Identifying 7 Common Mistakes in Tech Projects

As a non-tech business, you are an expert on the product or service that you are selling. That is your core competency, not information technology. Still, some businesses feel they can do it themselves. That could cost you a lot more than you think. Technology by nature is like a moving target and pinning the best technology solution requires quite a bit of work. Treating tech projects as an afterthought is a mistake that non-tech businesses make far too often. Worse yet, those mistakes can stall the growth of your business. Avoiding tech mistakes, especially the high impact ones, will be the thing that ensures the success of your business. 

What are the 7 deadly mistakes non-tech businesses make on tech projects and how you can avoid committing those mistakes? This article will help your company navigate the complex and confusing world of technology. 

Mistake #1. Skimping on Security

Most small businesses might conclude that their business isn’t that big to become a target for hacks and data theft. Unfortunately, security has become the number one issue even for small businesses with increased online scams, software vulnerabilities, and networks using improper architecture. Can you imagine the impact on your business if your trade secrets, customer information, HR records, and confidential communication fell into the wrong hands!

One of the top security risks most businesses often ignore is the failure to encrypt their emails. Some discard email encryption either because it is costly and complicated, or because they feel that the threat is insignificant. You can prevent much pain and loss by encrypting your emails. Always assume that every email you send could be intercepted by unethical hackers. 

Try this: Set up an email encryption system to protect all your emails and their attachments.

Read more: Emerging Security Technologies To Consider For Your Organization

Mistake #2. Patching New Software On Old Hardware

Most often than not software publishers release new upgrades that require a significant hardware upgrade in order to run the newer version. Many businesses purchase the latest version of the software without considering its hardware requirements. The use of old computers and their hardware can be problematic since these devices generally lack the latest features, hang too often, and are slower at common tasks like launching the application, booting up, printing, and internet search. This can result in a failed upgrade and can bring your business to a screeching halt until new hardware can be put in place or until the old version is reinstalled.

Try this: Before you purchase an upgraded software, check the minimum system requirements needed for the software to run smoothly and ensure that your existing system meets those standards. 

Read more: Tips for choosing the right Business Software – Tools vs. Solutions 

Mistake #3. Skipping The Planning Phase 

Planning for IT may seem tedious and time-consuming especially when you have so many things to get done with the running of your main business. However, it is vital that every business, big or small, must plan out their IT initiatives at least once a year. Failing to map-out your technology path can impact your entire business. You must plan your budget for new software and hardware upgrades while considering the need for additional manpower and/or technical support. Planning ahead will ensure business continuity and will spare you from unanticipated problems and setbacks when something fails.

Try this: Decide on a particular month of the year for taking stock and planning your IT structure and requirements.

Read more: Plan Less and Learn Faster Through Lean Business Planning 

Mistake #4. Inadequately Trained Employees

Some of your employees may understand technology, perhaps because they had some experience with it formerly or just because they are tech geeks. This is by no means enough to put them on the job to handle tech requirements. One of the most common mistakes that many non-tech companies commit is to try to get the job done with employees who are not adequately trained to use the technology they have at work. There is no alternative to training, it is an absolute must for business growth! Forgoing on the training of employees may render well-intentioned purchases useless and result in a massive loss of ROI. By training your employees you can lessen the likelihood of mistakes and improve overall productivity.

Try this: Take the “train the trainer” approach with your software provider. It is cost-effective and helpful.

Mistake #5. Ignoring Reliable Backup And Disaster Recovery

Businesses today are reliant on their records and data, which are almost completely stored electronically. It is extremely dangerous to assume that your backup system is working properly. A sudden power outage or a server crash can delete all your data within seconds increasing your downtime and the expenses that accompany it. It is a good practice to back up a test directory, erase it, and then do a test restore to ensure that your backup device is working. Also, ensure that the proper data is backed up.

Try this: Have a right backup solution and disaster recovery procedure in place.

Read more: COVID-19- Ensuring Continuity and Building Resilience- How business leaders can respond, survive, and thrive in the new normal 

Mistake #6. Not Leveraging Cloud Computing

Most businesses either embrace cloud inconsistently or treat it as an unnecessary expenditure for their tech projects. Cloud computing has emerged as the most efficient platform for businesses than on-premise counterparts. This is because it makes it possible for employees, customers, and other authorized users to access the data at any time from any place. In most cases, cloud-based applications offer greater functionality and are less expensive. Cloud computing is more secure than an in-house computer operation that may lack proper antivirus solutions, firewalls, or backup systems. 

Try this: Prepare a cloud strategy and as soon as possible, consider moving some of your applications and data to the cloud.

Read more: Cloud Migration: Essentials to Know Before You Jump on the Bandwagon

Mistake #7. Ignoring Preventive Maintenance

The most common mistake made by businesses on tech projects is the “repair when it crashes” strategy for IT infrastructure. While it may not hurt too much on some issues, can you imagine your 10-year-old server crashing! Now that could cripple your business. If your mission-critical hardware crosses its shelf life as it were, it is time to consider replacing it well before it actually crashes. Just like your automobile, IT software and hardware require regular maintenance and adjustments. Both the software and servers need continued care to perform at optimal levels. 

