Reassure

reassure

by Michał Pierzchała Have you ever heard about entropy? As Stephen Hawking framed it: You may see a cup of tea fall off a table and break into pieces on the floor... But you will never see the cup gather itself back together and jump back on the table. The increase of disorder, or entropy, is what distinguishes the past from the future, giving a direction to time. In other words: . things will fall apart eventually when unattended But let’s not get too depressed or comfortable with things just turning into chaos naturally. We can and do fight back against it. We can exert effort to create useful types of order resilient enough to withstand the unrelenting pull of entropy by expending energy. Let’s start from the beginning. What Does a Development Cycle Look Like? When developing software, we feel entropy. That’s why we usually put extra effort into following some development cycle. For example, we start with adding a new feature. During development, we sprinkle it with a bunch of tests. When we’re done, we send it to QAs. They accept it and promote our code to a production release channel. And we’re back to adding another feature. That’s quite a simplified version of what we usually do. Because, among other things, we don’t take into account that wild bugs may appear! Our experience tells us to keep it cool, identify the root cause, and so it never breaks again. Then we send it to QA once again, ship it, and go back to adding features. add a regression test We’re happier with our workflow now; it works well. We’re adding feature after feature. Our app release cycle is so well designed that even adding ten new developers doesn’t slow us down. Until we take a look at our app reviews: Why Do You Need to Continuously Monitor the Performance of Your App? We realize that our perfect workflow based on Science™, our experience, and “best practices,” which were supposed to prevent our app from falling apart, is not resilient to particular bugs. Namely, performance regressions. Our codebase doesn’t have the tools to fight these. We know how to fix the issues once spotted, but we have no way to spot them before they hit our users. Coming back to our entropy example, in other words, we could say that performance will fall apart eventually when unattended. while adding new code and letting the time go by, If we don’t do anything to optimize our app it will certainly get slower. We don’t know when it will happen. Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a week, or a year. If only there’s been an established way of catching some of the regressions early in the development process… Wait a minute, there is! How to Monitor App Performance Regression? With fully automated regression tests! Tests that run in a remote environment on every code change, and that already are a part of our development process. Before we pick the best tool for the job, let’s consider the impact and what’s worth testing. The Most Common React (Native) Performance Issues As with test coverage, there’s a healthy ratio that we strive for to provide us with the best value for the lowest amount of effort. We want to target regressions that are most likely to hit our users. At , we identified React Native performance issues our developers deal with daily. Callstack Slow lists and images, SVGs, React Context misusage, re-renders, and slow TTI, are among the most common ones. If we look at this list from the origin of the issue point of view, we’ll notice that a vast majority of these come from the JS side. We estimate that most of the time our developers spend fixing performance issues, around Only the rest is bridge communication overhead and native code – like image rendering or database operations – working inefficiently. 80%, originates from the JS realm, especially from React misusage. It’s fair to say that we expect to encounter these problems in both React web apps and React Native mobile apps. We did our research and didn’t find any library allowing us to reliably write performance regression tests for React or React Native. We’d like to have it integrated with the existing ecosystem of libraries we’re using. The perfect library for measuring performance regression should: measure render times and count reliably, have a CI runner, generate readable and parseable reports, provide helpful insights for code review, and have a stable design based on React public API. Using our experience from developing the , we created We developed it in partnership with – one of the world’s largest sports betting and gaming groups. React Native Testing Library —a performance regression testing companion for React and React Native components. Reassure Entain How Does Reassure Work? Reassure builds on top of your existing React Testing Library setup and sprinkles it with an unobtrusive performance measurement API. It’s designed to be as a part of your continuous integration suite. run on a remote server environment To increase the stability of results and decrease flakiness, Reassure will run your tests once for the current branch and another for the base branch. In the near future, with sufficiently stable CI, we’ll be able only to run the tests once and compare the results with the ones from the past. To ensure a delightful Developer Experience, Reassure . Currently, we leverage Danger.js as our bot backend, but in the future, we’d like to prepare a plug-and-play GitHub Action. integrates with GitHub to enhance the code review process Let’s take a look at what it takes to incorporate Reassure into your regression testing pipeline. Write Performance Regression Tests Before you write your first test, you need to install Reassure: yarn add --dev reassure
# or 
npm install --save-dev reassure Now, you can start writing your performance tests. Let’s take a look at this example: // counter.perf-test.tsx
test('Count increments on press', async () => {
  const scenario = async (screen: RenderAPI) => {
    const button = screen.getByText('Action');
    
    await screen.findByText('Count: 0’);
    fireEvent.press(button);
    fireEvent.press(button);
    await screen.findByText('Count: 2');
  };
 
  const stats = await measurePerformance(
    <Counter />, 
    { scenario, runs: 20 }
  );
await writeTestStats(stats);
}); We created a new file with the “.perf-test.tsx” extension that reuses our component test in a function. It takes an optional argument which is, in fact, a return value of Testing Library’s helper. scenario screen render The scenario is then used by the method from Reassure, which renders our Counter component, in this case, 20 times, letting the React Profiler measure render count and duration times for us. In the end, we call to save this data to the filesystem. measurePerformance writeTestStats And that’s usually all you have to write. Copy-paste your existing tests, adjust, and enjoy your app being a little bit safer with every test. Run Reassure Now that you have your first performance regression test created, it’s time to run Reassure somehow! It’s important to mention that you need to measure the performance of two versions of your code – the current (modified one) and the baseline. Reassure will compare the two to determine whether there are any regressions in the current code version. Since the goal is to run the performance tests on the CI environment, we want to automate this task. To do that, you will need to create a performance testing script, like this one: # Gather baseline perf measurements
git switch main
yarn install --force
yarn reassure --baseline
 
