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For the last twenty years, the world is rapidly getting computerized. The digital transformation process has become omnipresent, pervading many spheres of human activity. The power of IT is recognized by all businesses aspiring for expansion. If your company is aimed at success, using customer experience digital transformation to enhance the quality of service may be critical, especially in highly competitive environments.The ongoing epidemic only adds fuel to this drive. Local and global quarantine conditions limit many conventional ways of doing business. A lot of companies shut down at least temporarily. Today, no one asks if it’s worth going digital. Rather, the question stands on what areas and how quickly to digitalize. Typically, this headway is carried out along several mainstream directions.Dominant Trends in Digital TransformationA modern take on the digital revolution relies on several innovative technology trends.

1. Big Data

Although in the above digital transformation infographic it comes at the bottom, big data is one of the key factors in the present-day business analysis digital transformation. It is utilized for many purposes including surveying client preferences to create personalized offers, headhunting for the most fitting candidates, tracking customer requirements over social media, and dozens of other applications.

2. Cloud Software Deployment

According to HostingTribunal, some kind of cloud-hosted facilities are employed by 94% of modern enterprises. This allows companies to streamline their business processes, quickly deploying corporate apps/services, and providing high-quality customer support.

3. Digital Trade

Today, selling goods is increasingly an online venture, with more than two-thirds of consumers having experience of buying products digitally and 25% doing it on a regular basis. Consequently, sales teams leverage digital channels (social media being the most important) to attract the attention of prospective clients.

4. Customer Service

Going digital, companies can provide their clients with more satisfying methods of finding necessary merchandise or services and maintaining a close rapport with them.

5. Remote Work

Stats show that working from home reduces employee stress, the number of sick days, increases loyalty, and reduces remuneration expectancies. Additionally, this allows reducing office costs and greenhouse gas emissions.According to Gallup Media, by April 2020, around 30% of the American workforce was already working remotely and this number was building over the years. However, the steady progress of digital technologies was dramatically disturbed by the COVID-19 pandemic that broke loose in late 2019. Many trades can now operate only in conditions of remote cooperation with employees, suppliers, and customers. The same report states that during March 2020, already over 62% of workers operated remotely.

Another Side to the Plague

How digital technologies are transforming markets during COVID-19? The events of the last couple of months forced us to reconsider our perception of the world and our place in it. We have come to realize that our civilization, which we had thought to be secure and even rock-solid, turned out to be precariously fragile when faced with the attack of microscopic organisms. The realization came as a shock to many people, drastically albeit temporarily (as we hope) altering their social mores, relations, consumer practices, and working habits.No less overwhelming were the repercussions the COVID-19 pestilence caused in the realm of business. Entire industries were brought to a standstill, others experienced severe setbacks compelling their owners to drastically cut down on the number of employees or their salaries (or both) while only a few remained largely unaffected. Among the latter are those companies whose management has precipitately learned to leverage the business benefits of digital transformation.Besides described, what are other changes the pandemic inspires? Let us list some:

• Remote education. Previously practiced only sporadically (and mostly by advanced institutions) it has now become a survival prerequisite for many of them. This e-learning shift is likely to endure when the epidemic abates since it gives educational establishments a significant competitive edge.
• Telemedicine. IT devices and telehealth technologies relieve the pressure on hospitals and limit the disease transmission rate by keeping people home while providing them with healthcare advice.
• Mass events going virtual. Transport restrictions and the need for social isolation led to the abolition of many industry exhibitions and conferences, both local and international. Not wanting to cancel events completely, the organizers are transferring them online. And if videoconferencing has already become commonplace, the organization of events in virtual reality is something completely new. So, the recent HTC Virtual Vive Ecosystem was the first fully virtual event that replaced a major industry meeting amid the coronavirus epidemic. The conference was hosted on the Engage platform, a VR collaboration application that is compatible with HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Valve Index, and Windows Mixed Reality VR headsets. Presenters and a small audience were represented by three-dimensional avatars projected into an open-air amphitheater.
• Chatbot automation. The advent of AI-based chatbots allows for providing consistent customer support 24/7, no matter how strict the limitations imposed by the epidemic are. Many of the customer requests and questions can successfully be processed by a high-quality bot.

Digital transformation depends on the introduction of the novel software and infrastructures or essential upgrade to the existing ones. By employing the services of Axisbits you are sure to receive a whole range of top-notch customized solutions and tools that will let your business not only stay afloat during the uncertain times of the pandemic but outperform your rivals and secure sustainable growth.

Conclusion

The outburst of COVID-19 has caused tectonic shifts in many spheres of our life. Humanity came to realize the vital importance of digital technologies, the widespread use of which can help both companies and individual entrepreneurs survive and provide some sort of security against similar disasters in the future. Do you want to stay on top of the competition during these troubled times? Embrace the innovation-driven business strategy & digital transformation while our company is ready to be your loyal guide on this path.

The latest pandemic has surely caught the entire world off guard. Only a few took COVID-19 seriously at first, but as more and more people realized that this really was an event unfolding all around the globe, the population was shocked to see this kind of crisis taking place in the modern day. Mostly, we were unprepared for what was going to come next. Now, with numerous scientists and clinicians working hard on the solutions for the current situation, some companies were able to develop certain ways of mitigating the losses and dealing with the acute need of health and safety monitoring systems.