Try this: Avoid overextending the life cycle of servers. Start planning to replace it well in advance. Look for the manufacturer’s instructions on MTBF (mean time between failures) for your equipment.

Read more: Why Get a Maintenance Contract With Your Software Solution Provider? 

Don’t Make a Costly Mistake

As a business, you are constantly juggling multiple roles and duties to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Too often, the panic call comes after a technology mistake has been done already. It is crucial to remember that a single mistake could lead to catastrophic loss of data that your business may never recover from. Don’t take chances with your business. Get our experts to help you make those tech decisions and implement them smoothly. Give us a call and let’s get talking. 

Experience remote hiring success with custom hiring and onboarding platform

Even before the pandemic hit, the number of employees working remotely has grown considerably over the past few years. The number of people telecommuting in the US increased by 159% from 2005 to 2017. 

Even if the threat of COVID-19 ceases, we may not return to the traditional office structure any time soon. In other words, remote work will matter to business much more than it did earlier. Employers, therefore, need to find ways to facilitate remote work. This includes creating the best remote hiring and onboarding experiences for employees. Strong onboarding processes improve new hire retention by 82% (Glassdoor).

By making a switch from a traditional to a digital workplace, organization across the globe are embracing the new normal. While there are many off the shelf remote hiring and onboarding platforms available in the market, for long term flexibility, it is necessary to fine-tune the features, user experience, functions and so on to fit your organizational requirements. Fingent, as a top custom software development company, can help you create custom applications to power your recruiting and onboarding.

Challenges of remote hiring and onboarding

Companies want all of their employees to feel inclusive and want a collaborative environment. But how do you make people feel that they are a part of something when you’re working remotely? Remote working is not just video conferencing and chatting, but a comprehensive set of practices that organizations need to develop. Remote employees require more trust. This is what makes hiring remote employees so much different. With remote employees, you don’t have any physical control or direct supervision to know whether or not people are on Netflix or YouTube all day. Building trust over time is the main challenge that organizations need to address while bringing in remote employees. While hiring a remote employee, we’re investing in a person where we’re going to trust him/her to represent our company.

Read more: Check out how Odoo can help meet HR requirements

Remote employee hiring and onboarding is here to stay

Despite these unprecedented challenges that COVID-19 has presented, various organizations have reacted positively and made rapid changes to their remote workflow management priorities and expectations. This ultimately shows us that the need to hire and onboard new staff will continue. Businesses will have to come up with innovative ideas and creative best practices to continue with their hiring and onboarding processes. 

How can a custom platform for remote hiring and onboarding help you?

The hiring and onboarding process of each company is unique. Employers always look to incorporate the requirements of a particular LOB into their induction programs. A customized remote hiring and onboarding platform helps you edit your workflows the way you want. You can use different task types to create a unique workflow for a new hire, through which you can send forms, trigger emails, conduct training sessions, and much more. You can even generate reports to review the progress of each workflow. 

Let’s see how a custom platform can add value to your organization: 

1. Digitization of your recruitment process 

With traditional HR practices becoming archaic, organizations look for recruitment technologies that help streamline processes, giving them the best talent available in the market. A remote recruitment and onboarding platform that is customized to integrate ATS (Applicant Tracking System) allows you to post jobs, screen applications, conduct interviews, and centralize all this information in one shared place. When you’re hiring remotely, you have to find the best fit for your company from a large pool of candidates. Incorporating functionalities like intelligent screening, document parsing, video capabilities help you gain a better understanding as well as organize your recruitment process.   

Read more: Applicant Tracking System-Transforming Hiring Norms

2. Electronic documentation helps you go paperless

A custom platform that takes the paper out of paperwork is what you need today. An online onboarding solution with features that enable your new hires to complete their documentation procedures from wherever they are, using any smart device makes the workflow as painless as possible. This custom platform automatically triggers email reminders to employees if they have not completed their documentation before their joining date. The onboarding platform can be configured to give automatic error notifications and tips to resolve those errors to ensure that all your employee documents are accurate. Additionally, functionalities like fingertip signatures, photo upload, and OCR make paperwork a breeze.

3. Self-Service onboarding improves employee engagement 

Remote employees do not have the liberty of walking to their managers’ desk time and again for necessary guidance. Employee self-service onboarding comes to the rescue here and acts as a key to employee engagement. Self-service portals help to organize the onboarding process of your new hires helping them find all the information they need in one place. A customized remote platform with self-service onboarding capabilities helps your recruits access essential documents that help them learn and get up to speed quickly and with confidence. Thus employees are satisfied as communication channels are improved leading to higher productivity.

Read more: A Chatbot Story – How We Built a Comprehensive Onboarding Assistant for a Leading Research University

4. Project management on-the-go 

Onboarding and managing a remote team requires overcommunication. An online project management tool helps you do this with ease. You can opt for integrating a project management tool with your remote hiring and onboarding portal to reap the benefits in a single solution. This helps remote workers track the progress of their projects, collaborate effectively, and complete projects efficiently from anywhere, using any smart device. New hires can interact effectively, helping them learn fast. Managers can also track time and analyze what needs to be done in their projects. With a real-time overview, you easily get an idea of who’s working on what. Inbuilt video conferencing tools help you to stay in constant touch with your new hires working remotely.

