Category: Blogs

  • Software ate the world; AI is eating software now!

    Software ate the world; AI is eating software now!

    In our recent newsletter, we talked about Marc Andreessen’s famous saying “Software is eating the world.”. Although one side of the industry is still looking for ways to digitize technology and adopt software in its operations, the other side of the industry that has already adopted software is very anxious about the development of Artificial Intelligence, and rightly so.

    No one in the room really understood what Anderson meant. In fact, he himself did not expect that the same software industry would face the risk of being eaten up after only a decade. The reason is AI. AI is one of the most transformative technologies developed by mankind. According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, AI will have a greater impact on the progress of human civilization than fire or electricity. Although this seems a bit exaggerated, the potential of AI can be clearly seen in breakthroughs such as autonomous vehicles, codeless platforms, and smart energy networks.

    Driven by efficiency gains, organizations have now begun to use AI to automate and optimize the core processes of its business. For example, according to BenchSci‘s latest update, no less than 230 start-ups (last updated in June 2021) aim to automate the very expensive drug development process in the pharmaceutical industry. This is an astounding number given the timeline of AI adoption.

    Similarly, AI startups in the transportation sector are creating value by optimizing transportation, thereby greatly reducing the number of empty or idle transportation. In addition, the process of software development itself will also be affected. AI-driven automatic code completion and generation tools, such as TypeSQL, TabNine and BAYOU, are being created for ready usage.

    Companies are adopting AI at a faster rate to continue their battle against Covid-19. To help our customers and end-users accelerate and complete their digital transformation journey by leveraging AI solutions that fulfill their promises, we have put together trending AI use cases and innovations that will define 2022. The following are our findings.

    AI and the Metaverse

    Metaverse is the name of a unified persistent digital environment in which users can work and play together. This is a virtual world, just like the Internet, but emphasizes immersive experience, usually created by users themselves. Ever since Mark Zuckerberg talked about creating it by combining VR technology with the social foundation of Facebook platform, this concept has become a hot topic.

    AI will undoubtedly become the key to the meta universe. It will help create an online environment that will make people feel welcome when they cultivate their creative impulses. We are also likely to be accustomed to sharing our Metaverse environment with AI creatures, which will help us complete the tasks we have to do there.

    Low-code and No-code AI

    A major obstacle to the adoption of AI-driven efficiency by many companies is the lack of skilled AI engineers who can create the necessary tools and algorithms. No-code and low-code solutions aim to overcome this problem by providing simple interfaces, which can theoretically be used to build increasingly complex AI systems. Just as web design and code-free UI tools now allow users to simply drag and drop graphic elements together to create web pages and other interactive systems, code-free AI systems will allow us to connect different, pre-made programs Together to create smart programs. Technologies such as natural language processing and language modeling mean that it will soon be possible to use only our voice or written instructions. All of these will play a key role in the continued “democratization” of AI and data technology.

    AI in Healthcare

    AI is revolutionizing the healthcare industry in unprecedented ways. Thermometers based on machine learning to assist in diagnosis and treatment, robotic surgery systems for remotely performing surgical procedures, and virtualized nurse assistants for personalized patient experience are some of the ways in which AI is disrupting the healthcare industry.

    Intelligent AI

    We know that AI can be used to create music, drama, art, video games and much more. In 2022, as new models such as GPT-4 and Google’s Brain redefine possible boundaries, we can expect more and more imaginative and capable electronic friends to provide more refined and seemingly “natural” creative output. Unlike the current situation, these creations are usually demonstrations or experiments showing the potential of AI, and we will increasingly see them being applied to daily creative tasks, such as writing headlines and designing for articles and newsletters Logos and infographics and much more – a few of these are already in circulation and have been adopted. 

    In engineering, AI is used to achieve predictive maintenance, allowing us to know in advance when the machine needs to be repaired or repaired. In the field of marketing, AI has been used to determine which potential customers are worth pursuing and the value of potential customers. In almost every field, AI may be used to improve efficiency.

    Self-driving Cars

    AI actually represents the brain that guides self-driving cars, including cars, ships, and even airplanes. Tesla claims that its cars will demonstrate fully autonomous driving capabilities in 2022, although they are unlikely to be ready for public use. Its competitors, including Waymo, Apple, General Motors and Ford, are also ready to disrupt the self-driving car market. In 2022, the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (the first autonomous ship) designed by IBM and the non-profit organization ProMare will attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

    AI in Cyber Security

    According to the World Economic Forum, cybercrime poses a greater risk to society than terrorism. As machines spread throughout our lives, every connected device you add to the network inevitably becomes a potential point of failure that an attacker can use against you. As the network connecting the devices is becoming more and more complex, it has proved extremely difficult to identify these points of failure. This is where AI-driven cybersecurity comes into play. By analysing network traffic and detecting potentially suspicious patterns, it can alert users to possible threats.

