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Mobile App vs. Mobile Website: A UX Comparison – Which Is the Better Option?

The core of any business resides in the art of connecting the company with people.
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Irrespective of what you sell, companies now want to reach out to people, engage with them, and offer their products and services. With technology playing a pivotal role, there has been a massive increase in the number of ways through which a company could communicate its ethos.

One such medium is smartphones. Mobile applications or customized mobile websites have become an extension of companies these days and have been instrumental in driving revenues.

However, despite being a game-changer, most companies remain indifferent about the right technology for their business.

Should they go for a mobile application, or is a mobile website enough?
The answer lies in UX or user experience.

There are many things to consider before rounding off to one of these two. Hence, we will discuss both the channels in depth and help you take the final call. 

Statistics Regarding Usage of Mobile Apps and Mobile Website

Regardless of your opinion, many statistics could prove useful for going with responsive mobile sites or mobile apps. The UX plays a pivotal role here, and thus, could not be ignored.

1: Increased Usage of Smartphones
The diminishing cost of internet usage coupled with the sharp rise in smartphone usage has ushered the entire globe into a new dimension.
As per the ComScore study, more than 71% of the internet traffic in the United States comes from mobile devices, while a larger chunk of traffic (91% to be accurate) comes from mobile devices in Indonesia.
Other crucial data reveal that more than 87% of digital traffic comes from mobile applications while on the other hand, the rest 13% come from web applications.

2: Shift in User Preferences
The ComScore study of 2017 highlights many important highlights that have proved to be transforming. The study starkly highlights the shifting preference of smartphone users from websites to mobile applications.
The principal factors highlighted by the firm concluded higher speed, ease of use, performance, and additional features as the chief factors for the rise in demand for mobile applications.
Apart from that, the social media platforms and e-commerce apps ruled the charts.

3: Better Conversions
A recent study on the purchasing pattern of customers highlighted that a greater share of people preferred to shop online through applications than the mobile website.
Most individuals viewed four times new products than that on applications in a single session. Furthermore, the conversion rate on mobile applications is three times higher than the mobile website.

4: Customer Retention
When it comes to customer retention, mobile applications outperform mobile websites for a considerable time. Companies need to constantly get in touch with their customers for retention, and applications fulfill all the criteria by providing tools like notifications and several others.

Drawing a Line: Advantages of Mobile Website over Applications

If your primary objective is sales and marketing, a mobile website is a great way to kick start your campaign.
The mobile website inherits many advantages over apps, and hence, is the perfect partner for your mobile outreach strategy. Some of the key factors include cost-effectiveness, compatibility, and accessibility over mobile applications.
Some of the reasons to choose mobile websites over applications are as follows.

● Accessibility: Mobile websites are primarily designed to give users easy access to their offerings. It could work on a wide range of devices without constant modifications.
On the other hand, one has to download and install an app for him/her to access the content. This could be an exhaustive experience, and thus, is avoided by most.

●Compatibility: A single mobile website customized for smartphones or tablets could work effortlessly across multiple devices and create a good impression in the customer’s mind.
However, when it comes to native apps, a company has to develop an app for every platform and dedicate a team for development, modification, and update.

● Upgradability: The upgradability serves as a great advantage as well. For a web version, all you need is just publish the update, and it’s done. As simple as that.
On the other hand, To upgrade an application, one has to push updates on the app’s play store and allow users to download and install updates on their smartphones. The changes will only be visible then.

● Share-ability: When it comes to websites (mobile or otherwise), one has just to share the link with anyone he/she likes.
However, apps are hard to share and hence are not user-friendly.

● Lifecycle: The average shelf life of an application is less than 30 days, as per some research. Until the app provides great value and functionality, most likely, it would be uninstalled in a few days.
But with a mobile website, one can always come back and start searching for things with new enthusiasm.

The Other Side: Advantages of an App over Mobile Website

Despite being considered inferior to (in terms of UX and applications) the mobile website version, things could change pretty fast all the time.
There are a few tasks that are still done best on apps, and hence, apps still hold importance. Some of the points based on which apps take over the websites are as follows:

● Interactivity/ Gaming: When it comes to gaming, mobile phone games aficionados are a huge fan of high-end devices, which includes an app. One may not make rich music and graphics on the web, and hence, apps are the best thing in such a scenario.

● Personalization: Despite being available online and accessible by a browser, some sites are better viewed and personalized on apps.
Consider Instagram. The app version of the popular social media is best consumed and personalized on the app.
Similarly, the clean UI and the great UX of mobile banking apps are much more enticing than the web versions. The personalized application is what keeps the users hooked.

● Improved Functionalities: Smartphone users leverage a wide array of sensors and the processing speed of the device to ensure that apps function well.
For example, without special and customized scripts, one cannot do a simple calculation on the web.
However, as more functionalities get incorporated, leveraging apps becomes a piece of cake. Apps can now function multiple tasks from a single stage, thus, making them super exciting for customers.

● Rendering High-End Graphics: The best part of apps over websites is that they could be used to render high-end graphics.
Let’s say you have a financial analysis project coming up. Things look pretty horrible when done on web browsers, but are easier to represent on applications.
In most apps, one can dynamically change the values and see the changes in real-time, which are otherwise impossible in web browsers.

● Push Notifications: One of the most favourite features of advertisers and companies is that they could send push notifications to the users.
In this way, a company knows it has a large audience with whom it can get in touch. However, in the case of websites, the notifications are limited to the website only. This is why promoting other methods like emails as their primary source of communication.

● Works even without an internet connection: The mobile applications are designed to store data locally on the device, making it easier to access even without an internet connection. In the case of uploads, the process resumes as the connection is established.

Concluding Remarks
Mobile apps vs. websites in terms of UX or user experience is an exhaustive debatable topic, with each side having a fair share of advantages.
In reality, choosing one of them depends highly on your business goals.
The graphics and the processing is better done on mobile, therefore, you can prefer going with a mobile app to leverage its computing power. It will help you engage and interact with your customers better and drive loyalty.
On the other hand, a mobile website could relay similar features that are not resource-intensive. It will help you provide mobile-friendly content that your audience can find useful and eventually become your customers. 
​​Contact the App-Scoop Vancouver Mobile App Developers for further details.

By App-Scoop, ago

Best Mapping Solution for Logistics: Mapbox vs. Google Maps

Integrating mapping functionality is an essential feature for many logistic businesses.  
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For instance, if you have an online delivery app, your application will require a mapping tool to 
give real-time distance and direction info to the delivery person. 

A good mapping tool will multiply your business productivity and speed up the process of 
transformation. The two best mapping tools in the market are Mapbox and Google Maps. 

The following article will tell you the pros and cons of both the application and help you decide 
which one you should choose for your business. 

What is Google Maps? 
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Google Maps was launched on 8th February 2005 to provide web mapping services. It offers aerial photography, satellite image, street maps, 360-degree street view, real-time traffic analysis, and many more.

With its growing demand, Google decided to offer its API (Application Programming Interface) to 3rd parties. This will allow other applications to integrate Google Maps functionality for tracking worldwide.
You can also customize your Google API according to your app needs. This will require technical guidance, so, you should consult a programmer to complete the required task.

The problem started when Google Maps hiked its prices. Prior to July 2018, Google Maps offered free 25000 map loads every day, whereas the new price structure reduced the total map search to 28000 per month. After which, all the map searches will be paid.

It neither affected the common people nor the small businesses, but it became a significant tension for large-sized companies. These businesses crossed the monthly limit, and Google heavily charged them to use all its functions. This made companies search for its alternative.

Pros and Cons of Google map:

Pros

1. Fantastic user experience: Google map provides detailed information. You can take a view of the streets, traffic, and roads. It allows you to access locations anywhere in the world.

