Category: Custom software

Infince to Exhibit at The Small Business Expo, New York and Boston

WHITE PLAINS –April 17, 2018– Infince will be exhibiting during The Small Business Expo ( America’s biggest event for entrepreneurs and business owners ), in New York on Thursday, May 3, 2018, and in Boston on Thursday, May 17, 2018. Infince will be located at Exhibitor Booth 521 in New York’s Javits Center and Booth 420 in Boston’s Hynes Convention Center.

Infince delivers the three IT-essentials for business:  run-your-business software, secure cloud hosting, and concierge IT services, on a single tightly integrated platform. Created by Fingent, a leading developer of cloud-based technologies, Infince gives a business instant access to a complete, reliable, fully supported, and secure IT infrastructure, even if they don’t have any in-house IT expertise. Perfect for today’s “deskless” worker and employees who BYOD.

Software: Infince offers a turnkey library of free, open source, enterprise software, including customizable CMS, ERP, CRM, and marketing automation software; and enables unified access to popular SaaS services, all of which can be activated or deactivated on demand. This integration greatly facilitates onboarding and offboarding of employees. A business’ internet domain, email server, and website can be set up with a few clicks. Out of the box, each user gets a suite of business office software, email, chat, secure file sharing, and productivity tools, including video meetings.

Cloud: Unlike other cloud providers who have complex configuration options primarily catering to software developers, provisioning cloud resources on Infince is easy-to-do and easy-to-understand. Infince lets a business owner grow and manage their IT infrastructure themselves, in economical bite-sized increments. All employee files and communications are secured and inaccessible to search engine companies.

Services: Infince offers a variety of service options including online help desk and expert application technical support, self-help support, configuration assistance, server management, and affordable custom programming services.

Cost and Pre-requisites: An introductory starter package supporting up to 10 users is offered at $50 per month, and it requires no annual commitment. As a “thin client,” virtual desktop, Infince can be run from anywhere there is available internet service and on any device with supported browsers: from Chromebooks, tablets, and smartphones, to PC’s and Macs.

“Infince is a complete and worry-free cloud offering that lets a business adopt technology quickly, with integrated support, and lets owners stay focused on achieving their core business goals.” said Stephen Cummings, SVP.

Easy to use and simple to deploy, Infince makes it economical for a small business to get big business technology. For more info, see infince.com.

About Fingent:   Fingent, the creator of Infince, develops software that equips businesses to operate more effectively, more efficiently, and with more resiliency. Since 2003, Fingent has developed sophisticated web and mobile software solutions that have been key to our clients’ business success — rapidly, on schedule, and on budget. Fingent has offices in White Plains, NY, and Cambridge, MA. For us, it is not just about delivering software, but also about partnering in business efforts to shape a brighter and smarter future.

The worldwide enterprise mobility market is growing by 24% GAGR, and its value will likely touch $140 billion by 2020. A key contributor to the growth is Android. However, enterprise seeking to leverage the gains of Android-powered mobility, however, needs to roll out intuitive Android apps, through which they can channel the ecosystem to the desired effect.

Here are the benefits enterprises stand to leverage by investing in Android apps

1. Android Cut Costs

Android is open-source. Its Software Development Kit (SDK) is available free of cost. Enterprises rolling out Android apps to power their systems and processes need to spend only on the development costs. They can minimize the software licensing costs, and get their software free of any royalties. The saving is considerable, considering CFOs in today’s highly competitive age are penny-pinchers, and reluctant to invest in anything not directly contributing to the bottom-line. 

2. Android facilitates Easy Integration

Most enterprises have multiple entities, departments, and processes. Having separate and distinct systems or processes for each entity needlessly duplicates the efforts and costs needed to maintain such systems, and also creates disjoints and data silos. Many enterprises strive to run company processes through a single integrated system. Android is the perfect platform for such an approach, as is is resilient, and able to run on any device or form factor. An enterprise can easily develop a CRM on Android and seamlessly link it with an Android developed a marketing automation suite, a Human Resource Information System, and more, creating an integrated whole. Such an approach ends the menace of data silos and facilitates the smooth and seamless flow of information across the enterprise.

A comprehensive Android-based platform is a convenient way to manage all functions of enterprises. The enterprise can roll out several functional apps, each linking to the integrated system. Such apps, which sits over the traditional enterprise systems, and which updates the systems in real-time, may be tailored to suit the workflow and process of the employee or the department. It gives an unprecedented level of flexibility to the employees and makes the enterprise adapt to respond to changes faster. For instance, if a particular situation requires a new workflow or a new level of coordination, all the enterprise needs to do is roll out a new app and disseminate it to the concerned employees or stakeholders.

3. Android Delivers Flexibility

Many-a-times, enterprises are forced to adjust their business operations to cater to the demands of an inflexible system. The ease and low costs to develop Android apps, and the flexibility of the Android platform mean enterprises need not make such sacrifices and can pursue their objectives in the most efficient way possible. Android makes it very easy and viable to develop tailor-made, and even innovative apps to suit any processes or any requirement. Custom apps may also be localized to maximize productivity.

4. Ease of Installation and Use

Developers have it easy with Android, thanks to the availability of Android tools which offer easy ways to improve, fix, and update apps thanks to the facilities that Android tools provide them.

Android applications are flexible and resilient to be published and pushed in multiple ways. It may be hosted in an app store, or even distributed through APKs. Enterprises can easily ensure their employees, customers or other targeted stakeholders can access and download the app in a very simple way, without any hassle. Unlike other stacks, which require a lot of learning curve and even set-up assistance, Android’s simple and easy nature makes it a DIY proposition.

Android brings very few complications or compatibility issues. Custom built Android apps, designed with end-user requirements in mind offer very little complication and syncs seamlessly with any business software, including legacy systems. The open source nature also means the availability of several connectors to link enterprise applications with popular packages such as Salesforce, MailChimp, and more.

Bizness Apps – “Mobile Apps For Businesses Made Easy” [Source : Flikli]

5. A Fillip for BYOD

The Bring your own Device (BYOD) concept is a rage in enterprises. A big reason for its popularity is the win-win proposition it offers to both the enterprises and the employees alike. Enterprises save on hardware and training costs, whereas employees get the convenience of working in their own familiar devices, with the associated productivity benefits. However, the success of BYOD depends on the availability of highly functional apps, through which employees can access their work. Logging in to the corporate intranet through a mobile browser every time is highly cumbersome and in any case, an inefficient way to work, frittering away much of the gains of mobility.

Android apps allow the employee to work seamlessly. It allows the enterprise to set policies to ensure BYOD does not compromise the integrity of enterprise data and processes.

With BYOD, employees, especially those on the move, can access enterprise applications securely through the API, and from their usual device. This expedites the decision-making process, makes work seamless, and saves the executives’ effort.