# Gather current perf measurements & compare results
git switch -
yarn install --force
yarn reassure And save it in your repository, e.g., as . reassure-tests.sh The script switches to your base branch, installs dependencies, and runs to gather the base metrics. Once done, it switches back to your current feature branch, installs dependencies again, as those might have changed, and runs again. yarn reassure --baseline yarn reassure See the Performance Test Results Having all that data, Reassure can present the render duration times as statistically significant or meaningless. Apart from render times, another useful metric that may easily degrade is render counts, which we get for free from React Profiler. All this information is stored in a JSON format for further analysis and Markdown for readability. We use the markdown output as a source for the GitHub commenting bot powered by . DangerJS This is by far our favorite and recommended usage of this tool, as it enriches the code review process while allowing us to alleviate the instability of the CI we’re using. What Have We Learned From Developing Reassure? Developing Reassure has taught us some valuable lessons about running benchmarks with Node.js, and measuring precision in JavaScript. Let’s dive into it! Challenges of Running Benchmarks With Node.js Running benchmarks is not a piece of cake even in non-JS environments, but it’s . particularly tricky with Node.js The key is . Operating in a JavaScript VM, we need to considerJIT, garbage collection, and module resolution caching. embracing stability and avoiding flakiness Then we have a cost of concurrency that our test runner embraces for execution speed. We need to pick what to average, what to percentile, and how to apply statistical analysis. And a lot more. Running tests once or twice is not enough to make sure our measurement results make sense mathematically. Taking other things into account, ten times is a good baseline for our use case. Then to determine the probability of the result being statistically significant, we need to calculate the z-score, which needs the mean value (or average), divergence, and standard deviation. Reassure handles all of that for you, so you don’t even have to think about it. What You Probably Didn’t Know About Measurement Precision in JavaScript Measurement precision is another tricky topic in the JS land. React Profiler uses API to reliably measure rendering time. Node.js implements the W3C recommendation, which—due to privacy concerns—requires a resolution of no less than 5 microseconds. performance.now() We can measure a 1 ms render with at least 0.5% error. This is usually good enough. But because many lighter components render faster than 1 ms, and due to the variable stability of the machine, we run them at least ten times anyway and let you configure that as well. Now, module resolution caching is great for our Node.js apps. But it bothered us when developing the library. As it turned out, As you can imagine, averaging that would make the results unreliable. So we drop the slowest test as most likely it’s skewed by the lack of cache. subsequent execution of the same component often resulted in even ten times slower runs. Wrapping Up Even if you don’t have performance issues at the moment, they will appear sooner or later. We speak from our experience with many clients. Reassure will allow you to spot them once they appear. With Reassure, you can test whole screens or even screen sequences perform component level tests are possible but often require more runs reuse your RNTL tests if you have them, and all established Testing Library practices apply, so let your tests resemble users’ behavior and avoid mocking anything other than I/O. Due to their qualities, frontend perf tests seem to resemble end-to-end tests for our apps. And it makes sense to treat them as such in our testing trophies or pyramids. Remember that performance is not a goal. It’s a path. Walk it with confidence. Reassure Is Open Source Like all of the tools we build at Callstack, Reassure is an Open Source Software, released under an MIT license. Feel free to check it out on to see the complete installation and usage guide. And if you liked it— ! GitHub star it We’re excited to see how you use it and how it helps you guard the performance of your apps. So, don’t be afraid to hit the “Issues” tab to let us know. And if you want to listen to a talk with me, , and our host, , take a look at one of the episodes of . Maciej Jastrzębski Łukasz Chludziński The React Native Show https://youtu.be/8pTQKBHFs-8?embedable=true Happy testing! Photo by on Luis Villasmil Unsplash

How Reassure Makes Continuous App Performance Monitoring Simple 

Crypto Tool or Data Thief? How Meme-Token-Hunter-Bot and Its Clones Steal from macOS Users

ክሪፕቶ መሣሪያ ወይስ ዳታ ሌባ? Meme-Token-Hunter-Bot እና ክሎኖቹ ከማክሮስ ተጠቃሚዎች እንዴት እንደሚሰርቁ

¿Herramienta criptográfica o ladrón de datos? Cómo el Meme-Token-Hunter-Bot y sus clones roban a los usuarios de macOS

כלי קריפטו או גנב נתונים? כיצד Meme-Token-Hunter-Bot והשיבוטים שלו גונבים ממשתמשי macOS

暗号ツールかデータ泥棒か？Meme-Token-Hunter-BotとそのクローンがmacOSユーザーから盗む方法

Крипто алатка или крадец на податоци? Како Meme-Token-Hunter-Bot и неговите клонови крадат од корисниците на macOS

Alat Kripto atau Pencuri Data? Bagaimana Meme-Token-Hunter-Bot dan Klonnya Mencuri daripada Pengguna macOS

د کریپټو وسیله یا ډیټا چور؟ څنګه Meme-Token-Hunter-Bot او د هغې کلونونه د macOS کاروونکو څخه غلا کوي

¿Cripto Herramientachu icha Datos Suwachu? Imaynatachus Meme-Token-Hunter-Bot chaymanta Clonesnin macOS Usuariokunamanta suwakunku

Kryptoverktyg eller datatjuv? Hur Meme-Token-Hunter-Bot och dess kloner stjäl från macOS-användare

Асбоби крипто ё дузди маълумот? Чӣ тавр Meme-Token-Hunter-Bot ва клонҳои он аз корбарони macOS медузданд

Kripto Aracı mı yoksa Veri Hırsızı mı? Meme-Token-Hunter-Bot ve Klonları macOS Kullanıcılarından Nasıl Çalıyor?

Ithuluzi le-Crypto noma Isela Ledatha? Indlela i-Meme-Token-Hunter-Bot nama-Clones ayo antshontsha ngayo kubasebenzisi be-macOS

