfere in their human resource element. Solution: Although severing of ties with some employees can be quite distressing, organizations can deal with this problem by building internal centers of excellence for individual areas. By doing so existing employees will get past their fears and receive training in new vital processes as well as technologies. This will hone their proficiency, and they will grow further along with the company. Challenge № 2 Choosing the perfect Service Provider Finding the perfect service vendor is the prime base of the whole outsourcing process. In case there is any flaw in the selection process, frustration, as well as breach of promise, will slowly show face in course of time. To choose a partner for your outsourcing business is very hard. It is the challenge which most of the companies have to face. There are so many service providers available in the market. The competition is so tough and every vendor claims to lead the others in the race. Any error in choosing the vendor can lead to grave circumstances in the long run. So, you really have to be cautious while selecting your partner. Solution In order to tackle this issue, it is vital that you select the vendor as per strict parameters. Keep in mind specific needs of your organization along with desired output needed prior to hiring any outsourcing agency. Before signing any kind of contract, be sure to establish the kind as well as the duration of the contract. You can even for a test run ahead of signing any long-term agreement. After execution, critical performance indicators need to be scrutinized regularly. Continuous performance appraisal is must to ensure efficacy in work. Challenge № 3 Legal issues and Deficiency incomprehension of contract In case the legal consequences of outsourcing contract are not clear it can have problems for both the company and vendor agency. This can even lead to total failure of the outsourcing decision. A lot of outsourcing firms do not pay proper heed to the legal issues and then, later on, face a wide array of predicaments. Outsourcing has been fraught with hugely stringent competition in the market. Outsourcing contact should not be a medium to serve a “win-win” situation. It should be a means to achieve a positive outcome for both the parties lest it would lead to hostility, disappointment and bad-mouthing in the long run. Solution In order to stay away from any kind of legal complications, later on, the contracting parties need to adhere to all local legislation. When the negotiations regarding the contract are going on, executives from both the sides need to be present and all terms related to the contact should be made clear so that informed decision making is executed. Challenge № 4 Cultural Issues In current times cultural stereotypes along with niceties are playing a vital role in shaping the outcome of the outsourcing contract. Basically, there are two kinds of cultural distinctiveness - • Corporate • Country-specific It is not a simple task to set right the cultural tangles. Solution The complexities of the process which you intend to outsource and outcome of outsourcing to people belonging to varied cultural background need to be comprehended prior to signing the contract. It is extremely essential to strike cultural coherence as well as synchronization. This can be achieved by having a good multi-cultural sensitization program for both the company and the vendor agency. Challenge № 5 The practice of ‘Outsource and Forget’ is not practical You cannot just outsource and stay complacent. Delegating work to an external service provider does not relieve you of responsibility to check how the final product shapes up. Solution Regardless of the fact that the company has delegated non-vital operations to a third-party, it needs to be prepared to handle any kind of emergency. Apart from this advanced monitoring processes needs to be put in place, so that complete control is exercised on the outsourcing organization. Challenge № 6 Huge language, educational and cultural inadequacies There are significant language, cultural and educational barriers between people in developed nations and those from developing countries where the projects are usually outsourced. These differences have a big influence on the capability of different offshore teams to completely comprehend minor nuances of the project and then to carry out the same in an effective manner. Solution Before hiring any service provider, a proper analysis of skills should be there. Also, it should be ensured that any kind of language and cultural barrier is duly handled in order to avoid issues later on. Challenge № 7 Customer loss because of outsourcing Customers place their trust in a company and if they get to know that the company is outsourcing work, they might just shift preferences. A company’s brand image is a sensitive issue. From the logo of the company to its products, customer service each touch point is actually an opportunity you get to retain and satisfy your customers. If it is not handled in the right way, it can bring about customer attrition. Due to this reason a lot of companies feel reluctant to delegate work to an outsourcing vendor. Solution Customers are always concerned about their data safety, data which they provide and which is saved in companies’ databases. It’s always better to bind the outsourcing vendor for appropriate legal non-disclosure agreement so that they must be assured that no business information will be leaked from outsourcing vendors end. Also, there should be a valid service contract signing between companies’ and outsourcing vendors. Nowadays, laws are strong enough to detain a wrong entity in the market. Conclusion on Outsourcing In earlier days, when companies were not knowing the term, ‘Outsourcing’, it was easy for vendors to make them fool, take their hard earned money and disappear but nowadays, there are strong laws and there are many ways down the line which can detain fraudulent outsourcing agencies/vendors. So, nowadays, there is no harm in outsourcing your work to vendors. The only thing required, you must be smart enough to bind out outsourcing partners in appropriate non-disclosure agreements and service contracts. If you will follow the right approach and you will never be in a quandary regarding your outsourcing decision. Looking for an expert advice? Visit — VT Netzwelt