2. Street view: This allows you to see different panoramas for every street across the world because of its inbuilt GeoRSS and KML (Keyhole Markup Language) on the Google map. You can integrate this feature on your business application to let people visit your store virtually.

3. Map sharing: Google map allows users to send their location to other people. It provides the exact address of the sent user to let others reach the location without manually searching on the map.

4. Multiple Language support. It has added 39 new languages recently and has allowed 1.25 billion people to use it in their native languages.

Cons

1. Limited accuracy: Google map can also have errors while depicting the location’s exact address. It is unable to get the most updated changes that might have been caused because of road blockage or damage.

2. High pricing: This is the biggest issue for businesses to search for its alternative. Google map charges lucrative prices for users who cross their monthly limit.
This is a vast topic which is discussed in detail below.

The pricing structure of Google map

The pricing structure of Google Maps is not easy to understand because of its multiple categories. The application also offers you $200 monthly credit for the API calls.
Google map charges its customer under these categories
●      Dynamic map calls: Up to 28k
●      Static map calls: Up to 100k
●      Direction calls: Up to 40k
●      Geolocation: Up to 40k
This is not as simple as it looks.
If a person does a map search and initiates an address by using Google Map autocomplete. Along with tracking the direction using its geological services. A person will be charged for three unique API calls to perform a single page load.

The users are first charged for the autocomplete function and the other when they select the address. Lastly, they will also have to pay for the direction they will receive through Google Map.

For a large business that makes lakhs of API calls every day, this will cost a lot to them.

Google Map gives a discount of 20% if you have more than 1Lakh API calls. Also, if it’s more than 5lakh calls monthly, you can contact the Google Maps sales manager to come to a custom price.
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Mapbox

Mapbox is also a mapping service provider and the biggest competitor of Google Maps. It helps websites and apps to install custom maps into their systems.
Programmers and developers can easily integrate the Mapbox API in the application. They can also fully customize the maps in Mapbox studio including its colors, fonts, 3D feature, or camera angles.
You can easily search and navigate through Mapbox. It will provide real-time updates of directions, traffic awareness, and a voice direction facility.

Pros and cons of Mapbox

Pros

1. Fully customizable: Mapbox offers way more customization than Google map. The programmers can easily personalize everything according to the application’s requirements.

2. Offline maps: If you are stuck somewhere with no internet, your Mapbox inbuilt application will help you reach your destination. You can integrate offline maps in your app by using Mapbox SDKs.

3. Open source SDKs: Mapbox uses GitHub to share code, which is open-source and will allow full customization. Programmers can easily embed these codes and add new functions to the SDKs.

Cons

1. Weak coverage: In comparison, you will find that Google map has higher coverage than Mapbox. This is because Google Map is continuously updated and tries to include as many places it can on its mapping system.

2. Difficulty in understanding: Mapbox is much harder to comprehend than Google maps. It requires prior technical knowledge to function appropriately, whereas Google map is convenient and can be easily used even by a layman.

Google Map vs. Mapbox

1. Pricing: Google Maps has tremendously increased its pricing and reduced free limits. As your company grows, this charge will feel like a burden rather than an investment.
Whereas Mapbox provides less free services than Google Maps, it has set a limit of 50k free map search, after which you will charge $5 per 1000 map load. Google provides the same functionality with a lower limit and charges $7 for every 1000 API calls made after the limit.
This has caused people to switch from a Google map to Mapbox.

2. Accuracy: Google is a giant company, and it can invest in data streams that help in mapping accurately. Due to which Google map can easily calculate the Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) regardless of your current location.
It has access to terrain information, weather, real-time traffic information, average speed, etc. These are vital information to calculate accurate mapping services.
Whereas Mapbox cannot offer such a huge cost and lags in accuracy when compared to Google map. Mapbox is best for developed countries rather than developing countries like Israel and India.

3. Customization: Mapbox uses OpenMapStreet data to build its technology. The core strength of Mapbox is its easy customization. You can edit your map by using Mapbox TileMill, which has multiple predefined maps. The programmer can also build three custom map styles for the application.

4. Associated services: Google map provides immense additional services apart from just tracking distance and direction. It includes satellite images, street views, businesses, places, etc. whereas
Mapbox offers minimal functionality. Mapbox is more focused on providing ease of customization and can easily embed with various applications.

What to select between Google map vs. Mapbox?
The question must be answered while analyzing your business structure. Both these mapping service providers have their pros and cons that might or might not affect your business.
Let’s talk about the two major parameters:

1. Size of the business: If you have a small business that will not exceed Google map’s monthly limit of map loads, there is a no better option to go beside Google map itself.
The price hike will only affect large business owners who have substantial map loads every day.

2. Location of your business operation: Always check which mapping service providers work on your location. Both Google Maps and Mapbox have different location access.
For example, if your business is in Korea, Google Maps will not provide you with direction, whereas Mapbox is fully functional at that place.
Also, suppose your business is situated in a remote place or in developing countries like Israel and India, then Mapbox might not provide you with accurate tracking of the distance and direction.

Conclusion
You must have now understood the difference between both the mapping applications – Google Maps and Mapbox. Your selection must totally depend on your business requirement.
Thus, if pricing and location are not your problems then Google Maps will work the best for you. But if you live in a developed country and have access to both easily, you can also consider Mapbox.
​​Contact the App-Scoop Vancouver Mobile App Developers for further details.

By App-Scoop, ago

Why Consider Developing Widgets for your iOS Application?

The launch of iOS has brought significant updates for Apple users, and one of them was widgets. 
A widget is a customizable small box that allows users to see information on their home screen 
without visiting the application. 
It has enhanced user experience (UX) for apple users, and people love the new updates of iOS 
14. 
This article will clear more things about your widgets along with the importance of developing 
widgets for your iOS applications.
What is a widget? 
A widget is a program or application that runs on your phone’s home screen without having to be 
opened up, or it can also be attached to another application.
​For example, the weather app on your phone tells the weather report of your area. You don’t 
have to physically go to the weather application to see the weather forecast, if you have the 
widget for it. 
But when you click on the weather forecasting widget, the program will directly take you to the 
weather app. So, the widget gives the information that it thinks is good for the user, and it 
displays a detailed report when you reach the main application. 
Many widget applications are right now running on your phone, like the daily news notification, 
notes, calendar, etc. 

What is new in iOS 14 Widget? 
Previously widgets were only present on Android devices, but with iOS 14, you can create 
widgets now on your Apple devices as well. The iOS widgets will be present on both the iOS 
home screen and MAC OS notification center. 
The iOS 14 widget has withstood Android by providing a widget with a more elegant and 
cohesive design. It gives a very sleek and stylish look to the Apple home screen. 
The Apple devices use Apple’s Smart Stack widget that shows widgets by following the user’s 
previous behaviour. This will avoid excessive notifications to pop up on your screen. ​

Advantages of developing widgets 
The iOS 14 widget update will affect two parties- the users and the developers. 
As the users have given a green signal to the widget design and function, the developers are most 
likely to develop widgets for their application with other additional features to get a competitive 
advantage. 

Why do users need widgets? 
Apple users are thrilled to have the widget feature on their phones. Here are the two significant 
benefits that a user will get from the widget function-

     1. Time-consuming 
Apple users have to click on each application to get updates and notifications. It became very 
time consuming for an iOS user. 
But with the launch of the new iOS 14, the user will not be able to see widgets but also 
customize it according to their preference. 
IOS has given the Apple user to edit the size of the widget. There are three size options 
available: small, medium, and large. The user can choose the widget size they want to see on 
their home screen. Larger the size of the widget, the more information you will see on your home 
screen. 