LONDON, United Kingdom, November 18th, 2024/Chainwire/--Plutus, a pioneer in tokenized loyalty rewards, is implementing strategic upgrades to enhance platform integrity and ensure long-term sustainability. Guided by community feedback, with 67% of users expressing support, the company is rolling out initiatives aligned with its whitepaper, including offering rewards of up to 10% on debit card payments, positioning itself as a competitive alternative to traditional cashback and credit card programs. Consequences Of Scaling Ambitions Since its inception in 2015 as one of the earliest community-supported Ethereum-based platforms, Plutus has pursued rapid growth while maintaining a self-funded approach. This expansion has introduced operational challenges that have, at times, affected the customer experience and community trust. Plutus is now dedicated to addressing these issues and strengthening the platform. Steps to Improve Platform Integrity and User Experience Helping Customers: Reinstated accounts flagged for misuse with guidance.
Enhancing Transparency: Updated terms and conditions offer clearer criteria and expectations for users.
Metal Card Extension: All holders affected by upgrades received +1 month free.
New Features: PlutusSwap, PlutusMiles, PlutusGift, and more for in-app value.
Tangible Benefits: Redeem for instant card-top ups, air miles or gift cards.
PLU Rewards Anchor: In-app redemptions and emissions at a minimum £/€10 value. A Future of Growth and Innovation By the end of 2024, all in-app utilities, except PlutusSwap, will be anchored to a minimum intrinsic value of £/€10 per PLU (e.g., 1 PLU = £10 Gift Card), making external market conditions irrelevant. Starting in Q1 2025, PLU emissions will also align with this £/€10 intrinsic value set by in-app utilities. This approach aligns with Ernst & Young’s forecast of £/€7.90 per PLU in-app, aimed at achieving 100% self-sustainability through our network fee system, FUEL, and establishing a 'FUD-proof' model. In a move toward greater transparency, Plutus plans to release its financial model as open-source, enabling public verification and contributing to industry innovation. “Some doubt the system’s scalability and naively compare it to standard cashback," said Plutus CEO Danial Daychopan. "To ease concerns, we're re-validating the model with Ernst & Young and making it publicly available—not only to reassure our community but also to guide others who try to replicate our success. This move supports the industry, inspires us to innovate further, and lets us confidently leave them behind” A Balanced Approach to Transparency Plutus remains committed to transparency and fairness, with a top priority of ensuring the rewards system remains sustainable. The company understands that not everyone will agree with every decision, and that’s okay. Plutus is using this time to focus on what truly benefits the community in the long run. While some long-time customers may not agree with the direction, the company apologises for any disappointment, but to ensure continued benefits for all PLU token holders, the product must evolve. Plutus doesn’t rely on fancy PR firms for polished statements – the company speaks directly and honestly with its community. While there may be missteps along the way, Plutus is committed to improving and ensuring its messages are clear, consistent, and aligned with its values. Looking Ahead Plutus prioritizes maintaining a secure, respectful environment as it prepares for growth and an upcoming Series A funding round with an industry-leading partner. This collaboration will support the 2025 network transition, enhancing Plutus' tokenomics while safeguarding the community and fostering a positive space for customers who share its values. With Tier 1 network support and funding, Plutus remains committed to transparency and sustainability, ensuring its position as a leader at scale and delivering lasting value to millions of customers.For more details on upcoming features, please visit: Plutus White Paper 2024 About Plutus Plutus is a leading rewards and finance platform, providing lucrative solutions for its community worldwide. Focused on transparency, trust, and organic long-term growth, Plutus empowers everyday card spenders with tokenised loyalty rewards that maximise value in any economy. Contact Plutus Team press@plutus.it This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here LONDON, United Kingdom, November 18th, 2024/Chainwire/--Plutus, a pioneer in tokenized loyalty rewards, is implementing strategic upgrades to enhance platform integrity and ensure long-term sustainability. Guided by community feedback, with 67% of users expressing support, the company is rolling out initiatives aligned with its whitepaper, including offering rewards of up to 10% on debit card payments, positioning itself as a competitive alternative to traditional cashback and credit card programs. LONDON, United Kingdom, November 18th, 2024/Chainwire/--Plutus, Consequences Of Scaling Ambitions Since its inception in 2015 as one of the earliest community-supported Ethereum-based platforms, Plutus has pursued rapid growth while maintaining a self-funded approach. This expansion has introduced operational challenges that have, at times, affected the customer experience and community trust. Plutus is now dedicated to addressing these issues and strengthening the platform. Steps to Improve Platform Integrity and User Experience Helping Customers: Reinstated accounts flagged for misuse with guidance. Enhancing Transparency: Updated terms and conditions offer clearer criteria and expectations for users. Metal Card Extension: All holders affected by upgrades received +1 month free. New Features: PlutusSwap, PlutusMiles, PlutusGift, and more for in-app value. Tangible Benefits: Redeem for instant card-top ups, air miles or gift cards. PLU Rewards Anchor: In-app redemptions and emissions at a minimum £/€10 value. Helping Customers: Reinstated accounts flagged for misuse with guidance. Enhancing Transparency: Updated terms and conditions offer clearer criteria and expectations for users. Metal Card Extension: All holders affected by upgrades received +1 month free. New Features: PlutusSwap, PlutusMiles, PlutusGift, and more for in-app value. Tangible Benefits: Redeem for instant card-top ups, air miles or gift cards. PLU Rewards Anchor: In-app redemptions and emissions at a minimum £/€10 value. A Future of Growth and Innovation By the end of 2024, all in-app utilities, except PlutusSwap, will be anchored to a minimum intrinsic value of £/€10 per PLU (e.g., 1 PLU = £10 Gift Card), making external market conditions irrelevant. Starting in Q1 2025, PLU emissions will also align with this £/€10 intrinsic value set by in-app utilities. This approach aligns with Ernst & Young’s forecast of £/€7.90 per PLU in-app, aimed at achieving 100% self-sustainability through our network fee system, FUEL, and establishing a 'FUD-proof' model. Ernst & Young’s forecast Ernst & Young’s forecast In a move toward greater transparency, Plutus plans to release its financial model as open-source, enabling public verification and contributing to industry innovation. “Some doubt the system’s scalability and naively compare it to standard cashback," said Plutus CEO Danial Daychopan. "To ease concerns, we're re-validating the model with Ernst & Young and making it publicly available—not only to reassure our community but also to guide others who try to replicate our success. This move supports the industry, inspires us to innovate further, and lets us confidently leave them behind” “Some doubt the system’s scalability and naively compare it to standard cashback," said Plutus CEO Danial Daychopan . "To ease concerns, we're re-validating the model with Ernst & Young and making it publicly available—not only to reassure our community but also to guide others who try to replicate our success. This move supports the industry, inspires us to innovate further, and lets us confidently leave them behind” Danial Daychopan Danial Daychopan A Balanced Approach to Transparency Plutus remains committed to transparency and fairness, with a top priority of ensuring the rewards system remains sustainable. The company understands that not everyone will agree with every decision, and that’s okay. Plutus is using this time to focus on what truly benefits the community in the long run. While some long-time customers may not agree with the direction, the company apologises for any disappointment, but to ensure continued benefits for all PLU token holders, the product must evolve. Plutus doesn’t rely on fancy PR firms for polished statements – the company speaks directly and honestly with its community. While there may be missteps along the way, Plutus is committed to improving and ensuring its messages are clear, consistent, and aligned with its values. Looking Ahead Plutus prioritizes maintaining a secure, respectful environment as it prepares for growth and an upcoming Series A funding round with an industry-leading partner. This collaboration will support the 2025 network transition, enhancing Plutus' tokenomics while safeguarding the community and fostering a positive space for customers who share its values. With Tier 1 network support and funding, Plutus remains committed to transparency and sustainability, ensuring its position as a leader at scale and delivering lasting value to millions of customers.For more details on upcoming features, please visit: Plutus White Paper 2024 Plutus White Paper 2024 Plutus White Paper 2024 About Plutus Plutus is a leading rewards and finance platform, providing lucrative solutions for its community worldwide. Focused on transparency, trust, and organic long-term growth, Plutus empowers everyday card spenders with tokenised loyalty rewards that maximise value in any economy. Plutus Plutus Contact Plutus Team press@plutus.it This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here This story was distributed as a release by Chainwire under HackerNoon’s Business Blogging Program. Learn more about the program here here here

Plutus Announces Platform Enhancements To Bolster Transparency And Sustainability

بلوتوس تعلن عن تحسينات في المنصة لتعزيز الشفافية والاستدامة

প্লুটাস স্বচ্ছতা এবং স্থায়িত্ব বাড়াতে প্ল্যাটফর্মের উন্নতি ঘোষণা করেছে

Plutus anuncia mejoras en la plataforma para reforzar la transparencia y la sostenibilidad

Plutus annonce des améliorations de sa plateforme pour renforcer la transparence et la durabilité

Plutus Mengumumkan Peningkatan Platform untuk Meningkatkan Transparansi dan Keberlanjutan

Plutus、透明性と持続可能性を強化するためのプラットフォーム強化を発表

Plutus ашықтық пен тұрақтылықты арттыру үшін платформаның жақсартуларын жариялайды

Plutus Esakoli Ba Améliorations Ya Plateforme Pona Ko Bolster Transparence Na Durabilité

پلوٹس نے شفافیت اور پائیداری کو تقویت دینے کے لیے پلیٹ فارم میں اضافے کا اعلان کیا۔