In-House Software Development Team V/S Outsourced Software Development Team — Challenges &…

Meet Bond and ReactiveKit Mobile app consumers have raised the bar for their expectations while scrolling through an app. Nowadays, everyone wants to see smooth transitions, pixel-perfect apps, and fewer steps. Even a small visual distraction can make the user delete your app. In other words, . your app has to be perfect How do you handle your data changes? There is also another important thing, and that is . I have met tons of apps with poor handling of data changes. For example, you are pulling to refresh the table view content and suddenly the whole content disappears and reappears after 2–3 seconds. In most cases, you are getting the same results back as before the "pull to refresh", so nothing has really changed. Sounds familiar? how you handle the data changes to the UI Let's avoid this kind of situations, and handle data changes properly by using . 👇 bindings and reactive data sources Reactive Programming For those who aren't familiar with the term, reactive is an asynchronous programming paradigm concerned with and the propagation of change. For example, all changes to the model will be automatically reflected in the associated view. 📡 programming data streams If you are interested to find out more about reactive programming click here . Bind with Bond is a binding framework that takes binding concepts to a whole new level. It's simple, powerful, type-safe and multi-paradigm - just like Swift. It simplifies state changes by using bindings and reactive data sources. Bond Swift This library is in my all-time favorites. You can attach it to any component that you like. I will show you how to use Bond with few examples, so you can get the idea of how it's working. Installation For the installation, I am using . I highly suggest that you do the same. Just add the below code in your Podfile and run .👇 CocoaPods pod install target 'YOUR_TARGET' do use_frameworks! pod 'Bond', '~> 6.4.3' end I'm using the latest version of the framework from the day I wrote this post. For version changes, please check here . Add to the top of your class so you can use all the Bond methods. import Bond _Many iOS apps use Google Maps. This is a very common feature, so I have decided to prepare an ultimate guide on Google…_theappspace.com Google Maps SDK for iOS using Swift 4 - The App Space Events I will start by showing you how to get rid of the annoying process of and use the simplified approach from Bond instead. IBAction _ = yourButton.reactive.tap.observeNext { print("Button tapped.") } This will observe your button tap. It listens to because it's the most frequently used event. If you want to handle other events you can use: touchUpInside yourButton.reactive.controlEvents(.touchUpInside).observeNext { e inprint("Button tapped.")} Another example would be observing the text changes in a . Knowing that there is no native approach to this situation, Bond provides us with a simple solution. UITextField _ = yourTextField.reactive.text.observeNext { text inprint(text!)} Now, let me show you a simple binding of the typed text into a . The text will get transformed by using the closure and propagated to the label. is the typed string, so you can add any string transformation that you need. UILabel .map $0 yourTextField.reactive.text.map{ $0?.capitalized }.bind(to: yourLabel) Or, you can use the above example but provide a condition instead. Let's say you need to change the button enabled state as someone types in the text field. txtField.reactive.text.map { $0!.characters.count != 0 }.bind(to: yourButton.reactive.isEnabled) Observable Observables are signals and a typealias for the ReactiveKit type. Whenever the state of the changes, an observer will be notified. Property Observable let animal = Observable("Dog") animal.observeNext { value inprint("Hi \(value)!")} If you can see from the example, whenever the animal observable changes its value an observer will be triggered. To change the value just call . To bind an Observable with a UI component just use . animal.value="Cat" animal.bind(to: yourLabel) Bond also supports two-way binding by using . It means that if the view value changes, it will update the Observable value and vice versa. bidirectionalBind animal.bidirectionalBind(to: animalTextField.reactive.text) _This tutorial is about Instagram API Authentication using Swift and will teach you how to retrieve the ACCESS_TOKEN…_theappspace.com Instagram API Authentication using Swift - The App Space Reactive Data Sources By using reactive data sources, it allows us to easily observe changes in a table or collection view. That means whenever the array changes, the data source methods will update automatically. No need of adding on each array change, and it will update only the changes that were made. 🤘🤘🤘 reloadData() We need to use or that will observe for changes and pass the changes automatically to the data source methods. MutableObservableArray ObservableArray let array = MutableObservableArray([“John”,”Michael”,”Steven”]) I will now present you how easy and short it is to implement the data source of a table view. You don't need to connect the UITableViewDataSource with the table view, as Bond handles that for us. The mandatory and , are "packed" under the array method. In the closure, you can add your own cell logic. See the example below. 