    AIoT

    AI and Machine Learning are rapidly being used to make IoT devices and services smarter and safer. According to Gartner, by 2022, more than 80% of the company’s IoT plans will use AI and machine learning. AIoT is also used to make cities safer and easier to live in. Smart energy networks, smart streetlights, and smart public transportation are just a few examples.

    AI is clearly helping companies in different industries to improve efficiency. Practical examples of AIoT include fitness and health trackers, heart rate monitoring applications, and AR/VR gadgets that use AIoT, such as smart watches, AR & VR goggles, and wireless headsets, all examples of wearable devices.

    In fact, by 2022, the AI and machine learning industry is expected to grow to USD 9 billion at a compound annual growth rate of 44%. Talk to Pratiti’s experts to find customized AI solutions for your business to improve automation and efficiency. If you need help navigating emerging AI trends or implementing AI innovations, please contact our team today! We will collaborate with you to build a brighter, safer and more environmentally friendly future! Get in touch with one of the leading digital product development companies to learn more about how we can transform your business and processes.

    Our Services

    Offshore Software Product Development | Healthcare Software Development | Data Analytics Solutions | Cloud Computing Services Providers

    Nitin

    Nitin Tappe

    After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

  • Leveraging Internet of Things to Connect the Unconnected!

    Leveraging Internet of Things to Connect the Unconnected!

    The Internet of Things (IoT) – the embedding of physical devices with sensors, network connectivity, and other components so they can collect and exchange data – is often presented as a revolution, but it is actually an evolution of technologies developed more than two decades ago. During the last decade, sensor costs declined twofold, bandwidth costs have fallen and processing costs have also dropped drastically. The plummeting costs of sensing technologies, enhanced edge computing solutions and cloud computing power, advances in data connectivity in the cloud, and M2M communication are combining to drive the convergence of previously separate production technologies – Information Technology (IT), Operations Technology (OT) and Automation Technology (AT) – to create the future of production, expanded from the factory floor to connected assets, products, services, and supply chains – combined together under Industry 4.0 through the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). 

    Information Handling Services (IHS) predicts that by 2025, the number of these devices will be 17 billion from today. Direct opportunities for manufacturers lie in intelligent enterprise control, real-time asset performance management, and intelligent interconnected products and services. Cybersecurity and interoperability challenges prevent manufacturers from adopting IoT on the factory floor and supply chain, and 85% of assets are predicted to have to remain unconnected.

    The figure below illustrates how this process has been carried out for decades and is now accelerating due to the rapid development of capabilities. The IoT platform is still evolving, and there is no clear winner in this field as of now. Rival technology companies that create competitive platforms are targeting many industrial sectors. Proponents of IoT emphasized its potential to innovate production, not only by changing workshop operations, but also by achieving end-to-end real-time visibility throughout the supply chain, all the way to the end-user, and developing new products and services for customers. By 2023, investment in IoT production is expected to quadruple from US$35 billion to US$140 billion, with three key functions driving the investment: asset tracking, condition-based maintenance, and robotics processing. North American market will lead the adoption of today’s IoT with the Asia Pacific market not much behind.

    IoT has three different uses in today’s production systems:

    Intelligent Enterprise Control

    IoT technology enables smart connected machines and smart connected manufacturing assets to be tightly integrated with a wider range of enterprises. This promotes more flexible, more efficient, and thus profitable production. Intelligent enterprise management and control can be regarded as a medium to the long-term trend. Implementation is very complicated, and new standards need to be created to achieve the integration of IT and OT systems efficiently and effectively.

    Enhanced Operators

    Future employees will use mobile devices, data analysis, augmented, virtual or mixed reality, and transparent connections to increase productivity. With the rapid increase in the number of baby boomers retiring and fewer skilled workers left for core businesses, young replacement factory workers will need information at their fingertips. This will be provided in a real-time format that they are familiar with. Therefore, the factory will evolve to be more user-centric rather than machine-centric.

    Asset Performance Management

    The deployment of cost-effective wireless sensors, easy cloud connectivity, and data analysis can improve asset performance. These tools allow data to be easily collected from the field and converted into actionable information in real-time. The expected result will be a better business decision and a forward-looking decision-making process.

    IoT is not just a collection of technologies added to the current automation system. This is also a concept that requires a radical change in the way of thinking. Its potential lies in the ability to link automation systems with enterprise planning, scheduling, and product life cycle systems. IoT is at the core of a powerful technological revolution. In fact, the maturity of IoT is faster than expected, which indicates that a wider implementation is coming. The absolute availability of real-time information throughout the production value chain will redefine the way companies produce goods, provide services, and conduct business.