I-Plutus Yazisa uPhuculo lweQonga lokuNxibelela elubala kunye noZinzo

Plutus 宣布改进平台以提高透明度和可持续性

I-Plutus Imemezela Izithuthukisi Zeplathifomu Ukuze Kuqinise Ukucaca Nokusimama

Many people — particularly those outside the tech world — were introduced to OpenAI in November 2022, when the company launched its now-ubiquitous ChatGPT tool. However, it has been around for a lot longer than that. OpenAI captured headlines again more recently due to plans for a corporate restructuring that would mean it leaves behind its nonprofit roots. OpenAI’s Journey OpenAI started in 2015 as a nonprofit research organization dedicated to developing artificial intelligence tools that would benefit humanity as a whole, unrestricted by the need to turn a profit. Elon Musk and current OpenAI CEO Sam Altman were involved then, but Musk left in 2018. A year later, OpenAI added a for-profit subsidiary, turning the company into a hybrid for-profit and nonprofit entity in what it called a “capped profit” structure. Leaders at the time believed this change would keep OpenAI true to its roots while allowing it to use market power to grow its operations and revenue. The “capped” part of the structure’s name refers to limitations whereby the profits returned to the company’s investors can only be roughly 100 times what they put into the organization. Now, OpenAI’s structure seems set to change again, this time to a for-profit benefit corporation. This type of business focuses on sustainability and social responsibility in addition to profitmaking. One of the biggest differences about this development is that it would result in OpenAI’s nonprofit board losing control. For now, the nonprofit board has full control over the company’s for-profit arm. Another change is that Altman would receive equity for the first time — which could be worth billions. Moreover, the transition to a for-profit benefit company would remove the cap on investors’ returns. However, an interesting clarification came from an OpenAI representative who said the company’s nonprofit component would still exist and remain a core part of its goals. When will this restructuring occur? That’s anyone’s guess since those involved are still hashing out the details with legal professionals. However, as soon as the news reached major reporting outlets, some people started thinking about what it could mean for OpenAI and artificial intelligence in general. What Will the Restructuring Mean? Some people who have analyzed the matter said OpenAI’s restructuring might mean it will begin operating more like a startup. Investors would probably like that, but could it result in fewer checks and balances affecting products and processes? Contrary to its name, the company has never been upfront about its operations — employees must sign nondisclosure agreements that stop them from raising concerns to federal regulators. Additionally, a group of people working in the AI industry — including former OpenAI employees — signed an open letter explaining that those working on pioneering innovations in artificial intelligence have strong financial incentives to resist oversight and not share knowledge of what their products could or could not do with governments or civil society entities. Numerous employees have recently left OpenAI, with some, speaking anonymously, saying that the catalyst was a lack of trust in Altman and his ability to make AI work safely. Many have kept quiet because of a reported agreement people must sign when leaving the company that prevents them from speaking disparagingly about it. Some former workers who did not sign such paperwork have spoken out about their worries about the businesses’ increasingly powerful AI and the people who want it built not proceeding carefully enough. If OpenAI’s nonprofit board loses its current control, that may make the company’s leaders feel more equipped to proceed with whatever projects garner the most attention. Rushing to get these offerings on the market could also mean it doesn’t take safety as seriously as it should. OpenAI’s Impact on the Future of Artificial Intelligence Now that many AI tools are widely available, more people are insisting on controls that limit their potential applications. Others worry about the future, not necessarily because they believe that artificial intelligence will become smarter than humans, but due to privacy concerns, the prospect of job losses, and the potential for people to misuse AI. The shift to a for-profit model might also raise questions about priorities between profit and ethical AI development. Because of these concerns, transparency becomes even more crucial for the growing number of for-profit AI companies as they try to attract stakeholders — particularly as 60% of people cite transparency as the most important brand trait, according to one study. Embracing transparency can help build trust and reassure stakeholders that OpenAI remains committed to its foundational goals, even as its business model evolves. However, that sentiment could become problematic since OpenAI already has a reputation for being tight-lipped about its activities. People appreciate transparent companies, and it is arguably even more important to show that trait when the business specializes in a technology that the public views as largely foreign and new. For the average person who is merely curious about AI and how to use it, however, they likely won’t feel the impacts of OpenAI’s likely restructuring — at least not at first. Regular consumers will mostly pay attention to which products the company releases next. If those offerings become extremely profitable, such results will signal to its leaders that they should keep doing more of the same. It’s worth highlighting how OpenAI and the industry, in general, are already highly influential, with economic analysts saying generative AI will cause a 7% increase in global gross domestic product, resulting in a difference worth trillions of dollars. A related aspect is how relatively quickly people have gotten to know some of its tools and used them to do business and everyday tasks differently. Many individuals — even those who do not consider themselves tech-savvy — use AI numerous times throughout a typical week. That is almost certainly because of how accessible ChatGPT has become. Its popularity has helped OpenAI come into the mainstream, which arguably has implications for wider society — regardless of the ultimate impact of the eventual restructuring. An Uncertain But AI-Driven Future It’s too early to know the impacts of OpenAI transitioning to a for-profit benefit corporation. However, people can expect some aspects of its internal operations, stakeholder impact, and leadership to change in the coming months and years. We know with more confidence that artificial intelligence will continue playing a role in many people’s lives and shaping the tools they are now accustomed to using. Since OpenAI has enjoyed so much momentum in an increasingly crowded industry, its main task for the foreseeable future is to maintain it. If that happens, it will continue playing a significant role in artificial intelligence’s future, even if people don’t know what that looks like yet. Many people — particularly those outside the tech world — were introduced to OpenAI in November 2022, when the company launched its now-ubiquitous ChatGPT tool. However, it has been around for a lot longer than that. OpenAI captured headlines again more recently due to plans for a corporate restructuring that would mean it leaves behind its nonprofit roots. OpenAI’s Journey OpenAI started in 2015 as a nonprofit research organization dedicated to developing artificial intelligence tools that would benefit humanity as a whole, unrestricted by the need to turn a profit. Elon Musk and current OpenAI CEO Sam Altman were involved then, but Musk left in 2018. A year later, OpenAI added a for-profit subsidiary, turning the company into a hybrid for-profit and nonprofit entity in what it called a “capped profit” structure. Leaders at the time believed this change would keep OpenAI true to its roots while allowing it to use market power to grow its operations and revenue. The “capped” part of the structure’s name refers to limitations whereby the profits returned to the company’s investors can only be roughly 100 times what they put into the organization. roots while allowing it to use roots while allowing it to use Now, OpenAI’s structure seems set to change again, this time to a for-profit benefit corporation. This type of business focuses on sustainability and social responsibility in addition to profitmaking. One of the biggest differences about this development is that it would result in OpenAI’s nonprofit board losing control. For now, the nonprofit board has full control over the company’s for-profit arm. Another change is that Altman would receive equity for the first time — which could be worth billions. Moreover, the transition to a for-profit benefit company would remove the cap on investors’ returns. However, an interesting clarification came from an OpenAI representative who said the company’s nonprofit component would still exist and remain a core part of its goals. nonprofit component would still exist nonprofit component would still exist When will this restructuring occur? That’s anyone’s guess since those involved are still hashing out the details with legal professionals. However, as soon as the news reached major reporting outlets, some people started thinking about what it could mean for OpenAI and artificial intelligence in general. What Will the Restructuring Mean? Some people who have analyzed the matter said OpenAI’s restructuring might mean it will begin operating more like a startup. Investors would probably like that, but could it result in fewer checks and balances affecting products and processes? Contrary to its name, the company has never been upfront about its operations — employees must sign nondisclosure agreements that stop them from raising concerns to federal regulators. must sign nondisclosure agreements must sign nondisclosure agreements Additionally, a group of people working in the AI industry — including former OpenAI employees — signed an open letter explaining that those working on pioneering innovations in artificial intelligence have strong financial incentives to resist oversight and not share knowledge of what their products could or could not do with governments or civil society entities. Numerous employees have recently left OpenAI, with some, speaking anonymously, saying that the catalyst was a lack of trust in Altman and his ability to make AI work safely. Many have kept quiet because of a reported agreement people must sign when leaving the company that prevents them from speaking disparagingly about it. Some former workers who did not sign such paperwork have spoken out about their worries about the businesses’ increasingly powerful AI and the people who want it built not proceeding carefully enough. businesses’ increasingly powerful AI businesses’ increasingly powerful AI If OpenAI’s nonprofit board loses its current control, that may make the company’s leaders feel more equipped to proceed with whatever projects garner the most attention. Rushing to get these offerings on the market could also mean it doesn’t take safety as seriously as it should. OpenAI’s Impact on the Future of Artificial Intelligence Now that many AI tools are widely available, more people are insisting on controls that limit their potential applications. Others worry about the future, not necessarily because they believe that artificial intelligence will become smarter than humans, but due to privacy concerns, the prospect of job losses, and the potential for people to misuse AI. The shift to a for-profit model might also raise questions about priorities between profit and ethical AI development. Because of these concerns, transparency becomes even more crucial for the growing number of for-profit AI companies as they try to attract stakeholders — particularly as 60% of people cite transparency as the most important brand trait, according to one study. Embracing transparency can help build trust and reassure stakeholders that OpenAI remains committed to its foundational goals, even as its business model evolves. 60% of people cite transparency 60% of people cite transparency However, that sentiment could become problematic since OpenAI already has a reputation for being tight-lipped about its activities. People appreciate transparent companies, and it is arguably even more important to show that trait when the business specializes in a technology that the public views as largely foreign and new. For the average person who is merely curious about AI and how to use it, however, they likely won’t feel the impacts of OpenAI’s likely restructuring — at least not at first. Regular consumers will mostly pay attention to which products the company releases next. If those offerings become extremely profitable, such results will signal to its leaders that they should keep doing more of the same. It’s worth highlighting how OpenAI and the industry, in general, are already highly influential, with economic analysts saying generative AI will cause a 7% increase in global gross domestic product, resulting in a difference worth trillions of dollars. A related aspect is how relatively quickly people have gotten to know some of its tools and used them to do business and everyday tasks differently. Many individuals — even those who do not consider themselves tech-savvy — use AI numerous times throughout a typical week. will cause a 7% increase will cause a 7% increase That is almost certainly because of how accessible ChatGPT has become. Its popularity has helped OpenAI come into the mainstream, which arguably has implications for wider society — regardless of the ultimate impact of the eventual restructuring. An Uncertain But AI-Driven Future It’s too early to know the impacts of OpenAI transitioning to a for-profit benefit corporation. However, people can expect some aspects of its internal operations, stakeholder impact, and leadership to change in the coming months and years. We know with more confidence that artificial intelligence will continue playing a role in many people’s lives and shaping the tools they are now accustomed to using. Since OpenAI has enjoyed so much momentum in an increasingly crowded industry, its main task for the foreseeable future is to maintain it. If that happens, it will continue playing a significant role in artificial intelligence’s future, even if people don’t know what that looks like yet.