6. Valuing the Stakeholders

Forward-looking enterprises of today share some common traits, and being responsive is one such trait. Enterprises which are responsive to its stakeholders, promote an open culture, and encourage feedback, gain a positive image, and reap rich indirect benefits out of it. A collaborative software development approach, with end users and other stakeholders having a major say syncs with such a culture and environment.

Android is the perfect medium for such a culture and approach. The large and vibrant Android community makes it the perfect option to receive customer feedback. Users of an Android app can easily share their feedback and even rate the app in the Play Store. Several freely available tools make collaboration easy.

7. Improved Customer Engagement

While mobile apps revolutionize the internal workings of an enterprise, its potential to boost customer engagement stands underrated.

Mobility is clearly the future, with more people already accessing the Internet through their smartphones than through traditional computing devices such as PCs and tablets. Among the various mobile platforms, Android is the dominant player, with 84% of the total mobile market share. Android’s dominance is unlikely to end anytime soon either. Enterprises investing in customer-facing Android apps, and promoting customers to download it to their smartphones, stand the chance of establishing a secured and reliable engagement channel with the maximum number of customers.

The term “blockchain” is now commonly used as a synonym for cryptocurrencies, thanks to the tremendous popularity of Bitcoins. However, Blockchain is only the underlying technology behind Bitcoins. The potential of blockchain is open in many sectors, from banking to logistics, from healthcare to public administration, and more.

Blockchain transactions move data incrementally in peer-to-peer networks, with transaction records kept in transparent ledgers. The technology brings about a paradigm shift in the way enterprises approach data, and how developers write, market, and sell software.

Establishment of New Standards

Blockchain enables smart contracts, which allows any user to store, verify, and execute code on a blockchain. Several projects are now ongoing, holding the potential to replace the traditional processing, storage, and computing elements of the computing stack.

The Hyperledger Fabric, for instance, provides the foundations for identity, privacy, and processing. Developers may build robust components atop the fabric. Ethereum offers a similar blockchain, in either public or private mode. Both allow developers a choice of using enterprise-friendly programming languages to develop smart contracts. Ethereum has its own language which resembles JavaScript. Unlike what conventional languages offer, this Ethreum language allows users to define their own understanding of “consensus” and “currency.”

Blockchain standards are still fluid, with several new standards and protocols coming up by the day. A churn is imminent in the space, but the underlying reality of new standards and protocols is here to stay. The soaring popularity of the blockchain means these new blockchain standards, offering infinite greater possibilities compared to conventional programming, will soon become the norm in software development.

Understand the Blockchain in Two Minutes [Source: IFTF]

Transparent, Multi-Functional Databases

Blockchain adopts a distributed database where data records are accessible to everyone and is but protects against unauthorized access. These databases, built on peer-to-peer technology is more robust and secure and again eliminate the “middleman” provider.

A user having access to the application developed using the Blockchain development technology may view the data or add a record to the database, but cannot modify or delete any data record. Such robust databases improve the integrity of the entire process manifold. The benefits are especially huge in protecting the integrity of information in several sensitive industries, where even a minor change can have big implications.

Several major industries are already exploring the possibility of integrating blockchain databases into their core systems. For instance, GE’s Aviation Division plans to adopt these databases in aviation. The new blockchain-based software could manage GE’s aviation inventory, sales tracking, and record keeping, with a high level of transparency and integrity.

Innovations in this field even allow adding a blockchain layer to existing databases such as MongoDB and RethinkDB. Such interesting approaches allow enterprises to leverage the benefits of blockchain database without overhauling or uprooting their incumbent databases.

Usually, transparency runs counter to integrity. Greater the transparency, greater the risk of the information being tampered. Blockchain databases facilitate both and offer added advantages of cost-effectiveness and improved functionality. At the same time, there is improved accountability and better transaction support.

 Empowerment of New Small sellers

In today’s business ecosystem, any transaction between two parties is done through a third-party middleman, whose primary role is to enforce reliability and trust. For instance, most online financial transactions are done through PayPal, Moneybookers or other intermediaries, who acts as the depository for people sending and receiving money. Likewise, freelance software development largely takes place either through software development firms or through third-party portals such as Upwork. Without such a third-party firm or portal, there is no reliable way for a buyer to contact and get work done from a seller, and for the seller to ensure he gets paid for the work done. The system is loaded against individual programmers, who rarely have the means or the time to market themselves and conduct the extensive administrative requirements vital to establish trust and integrity.

Blockchain offers a level playing field, offering a tremendous advantage to small players. Small sellers can now compete effectively with biggies, and eliminate the middleman firm or portal in the process. The peer-to-peer network of blockchain enables self-executing contracts, which facilitate payments between customers and developers, eliminating the middleman. The net result is an encouragement of small teams and individual developers, radically altering the hierarchy of the software industry.

The blockchain ecosystem is also throwing up various resources, which facilitate such decentralization and de-institutionalization of online transactions. A case in point is Game Protocol, a “decentralized gaming ecosystem” offering crowdfunding and other development tools to host games in the marketplace. The tool also accepts cryptocurrency transactions, allowing enterprise software developers to sell their products directly to the market without the help of an institutional or a virtual middleman who takes a cut of the proceeds.

New File storage Protocols

The Blockchain technology also offers a host of innovative file storage approaches.

The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) project, which straddles storage and communication systems, offers a radical improvement to the incumbent HTTP communication protocol. The HTTP protocol downloads a single file from a single machine at a time, whereas the  IPFS downloads pieces of a file from multiple decentralized machines simultaneously, similar to how torrents operate. The process also co-opts the concept of Git or shared depositories and comes with several handy considerations such as convenient file naming and solid use cases. The protocol offers client libraries for popular incumbent languages, such as C++, Swift, Phyton, and JavaScript.

Filecoin offers another innovative storage mechanism. The protocol rather than adopt the conventional blockchain method of tracking transactions between blocks of spare storage around data centers and the Internet builds on traditional storage mechanism and adds a blockchain layer to it. Users may bid for the space on offer, and track usage,

The bottom-line of all these innovations is a radical shift in the approach to programming. Many of these new innovations are sure to become the dominant norm in the near future. Top software developers would need to radically alter their approach and co-opt these new concepts.

Mobile phone user base around the world has been growing at an unprecedented rate. The mobile market shows a lot of growth potential and with that, the growth in the use of the app-based technology. 96% of the Gen Z  is hooked to smartphones, which implies that most of the interaction with the digital world happens via apps. Whether it be communicating, shopping, surfing news or listening to music, mobile apps made life easier for customers. This is why it makes sense for businesses to reach their customers where they are easily available, on their mobile phones.

Benefits of Apps for businesses:

• Mobile apps can help businesses manage their internal operations more efficiently

A business is only as good as the system it is created for its operation. Perhaps the pinnacle of technology innovation is how successful it is in making our everyday tasks easier and more efficient. When customer satisfaction increases, sales typically do too. In fact, according to SalesForce, 70 percent of buying experiences are influenced by how customers feel they’re being treated. The more interested and pleased people become with your product and your business, the greater will be the consumer demand. When customer satisfaction increases, sales typically do too.  Employees can also stay in continuous communication due to wireless networks and mobile platforms, improving the efficiency of the organization. There are several ways mobile communication can increase productivity. However, it is important to keep in mind the security risks that come with it. Thus, it is crucial to choose legitimate and qualified platforms and systems.