5. Virtual mentoring and training programs 

Mentoring and training programs are an indispensable part of onboarding. They help an employee get accustomed to her new job, learn about the company culture, and update her skills to better perform his duties. You can integrate virtual mentoring programs in your onboarding process helping new hires know about their roles and get personalized training wherever they are.

Read more: Optimize Workforce Management with SAP SuccessFactors and Qualtrics

A company is indeed as good as its employees. Hiring and onboarding new employees was a time-consuming process traditionally. When all or most of your staff works remotely, things become complicated. A tailored platform for remote hiring and onboarding helps you deliver awesome onboarding experiences to your employees, fostering productivity, efficiency, and better employee retention. It also allows you to promote your company brand and culture which gives your remote employees a sense of belonging. 

So did you get a custom platform for hiring and onboarding remote employees? Now is the time if not done yet. Partner with us to develop a tailored platform to meet the unique needs of your company.  

Concerned about app development costs? Here’s all you need to know!

There will be more people with access to smartphones in 2021 than with access to running water! Well, then there’s no questioning the fact that app development has become the need of the hour to capture the huge rapidly growing market. Investing in app development is valuable to establish yourself as an authority in your industry. As much as you would like to build an app, you might have many queries. One most pertinent question is: How much does it cost to create an app? This will be answered in detail in this blog. 

How much does it cost to create an app?

Some people think that creating an app requires a gigantic investment and that the cost of app development is an expensive affair. The truth is, not all types of apps require a princely budget. There is a lot of thought and work that goes into building an app from scratch, so the cost may vary. But looking into what is involved will help us make a fair estimate.

It is important to understand that the cost to build an app depends on various factors like the type of app, the platform you choose, the design, and the number of pages required. For instance, an app that doesn’t require back-end features like an email subscription, calendar, or social login, and API integration will not need a huge budget. On the other hand, multi-lingual support, custom features, and real-time updates will need resources in terms of the development budget. Each app is unique and the cost of making an app is based on the time and effort required to build an app. 

HackerNoon rates Fingent in the Top 20 when it comes to Mobile App Development Services. Our mobile team has years of experience working with a range of cost-effective mobile application projects. We’ve helped some of the world’s biggest companies create applications to enhance user experience and integrate new-age technologies. 

What Are Some Major Factors That Affect the Cost to Build an App?

Let’s look at some of the specifics that we need to consider, that may affect the cost of building an app. 

1. Functionalities, Scope, And Features of the App

The cost of building an app is going to depend on what you are trying to accomplish. Determining that will give a measure of clarity to the scope of the project. If the business is looking forward to a broader scope and returns from the app, it will have to be extensively developed with many functionalities. However, if the purpose of an app is to just establish a mobile presence and develop another channel to connect with end-users, then a limited feature app would suffice. When the goal and overall business purpose is clear to the development team, they will be able to accurately estimate the cost of developing an app.

Read more: Mobile App Development: 4 Tips To Consider

2. Number of In-App Pages

Another vital factor that determines the cost of building an app is the number of screens in the app. The more the number of screens, the more extensive the work required from the designers and UX experts. More screens would also mean higher interlinking of pages through the app, which requires adjustment of conditions so that users can easily access any particular in-app page. Such complex apps demand more time and effort from app designers and developers.

3. Platforms and Devices

The complete cost of developing a native app for a specific platform is different from developing a hybrid app that runs on multiple platforms and devices. Further, the app development cost also depends on the type of device the app is developed for. 

Making an app for devices running on Android, iOS, Windows, or Blackberry needs different sets of integration for each type of device. Additionally, supporting different generations of the same device can be another factor that increases the cost of building an app. iOS apps will need to be built to support the latest as well as previous iOS versions. The complexity of the Android market adds to the difficulty in determining a single standard cost of developing an Android app.

Read more: White Paper- Choosing The Right Mobile App Development Approach For Your Business

4. Type of App Development Team

Based on the complexity of the project, the app development team may comprise a project manager, designer(s), developer(s), and quality assurance engineer(s). You also have the choice of opting for a basic team with a backend developer, admin panel designer, Android or iOS developer.

5. Elements of App features

• Third-party integrations: Mobile apps require third-party libraries, frameworks, and services. 
• Backend development: Backend implements the app’s business logic enabling the exchange of data between the mobile and database.
• Hardware components: Identifying the right approach for communication between hardware and software components will make a difference in the cost of building an app. 

6. Database

Apps that allow end-users to upload videos, photos, and submit comments or reviews take more time in development. This would increase the complexity of an app because the user’s information must be stored and made available for future use. Obviously then, the app development cost and time for database-driven apps would be more.

7. Post-launch Expenses

The total cost of creating an app includes the money spent on actual programming as well as post-launch maintenance and updates like cloud hosting, backend server maintenance, and app marketing.

8. App Type

Choosing the right type of application for the project will have a massive impact on the overall cost to create an app. Apps can be categorized as:

• Web Apps: Web apps use a responsive design for smooth user experience across various screen sizes and operating systems.
• Native Apps: Native apps could be more expensive because they are optimized for high performance on a specific platform.
• Hybrid/Cross-platform Apps: This approach is best suited for the needs of a large audience across different platforms. The development and maintenance costs of this approach are lower when compared to the other approaches.