     2. Updated information  
A widget is created to give up-to-date information about the application. The application mostly 
makes the update, but if the widget is new, the update is made by the operating system. 
For example, if you have a widget of a news app, the news keeps pouring in without you going 
to the app to get it updated.

Why do developers need widgets? 
     1. Competitive advantage  
With the launch of iOS 14, Apple users are using this feature to the utmost. Most of the users 
have liked the concept of widgets and have enabled them on their iPhone. 
The demand for widgets is growing, and many apps are developing widgets for iOS applications. 
The developers are responsible for creating a widget that displays information that might be 
useful to the users and force them to visit the app to get more details. 

     2. Improves user retention  
Our phones are filled with applications, and it is becoming more challenging to make a user feel 
your app’s presence. Widgets will pass out information that the users might like, which will 
improve the app’s user retention. 
So, the developers are in charge of forming a widget that displays the most vital information and 
increases the user time on the application.

What will your widget display? 
A widget will represent a small box containing user-specific data that will highlight updated 
information. 
For example, if you have previously used LinkedIn, it tells about the number of people visiting 
your profile. LinkedIn has chosen this particular information because it thinks it attracts users to 
see who has recently viewed their profile. 
Widgets are static, and they do not allow you to perform actions without actually opening the 
application. Now, the developers have to decide which information will attract the user to visit 
their application. 

How to add widgets to your iPhones home screen?     
If you still don’t know how to add widgets. Here are the steps through which you can add it to 
your phone’s screen: 

     Step 1: Unlock your iPhone. Press and hold your home screen for a few seconds. You will see 
the apps start to jiggle and show a minus sign. 

     Step 2: Click on the plus sign present in the upper left corner of your home screen. This will 
bring a list of all the existing widgets. 

     Step-3: Click on the app you want to add to your widget list. It will ask you to choose among the 
three sizes that are small, medium, and large. You can select the widget size you want to see on 
your home screen. 

     Step-4: Click on “Add widget.” 

     Step-5: After adding the widget, click anywhere on the screen to come out of the edit. 
And, your application widget is added to your home screen. 

Some popular iOS home screen widgets 
     1. Wikipedia: The Wikipedia widget is excellent for people who are hardcore readers. The 
application keeps posting trending articles throughout the day to grab users’ attention and make 
them visit the Wikipedia website to read the articles in detail. 

     2. Pedometer: It is a fitness app that tells about the number of steps you have taken. Pedometers 
keep track of all the fitness goals of the user. The most important thing to notice is that the 
application doesn’t give you the detailed stats on your widget to grab user attention.
 
     3. Aviary: If you are someone who wants to be updated on all the latest tweets, Aviary will be 
your rescuer. It tells in detail about the trending tweets on your iPhone widget home screen. 

     4. Unwind: It is also one of the meditation apps that relaxes the user by telling them to do 
different breathing exercises. Unwind is also one of the most popular widgets to track your sleep 
schedule and meditation. 

     5. Habit Minder: It takes care of all the habits you do in your daily life, whether exercising, 
meditation, walking, water drinking patterns, and every routine you can think of. Habit Minder 
widget will help you maintain a good lifestyle by keeping track of your good habits. 

Conclusion 
Apple users love the new widget option, and the applications that are still refraining from 
creating its widget is losing a lot of their target audience. The widget will help you generate more 
customer interaction and retention for your application. 
​Contact the App-Scoop Vancouver Mobile App Developers for further details.

By App-Scoop, ago

How to Put a Calendar in Your App and Why In-App Calendars Aren’t So Simple

In-app calendars are very common in applications nowadays, and it might seem an easy process, 
but it isn’t. 
A digital calendar is used by 70% of adults, and if you are thinking of installing a calendar into 
your app, you need to be creative in what you present to the user. 
Your in-app calendar should sync with the calendar from Google, Outlook, and Apple, enabling 
you to form multiple tasks. 
But you need to think out of the box and provide excellent User Expensive (UX) to the user. You 
could also add some extraordinary features like voice recognition, text recognition, etc. ​
The following article will tell you more about creating an in-app calendar, implementing it in 
your app, and it’s different applications.  

Steps on how to put a calendar in your application 
     1. Design  
The first and foremost thing that a user sees is atheistic of the application. Your app must 
have an intuitive design that grabs the attention of the user.  
Avoid using colours that are too bright or dull. Use a simple and elegant design that is 
acceptable for all age groups. You can design your calendar by using Sketch, Illustrator, 
or Simple. 

     2. Programming language  
If you want to build a calendar that seamlessly works on the application, you need to 
choose the programming language wisely. For iOS users, you can create a calendar using 
Swift or Objective-C, and for Android, you can go for Kotlin or JAVA. 

     3. Database  
A database is used to build a space to store data by the users. Some of the applications 
which you change for your calendar are MySQL, MongoDB, or PostgreSQL. 

     4. Framework 
It provides a platform on which a developer will build your calendar. You can use 
Express, NodeJS, Ruby on Rails, PHP and Laravel, and Python and Django. 

     5. Web server  
You can test your application on Nginx to see if it performs well without any bugs. 

     6. APIs  
API or Application Programming Interface enables the communication between two 
applications.  

The calendar uses RESTful API, which means it uses HTTP requests to use your data. 
Google, Apple, and Microsoft have built their APIs, which help integrate the application 
with other sources. 

APIs that you use to build a calendar 
Let’s talk about some popular APIs you can use to build your calendar. 

     1. Microsoft’s Outlook Calendar API: 
It gives access to calendar groups, events, and it sends reminders to your mobile, desktop, 
and web applications. 

     2. Google Calendar API: 
It allows you to use client libraries in several programming languages like NET, JAVA, HP, 
GO, Node, Python, NET, JAVA Script, and Swift. You can set calendar reminders, edit personal
calendars, and share your calendar through mobile and web applications.  
 
     3. Apple’s EvenKit Framework: 
This API is for macOS and IOS devices that allow you to use calendars and schedule your events 
and requirements. 

     4. Calendar API: 
It uses RESTful API and can be accessed through Google client libraries or HTTP calls. Calendar API 
enables you to schedule holidays, meetings, and events. You can even update and add events 
automatically. 

     5. Super SaaS API:
It provides APIs and Webhooks that allow you to schedule payments, reports, and notifications. 
You can easily integrate super SaaS API with your web application. 

     6. Cronofy API: 
It helps to connect with multiple calendar accounts. Cronofy API only allows the required data to 
be transported. It contains webhooks that are used for tracking changes. You can schedule your
tasks and set reminders through this API. 

     7. Funambol API: 
It enables users to store data through a cloud platform. Funambol API can efficiently perform all 
the activities present in an inbuilt calendar. 

     8. Events API: 
It uses RESTful calls and allows users to create, edit, update, and delete information from the
private calendars. 31 Events API will send you an invite, and if you accept it, you get automatically
connected to the event. 

     9. Nylon Universal API: 
It forms a secure and reliable connection to the user’s calendar. Nylon Universal API uses webhooks
to notify real-time changes to the user. 

     10. Calendarific API: It is one of the best API to obtain updated public and bank holidays on 
your calendar. Calendarific API helps a further user schedule its events and meet in sync with 
the public and bank holidays. 

Tips to keep in mind before creating a calendar app 

  • Work on your UI and UX  

If you want your app to create a good impression in your customers’ eyes, you must 
create an excellent UX experience.  
8 out of 10 people will pay you more if you provide them with a good customer 
experience. Your app can build loyal customers just by providing excellent UI and UX. 

  • Connect with people  

Millennials are more inclined towards apps that allow media sharing with other people. 
Your calendar should have the facility to tag or send information to other people; a 
seamless conversation between users will improve your application’s customer retention. 