• Customizable User Interface

Apps give the sellers an opportunity to customize the user experience based on their customer’s search history and preferences over the app. Using app analytics platforms like Appsee or Firebase can immensely help businesses improve their in-app experience. These platforms provide an in-depth analysis of user behavior as well reports on crashes of your app. Fixing the crashes ensures ease to the customer and promises an increase in the number of app usage sessions for the business.

• Ease of access

Gone are the days when one liked to open the browser, type in the website URL, log into his/her account and then proceed with scanning and ultimately with the purchase. People want a user interface which is convenient, quick, and easy to access-a criterion that mobile apps fulfill. Mobile apps offer ease to customers, by being readily available to them with just one click.

• Ease of making payments

In countries like the US where credit card networks are much developed, mobile wallet adoption rate has seen an encouraging growth. With a push to digital wallets such as PayPal or Apple Pay along with brand-specific wallets such as Walmart Pay, payments over the apps have become a lot easier for users. Using these platforms, customers are good to go without the hassle of logging in and out, again and again to their bank accounts, as is the case with buying the websites.

Bizness Apps – “Mobile Apps For Businesses Made Easy” || Business Explainer Video by Flikli

•  Increased Security

As per the Global Consumer Fraud Survey by ACI Universal Payments, the rate of card frauds in the US spiked. This survey also shows that close to 40% of the card users have reduced their frequency of card use. This highlights a worrying point that the increase in the use of credit or debit cards and even online banking, increases the vulnerability of users to hacking and phishing. Apps enable the customers to surpass the need of quoting their financial details again and again by providing an easy in-app pay option by incorporating digital wallets on their platforms. Using apps combined with digital wallets helps to keep customer’s financial information safe and secured. With the increase in frauds in traditional ways of transacting, more and more customers will look to shift their preferences to app-based technology.

• Value Addition for Customers

Reward the app users with accruing reward points, for maximum app usage, which can be redeemed for further in-app purchases. Such loyalty programs ensure customer retention and help the businesses to clock higher sales. The Starbucks loyalty program is one such example.

• Ease of giving and receiving feedback

Since it is easier for the customers to provide feedback over the apps, businesses stand to gain a lot in terms of increased user visits by incorporating those feedbacks and improving customer satisfaction which is of prime importance in highly competitive markets.

Massive investments are being made in app-based technologies because everyone has realized that mobile phone users of today prefer apps over everything else, because of their sheer convenience. So it makes sense for businesses to be where they can fight off their competition and build a better market for themselves. There are still a lot of untapped potential and opportunity which can be seized only if they make while there is still time.

Staying ahead of the curve should be the mantra, which can only be done by adapting to the changing times and adopting new technologies.

In today’s tech-neutral age, knowledge and skills are the key sources of competitive advantage. Smart enterprises institute Learning Management Systems (LMS) to harness and organize the corpus of knowledge available within its ecosystem.

However, the success of such initiatives depends not merely on setting up a Learning Management System. Success rather depends on ensuring that the system is compatible with the enterprise requirements and scalable to match the ever-changing requirements in an extremely fluid business environment.

Learning Management Systems traces its origin in delivering eLearning courses to the workforce through the internet and company intranets, in compliance with the established eLearning standards such as AICC and SCORM standards. However, the nature and scope of LMS have evolved considerably since then. While the exact nature of the LMS may vary, depending on enterprise requirements, successful LMS of today invariably facilitates seamless integration of the physical and virtual classrooms, promotes social learning, and fills in critical gaps in learning. The best LMS are scalable, portable, promotes gamification, and makes managing talent seamless across the enterprise.

Integrated Virtual Classrooms

An effective Learning management System co-opts virtual classrooms, including “live” classrooms, to deliver the power of training and education to anyone, at any time, and any place.  Today’s LMS include multimedia-rich virtual classroom content or have ready-to-use APIs, to co-opt the most popular classrooms into its fold, with just a few simple clicks.

Any good LMS offers APIs to connect with the millions of courses and lectures available in popular online portals such as the eDX, and even YouTube.

Promotion of Social Learning

An effective LMS goes beyond formal training and promotes social learning. The conventional method of imparting learning is storing content in a repository and creating access rules around it. Social learning goes a step ahead, to offer users the power to create content, and thereby exchange anecdotes and real-world experiences. The learners collaborate with each other in real time, creating an interactive and participatory learning experience, replicating the feel and experience of a physical classroom. From the enterprise perspective, such an approach furthers the creation of a sustainable pool of knowledge and makes very effective training.

Truly successful Learning Management Systems also tap into gamification, or staring up a friendly competition among learners, to increase engagement. Some of the most common gamification options to make the course more engaging include badges, leaderboards, levels and more. Another option is a small token prize for the learners who do exceptionally well.

Filling in the Gaps

A robust Learning Content Management System automates the task of curriculum management. It scours the training material, syncs with the curriculum, and fills critical gaps in knowledge or information. It also updates the existing content, removing obsolete or outdated information, and updating the content to reflect real-time information, on the basis of latest research, statistics, and other findings. Of course, the caveat is that any LMS is only as effective and relevant as the content and rules fed into it in the first place.

A Flexible Learning Approach

A Learning Management System empowers learners to structure and assemble their own learning. An effective LMS is flexible and modular to allow learners full of the required learning materials and resources to form a curriculum customized to their learning needs and suited to their learning styles.

A key element of flexibility is portability. In today’s extremely fluid business environment, where enterprises have to go where business takes them rather than wait for business o come to their office, a portable cloud-based LMS, accessible through mobile front-end apps is the way forward. For instance, offering training sessions on a tablet with the option to follow us using a desktop computer, with seamless sync between the two, helps the learning progress whenever he is free, such as when commuting to the office.

The best LMS is flexible enough to offer training content at multiple levels, and in multiple formats. Smart LMS also offers the option to support training in multiple languages, a key requirement in today’s hyper-globalized world.

Effective Administration of Training Requirements

Today’s LMS bridges the gap between the classroom and eLearning environment. It offers an effective medium to sync between the two, enabling trainees to extract the best of both worlds. It facilitates easy management of complex and dynamic resources, including training inventory, trainer and external vendors, training rooms and venues. The LMS takes over and automates the vexatious tasks such as coordinating several training programmes, planning and administering training sessions, tracking pre-training and post-training feedback, and compiling training materials. The LMS also makes effective follow up through email and push notifications, logs attendance, and more. By these processes, the platform reduces the administrative drags characteristically associated with such processes.

Scalability

The best Learning Content Management System platforms are scalable, granular and flexible. A scalable platform enables starting off with a manageable base, fine-tuning the system, and growing it organically.