Companies Roll Out Remote COVID-19 Monitoring Tools to Free Up Hospital Space

Remote patient monitoring, or just RPM for short, is rapidly becoming an extremely convenient field of tools for remote patient tracking. RPM systems are usually an assembly of devices, a centralized network, and dedicated apps. Thus, in advanced hospitals with remote solutions, doctors get access to a centralized web interface to manage a wide range of tasks - from patient submissions and real-time health readings to configurations of interconnected medical devices.  

Patients, in turns, can use a simple smartphone app to provide the essential health data, including pulse rate, blood pressure, body temperature, etc. Wireless connection does wonders here. Doctors get an opportunity to monitor patient info updated in real time with minimum delay. All that is needed is Wi-Fi or mobile Internet connection, which isn’t really problematic to get these times (especially, if we’re talking about advanced emergency systems).

What Is Remote Patient Monitoring?

RPM represents an electronic device fixated on the body of a patient, constantly collecting their health-related data to then send it to the health care providers, building health monitoring system that is both convenient and extremely effective. These systems are able to provide diverse information related to the physical state of a patient at any given moment. They gather the indexes of weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, and even conduct ECG in a completely autonomous way.

A system health monitoring SMS tracker can also alert medical workers if some of the indicators are exceeding the normal values and the state of the patient has worsened. They can then react immediately and take action from the very first signals of disease development.

Development of a Mobile Remote Health Monitoring System

The devices are mobile-based, fast, and responsive. Add the default emergency signals it is able to provide the doctors with, and what you get is a cutting edge automatic health monitoring system for remote medical care. Wireless waterproof systems are designed to be worn at all times for an uninterrupted data collection and preventing any delays in response to the possible severe conditions.

One of the problems with healthcare is created by the people in need themselves — it is often the case that an ill person doesn’t seek professional help, making it harder for everybody to deal with the arising problem in a timely manner. Doctors can now prescribe drugs, make recommendations, call for an ambulance to pick up the patient, and even visit the patient if they see that their direct intervention is required.

From the first tests of the new system health monitoring SMS tracker, healthcare providers came to the conclusion that it really is an easy, effective, and affordable solution. MRHMS (mobile remote health monitoring system) is combining networks of three different levels: BAN (body area network), PAN (personal area network), and WAN (wide area network), each one responsible for a specific set of essential elements of high-quality and reliable catering. Thus, it creates a medical internet of things, utilizing the leading technologies to help everyone engaged in the healthcare process.

Conclusion

As it is often the case in history, new tragedies call for unique solutions. Rapid advancements in technology are most frequently made during a crisis, when there is an immediate need for a solution to a complicated problem that just can’t be ignored. It is at these times that bright people come up with their most brilliant ideas, engineers work especially hard on turning a long-awaited technology into reality, and everybody is ready to take action. 

There are a lot of losses and hardships that come with the world-wide pandemic that  caught the humankind unprepared. But we can see it as a potential chance for new enhancements to come into our life. Many healthcare providers and scientists work day after day to bring peace back to people. Remote health monitoring systems will certainly enter the routine medicinal practice soon enough and remain there after everything is back to normal to help doctors fight other diseases.

Digitalization is everywhere around. IDC investigation a year ago revealed that  85% of business decision-makers believed they have 2 years to make a shift into a digital transformation to remain competitive and avoid financial losses. 

With COVID 19 the processes have sped up and every single business entity now is clearly seeing the necessity to implement digital solutions internally, for their staff, as well as externally, for their clients. Each company chooses its own way to implement innovations and start the journey to becoming digital. 

However, it’s a challenge, which is not only associated with serious risks but requires sensitive investments. So to reach the finish successfully, one should have a sound strategy and digital transformation then will go smooth and ensure positive outcomes.

What is a digital transformation strategy that works

According to Gartner investigations, in 2016 more than 125000 organizations plunged into digital initiatives. By 2020 they all anticipated their revenue to increase by more than 80 percent. Yet, only 27% of businesses had a clear strategy to follow. Digital business transformation strategy should be formed with a clear image of the sought after results in mind, so it should ground on thorough analysis, detailed budget calculations, and clear goals set. Deloitte and MIT Sloan Management Review’s  investigation, demonstrated the difference between mature companies and less mature ones, while the first mostly focus on how to incorporate digital technologies and utilize social media, mobile opportunities, analytics and cloud most efficiently to transform their business operations, the second concentrate on solving particular problems with specific knowhows. 

Besides, retail firms create online sstores, enhance consumer service, web and mobile presence, even craft virtual assistants, production meanwhile goes high-tech. 

Some companies, Amazon for instance, have managed to reinvent their whole business and craft digitally native Alexa or Kindle. 

However, there are companies, which have failed digital transformations. Some of the best-known ones to mention are General Electric, Ford, Nike. The major mistake done by GE was that they decided not to focus on separate digital projects and initiatives in different company parts, but initiated a new business unit -GE Digital. Yet it failed to effectively compete with rival services being focused on short-term goals and unable to prevent overall GE stocks collapse. Current CEO John Flannery  states: “We are still deeply committed to it [digitalization], but we want a much more focused strategy.” 

In 2010, Nike Digital Sport was launched by the Company to lead digital initiatives. 2 years later a ground-breaking wearable FuelBand was released and became popular among the users. However, instead of becoming a leader in wearable devices, Nike announced it was unable to exploit data generated by the wearable and faced difficulties in hiring engineers skilled enough. 

In 2014 Ford planned to become a “personal mobility” business with innovations at its center. But pioneering mobility solutions and digitally-enabled cars were developed in a new section - Ford Smart Mobility, miles away from the company headquarters The digital transformation was too slow and Ford share price fell by almost 40%. In 2017 Bill Ford Jr the executive chairman Underlined at a press conference that with digital innovation you must “have clarity of strategy”. 