Inside OpenAI's Path to Becoming a For-Profit Powerhouse

Is a Green Build and Fixing Flaky Tests Your #1 Priority? I recently had a discussion with the founder of a CI delivery platform about the value of fixing flaky tests, and it led to the following observation/question on LinkedIn: “Over my career, I’ve been in maybe 50 software development teams as an IC. In my current role, I get exposed to 10,000+. If I picked a random person across my entire sample set, they wouldn’t even know where to start with ‘doing the right thing.’ I see way more disengaged engineers who have a ‘give me a ticket and I’ll give you code’ mindset. How would you go about rebooting that?” It’s a great question. I thought I’d write about how we’ve approached this in my last two companies. It’s easy to say that culture is the answer, but how do you build that culture? How do you get every member of the team to care about doing the right thing — and what is the right thing? So Many Priority #1s It often feels that everything is a top priority. But that, in itself, is part of the problem. Particularly in start-ups and scale-ups, Engineering and Product teams experience immense pressure to deliver. This pressure is often self-imposed - at most of my previous companies, stakeholders were generally willing to accept a temporary slowdown for a long-term increase in quality. Here’s the thing: achieving a stable environment with few bugs takes time, but once you’re there, you can actually deliver faster and more efficiently. With so much emphasis on features and delivery, it’s no wonder engineers feel torn between addressing quality and stability issues or pushing out new features. So, how do you approach this? While the question of priority is nuanced and will vary from company to company, here’s a list of priorities based on my recent experiences. 1. Build a Culture of Ownership and Accountability Building a culture of ownership takes time. Like any change, it requires repetition and reinforcement. Start immediately, as this will form the foundation for the following priorities. 2. Record, Prioritize, and Monitor Production Bugs and Defects It’s surprising how often teams fail to record and prioritize production issues. At UberCarshare, we had a successful product but no way to track bug count or severity. Once you record your production issues, you can start measuring and reporting them. This opens up meaningful conversations with stakeholders about the trade-offs between quality, stability, and new features. 3. Complete Root Cause Analysis (RCA) or Incident Reports for Significant Production Issues This complements the previous item and is a fundamental pillar of creating a culture of transparency, accountability, and autonomy. RCAs should be blameless: a celebration of transparency, learning, and self-improvement. When engineers feel comfortable writing RCA’s and see that transparency and accountability do not mean blame or punishment, they will feel a greater level of psychological safety. Tech debt is the root cause of many issues, and while we can’t fix everything immediately, completing RCAs and prioritizing follow-ups against other work is a major step toward prioritizing stability and quality over new features. 4. Establish a Continuous Green Build in CI I recognize there is an argument that this is a pre-requisite to any of the above but, like I said, it’s nuanced 🤷‍♂️, and a lot of this stuff can happen in parallel. In both of my previous companies, a flaky, unstable CI had become the norm, which is common in teams trying to scale quickly. You cannot overstate how expensive this is in terms of its impact on productivity, but when there is unclear ownership and accountability, it can be hard to know where to start in fixing it. Getting to a stable build can be a significant effort and may require dedicated resources. Our approach was as follows: Get the build consistently green and fast enough — exclude flaky tests as necessary! Address performance or timeout issues through sufficient resourcing and parallelization of tests.