Read more: Hybrid Mobile App Development: When and Why To Choose For Your Business?

9. License and Legalities

Businesses that want to protect app features that could be knocked off by competitors may want to obtain a Patent, Copyright, or Trademark which increases the cost of building an app.

10. Support and Maintenance

Adding new features and refining existing features of the app will cost you. This is unavoidable because technology is constantly changing, and new updates will have to be made for your app to function seamlessly. 

Are you ready?

As of August 2020, there are 3.50 billion smartphone users in the world. As mentioned in the outset, Cisco Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast says that there will be more people with access to smartphones in 2021 than with access to running water. Additionally, App Annie forecasts that consumers will be willing to spend a staggering $157 billion on mobile apps by 2022, an increase of 92% from 2017. Now, these numbers should leave you with no doubt that you must make full advantage of this trend by building an app for your business. 

However, having a great idea for an app is one thing but making it available to end-users is another. This guide detailed the cost of making an app, with varying features, technologies, platforms, and more for you to make an informed decision, but if you have any questions or you want to get started on building that app, give us a call. 

Why your business needs to adopt headless CMS architecture

70% of companies are actively investing in content marketing and almost 60% of marketers rate content marketing as extremely important or very important to their marketing strategy, states HubSpot. Modern customer behavior is driving up the demand for a more flexible, customizable, and scalable CMS that is adept to deliver the experience your customers expect. When compared to traditional CMS, Headless CMS enables organizations to speed up delivery times while iterating quicker. This blog walks you through seven specific business benefits of headless CMS. Let’s begin by understanding what headless CMS is.

What is meant by Headless CMS?

A headless CMS allows us to edit CMS and database without an integrated presentation layer. The integrated presentation layer, which is referred to as a ‘head’, restricts the use of content only to one particular channel such as a website. Once CMS is severed from the head, it could be used across various other platforms such as a mobile, tablet, and smart devices, making it ideal for the current business scenario.

Read more: 5 Convincing Reasons To Adopt The Headless CMS Sanity.io

7 Business Benefits of Adopting a Headless CMS

1. More flexible

Since headless CMS is API driven, it allows you to build your own head or a presentation layer/ frontend. Besides enjoying the ability to pick your programming language, your developers can develop the website without having to conform to any proprietary development constraints. A single piece of content can be reused or combined with various other presentation outputs enabling faster project completions. 

A headless CMS allows secure and easy integration with any of your existing business systems. Additionally, since it does not have a fixed structure to code, your developers are at liberty to code for any type of integration. This gives them the flexibility to integrate with more complex systems. 

For example, Sanity.io is a popular headless CMS that allows you to embed editable data in running text and cache multiple queries on a single request. It also provides real-time collaboration, content versioning, and live previewing.

2. Supports Omnichannel Selling

For marketers to provide a customer-pleasing experience, each channel used by the business would require access to the current product information and availability. It can be quite a challenge to create iconic content that shines across all touchpoints. Instead, a headless CMS provides the capability to orchestrate a seamless experience across all touchpoints while maintaining consistency and relevance. For instance, Sitefinity empowers brands to deliver a personalized experience across channels.

3. Headless CMS is Future-Proof

A headless CMS enables businesses to future-proof their applications by separating the presentation layer from the data and logic layer. You can structure your content to facilitate future-proofing for new projects. Also, you would not be required to make any technical changes when re-branding one or more channels. Sitecore is a leading headless CMS that offers enterprise-class search and content targeting to boost personalization efforts, among other things.

4. Cost-Effective

It is a lot cheaper for your business team to create a new functionality because headless CMS requires little technical involvement. For example, if your marketing department chooses to create a new series of product mini-sites, they do not have to depend on developers to build CMS-based templates. Instead, the marketing team can directly go to the CMS and start creating the mini-sites as and when required, reducing your up-front costs. Kentico CMS, for instance, comes with tailored custom pricing. Websites of popular brands like Sony and Starbucks are powered by Kentico. 

Read more: Top 6 Tech Stacks That Reign Software Development in 2020

5. Offers Better Software Architecture

A headless CMS is architected to decouple CMS platforms and published content. This strengthens security because access to the CMS is restructured internally within the organization. It increases scalability simply by spinning up a new app server and pointing it to the content. It remains available against all odds because even when the CMS application goes offline, web applications will not have an impact. Episerver, the leading WCM platform supports editors to drag-and-drop content to create new digital experiences quickly.

6. Allows you to do more with less

Organizations will no longer need large teams of specialists with particular CMS knowledge, unlike the requirements for a traditional CMS.

7. Lets You Focus on Your Business

Worrying about your CMS can be time-consuming and distracting. A traditional CMS structure can take your attention away from growing your business. Whereas Headless CMS allows you to use your precious time and resources to grow your business.  Being a multi-tenant system, it is fully managed and upgraded for you. 

Read more: Top 5 benefits of outsourcing software development services

A Step Forward 

Apart from these, there are several other reasons why businesses must consider a headless CMS. The important aspect to consider is how you want to manage and store content for products and articles. This can have an impact on websites, application performance, and conversions. Hence, as marketers, it’s time to take a step beyond traditional CMS.

If you’re considering a headless CMS to improve your digital content experience, send us a message immediately. 

What are the most trending technology stacks of 2022?