  • Add a demanded feature 

If you want people to use your app, you need to give them some solid reasons. Your 
inbuilt calendar must have some advanced feature that separates you from your 
competitor’s apps.  
Some of these features can be scheduling, booking, view notifications, etc.; you can even 
add voice and text recognition to give an edge to your competitor’s app. 

  • Speech recognition   

50%  of people prefer voice search, and it is one of the emerging features that should be 
present in all the calendar apps. Many apps, like voice calendar and calendar, have 
implemented speech recognition in the calendar app.  
If you want to allow speech recognition in iOS applications, you can use Apple’s Speech 
Framework, and for Android devices, you can use Google Assistant. 

  • Easy to use calendar app  

Build a calendar app that can be easily used by a non-techie person and doesn’t require 
many steps to perform any action in the app. Your inbuilt calendar should be comfortable 
for all users regardless of their age. 

Examples of the in-app calendar? 
Many apps have an inbuilt calendar to ease multitasking. Some of the examples are: 

     1. Educational apps: The use of an in-built calendar is maximum in the education 
industry. Online trainers and e-learning platforms use an in-built calendar to 
schedule their lectures, exams, and doubt clearing classes. The work of an in-built 
calendar is to remind users of the activity planned. Outlook and Google calendar 
allows the student as well as a teacher to be updated. 

     2. Parking apps: Many parking apps like SpotHero have included a calendar in the 
app feature to easily book parking spots. The app allows IOS users to sync their 
application to iCalendar, and then you can schedule their date and time of booking 
the parking spot. 

     3. Messaging apps: Telegram allows users to schedule the message they want to send 
and at what time. The message will automatically be delivered to the recipient of the 
message. This is great for organizing messages for office and personalized uses. 

     4. Rental and Real estate apps: Zillow and Zumper are real estate and rental apps, 
respectively. They allow users to schedule a meeting with the real estate agent. 

     5. YouTube: You can schedule videos for your YouTube channel, and the video will get 
posted at that particular time. YouTube has enabled this feature for the longest time, 
and it is handy for YouTube creators. 

     6. Healthcare apps: Enabling a calendar is the best element for apps that deal with 
fitness and healthcare. These apps allow you to schedule your medicine timings and your doctor’s 
appointment.  
​
NFC technology and Talos are one of the apps that will enable users to schedule their 
doctor’s appointments and training sessions. 
Many apps in the market will have an inbuilt calendar or ask you to sync your Google or Apple 
calendar to perform the task. 

Conclusion 
Incorporating a calendar in your app will uplift its use. You can now add many advanced features 
that have been mentioned, and follow these simple tips that will help you build a seamlessly 
working calendar.  
​​Contact the App-Scoop Vancouver Mobile App Developers for further details.

By App-Scoop, ago

How to Add Live Chat Functionality to Your Application

Having a live chat option in your application has become a necessity over the years as people 
want instant responses to their queries.  
According to a report, 42%  of people prefer live chat over other forums. 
And companies have now understood the importance of live chats, which is why they have 
started enabling this functionality into their application. 
Through the live chat option, you can interact with your audience in real-time on the website or 
application itself, and solve their queries instantly. 
So, are you planning to add a live chat feature to your application? 
Read this article till the end to get detailed insights on live chat and how to enable it.  
Let’s start! 

What is live chat? 
In 1973, live chat was first introduced by Brown David R. Woolley, and he named it Talkomatic. 
It has evolved over the years, and now it allows you to chat concurrently with multiple users. It is 
a high-end version of chat where you can share photos, videos, gifs, and also emojis.   
Some popular live chat applications are: 

  • WhatsApp 
  • Apple’s Messages 
  • Skype 
  • Google talk 
  • Windows Live Messages 

Benefits of live chat 
     1. Communicate with multiple users at the same time 
The most important feature that live chat offers its users is the ease of communication with 
multiple users at the same time. 

     2. Can keep an eye on the conversation 
Through the live chat option, you can keep the history of all the messages and files exchanged 
between users. This allows the Administrator to keep an eye on the messages and also helps 
them analyze the team’s performance. 

     3. Sharing and Media Storage 
You can share photos, videos, docs, and links through the live chat option; and the data shared is 
stored in your phone or PC’s gallery, whichever you are using. It helps in keeping files in one 
place and you can share an unlimited number of files. 

How to enable live chat? 
There are two methods through which you can enable live chat in your application. 

     1. Hosted live chat service:  For this, you are required to buy a hosting service from a service provider. It is a very simple 
way through which you can set up a live chat option in your application.  
You have to just place a code snippet in the app through SDK, and after completing this process 
your users will be able to access all the live chat options. 
Besides, the hosted company will also offer you all the maintenance support. 
 Some examples of hosted live chat services are: 

  • PubNub 
  • QuickBox 
  • LiveChat 
  • Applozic 
    ​

Advantages of hosted live chat services 

  • Easy to install: You don’t require high tech coding with a hosted live chat service. All 

the technical work will be done by the service provider, and you will have to just place a 
code snippet. 

  • Maintenance Support: Perks of having a paid live chat service is that you don’t have to 

work about its maintenance. It will all be done by the service provider. 

Disadvantages of Hosted live chat service 

  • Lack of customization: One major drawback of a hosted live live chat service is 

the lack of customization. If you want anything to change, then you have to 
contact the service provider for support. 

  • It is on the Pricier side: Hosted live chat services are on the pricier side as they 

take care of everything on the live chat app. So, the company charges according to 
the number of active users using the live chat. 

     2. Self-Hosted Live Chat option 
A self-hosted service provider gives the source code, and then you can make all the 
customization you want in your app. 
This might look cheaper than hosted services, but it takes much more time and energy to set up 
your live chat. In addition, you are responsible to handle every maintenance issue. 
To keep everything together, you need engineers and developers in your company who can 
handle your live chat. 

 Advantages of Self-Hosted live chat services 

  • Freedom of customization: Self-hosted services only provide you with a source code, 

and after this, all the work can be taken over by your team.  
You can make as much customization as you want without taking help from any of your 
live chat service providers. 

Disadvantages of Self Hosted live chat Services 

  • No maintenance expectations from the live chat service provider: If you are already 

having an experienced team of developers, then this would not be a problem for your 
application.  

Points to consider before selecting a live chat service 
     1. It should provide access to rich media content 
Texting has now evolved with more people sending gifs, emojis, stickers, audio, video, etc., and 
these are categorized as rich media content. 
Your live chat service provider should offer all the rich media content so that people not just type 
messages in your app, but they get all the high-end features as well.  

     2. Protocol Independence 
The digital sphere is very dynamic, and new features are coming up every day. It is your 
responsibility to choose a message software that is ready to evolve and adapt to this always 
changing environment. 

     3. Hosted vs Self-hosted 
In between self-hosted and hosted, you need to choose a plan which fits your business 
requirement. 
So, if you have a good budget, and don’t want any additional responsibility related to your live 
chat app, then a hosted service is the best option for you. 
But, if you have budget constraints and can build an internal team then go for self-hosted. 

     4. Customer support 
Having a customer support service is a very important feature to consider before choosing a live 
chat service provider. 
A business is a full-time job, and you don’t want it to suffer from any external losses. Look for a 
live chat service provider that gives 24*7 customer support, which will allow you to take their 
expert advice in case of any problem.  

Some of the best live chat Service Providers  
     1. LiveChat 
LiveChat came up in 2002, which focuses on helping companies connect with the 
customer through live chat and is a hosted live chat service. 
It allows you to share all rich type content during the live chat. You can also send targeted 
messages through LiveChat, allowing you to customize your live chat app according to 
your need. 
You can see detailed reports and analytics in your dashboard, which includes data 
summary, data export, chat reports, customer report, etc. 
LiveChat is a secure live chat service provider, and it protects all the conventions by SSL encryption.
You can also set automatic messages and scripted messages in your chat bar. 