Clarify and assign ownership of the excluded flaky tests — the squads owning them can decide whether they need to be fixed and reintroduced. Maintain zero tolerance for flaky tests: if tests become flaky, exclude them from the build until they are fixed 5. Monitoring System Health and Actually Caring About Your Logs It’s easy to set up error logging and reporting. However, getting your team to care about the logs and respond to them in real-time is far more challenging. Like performance and broken builds, system health needs to be a whole team effort and cannot be left to a DX, DevOps, or maintenance squad. System health relies on culture as much as anything else and once again requires a zero-tolerance approach. Agree on your tolerance thresholds with the team, ensure that alerts for exceeded thresholds are sent to a public channel, and set an expectation that no one in the team is allowed to walk by a problem. At Carshare, we established an expectation that no one should push an alert further into history by adding a new comment below without first ensuring someone was investigating the issue. Use These Principles to Drive a Culture of Autonomy and Accountability Document these principles and ways of working, workshop with the team on how best to implement them, share them with your product team and stakeholders, and then demand continuous improvement from your team. RCAs, error alerts, and broken builds should be attended to without prompting. Initially, you may need to prompt, nag, coach, and mentor your team. Above all, reassure them that fixing alerts, broken builds, or bugs really is their highest priority. Eventually, these issues will start to solve themselves, and productivity and output improvements will follow the noticeable improvement in quality and stability. Rinse and Repeat: The Path to Continuous Improvement The five priorities I’ve outlined are just the beginning. Continuous improvement should be ingrained in your process, and there will be many things to perfect: writing efficient tests
improving build speed
reducing handoffs
shifting quality left
improved collaboration with partners such as product and design teams
measuring quality, uptime, and cycle time
etc. Originally published at https://medium.com/vertical-slice/getting-software-engineers-to-do-the-right-thing-d42a0b923408 Is a Green Build and Fixing Flaky Tests Your #1 Priority? I recently had a discussion with the founder of a CI delivery platform about the value of fixing flaky tests, and it led to the following observation/question on LinkedIn: “Over my career, I’ve been in maybe 50 software development teams as an IC. In my current role, I get exposed to 10,000+. If I picked a random person across my entire sample set, they wouldn’t even know where to start with ‘doing the right thing.’ I see way more disengaged engineers who have a ‘give me a ticket and I’ll give you code’ mindset. How would you go about rebooting that?” “Over my career, I’ve been in maybe 50 software development teams as an IC. In my current role, I get exposed to 10,000+. If I picked a random person across my entire sample set, they wouldn’t even know where to start with ‘doing the right thing.’ I see way more disengaged engineers who have a ‘give me a ticket and I’ll give you code’ mindset. How would you go about rebooting that?” “Over my career, I’ve been in maybe 50 software development teams as an IC. In my current role, I get exposed to 10,000+. If I picked a random person across my entire sample set, they wouldn’t even know where to start with ‘doing the right thing.’ I see way more disengaged engineers who have a ‘give me a ticket and I’ll give you code’ mindset. How would you go about rebooting that?” It’s a great question. I thought I’d write about how we’ve approached this in my last two companies. It’s easy to say that culture is the answer, but how do you build that culture? How do you get every member of the team to care about doing the right thing — and what is the right thing ? right thing So Many Priority #1s It often feels that everything is a top priority. But that, in itself, is part of the problem. Particularly in start-ups and scale-ups, Engineering and Product teams experience immense pressure to deliver. This pressure is often self-imposed - at most of my previous companies, stakeholders were generally willing to accept a temporary slowdown for a long-term increase in quality. Here’s the thing: achieving a stable environment with few bugs takes time, but once you’re there, you can actually deliver faster and more efficiently. With so much emphasis on features and delivery, it’s no wonder engineers feel torn between addressing quality and stability issues or pushing out new features. So, how do you approach this? While the question of priority is nuanced and will vary from company to company, here’s a list of priorities based on my recent experiences. 1. Build a Culture of Ownership and Accountability Building a culture of ownership takes time. Like any change, it requires repetition and reinforcement. Start immediately, as this will form the foundation for the following priorities. 2. Record, Prioritize, and Monitor Production Bugs and Defects It’s surprising how often teams fail to record and prioritize production issues. At UberCarshare, we had a successful product but no way to track bug count or severity. Once you record your production issues, you can start measuring and reporting them. This opens up meaningful conversations with stakeholders about the trade-offs between quality, stability, and new features. 3. Complete Root Cause Analysis (RCA) or Incident Reports for Significant Production Issues This complements the previous item and is a fundamental pillar of creating a culture of transparency, accountability, and autonomy. RCAs should be blameless: a celebration of transparency, learning, and self-improvement. When engineers feel comfortable writing RCA’s and see that transparency and accountability do not mean blame or punishment, they will feel a greater level of psychological safety. Tech debt is the root cause of many issues, and while we can’t fix everything immediately, completing RCAs and prioritizing follow-ups against other work is a major step toward prioritizing stability and quality over new features. 4. Establish a Continuous Green Build in CI I recognize there is an argument that this is a pre-requisite to any of the above but, like I said, it’s nuanced 🤷‍♂️, and a lot of this stuff can happen in parallel. In both of my previous companies, a flaky, unstable CI had become the norm, which is common in teams trying to scale quickly. You cannot overstate how expensive this is in terms of its impact on productivity, but when there is unclear ownership and accountability, it can be hard to know where to start in fixing it. Getting to a stable build can be a significant effort and may require dedicated resources. Our approach was as follows: Get the build consistently green and fast enough — exclude flaky tests as necessary! Address performance or timeout issues through sufficient resourcing and parallelization of tests. Clarify and assign ownership of the excluded flaky tests — the squads owning them can decide whether they need to be fixed and reintroduced. Get the build consistently green and fast enough — exclude flaky tests as necessary! Address performance or timeout issues through sufficient resourcing and parallelization of tests. Get the build consistently green and fast enough — exclude flaky tests as necessary! Address performance or timeout issues through sufficient resourcing and parallelization of tests. Clarify and assign ownership of the excluded flaky tests — the squads owning them can decide whether they need to be fixed and reintroduced. Clarify and assign ownership of the excluded flaky tests — the squads owning them can decide whether they need to be fixed and reintroduced. Maintain zero tolerance for flaky tests: if tests become flaky, exclude them from the build until they are fixed Maintain zero tolerance for flaky tests: if tests become flaky, exclude them from the build until they are fixed 5. Monitoring System Health and Actually Caring About Your Logs It’s easy to set up error logging and reporting. However, getting your team to care about the logs and respond to them in real-time is far more challenging. Like performance and broken builds, system health needs to be a whole team effort and cannot be left to a DX, DevOps, or maintenance squad. System health relies on culture as much as anything else and once again requires a zero-tolerance approach. Agree on your tolerance thresholds with the team, ensure that alerts for exceeded thresholds are sent to a public channel, and set an expectation that no one in the team is allowed to walk by a problem. At Carshare, we established an expectation that no one should push an alert further into history by adding a new comment below without first ensuring someone was investigating the issue. Use These Principles to Drive a Culture of Autonomy and Accountability Document these principles and ways of working, workshop with the team on how best to implement them, share them with your product team and stakeholders, and then demand continuous improvement from your team. RCAs, error alerts, and broken builds should be attended to without prompting. Initially, you may need to prompt, nag, coach, and mentor your team. Above all, reassure them that fixing alerts, broken builds, or bugs really is their highest priority. Eventually, these issues will start to solve themselves, and productivity and output improvements will follow the noticeable improvement in quality and stability. is Rinse and Repeat: The Path to Continuous Improvement The five priorities I’ve outlined are just the beginning. Continuous improvement should be ingrained in your process, and there will be many things to perfect: writing efficient tests improving build speed reducing handoffs shifting quality left improved collaboration with partners such as product and design teams measuring quality, uptime, and cycle time etc. writing efficient tests improving build speed reducing handoffs shifting quality left improved collaboration with partners such as product and design teams measuring quality, uptime, and cycle time etc. Originally published at https://medium.com/vertical-slice/getting-software-engineers-to-do-the-right-thing-d42a0b923408 https://medium.com/vertical-slice/getting-software-engineers-to-do-the-right-thing-d42a0b923408

How to Make Software Engineers Do the 'Right Thing'

Fortune Cookies For The Fortune 500? Waymo Thinks So — But Should You?

