Category: Custom software

More and more enterprises seek to ride the mobility wave towards improving their efficiency and becoming more competitive. Gartner estimates enterprise app demand to grow about five times faster compared to the internal capacity of IT organizations, by 2017. Today’s digital employee use an average of three different devices in their daily routine, and with the spread of IoT and wearable devices, this number is set to increase to five or six devices a day. Mobile phone sales are expected to touch 2.1 billion units by 2019, fueling demand for enterprise apps.

Enterprises find it a challenge to develop, deploy and maintain mobile apps to match the ever increasing demand, leave alone being proactive to preempt competition.

An earlier Gartner survey on mobile app development, conducted in 2014, reveals a majority of organizations have developed fewer than 10 apps, with a good majority of them not having released any mobile apps at all.

Many enterprises grossly underestimate the time and resources required for developing mobile apps, especially the time taken for integration. They find the coding part especially vexatious and arduous. Moreover, hiring developers with good mobile skills is becoming progressively difficult and costly.

Rapid Mobile Application Development Approaches

Enterprises need to develop mobile apps, and develop it fast, to keep pace with the enterprise app demand. They need to use development tools capable of producing apps rapidly, to reduce the gap between demand and supply.

Solutions are in sight though. Significant innovation, mostly through powerful Rapid Mobile Application Development (RMAD) tools is fast replacing native development tools and traditional coding approaches.

RMAD is generally implemented through an effective two-pronged bimodal approach. The first mode involves the creation of stable infrastructure and APIs that enable apps to retrieve and deliver data to back-end systems seamlessly, without disrupting enterprise applications. The second prong involves the deployment of agile approaches to quickly deliver front-end app features required by the business.

The RMAD approach generally starts with requirement gathering through workshops or focus groups, prototyping an early iterative model using no-code or low-code platform, end users testing the design, and reusing software components to the extent possible during the main development phase. Visual development tools like MDD further facilitate iterative, rapid, and collaborative design, with developers able to share prototypes, gather feedback, and refine the requirements.

Several Rapid Mobile Application Development (RMAD) approaches, such as drag-and-drop code-less tools, automated code generation, model-driven development, virtualization, construction of forms, and other methods allow people with little or no coding skills, especially business managers and those with business facing roles to develop applications on-the-fly, and iterate on these designs.

Low-Code and No-Code Platforms

Several low code app development platforms enable rolling out apps in double-quick time. Some of the most popular ones are Appian Quick Apps, Xamarin, Zoho Creator, Microsoft Power Apps, Salesforce Lightning, and others, each offering various levels of low code options, and each having varied levels of effectiveness and popularity.

Such low-code and no-code platforms do away with the need to code by offering declarative development options such as drag-and-drop visual interfaces, point-and-click tools, object mapping, process modeling, form builders, WYSIWYG editors, and other options. Even the few lines of code involve standard languages commonly in use, such as JavaScript, SQL, CSS, and more. These languages are familiar to anyone who has a decent level of education in IT.

Most of these platforms enable creating an app quickly and then layering customization and added features on top of it. Using these options, enterprise users may develop their own apps without writing a line of code, or keeping code to a minimum, for any optional customization.

Such declarative development options are popular in several areas of application development, such as

• Logic, criteria, and filtering
• User interface
• Reports and Data Visualizations
• App roles and authentication
• Data import and export rules
• Integration with other apps and systems

The best low-code platform offers step-by-step workflows for most application authoring processes. Point-and-click tools, for instance, guide the user through each step of the process, enabling keeping things in context. Other tools may enable connecting the application with an internal corporate directory such as Microsoft Active Directory, to facilitate single sign-on integration.

Low code platforms also come with much integration in-built as well. A common and very popular integration is online data storage services such as Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive, and more.

Low code platforms offer various approaches, with the space rife for innovations. A model-driven development (MDD) approach, for instance, uses visual models for defining data models, application and process logic, user interfaces, and other elements.

Limitations of DIY App Development Platforms

Codeless development brings IT the business together, facilitating more rapid, iterative, flexible, and collaborative development. However, it still pays to enlist the services of a professional enterprise app development company. Low-code platforms, for all the ease and automation it offers, do not eliminate the need for programming completely, and no-code platforms still have several inherent limitations for enterprise use. For instance, these options are specifically weak on integration and user interface, especially mobile UI.

DIY app development platforms are definitely worth a try if these are your baby steps towards the app development world, and your app does not handle critical tasks. However, if you are remaking an app, and wants it to handle mission critical functions, or is customer facing, it may not be worth the risk to go for DIY. Due to limited options available, you will have to either adjust the app according to what is available or seek a real developer’s help to add the extra functions that are not available within the platform.

If you don’t want to take a chance in your enterprise application development, partner with established custom software development companies such as ours, to be assured of a complete web application, with custom layout, ability to access servers on the device, pixel-perfect displays, and much more. You gain from our experience and expertise spanning across several projects, cutting across industries and sectors.

Inspections are an inevitable part of life in enterprises for quality checks and compliance purposes. Such inspections, though unavoidable divert resources and distract focus from the core business activity, as such, is seen as a drag on resources.

However, a smooth and streamlined inspection workflow, integrated to core business processes can minimize the disruption and actually leverage the inspection process for the benefit of the enterprise.

Here are five ways to streamline inspection workflows for the New Year

1. Have Clarity of Purpose

Have clarity of purpose, and understand the exact deliverable required out of the inspection workflow. For instance, if the inspection is carried out as part of legal compliance, make sure the workflow captures all the required information necessary to populate the reports, and the process flow complies with the requirements of the regulations. If the objective is adherence to quality standards, keep the end in mind, and plan on how the workflow will track the required statistics.

Big is not always beautiful. Resist the temptation to introduce wholesale or big changes, just for the sake of it. More often than not, small incremental tweaks made at the right place can deliver huge improvements.

2. Treat Documentation Seriously

Strange as it sounds, at times even the best-oiled enterprise may overlook the obvious. Documenting or defining processes is one such instance of the often overlooked obvious. Documenting the inspection workflow lends clarity and order to the process. It also makes explicit complex, convoluted, or roundabout processes that can be eliminated or bypassed.

While there is a need to make the documentation as exhaustive or thorough as possible, to capture all processes, there is also a need to keep it simple. Infusing the documentation with illustration and flow charts serves the purpose, and makes it doubly easy to identify complexities, and make amends.

Break down the process into discrete steps, with more granular the process the better. Also, rank each process in order of importance, giving priority to streamlining processes that actually matter, or are the most critical. Many processes are interdependent, and as such streamlining such processes may be best effected together with such interconnected process, for greater effectiveness.

3. Value Progress over Perfection

Many managers fall into the trap of perfection. No workflow is perfect, and even the best-laid plans falter in the face of practical exigencies.  Aim for progress, or getting the work done in the fastest possible time, with minimal effort and resource, rather than artistic perfection. The caveat is to ensure no process mandated by regulatory or compliance requirement are skipped or bypassed in the quest for speed or efficiency.

In any case, contemporary business is extremely fluid, where workflows need to change rapidly, to cater to the evolving requirements. Trying to cope with the requirements of an ever-changing infrastructure with stagnant workflows and technologies would be like trying to compete in a drag race with a jalopy.

For greater effectiveness and accurate results, match the changes in business processes, brought about by technology, with changes in workflow inspection methodologies. A case in point: IoT may enable turning lighting systems on and off automatically, depending on the time of the day, sensors detecting movement of people, and other considerations, An inspection schedule that offers a checklist involving switching on and off the light at set times becomes counterproductive and disruptive.

4. Invest in Collaborative Workflows

The world is increasingly becoming collaborative. No initiative to streamline processes works without involving the key stakeholders in the mix. With regards to inspection workflows, the field staff, or employees who actually conduct the inspection would know better than anyone else how to improve the process, how to enhance it, and how to remove roadblocks. Such stakeholders may have suggestions for even trying something radically new to achieve the same thing.

Make the process collaborative, and involve the field staff to buy their support for the initiative. Failure to do so will invariably result in a disconnect, with the manager sitting in the cabin, looking at flowcharts and powerpoint presentations, deciding on what would make the process efficient, when the actual situation on the ground may be completely different.

5. Automate the Process

Many businesses, in fact about 70% to 80% of them, still use spreadsheets to manage their workflows.  Spreadsheets offer convenience, but are error-prone, require lots of manual work, and can create serious versioning clashes. It makes sense to invest in modern field inspection software that automates the process, to improve accuracy, reduce manual entries, and speed up the process. Such inspection suites capture key information automatically, leveraging the camera, bar-code scanner and other features available in the smartphone, populate fields seeking duplicate or derived information automatically, auto generate reports, and issue automated alerts as required. Intuitive workflow inspection software makes it easy to change workflows as required by simple drag-and-drop mouse clicks, to meet the exigencies of the situation, or to reflect the changing needs of the business.

Inspections are not easy. A mobile inspection app that eliminates paperwork, streamlines the workflows, and makes the process transparent goes a long way in reducing the drag, and ensure the inspection meet its realized objectives.

Technology is in a continuous state of flux, and software gets outdated sooner rather than later.

For all the advancements in technology, about 70% of a typical global corporation’s global transactions are still running on legacy applications, such as COBOL. However, today’s demanding users seek a rich experience that leverage the latest technological developments, and prefer accessing applications through devices of their choice, mostly mobile.  Enterprises are now looking at future-proofing legacy applications as a way out of the imbroglio. Gartner estimates global enterprise application software spending to touch $201 billion by 2019, with modernization, transformation, and expansion in functionality of software driving much of the growth.

Here are the top ways to future-proof legacy applications, and derive maximum bang for the buck.

Create HTML 5 Version of the Software

Today’s software need to work on everything from desktops to smartphones, and from laptops to tablets. An HTML 5/CSS3 version of the application is a sure-shot and easiest way to facilitate such requirement, and future-proof the software.

HTML 5 is as resilient as it comes, as it works across all platforms.  The use of web-based terminal emulators allows organizations to offer employees access on any device, anywhere, using any browser.

Developers would do well to discard applets, plug-ins, and other device-specific software. Eliminating the need for client side, a device-specific software makes the enterprise immune to browser or system requirements, or even device types.

Side-by-side, developers also need to adopt the declarative programming paradigm and enable faster development. Agile software, easy to change, depending on business needs, serves future needs best.

Migrate to the Cloud

Today’s users tend to access applications erratically, often creating spikes in usage. They are also rarely tied up to a location. Future-proofing applications in such scenarios require catering to flexible demand, and the ready-made solution is hosting application in the cloud. Cloud-based software not just offers anywhere, anytime access, but also makes it possible to scale up resources, to cater to demand.

Any on-premise application that does not have cloud portability or native mobile functionality is obsolete, regardless of when it was developed. The cloud is now all-encompassing, and even sensitive information, hitherto considered too risky for the cloud, is increasingly making way to it.

A cloud-based software requires a solid, reliable database that can scale easily and integrate seamlessly with other components, such as Apache Hadoop. Relational database such as  MySQL offer easy manipulation of data, and several intuitive features such as replication, and remain a popular choice. However, the latest schema-less NoSQL databases such as MongoDB offer unprecedented flexibility in holding any type of data.

Integrate Applications

In an era where IoT is slated to run supreme, the future of applications lies in continued integration, with other applications and devices. Enterprises would, for instance, do well to integrate web traffic and sales management applications. However, creating bespoke integrations is time-consuming, costly and may cause application instability. The way forward is to build standards-based web services in double quick time, using application development toolset.

Immunize Against Skills Shortage

The ever-changing technology means that old skills soon become obsolete. For instance, thick-client applications running on UNIX-based workstations and later on PCs were dominant in the enterprise space not too long ago, but is now archaic and totally obsolete, with hardly any developer available to work on it. Enterprises can future-proof the disruption caused by original developers moving on by opting for solutions that use common skillsets. A case in point is .NET toolsets that facilitate modernization of legacy applications, condense multiple screens into a single web page, create web services that integrate with other business applications, and more, all done without changing the underlying code.

Enterprises can also try their luck harnessing citizen developers to overhaul their legacy applications, as a strategy to overcome skill shortage. Citizen developers are super-users who by dint of living with the software, knows it inside out, and remain best placed to improve it.

The use of development studio, relying on a wizard based environment, using graphical navigation rather than keyboard shortcuts, automating common tasks and more are some other ways to circumvent the skill shortage, and future-proof legacy applications.

Modernizing legacy applications rank high in the priority of CIOs. A Gartner survey reveals 45% of respondents considering application modernization of installed on-premises core enterprise applications among their top five priorities, and another 41% of respondents regarding extending capabilities of core enterprise applications among their top five priorities.

The task of future-proofing legacy application is however challenging, and run the risk of disrupting the enterprise if not executed properly. It pays to partner with us and leverage our knowledge of the latest IT architecture, and our expertise in making legacy systems more agile and efficient. We help you future-proof your legacy applications, without disrupting your ecosystem. Your investment in the project will soon pay back for itself in terms of sustained savings and improved productivity.

Many enterprises use Microsoft SharePoint for day-to-day collaboration, and also to develop web-based business applications.

Though originally launched and sold as a document management and storage system, Microsoft SharePoint is highly configurable and it makes sense to use the platform for developing powerful apps that fulfill key business processes.

While many developers are content with Microsoft’s 40+ SharePoint 3.0 application templates that offer out-of-the-box solutions for specific business processes, such as tracking marketing campaigns, and Help Desk coordination, several others require deep customization beyond what such templates offer.  Today’s highly dynamic business world, where businesses try to seek competitive advantage through innovation, places a premium on flexible business application solutions. Many developers use the out-of-the-box templates as starting points for deep customization, while others develop their own custom templates from scratch, using Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007.

Regardless of the approach, here are ways to enhance SharePoint application development capabilities, to further such ends.

Leverage Collaboration Features

A key USP of SharePoint is the plethora of collaborative features on offer that enhances the functionality of applications developed using the platform.

The top collaborative option is Community Sites, modeled on Facebook, allowing employees, hitherto working on silos, to communicate with one another in new ways, such as based on shared interests, rather than on the basis of departmental affiliation. App developers could enhance the worth of such communities by adding micro-blogging, news feeds, tagging and other features. News feeds make available updates from others, notifies about changes made to documents and websites, and overall keeps the user in the loop of things.

“My Sites,” another popular collaboration option, allow users to upload documents. Enabling this feature allows an always-on-the-move employee to sync the contents of the library, in one or more systems, and access it offline.

Yet another popular collaboration tool, OneDrive for Business, enables storing digital documents in a central cloud-based repository, facilitating easy access and share.

Applying the right mix of collaborative features in application development facilitate free flow of information and open communication, which in turn encourage sharing of experiences and enable better decision-making capabilities.

Offer Deep Integration with Enterprise Communication

SharePoint’s collaboration features extend to offer deep integration with the available enterprise communication infrastructure.

Developers may leverage the easy integration with Skype and Lync to offer a powerful way to communicate with customers and colleagues, without leaving the platform. The functionality may also be used to make explicit the full contact information of participants, during online meetings.

The “Site Mailbox” feature creates a shared project space, allowing users to create a common pool of emails and documents. Storage, retrieval, and editing of files become very easy, through drag and drop.

Leverage the Improved Search Functionality

The revamped search core in SharePoint 2013 features FAST Search, a powerful search engine that operates within company networks, and makes it very easy for users to search and locate stashed away enterprise content, including query results from multiple locations, authored documents, information on previous projects, contact information, and more. SharePoint also co-opts Microsoft Bing capabilities, offering end users a seamless and easy out of the box (OOTB) experience.

Developers may leverage the advanced search capabilities to offer content by search, continuous crawl and for general performance enhancement.

Provide Mobile Functionality

Microsoft offered native mobile functionality in SharePoint 2007 and 2010 version, but these options were weak, and best forgotten. SharePoint 2013 however makes amends by introducing a slew of mobile tools.

• A new “contemporary view” that renders site in HTML5 offers better mobile browsing experience, including touch-screen interaction.
• New back-end mobile “channels” automatically rearrange SharePoint site rendering for different mobile devices.
• Geo-location tags, news feeds, push notification to alert users on new content, and improved viewing of MS-Office documents offer even more convenience and unlock new possibilities for the mobile.

Several third-party apps, such as Colligo email manager, Infragistics SharePlus, Filamente, and Harmon make the SharePoint mobile experience better, and more responsive

Extend Collaboration to Enterprise Social Networking

Much of SharePoint’s collaborative features, such as community sites and the enhanced search capabilities are already modeled to facilitate enterprise social networking. Developers seeking to further social collaboration may explore enterprise social networking (ESN) suites such as NewsGator and Jive Software that connect seamlessly to SharePoint, and offer mobile capabilities to ESN.

Leverage Other Niche Capabilities

SharePoint 2013 offers a host of other intuitive features, such as new document set features, automatic translations to multiple languages, managing discovery cases and holds, improved caching and more, all offering considerable scope for performance improvements. Features such as metadata navigation, n URL, and image rendition improve SEO.

As it is with all initiatives, success in the quest of enhancing SharePoint application development depends on customization based on business needs. For instance, if social collaboration functionality is added just because everyone else seems to be doing so, the initiative is bound to end in failure.

SharePoint now offers easy drag and drop feature, requiring minimal code, but it still makes sense to partner with us to enhance your SharePoint development capabilities. Our team of skilled and experienced developers have already seen it in action in enterprise setting and can guide you to move forward in the best way.

The steadfast march of organizations worldwide has been in one direction, a direction that has been adorned with trails of digital that promises a better tomorrow. A digital strategy that builds on the existing business, backed by a solid vision can set your jump to soar heights that would have otherwise been difficult. For businesses, embracing digital needs to be a culmination of different steps in different areas. Not every strategy works the same for all organisations as the fundamental component that makes these companies are different from each other.

Tailor IT! Or ill fit IT!

With the proper understanding of the internal and external factors of your business, there can be solid decisions taken on the best fit strategy for your requirements and constraints. The proper fit extends to the software that you use and the tools you employ to get your work done as well.

Agreed! there are areas in which a one-size-fits-all can do the job, let’s take the example of a POS software, most of these does the same job, it scans, records details of the sale and sends it to a database for storing and that’s it! Pretty straightforward, no-frills, generic software that does what it should do with great effectiveness. In the past, POS software’s might have been revolutionizing but now it’s a norm that is expected. The core components of your business would be different from another, so there needs to be an inherent customization in the App, for making it truly serve the purpose that it was built for.

General Application are not passe at all, but from the capabilities perspective, when it’s more about finding the right-fit app for the business logic, then they give away. General Apps are even fantastic when you take into consideration the wide array of features that they offer, most business users can find what they need, hidden somewhere deep amidst the many features that the product has. So, it is not short stacked nor is it less capable than its customized versions but when it comes to specifics, getting your app built from the grounds up based on clear requirements can keep things tidy, serving the business need.

Going Custom Fit in Field Service

In reality these days,  the choice of a bespoke application or a custom software gets based wrongly on the money one has to spend to acquire them, But often, this strategy of immediate gratification can backfire. When your business has been supported by a certain logic, which has set you apart from the competition it becomes highly necessary that the app extends this logic to push the odds in your favor. On the other hand, if there are no specific requirements that your organization needs it is always a big “YES” to the generic application which has lower cost and quick deployment.

For field service requirements, it is imperative that the application can cover issues like ticketing, order management, SLA compliance tracking, route planning, dispatching, contract management, partner management etc., the generic applications does a great job in covering most of the requirements that a field service industry would face, but when it comes to a particular cost saving best practice  or with regards to having a proprietary advantage in the app that you use, the fit of the app becomes the criteria.

The custom-built apps have improved security. Building the app with different use case scenarios in mind,the places and times in which it would be used, makes it possible to plug the security loopholes with more precision. Generic apps can never account for all the strategical security of a custom-made software but then again, if your business process does not handle anything too radical, chances are that great generic app would help you hit the nail on the head.  

A custom App can go a long way in dovetailing the existing business model to the app being developed. It can align perfectly with the business model in place, making it one of the top priorities when thinking about a custom or a generic app. With low-code development options, the custom-built apps can take the best of the worlds and incorporate it into the custom app, effectively improving the go to market time. With custom apps built leveraging such new opportunities in technology, in-house developers can concentrate on the key business logic that lies at the heart of the organisation.

With the field service, the array of functions, right from inventory management, reporting, communication of the on field executives, processes and sales management, can be made possible, with great insights into each activity with good analytical capabilities. Mobile phones and tablets arm the on field executives with cameras, Wi-Fi, GPS functionality, scanners, etc. These can provide an amazing input of data that can be mined to get insights into each process, further helping to streamline the custom apps to make it more responsive to the market conditions. Mobility is a key functionality of field service apps, good field service apps can integrate the mobile strategy seamlessly into your existing structure.
Developing a great custom software would involve proper understanding of your business needs and translating them into features for your developed application. Proper thought must be put in, to gather the requirement in a way that can capture the crux of your business strategy into a digital blueprint within the application. It is vital that this be properly executed as building custom applications are a long and expensive affair that requires the right development effort. Most generic products offer their product to potential buyers to test them free of cost, this can help your company to understand the product and the way it interacts with your organization. This can help you to take decisions on the applicability of the generic app for their use.
Custom apps can be like a tailor-made suit for your business, perfectly fitting your unique needs and requirements. They can streamline your operations, increase efficiency, and boost productivity. To ensure the development of a high-quality custom app, it’s important to choose a reliable software development company with a proven track record of success.

In today’s hyper-connected age, with people always on the move, one would think not developing enterprises mobility solution is akin to the company shooting itself on the foot. Yet many companies hesitate to develop mobility solutions, wary as they are about misconceptions associated with it.

Here are the top six myths related to enterprise mobility solutions.

Myth # 1: Legacy Software is Too Entrenched to Displace

Legacy software is often the whipping boy for enterprises who refrain from developing mobility solutions. A key accusation is legacy software draining IT budgets, making it hard to fund new software.

The reality is that developing new mobility software doesn’t require massive investment. In fact, today’s rapidly advancing mobile solution landscape makes it possible to develop mobility solutions with little or no programming skills, with a fraction of the cost, time, and effort it takes to develop traditional solutions.

The problem comes when many enterprises try to throw in more servers as the solution to every IT problem they confront. Smart enterprises simply leverage scalable and affordable cloud-based solutions, which does not involve CAPEX costs.

Moreover, investment in mobility solutions often pays back for itself quickly, as mobility allows the company to become lean and mean, and spare the costs required to maintain legacy systems.

Myth #2: Enterprise Silos Make Mobility Solutions a Non-Starter

Most organizations that have been around for a while live with data and software silos. Sales, HR, Marketing, Finance, and other teams all use different tools, and operate disparate enterprise systems.

While data silos are indeed a drag and removing it can be game-changers for enterprise transformation, silos needn’t necessarily come in the way of developing mobility solutions. Installing a remote desktop server on the legacy system makes it easy to access data on it. If the legacy system doesn’t allow remote access, it is obsolete anyway. Also, many mobility apps can actually live with silos, and when information is required cutting across silos, there are several cost-effective analytic solutions now available that can access data from different silos and collate it in the cloud.

Myth#3: Potential Disruptions Create More Havoc than the Gains Mobility Brings

Many companies are inspired by the famous adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and refuse to dabble with mobility solution, least the upgrade disrupts what is already working. They consider the difficulty of migrating legacy business software and data, the downtime it causes to business critical processes, and the possible need to overhaul data center hardware and software. While such challenges were indeed big stumbling blocks in the past, the advancement of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions solve much of these issues. SaaS upgrades are in most cases done overnight, and does not require investment in new hardware or software.

Myth#4: Password Overload and Other Ills Breed End-User Resentment

No enterprise initiative succeeds with the support and cooperation of end-users. While enterprise mobility help end-user employees in many ways, they often raise concern about having to remember many passwords for the various enterprise apps they need to access. They forget passwords and raise tickets, dragging IT resources for account recovery.

While the concern is genuine, easy solutions are also available, most notably in the form of unified, easy single sign-on (SSO). Using SSO, a user needs to login just once, to gain access to all systems. SSO even facilitates integration with the user’s Google Account, or the credentials used to access Microsoft Office 365.

Myth #5: Inadequate Training and Support Doom Implementation

A common grouse against new solutions in general and mobility solutions in particular, is employees not getting enough training on enterprise apps to be productive.

The problem is actually misplaced, and has to do more with the design of the mobility solution than lack of training. Mobile apps are primarily meant to be easy, explicit, and self-evident. A “kitchen sink” (all-encompassing solution) mobile app, replicating the features and functionality of desktop applications rarely succeeds as it just combines the worst of both worlds. The ideal enterprise mobile apps rather contain just a few key functions, focusing on a specific process, and come with limited navigational choices and simple UX, primed for quick access.

Lopez Research Enterprise Mobility Benchmark estimate 60% of companies allowing BYOD, meaning employees would be familiar with device in the first place.

Myth #6: Enterprise Mobility Solutions are a Security Nightmare.

About one in every three companies had their sensitive data compromised through lost or stolen devices. To counter such damning statistics, most enterprises take inspiration from the adage “If you are not there to be hit, you cannot be hit,” and limit mobile access.

Security risks associated with mobility software are real, but also blown out of proportion. A big majority of the victims are either careless, or the company had weak security standards in the first place. Making risk management a key focus within the overall mobility strategy, and deploying effective mobile device management protocols, in combination with advanced encryption, modern authentication mechanisms, and even analytics mitigate most risks, and make mobility solution as safe as on-premises software.

Enterprises are waking up to the need to embarking on a sound mobility strategy, dispelling the myths associated with mobility. Lopez Research Enterprise Mobility Benchmark reveals 68% of companies ranking mobile-enabling the business as a top concern for 2015, a concern surpassed only by securing corporate data, and more than half of the companies planning to build 10 or more enterprise mobile apps in 2016.

Get in touch with us to fine tune your mobile strategy and develop state of the art mobile apps. Our cutting-edge enterprise mobility solutions not just enable your workforce to access much needed critical information anytime and anywhere, but also increase productivity and efficiency, and help you streamline your processes towards facilitating the customer.

In Field Service industry, where the technicians are face to face with customers everyday, good operational efficiency, productive staff, and effective resource management are all interconnected and are important aspects of the business. Businesses should carefully measure all these areas that indicate the health of their field service. Data and analytics thus recorded, needs to be evaluated to drive more informed business decisions. So, how do you measure these to drive more insights from it?

This photo-blog lists five unique field service power metrics to identify and monitor your company’s performance.

Field service businesses are trying to capitalize on the advantages offered by today’s technologies. Mobile technology, being the most significant among them, has taken the industry by storm, offering increased productivity gains, streamlines work processes, improved field agent communications, increased first-time fix rate, shortened billing cycles, reduced overhead of paper-based field service management and so on. The infographic puts together some recent trends, impacts and state of mobile technology in Field Service Businesses.

Interested in learning more on enabling your field team with mobile technologies? We’d love to know your business requirements and help accordingly, contact our specialist team now.

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</p><br /><br /> <p><strong>Please include attribution to www.fingent.com with this graphic.</strong></p><br /><br /> <p><a href=’https://www.fingent.com/blog/infograhic-mobile-technology-trends-field-service-2016-beyond’><img src=’https://www.fingent.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/FIELD-SERVICE-MOBILITY-TRENDS-FOR-2016-BEYOND-aaa-01.png’ alt=’MOBILE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS IN FIELD SERVICE FOR 2016 & BEYOND’ width=’815′ height=’6567′ border=’0′ /></a></p><br /><br /> <p>

The adoption of web and mobile based field service software is on the rise now, mainly because of organizations’ need to keep their field services streamlined and organized, and also to provide better services to customers with a proactive approach. Clubbed with the need to provide customers with necessary insights and information, in an effective manner, it becomes almost inevitable for companies to use field service automation software, more specifically mobile-based.

Success comes with the ‘right’ field service automation software

With the number of field service solutions available in the market, it is often difficult to choose the right one for your business. Here are some pointers for you to make a more informed decision:

1. Understand your business model, know what your needs are – It is very important that you clearly understand your business model, your needs and the improvements you expect from the new system, before you approach the vendor. You need to be able to document your case as well, as a good field service vendor will ask you about your model and work towards understanding it better, in order to provide the best solution. By effectively communicating your objectives to the vendors, they will be able to explain how best their solution can help you. This lets you measure different vendor systems better and make a better-informed decision before finalizing.
2. Understand the differences – As you get into the search for the right field service solution, it is very likely that you might get confused by the number of choices available through their marketing brochures and websites. The trick is to find the one that is closest to meeting your business requirements. How?
   You will have to get up and close with all those solutions you have narrowed down on, after initial evaluation through the websites. As you spend some more time with them, ask questions and study them, the little weaknesses or issues with each system that may not be as apparent will be uncovered. For this purpose you may set out as a project team with several people, as other members of your team could come up with questions and findings that don’t occur to you. You also get to try out the systems, free of cost as well as paid. This way you will be able to learn more and see the different functionalities, helping you make a well-informed decision.
3. Learn the latest trends in field service technology – As you speak with your vendors for their solutions, you will most definitely come across a lot of new buzzwords and technical jargon that you may not be familiar with. When you do, do not ignore them or assume them to be things that are not important or things that might already be included in the system. The latest technology is what you want, and you don’t want to be using a system which is very likely to get obsolete soon. You need to be well aware of all the latest trends in field service software and make sure that the system you are looking to adopt, has them. You need to do sufficient research for this, and acquaint yourself with all the new trends. Software-as-a-Service models, web and mobile-based interfaces and the like, are some trends for you to start with.
   

   “The latest technology is what you want, and you don’t want to be using a system which is very likely to get obsolete soon.”

    

4. Involve your field agents – Your field agents are the ones who are going to be spending the most time with the software you choose, so involving them in the buying process is not only fair, but also necessary. Ask them about their needs and difficulties, and also their expectations from the new system. Such engagement, will not only reduce the resistance to the new system, but it will also make them more excited about using it. Get their feedback on the system, provide them with the time and training required for them to get used to the new system. Their opinions and ideas are very likely to be right and good, as they are the ones who are going to be using it.
   

   “Ask your field agents about their needs and difficulties, and also their expectations from the new system.”

    

5. Make sure there is prompt customer support – You are very likely to face issues with your solution or get stuck with it, a few years into using it. While there may be field agents who may know how to work around minor glitches, there also may be some who need extra help. Either way, you want to make sure that when they do need help, the field service management customer support, is easily available and affordable as well. Whatever mode it may be in, tech support is a must. You need to ask questions and analyze support details like is it a call centre? Do you get to talk to experts? Do you pay extra for support or is it included in the initial price?

The right field service automation solution will last a long time and will be totally worth the initial investment, if is properly implemented and maintained. Hence, a thorough and effective software selection and implementation process is required, if you want to realize all these business benefits and improve the efficiency of your field service. Talk to our field service automation software experts to know more about them and help you choose the perfect one for your business.

In the race towards winning the hearts of customers and gaining maximum profits, business enterprises all over the world are struggling and trying all the latest technology to improve their performance. Business owners are facing many challenges, in terms of production, marketing, transportation and the like, along with the technological improvements.

Apart from these, they also need to deal with issues related to employees, like workload, physical space concerns, customers with specific and unique purchase requirements, logistics issues and the like.

All these adds to the complications that they are facing on a daily basis.

For companies in the field service industry specifically, there may be a lot more issues faced by the owners, as they need to address the concerns of their field staff as well.

You can imagine the level of frustration!

It has been this way for quite some time now. So what have the field service companies resorted to, so as to overcome their challenges and still manage to stay ahead in the competition?

The answer is custom field service software.

Custom Field Service Software To Improve Internal Operations

That’s right. Business owners are now using field service software so as to distribute their operational functions and thereby improve their performances. As is it designed to specifically meet the unique requirements of a business, it could be the perfect way to optimize internal operations.

However, an important thing to note is that, not all solutions are made equal and hence may not do the trick.

So how exactly is field service software helpful in improving internal operations?

The logic is clear

custom software development is developed uniquely for a business. Which means there is a lot of thought and understanding about the different functions and activities of the business going into it.
The solution thus developed, is aligned with the business processes and tasks in such a way that it helps in performing the assigned jobs well within the constraints of the overall goals and policies of the company. It also becomes a treasure trove of comprehensive information about the different products, services and even employees of the company, including how each of these elements interact with each other.

Field service software customized for a business, in the same way, has all of these benefits along with its ability to offer better flexibility and productivity. It makes work easier for everyone and thus improves effectiveness as well.

Now, with field service software, companies are starting to realize that the only way to stand ahead in the competition is to do or have something that their rivals don’t, or have not done yet.

It’s a pretty simple logic, and an evergreen business tactic that is being widely used by field service companies these days. For this reason, companies are now banking on need-driven applications for their organization, and are also hiring highly skilled and reputable developers to create custom field service software that suits their requirements.

Professional software developers can build even the most complex of applications, in a cost effective and scalable manner, to solve business challenges.

With the help of advanced and trending new technologies, guaranteed successful methods and the immense level of broad industry expertise that is worth its value in gold, developers are now equipping business enterprises with just what they need – advanced applications that give them the leading edge, that too, pretty fast and within the budget.

The one concern though, that companies have, about adopting such custom field service software is regarding its initial deployment cost. It may vary according to the different features of each custom application. But due to the advanced capabilities and the level of ubiquity that they provide through web and mobile devices, both of which lead to increased efficiency, the costs can be justified and even brought down.

Hence custom field service software are a worthy investment, that can help simplify processes as well as improve the efficiency of internal operations. All these ultimately lead to improved profits and performance of the entire organization.