    Obstacles to Further Adoption

    The application of IoT is still in its infancy and has not taken place widely anywhere in the world even with the pandemic. Currently, 85% of potential assets are still unconnected, and governments and industrial IoT companies need to overcome several obstacles to be widely adopted, the most notable being the establishment of industry standards around IoT and cybersecurity protection. Standards are needed to allow intelligently connected products, machines, and assets to interact in a transparent manner. This goes beyond simple communication protocols and involves the creation of standard semantics and mechanisms that allow smart devices to discover and interoperate with each other. Security needs to be built in the industrial control system and designed into the components that make up the automation system, rather than being added later. The adoption of certified industrial security standards is critical to IoT product development, because it can not only ensure the safety of individual assets but also ensure the safety of larger systems as well as systems of systems. The government will also face new challenges. The ubiquitous deployment of IoT and the sunk costs of infrastructure that inevitably accompany it, may create barriers to entry and widen the gap between the rich and the poor. Monopolies may emerge, especially in the commodity industry, and the regulation of distributed production may be very complicated and difficult to regulate.

    Looking ahead, the rise of artificial intelligence-as-a-service platforms with low barriers to entry will enable companies to expand cognitive solutions and reshape industry dynamics in a zero marginal cost environment. IoT represents the next step in the digitization of our society and economy, in which objects and people are connected to each other through a communication network and report the state of their surrounding environment.

    Simply put, almost everything will be connected and soon by expert IoT solution providers! What impact will this have on your business? At a basic level, connecting items in the office means that they can be ordered automatically when the supply is low, or your watch can pinpoint your time and location with the highest efficiency. Data and metrics mean improved efficiency and productivity, and automating trivial tasks means that valuable time can be spent on important projects. Have you started to look at the bigger picture? Not just for your components and assets but also your processes? Are you open to digitizing and automating your core processes and hop on the IoT bandwagon? Get in touch with the leading digital product development company to know more on how we can transform your business and processes.

    Our Services:

    Offshore Software Product Development | Healthcare Software Development | Data Analytics Solutions | Cloud Computing Services Providers

    Nitin
    Nitin Tappe After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.
  • 7 Signs That You Need To Outsource  Right Away!

    7 Signs That You Need To Outsource
    Right Away!

    When it comes to outsourcing, one of the biggest myths is around cost. Outsourcing should be done only if you need to save costs is a myth that has been apparent in the industry for quite a long time. Many organizations think outsourcing should be done because it is cheaper than hiring your own team, and this is a trap. As per the latest report by Market Business News, by 2027, the global engineering outsourcing market is supposed to earn around 431.12 billion US dollars with a CAGR of 5.1 percent in 2021—2027. When it comes to a type of business that implements outsourcing services, Statista reports that it is engineering start-ups that integrate outsourcing to satisfy their top business needs. These statistics clearly shows the surge in global demand for IT outsourcing.

    There are many reasons why more companies choose to outsource IT operations. This will not only speed up technology integration but also help reduce management costs. Outsourcing is also one of the best ways to meet your company’s unusual requirements around high demand, talent shortage, niche skillset, swing teams to name a few. Outsourcing is a strategic decision that is much more than just cost savings.

    When should you consider outsourcing then? What are the triggers for outsourcing your technological needs besides just cost savings? Read on to learn more

    1. You Need to Extend Existing Software to New Platforms or Languages 

    Some companies feel that they need to update their software to use a different language. Reasons include security vulnerabilities, your plug-in or API does not support your current language, or difficulty finding a developer for your current language. Instead of wasting time and money to “redo” a project for the new platform, it is better to use an external team. Since your project has been completed, anyone who joins the project already knows the specifications, expectations, design, and roadmap.

    If you are looking to migrate the application from one language to another or if you are looking to upgrade the application for UI/UX, outsourcing could free up time for you to focus on processing feature requests and updates for the actual product, while facilitating external teams to join. Whether you are cooperating or handing over this part, an expert outsourced product development company can make it easy!

    2. Your IT Project Requires Niche Expertise 

    When you participate in a project that requires expertise, the true value of outsourcing is reflected. These projects could be on the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Cloud or Edge Computing, Mobile or Network Security. You might consider challenging your internal IT staff to handle these projects, but you are likely to get unsatisfactory results. Hiring a whole set of experts is feasible, but it can be very expensive. The best practice is to outsource these operations so that you can be proficient and do not end up building a team that you cannot drive yourself. It’s better to let a chef cook a delicious meal with ingredients he knows best to use than you buying those ingredients and trying a recipe you have not tried your hands on, ever. If you still do so, it will be a strategy doomed to fail.