Fortuinkoekies vir die Fortune 500? Waymo dink so - maar moet jy?

¿Galletas de la suerte para las empresas Fortune 500? Waymo cree que sí, pero ¿debería hacerlo usted?

Bonbon Fortune pou Fortune 500 la? Waymo panse konsa - Men, ou ta dwe?

フォーチュン 500 企業向けのフォーチュン クッキー? Waymo はそう考えています — でも、あなたもそう思うべきでしょうか?

Fortune Cookies dla Fortune 500? Waymo tak uważa — ale czy Ty też powinieneś?

د فارچون 500 لپاره فارچون کوکیز؟ وایمو داسې فکر کوي - مګر تاسو باید؟

Biscoitos da sorte para a Fortune 500? Waymo pensa assim — mas você deveria?

Fursecuri Fortune pentru Fortune 500? Waymo crede că așa - dar tu ar trebui?

Колачићи среће за Фортуне 500? Ваимо тако мисли - али да ли бисте требали?

Fortune Cookies för Fortune 500? Waymo tycker det - men borde du det?

ፎርቹን ኩኪስ ን ፎርቹን 500? ዋይሞ ከምኡ ይሓስብ — ግን ክትገብሮ ኣለካ ድዩ?

Swikhukhi Swa Fortune Swa Fortune 500? Waymo U Ehleketa Sweswo — Kambe Xana U Fanele?

Meet DevStacks, Startups of the Year 2024 Nominee

Mastering Guerrilla Testing for Fast User Feedback

How to Design User-Centric Web3 Applications (DApps): Tips and Tricks

ተጠቃሚን ያማከለ የዌብ3 አፕሊኬሽኖችን (DApps) እንዴት እንደሚንደፍ፡ ጠቃሚ ምክሮች እና ዘዴዎች

Как да проектираме ориентирани към потребителя Web3 приложения (DApps): съвети и трикове

কিভাবে ব্যবহারকারী-কেন্দ্রিক ওয়েব3 অ্যাপ্লিকেশন (DApps) ডিজাইন করবেন: টিপস এবং কৌশল

Jak navrhovat Web3 aplikace zaměřené na uživatele (DApps): Tipy a triky

Πώς να σχεδιάσετε εφαρμογές Web3 με επίκεντρο τον χρήστη (DApps): Συμβουλές και κόλπα

Cómo diseñar aplicaciones Web3 centradas en el usuario (DApps): consejos y trucos

ユーザー中心の Web3 アプリケーション (DApps) を設計する方法: ヒントとコツ

사용자 중심 Web3 애플리케이션(DApps)을 설계하는 방법: 팁과 요령

Как разрабатывать ориентированные на пользователя приложения Web3 (DApps): советы и рекомендации

Si të dizenjoni aplikacione Web3 me qendër nga përdoruesi (DApps): Këshilla dhe truke

Jinsi ya Kusanifu Programu za Wavuti 3 za Mtumiaji (DApps): Vidokezo na Mbinu

Kullanıcı Merkezli Web3 Uygulamaları (DApps) Nasıl Tasarlanır: İpuçları ve Püf Noktaları