That why we insist that a business should have a crystal-clear digital business transformation strategy in place before taking actions. An expert consultancy may help to set realistic and achievable target for transformation and prompt the effective strategy of long-term value creation for your company.

Ideal digital transformation is a complete refurbishment of an enterprise and its tech foundations. To reap the benefits of the process, businesses must be responsive to tech advances, yet keep in mind that the welfares of digital transformation are dependent not on the strength of the individual technologies but on howthey are integrated and how their disruptive aspects are taken advantage of. So, this article is aimed at developing a strategy for your very business digital transformation, with all its aspects well-thought-out and aims made clear. We suggest doing it in 5 simple yet productive consecutive steps. 

How to make a strategy and a roadmap to digital transformation

1. Define the end objective of your transformation

One of the greatest errors businessmen make on the way of their e commerce digital transformation is taking on pioneering technologies, which have been already adopted by the competitors or advised by the IT department without having a final goal in mind. Such an approach can, on one hand, result in difficulties with integration, on the other with scalability throughout the entire organization. It’s vital to get the global vision of the future in your business after transformation and come up with the strategy. You have to take long-term goals into consideration and at the same time, the vision should deal with reality. So, your strategy should base on the resources you have at the moment and the short-term objectives you set meanwhile. It allows you to set the reference point for specific actions determination and roadmaps implementation. It’s essential to stay critical at this stage and accurately analyze your current business tools and digital infrastructure against the up-to-date know-hows and trends of the future. In such a way, prioritizing the efforts and investments to cover the gaps of the current structure you would optimize and upgrade it in the most efficient way.

2. Design the experience

Defining the end and short-term objective is just the beginning, after that, you should concentrate on the experience you intend to create for your consumers and workers. According to the Actual Experience study, about 90% of business front-runners believe that their business prosperity depends on the digital experience of their customers and employees. So, think whether you want to provide better access to your goods and services to your consumers, improve your customer support, or some other value for your users to build the truly intuitive UX allowing them to reach their goals round the clock. Then define the technology you may use for the purpose. You may need a complete redesign of your corporate website, a new application, or possibly a chatbot. Our company will gladly provide a digital transformation strategy consulting for you in these aspects. The same works for the employees – thinking about how to simplify their work, improve collaboration within the team, enhance workers’ engagement, and facilitate interaction; you may define what technology or platform to implement. For this, you will possibly need to explore the success stories beyond your domain and set goals that are even more detailed after that. 

3. Take stock of the existing innovations

While the first two steps of digital transformation design are about your business, your goals and your vision of what you want to achieve, the third stage is about the comprehensive consideration of the software, digital technologies, vendors, tools, and products existing and workable for your sphere and purposes. It will help you not only figure out which solutions need to be retained, improved, automated, or left behind, but match the innovative tech solutions with the outcomes they provide or problems they solve.

4. Prepare the ground

As soon as the available solutions assessed, you need to select the ones to meet your objectives and cover the gaps of technologies you currently use. Make sure the vendors you choose have a verified track record and deliver the due and timely after-sales support. Besides, prepare your infrastructure. You will most likely need to form a dedicated team of experts to ensure effective transformations, prepare employees, and upgrade their skills accordingly.

5. Create an implementation timeline

This is the stage when all your previous investigations and effort are brought together into an actionable plan to match the business objectives, anticipated UX, chosen technologies, and solutions. Since the digital transformational processes are always time-, resources-, and financially- consuming, they are split into milestones. Some companies make digital transformation strategies pdf available for everyone concerned. 

Besides such an approach helps to guarantee seamless and smooth implementation of the innovations giving also the stake-holders and the management of the company the opportunity to evaluate the actual results and compare them to the planned outcomes.

Conclusion

Embracing digital transformation is nowadays a requirement for every business eager to develop and thrive in the hyper-competitive surroundings. With the 5 steps above you will manage to create an effective strategy and a solid foundation for the quick and effective transition into a progressive business. Keep in mind that big businesses cannot be transformed instantaneously, it’s vital to move in set milestones in an unrushed manner. However, if you need assistance or consultancy Axsbits has the due expertise and insight to facilitate your business digital transformation. Don’t hesitate to contact us.

You are a professional mobile app developer. You have created a great application ready to conquer the market. You think the work is done and you can switch to another project or give yourself some time to rest. However, before launching the product onto the market, consider the necessity and the cost of maintaining a mobile app.

Releasing an app on the AppStore or Google Play is just the beginning of a long way of your application. In the future, it will require further technical support, including monitoring and fixing the defects, optimizing application functionality, protecting against attacks, etc.

The standard price for mobile app support and maintenance varies between 15 to 20% of the application cost.

Why Do You Need to Support and Maintain Your App?

The world of IT technologies has its laws determined by the consumers’ demands. Average users want their smartphone apps to function smoothly. They expect that the developers foresee their expectations. They need regular free of charge updates and some of the drawbacks to be eliminated. The users can easily get annoyed if the operating speed is slow and the menu is not intuitively clear. Taking into account all the mentioned above, companies should be ready to spend some extra money on app maintenance.

For the majority of software companies launching the product quickly is of crucial importance. This ensures the competitiveness of the product and a higher popularity rate as a result. As it is hard to exactly predict the user’s expectations, the product is released when it is about eighty percent ready. The users’ feedback during the testing period will give the developers an overview of the defects they need to fix. How much does the Android app development cost? Certainly, you have to include the cost of testing in the overall budget since the beginning. 