    Finding the best developers for a project has always been challenging, but it is even more so today. LinkedIn’s annual emerging job report stated that since 2015, the annual growth rate of full-stack developer positions has been as high as 35%. Therefore, finding talent is a time-consuming task of finding and hiring suitable candidates. Outsourcing is a quick solution that allows you to hire a temporary team to meet your deadlines.

    3. Your IT Department is Experiencing High Turnover 

    As a company, the last thing you want is high employee turnover in any department. Unfortunately, sometimes it happens, and the reasons can be many. IT professionals are usually in high demand ever since the pandemic subdued, and you may not be able to meet their salary requirements. This may result in a high turnover rate in your IT department. A practical way to solve this problem is to start outsourcing your IT functions until your business is profitable enough to make higher full-time employees comfortable.

    In small businesses, it is not uncommon for people to wear more than one hat to keep things running. However, overwork is the fastest way to cause disaster, because their work output may be unsatisfactory or full of errors. Although outsourcing seems to be the last choice you want to make in difficult times, outsourcing can give your core team enough room to focus on the activities that brought you your customers in the first place. It may actually be a movement that can stop sliding.

    4. Businesses with Peak Demand 

    Enterprises with peak demand may result in insufficient resources or inefficient operations due to too many team members and insufficient tasks. This is especially true for seasonal businesses or e-commerce businesses during peak holiday periods. Instead of reassigning existing employees to loosely appropriate roles, or hiring support staff only during peak hours, consider a supplementary external team or a swing team. The advantage is that you only pay them when you are at the peak, allowing your full-time employees to focus on the tasks they are hired for.

    When sales are rapid and orders pile up, the pressure to obtain orders quickly and efficiently is huge. Incorporating promotions and fulfilling all these orders can be a major challenge, especially for small and medium enterprises. Therefore, the first question to ask before any busy period is: Are we staffed appropriately to meet the demand? If not, do we have enough time and funds to hire internal experts? It is very unlikely that these two situations will be true at a certain moment. Choosing a suitable outsourcing partner should solve your problem of scaling operations as and when required by utilizing a swing team.

    5. Short Term for Software Development 

    If the software development period is short, and you need to go through the entire process of hiring experts, software development, problem-solving, testing, etc. when creating an application, you must leave the project to a team of well-known experts who will develop you in a shorter time.

    Take a closer look at how much billable time you will lose for tasks you can pay for others to do. This may be a warning that you have suffered a loss due to not outsourcing. Remember, people buy your product rather than develop their own product, because they are not experts, and you are. However, you may not know all the knowledge of software development or have never used niche technologies. At this time, it makes sense to hire a partner who makes living developing software applications for companies like yours.

    6. You Did Not Continuously Train Your Internal IT Staff

    Employees in most departments of your company need to upgrade their skills on a regular basis. You want to ensure that your employees are kept up to date with the latest developments in their field of expertise.

    With the rapid development of the IT industry, it can be challenging for your small business to keep up. There are endless training options, and you may not know where to start. This is why some small businesses choose to ignore most of the latest developments in IT.

    If you do not have the internal expertise or a well-defined training program, outsourcing saves cost and time than recruiting and training new employees. This way, you can focus on your core business and let experts build products for you without delay. You need many different resources to build a mobile application, including Android programmers, iOS programmers, mobile architects, product managers, testers, and business analysts. Hiring all these resources for just one mobile application project can be time-consuming and expensive. And, you cannot build a mobile application with your web programmers. In this scenario, ideally, you want to use an external company to build the initial product, and then determine whether you need to hire internally or continue to use external help. You need to hire an expert who has done this many times so that your product meets or exceeds your end customer’s expectations.

    7. You Spend too Much on IT

    Approximately 45% of companies that outsource IT projects do this to save money. Running an internal IT department can be very expensive. Cost still remains one of the main drivers for outsourcing but not the only one as highlighted from the above scenarios. Due to a shortage of IT skills, IT individuals usually demand higher salaries than most other employees in the company. If employees have certain expertise, such as data science or low code, no code, they will even negotiate to get high remuneration. In addition to high salaries, the cost of setting, building, and operating a team of these individuals is also high.

    So how can outsourcing help reduce these costs? Well, first of all, you must pay a predetermined price for the required service package for the duration required to complete the work packets rather than paying salaries full-time. Both start-ups and enterprises face the pain of having to find, hire, and then train full-time developers to help deal with the workload of the project. This time-consuming and expensive measure can be simplified by hiring a team of experienced experts, who only need to understand your project requirements and expectations. When you consider the cost of benefits, wages, and long-term commitments, outsourcing is always usually cheaper!