In my previous article, I explored the evolution of Point of Sale (POS) and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services, focusing on how these options influence customer choice. That discussion was from the customer's perspective. Now, let’s look at it from the viewpoint of businesses, specifically merchants.This article will explore what’s most important for merchants when they integrate financial solutions like POS and BNPL. We’ll look at how these solutions enhance the customer experience and boost sales.Both POS and BNPL services operate in a B2B2C (Business-to-Business-to-Consumer) model, where merchants play a key role in connecting the service provider with the end customer. In this model, merchants are not just the middlemen — they are vital to attracting customers and increasing sales. By offering flexible payment options, merchants create a smoother purchasing experience, which in turn increases customer satisfaction and conversion rates.From a technical perspective, the better the integration between financial services and merchants, the more appealing the product becomes to customers. This includes not just competitive terms, but also the speed of processing, ease of use, and how quickly issues are resolved.The success of POS and BNPL services depends not only on how appealing they are to customers, but also on the willingness of merchants to adopt and integrate them. Without strong partnerships with merchants, these services wouldn’t reach their full potential. So, what exactly matters most to merchants when considering these financial solutions?Flexibility and Customization Square is a great example of a company that offers flexibility and customization to merchants. Square provides a range of payment solutions that can be tailored to fit the needs of businesses of all sizes. For instance, Square’s point-of-sale system is modular, allowing merchants to choose and pay for only the features they need. This flexibility extends to their financing options, where merchants can offer different payment plans to customers based on their preferences. Square’s ability to adapt to the specific needs of a business—whether it's a small café or a large retail chain—has made it a popular choice for merchants looking for customizable solutions.On the other hand, Oracle’s legacy POS systems have been criticized for their lack of customization options. Many merchants found that the system couldn’t be easily adapted to their specific business processes, leading to frustration and even abandonment of the platform. When systems are too rigid, they can prevent merchants from optimizing their operations, which ultimately affects both their business and customer satisfaction.Merchant and Customer Support A good example of strong merchant and customer support comes from Shopify. Shopify has built its reputation not only on its eCommerce platform but also on the extensive support it provides to its merchants. Shopify offers 24/7 customer support through various channels such as chat, email, and phone. They also provide comprehensive online resources, including tutorials and webinars, to help merchants fully utilize their platform. This type of support reassures merchants that they can resolve issues quickly, reducing downtime and ensuring that their businesses run smoothly.On the flip side, eBay faced criticism for its slow and ineffective customer support in the past. Sellers on the platform complained about long wait times and unhelpful responses, which led some merchants to switch to other platforms like Etsy or Amazon. This example illustrates how poor support can lead to a loss of merchant confidence and ultimately, business. Competitive Rates and Terms Klarna, a leading BNPL provider, is an excellent example of a company offering competitive terms to merchants. Klarna charges merchants a fee per transaction, but these fees are often offset by the increase in sales that Klarna helps generate. Klarna's flexibility in structuring merchant fees based on volume or other business-specific factors has helped them win over large retail clients like H&M and ASOS. These competitive terms are appealing to merchants because they see a clear return on investment through increased sales and customer retention.In contrast, PayPal has been criticized by some merchants for its high fees, especially for international transactions. This has led some businesses to limit their use of PayPal or seek alternatives like Stripe or Square, which offer more favorable terms depending on transaction types and volumes.Speed and Ease of Integration Stripe is often cited as one of the best examples of a payment processor that offers fast and easy integration. Stripe’s APIs are developer-friendly, and their documentation is comprehensive, making it easy for businesses to integrate payment processing quickly. The simplicity and speed of integration have attracted major clients like Lyft and Slack, allowing these companies to focus on their core business operations without getting bogged down by complex payment integrations. This fast setup enables businesses to offer Stripe’s services to their customers without delays, preventing any potential sales loss.On the other hand, SAP’s complex ERP solutions have been known for their lengthy and resource-intensive integration processes. Many businesses, especially smaller ones, have struggled with the time and cost of integrating SAP systems, which can take months or even years to fully implement. This example highlights how a slow or complex integration can deter merchants from adopting a solution, even if it offers other benefits.Ongoing Merchant Support A great example of ongoing merchant support comes from Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS provides extensive resources to its clients even after initial setup, offering regular updates, analytics tools, and personalized account management to ensure merchants are maximizing the platform’s potential. AWS also hosts events, webinars, and workshops to educate users on new features and best practices. This constant engagement helps merchants grow and adapt, fostering long-term loyalty and improving the merchant's overall experience.In contrast, Facebook has struggled with ongoing support for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) using its ad platform. Many SMBs have complained about a lack of communication and support after their ads were flagged or accounts were suspended, often without clear explanations or resolutions. This lack of ongoing support has driven some businesses to other platforms like Google Ads, which provides more proactive assistance and account management services.These real-world examples illustrate the importance of flexibility, support, competitive terms, fast integration, and ongoing assistance in maintaining successful merchant partnerships. Companies that excel in these areas, such as Square, Shopify, Klarna, Stripe, and AWS, foster long-term merchant relationships, driving mutual growth. In contrast, companies like Oracle, eBay, PayPal, SAP, and Facebook have lost merchants due to a lack of customization, poor support, high fees, slow integration, or inadequate follow-up assistance.In a future article, I’ll dive deeper into the technical aspects of integration, exploring how a seamless connection between merchants and financial services can drive further growth. if you ever want to get in touch with me Tg: https://t.me/LinaI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lina-ivanova23/ In my previous article , I explored the evolution of Point of Sale (POS) and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services, focusing on how these options influence customer choice. That discussion was from the customer's perspective. Now, let’s look at it from the viewpoint of businesses, specifically merchants. This article will explore what’s most important for merchants when they integrate financial solutions like POS and BNPL. We’ll look at how these solutions enhance the customer experience and boost sales. Both POS and BNPL services operate in a B2B2C (Business-to-Business-to-Consumer) model, where merchants play a key role in connecting the service provider with the end customer. In this model, merchants are not just the middlemen — they are vital to attracting customers and increasing sales. By offering flexible payment options, merchants create a smoother purchasing experience, which in turn increases customer satisfaction and conversion rates. From a technical perspective, the better the integration between financial services and merchants, the more appealing the product becomes to customers. This includes not just competitive terms, but also the speed of processing, ease of use, and how quickly issues are resolved. The success of POS and BNPL services depends not only on how appealing they are to customers, but also on the willingness of merchants to adopt and integrate them. Without strong partnerships with merchants, these services wouldn’t reach their full potential. So, what exactly matters most to merchants when considering these financial solutions? Flexibility and Customization previous article Flexibility and Customization Square is a great example of a company that offers flexibility and customization to merchants. Square provides a range of payment solutions that can be tailored to fit the needs of businesses of all sizes. For instance, Square’s point-of-sale system is modular, allowing merchants to choose and pay for only the features they need. This flexibility extends to their financing options, where merchants can offer different payment plans to customers based on their preferences. Square’s ability to adapt to the specific needs of a business—whether it's a small café or a large retail chain—has made it a popular choice for merchants looking for customizable solutions. On the other hand, Oracle’s legacy POS systems have been criticized for their lack of customization options. Many merchants found that the system couldn’t be easily adapted to their specific business processes, leading to frustration and even abandonment of the platform. When systems are too rigid, they can prevent merchants from optimizing their operations, which ultimately affects both their business and customer satisfaction. Merchant and Customer Support Merchant and Customer Support A good example of strong merchant and customer support comes from Shopify. Shopify has built its reputation not only on its eCommerce platform but also on the extensive support it provides to its merchants. Shopify offers 24/7 customer support through various channels such as chat, email, and phone. They also provide comprehensive online resources, including tutorials and webinars, to help merchants fully utilize their platform. This type of support reassures merchants that they can resolve issues quickly, reducing downtime and ensuring that their businesses run smoothly. On the flip side, eBay faced criticism for its slow and ineffective customer support in the past. Sellers on the platform complained about long wait times and unhelpful responses, which led some merchants to switch to other platforms like Etsy or Amazon. This example illustrates how poor support can lead to a loss of merchant confidence and ultimately, business. Competitive Rates and Terms Competitive Rates and Terms Klarna, a leading BNPL provider, is an excellent example of a company offering competitive terms to merchants. Klarna charges merchants a fee per transaction, but these fees are often offset by the increase in sales that Klarna helps generate. Klarna's flexibility in structuring merchant fees based on volume or other business-specific factors has helped them win over large retail clients like H&M and ASOS. These competitive terms are appealing to merchants because they see a clear return on investment through increased sales and customer retention. In contrast, PayPal has been criticized by some merchants for its high fees, especially for international transactions. This has led some businesses to limit their use of PayPal or seek alternatives like Stripe or Square, which offer more favorable terms depending on transaction types and volumes. Speed and Ease of Integration Speed and Ease of Integration Stripe is often cited as one of the best examples of a payment processor that offers fast and easy integration. Stripe’s APIs are developer-friendly, and their documentation is comprehensive, making it easy for businesses to integrate payment processing quickly. The simplicity and speed of integration have attracted major clients like Lyft and Slack, allowing these companies to focus on their core business operations without getting bogged down by complex payment integrations. This fast setup enables businesses to offer Stripe’s services to their customers without delays, preventing any potential sales loss. On the other hand, SAP’s complex ERP solutions have been known for their lengthy and resource-intensive integration processes. Many businesses, especially smaller ones, have struggled with the time and cost of integrating SAP systems, which can take months or even years to fully implement. This example highlights how a slow or complex integration can deter merchants from adopting a solution, even if it offers other benefits. Ongoing Merchant Support Ongoing Merchant Support A great example of ongoing merchant support comes from Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS provides extensive resources to its clients even after initial setup, offering regular updates, analytics tools, and personalized account management to ensure merchants are maximizing the platform’s potential. AWS also hosts events, webinars, and workshops to educate users on new features and best practices. This constant engagement helps merchants grow and adapt, fostering long-term loyalty and improving the merchant's overall experience. In contrast, Facebook has struggled with ongoing support for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) using its ad platform. Many SMBs have complained about a lack of communication and support after their ads were flagged or accounts were suspended, often without clear explanations or resolutions. This lack of ongoing support has driven some businesses to other platforms like Google Ads, which provides more proactive assistance and account management services. These real-world examples illustrate the importance of flexibility, support, competitive terms, fast integration, and ongoing assistance in maintaining successful merchant partnerships. Companies that excel in these areas, such as Square, Shopify, Klarna, Stripe, and AWS, foster long-term merchant relationships, driving mutual growth. In contrast, companies like Oracle, eBay, PayPal, SAP, and Facebook have lost merchants due to a lack of customization, poor support, high fees, slow integration, or inadequate follow-up assistance. In a future article, I’ll dive deeper into the technical aspects of integration, exploring how a seamless connection between merchants and financial services can drive further growth. if you ever want to get in touch with me Tg: https://t.me/LinaI Tg: https://t.me/LinaI Tg: https://t.me/LinaI https://t.me/LinaI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lina-ivanova23/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lina-ivanova23/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lina-ivanova23/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/lina-ivanova23/

What Merchants Care About: How POS and BNPL Improve Customer Experience and Boost Sales

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