Starting small has its advantages, in being able to check if the implemented programmes actually benefit or meet the intended outcomes, and if the targeted recipients are indeed receptive to the initiative. Creating pilot programmes to validate the hypothesis and assumption is a fundamental time-tested practice to avoid failure. For instance, once this process is completed it would be ruinous to discover the selected platform crashes under the pressure of 10,000+ learners all over the world.

Starting small, however, should not become a limitation or a stumbling block for future growth. A good LMS platform should be capable of managing a large amount of data easily, accessibility for a large number of users to the system at the same time, and allow them to connect from all over the world without delays.

A sound and robust LMS is a key asset in today’s knowledge organizations. By facilitating the learning and training requirements, it equips the workforce to face the emerging challenges, and focus their energies on their core competence.

The Prelude

Software Development has shaped the economic and social face of the world in the last three decades. What was once considered gibberish and confined to the elite minds that put humans on the Moon and cracked the German Enigma is now a popular profession that has created landmarks like the Silicon Valley and icons like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. With the spurt in revolutionary product ideas in the late 90s, the need to put those ‘ideas’ into execution demanded the best development-skills, and this ‘demand’ has been only growing with time.

This brings us to an aspect of software development that has always been a vital business decision for companies – the most cost-effective engagement model. Business Software development has moved from being a mandatory in-house requirement by relaxing its rigidness and now accepting offshore and even freelance development. Choosing the right engagement model for software development is therefore essential to create state-of-the-art products without which it is impossible to survive in this cut-throat market.

Here is what we think about choosing the right engagement model:

1) The Package Tour aka the Fixed Price Model

Imagine this: You have decided that you want to visit a popular tourist destination, and it’s just to check an item off your bucket-list. The best bet you probably have is to take up a package that includes every attraction in the city; you may even fix the sightseeing spots which interest you before the tour starts!

This is a great option if you have done some meticulous research on the places you need to visit, the distances between them, the time spent in traveling from one location to another, the opening and closing hours of museums and galleries, and so on. The flip side is that you are in no position to experience flexibility. However, you can be satisfied that everything you’d asked for was provided and that you are not paying anything more or anything less than what you had agreed on initially.

Extend this to the realm of software development engagement; if you know your requirements, and your financial and temporal limits, this ‘Fixed Price’ model is the best choice for you. The Fixed Price model can also serve as a litmus test for hiring freelancers or development partners.

The Pros:

• It’s well-defined and well-negotiated. There’s no room for lapses.
• There is a push to get the complete picture of the software even before the development starts.

The Cons:

• There is no room for flexibility. Your eureka moment of a new feature should wait to materialize.
• Any gaps in communication would mean that the delivered product could be unsatisfactory.

The Fixed Price model works best for developing products on a short-term basis with features that are hot in the market, maybe with some additions and features that give it an extra garnish of appeal!

2) The Chauffeur-Driven Hired Car aka the Time & Material Model:

So, you’ve arrived at your destination, and you are feeling a bit adventurous and you are sure that you do not wish to confine your experience to a ‘package’. So, you decide to hire a car with a driver and pay that person for the time spent and distance covered (the experience and expertise of the driver would be an added variable).

In this manner, you are free to add items to your itinerary, and you are free to remove them at your will. You feel free to stop at any place and enjoy as much as you want, as long as cost and time are not concerns.

This is what the Time and Material model feels like for both companies and freelancers alike. Great products are not built because of a moment of realization, but by systematically accumulating and integrating ideas. For this to happen, flexibility is an essential attribute, which in this fast-paced market, in Sherlock’s words, is Elementary, Dear Watson!

This model also ensures continuous communication and a transparent and healthy vendor relationship.

The Pros:

• Super-Flexible
• You Only Pay For What You Get (If only there was an abbreviation like WYSIWYG!).
• There is a definite possibility for networking, not just on professional, but also on social lines.
• Granular Monitoring on a regular basis, especially in Agile Methods.

The Cons:

• You pay until you get what you want.
• In rare instances, in unethical companies, there could be a deliberate delay in development.

We’re yet to come across a situation or an industry where this might not work; who would not want to get into a development method that is so flexible, accommodative and modular.

3) The Self-Driven Car aka the Dedicated Developer Model:

You arrive at your destination, and instead of trusting a package, or instead of hiring a car by the hour, you decide to take a car all by yourself. It doesn’t matter whether you drive your car for an hour in a day or 23 hours and 59 minutes in a day, it’s all yours. Drive it on the road, and (if the car allows) offroad – there’s no stopping you!

However, this comes with a condition – you will need to know where you’re going, and everything about where you will go, maybe not the route map, but at least the time and distance. All this might sound difficult, but at least, the comfort-point you have is that the car you’ve hired is as good as yours, except that it’s not.

Hiring dedicated developers to work like that – you can take them in-house, and you need to pay them a fixed amount on a monthly basis. Once your product is done, you can, without the guilt of firing or the pain of attrition, ask them to leave. This also means that you have saved up on the recruitment costs, and you don’t have to keep paying for a resource you no longer need.

This model brings the best of both the above models – you have agreed for a fixed payment on a monthly basis (with no hard restrictions on the product-features) and you are free to alter the product or the features, or even shuffle the resources based on their skill-sets!

The Pros:

• You are in complete control. It’s almost like having an in-house team.
• You don’t have to go through the hassles of administration and hiring.
• There is a sense of ‘belonging’ for the dedicated developers in terms of both- the product and the organization.

The Cons:

• It needs management skills and a blue-hat vision of the product to get the best out of a dedicated team.
• If you have both in-house and dedicated developers, there is a chance of conflict.
• Or even worse, there can be possible siphoning of talents!

The Verdict:

You might have already sensed that we’re leaning towards the Time and Material model as it gives significant control, and with strategic planning, it could be cost-efficient as well!

Our recommendation is still strong towards the Fixed Price model for smaller products with limited functionalities, and for short-term projects like developing a module for an already robust tool. Conversely, if your project is long-term and extensive, it makes more sense to hire dedicated developers.

Bill Gates: ‘A.I. can be our friend’ | CNBC
“AI can be our friend,” says Gates, speaking with “Hamilton” composer Lin-Manuel Miranda and his wife, Melinda, at Hunter College in New York City on Tuesday.

5 Things CEOs Should Start (and Stop) Doing in 2018 | Inc.
With the new year comes a new set of business trends leaders need to be monitoring. What will deliver the biggest impact this year?

How Cloud Computing Is Changing Management | HBR
How will management be changed by the most impactful information technology of our time: cloud computing. What does it allow us to do differently, and how will that change the way we do things in the future?

Innovation shapes the future of transportation technologies | Bloomberg
Together with new software and hardware technologies, including machine learning, blockchain, and the Internet-of-Things, today’s emerging mobility innovations and technologies could allow consumers to move more seamlessly between different modes of transport, as well as improve how the system is managed and controlled, with significant benefits to those who live and work in cities.