    Conclusion:

    Companies outsource as per their needs and financial capabilities. While some companies delegate two-three functions only, some are comfortable with having very few employees and outsourcing the maximum amount of technology development work. However, the ultimate goal is always the same – to increase the flexibility of the business model and to lower the operational costs. 

    The overall trends of the past decade suggest that outsourcing is a highly popular route among small businesses. But, if you haven’t tried it yet and you can see any of the above signs in your own company, go ahead and test it for yourself. Need help getting started with your software project or looking to outsource? Reach out to Pratiti Technologies, an expert outsourced software development firm with the experience and expertise to craft your digital journeys!

    our services:
    Edge Computing Solutions | Healthcare Software Development | Data Analytics Solutions | Cloud Computing Services Providers

    Nitin

    Nitin Tappe

    After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

  • The Era of Hyper-Customization for ISVs and SaaS vendors

    The Era of Hyper-Customization for ISVs and SaaS vendors

    Due to the pandemic, organizations of all sizes have had no choice but to accelerate their digital transformation journey. They urgently need new tools, functions, and services to adapt to the new normal. SaaS vendors and emerging ISVs that can meet these needs are now grabbing market share.

    ISVs are developing rapidly, adopting Software as a Service (SaaS) as their core product strategy, and continuously expanding their scale to meet market demand. This requires them to fundamentally change their value chain to smoothly transition to the SaaS model.

    The software field has undergone a fundamental change from one-time license pricing to overdue deferred expenditures. 

    Therefore, the global SaaS market valued at USD 23.88 billion in 2014 is expected to reach USD 164.29 billion by 2022. With the increasing popularity of SaaS products in the fields of customer relationship management, human resource management, and service management, traditional ISVs need to reshape and transform themselves to develop and deliver software as single-point solutions and services instead of traditional packaged products.

    Exponential Innovation 

    Let us be clear: even before the pandemic, the software field was a hotbed of innovation. Hyper-vertical software providers have done an excellent job of creating business applications that directly meet business needs, which seemed to be changing so frequently so often. However, as the pandemic’s control over the world has increased, the way people work and collaborate has changed almost overnight. Fortunately, the cloud provides exactly what we have all been talking about: elasticity, on-demand, and easy accessibility.

    In fact, according to Gartner’s data, the entire cloud market is expected to grow from US$257.867 billion in 2020 to US$306.948 in 2021, and US$36,4062 in 2022!

    In this growth process, due to the continued shift from locally licensed software to subscription-based SaaS, and of course the impact of the pandemic has forced companies to adopt new software collaboration tools in which SaaS remains the largest market segment. In order to keep up with market demand and ensure sustainable growth, SaaS and ISV providers need to do more than just provide a flexible, pay-as-you-go consumption model.

    Redesigning the Value Chain of SaaS Companies

    Transformation to the next generation of SaaS comes with its own challenges. A few key challenges are: The first challenge is the competition from SaaS companies in the new era. These companies have no legacy products, and are more agile, and respond faster to market demands. Secondly, due to the lack of scale and talents for new custom software product development, the increasing demand for SaaS products poses challenges. In addition, supporting IT systems have not fully adapted to rapid growth. Third, ISVs’ existing technology and IT system equipment are insufficient to extract insights about customer retention. 

    To ensure a seamless transition to the SaaS model, companies need to transform their traditional value chain and reposition software product development, business operations, revenue recognition, finance, sales, marketing, product services, and support. The five key steps in the transformation process are:

      • Prepare for ongoing customer relationships, not one-time sales
      • Prepare for changes in revenue recognition and cash flow by adjusting the financial system and overall financial management practices
      • “SaaSify” products and pivot product strategies by hosting products in the cloud, re-architecting SaaS, and building products from scratch
      • Make IT more versatile by changing the IT systems that run the business (including customer management, metering, billing, and revenue recognition)
      • Handling complexity through self-configuration, ongoing support, and customer intelligence to facilitate seamless onboarding

    The Need to Adapt to a New Era of Hyper-Customization/Personalization

    ISVs and as-a-service companies are facing a set of challenges of their own. Their customers have higher expectations and higher demands. In all industries, users expect software to make their lives easier, do their jobs better, and help them perform daily tasks more effectively. They want these experiences to be effortless and frictionless. Often, ISVs and as-a-service companies can rely on Managed Service Providers to manage their products & enhance customer experience.

    SaaS and ISV vendors must be able to meet these expectations and provide simplified, customer-friendly products and experiences. But let’s be honest: the customer experience of many SaaS vendors is still quite disconnected. In addition, providing these experiences while satisfying customers’ desires for new products and updates is not as simple as it seems.