What are the crucial things that you would consider when developing a software for your business or startup? Along with planning your budget, time, and effort, you need to choose the right technology stack to get your project off the ground successfully. 

What is a software stack? Why do you need to choose one? What are the popular development stacks out there in the current market? This post explores.

What is a technology stack?

A technology stack, also known as software stack or development stack is a data ecosystem that enlists the underlying tools, frameworks, and libraries used to build and run your application. For instance, Facebook’s exhaustive application stack includes PHP, React, GraphQL, Cassandra, Hadoop, Swift, and a host of other frameworks. 

A tech stack is broadly divided into two: client-side (frontend) and server-side (backend). While backend technologies include web frameworks, programming languages, servers, and operating systems, frontend technologies include HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and UI frameworks and libraries. 

Why choose a software stack to develop your application?

Software stacks are to your applications, what a deep foundation and girders are to a building. The competitiveness and viability of your application depend upon the technology stack that you choose. Your software stack choice has a long say in your web application development as it influences:

• How your app works
• How it will behave in the future
• The scalability of your product
• The purpose of your project/business
• Your choice of data and application storage (Cloud or Local)
• The capacity of your server systems (whether it’s made for high-read operations or high-write traffic)

As software development standards and trends change within the blink of an eye, it is important to be updated on the most popular tech trends that currently reign the market. By analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of popular application stacks, you can start developing your product with improved confidence, as you get to know the ways to mitigate development risks. 

So, what are the leading stacks of software development in 2022? Here they are:

1. The MEAN Stack

The MEAN (MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, and Node.js) is one of the most popular tech stacks of 2022. Being an end-to-end JavaScript stack, you use a single language throughout your stack. Thus, you have the opportunity to reuse code across the entire application, decreasing needless reinvention. Another advantage of using MEAN is that all the technologies are free and open-source with the support of a vibrant community. The applications of MEAN stack are perfect for cloud hosting since they are flexible, scalable, and extensible. The stack can be deployed easily as it includes its own web server. The database can be scaled on-demand to accommodate usage spikes temporarily. 

Read more: How we optimized a MEAN Stack project for better performance

MEAN allows you to use a single team of JavaScript developers who can work adaptively. While MEAN isn’t perfect for every application, it excels in various uses like calendars, mapping and location finding, and news aggregation sites.

2. The MERN Stack

The MERN stack is very similar to MEAN, in which React replaces Angular. Since React uses Virtual DOM, changes can be implemented easily. React uses JSX, which is a modification of JavaScript, enabling seamless component work. React is one of the most popular frameworks used for building high-end, single-page applications with interactive UIs. 

Since 2022 is all about enhancing UI, MERN stands to gain. However, while working with React, developers have to deal with limited core functionality since React is a library and not a framework. Hence most developers resort to third-party services.

3. The MEVN Stack

In this version of MEAN, Angular is replaced by Vue.js as a front-end framework. This framework has shown immense popularity over the last few years. Its popularity is expected to continue to 2022 as it is a lightweight solution compared to Angular. Vue.js offers basic out-of-the-box functionality. This functionality can be extended using third-party services. You can say that Vue.js combines the best features of Angular and React to give you great performance and a rich set of tools.

4. The LAMP Stack

The LAMP can be called a classic, time-tested stack of technologies – Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. The LAMP still remains one of the most common ways to deliver web applications and was one of the first open-source software stacks which is still widely used. Popular open-source CMS such as WordPress and Drupal use LAMP. The stability, simplicity, and power that accompany LAMP have made it the platform of choice for developing new custom web apps. 

The LAMP stack can efficiently handle dynamic pages wherein the content changes every time it is loaded. LAMP being open-source and non-proprietary, you can choose components based on your specific business requirements. Instead of using Linux as the OS, you can use Microsoft Windows to form a WAMP stack or MAC OS to form the MAMP stack. PHP can also be swapped for Perl or the increasingly popular Python language.

Read more: Why Is It High-Time To Find Alternatives For Microsoft Silverlight?

Since the LAMP has been around for more than a decade, you can avail of the benefits of a substantial LAMP ecosystem.    

5. The Serverless Stack

2022 is the best time to build on cloud infrastructure or in other words- to go serverless. Serverless computing platforms provide all the services and tools thus making infrastructure management much simpler. You can easily scale up to hundreds of thousands of users overnight. AWS Lambda was one of the first serverless platforms. Google cloud is another significant provider of serverless computing services. 

6. Flutter for Web

Flutter for Web can be called a game-changer in the cross-platform development world. It uses the same UI and business logic on all platforms. With Flutter, you don’t have to spend time on deployment. You can fix bugs, add new features, and build UI without compromising on speed. 

What should be your next step

Having learned the tech stack meaning and its impact on your application development, here are a few tips that will help you make a wise choice:

• While building software or an application, employing a consistent, standardized software stack is of utmost importance. 
• You have to create your backend with a set of tools designed to work together, reducing development time and streamlining resources. 
• In today’s overcrowded stack field, you are spoilt for options. You cannot go for a one-size-fits-all approach while choosing a stack for your project. You need to find a web stack that provides unique advantages for your application. 

Now that you’ve made it this far, do you agree that these are the most important tech stacks for software development in 2022? Can you think of any other names that need to be included in this list? Do let us know!