     2. MongooseIM 
MongooseIM provides a self-hosted live chat service. It is perfect for apps that have a 
high volume of users. MongooseIM supports users anywhere from 1,000 to 1,00,000. 
Unlike other self-hosted service providers, MongooseIM provides a source code but also 
helps the enterprise in installing the code in their application. 
MongooseIM offers you to customize your chatbox by providing the source code, and it 
will give you full access to use them. 
If you have a large enterprise with high volume users, MongooseIM is one of the best 
options to choose from. It gives a high performing live chat service with a customer 
support team that will help you install it. 

     3. PubNub 
PubNub is a hosted service provider that helps in connecting with users in real-time. It is 
used by big companies like McDonald’s, Adobe, and Coca-Cola. 
The messages sent reach the other person in 80100ms, despite their location. It is a 
reliable live chat service provider that is very easy to use and can be scaled massively. 
It is easy to set up and provides a 99.999% availability guarantee. It has 70+ SDKs for 
the proper functioning of the application. 
PubNub has all the necessary features that you can include in your chat functionality, and 
it offers customization if you wish to add anything new. 

     4. Pusher 
And the last service provider that we will talk about is Pusher. It provides a hosted live chat service
functionality that has a very versatile API and SDKs for all languages. 
It is a very secure platform with high encryption features. The platform also provides a 
debug tool that gives a live view of your dashboard, helping you to identify errors faster. 

Conclusion 
Enabling a live chat option gives your application an edge and allows you to have a connection 
with your users and prospective customers. There are two methods you can choose from between 
hosted and self-hosted, and then go for an efficient chat service according to your business needs 
and budget.  
​Contact the App-Scoop Vancouver Mobile App Developers for further details.
https://app-scoop.com/contact-us.html 

By App-Scoop, ago

A Practical Guide on When You Need to Redesign Your App

Have you ever noticed why big apps like Facebook and Instagram keep redesigning their applications? 
It is to cope up with continuous changes the market faces every day and if your application isn’t  adapting to this dynamic world then there are high chances that you will be losing a lot of potential  customers. Redesigning your app will boost your conversion rates and will make people stay on your  app to consume more content. This article will tell you when and how you should redesign your  applications. 
When you should redesign your app? 
If you are facing any of the following situations, you can consider redesigning your app. 
​
1.When your app conversion rate is poor 
If you are experiencing a low conversion where your sales are low and your app users are not active  then you should opt for redesigning your app. Every application aims to produce a high sales  conversion rate otherwise all the benefits offered to the users will go in vain. Stat says UX design can  increase your conversation rates by 400%. Through redesigning you can make your app more  engaging and focus on improving the user experience of the app. 
One of the examples can include Dominos, the company was seeing a high bounce rate  and  wanted  a solution to fix this problem. The firm redesigned its UX by using the correct size and layout options. 
The major concern was to improve the user’s navigation ability and by redesigning it, the application  saw an increase of 23% in their conversion rate. 

​2. When you want to improve your audience reach 
You can opt for redesigning your app if you wish to target a new audience and want 
to maintain your current audience by providing them a quality user experience. 
The process of redesigning should be based on what type of user you want to target 
and what are their pain points that you will try to solve. 
One of the examples is Flicker, who was first named Game Never-ending, which was 
a role-playing game focusing on social interaction and one of its features was to offer 
photo sharing.  
This feature became popular and then the app was fully redesigned to attract the same 
kind of audience.   
​
3. When you are rebranding your company 
If you are planning to incorporate new ideas into your application, you need to 
display them to your audience as well so that people can decide if they want to be 
resonated with you or not. This might also give you a new audience to reach and 
improve your conversion rate. 
For example, the tool DoubleClick was acquired by Google and was named Google 
Ad Manager. So, Google maintained the same style and format for Google Ad 
Manager as it was for other Google applications. 

4. When your competitor’s app is performing well then your app 
Accessing your competitors can be a major parameter to know if your application is 
performing well or not and if you aren’t matching or overpowering them then this can 
become an area of concern for your app. 
There can be times when you are not doing well than your competitors so you need to 
assess what are the features that they have and you don’t and how you can surpass 
them.  
 
Redesigning your application is one of the ways to improve the performance of your 
app. You should focus on simplifying the user experience and be up to date with all 
the new trends so that your old user doesn’t leave your app and the new user gets 
attracted to it. 
1. When your user complaints are high 
Accepting criticism is the most effective way to improve and listening to negative 
opinions from people who are using your app should be a matter of concern.  
If your app has a low rating (below 3 stars), or people are bashing your application 
for features they didn’t like or the problem they are facing, so you need to see and 
examine the issues in detail. If a majority of people are facing the same problems then 
you need to solve them by redesigning your app. 
Take the example of Forbes, an American publishing company that was not able to 
increase its number of downloads due to problems in the UX and its competitors had 
over a million downloads.  
To fix this Forbes decided to redesign the application, which resulted in an increase in 
the number of downloads from 100k to 500k. 

2. When your application content consumption time is low 
The content consumption time means the average amount of time a person is using is 
spending your application and if it is low that means people are not using your app. 
And, if they aren’t using your application that directly points to a low conversion rate 
so you need to redesign your app and add all the extra features so that you are not 
missing anything. 
Always use the latest UX so you can connect and engage with your customer without 
any issues. 

3. When you are not able to convey your idea to your audience 
 This happens when you are offering too much to your audience that they get confused 
and skip using your app. Providing extra features are good but not at the cost of 
losing your customer. 
A major example can be Uber, according to them when extra features were added to 
Uber people got confused and ordered the wrong product and this became a major 
issue for both the user and the app. 
 So, they decided to redesign its product and simplified the features which can now be 
easily understood by the user. 
Now, analyze if your application is facing all the above problems and if they do, you can opt 
for redesigning the application to improve the UX of the app. 

How to redesign your app? 
Step-1: Analyze your app performance 
Analyzing analytics is the only way through which you can go deep down to reach the root 
cause of your problem. 
You can check these three parameters in your application- 

  • Conversion rate- Check the conversion rate of your app, see how many people are 

purchasing your product. 

  • Content consumption rate- Look what is the minimum amount of time a person stays 

on your app. 

  • Drop-off rate- The last would be to analyze how many people downloaded the app but 

uninstalled it after some time. 
These pointers will help you set a primarily quality check of your application. 

Step-2: Examine customer feedback 
Play store reviews tell a lot about your app and have the capacity to change other people’s 
minds as well to stop downloading your application. 
So, your aim should be to solve the genuine problems of users and understand why they are 
facing those problems. 

Step-3: Evaluate your competitors 
At the end of the day, you want to surpass your competitors and provide quality services to 
your users. 
Evaluate your competitors by setting features or user feedback comparison, by doing this you 
will know the area your app needs to improve. 

Step-4: Write down your changes 
Now, that you have analyzed everything from your app UX to your competitor’s reach, you 
are ready with the list of changes you want in your application. 
Your next step would be to discuss all the changes with your team, and after you get the 
green flag start working to improve them. 

Step-5: Redesign and Evaluate 
 Implement all the changes you were looking for in your application and make your UX in 
sync with your audience’s needs. 
After implementing the changes evaluate your current UX with your competitors and analyze 
your user’s feedback. You can also A/B test multiple UX to see which one is performing 
better. 
Following these steps will help you stand out from your competitors and create a fresh image 
in the mind of the user. 

Companies that have successfully redesigned its application 
1.Instagram 
It is one of the most popular social media apps and was launched in 2010 with an app logo
and interface which is very different from how it looks today. Instagram 
redesigns its app very often to provide a premium user experience to its audience. 