    In Conclusion

    It is not uncommon to encounter some resistance to the idea of migrating to a newer and better platform. COVID-19 continues to be like a tornado, pushing business transformation into the air—we are no longer in the dark. Suppliers can work hard to keep up with demand for the next five years and operate, just keep it as it is. Or, they can take a closer look at their SDLC and the broader process, and ask where they can optimize.

    More and more SaaS applications have created huge growth opportunities for product companies. As companies move to a SaaS model, they need to transform their value chain, which requires changes in their products and IT strategy. The fierce competition in the SaaS market has put tremendous pressure on product companies to launch products using the SaaS support model. The SaaS-based subscription model provides opportunities such as anytime, anywhere availability, shorter implementation cycles, higher agility, and competitiveness. If you too are looking for custom software, kindly reach out to us today to collaborate, co-create, and co-innovate digital solutions for you.

    Our Services:
    Edge Computing Platform | Healthcare Software Development | Data Analytics Solutions | Cloud Computing Services Providers

    Nitin
    Nitin Tappe After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.
  • Mistakes to Avoid While Building a Remote Extended Technology Team!

    Mistakes to Avoid While Building a Remote Extended Technology Team!

    Why Your Business Needs an Extended Development Team? 

    If you are a technology-based organization, then you know the importance of having a comprehensive development team to build innovative and state-of-the-art products and solutions for your business. As companies, especially Western companies, face a serious shortage of talents due to the pandemic and the advent of digitalization, more and more companies are attracted by the concept of establishing extended development teams elsewhere. Not only can you fill in the key missing skillsets in your core development team, you can also increase project’s overall productivity and make it go seamlessly. However, if you expand your team with inconsistent expectations and inadequate plans, especially in another country, it may disrupt your entire offshoring process.

    When Do You Need an Extended Software Development Team? 

    There are some basic situations when you should set up an extended technology team. When your core team is working on an important project, you don’t want more experienced experts to perform less important secondary tasks, thereby reducing overall work efficiency and productivity. To do this, you can more easily hire a small extended software development team that can install these patches and do all the work you need. If you also realize that the skills of your core team are not sufficient to perform a specific task, and there is a certain gap in skills that cannot fill anything else. For this reason, you can only find professionals with a combination of skills that can make up for the shortage and help you successfully complete the project.

    Another scenario when you could set up an extended team is when your company has grown and needs to expand, but you are not in a hurry to recruit new people for your core team. You can check at any time whether the company is ready to accept new tasks and increase the flow of customers, issues, and workflows. The enlarged team will be able to take on part of the tasks, thereby increasing the possible burden on other experts and management. In a situation when your existing customer orders the development of a large project from you, and your entire core team is occupied with other equally important things, it is better to expand the responsibilities of the extended team, rather than reject ordinary customers and risk losing experience, revenue, reputation, and the customer himself. Setting up an extended team is easier said than done though. In today’s blog post, we bring to you some common mistakes that companies make, as well as how to avoid them. Steering clear of these mistakes will ensure that you have the best partnership with your offshore provider and your extended development team.

    Common Mistakes to Avoid 

    #1: Do Not Fixate on Short Term Benefits 

    If you want to augment your existing core development team, it’s important to look beyond a temporary arrangement that can work for a one-off project. Building an extended team is a permanent solution, and the engineers that you hire become permanent employees of your business that are in it for the long haul. These resources could be utilized on multiple projects and since you have control over them, you can utilize their skillsets effectively across projects.

    Prioritize on building an extended technology team for long term: minimum 9 – 12 months. Your extended development team is yours, in every sense of the word. They work for you, they believe in the vision of your business, and their goal is simple – to help you grow your business by building software.

    #2: Value Over Cost 

    Many businesses, when given a choice, will choose the less expensive result. Not surprisingly, this is usually the wrong choice because lower rates doesn’t always mean getting the better end of the bargain. Even outsourcing, for instance, offers services at very low prices, but we just saw how that could spell disaster for your business. Keep the price aside for a moment, and focus on asking them the bigger question – what value can they bring to the table? Assess their portfolios, their expertise, and how the higher costs can translate to higher productivity and success rate. If the facts and figures laid out don’t speak for themselves, then you’re better off not making that deal.

    Indeed, regardless of the type of business, the bottom line as a determinant of any business proposition is: how much will it cost? Although cost is a glass ceiling that can never be broken, paying too much attention to price may mean that you have not considered the value proposition of the transaction. Many companies will choose a less expensive option to save more costs. Not surprisingly, this is usually the wrong choice, because lower interest rates do not always mean bargaining. While setting up an extended team, focus on the value that you wish to obtain from the engagement. Have a strategic objective behind setting up a remote team. Evaluate the vendor’s investment portfolio, their expertise, and how a slightly better rates translate into higher productivity and success rates. The cost of cheap hiring is devastating and more harmful in the long run. Not hiring than cheap hiring is a better option in such cases.