Here at Fingent, we set out to adopt the most efficient technology stacks that can make your software product highly competitive and fulfill your organization’s unique requirements. If you have any questions left, our technology consultants are ready to offer you a piece of expert advice. Feel free to drop us a message, any time. 

How AI is bringing change to the software testing practice

Artificial Intelligence is penetrating into multiple functions performed by the software industry. In software testing, the technology holds the potential to be a game-changer. Imagine the capability of your software to test and diagnose itself and make self-corrections! This will lead to huge savings on your resources. With this in mind, let’s try and understand exactly how AI will impact the traditional way of software testing. 

Before we proceed, let’s get one thing clear – Do we really need AI in software testing?

Do We Really Need AI in Software Testing? 

Software testing came into existence as a result of the evolution of development methodologies. It fed the need for robust, error-free software products. Testing was a laborious task for sure. However, automating software testing required traceability and versioning, both of which were critical and needed careful consideration. Something was needed to resolve this.

As businesses move towards digital transformation and the software market continues to grow, businesses expect a real-time risk assessment across all stages of the software delivery cycle. AI in software testing is the right response to these challenges. AI can develop error-free applications while enabling greater automation in software testing. This helps meet the expanded, critical demands for testing. It improves the quality of engineering and reduces testing time allowing the tester to focus on more important things. The verdict is clear then – We Really Need AI for Software Testing!

Five Impressive Ways AI Impacts Software Testing

1. Improves object application categorization

AI is widely used in object application categorization. When tools and testers are created, unique pre-train controls can be created. Once the hierarchy of the controls is categorized, testers can create a technical map to obtain labels for the different controls. 

In the near future, AI will become capable of observing users perform exploratory testing on the testing site. And once user behavior is assessed, it can assign, monitor, and categorize the risk preference.

2. Automation of test case writing 

Gone are the days of web crawlers. As automation is picking momentum, AI tools have become capable of learning business usage scenarios of test applications. 

Related Reading: Unconventional Ways Artificial Intelligence Drives Business Value

They can automatically collect insightful data such as HTML pages, screenshots and page loading time and eventually train ML models for expected patterns of the app. And as soon as they are executed, any variations are marked as potential issues. This makes it easier for the tester to find and validate differences and fix issues. 

3. Enhanced accuracy

To date, source analysis requires human resources to accomplish the task. Unfortunately, because of the enormity of the data, even the best experts could overlook, or miss out on observing certain critical defects. Human error and the tendency to lose focus further impairs the experts involved in software testing. It can be disastrous if bugs caused by these errors are caught by consumers before project stakeholders. Product positioning and brand reputation can be jeopardized. 

Thankfully, AI can teach systems to learn source analysis and, in the future, apply this acquired knowledge. This ensures that testers have greatly enhanced accuracy. It eliminates the probability of human error and also shortens the time to run a test and increases the possibility of finding defects or bugs. 

4. Automation without the user interface

AI-based techniques can be applied for non-functional tests such as performance, security and unit integration. It can also be applied on various application logs which assists in developing auto-scaling capabilities such as bug prediction.

AI algorithms can enhance UI testing, predict the next test, determine the outcomes for subjective and complex tests and much more. In other words, AI could increase the overall test coverage while it increases the depth and scope of the test itself.

5. Reduces cost and decreases time to market

The need for manually repeating a test is time-consuming and extremely expensive. But with AI, such tests can be automated to repeat several times over. Each time the software test is repeated automatically, the source code gets modified to correct any bugs. This eliminates the additional cost of repeating the test and increases the speed of the test from days to hours, which in turn saves more money.

Related Reading: Quality Assurance in Software Testing – Past, Present & Future

Allow AI to Revolutionize your Business

AI has proven to have a significant impact on software testing with its benefits ranging from optimization to extraordinary savings. It enables testers to move beyond the traditional route and dive toward precision-based testing processes. This can prove invaluable to your business. To find out how you can make this happen for your business, contact us. 

Fingent Receives High Praise from Leading Businesses Around The World!

In today’s increasingly digital marketplace, technology is key to gaining a competitive advantage. Of course, with technology advancing at an unprecedented rate, determining how to most effectively deploy the latest technologies is easier said than done.  As a top custom software development company, we build high-quality, cost-effective web and mobile solutions that deploy the newest technologies and meet all of your enterprise needs. 

We’re committed to delivering the best quality and customer service — and for that reason, we’re a trusted partner to some of the world’s leading enterprises and businesses. 

We know how important it is for potential buyers to peruse client testimonials and understand what it’s like to work with us before signing a contract, and that’s why we’ve partnered with the ratings and reviews platform Clutch.

Of more than 300 firms, Clutch ranks us among the top 3 software developers in NY! Clutch determines industry leaders based on market research and client feedback, so we’re immensely grateful to the clients who have left reviews for us. One of our recent reviews was from Wage CALC, a company that provides attorneys and legal professionals with a better way to manage their wage and hour cases with wage & analysis software. 

Wage CALC was in need of custom software development services. They were looking for a trustworthy, well-known developer — and they found us on Clutch! Deploying a Microsoft Excel prototype that they’d created, we built their cloud-based app from the ground up.