2.Facebook 
It was launched in 2004 and became a massive trend in the youth by offering 
high-quality UX. The application has redesigned its self-multiple times according to 
the consumer’s taste and feedback. 
 
3.Spotify 
It is an online music listening app and Spotify has redesigned the application various 
times. The latest change of Spotify was on making the navigation simpler. 

4.Amazon’s Alexa 
It is one of the famous home devices that use speech recognition to perform a task. 
You can connect your electronics like fans and lights with Alexa. The application has 
made a major change by allowing the user to group the electronics according to your 
room. 
These are some big apps that redesign themselves very often to survive with the various 
trends and user tastes. 

Conclusion 
After reading this you must have gotten a clear picture of whether to redesign your 
application or not. Redesigning will help you in performing much better in the market. It has 
helped companies of all sizes; you can consider this for your business also. 
​Contact App-Scoop for further details. https://app-scoop.com/contact-us.html​

By App-Scoop, ago

Delivering on the Digital Demands of Your Customers

Consumer behaviour has changed upside-down during the pandemic. Due to complete lockdown, the buyers have started looking for alternatives to fulfill their demand.
And, the easiest way was going online and switching to an e-commerce store. Stats show that 62% more people have started to shop online as compared before lockdown.
The coronavirus has expected to accelerate consumer preference towards e-commerce stores by 5 years. Changes caused during the pandemic is quick to catch up for all online stores. 
The following article will tell you about ways on how to handle heavy demand during these circumstances.
Effects of Pandemic on Different Businesses:  

​    1. Amazon
Big brands like Amazon were also startled by high demand and found it very difficult to maintain efficient delivery deadlines.
In March, Amazon has to send messages to its customers warning of high demand resulting in longer delivery days.
To solve this Amazon has to make an investment resulting in a decrease of 26% in its Net profit and a rise of 46% in the shipping cost.
It clearly shows that Amazon was not ready to face such huge demands. 
 
    2. Food Industry
The food industry is one of the most benefited industries during the lockdown.
Steve Caine is a retail expert and also a partner in Brain and the company, he made a statement telling that they expected an increase of only 5-10% in the online grocery market but the actual increase went up to 10-15% causing an imbalance between the sales and the demands.
Caine confirmed that the online grocery industry is unable to keep up with the demand of the consumers.
And, the consumers are getting inflated prices with long delivery days.

     3. Ocado
Ocado is a sought-after online grocery store that has registered the highest growth in its demand since the launch of Ocado in 2002.
The online store was getting so many digital orders that it became impossible for the company to handle, so they decided to bring down the mobile app services for some time so that they can update their software and meet the current demand of their customers.
It shows the inefficiency of Ocado to maintain its mobile app and handle such bulk demands.
Nobody wants these scenarios to repeat in their business, so you need to take proper care of your digital platform to reduce any chances of disbalance.

 5 ways to Deliver efficiently on the Digital Demands of your Customers
​    1. Team extensions 
A team extension is a process through which you hire people on a per-project basis only for a specific period of time. During this time the hired member will solely work for you and try to solve the issues that you are facing in the business.
75% of employers feel that collaboration and teamwork are very important for a business.
During situations like these where scenarios are unpredictable, it is foolish to increase your resource requirement through internal hiring. You will never know when the situation will be out of your favour.
So the best thing you can do is to extend your team by collaborating with external members. This is not the same as outsourcing because the outsourced party works on multiple projects at a given point in time which can cause delays in your deadlines.
And, your online store is already out of time so you can go with an extended team that will work only for you for only a specified time being. You can get the most experienced and efficient people on the table without actually hiring them.
This will help your business to work in a more structured manner and reduce all the problems that are acting as bugs in your business.

    2.  Automate Repetitive Tasks
Every day we repeat some tasks that can easily be done by a machine. It will reduce the wastage of time and provide you with quality time to do those tasks that require human effort.
The market is rapidly changing and you need to update your business according to your needs and your industry’s requirements. If you are struggling to handle the high digital order then you need to convert some manual tasks into automation.
The McKinney report says that 45% of the paid activities can be converted to automated tasks which can save up to $2 trillion of total wages.
The money you save from automation can be used to hire people that are needed for the organization’s growth and will help you handle your business wisely.
Automation not only reduces human effort but also minimizes the chances of human errors, which will help you in the long run.

    3.  Give emphasis on high-quality customer support 
In situations like this when you are overwhelmed by customers, your business requires very strong customer support.
If we are unable to order products from an online store the first person we try to reach is its customer support. At that point in time, we require manual answers to our questions and someone who can understand our problem and also provide a proper solution.
The e-commerce store should have very strong customer support so that your customer remains with you and doesn’t switch to your competitors.
According to stats, 51% of people will never visit the website if they didn’t like the customer support. And, that is a huge percentage of buyers that you can never afford to lose in your business. E-commerce businesses should provide well-trained customer support to handle queries in a very generous way even on rough days.

    4.  Use of the most updated software
As discussed above in the example, Ocado had to pull their mobile app down due to the usage of outdated software, which resulted in their inability to handle digital orders. 
Outdated software can bring your business down or will crash out when the data reaches a certain limit and this can hamper your buyer’s confidential data.
Your customers’ data is a very important part of your business and if any mishap happens because of your digital incompetency then this will hamper your brand’s image forever.
Most of the cyber attacks happen when your software is vulnerable and can be easily hacked which can lead to a major loss and will bring your company down.
This is why using updated software will allow your business to withstand even the toughest time.

    5.  Come up with a structured plan
Planning is the most important thing to deal with in such situations. In circumstances like this where your decision not only needs to be fast but also accurate, going without a plan will be very risky for your business.
For starters, you need to focus on items that are going out of your hands so that they will be the first one to recover and give a balance to your business.
The next should be to perform a SWOT analysis of the area you are lacking. 
SWOT means research on the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threat of the chosen area.

  • In the Strength column, you will write down all the things that are under control in this area or maybe pointers defining the strengths of that area in your e-commerce store. 

Now, this will give your planning a strong backbone and will act as a base on which all the activities will be structured.

  • In the Weakness column, you should include all the struggles you are facing in this area or what are the sub-areas you want to improve. Through this, you will know what are the things your final plan will aim to improve.
  • In the Opportunities column, you have to include the various opportunities you are finding for your business which you have not yet explored. Analyzing this will help you in finding new customers after working on your strength and weakness.
  • The Threats column will be taken by all the competitors that you have in that area and you need to give your audience the reason why you are above them.

The following analysis will give your business the perfect balance and help you in dealing with all the uncertainties.

Conclusion
The Pandemic has forced people to find new ways of handling their business efficiently. If you are one of those who are struggling to keep up with the demand then these pointers might help you cross the road.
We hope this helps!
Contact App-Scoop for further details.

By App-Scoop, ago

Mistakes Enterprises Make While Outsourcing Mobile App Development

The annual Mobile App download is estimated to reach $258 Billion by 2022 and the use of mobile apps is 57% of all our daily internet usage.
This data is huge to process and every organization is aiming to build its mobile app. But, the development process is not as easy as it sounds. It requires extensive research and planning which can be a difficult task if your core activities don’t include mobile app development.
There are many big companies that have outsourced these kinds of projects to third parties. But, organizations make lots of mistakes while outsourcing. 
In this article, we are going to talk about some of those mistakes.
10 Mistakes to avoid while outsourcing Mobile App Development
#Mistake 1: Poor research
Getting on a video call or seeing wonderful and exciting PPTs made by the outsourced company is not called research.
​Everyone will show you their best side but you must go deep into finding a few things:

  • Out how a particular company performs, 
  • What is their success rate, 
  • What are the different stages that the company has assigned to fulfill your demand 
  • What is the process of its quality check 

and many more questions that can arise while selecting the outsourced company.
Proper research will help you in the long run, and you will not let you regret your decision. So, before you outsource, research about these things and then go with the one that seems satisfactory.

#Mistake 2:Choosing a company with high difference in time zones 
This might not feel that much of importance but it actually plays a very important role if you are outsourcing. 
A hiring company with a high difference in time zone might disturb the working environment and delay the deadline for your work. You will have to wait for their response every time, and this can be really hectic to manage. 
Hence, you can look for companies that run in double shifts so that neither of the parties has to compromise their valuable time. Or, you can hire one from the same country as yours or from a country with not much time difference. 
Trust me, it will help you and your employees work efficiently and maintain their mental health as well.
 
#Mistake 3:Not giving emphasis to proper communication 
If you have hired a developer who doesn’t speak or understand your language then, this will cause a lot of confusion. And instead of making the process stress free, it will make it more stressful.
This is why you should always look for companies and developers that speak and understand your language. This way, you would be able to communicate every detail of the project to the other party. 
Proper communication about the project and telling them about your vision helps the outsourcing party to work strategically and they will be able to efficiently complete your tasks before the deadline.

#Mistake 4:Trust issues with the developers 
If it’s your first time in the field of outsourcing, then it’s normal to have trust issues with the developer initially.
However, this must not persist in the long run. You need to show confidence in them, if you have fully researched and have found the company or individuals suitable to complete your task, then let them show their result. 
Besides, avoid over follow-ups with the developers. It can make the environment stressful between both parties, which you would not want to happen.

#Mistake 5:Inefficient planning 
Lack of proper planning can cause intensive dangers in the long run. Your planning should start when you decide that you want to outsource tasks.
You should be ready with your chart of “next steps” that you will do while looking for an outsourcing partner. And, even after the selection, it is necessary to make them part of your vision and what you want. 
Both parties can have cumulative planning on how they will make your vision come into reality. To make it happen, it’s better to talk to them about your expectations, the issues you are facing at present, and listen to their point of view before coming to a conclusion on how to proceed.

#Mistake 6:Constraining budget 
Excellency comes with a price and if you want to develop a mobile app then you need a developer who is experienced in its field and can understand what you are trying to say and what is the final result you are expecting.
Now, if you want to find someone who does their work that efficiently then your budget should match your expectations. Avoid choosing money over skills because an expert will bring a lot of money than you have even invested in them.
So, don’t look for ‘cheaper alternatives’; instead, go for affordable or reasonable pricing that you invest in outsourcing if you want to see the results. 

#Mistake 7:Not reviewing codes 
This is the most important point to take care of while outsourcing work for your mobile app development. Trusting the developer is OK, but you should weekly ask for codes to run so that you are all satisfied with the quality of work you are getting.
You should check the codes that have been sent and if they are working in all kinds of applications whether it’s Android or iOS. Manual codes can be reviewed for technical faults of the syntax, structure, or any other important information that’s missing. 
It will be the primary screening of the project. And static codes can run by different sources to check whether the codes are running. In case you are unable to run those codes, you can contact your app developer. It will maintain open communication between both parties and things become clearer.
​
#Mistake 8:Lack of proper feedback
Tracking progress is very crucial to provide quality work and achieving deadlines. Proper feedback is not just telling they are good or bad at their assigned task, but it’s defining the exact reasons behind your agreement or disagreement.
Mention what’s missing, and what needs to change. Pointing out things will help the outsourcing party be clear of what your expectations are and where the developers need to improve.

#Mistake 9: Not able to convey the exact requirements
Many organizations fail to convey their exact requirements to the companies they are outsourcing to. As a result, the results they expect never gets fulfilled, and they end up wasting their time and resources.
To avoid this, make a list of what you want from the app and the purpose it will solve for the people. Include the tiniest detail from the colour palettes to enabling high tech codes for your application. 
Proper communication from both sides will be very helpful in getting the result you thought of in your mind.

#Mistake 10: Not including after launch support in the contract
All the mistakes mentioned above deal with the problems before the launch of the product, but complexities can arise even after successful running of the product in the market.
Every business needs to include after delivery services when you are outsourcing such an important element in the business. It is possible that your app could get attacked by bugs, or the code isn’t working the way you wanted it to work.
Hence, always include after launch support in your contract to avoid any confusion in your project.
We hope that you now have a clear view of what mistakes you can avoid while outsourcing mobile app development, and how you can avoid them.
If you are still in double minds, look at some of the successful examples. 

Big companies that have been profited by effective outsourcing

  • Google: It is the biggest company that has been mentioned on this list. Google has been outsourcing IT services for years and has recently started with AdWords.
  • Basecamp: It is a web project management tool that helps businesses handle projects efficiently. To meet their growing demands, they outsourced the development part of the app to remote developers.
  • Opera: It was launched in 1995 as a web browser, but as the company grew many start-ups were neck-to-neck with Opera. Some parts of the app have to be outsourced to ease out some of their work.
  • WhatsApp: It is one of the most popular apps which is used worldwide and has started outsourcing their core development tasks to Russia.
  • Skype: The popularity of this app increased after they outsourced their back-end to three developers named Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, and Jaan Tallinn.

​Conclusion
The market of mobile apps is estimated to reach $586 Billion by the end of 2020, and no organization should refrain from such a diverse and fulfilling market. 
Your incapability to expand your internal team cannot be your reason to stop from connecting to your prospective customers through your mobile app, if you utilize the power of outsourcing well.
It will help you get the results you are looking for as you can work with experienced people on your applications who know your exact requirements along with all the do’s and don’ts.

By App-Scoop, ago

6 Approaches to Legacy System Modernization

The need for innovative technologies and intuitive business solutions is increasing in the digital world.
Not to mention your systems and software can make or break the deal when it comes to adapting to new challenges, business growth, and increased competitiveness.
However, you might have many legacy systems in your organization that are problematic to maintain and integrate with other systems. They may hold back your business operations relying on them.
So, do you think replacing them entirely is the best option out there? 
It’s because those systems handle some of the crucial business processes, and you would never want to just let go of them when there are other options available.
That’s where the legacy system modernization comes into the picture.
If you face some legacy challenges, first understand the problem you want to solve. Next, follow some of the approaches that I’ll be covering in this article to upgrade those systems and improve them without disrupting any internal process.
But first, understand some basic things that will help you understand the legacy modernization approaches better.
So, let’s explore!

​What are legacy systems and their examples?
A legacy system is a device, software, or any other obsolete technology that people still use today.
When a technology becomes outdated, old, and incapable of delivering the same kind of service as compared to the present technologies available around, developers refer to it as a legacy system.  

Examples of Legacy Systems
●      A voicemail system using hardware and software from the 90’s
●      Software requiring a dongle plugged-in into a parallel port in order to provide copy protection
●      Hardware used in many power plants
●      Computer with MS-DOS controlling manufacturing machines

​Issues associated  with legacy systems:
Legacy systems can slow down or block the ability of an organization to grow and adapt to the changes in present-day business dynamics. They are vulnerable to security risks and other issues related to maintenance, improvement, support, integration, and user experience.
As a result, operational efficiency decreases in addition to the risk of online attacks that can lead to huge business losses in terms of money, fame, and customers.
This is why you need the legacy system modernization, which is the next point of discussion in this article. 

What’s legacy system modernization?
Simply put, the legacy system modernization refers to updating and/or replacing inefficient or outdated systems, applications, or processes in your current IT stack, either completely or partially. This is done to support your processes and business goals.
The market size of application modernization services is projected to grow from $11.4 billion to $24.8 billion during 2020-2025, says this report.
To drive innovation into your business, you need new and efficient technologies that can cater to real-world challenges. You need fast systems and applications that can support your platforms, connectivity, and integration to optimize business operations. 