Types of App Support and Maintenance

• The cost of creating and maintaining an app will depend on how the developer regarded data migration from one server to another. If a user decides to change a mobile device he will definitely prefer to keep the data (list of contacts, pictures, etc.) reserved and transferred to a new device. For that reason, some companies offer the services of synchronization and, as a result, easy access to your data from any place or gadget.
• If you expect that a large number of users will use your application simultaneously, the app developers should consider using technologies that support concurrency for a large user base. It will guarantee the smooth work of the app.
• In general, users positively assess high operating speed with low latency. However, in some cases, like online gaming, it becomes of crucial importance. So, app developers should think of optimizing server performance for low latency as it will attract more users.
• Changes due to regulatory concerns are another point of consideration for app developers.
• Minor, incremental and major enhancements such as UI overhaul should be regular.

10 Biggest Hidden Costs of Developing an App & How to Handle Them

There are certain functional services you need to include in your outsource iPhone app development cost. They help to execute the app's main features and functions and can be quite expensive. How much does it cost to maintain an app? Let’s take a closer look at the 10 biggest functional, infrastructure, support, and administrative services.

Social & chat integrations – $1,200/year (on average)

The presence in social media is the key to success for businesses of all kinds. The content is the king, so you have to make sure that your users can share it online in all the biggest social networks. To encourage social interaction through your app, you may need a chat, a bot and subscription functions provided by SendBird or Applozic. The ultimate price here, however, depends on the number of users you expect to have in the integrated chats.

Development tools, libraries, and support – $1,200/year (minimum!)

If you have chosen to develop your app with the help of IBM, Kony, and MobileFirst tools, your next step is to subscribe to them for your app’s lifetime period.

App update submissions – $1,000+/year

Even if the app is regularly updated, it needs to be resubmitted from time to time. The final costs here start somewhere at 1,000 bucks per year depending on the total number of updates. Obviously, the more resubmissions there are, the more you’ll need to invest in the whole thing.

Push notifications – $2,400/year or free alternatives

Push notifications are the core elements of every mobile app. They boost the users’ engagement and stimulate the purchase. Services like PushWoosh or UrbanAirship help you to set up your push notifications. There is also great Firebase, which is absolutely freeware and can still completely satisfy your needs. 

Data storage – $3,600/year (on average)

Every app collects and stores different kinds of data. Ensure that they are safe and are not given to third parties. The final costs of implementing dedicated storage may vary based on the volume of data to be stored. Amazon S3 is a great example of an accessible yet reliable cloud storage solution.

CDN – $3,600/year

CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a system of servers that delivers data to users from different geographical locations which secure the good operating speed of the app. CloudFlare is considered by many to be the most optimal, efficient solution out there on the market. You get some pretty versatile and profitable in the long run features with a $2,400/year business plan.

Images data – $1,200/year (at the most)

It is hard to imagine an app that does not use hundreds of images. Image storage by Google, Flickr, and Dropbox are the top efficient solutions for downloading, editing, cropping, and posting images. 

APIs – $0-$5,000/year

APIs (Application Programming Interface) allow one to integrate a bunch of third-party features to gain more capabilities and versatility in the app. They can serve absolutely various purposes. For instance, you can integrate Google Maps API to add geolocation features. 

If we’re talking about a commercial app, however, payment gateway APIs, like PayPal or Stripe API, are a necessity rather than an extra feature. The final costs here may vary greatly, as you may not need any additional integrations with your software at all. In other options, pricing depends on the final number of users.

iOS and Android updates – $10,000/year

Both platforms release updates on a regular basis. You should keep track of them and maintain your application according to them. Otherwise, you will have an app that is not supported by the latest Android or iOS versions.

Servers – $1,000-$12,000/year

You cannot host your app without a good server. Being a new-born startup or a small company, you can entrust the hosting to Google, Amazon or Azure. Bigger enterprises can afford to have their own servers. Note, however, that if you need a server for a young, up-and-coming startup, about $1,000/year should be enough to maintain. 

The price should grow in accordance with the popularization and traffic increase in your app (reaching up to $50,000/year). DigitalOcean provides great, sturdy, easy-to-deploy cloud servers that are secure, reliable, and pretty cost-efficient.

Expense Cost (per year) Social & chat integrations $1,200 (on average) Development tools, libraries, and support $1,200 (minimum!) App update submissions $1,000+ Push notifications $2,400/year or free alternatives Data storage $3,600 (on average) CDN $3,600 Images data $1,200 (at the most) APIs $0-$5,000 iOS and Android updates $10,000 Servers $1,000-$12,000

The Bottom Line

To sum up, application development maintenance is not only about eliminating defects of an application. It is rather about modifying it to better meet the end-users needs and expectations. A well-developed and maintained app will keep a high popularity level among users and will be more financially beneficial for the product owner. 

If you require an expert take on all the above-mentioned necessary services - let Axisbits help you deal with that. We have in-depth expertise in cloud servers, third-party API integrations, data management, and all-around software maintenance to make your app stable and successful. 

The fear of catching the coronavirus and government’s restrictions make retail business owners close shops, while people have to stay home. Today, when so many companies suffer and even go bankrupt because of the COVID-19 pandemic, someone has a real chance to make a profit. What companies got a good opportunity for development amid the general crisis? Let’s find it out.