👇 numberOfRowsInSection() cellForRowAtIndexPath() bind() array.bind(to: tableView, animated: true) { dataSource, indexPath, tableView in let cell = UITableViewCell(style: .subtitle, reuseIdentifier: “cell”) cell.textLabel?.text = dataSource[indexPath.row] return cell } Now, let's say that the array needs to be updated. At this point, we need to , and forget about the table view and whether it's going to update or not. only focus on the array Here are some methods that you can use to make changes to the array. array.append("Brad") /* appends array with a new object */ array.insert("Brad", at: 2) /* inserts new object at the given index */ array.replace(with: [“John”,"Brad",”Michael”,”Steven”], performDiff: true) /* replaces the array but updates only rows that weren't present in the previous array (in our case index 1) */ array.moveItem(from: 1, to: 2) /* items in array will change places */ array.remove(at: 2) /* removes an item from the array */ array[1] = "David" /* replaces the value at the given index */ By using these methods properly, we provide the best user experience possible. The data will be updated, and the user won't get distracted in any way. I have presented just a few of the many features that Bond offers. Binding and the reactive paradigm can bring your app to the next level, so I would strongly suggest using this approach. If you want to spread the message, please don't forget to 👏 or share this story. Thank you for your attention! 🚀 Check out my latest project: _This app is only available on the App Store for iOS devices. Increase your profits by following our professional BET…_apple.co ‎VIP Sports Bet Tips & Scores on the App Store Read more of my writing on Medium: _Forget MVC, now!_hackernoon.com Introducing Clean Swift Architecture (VIP) _Many iOS apps use Google Maps. This is a very common feature, so I have decided to prepare an ultimate guide on the…_medium.freecodecamp.org Your ultimate guide to the Google Maps SDK on iOS, using Swift 4 _Custom UIView with XIB file is a very common practice in iOS Development. Custom UIView classes don’t contain XIB files…_medium.com SWIFT — Custom UIView with XIB file _A Swift tutorial that will make your app available in Spotlight search_hackernoon.com How to add Spotlight support to your iOS app _Understanding One-to-One and One-To-Many relationships_hackernoon.com Core Data Relationships _All you need to know about Auto Layout_hackernoon.com Understanding Auto Layout in Xcode 9 Subscribe to my Newsletter:

Reactive Programming and Binding in Swift

🚀My newsletter is THE EXPONENTIAL VIEW. Sign-up for the it here. How do you build something that matters? Anything, it almost doesn’t matter what it’s going to be: a product, a company, a hobby, a new job? Here is a mantra which I think can help anyone build something that matters: Think big, start small, act fast. I first read this seven years ago in a guide to pitching. It has now made its way into more common parlance. As a product-entrepreneur (and coach and investor) I’ve found it a very valuable Sequoia Capital Think big, start small, act fast is a really effective mantra. The obvious reasons: big things are worthwhile but can seem daunting. Small things may seem trivial and without an organising purpose may also seem aimless. Think big “Results from a review of laboratory and field studies on the effects of goal setting on performance show that in 90% of the studies, specific and challenging goals led to higher performance than easy goals, “do your best” goals, or no goals. Goals affect performance by directing attention, mobilizing effort, increasing persistence, and motivating strategy development. (From Locke et al, : 1969–1980. Psychological Bulletin, Vol 90(1), Jul 1981, 125–152. As only the abstract is freely available here, I recommend a . It is only pages long and well worth it.) Goal setting and task performance later Locke paper: Motivation through conscious goal setting three Think about the most frequently cited mega-tech companies and you’ll find companies who are thinking big: Google (organising the world’s information), Uber (rethinking logistics), AirBNB (changing leisure and business stays), Amazon (the everything store). Thinking big can make the mundane interesting. Uber is, after all, just a set of local taxi firms and Amazon a warehouse-based catalogue store. But by setting a lofty goal, these organisations can better harness the effort and direct the attention of their employees and cohorts of supporters. The bigger your goal, the more you can motivate yourself to achieve it. Or as someone told me, aim for a Gold medal you might just get a Silver. Aim for a Bronze and you’ll be lucky to finish. Make your BHAG communicable Some people call these things BHAGS (“big hairy audacious goals”). But it isn’t sufficient for it to be a BHAG. It needs to also be communicable. It needs to have, what is called in the movie trade, a high-concept. Recognise these audacious films from their high-concept: A maverick rookie pilot trying to live beyond his dad’s shadow A rough Detroit cop follows a crime to pristine Beverley Hills. Hilarity ensues The forty-year old virgin Capture Berlin by summer (not a film, a goal during world war 2) High concepts matter because they summarise your BHAG into something anyone can digest. Start small Big things take time and require plans. But as the Great Prussian military strategist, von Moltke observed : The tactical result of an engagement forms the base for new strategic decisions because victory or