    #3: Bias Towards Extended Technology Teams 

    When you have an extended development team, it is important to remember that they are part of your organization just like your local team. The only real difference here is that they are sitting elsewhere, in different office spaces. Depriving remote teams of important business knowledge, keeping them away from team calls, or preventing them from expressing opinions or feedback may cause them to feel isolated, not valued, and not recognized. In addition to this, your extended team will no longer have a 360-degree view of the business, the project at hand, and the larger business goals, which will result in unoptimized software solutions. This in turn affects their morale and motivation, and hinders productivity.

    #4: Lack of Clear Roadmap 

    An integral part of working with offshore vendors and establishing remote teams is planning. Before you work with an offshore development company, you must develop a clear roadmap-a set of actionable steps for the near future. Diving into collaboration and quickly building requirements will lead to chaos and chaos, rather than increase in productivity.

    Although immediate build requirements may be attractive, you still need to ensure that your remote team has enough work for at least the next one or two development cycles. Identify a roadmap for one or more of your internal products and gauge the skillsets required for execution of these projects. If the technology stack overlap with each other and you have product roadmap defined for at least two or more development cycles, releases, than setting up a dedicated technology team is your best option.

    Build a Dedicated Extended Technology Team with Pratiti Technologies

    Pratiti Technologies can help you set up an extended remote technology team without loss of efficiency in your work processes. At Pratiti, we ensure an agile mentality by building a team of resources around our unique craftsmanship model. We believe that authorized and self-organizing craftsmen have the greatest chance of success in new and innovative fields. Pratiti’s business model is based on our craftsmen, and we are proud to have a highly skilled technical team at our disposal which you can leverage towards your product development, testing and automation needs.

    Our craftsmen have product development DNA, collaboration mindset for innovations, and exposure to different execution frameworks. If you are looking to set up a dedicated technology team of software developers, QA automation and testers, DevOps skillsets, contact us today. We collaborate with our customers and partners under flexible engagement models and strive to make customer’s success as our success.

    Our Services

    Digital Product Company | Healthcare Software Development Services | Industrial IoT Solutions | Cloud Computing Services Providers

    Nitin

    Nitin Tappe

    After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

  • Questions Product Start-Ups Should Ask While Outsourcing Software Development!

    Questions Product Start-Ups Should Ask While Outsourcing Software Development!

    Not every start-up and not every founder team that conceives technical product ideas has a technical background. If you are one of them, what should you do-build a team internally or switch to outsourcing product development?
    A non-technical founder always has the below four choices while validating their product ideas:

    • Look for technical co-founders (similar to finding a lifelong partner)
    • Hire an internal technical team (longer learning curve and high investment)
    • Outsourcing product development (the first choice of many non-technical founders in the MVP stage)
    • Learn to write your own code (it may take years to become a full-stack developer)

    Each of these options has its advantages and disadvantages, you can choose according to the stage your start-up is in. Multi-billion dollar start-ups like Skype, Slack as well as highly successful start-ups like Fab, Klout, AppSumo, GitHub, Basecamp, Opera, to name a few had all outsourced their product development in their nascent years. 

    Being a custom software development company that’s worked with several funded and bootstrapped start-ups, we strongly feel outsourcing your product development is a viable option for building the first version of your product.

    Why is Outsourcing Vital for Start-up Product Development? 

    The world is surviving and will survive COVID-19, but companies will continue to face the consequences of the pandemic and will need to adopt, adapt, and evolve to survive this crisis. How can young and growing start-ups sustain from technology standpoint during the epidemic? How to develop a strategy around your software development? Lets hear from a few recent successful start-ups and what their Cofounders had to say about their strategy:

    Outsource Your MVP Early

    “Outsourcing development has time and place. When the design, interaction and requirements of the product are highly clear, outsourcing the development team is most effective. Compared with in-house developers, talent is usually cheaper and more flexible, and can be scaled up or down quickly”, says Andrea Barrett, Co-founder and Vice President of Product, UrbanSitter.

    Strictly Define Your Product to the Outsourcing Team

    “If you can outline your product specifications and ensure that you oversee development operations, then outsourcing the first version of your product can definitely pay off”, says Bram Kanstein, Co-founder of We are off the record.

    Now that we have established outsourcing could be a strategic business decision in your start-up journey, let us look at a few tactical questions to ask before outsourcing.

    Questions to Answer for Effective Start-up Product Development ‘Outsourcing’

    To make outsourcing an effective process for your company’s product development, several steps are required. As long as you get the answers to these questions, you will eventually hire a highly reliable and trustworthy team for your business

    1. What is the Scope, Size, and Complexity of the Project?

    The key is to make outsourcing an effective process for product development. First, the company needs to define the scope of the project. What do you want to achieve with this project? It takes effort to translate the idea into the entire setup. In addition, it is also important to define which technologies and tools are suitable for the project process. Your project cannot rely solely on any technology; only after proper planning and analysis can you truly determine the technology stack for product development.