People who stay in self-isolation prefer to refrain from visiting shopping centers. This is quite reasonable, since chances to become infected are higher where many people share the same space. Besides, due to mass panic, the most necessary products disappear, and many of us observe empty shelves where toilet paper and disinfectants should be.

On the other hand, food stores experience a decrease in customers’ activity too. Thus, the profit goes down.

It appears that both the seller, who loses profit, and the buyer, who risks getting infected and becoming a danger for others, suffer. In such a situation, a business can only survive by providing service development and delivery process of food products and ready-to-eat meals to customers’ homes.

The surest solution is home delivery app development. Today such applications are at the top of the most downloaded list. According to Apptopia, shopping applications, which were popular even before the pandemic, now have been downloaded 160%, 124% and 218% more times than before the epidemic.

Surely, a quality product food delivery app development company will benefit both customers and the developers.

Which Food Delivery Model to Choose?

How to develop a service delivery model? It depends on the goals of your project and on your requirements. It can be an international delivery service, or you can traditionally focus on your city or region. There are three categories of business models:

• Only order. Grubhub is an example of such a model, offering a food delivery service from any of the local restaurants it cooperates with. The process is as follows: the client makes an order in the application, the restaurant receives and delivers it on their own. For this, the application owner receives up to 15% from each order.
• Order + delivery. UberEats and DoorDash work in this format. This is profitable if the restaurant owner does not have the ability or desire to create their own courier delivery service, e.g. buy cars or motor vehicles.
• 3 in 1. This fully integrated business model works in a full cycle mode: it takes orders, prepares dishes, and delivers. One can only imagine the expenses of such a business, although the incomes are worth it.

Receiving orders and/or food delivery app development does not require huge investments, thus it is the best option for a startup. Let's find out more about it.

Food Order

Such an application is a restaurant aggregator that offers users the services of the nearest catering establishments. The system contains up-to-date information on menus, prices, user reviews, and allows restaurateurs to regularly expand the customer base, thus keeping the business going during the pandemic. The owner of such a platform should try to cover as many nearby restaurants as possible, including even very small eateries.

Here are some applications of this type:

• Otlob;
• Supp.li;
• Zomato;

The advantage of such a business is that it can be considered almost passive, because once everything is set up, the owner does almost nothing. A disadvantage is that the earnings are limited within local limits.

Order and Delivery of Food

This model involves logistic support and attracts owners of small restaurants who don't have enough funds to organize a delivery service. In this case, the owner of the platform will have to deal with both staff and transport. The process is as follows:

• the client places an order in the application, their payment is authorized;
• the restaurant starts cooking and once the food is ready, calls a courier;
• the courier delivers food and, once it's confirmed, the payment is debited.

This costs up to 30% of the order for a restaurant. The customer pays for delivery separately from the food.

Here are apps that use this scheme:

• UberEats;
• Swiggy;
• GrubHub.

How to Make a Food Delivery Website

There are two ways of delivery service app development. The easiest option for a beginner is to buy a clone script. We offer ready-made software that will ensure the implementation of your business plans:

• Flipdish is the best option for a separate restaurant, cafe, shops selling takeaway food. The functionality supports not only order management but also sales analytics, and a loyalty program. The program costs $485.
• Orders2.me - software for restaurants, which combines online ordering and marketing. It can accept orders via Facebook, Mobile, and Web. The price is $89 monthly.
• SpeedLine Pizza POS - software with advanced features. Besides the standard functions, it identifies callers, including address and delivery route.

Developing your own application for taking orders and delivering food is an option for those who have certain experience along with great ambitions. This requires some time and more investment.

To make sure the result meets your expectations, you can hire the best food delivery app development company.

Conclusion

Axisbits guarantees the development of a website or application for the restaurant business in the shortest terms, despite the difficult conditions of Covid-19 pandemic and its restrictions. We are ready to guarantee successful remote work. Feel free to contact us and we will help you find the best solution in any situation.

Our rapidly changing world has already revealed the might of Artificial Intelligence in lots of spheres and eCommerce businesses in particular when we got into the global lockdown. It made the hot topic of AI and the countless opportunities it unleashes even more burning. The experts forecast that 85% of customer interactions will already be managed without a human in 2020, but the global spread of COVID 19 made the world rely on technology even more. 

In addition to the businesses, which were evolving, and incorporating AI technologies, people and businesses, which stayed indoors, started to search for new ways to work and develop in the conditions of the innovative digital economy. 

The crisis will for sure pass, however, the consequences and opportunities it revealed will stay. The development of artificial intelligence is the jet fuel for an eCommerce industry of contemporaneity. It is not only capable to alter the business model of many brands but to change completely the current scenario of the eCommerce, raising the marketing standards, and forming a personalized customer experience through big data analysis. This creates a unique approach that is more efficient than any human being is. 

The sphere of eCommerce is going to gross 700 billion USD by 2022. The usage of AI in eCommerce paves the road to the easy to use, safe and profitable online platforms. Let’s look at this closely.

How the evolution of AI is reshaping the eCommerce sphere

It’s no brainer that AI offers smart and innovative solutions and the application of artificial intelligence in e Commerce adds multiple valuable features and elements to the online platforms. Brands eagerly implement such innovations in their continuous competition for clients and as a result, the breakthroughs reshape the eCommerce industry to a great extent. 

When just emerging, businesses online were focused on providing the cutting edge UX to their clients. Those who managed to get a simple and intuitive design got most of the customers. 

With artificial intelligence growth and expansion, the users got more high-tech experiences; they received not only new sites and innovative apps but chatbots along with voice assistants. More than that, the smart solutions empowered with AI became capable to analyze data sets, identify patterns, and create a more personalized experience than any human being can. No wonder that at present AI has become a great hit in eCommerce.

What are the benefits that AI offers to the eCommerce industry

Visual Search

It can by right be called the most exciting trend, which was introduced recently. Now the users can search exactly what they need with just a few clicks. The picture can be useful for the search of the products brand, better quality, another size, or color. So, in fact, AI facilitates the visual search.

Personalized Advice

Artificial Intelligence helps to track what a user has sought for and purchased earlier, identifies his preferences, and provides free recommendations in the forms of pop-ups or text accordingly. Thus, the individual receives a customized touch experience. After ordering a Smartphone, for instance, the customer will later receive advice as to the accessories he may buy to match his gadget. As a result, the brand increases its RoI on marketing and gets more leads, which become customers.

Voice Assistance

With the appearance of Voice Assistants, shopping has become much more enjoyable for the users. It not only makes the interaction easier, relieving the individual from the necessity to type when it’s not convenient but can enhance UX and engagement in real-time. AI can prompt better-personalized recommendations based on accurate analyses of consumer behavior.

Automated Description of Products

The product image is good, but it’s not enough if it does not have a proper description. However, the ever-growing lists of products are difficult to describe up to date manually and AI comes to rescue. Now it facilitates content creation through the automatic writing of the detailed and precise descriptions taking the information from manufacturer's sites and combining it with the most relevant up-to-date details about the product found on the internet. 

The advantages of using AI are the possibility to get multiple details in a short time, place the descriptions only with the most demanding details. More than that Artificial Intelligence is able to analyze how effective the text is, alter it if needed, and add dynamic details to match the interests of a certain buyer.

Intelligent Searches

At times, the customers may want something, but fail to know exactly what it is. Conversion of a search term into sales is now possible through AI-powered searches due to the usage of the information AI knows about t the user. Thus a client gets relevant search results and possibly some other items he may want.

AI combined with IoT

In the modern digital world, the IoT infrastructure grows at an exponential rate. There are already wearable devices, connected items, and cars as well as virtual assistants. Combined with AI they can provide plenty of info about the user to the eCommerce entity: his health and heart rate, driving and shopping habits,  his smart fridge contents, etc. All these details can tell the volume a client may buy: wellness and food products, items for the vehicle, entertainment options, whatever.

Automation of warehouses

In the e commerce  AI has gradually stretched out from sites to warehouses.  AI-powered robots live there, load, pack, and prepare stock items to ship round the clock without coffee breaks. 

Due to smart robots the accuracy is improved, human injuries are minimized, labor costs decreased and losses from damaged stock brought to bottom.

Cybersecurity 

Cybersecurity and data safety is at all times a great concern, but incorporating AI into security solutions, online businesses can save data from cybercriminals. Combined with Deep Learning it can predict intrusion attempts and help protect platforms from threats.

Intelligent Data Management

Data management which is based on AI doesn’t require raw data structuring before utilizing it. The other benefits are the absence of restrictions on how data is handled, its greater flexibility and scalability.

Chatbots

The customers today anticipate lightning-fast reactions, and it’s difficult for a human being to match this expectation. However, AI advancements allow online businesses to integrate chatbots, to simulate dialogues, answer clients’ queries, and handle requests. From a seller’s perspective, this increases customer experience at the same time reducing efforts and costs. Big names, which have successfully introduced chatbots are eBay, Amazon, Starbucks, etc.

How eCommerce companies use AI to drive higher sales and UX

To gain a competitive edge, retailers now need to dive deep into the user’s behavior and purchase history. Marketing and advertising campaigns become more effective due to AI Technology. It has given email marketing a completely new life, making campaigns look more humane, though optimized and targeted for the exact recipient through an appeal to his real interests. 

More than that the messages can be automatically sent at the right moment for the recipient to read them and the further strategy can be altered based on feedback received.

What AI trends 2020 should be considered by businesses online

In 2020 businesses that will manage to embrace AI will definitely witness improvement in sales. The key trends to look at in addition to Visual Search and Increased Personalization are:

Merging of Offline and Online

Under the COVID 19 quarantine, many businesses have realized how important it is to bring a synonymous experience in the offline and online worlds. It even at times seems that eCommerce is the only thing that’s alive. Artificial Intelligence is the answer to the retailers who are in search of the methods and techniques to engage clients with their brands. AI will use the data gathered on various sites to facilitate servicing customers, making recommendations, and adding personalization to every interaction.

Personal Shoppers

People nowadays often lack time and make purchases hurriedly, so they require quick, effective, and smooth experience to save time and money. Personal AI-driven shoppers are what most of the customers will be glad to utilize for the purpose.

Predictive analysis

Registering the emerging trends, which may be missed by humans, AI can alert the traders about them and prompt the changes necessary to product combinations, marketing, messaging, etc., to grow sales. It can by right be considered the key AI market trend 2020.

Final Word

Increases in AI technology have gained momentum as the years went on, and in the current global situation, it is simply inevitable for the eCommerce sphere and for anyone who runs an online store. 

Quick reaction to the changes and implementation of the innovations right away are the key factors to reach and retain customers at present. Artificial Intelligence is the perfect tool to unlock the power of data, set the new standards of customer service, and reveal the potential of online business at its fullest. 

We are sure AI is here to stay and we are ready to consult you as to the ways to tame it and make it an integral part of your online business.

The learning and training landscape has dramatically changed over the past decade. Web and mobile technologies have transformed from innovations into conventional essentials. While in 1995 only 4% of the USA companies used online training, in 2017 the number exceeded 77%. 

At present 65% of US high education faculty support open educational resources and 67% of organizations offer mobile learning.

However, even more vital the aspect of online education and consequently software for e-learning development became during the pandemic of COVID 19.

According to Forbes, even before the global quarantine, the e-learning industry was expected to triple its size from 2020 to 2025 and expand the market up to 325 billion USD. The shift into virtual classrooms all over the world in March 2020 is likely to result in going beyond even these expectations.

No wonder, plenty of educational startups appear online aimed at building either an eLearning website or marketplace. However, having a unique idea, one should also bear in mind the other important details – a type of solution, its features, business model, building algorithm, team, and costs.

Let’s have a closer look at this.

E-Learning Platforms and Their Types

Speaking about the best eLearning development software and resources of contemporaneity, one will definitely recall such monsters as Coursera, Udemy, and edX. However, modern e-learning platforms differ in many ways, depending on the business model they use, as well as content delivery strategy, students engagement methods, and some other factors.

The primary types of online educational solutions are:

• E-learning web conferencing software,
• Online learning platforms, 
• E-learning marketplaces.

E-learning web conferencing software is intended to simplify the process of online group learning. It allows holding virtual meetings and hosting live webinars. Students join other learners and their tutors and often interact in real-time. Since such products facilitate group training and aim at making user-platform interactions seamless, smooth, and bug-free, they are popular among those educational establishments, which need to engage large amounts of learners at a time. 

Online learning platforms – are, in fact, training management systems, which allow the users access to digital courses. They often boast fully-responsive website experience, contain lots of educational materials and provide an experience similar to offline activities. The tutor provides video, audio or text instructions, along with tasks to fulfill. The users practice remotely, submit their tasks, complete exams and receive a certificate upon course completion from the administrators, who to track their progress.

Most popular educational solutions are e-learning marketplaces. Such websites provide students with the opportunity to take courses individually, according to their preferences and interests. The learners can select the course and the teacher they like, and then they are guided throughout the whole process. More than that, such sites allow various forms of content: textbooks, videos, podcasts, games, exercises, quizzes, etc. and give the materials gradually, not to overwhelm the learners by tons of tasks and exercises.

So it’s already obvious that the education over the internet attracts contemporary learners and the demand or flexible and continuing training is growing.

In case you are resolute to enter this market, you have to focus on what your product is about and craft an eLearning development project plan. More about it further on. 

How to succeed in eLearning marketplace development

Without any doubt, the main key to success is the perfect user experience and superior quality of the knowledge you offer. However, there are some simple steps to consider for gaining a competitive edge. On the one hand, you should help tutors teach and on the other – help students master the knowledge they need, connecting ones and the others while creating a learning community.

Research the target audience

Before going to one of the eLearning development companies for service, you should investigate the niche and the target users you want to gain. You should know their age, geography, interests and how tech solutions can help them and engage in learning.

Investigate the competitors

As soon as you have the portrait of your target audience, study what the market offers them already, who tops the niche and what makes them successful. In such a way you can get an understanding of the features and functionality your future product should include, what can you do better than the others and which mistakes you can avoid.

Cooperate with great educators

Knowing a subject is not enough to be a good teacher, to inspire and motivate learners an educator should be a passionate expert able to deliver complicated knowledge in a simple way. Such teachers will be spoken about between the students and may become a bonus marketing tool for your platform.

Make outstanding content

Modern life is dynamic and the solution you create should provide maximum opportunities for learning, including various types of relevant content. Provide your students with text, audio, video, materials as well as infographics, and presentations. Think of what you can offer in the sphere of corporate eLearning development, consider including gamification and other methodologies workable for your target users.

Use a multi-language tactic

To be able to expand your platform later on, you should think about how to grow it to a worldwide level in advance. It means that the learners from different countries should be able to study in the language they prefer, either English or their native one. Get prepared for this in advance, create a multilingual website and implement the feature of switching between languages.

Define the method of monetization

Various platforms use different models of revenue-generating, it may be an hourly rate, a corporate subscription, a freemium model or monetization based on advertising. It’s up to you to decide either to charge a percentage of the course price or take the commission per each student enrolled, but it’s important to think about it in advance.

Craft a perfect User Experience

The simplicity and usability of the eLearning space are the key factors, which will help you keep your audience, so it’s vital to make your UX smooth and intuitive. Make your interface elements be clear, simple and stick to a simple layout. The learners should not be confused with the site elements when coming for knowledge.

Think about regular assessments and system of rewards

To motivate your students and make their learning effective you should offer them not only regular tests and quizzes but also track their progress and reward it. Besides, the results of the assessment tasks will be helpful for the teachers for content adjustment. While offering rewards throughout the course to motivate students, provide them with certificates on course completion. Consider granting them with some kind of honors or discounts for further courses on successive completion.

Create feedback and ratings section

To see the results of tutors-students interaction and evaluate the users' satisfaction, provide learners with the ability to leave their feedbacks and rate courses, teachers and content. On the one hand, it will provide you with regular insights on how to improve your platform, on the other, it will serve as an additional marketing tool in case of positive impressions. People nowadays believe real users' feedback more than official ratings.

Promote your web-based educational space

Good marketing is nowadays a must for any successful project, so think your promotion strategy carefully and in advance to make your product visible for the public.

Conclusion

Lot’s of eLearning development companies are now busy crafting the tools and solutions for distant education as a response to the crisis which has set it. However, the crisis will pass, but the most successful products will remain. Having disrupted the industry once, they will most likely become the mainstream in the future. 

Our company is ready to offer an expert agile eLearning development to our clients. It will allow you to see the results of each iteration and alter your product according to the quickly changing circumstances and demands.

Without any doubt, eLearning is fruitful ground to seed now. The educational establishments worldwide will anyway look for the solutions, which will let them realize a prompt shift online and back in response to global emergencies, which may set in.

The modern tendency for digitization has gained the upper hand in the world and the development of mobile apps is a part of it. Nowadays Businesses either have already created applications to reach their customers more efficiently or question themselves how to make a mobile app for Android or iOS to bring their services and products to the target users through mobile solutions. 

However, before crafting and launching a new app, you should answer the key questions as to the functions it should perform and features it should have. The app created should meet the complex requirements of the modern realities, your target audience, and your business. A good mobile app planning template will help you to make the picture clear for yourself. Besides, to meet all the mentioned goals you should seek and hire mobile app development professionals capable to catch the essence of modern tendencies. But even more important is to consider certain aspects of the app creation vital for its further effectiveness and success.

Mobile app pre-development planning

Let’s speak about it in more detail. 

In case you have at present mobile app creation at the top of the to-do list, you should first work out a mobile app development project plan. For the purpose answer the questions like: 

• What should the product do? 
• Why should it be created? 
• How will it operate? 

Having the answers in mind you can start the development journey. The first stage of a mobile app development may require creation a web app on your part. We often pre develop mobile apps using angular and can provide you with a consultancy as to this aspect. Anyway,  a well laid-out concept is what should be figured out first of all. 

Concept

It is the key idea of what is your mobile solution about, what you expect from it, how it will work and engage the target users. In fact with this short description of your application-to-be, you’ll convey the core idea you have in simple terms and see how to plan a mobile app development and its features further.

Audience

The clear and comprehensive understanding of the target audience will not only prompt you the design solutions but facilitate effective marketing strategies later on. Identifying your target users your key task is to understand their preferences and ‘buying’ behavior. 

A good idea is to make a research to test your concept and get feedback from the potential customers through variable market research techniques. 

Similar apps

Through the analysis of similar applications, you can get the idea of the problems they solve, pains they relieve, features, they have, functions they fulfill and the competitive advantage they offer. There are plenty of ways to conduct research: study the reviews, test trials, questionaries, and surveys. 

Brainstorming

Mobile app development team roles are often well-defined, however, brainstorming all together is a perfect practice to improve the concept of your mobile solution and expand it with the innovative ideas and insights of people from diverse fields. 

List of outputs

The preliminary research and brainstorming will likely alter the initial concept you’ve got in mind, so it’s high time to create a mobile app planning template with all the functional and technical specifications you consider important. With this list of outputs in mind, you should make sure to change the initial description of the app and the features to implement. 

App flowchart

An application flowchart is a proven way to visualize your solution and communicate your idea, workflow, steps, and features to the developers. In such a way they will gain a clear understanding of what is expected from them as a final result. It’s a good idea to also include the sketches of what the screens should look like to enhance the project clarity. 

Technical realization

The final step of pre-development is the discussion of the concept’s tech feasibility with the development team. The aspects, which should be talked over are the platform chosen, devices targeted, connections available, security concerns and support requirements.

List of important areas to plan before building your mobile app

While the step-by-step procedures of the app development planning are described above, let’s speak about the essential areas to study in the course of the planning stage.

Demographics

The application allows you to provide a face-to-face sales pitch, so the understanding of your target audience should be crystal clear. You should find out who your client is, what he or she searches for, what pains he or she has and what his or her values are. The comprehension of all these aspects will allow you to avoid implementing the features, which are not necessary and make your app user-friendly and intuitive for your audience exclusively.

Market research

General market research is another area you can’t skip during your pre-development planning. Knowing your competitors in the face, you can take the best from their solutions and avoid the mistakes they have made. The key points you should focus on are what they offer and what their products are missing. This knowledge will let you customize your mobile solution with the fundamental features, the customers appeal to.

USP

Market research will obviously result in the creation and figuring out your app Unique Sales Proposition. USP is a set of possibilities you offer in your product impossible to get anywhere else. Thus, you can not only gain your target audience faster but retain your customers. The comprehension of the UPS, which you can make, is also an understanding of how to get ahead of the competitor companies.

Business objectives

As a businessman, you should realize that your future app should align with the business objectives you have. So before you head out to the mobile app development make sure you’ll manage to maintain the project quality at the due level throughout the whole process and that the objectives and the results coincide. 

The business aspect to stick to is the budget, the financial side is always tricky, but you should take care to maintain the project cost as it was intended otherwise it may turn into complete failure or waste. 

Everything is good in its time and the completion and delivery of your business app especially, otherwise you may lose the competitive edge over your rivals. Do your best to ensure your project on time running so that your opponents do not have any chance to pop up earlier in your niche.

Conclusion

Most of the mobile app development companies of the full cycle will help you figure out the road map for your mobile solution development, however, proper pre-planning is the basis for your future success. This stage is definitely worth the time and effort spent. 

Our Company Axisbits is always ready to assist you in defining your target audience, the problems it faces, and the technologies best suited for these problems solving with an app you are going to create.

You should keep in mind that the ultimate goal of your mobile application development should be a user-friendly and user-centric software solution providing your audience with the superior UX from the very launch and all the time thereafter through all the further iterations