“I’ve had such an excellent experience with them. Fingent exceeded my expectations.” — Founder & CEO, Wage CALC

The client was impressed that we were able to break down their complex, formula-heavy prototype. They commended our professional and responsive team and were particularly appreciative of how our SVP helped to streamline communication between our team in India and theirs in California.

We received another 5-star review from a large transportation and logistics company that specializes in oil and gas equipment pickup and delivery. There’s a significant technology gap when it comes to processing orders, invoicing, and workflow management within the logistics industry, and we were prepared to change that.

We developed an end-to-end transportation management solution. The solution allows customer service representatives to assign vehicles for order pickup and delivery, while drivers can use a mobile version of the solution to send documentation and process tickets and billing. The company’s accounting team also uses the system to do invoicing, collect payments, and close orders. 
“The management system is light years ahead of anything else in our industry.” — IT Director, Transporation Company

The client appreciated our consistency and availability, along with our team’s impressive knowledge and talent.

Meanwhile, The Manifest, Clutch’s partner site listing market experts, ranks us as the #1 custom software development company.

Fingent is not just recognized by the Clutch! A few well-known rating sites like the Software World, have also appreciated Fingent for its expertise in software development and technology solutions.

Learn more on why Fingent is the most trusted Tech Partner for emerging enterprises, and how our expertise can benefit your business. Contact us today — we offer free consultations! 

Testing Types And Strategies: Choosing A Testing Method

Understanding the basics of software testing is crucial for developers and quality assurance specialists equally. To deploy a better software and to find bugs that affect application development, it is important to learn about the different types of software testing. 

Types Of Software Testing 

Testing is a process of executing a software program to find errors in the application being developed. Testing is critical for deploying error-free software programs. Each type of testing has its advantages and benefits. Software testing is broadly categorized into two types; Functional and Non-Functional testing.

Functional Testing Versus Non-Functional Testing

Functional Testing is used to verify the functions of a software application according to the requirements specification. Functional testing mainly involves black box testing and does not depend on the source code of the application. 

Functional Testing involves checking User Interface, Database, APIs, Client/Server applications as well as security and functionality of the software under test. Functional testing can be done either manually or by making use of automation. 

The various types of Functional Testing include the following:

• Unit Testing
• Integration Testing
• System Testing
• Sanity Testing
• Smoke Testing
• Interface Testing
• Regression Testing
• Beta/Acceptance Testing

Non-Functional Testing is done to check the non-functional aspects such as performance, usability, reliability, and so on of the application under test. 

The various types of Non-Functional Testing include the following:

• Performance Testing
• Load Testing
• Stress Testing
• Volume Testing
• Security Testing
• Compatibility Testing
• Install Testing
• Recovery Testing
• Reliability Testing
• Usability Testing
• Compliance Testing
• Localization Testing

The 7 Most Common Types Of Software Testing

Type 1: Black-box Testing

Black-box testing is applied to verify the functionality of the software by just focusing on the various inputs and outputs of the application rather than going deep into its internal structure, design, or implementation. Black-box testing is performed from the user’s perspective.

Type 2: White-Box Testing

The White-Box software testing strategy tests an application with access to the actual source code as well as focusing on the internal structure, design, and implementation. This testing method is known by different names such as Open Box testing, Clear Box Testing, Glass Box Testing, Transparent Box Testing, Code-Based Testing, and Structural Testing. White-box testing offers the advantage of rapid problem and bug spotting.

Type 3: Acceptance Testing

Acceptance Testing is a QA (Quality Assurance) process that determines to what extent a software attains the end user’s approval. Also known as UAT (User Acceptance Testing) or system testing, it can be testing the usability or the functionality of the system or even both. Depending on the enterprise, acceptance testing can take the form of either end-user testing, beta testing, application testing, or field testing. The advantage of acceptance testing is that usability issues can be discovered and fixed at an early stage.

Related Reading: Quality Assurance in Software Testing – Past, Present & Future

Type 4: Automated Testing

Automated testing is a method in which specialized tools are utilized to control the execution of various tests and the verification of the results is automated. This type of testing compares the actual results against the expected results. The advantage of automated testing is that it avoids the need for running through test cases manually, which is both tedious and error-prone, especially while working in an agile environment. 

Type 5: Regression Testing

Regression testing is a testing practice that verifies whether the system is still working fine, even after incremental development in the application. Most automated tests performed are regression tests. It ensures that any change in the source code does not have any adverse effects on the application.

Type 6: Functional Testing

Functional Testing tests for the actual functionality of the software. This type of testing focuses on the results of the system processing and not on how the processing takes place. During functional testing, the internal structure of the system is not known to the tester. 

Type 7: Exploratory Testing

As the name indicates, Exploratory testing is all about exploring the application where the tester is constantly on the lookout for what and where to test. This approach is applied in cases where there is no or poor documentation and when there is limited time left for the testing process to be completed. 

Related Reading: A Winning Mobile Testing Strategy: The Way to Go

All the methods mentioned above are only some of the most common options of software testing. The list is huge and specific methods are adopted by development vendors based on the project requirements. Sometimes, the terminologies used by each organization to define a testing method also differ from one another. However, the concept remains the same. Depending on the project requirement and scope variations, the testing type, processes, and implementation strategies keep changing. 