    Defining the scope of the project is crucial. Once you have a clear project goal, you can more easily communicate it to the outsourcing team. When the outsourcing team clearly understands the scope of the project, they can easily achieve the expected results and milestones. In addition, setting clear guidelines at the beginning of the project will only avoid any obstacles in the development process. You can even build a better relationship with the outsourcing team. Therefore, to clarify the scope of the project, you first need to understand it yourself.

    2. Do You have the Right Team Identified with Required Skillsets?

    The next step is to invest in the right outsourcing team. If this is not done correctly, your development process will not be so effective. When you understand your project, the outsourcing team will be more effective. In addition, you even need to let the hired outsourcing team understand your business goals and ensure a business level and cultural alignment.

    Appointing an outsourcing team means that the team can be hired flexibly according to business goals. In addition, when you outsource a team for product development, it is recommended to plan and interview multiple teams before finalizing a team. You can’t just go to one team at a time. It takes time and energy to choose a team based on how well the team meets your business needs. Conduct interviews with different teams, analyze which team suits your business needs, and then select the best team with basic expertise, knowledge and skills.

    3. Is there a well-established and Transparent Communication Channel?

    Another important factor to consider when hiring a team for your product development process is “clear communication.” First, clearly and concisely state the goals, priorities, and expectations of the business. Then, make sure you invest time in building a good relationship with the outsourcing team. This is possible when you communicate clearly with the outsourcing team. 

    The progress of the outsourcing team should be discussed regularly. You should not only mention how effective their work is, but also what can be improved.. In addition, clear communication can even help achieve the desired results. Therefore, it is recommended to invest as much time as necessary to hire one of the best outsourcing teams for your product development process. When hiring a team for product development, continuous communication is required to successfully complete the process.

    4 .Do You Know When to Choose outsourcing?

    As a start-up company, you must know when to choose outsourcing. For this, you must have a real product idea. Turn this idea into a suitable business, and then make a suitable plan to make a profit from it. A certain roadmap must be followed to establish a reliable business in this market. Therefore, when doing product development, you must know when to switch to outsourcing. You must know when you really need to hire a team for your business.

    The following are when you should choose to outsource to support your start-up product development:

    • Need to translate your ideas into actual business
    • Your company is looking for scalability
    • Improve return on investment and profits
    • Need more skillsets in your team
    • Cost savings

    Therefore, when your company needs to outsource a start-up product development team, these may be the basic reasons. When you know how to choose outsourcing, you have a high chance of bringing success to your business. Therefore, be smart enough when you need to “outsource” in order to properly use your advantages.

    What to Consider When Outsourcing Start-up Product Development?

    Certain factors need to be considered when outsourcing product development. Before choosing “outsourcing”, you must understand the following.

    • The technical details involved-what skillsets, tools and techniques are needed to complete your project? Does your outsourcing team understand the technical details of your project? Well, if they don’t, they may not be suitable for your business. Alternatively, the outsourcing team should be familiar with the latest technologies and tools to provide the best results.
    • Complexity of the project-how complex is the product you want to show on the market? What is the size and actual scope of work? It is important to understand what expertise your project requires. You must understand the types, requirements, and functions of the products that are critical to the project. After you fully understand your project, you must outsource your product development.
    • The costs involved-please consider the costs involved in the entire outsourcing process, as this will affect your overall budget. The costs involved must be properly analyzed in advance so that there will be no shortage of funds when needed in the subsequent process. Check the flexibility of the engagements models of the outsourcing partner and if their models align with your business strategy. Fixed price, Time & Materials, Offshore Delivery Centres are a few of the models start-ups can consider while outsourcing.

    Conclusion

    When companies define their expectations and reduce risk, outsourcing product development to reliable technology partners like Pratiti Technologies can allow startups to compete with competitors that are making waves in the market. However, it is very important to find an outsourced software product development company to balance quality and cost while ensuring that you maintain the confidentiality, security, and control of the project.

    The global knowledge passed on to offshore development centers can help your company become better in order to compete in the international market. The main reason that offshore product development has become a popular choice is that it allows companies to survive temporary difficult times. In addition, it saves money and is not a once-and-for-all option. If you plan to develop profit quickly without compromising on its quality, outsourcing is the best way. But this method will only work if you work with the right startup development company. Are you ready to outsource product development? Contact us now and get a free consultation.

    0ur Services:
    Edge Computing Solutions | Healthcare Software Development | Data Analytics Solutions | