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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When a technology becomes outdated, old, and incapable of delivering the same kind of service as compared to the present technologies available around, developers refer to it as a legacy system.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. ​

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.

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.

As customers we’ve been spoilt for choices. Convenience is one of the top reasons why the e-commerce market is successful. Apart from the e-commerce markets, on-demand food delivery apps have also carved a niche in the market. These apps have further created a stir in the market due to the Corona outbreak and the lockdown situation.
So, what are on-demand delivery applications?

On-demand applications, a model that has been popularised by Uber, is utilized in various domains – ranging from groceries to healthcare. Some of the examples include:

• Glamsquad delivers professional hair and makeup artists.
• Soothe sends a massage therapist home within an hour.
• Chime connects babysitters and parents on Saturday night.
• Urbanclap sends househelp home in a matter of hours.

On-demand apps are being made like hot cakes for different services. Do you wish to build such an app on Android or iOS platforms or both? How much does it cost? Let’s find out! ​​

How Does an On-Demand Service App Work?

​Before beginning to create an app, we must understand the basic process of how it will work.

• First step is that a service provider will lists his/her set of skills and expertise via a vendor account.
• Then, a buyer will request the details of the service he/she wants.
• The service provider will display the details of the service to the buyer and a communication begins with the help of the in-built messenger in the app.
• If the buyer decides to opt for the service, he/she will pay for it with the help of an in-built payment gateway.
• Lastly, once the service is used the buyer will update a review to rate the service provider.

Characteristics for On-demand Delivery Marketplaces

Now, when the buyer logs into the app to request for a service, it should be easy for them to use an app – basically, the app needs to be intuitive and not too complex. Let’s take a look at some of the characteristics that are needed for an on-demand delivery app.

• Easy to navigate
• Quick delivery of products/services
• Freelancers providing or selling services
• Easy payment method
• Competitive pricing
• Rating system
• Special offers/Promo codes

Types of On-Demand Service Apps
There are three types of on-demand service apps for end users.

Business to Customer (B2C)
This is the most common category, where the app provides service directly to the customer. Some examples include, Uber, Zomato, Booking.com, Netflix, etc.

Business to Business (B2B)
This type of service is when two organizations connect in order to make a profit. They include transportation services, banking, etc. Some examples include, Catalant, Eventio, and Cargomatic.

Customer to Customer (C2C)
Lastly, we have apps that cater services that one customer offers to the other customer – basically, it helps connecting two customers, the one who wants a service to the one who provides that service. Some examples include, Rover (dog walking app) or Airbnb (renting a flat).

How to Build an On-Demand Service Mobile App: Essential Features

So, now let’s understand how to build an app for connecting buyers and sellers – it will consist of three parts:
App for buyers: Here, consumers can search for services that they need, see reviews, pricing and track orders.

App for service providers: This is where the companies list their services and create a communication network with clients.

Admin panel: Allows you to group the services and providers, manage the data, track payments and allows the user to access the app.

Estimating the App Cost 
To begin understanding the cost estimation of app, it is necessary to understand the process of development itself. It is easy to generate a cost estimate for the entire project, once you understand the tasks involved and how long they take. Let’s take a look at some important aspects that help us decide:
Timeline

• App design timeline
• App development timeline
• Backend development
• Frontend development

The Team Working on the App

• UI/UX designer
• Android/iOS developer
• Backend developer
• Business analyst
• QA engineer
• Project manager

Key On-Demand App Features

• Signing up
• Generating orders
• Scheduling deliveries
• Tracking deliveries on a map
• Paying for deliveries
• Rating or providing feedback on deliveries
• Product search
• Shopping cart
• Wishlist
• Real-time messaging or calls
• Account settings
• Notifications
• Order history

On-Demand App Development Cost
A simple single platform on-demand application will have a costing of around $30,000 which is quite reasonable compared to service apps such as, ecommerce or social networking. For more complex projects, such as adding the rating and reviews option, referrals, promo codes, special offers, payments, mobile wallets or incorporating different user roles, the costs will vary.
The two critical factors that affect cost are design and functionality. Paying for good app design, especially where the app is intended for widespread circulation should be therefore, considered an investment. The functionality of apps can be categorized into standalone, database dependent apps, web-based apps, games and productivity apps. Server-based apps and those involving complex user interactions are sure to cost more than the other apps. Android and iOS are compatible on-demand delivery apps will vary slightly in terms of cost – testing as well as launching it into the market.

Some of the Time-Consuming Features of App Development

• Admin panel – 150 hours on average
• Delivery status – 110 hours on average
• Payment processing – 80 hours on average
• Push notifications – 48 hours on average
• Booking delivery – 120 hours on average  

Total costs for the development of an on-demand delivery app = Total hours spent on developing the app X Vendor rate

How to Minimize Transport and Delivery Costs

There are a few tricks that will help you to minimize costs while create an on-demand delivery app. All it takes is some deliberate planning to develop an operation schedule that will minimize costs – once the app is operationalized, several steps can be accomplished. 

Route Synchronization
Many app companies gather orders of a particular area and then dispatch them together. This way the company saves significantly on the delivery costs as opposed to drivers handling each order – this business model allows them to earn about 20% of each order amount. For example, companies like Roadie and Hitch capitalizes on route synchronization.

Restricting the Delivery Radius
You can minimize company costs by putting restrictions in place for the delivery radius. Couriers are only allowed to deliver within a certain radius, thereby cutting on the cost of fuel and the wear and tear of the vehicle. For example, Deliv restricts its couriers to a radius of 15 miles.

Using Energy-Efficient Transport Systems
Another great way of cutting back on delivery costs is to use energy-efficient transport vehicles such as bikes. Bikes are an excellent delivery option to deliver small packages. For instance, Zomato used bikes or scooters to deliver orders to customers. Also, it is easier to find an independent delivery person on a lookout to make quick money.

Wrapping It Up
Easy to access and use, on-demand applications are quite an interesting and profitable ventures to further work on. People will always need to get things done, and with the current rhythm of life, on-demand services may eventually become, if not already, a complete on-demand economy. To achieve this, contact App-Scoop team now! 

Movement is life, but we were asked to stay home!

With the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic and with no clear solution in sight; these are challenging times. Every company across all sectors have had to made difficult choices in order to maintain and preserve business continuity. Many parts of the globe were directed into a lockdown to avoid movement of people in order to contain the spread of this novel virus. Borders were closed, airspace was closed to civilian population and people were asked to self-quarantine in their own homes.

For many companies, Business Continuity Plans (BCP) kicked into action which are usually reserved for breakdowns, natural calamities, terrorist attacks, etc. but not necessarily for a situation of this scale and magnitude. Not every company has a robust IT setup or the hardware infrastructure to support a Work from Home (WFH) for their entire workforce or even client requirements for on-field work.
This makes it a priority to support remote working, self-serve applications on a large scale with a working strategy. We must also keep in mind the current load on the information technology infrastructure with added security and communication infrastructure towards a seamless experience.
​
Work from Home (WFH) or Remote-working
The first function of any Business Continuity Plan when it kicks in, is to ensure the safety of the workforce, to ensure that they have reached home or a safe place and are away from danger.

In this world of instant connectivity via phones, internet, e-mail and messaging apps, work can also be transposed from workplace to home.

• Workers are already provided with a work phone and a laptop in many cases.
• Bit-Locker Pins are allowing converting a personal laptop to enable logging in to the company intranet and access files and folders used for work.
• VPN and cloud-based services ensure continuity.
• It is also a means to flexibility in a work schedule for different types of workers inclusive of global talent.

This could also usher in a new age of WFH professionals reducing the burden on public transport systems and reduction in office leases. Only time will tell.

Self-Serving Apps

The many tools in one, approach of the smartphone has given rise to various apps which control and make easy different aspects of our life from healthcare, banking, travel, food, education and many other sectors.

• With this current pandemic, doctors are using this technology to monitor and track progress of the suspected patients and control their movements in terms of quarantine facilities.
• Food and grocery distribution is being made easy through food apps which usually deliver readymade food from restaurants and have shifted to providing basic groceries to sustain families.

​Communication Strategies: Staying in Touch with Your Employees

In this digital world, you can use chatrooms and online meeting tools, using video conference software, such as Google Duo, Facetime, Zoom, etc.
It maintains deeper connectivity as you can see the person face to face, in front of you helping you to gauge a response to a question, detect moods and capture full attention of the person. It can also be mental boost, an event to look forward to, where everyone can brainstorm once in a while, and put across points and observations. It allows everyone to be connected at a scale-level and does not making anyone feel left-out or isolated. Everyone gets to be seen and heard.

The education sector too can use eLearning and conduct visual classroom training through apps like Zoom. It allows the children to see their teacher and learn from the comfort of their homes. Learning should never stop.

Monitor Supply Chain

COVID-19 has widespread global ramifications in terms of financial and economic factors. It has laid bare the shocks felt to supply chains for raw materials, as well as finished products with disruptions on a large-scale and our natural human instinct to fear and panic. Even though the era has made technological advancements and solutions, we are still underprepared and unaware in many aspects.
The disruption being faced by businesses is not natural or intentional; and essentially leads us to a collapse and further steers us towards devastation. If not monitored, transportation and warehousing will definitely take a hit but various other routes and facilities can be marked for usability and continuity.
Since, the demand impact is greater than supply, due to fear and social distancing people lead to panic buying. This impact can be taken care of by rationing goods and through clear-cut directives from authorities towards buying of essential supplies.

Keeping Pace with Mobility

Now, that the current scenario has shown us the way forward, mobility can be useful and also sustainable for the way forward. But this comes with its own set of challenges.
What seemed impossible or was held up due to lack of requirement, can now be worked upon with strength and understanding towards any future uncertainty. This will act as a milestone and a stepping stone to future proof the needs, challenges and offerings due to mobility.
Low speed internet connections have helped in carrying the weight in rural areas or places with connectivity issues. Apps which have helped getting the job done even on a 2G connection have been hailed as winners, but not for long as it tends to frustrate the user due to slow and choppy networks. All apps will need to adapt the scalability model of testing to ensure a future oriented approach. The user perception will lean towards speed and durability, security and performance.

Conclusion: Prevention-Detection-Response
​
As the ball has been set rolling, Companies will need to integrate current learnings and improve on current responses, practices and strategies in terms of adequacy and effectiveness.

• Ensuring a robust framework for managing employees and work in times of distress
• Financing and cashflow systems and their back-ups
• IT and communication infrastructure and their evolving nature; cloud backups and virtual networks, digital storage and data security. This push towards an upwardly mobile workspace and work ethic will be a game changer in the years to come.
• Evolved thinking in terms of traditional assets, capital, cash flows, income, expenses, customers and competitors.
• Insurance policies and coverage will change dramatically; things which were not so important will be brought into focus.

For any technical support during the COVID-19 #coronatimes, you can contact the App Scoop Team to give you the most strategic solutions. 

​Up until 2020, technological advancements were made at their own pace – it wasn’t a necessity but a luxury. But then the dynamics of the world changed! The new normal in a COVID-19 world demanded that we push our technology expertise to the maximum, in order to survive through this calamity safely.

We need to understand that the coronavirus is transferred from one human to another by either direct contact or indirect contact. Direct contact involves hugging, shaking hands, talking too closely, etc. with a positive patient whereas, indirect contact is touching objects like metals, steel, plastic, etc. touched by a positive patient. As per studies, the coronavirus thrives on objects for a span of more than 4 hours.
​
Hence, the earliest directives to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus was to avoid touching the eyes, nose and mouth after touching an object in a public space and to keep using a hand sanitizer to kill the germs. We mindlessly touch the door knob, the lift button, table surfaces, cars, the toilet and many other things – or else how do you get by during the day. Well, this novel problem requires a novel solution – Touchless Technology.

​Touchless Access

We all require a secure access to various buildings. Let’s take a look at the areas that require contact and replace them with touchless technology.
Opening the door physically can be changed to auto doors (a feature that already exists in the market since decades). New York City especially needs to get rid of the rotating door system and replace it with automatic glass sliders. 
To using the elevator to go to your desired floor – you would need to touch the lift button. This can be replaced with voice or infrared sensor technology. Lift maker, Fujitec on April 1, launched the ‘elevators of enhanced public hygiene’. This model includes an add-on contactless panel feature that taps infrared sensor technology to detect the person’s destination floor when they hover their hands over the dashboard.
It also comes with basic functions like a congestion indicator that displays how congested the elevator is to consider social distancing and anti-bacterial lift buttons. Voice sensor elevators requires people to announce the floor they wish to go to and the sensor will light up the button on the lift.  
Another start-up in San Francisco, Proxy, has devised a technology that allows people to check in at buildings and doctors’ offices. Further, the person can sign on to computers using a Bluetooth signal, all without touching a screen or even taking the phone out of their pocket. Another firm with ongoing field trials is NEC, which in March 2020, at its headquarters in Tokyo, installed security gates that do not require people to remove their masks or sunglasses – and hence, touch their faces.
Another touchless facility to maintain hygiene is obviously the bathroom. The company, Kohler has reported a surge in sales of touchless faucets and toilets to residential customers. The sale of “intelligent toilets,” which are equipped with bidets and toilet seats that open and close automatically, increased eightfold during the first two weeks of March compared with the same period a year earlier. Also, public bathrooms should have automated faucets and soap dispensers, and self-flushing toilets.

Touchless Security Features

Many people have been buying hands-free lock for their homes to avoid spreading germs on door knobs or surfaces. The President of Yale Locks, Mr Williams stated that the sale of touchless Bluetooth enabled locks are up after the novel coronavirus announced itself and is projected to be tripled compared to the 2019 and first half of 2020. These locks will not move the door; the door lever incorporated in the lock can be pushed open with an elbow or a hip.
Reference Source: https://www.theinformation.com/articles/coronavirus-spurs-demand-for-touchless-technology?unlock=96c72f4de715f542

Another security feature such as fingerprint authentication at workplaces, police stations or jail needs to be replaced by touchless technology. People using biometric security are exposing themselves to greater risks during an uncertain time. Facial recognition is a much safer option for organisations worried about the cleanliness of shared fingerprint scanners. This solution can be integrated into any mobile platform, and its step-down technology can even recognize people wearing surgical masks.

Going Touchless in Hospitals

Technological advancements related to testing and patient data collation in real-time basis have helped in early detection and timely procedure assignment. Robots and AI technology have helped to avoid physical contact in extreme cases and taking test samples with reduced error. Educational institutions, schools, colleges are moving online to provide ongoing learning opportunities as physical classrooms shut down. Doctors, specialists, medical practitioners and even retired medical professionals across the spectrum of medicine and human health were willing to serve and use online courses and reviews to enhance learning of symptoms and procedures and create a pooled resource of a strengthened workforce.

Service Industry Goes Touchless

There have been convenience stores in Japan that do not have checkout counters. Further, Japan plans to commercialise the multi-biometric authentication technology which will include age verification systems so that products like alcohol and tobacco can still be sold in such stores.
Similarly, the travel industry will start eliminating walk-in customer services and instead have call centres set up to assist customers online. Online customer services will be enabled to perform all functions through their system or the customer will be able to manage their booking online. All types of payment will be enabled through electronic payment. Further, at airports, Artificial Intelligence will be used to refer to the exposed part of a face against a database of registered images for facial recognition of the passenger.
In the year 2019 due to Japan’s manpower shortage a sensor-based tabletop restaurant menu was designed by Toshiba Tec was developed. This type of touchless technology can be adapted at this time; where menu items, in their actual serving size, are projected directly onto the table, and orders taken via sensors. Further, the cooking process can be shown on the screen while the customers are waiting.

Contactless Payment

Even though liquid cash has been replaced by plastic money, transactions initiated by a tap with a credit card or the wave of a phone often require customers to punch in a pin code or sign a screen or a paper receipt to complete the sale, as a protection against fraud. This needs to change by paying via apps such as WeChat, PayZapp, Alipay, etc. that don’t force patrons to touch a shared surface.

Wrapping It Up
​
Japan owns about half the global market share in the sensors market, and Covid-19 has given contactless technology and coerced companies to make a leap headlong into advancing solutions for touchless technology. The Motion Sensor Market forecast to grow from USD 1.9 billion in 2016 to USD 2.6 billion by 2023, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.9% during the forecast period (2019–2025).
The major factors that are expected to be driving the market are rising demand for automation in material handling across industries, growing medical automation for reproducibility and accuracy, emerging e-commerce industry, and enhanced productivity enabled by improved supply chain processes.

​Reference Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/Motion-Sensor-Market-614.html

An app development framework that is making a strong impact in the market is a software development kit named Flutter. Flutter is a part of Google’s long-term vision in creative expressivity for design, design tools involved, it defines the true meaning of using a few lines of codes in numerous ways platform for interactive content. Mr Matias Duarte, Google, VP of Design has tweeted:
“Google is committed to making our digital worlds more usable, beautiful, delightful. Not just for ourselves, but Google wants to help you bring the worlds of your imagination to digital reality.”

​What is Flutter?
​
Flutter is an open-source mobile application development SDK (Software Development Kit) created by Google. It can be used to develop high performance, high fidelity hybrid applications for mobile devices, tablets running operating systems such as Android and iOS, it is more importantly the primary method of creating applications for Google Fuchsia which is also open source. The keyword here being “open source software” for which the original source code is made freely available.
​
It is Google’s first portable UI platform or toolkit for designers, developers and creative coders to building aesthetic, natively compiled, easy access applications and digital content across all platforms, be it mobile phones, smart watches, car systems, web applications, tablets, televisions and desktop/ laptop  from an original single codebase for an ambient computing world. It enables smooth and easy cross-platform mobile app development for Android and iOS platforms; all you need is a single code base and ability for performance on any device or platform.
 
Flutter’s Framework Architecture

Flutter is free and open-source (original source code is made freely available). The basis of which is Dart (a programming language which is fast and focus oriented, tart like a dart. Flutter apps provide a look and aesthetic feel without compromising on ease of access, navigation and developers own custom app design. This means you can choose what you want to see regardless of platform or device limitations.
Let us see what the framework comprises of to begin with:

Dart Platform
Flutter apps are written in the Dart language. They make use of “many of the language’s more advanced features running on just-in-time execution engine”. Fast developer experience is what each one is looking for without compromising the quality.

The Power of Flutter, It’s Engine
Flutter’s engine is primarily written in C++. It provides a low-level rendering support using Google’s Skia graphics library. The Flutter Framework gives access to a new, responsive framework with a varied set of platforms, track layout and foundation of building new and optimised widgets. Google Fonts is also available on Flutter. Can you imagine 34 Trillion fonts to start with?

Basis of the Foundation Library
The Foundation library in Dart, provides backward compatibility in order to supporting future designs and functions. APIs and numerous interfaces to communicate with the primary engine. It’s a “build as you grow approach” which makes it stand out easy and ergonomically.

The Motto is Simple- Everything is a Widget
Flutter has an in-depth collection of visually appealing, structurally balanced, interactive library of widgets. This feature enables developers to build UIs (User Interfaces) more quickly and easily.
Also do not forget, most UI is basically text; WYSIWYG is an acronym for “what you see is what you get.” But more than the seeing part of it, Flutter is all about the feel, aesthetic, design part of it. It allows updated code assimilation into ongoing Dart Virtual Machine, enabling quick reflection of the Accessibility, Basics, Material Components and Interaction Models in line with styling and text.

Benefits of Flutter
Now, let’s take a look at some of the advantages that mobile app owners obtain by using Flutter for their app.  

Multi-Paradigm Programming Architecture
Essentially, Flutter follows a multi-paradigm programming architecture (Functional, Event driven, Reactive, Imperative, Declarative, etc.) where the UI contents are updated automatically when the variables in the code are updated speeding up time considerably.

Editing
You can change the logos, buttons, each and every pixel on screen can be controlled, changed, tweaked, replaced in real time basis. 
 
Faster Code Writing
For developers, Flutter presents the opportunity for faster and more dynamic app development. Keeping in mind, simplicity to make changes into the code and reflecting as you type in real time basis. Google calls it Hot reload. It gives developers the freedom to add new features and fix bugs in a ‘type as we speak and see as you type’ manner. With added speed and flexibility, an app can take 2-3 months starting from scratch and every step can be visualised like walking with a flashlight in the dark.

Flexible Framework
The framework is extremely flexible from the word go, as it offers a library of scalable widgets that incorporates dynamism for the developer’s advantage. Developers can tap into their artistic side for app designs with ease.

Two Platforms One Effort
Only one codebase is written by the developers for both, Android and iOS platform – the same app can be deployed on two platforms.

Testing
Since Flutter can be deployed on both platforms, the effort for testing also reduces. Quality Assurance will need to do less work as they have only one app to check.

Flutter in 2020 and Beyond – How is Flutter Going to Evolve?
How many of you care about your app size? Developers, users, anyone?  If you remember the term used at the start (hint: Less is more), we do care about giving away our storage capacity across devices. Flutter enables you to save space and time.
Flutter makes it a cakewalk for app development and allows developers to focus more on the user and less on the device. It enables team contribution as it is open source it is bound to grow every single minute of so many developers, engineers and artists across the paradigm contributing to Flutter. Beautiful, Fast, Open, Productive are the four pillars of Flutter. Google plans to invest more in terms of control, performance and fidelity.

Flutter allows you to attach wings to your imagination. Flutter is the canvas on which designers, developers can let their ideas, colours and thoughts flow to create an artistic digital masterpiece, every day. If you wish to understand Flutter better or deploy it in a mobile app, you can contact the App Scoop Vancouver Mobile App Development Team.

​Most companies in the business world are taking a leap towards imbibing a digital strategy for their company. In these competitive times, it is difficult to stand out and get noticed. But don’t worry, the super power of the internet will help you carry out a competitive analysis that can help you pace ahead of your competitor’s digital marketing strategy. Let’s go through a step-by-step process on how to build your digital strategy. 

Identify Your Competitor’s
​
The first step that you need to do is identify who your competitors are on a granular and general level.
General level of identifying is to see the ranking of your competitor’s on Google. Different brands position themselves differently and have different keywords that they use – for example, ‘influencer marketing’ will rank different than ‘marketing gurus’, etc. You need to identify the key word, in this case, ‘marketing’; so that you can understand the industry’s sub-sectors and major players that fall within them.
Granular level of identifying is to explore more about competitor’s in your industry and checking up on how your digital strategies are compared to theirs. You need to note things like where they are driving traffic from, top sources of referring traffic and your competitor’s competitor. 
“SimilarWeb can be used as a Chrome plugin that will give you a website’s traffic and engagement statistics. You can see the sources that are bringing users to that site. You can also see direct competitors by choosing your industry, and find the list of websites that are getting the most traffic.”

Conduct a Competitor Audit

One of the key components of creating a digital strategy is to mark the competitor’s online presence against your own. This doesn’t mean that you need to check the number of followers or likes; but to note the following points:

• Type of content created
• Time-frame within which the content is shared
• Type of content that has the most likes, shares and commented on
• Number of videos and images shared v/s content posts
• Social media influencers following them
• Number of networks that they are active on – for example, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc.

Plot Your End Goals
After doing a competitive audit, the next step is to plot your end goals to save your time, man power and money. The question that you need to ask yourself is, “what is the burning question that I need an answer to while auditing my competitor’s digital strategy?” This will help you gain valuable insight from a competitor’s marketing campaign or SEO results. It could also help you determine on how to market your company’s USP (Unique Selling Proposition) and attract customers.
You can either note down the goals and make them SMART or write a SWOT analysis – this will help you determine your end goal with complete certainty.

Develop a Better USP
As we’ve discussed in the earlier point, it is important to develop a USP to attract your customer’s attention to gain a larger market share in the industry. A good USP helps improve branding and building trust. Using the customer’s psychological response, you can turn random traffic users into loyal customers, persuade people to buy your products by creating a unique heading, posting pictures or a short video to grab their eyeballs, or encourage people to share your content and website.

Using Competitive Audit Tools

SEMrush: The tool offers reliable, LIVE data on organic keywords, competitors’ URLS and real-time traffic.
Quick Sprout: An SEO tool that analyses up to 3 competitors’ sites and reveals what internal factors improve so as to get more organic traffic and rankings.
Ahrefs: It is a backlink research tool that searches the web by picking up your backlinks and the exact anchor text used. It helps you to find out where your competitors get inbound links and to improve your corporate governance.
Alexa: This intelligence tool will help you to reveal audience demographics and site rank in specified countries.
Open Site Explorer: This tool reveals the Domain Authority and Page Authority of a particular domain name and is great for backlink research and analysis.
Open Link Profiler: This tool will help you determine the industry and influence a particular competitor, as well as the exact number of active backlinks.
Majestic: This tool will help you source backlinks and referring IP domain names for a given site URL.
Google Keyword Planner: This is the number tool for keyword research tool.
Buzzsumo: Check how popular a particular keyword or URL is in the social space or how many times the user has shared your post.

​Run a Complete SEO Audit
Another to do strategy is to run a detailed SEO audit that includes the following information:

• Title tags, meta descriptions, URLs, headings, etc.
• Anchor text used for internal linking
• Conducting redirect audits
• Robots.txt file functionality
• Duplicate content and URLs that need rewriting
• Broken links and link-cleaning
• Image file sizes and alt text on a particular page
• Google Analytics code

​To Conclude

Competitive auditing works wonders if done correctly. The main goal is to not blindly copy their strategies or strategize your social media marketing based on their followers; it is to create digital marketing strategies that are best for your company or product. You’ll not only need to keep in mind your competitor’s strengths but also be able to point out their weaknesses and not repeat their mistakes.
The ideal way to ensure that your digital strategy works is to engage with your own customers and note their likes, dislikes or wants from your products. If you can use digital strategy to convert your current customers to loyal customers – then gaining new customers is just a matter of time.
Increasing page authority, creating inbound links and concentrating on social media are some of the few key components that make your digital marketing a success.
If you need more help in auditing your competitor’s digital marketing strategy, you can contact the App Scoop Team for assistance. 
​

Humans spend around 8 to 10 hours a day interacting with computer screens, and other smart devices. Technology has entered our daily lives and are often replacing human interaction. But users still expect a human and personal touch in technological devices. Hence, the challenge for most UX designers is to turn something impersonal to personal – no one wants to deal with a robotic robot. It is very difficult to gain loyal users especially when it comes to apps because there are so many competitors in the market offering the same service with more perks.
So, what is the best way to help users engage with your app? – it is by giving it a personal touch, i.e. creating a user persona for the app.

What is User Persona? ​

A user persona means creating a personality for an app based on the target audience. It is framed by researching the needs and goals of the users and by observing the behavioural patterns of the user – basically the person creating the app needs to get into the mind of the app audience. Ideally, it is done by developing a storyline by creating hypothetical user scenarios.

Creating a User Persona
User personas should be drafted keeping into account the real data collected during the user research phase. Let’s take an example of a grocery shopping app and create a user persona:

• Get a group of potential users who would use a grocery shopping app – either interview them or observe them
• Look for patterns in their behaviour, responses, actions and group the people that display similar patterns together
• Based on these groups create stereotypical characters of people
• Build user personas based on each group by drawing out details of context, behaviour, need, etc.

Now, based on the above criteria points, it is advisable to create nothing more than 4 user personas. In the case of building a grocery shopping app; you could create 4 user personas, viz.

• Housewives
• Young single adult living in a new city
• Married couple
• Office going men and women

​The description for each of these user personas, should be drafted by using the following points:

• Name, age and gender
• A photograph
• Description of what the person does in real life; in this case housemaker, office-going, etc.
• Experience in using a certain app – in this case, a grocery app; here a housemaker will look for best deals to feed a family, young single adult will look at small potions, etc.
• User’s goals for using the product; in this case, quick delivery, less hassle of picking up grocery bags, saving time, etc.
• A quote that will help describe the persona’s attitude for using the app

Creating User Persona for UX Design 
While creating the user persona for an app, the designers need to understand how a persona will act while interacting with the app. Also, sharing the final user personas with the entire product team is extremely important to the app project as a whole. Stakeholders also need to internalize the user personas to find value in them and create a product accordingly. As the team builds an association with the user personas, they will automatically start thinking and speaking of them as real entities.
The importance of user personas for UX design allows UX designers to empathize with the user’s target audience, avoids false consensus effect and creates a solid core that helps them create a good design for the app.
To cut the long story short – UX designers need to put themselves in the shoes of the user personas that they’ve created in order to create an app that has a personal human touch. They can thus, share a similar perspective to the user and identify with the end-user of the product.

​Tracking User Personas After Releasing the App

After the release of the app in the market, it is ideal to check if the user personas that you’ve used to create the app are creating an impact with the user base. There are two ways that this can be tracked by using:

1. Behavioural Analysis Matrix
2. User Analytic Tools

Behavioural Analysis Matrix
A traditional performance manager continues to build for a user persona or the ideal user, while a behavioural performance manager’s decision is based on actual user behaviour. Although, user personas are built after intensive and thorough research, it doesn’t guarantee that the user behaviour doesn’t change in the long run concerning the app. Hence, combining the user persona and behavioural goals with Behavioural Analysis Matrix is a recommended approach, once the app has been released in the market and is being used by real users.

User Analytic Tools
In 2020, it is relatively easier to learn and observe from visual app session data by using User Analytic Tools to view the history of interaction for any particular user or group of users. You can keep a track on not only how users behave in your app, but also filter behavioural moments based on the scenarios that you wish to analyse further. All of this information can be pulled up in a matter of seconds.

In Summary
Creating user personas for your app brings generic group of users to life, so that the product teams can identify with them on a personal level. With the help of empathy, user personas improve the quality and efficiency of design work. Additionally, targeting a specific set of users will yield higher download rates and more importantly, creates a loyal user base that maintains in-app engagement over time.
If you wish to create a storyline for your app and create user personas to help people connect to the app, you can contact the App Scoop Vancouver Mobile App Developers and app development team.    

​Here at App-Scoop, we are committed to providing the best mobile development services for our clients. You can promote your business successfully with our development projects that will escalate the outreach and efficiency of your company. We work with you to formulate a customized framework that follows our values of integrity, excellence, collaboration, and pursuit of excellence. It is our honor to be recognized by Clutch as an Industry Leader in Canada within the Development Industry.

​You can also find us on Clutch’s sister sites, The Manifest and Visual Objects. The Manifest allows for the intersection of quality design work and expert-based advice to meet. Visual Objects, on the other hand, recognizes quality work through the means of portfolios.
 
Software development can be integral to the success of a company. We understand its importance but also the individualized needs of every company, and want to integrate those goals with our experience to create the best for you. If you are interested in working with us, please contact us!

John wanted to watch a tennis match in the afternoon, but his boss wouldn’t allow him to take a half day. Susan wanted to watch her favorite boxing champion but the match was taking place on another continent. Sarah wanted to see the Australia and India cricket match but there were not tickets available. And just like John, Susan and Sarah, there are many sports enthusiasts who are unable to watch the game in person or Live on TV – and this is reason enough for the sports industry to go mobile. Digitalizing sports events gives access to millions of sports fans to watch their favorite games Live or watch re-runs even after a year – they could stream the winning shot any number of times to feel the glory of their favorite team winning. 

Let’s take a look at some riveting sports app market facts and stats!

North American sports market size is estimated to be worth $76.05 billion dollars by 2020
Dallas Cowboys sports team’s brand value (amounted to $4.8 billion dollars) was ranked as the most expensive one in 2018.
According to the Sports Business Institute, 87% of sports fans second screen during a match; they look at replays, check the scores of other games, or use social networks to boast about attending the game in person.
Reference Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/214960/revenue-of-the-north-american-sports-market/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/278027/brand-value-of-sport-teams–franchises-worldwide/ https://www.sbibarcelona.com/newsdetails/index/105
 
Need for Sports App

Digitalization of sports opens up several avenues for business. Not only can a sports avid view the game at any time at any location, but can also engage in activities such as, buying sports merchandise, interact with their favourite sportsperson, engage in betting on their favourite team or sports player, and playing fantasy sports. Hence, while developing a sports app, ensure that you include features that help you stay competitive, and therefore, successful.
​
10 Features to Incorporate in a Sports App

Personalization

While making an app, ensure that the user can personalize the app surface by creating their own user account where they can add their favourite team or player and be intimated with new updates, scores, breaking news, event details, etc.
Also, it is necessary to create a secure payment gateway so that the user can update and store their card details, in case they wish to purchase tickets, sports merchandise, play for their dream team or in certain cases even bet. You can also integrate our payment gateway app with a third party to give the users a wider range sports events and teams they can invest in.

Ticket Sale

Fans don’t want to miss out on a sports event; hence, you can create a feature where they can purchase tickets to watch their favourite team or sports event before the tickets get sold out! By allowing the user to purchase tickets from a third-party gateway, you can make a fee for the same; i.e. you get a fee from every transaction as you generate a new lead for that third-party service.

Sports Merchandise

One of the largest profit generation in the sports industry comes through selling sports merchandise. By creating an aggregated sports app, you can sell merchandise of the most popular sports teams or sportsmen in the app store. Sports merchandise includes, t-shirts, mugs, flags, banners, caps, collectibles, autographed objects such as balls, bats, etc.
There is also an option to create a tie-up with a certain team or sportsmen which would allow you to sell exclusive merchandise and generate an even bigger profit.

App for Fantasy Sports

If you are a gaming enthusiasts, you would know how addictive it is to play fantasy sports; and if you are not then let us explain – fantasy sports is an online game where fans can create virtual teams of real-life sport pros and make them compete in virtual leagues and championships.
Creating a fantasy sports app, can generate a lot of revenue, especially from users who like to gamble. Some examples of fantasy sports app include, the IPL League, NFL, CBS Sports Fantasy, Yahoo Fantasy sports, and more.

Social Media Integration

Social media is also a revenue generating tools that can be exploited if used in the right way. Sports industry is famous for sports enthusiasts who love to report every small move in the game or any update on their favourite sports person.
Hence, integrating social media into the app can allow users to share data from the app to a social media app by just clicking a few buttons; for instance, re-tweeting scores, or an edge-of-the-seat performance shot, etc. Also, instead of creating a user account and re-fill their details, you can allow users to sync with app with their Facebook, Google, or Twitter accounts.

Integrating with Calendar

What better way to be updated on upcoming games or sports events than a simple reminder on your smart-device. In your app, you can also integrate a time ticker that notifies the user the mins and seconds (XX h YY m) left for the game to begin, or break to end.

Sports Team Catalogue

Even though apps need to have functionalities; it is important to include a sports catalogue that has a history about the sports event, information about sportsmen and even a little information about the team, as a whole.

Newsfeed and Notifications

Incorporating the newsfeed functionality in the app will allow the sports app to send regular updates and the news of the sports industry to their user. Newsfeed allows you to send tournament tables, performance of sports teams or sportsmen, etc. If a dedicated app for a certain team or team sports tournament is formed, you should include a Match Day Centre. This information hub contains all the relevant data regarding the games, i.e. the score, highlights from games and press conferences, tournament table, etc.
Sending push notifications or SMS notifications is also a great way to interact with user base. It is a technique of reminding them to visit the app and use it. With the help of push notifications, you can send your users reminders, regular updates when the game is going on, highlights of the game, etc. 

Live Streaming

Live streaming a match builds the core of a sports app; the convenience of streaming matches anytime, anywhere is what can build a huge database of users with the help of exclusive live broadcaster’s content that can’t be found on aggregator apps.
Sports video streaming apps like BBC and Fox, also send users personalized content based on their location and preferences. Another option of live streaming apart from video is audio streaming, for instance the NBC Sports Radio app.

Making Bets

Did you know that in the UK, approximately 40% of people aged 18 to 54 bet 10 to 100 pounds online each month?
Reference Source: https://www.beatingbetting.co.uk/statistics/uk-gambling-data/
There are plenty of people that gamble on sports, some as professionals and some just to raise the excitement and the stakes of the game. Hence, if you wish to incorporate betting in your app, firstly, you will need a gambling license and provide an age verification mechanism to secure your business from potential legal claims.
You will also need to make sure that you create a secure payment gateway on integrate a third-party app. If you are targeting users that are heavy betters, you also need to ensure that your app provides match statistics with live updates and push notifications. You’ll also need to decide if the user can bet with real currency or through in-app currency.

Wrapping It Up

Sports app can be of two types:
Streamlined – where unnecessary data is filtered out, and all types of sporting events are showcased. For instance, 365Scores, has been lauded as one of the best sports apps in circulation, due to its support for ten different sports and a wide range of features, including scores, news, and live notifications about the teams the user is interested in.

One Sports App – where if a user is only interested in one particular sport – be it football, basketball, or baseball – there’s a dedicated app that lets them follow their favourite sport.
If you wish to build a dedicated sports app incorporating features, like discussed above, you can get in touch with the App Scoop Vancouver app developers team.