Like to know more about Fingent’s expertise in custom software development and testing? Get in touch with our expert. 

How Logistics Companies Can Gain Competitive Advantage with Customized Software Solutions?

Fluctuating consumer demands, increasing client requirements, and complex business models are posing critical challenges for logistics companies today. According to predictions made earlier this year, two major drawbacks are to be witnessed in the industry.

With drastic changes hovering over the logistics industry, the players are bound to stay equipped with the emerging technology trends, or they might get caught off guard. While its turning imperative for logistics companies to transform with smarter technologies, the question of whether to choose a custom software or an off-the-shelf package still lingers in many minds.

Why Choosing Customized Solutions Over Packaged Software Considered Profitable In Logistics? 

Purchasing an off-the-shelf software would sound comparatively simple, stress-free and time-effective. But in the long run, it’s always a custom-built solution that pays off.

Most packaged logistics software, although sophisticated and deployed of disruptive technologies, pose standard solutions for the industry as a whole. Of course, they solve the major supply chain hassles. But with every business, possessing unique procedures, workflows, and objectives, “not everyone fits the same mold”.

So what happens when you choose a packaged software solution for your logistics business?

1. A packaged software often comes with hordes of features. This sure sounds exciting at the beginning. But when you have to pay for more than you use, it sure isn’t a happy moment! Off-the-shelf software solutions are often crafted considering the large players of the industry. Their features focus on resolving the common challenges faced by these companies.

However, in a complex industry like logistics, it’s not always necessary for every company to face the same kind of issue. Hence, with packaged software being available as a whole for a single price, businesses usually end up wasting money on features they do not need. 

2. Off-the-shelf logistics software utilizes the latest and advanced technologies to cater to the complexities of an industry. But however, at times these sophisticated technologies complexes situations even further. For companies with basic knowledge on latest technologies, would definitely find it difficult to carry out operations successfully with a sophisticated system.

Moreover, they would have to spend extra time and money on training staff, which is not reasonable in a highly competitive industry like logistics. As mentioned before, with plenty of features, packaged solutions often prove to be less user-friendly and more complicated. 

3. Although packaged solutions solve a list of logistics hurdles, their features might not provide a complete automated solution. You might find a good Transportation Management System (TMS) that enables real-time tracking and automated reporting, but you might still have to communicate with your customers, and assigned drivers manually.

Also, an efficient packaged TMS system might have an integrated warehousing management system, but might not facilitate an appropriate billing system, leaving the need to adopt alternate transaction processing systems. Hence, in a nutshell, complete automation is often unattainable with packaged software solutions.

4. The most eminent reason to not opt for a packaged solution is that they are rigid. There is hardly any packaged software company that allows customization. It’s not only rare to find a packaged software that caters to all your business-specific needs, but it also proves to be non-scalable in the long run.

Growth in your business and changes in the market will bring about an increase in your technology requirements. This will result in the need for a solution that can be customized with your growing business necessities.  

Customized logistics software eliminates all the above-mentioned drawbacks of a packaged solution. Plus, it always comes with continuous technical assistance to simplify the technology transition in your company.

Let’s take a quick look at how a customized Transportation Management System can help you battle logistics challenges better.

Digital Transformation of a Logistics and Supply Chain Company – A Client Success Story

How A Customized TMS Can Enhance Your Supply Chain Efficiency?

Investing in a customized TMS can enable you to create an Uber-like platform for your logistics business. Integrating the latest in web and mobile application solutions, you can create a platform that completely streamlines your driver, client, and cash-flow management.

Enabling centralized data management, transparent billing, delivery match capabilities, along with real-time monitoring and customer insights capturing; a customized software solution can be framed to automate your entire end-to-end logistics operations. 

A custom-built mobile application can further enhance productivity with less paperwork, better transparency, easy communication, and improved customer engagement. Implementing a customized solution would also let you add in innovative features that help you automate critical tasks, improve team collaboration, and increase your overall company efficiencies.

Here is a shortlist of benefits that you can acquire with customized logistic software.

1. A customized software solution gives the advantage of integrating with smarter technologies to simplify the minute challenges faced by the industry. For instance, along with assigning and managing truck drivers, a logistics company also faces difficulties in maintaining and verifying driver documents. Integrating with smart apps like Camscanner can simplify these documentation verification complexities.

2. A logistics company with varying client needs might often find difficulties in choosing apt carriers for a given order. A customized solution gives you the benefit to add in features that simplifies such decision making by suggesting the best available carriers for the orders.

3. Although packaged solutions streamline drivers assignment and management, yet they blackout on some eminent functions that logistics companies struggle to maintain. For example, calculating the detention hours/rates of the drivers are likely the most critical task of a logistics company. Through a customized logistics software you can straighten such bends of the industry.

4. With customized logistics software, a logistic company can embrace a completely streamlined and user-friendly accounting system that generates automated invoices as well as tracks any misleads or accounting errors.

Customized logistics software can simplify your logistics operations more than you can imagine. If you are looking for a tech partner to help you add in these features and more to your logistics software, then you have landed on the right page.

Fingent is one of the leading custom software companies providing advanced and user-friendly web and mobile technology solutions for logistics businesses worldwide. Contact us today to know how our custom software solutions can enhance your business abilities.