Google’s Vision for Mainstreaming Machine Learning | The Next Platform
Google has been a vocal proponent of the idea of democratizing AI by making it easier for mainstream businesses to use.

Automation in the retail space improves efficiency, enhances the quality of service, and reduces the cost for all stakeholders. Retailers who realize this fact strive to offer innovative products and solutions, based on automation technology, to differentiate themselves from competitors.

Here are some of the ways in which retailers leverage automated solutions to optimize their operations and cut costs.

Digitalization of Tasks

Digitalization boosts the efficiency of manual and tedious, time-consuming internal tasks. While most progressive retailers have already applied IT applications and solutions in a big way, the emergence of IoT has given rise to newer solutions that take efficiency and quality improvements to a whole new level.

IoT based solutions like leveraging components such as RFID tags, NFC, sensors, and smart devices are primed up to disrupt the retail space in a big way. Retailers apply such solutions in almost all retail functionalities, including product search, checkout, analytics, inventory management, security, PoS, and vending machines.

NFC based payments systems, for instance, facilitate contactless payment systems, speeding up the process considerably, and doing away with queues.

Amazon GO, the checkout free, fully automated grocery store in Seattle offers a prototype of the future store. The store uses cameras and sensors to track what shoppers remove from and place back on the shelves. Amazon bills the customer automatically when they leave the store, using the credit card stored on file. Check out lines, often the major pain point in a retail store, become superfluous.

Starbucks’s “Order & Pay App”, allows customers to pre-order items when on the move. The order is ready when customers enter the store, sparing them the hassles of having to stand in a line. The app, in essence, replaces the POS terminal.

Retailers who invest in such solutions reap huge savings as a result of reduced employee and infrastructure costs. They also gain through increased sales resulting from increased customer satisfaction.

Automation of Key Processes

Automation of critical processes such as inventory control, filling out employee timesheets, invoicing, entering information from various PoS terminals to the accounting platform, financial management, point of sale transactions, etc., can improve efficiency and bring about big cost savings. An integrated point-of-sale system, for instance, spares the need to manually key in transaction information into the card reader or other systems.

Many retailers have identified robots as a key tool to automate their processes. Evidence on hand suggests big efficiency gains and cost savings through the implementation of such innovative automation solutions.

A case in point is Walmart that has patented the use of robots in retail stores. Robots offer an effective and reliable solution to key issues such as insufficient staffing during peak hours, cleaning messy aisles instantly, and identifying theft with precision. Robots are excellent workers, and an HR department’s dream-come-true; they do not need a vacation, never get sick, arrive at work 100% trained, and do not slack. The deployment of such robots has saved millions of dollars for Walmart, in the form of reduced HR costs.

Another success story that retailers can set as a benchmark is that of Amazon’s Kiva robots. Amazon deployed these robots across its warehouses, in 2014, to automate the retrieving and packaging process. Amazon has already saved about $22 million per fulfillment center by deploying these robots, according to Deutsche Bank.

There is the added benefit of automated technologies attracting youth. A recent study by Fisch Restaurant estimates nearly one out of three customers in the 18 to 24 age group prefer ordering from the drive-thru at restaurants because “they don’t feel like dealing with people.” Likewise, McDonald’s automated ordering kiosks are a rage across Europe, relegating manual ordering to the second spot.

Personalize Customer Experiences

A major objective of applying automation technology is to enhance customer experience. Customers are the lifeblood of any business. In today’s age where choice is plenty, customers who feel dissatisfied or have to put up with difficulties to complete the transaction will leave. As such, retailers strive to create high-value, personalized interactions with customers.

The first step towards facilitating the customer is to understand their preferences and requirements. Today’s customers demand highly personalized services. Research by TimeTrade reveals 36% of shoppers do not like to wait for items to ship,  30% of shoppers prefer advice on what products to buy, and 90% of customers will make a purchase when they receive assistance from a knowledgeable store associate.

Retailers may personalize each customer’s experience by harvesting the growing volumes of customer data available across social and other channels.

Retailers could use such data to offer location sensitive offers. In the past, retailers strove to deliver contextual product recommendations. Today, they strive to rationalize the shopping opportunity. 7-Eleven, the global convenience brand targets customers based on location and weather and delivers customized and time-sensitive offers. For instance, if it has started raining in the city or a specific area, the company may offer discounts on umbrellas to customers who are outside their homes, and in the vicinity of the stores.

Lowe is all set to introduce LoweBots – multilingual, autonomous customer assistance robots. The pilot program has been announced in 11 locations across the San Francisco Bay area.

Personalizing customer experience goes far beyond creating brand loyalty and increasing sales. By understanding the customer, the retailer can target and optimize the effort and investment on the customer, without wastage. For instance, if a customer is known to prefer shopping alone without the aid of a salesperson, the retailer can spare the time and cost associated with deploying the salesperson to serve the customer.

Integrate the digital ecosystem with the real-world shop

The most common manifestation of integration of the digital ecosystem with brick and mortar shops are customer apps which aid the shopper as they shop in the physical store. Such apps make shopping easier by listing detailed product features, offering demo videos, and providing customized geolocation-based offers. Such apps also facilitate omnichannel sales. The shopper, may, for instance, opt to shop at the store and get the product delivered through an e-commerce channel.

Retailers need to complement such apps by installing beacons to identify customers who enter the store premises. They could then personalize the experience based on the customer’s preference and demographics. For instance, leading brands such as Sephora and American Eagle identifies each customer to deliver discounts on their birthdays.

Retailers would also do well to take the transaction to the customer without them having to wait in a long, slow-moving checkout queue. Even if red-hot IoT based technologies such as “Amazon’s Go cashless store” is beyond a small retailer’s budget, they can still adopt the Tablet PoS system that allows their staff to check out customers in aisles, doing away with the cumbersome check-out queues. There could also be a facility for online app-based checkout.

Examples of retailers who have applied innovative new automation-based products to enhance customer experience are many. Westfield London, for instance, applied an RFID technology driven smart card system, enabling customers to park their cars without needing a ticket. This is a big improvement over the manual process of refunding parking tickets, sparing the hassle of customers having to present the parking tickets and claim a refund from the store.

Likewise, augmented reality chat bots not just enliven the customer service experience, but also offer greater insights into the customer, reducing the effort and time for the customer service agent.

Audit and Redesign Internal Procedures

A sure shot way to boost internal efficiency and reduce costs is by reducing internal processes by adopting Lean methodologies.

The prerequisite is to conduct a thorough audit to identify supply chain strengths and weaknesses and identify and quantify waste. Retailers can optimize inventory, and pinpoint other areas of improvements.

Constructing an end-to-end lean value stream flow, focused on minimalistic procedures, improves transparency, and makes it easier to review and eliminate avoidable procedures. It creates a standardized workflow with all glitches and kinks ironed out, while co-opting abnormal workflows, catering to all contingencies such as a power failure which results in many POS terminals going down.

Automated retail workflows come integrated with analytics and a CRM suite, creating a highly powerful system, and facilitating further cost-saving methods such as just-in-time inventory, and real-time stocking.

Optimize the Workforce

Automated algorithmic-based labor scheduling tools calculate store workload and optimize staffing, with a high level of accuracy. Custom made algorithms consider factors such as store format, operating hours, backroom configurations, labor regulations, ergonomic considerations, and all other factors, to schedule shifts seamlessly. Such automated systems optimize staff at peak hours and ensure they remain at their productive best. It also reduces absenteeism. The investment is such a solution also delivers a big motivation boost for the workers, reducing turnover rates and decreasing HR costs considerably.

An advanced workforce optimization software, powered by advanced analytics, integrates the customer journey with the employee’s schedule. For instance, if an employee has already struck up a relationship or a rapport with a customer, the employee is assigned to the same customer as far as possible. Such software also ensures high levels of compliance to deliver operational control and business confidence.

Optimize Merchandising

Retailers do not make money by blindly stockpiling inventory. The inventory has to sell. When introducing a new product, smart retailers ask pertinent questions such as “Will the product sell?” “Can the store make money selling the product?”, and so on.

Having introduced a product, a retailer’s prime focus is to optimize the handling of the product inventory; the ordering processes has to be streamlined by identifying the most optimal order-quantity and should be integrated with the sales forecast to eliminate stock-out situations. A good, automated inventory management suite automates all these processes, boosting efficiency and reducing costs.

Automating the merchandising and product exposure process offers retailers the infinite capabilities offered by machines, as opposed to the finite capabilities of a human employee. It also facilitates easy integration of disparate data sources, and comprehensive analytics based on live data. Customers who enter the store are presented with the most optimal inventory, in the best possible way. The analytic engine, could, for instance, draw up the price-point resulting in maximum sales, and tweak the pricing and merchandising strategy accordingly. The net result is the elimination of wasteful trial-and-error methods and saving time. It also ensures the exposure of more products to more people, increasing sales.

Embrace analytics to improve processes

The application of IoT based sensors has taken data analytics to a new level. Retail analytic solutions now aggregate data from video camera feeds, beacons, Wi-Fi, POS systems and other components, and subject such data to big data analytics.

Retailers could gain valuable insights from such analytics. They could measure various elements in the buying process, such as the products each customer inspected in detail, tried, and compared. This information, available in easily digestible reports and graphs, allows retailers to optimize their inventory, eliminating slow-moving inventory. They could also fine-tune prices to boost uptake of inventory. More importantly, such processes become automatic and precise, with a high degree of accuracy, reducing the costly trial-and-error methods usually associated with the processes.

Mindtree’s 2017 study, “Sixth Sense of Retail“, reveals how rapidly evolving digital trends such as social media, mobile applications, and automation reshape the way retailers engage with customers. About 51% of young shoppers (16-24) are comfortable with automated technologies and would visit robot-driven stores, but as high as 78% of older shoppers (55+ years of age) were apprehensive about this trend. Likewise, while 44% of men, cutting across age groups are comfortable with automated technologies, only 30% of women are similarly comfortable. As such, retailers would do well not to blindly embrace automation, just because someone else is also doing it. Rather, they should study their business, understand their customer, and apply automated technologies judiciously.

The perennial build versus buy question continues to haunt enterprises in search of software solutions. Off-the-shelf software is ready-to-use once they are installed on a computer or device. Custom software, on the other hand, is developed according to specific requirements and specifications.

There is a huge gap between these two technologies in terms of performance, functionalities, and usability. Each option has its own merits and demerits, and here is a rundown of the same.

• The Question of Cost

An off-the-shelf product will typically be moderately priced when compared to a custom developed product; the obvious reason being that the cost involved in developing an off-the-shelf product is distributed among a large number of buyers, and thus pricing is spread across several licenses to be sold. A tailored product, on the other hand, is specifically developed for a client, and as a result, all the development expenses will be borne by that individual client. Hence, considering the costs, it might seem that an off-the-shelf product is a right way to go.

Purchasing software off-the-shelf also offers an accurate estimate of the cost and valuable support for everything that lies ahead throughout the lifecycle of the project. But, in terms of performance, they might not be as apt as custom-made products.

Many enterprises underestimate the time and resources required to develop custom software in-house. The development team needs to take into account, not just the initial design, build, test, and implementation costs, but also the lifetime cost required for support, headcount enhancements, patches, and general maintenance. There is also the issue of costs for the inevitable functionality enhancements and upgrades in future to consider.

Even when the enterprise has the adequate budget for in-house custom software development, they still have to consider the availability of a skilled team in-house, or access to such a team through outsourcing. The outsourcing route in a way offers the best of both worlds, or the availability of ready resources to develop software the way the enterprise wants it.

• Which is easier to implement?

Coding is getting easier by the day. Gone are the days when programmers spend weeks on end ruminating lines of code even in their sleep. Today, coding is taught at the high school level, and the proliferation of open source means code snippets are readily available for just about any functionality. What’s more, intuitive drag-and-drop interfaces make it possible to roll out highly advanced applications without even writing a single line of code. Many such platforms, such as QuickBase, Zoho Creator, Salesforce Platform, FileMaker, make the task of developing highly intuitive apps and software solutions easy. A basic level of code knowledge would suffice to make the required customizations, quickly.

However, the ease of coding doesn’t mean app development is a piece of cake. Coding is just one aspect of the overall app development process. Requirements gathering, app design, UX, testing and other critical aspects of the software are all challenging tasks which require highly skilled and experienced professionals.

While, theoretically, developing a custom software may seem like an attractive and manageable proposition despite the high level of skills required, on the ground, enterprises could find such developmental tasks to be a distraction from their core focus. The internal IT resources may already be engaged in routine maintenance activities, and development works could pose a drag on their efficiency. With custom software, the enterprise will have to bear the brunt of all the drawbacks until the glitches are ironed out, and the software finally matures. With off-the-shelf software, the enterprise can learn from the mistakes of others.

Moreover, the core focus of the developers of off-the-shelf software is the software itself, and they incorporate agile and other best practices. They also keep abreast with changing technology to remain ahead of the game. Therefore, before it’s released to market, the software will be tried and tested extensively, and glitches ironed out.

However, purchasing software ‘off-the-shelf’ is also not as easy as picking apples off a supermarket shelf. The procurement process is elaborate, with the source-to-contract process raising specific challenges. The in-house team would still have to perform the requirement gathering exercise, to find a suitable product. Such ‘off-the-shelf’ programmes also have to be evaluated for UX, ease-of-use, supporting infrastructure required, and other parameters, all requiring considerable effort from the enterprise.