defeat in a battle changes the situation to such a degree that no human acumen is able to see beyond the first battle. Von Moltke and his spiky helmey Or rather, plans never survive contact with reality, so you need to chunk the big thing into smaller things; while reminding yourself that these tedious smaller things are the path to the big thing. The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu had this figured out as well, “ which I’ve interpreted to mean that it is the nature of the world that anything you seek to achieve needs to start with a single positive action in the correct direction of travel. (Which is why it is important to know where you are going.) A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” In the age of business planning courses, the pseudo-accuracy of the Excel spreadsheet and matrix-organisations where we ‘circle back round’ it’s easy to make plans; and complex ones at that. Anyone can make a complex plan. But complexity is hard to manage. It is daunting. It is hard to keep in your head. Harder even than an 11 digit phone number. In fact the system’s theorists, whose entire discipline is understanding the holistic workings of a large system, understand the nature of that complexity. Here is Gall’s Law (named after ) John Gall Of course, to get to your BHAG, you’ll almost certainly need to deal with complexity in your business. Your sales organisation will need regional and global structures. How will they report? Your product teams will need to localise for different markets. Your employment regulations will vary from country to country. Your teams will run into hurdles and opportunities that take them off course. But if you think about that when you start, you’ll drown in a beautifully produced plan — a wonderful Gantt chart, systems diagram or Excel — that will never see the light of day. The lesson from the lean movement is that at each stage you need to do the minimum to prove and validate that stage (and ultimately get to a decision). This approach is grounded in the 500-year old principle of the scientific method — test one thing at a time so you can understand root causes. startup As a product entrepreneur, starting small gives you a visceral understanding of the business: its operational flow or its value chain (as a consultant might call it). Doing things in a small, low cost way, because they happened to be in arms reach, can validate your high concept and move you forward with more confidence. Those initial models may not ‘scale’. Google Books started with Larry Page scanning a handful of pages himself. Jeff Bezos used to pack Amazon deliveries. Doesn’t matter. What matters is that you got started. Act fast Faster you act, faster you learn. Since you really don’t know what you have set-out to do entails, you are going to have to make it up. But remember you are taking small steps, small quick steps, and after each step you’re seeing what worked and what didn’t work. Acting fast allows you to have a faster . The OODA loop was developed by another military strategist, John Boyd, and is also part of the backbone of modern lean product management. OODA loop I think of it as ‘in flight’ optimisation, or as John Maynard Keynes said: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do sir?” There is a second benefit to acting fast. That is the challenge is steeper for you, you have less time to prepare and you need to apply the skills you have (and are ). Amazingly that makes you smarter, and forces you to create new strategies. learning This isn’t to say be hasty. Nor does it mean doing things for the sake of it. Or shaking the chess board to see how pieces land, something I consider the Rumsfeld strategy, perhaps best illustrate . d by this memo Acting fast is to act quickly and actively with awareness of what you are doing. And acting fast may actually mean doing nothing. But a deliberate type of doing nothing, as distinct to doing nothing because of procrastination or analysis paralysis. Failure modes I’ve seen (and have failed myself) on many occasions. Here are the three main failure modes: Planning too far ahead just because you can. You become the Chess master who never moves and ultimately runs out of time. Doing . Organisations can become exceptionally good at executing without a clear understand the war they are fighting. stuff well without knowing why Acting too fast and responding too quickly. It’s a judgement call. I’ve heard it called “lurch management” and you often see it in the startup whose focus changes weekly (are we B2B or B2C, being a clear example). The conclusion I use Think big, start small, act fast often. Nearly every day, in fact. It doesn’t always work. Sometimes you apply it wrongly. Sometimes the rest of the group doesn’t want to hear. It’s hard. It requires reframing problems. Rather than think immediately about what is in front of you, it forces you to step up to remind yourself of the journey and then drill back down to work out what to do next. The discipline of acting fast (knowing you may throw away your work) can also be a novel one. Thing big, start small act fast is a way of dealing with uncertainties and a world that you have to create. Most people are more comfortable with certainties and a world created for them. Nevertheless, it’s a worthwhile discipline. So to say it once more: : Make it meaningful to yourself and to others Thing big : Make it digestible, tangible and practical. Build only what you need to get to the next step Start small once you know where you are going . : Create momentum and take lots of little steps quickly. Act fast 🚀My newsletter is THE EXPONENTIAL VIEW. Sign-up for the it here. — — Background photo credit: ThePatternLibrary

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