Benefits of modernizing legacy systems:
Legacy system modernization is not a mandatory process for all organizations. However, you may require some sort of modification or update in order to increase efficiencies and meet the expectations of your stakeholders as well as customers.
It can bring the following benefits:

●         Enhanced business agility due to flexible applications, well-managed databases, better codes, and higher scalability. Hence, you can serve your customers better.
●      Improved team performance and productivity with fast systems and applications that reduce lag time. You can move your systems to the cloud to automate everyday activities as well.
●      Sturdy security using new-age technologies that mitigate online threats like advanced firewalls, suspend brute force attacks, stronger password management, and more.
●      Cost reduction as a modern system lets you re-architect legacy codes using an open-source programming language.
You can also automate manual tasks, repurpose codes, optimize business operations, and utilize cloud commuting to further reduce cost. Maintenance and diagnosing issues also become easy and less costly. 
●      Better customer experience by automating manual processes, launching new offerings, fixing issues sooner, and assisting them faster.  

How to prepare for it?
If you have understood the significance of legacy system modernization, the next thing is to prepare for it in advance.
For that matter, requirements differ from one organization to another. This is the reason why you should have a plan which makes it easy to adopt a strong strategy. You can prepare for legacy modernization by:

●      Defining the exact goal behind modernization by understanding your issues with the technology, functionality, or other aspects of a system or application
●     Measuring the present state of your systems by inspecting the performance, end-user experience, and their impact over your business
●      Selecting a sustainable modernization approach that can resolve your issues
But how are you planning to do that?
Let’s figure out how!

6 approaches for legacy system modernization

Re-platforming When a system or any of its components gets migrated to another platform, you can call the process as re-platforming. It involves minimal modifications to its codes in order to adapt the system to the fresh platform.
Here, the basic code structure, functionalities, and features of the systems stay the same. It is done just to switch the systems to a more advanced platform.
Once it is complete, you are allowed to run several tests in order to derive essential analytics showing the specific codes needed for re-scripting or re-compiling. 

Rehosting This process requires you to redeploy a system to another virtual, physical, or even cloud infrastructure for that matter.
In this scenario, the application codes are unaltered and uncompiled without modifying its functionalities and features. Rehosting leaves very few or no impact over the system’s business logic. It is faster, cost-efficient, and involves lower risk.

Re-architecting Re-architecting is the process of shifting a legacy system to a new and better architecture so that you can explore its best capabilities. Here, you need to modify the system codes based on the model of microservices that you can build, manage, and deploy independently.
This process includes technologies such as JPlaton, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and more. It gives you improved business agility plus a faster way to market your offerings

Refactoring In this approach of performing legacy system modernization, optimization and restructuring of the existing code take place. It does not involve any modifications in its external behavior.
This process helps improve the functionalities as well as the features of a component minus technical debts. Hence, if you re-code some parts of an application, you can maximize operational cost-efficiency and take significant benefits of the features native to the cloud.

Rewriting Rewriting includes both redesigning and rebuilding an application as a whole or some of its components from scratch. However, the process preserves the applications’ specifications and scope.
It helps you address the unique challenges that present-day businesses face. The process provides fast developing times, customized network protocols, and ensures better security by leveraging advanced coding techniques.

Replacing The final approach to modernizing a legacy system is by replacing it. Because sometimes it’s best to replace a system with another one instead of investing in modernization.
It involves the removal of the existing system and then replacing it with a new one. In the process, you need to take new specifications and requirements in addition to the customer expectations associated with the system or an application.
The technologies utilized to perform the replacement include a Low Code BPM interface with a SaaS or Software-as-a-Service solution. It also accelerates developing times, security, and lets you utilize the system’s better capabilities.  

Case Studies:
Let’s now look at some of the successful real-life stories where many organizations have leveraged legacy system modernization to achieve benefits.

●      The IT giant, Infosys, modernized the enrollment and eligibility system for the DC or District of Columbia into an integrated and modern system. This system supports a wide-ranging social and health programs, including Food & Cash assistance as well as MAGI Medicaid. It increased the productivity of workers and provided a single access point to multiple human and health service programs for the citizens of DC.
●      Infosys also helped a multinational logistics and transportation company to re-engineer their mainframe applications which consumed around 3M lines of code upon 110 interfaces designated for 6,000 users in 92 countries. They transformed their legacy applications into an API-based, scalable Java architecture capable of helping faster, modern, and future-proof systems.

Conclusion
Legacy system modernization, indeed, is a complex process that requires time and serious efforts with a hint of certain risks involved. However, if it is done right; the results you can achieve are well worth it.  
Thus, instead of using the same legacy systems that deteriorate your organizational efficiency and impact your revenue, leverage legacy system modernization techniques based on your needs.
This way, you can meet your customers’ expectations, accelerate your operations, and keep running a profitable business. ​

By App-Scoop, ago

Why Contribute to Open Source Software (OSS)?

Open Source is a technological magic-land where all organisations can contribute their work to collaborate or share with other companies. According to the 2018, Open Source Program Management Survey, approximately 53% of the people surveyed stated that their organisation has an open source software program or has plans to establish one within a year.
Picture

Image Source: https://chelseatroy.com/2018/02/15/contributing-to-open-source/

Reasons Contributing to OSS
​
There are three major reasons that help in contributing to the OSS – selling complimentary services, building greater innovative capability and reduction of cost through open sourcing to an external community. They are usually also explained as extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, and internalized extrinsic motivation. ​

Commercials
Money is as an extrinsic motivator. During research, a few big projects had a significant number of contributors whose companies had paid them to work on open source. Signalling their talent to potential employers, they published their software free for all to inspect.
Free software was primarily an ideological statement at first, even if user control also had an important practical side; several researchers have found support for ideological motives in developer surveys.

Effective Communication
Another reason to contribute is effective communication. If the developers are working on an OSS, they are able to receive feedback, ask correct questions and collaborate with other developers constantly to solve issues faster and more efficiently.
Apart from this, effective communication also can help you learn new things that you didn’t know before. Constantly learning and adapting to changes will help you to revise or makes changes in your application while building it or in the long run.

Career Advantages and Peer Recognition
While contributing to the OSS, there has been significant empirical evidence that people’s career has taken a boost. Developing code and making it available for others to see and work with can open career avenues like never before. Big companies are always on the lookout for talented developers and what better place to showcase your talents than the OSS.
Also, one of the internalized extrinsic motivators is peer recognition. Your reputation among your peers can be a source of your own pride, but it also signals your talent to community insiders.

“Own-Use Value”
Another motivator is what researchers call “own-use value” but is more recognizably described as something like “scratch your own itch”. Here, the developer develops something for himself or herself, and in the process, creates something that is valuable to others. While doing that on the OSS, it increases their chances of getting a potential future opportunity.

Reduces Development Costs
Open source contribution is a huge help to reduce development costs in organisations. Open source contributors give the organisation to take ideas, suggestions and help from experts outside of their own team. This reduces their development costs because they get access to work done by other developers. Most times the pointers are better than the ones in the organisation.

Wrapping It Up

OSS helps to make the technical world a better place by sharing their knowledge on a public platform. Even by fixing minor bug in a library or writing a piece of documentation, it helps other developers to maintain or write code. It also gives these coders a recognition among the community, and they also have personal development in terms of sharpening their programming skills.
If you are a newbie programmer with one year of programming education, contributing to an Open Source project can help you learn to program faster and give you more visibility as a developer.
Contact App-Scoop  for more information.

By App-Scoop, ago