• The Need for Deep Customization

As a rule of thumb, developing the software in-house is a good idea if the software requires extensive customization. Enterprises which seek to develop basic and generic software to support common routine functionality, such as solutions for emails, discussion forums and file sharing are ‘reinventing the wheel’. It is foolhardy to develop software in-house when industry majors such as Google, Microsoft, and others offer advanced, scalable and secure solutions, customizable with the enterprise name. Likewise, those seeking a CRM suite would do well to pick up any of the ready-made CRM suites available in the market, such as a Salesforce CRM, HubSpot CRM, Insightly, or Zoho CRM. Most of such suites are highly matured products offering a high level of functionality and the option to pick-and-choose the required modules.

However, the devil lies in the details. When the off-the-shelf software is not matured or modular enough, it may clog systems with unneeded options even when fitting organizational needs well. In such situations, creating a custom software can eliminate the excess and ensure bloat-free software, optimized to the exact needs of the business.

• The Challenge of Integration

In an age where data analytics is a valuable source of competitive advantage, enterprises need to ensure seamless integration of the software with other enterprise systems, especially the back office and finance systems. Marketers and other customer-facing representatives require complete access to real-time interactions, without being hindered by data silos, for which seamless integration is imperative.

The extra time and investment in developing custom software may well be worth its while, considering the benefits of seamless integration.The developer would consider the existing system when preparing the blueprint for the software development project, and make sure the new software functions smoothly within the existing IT ecosystem.

• Upgrades

Off-the-shelf products have regular updates, which might not be all that heavy on the pocket. Also, if you go for a quality product, you might also enjoy flawless customer support. But sometimes, they might not get updated for a long period of time, due to which you might end up working with an outdated product causing a negative impact on your business.

With custom software solutions, you have the freedom to make whatever changes you want, whenever you want. You are always independent regarding the decisions you take for the software. You don’t have to wait for new releases and introductions, to add features to your software. Whether it is an upgrade or changes you need to make to include new tasks and operations, you can get them done by custom software experts at any time.

• Nature of the Enterprise

The technical factors and benefits notwithstanding, the nature of the enterprise can also have a big say on whether to opt for developing custom software or purchasing software off-the-shelf.

Smaller companies rarely have the budget, time, or resources to create custom software. Their requirements are unlikely to require complex integrations either. As such, an off-the-shelf solution would probably fit their needs. However, at the same time, the extra effort and investment in developing custom software may be worth its while, if the business has to expand its footprints. Developing a custom platform can create a more streamlined process for a business. Custom software is easily scalable and replicable. Off-the-shelf software is unlikely to provide such scalability without duplicating the investment.

Another important dimension to consider is the end-user or the people who use the software. The off-the-shelf software comes with a complete ready-to-use package, tested for all bugs and has gone through extensive usability tests. Whereas, the custom software requires extensive investment in training users. The process may also involve some trial-and-error, with each version improving on previous versions. The implications on business operations during such a trial-and-error phase can be debilitating.

Custom-made products are generally quite flexible and of course best suited for companies with specific requirements. Some other benefits of custom software solutions are:

• Scalability

Scalability is one of the most important factors to consider while choosing technology for your business. Your software should be scalable enough to accommodate the present requirements of your business and also make room for future additions. As your business grows, you might have to add features and maybe even departments to the software you use. Hence, it is always better to get your software built in a scalable way. Off-the-shelf solutions do not have this facility.

• Competitive advantage

You get to use a software made exclusively for your business with all kinds of unique features and specifications that other businesses don’t have. Hence, you gain a competitive advantage over your competitors, with your unique solution.

If you are building a solution just for your business over its specific requirements, a custom software would be perfect and hence satisfaction would be guaranteed. As experts once said, you need to adopt software and align it with your business process and not the other way round. You don’t just adopt a rigid software and try aligning your processes around it.

To cut the story short, there is no conclusive winner in the build versus buy dilemma. The best option depends on the circumstances.  However, making the wrong decision can be costly. For this reason, it is imperative enterprises carefully evaluate the pros and cons of both options, and rationalize based on the specific circumstances surrounding their enterprise. When making the trade-off, the primary concern should be the on the efficiency with which the software allows them to serve their customers and other stakeholders in the most effective manner.

Few lines about Varghese Samuel -CEO of Fingent Corp

Mr. Samuel is the Founder and CEO at Fingent Corp, a Global Technology company founded in 2003. Samuel’s ability as a leader, to span a breadth of businesses and technologies has enabled Fingent to build and deploy technology platforms which realize tangible business benefits for Enterprise businesses across the globe.

Over the last couple of years, he has led Fingent’s  transformation to the cloud-based services business – Products and services that Fingent currently offers leverage modern cloud platforms and frameworks. Samuel has been a Technologist and an Entrepreneur leading technology innovations over the last 20+ years. He has a diverse background in the broader financial services and healthcare industry, and a proven track record of transforming businesses by creating innovative technology solutions. Samuel received a Master’s Degree in Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai India.

1. Give us a brief introduction about your company.

Since our inception in 2003, Fingent has pioneered custom solutions that have become central components in our client’s business success. Our technology and industry expertise enables us to partner with clients to deliver sophisticated solutions rapidly and on budget. We apply modern design principles, together with the latest in mobile, cloud and desktop technologies to help create solutions. As an organization, our primary focus is to build technology solutions that help businesses simplify/streamline their existing business processes, prepare for future growth, offer new services, reduce operational overheads, lower costs and help organizations connect better.

Fingent has been a recognized force to reckon in the technology space as we have made significant investment in producing advanced software products and platforms that will transform the technology industry.

2. What are the services you offer to your clients?

Fingent has been building custom enterprise business applications since inception for major corporations, small/medium businesses and startups across the Globe. As a pioneer in delivering technology driven innovations, we have segmented our focus areas into 8 Strategic technology Business Units, to better respond to client requirements. Our Strategic Business Units are as follows

● Microsoft
● SAP
● Enterprise Mobility / Digital
● Open Source
● Dev Ops and Infrastructure management
● QA
● Product conceptualization, including UI/UX
● Data Analytics

Most of our clients prefer to opt-in for services spanning across BUs for a single program or for multiple projects. Key areas include:

● Technology consulting ( including strategy, review, and intervention)
● Software product development including PLM
● Business process automation
● Digital Marketing

3. In this intensely competitive era, what technologies, services, and project model can give you an edge over your competitors? 

Our vision is to be acknowledged by our clients, people and our shareholders as the leading strategic technology partner in our market.

We will deliver this vision by providing high-quality Software & product development, IT infrastructure, project management & IT Consulting services enabled by our people, technology, and assets and supported by our committed vendors and partners.

4. After service is a necessary part of development. How do you provide customer support to your client? 

We have always prided ourselves as our client’s extended technology wing. We have always focused on, not just building solutions, but, delivering value. And as extended partners of our client, we ensure that our solutions and products are always catalysts to their growth.  We have account managers and business analysts who act as single point of contact for every client need. Our dedicated infrastructure and quality assurance team ensure that we deliver quality solutions that keep our clients a step ahead in the market.

5. Give your opinions on how far this app revolution can make a difference in the technology world? 

We already have many personal-use apps exploiting the hyper-connected, hyper-local, hyper-personalized environments provided by mobile devices. Apps and the connected cloud-based ecosystems have dramatically transformed the personal-tech space.

However,  the Enterprise Tech world has barely scratched the surface in exploiting apps for innovation and business value creation. While Enterprise users demand mass market like apps and their cloud counterparts, security and cultural challenges remain key obstacles. The challenge is to find the delicate balance between controlling mobile devices and yet freeing employees to use them efficiently. CTOs and CIOs managing Enterprise IT teams can leverage the app (and cloud) revolution to deliver significant value by:

• Placing mobility and mobile devices at the heart of their digital workplace strategies
• Deploy management policies while educating users and bringing transparency to compliance
• Provide the best Rewards versus Risks balance for the apps deployed across various employee segments
• Manage the device lifecycle – purchase, usage, and disposal

Enterprise mobility is complex. At Fingent, we can help traditional IT teams upgrade their Enterprise Mobility strategy to deliver tangible business value, by leveraging the app revolution.

6. What latest technologies and tools you’re planning to implement for mobile app development?

We prefer to use tried and tested robust technologies to create both native and cross-platform apps across – iOS, Android, Windows and Blackberry devices.  We carefully evaluate new and bleeding edge tech before considering them for production use on client projects.  While there are a number of tools we are evaluating, we are excited by the recently announced Azure App accelerator and Telerik Progress platform. Long term – we believe that AI and Machine learning will significantly alter the app development process. On a slightly different note, there is a lot happening on the wearables, AR and VR space. We successfully delivered our first Hololens project a couple of months ago.

7. What’s your approach to creating interactive and addictive UX/UI of mobile apps and websites?

We approach UX/UI from the perspectives of -Understandability, Learnability, and Operability under real user conditions.  On mobile, we try to imbibe business features with the natural advantages provided by the mobile ecosystem – GPS and location tracking, Voice recognition, Cameras for Scanning, Gyro and Accelerometers, native connectivity option like Wifi and Bluetooth – in a secure manner. From a UI techniques perspective, we are looking at circular design patterns, interactive content layers, intelligent manipulation of content, cognitive interfaces and a few other areas to provide good learnability and operability.

8. What are the challenges you see in the outsourcing industry and how much you’re prepared to face those challenges?

I remember reading a report recently that  70% of CIOs expect to change their mix of sourcing providers to get more business value and innovation from new partner relationships. While this is a challenge for incumbents, it is good news for the outsourcing industry as a whole. For customers, outsourcing is no longer just about cost, but also about innovation and partnership. Today, most Enterprise software outsourcing is based on the staff augmentation approach. As customers demand result oriented and value driven partnerships, we see a slow but steady shift back towards the project-based approach. This requires a greater understanding of the customer’s business and higher accountability and ownership of business results.

At Fingent, we are built ground up to focus on the business outcomes that our clients wish to achieve using the product we develop for them.  Our processes secure the continuity and coherence across the CX cycle from-  Sales to Account Management to Operations and Delivery.   This, together with our focus on technology competence development ensures that we provide innovative solutions to add value to our customers’ businesses. We are happier to provide our customers with solutions that add value to their business, to be accountable for the entire solution, than to body shop.  We are ready.

9. Mention the ways you use to introduce new updates to your team.

We have many different mechanisms depending upon the source, the context, and the impact. Technology updates are managed within the BU and the teams unless it has a wide-ranging cross-functional impact. Project-specific updates are introduced from the PMO since every project has a single point of contact ( for the client)  who is responsible to secure that project changes are communicated and understood by the project team.  Communication channels for an update may include one or more of- meetings, emails, blogs or updates within our PM tool. We prefer face to face communication to the extent possible, either in person, or using modern video communication tools.

10. Nearly 70% users engage in wearable tech. What’s your step to enter into this revolution?

We have already started working with clients on Augmented Reality. We recently delivered a Hololens based facial recognition system for a client. We see opportunities across the entire technology stack- from chipsets to applications to cloud to data analytics and learning. Our strategy is a bimodal approach –

• Leverage competence in areas where we are already strong. For e.g. Our strengths in data analytics and visualization, help us manage the structured, semi-structured and unstructured data that flows in from wearables. Our expertise in data security helps provide Security consulting services to Wearable tech manufacturers.
• To focus on a few niche areas, where platform technologies are likely to succeed. For e.g. creating Augmented Reality applications for the HoloLens.

11. Examine the success and failures that your developers are facing while wearable app development?

The key challenges that we face in the wearable tech industry include:

• Lack of standardization. Fragmented platforms create an overhead due to the learning curve and lack of interoperability.
• Cultural challenges. Many users are not aware that by connecting wearables to the internet, high-risk information is placed in highly insecure and vulnerable environments. Risk assessments are often overlooked in an attempt to cut costs.

Nonetheless, we are optimistic about the opportunities here. These are challenges faced by any nascent industry.

12. There’s a boom in native apps for wearable devices, what’s your move to this technology?

Given the tight hardware integration required for many wearables, I would argue that in most cases, native is the only option. We are looking for more cross-platform tools to create apps that can be deployed across platforms at lower costs for our customers, But these are early days and we believe that such cost efficiencies will soon be created.

13. Define your future prospective and vision regarding new technologies like wearable and IoT apps?

I believe that we are at the beginning of the mass market wearable and IoT revolution. Privacy issues may lead to a temporary backlash, but these issues can be resolved.

We are looking forward to enterprise applications of wearable technology, especially in AR. Challenges around Security, Interoperability and Data mining/analysis have to be solved for Wearables and IoT to deliver tangible benefits at low risk.

14. What is your go-to-market scheme at a global level?

Currently, we are operating globally with offices across the globe. We have built many innovative solutions for our clients which are attracting other business with similar needs to reach out to us. We have a market research team that does industry research to identify the potential leads/opportunities based on the various matrix that we have developed internally. Some of the advanced project management and delivery processes that we developed with proven history convince our clients to work with us. We have most of our clients working with us for many years as a trusted partner as the organizational culture that we developed over the years focus on trust, integrity, and transparency with our clients along advanced technology capabilities.

We also share our knowledge and experience through blogs, white papers, case studies which has helped many people. We are also tapping into the power of social media platforms.

We also recognize that there is so much more than can be done to establish the Fingent Brand across the Globe.

Please tune in to hear about some major platform launches coming soon which we have been hard at work.

15. Mention the name of some of your successful projects?

We are grateful to have worked with large enterprises like NEC, Johnson and Johnson, CBN, Sony, WRI Capital, PwC and many more. We take a great deal of pride in having played a significant part in the explosive growth of successful startups like RentMoji, MFS, Lindsey Jones, Sweden Academy, Teachucator and many others.  We believe that true success is about adding value to people’s lives, be it in ways large or small, at work or at home – our work with our clients has helped us do exactly that.

This post originally appeared at https://www.itfirms.co/interview-with-varghese-samuel-ceo-fingent-corp/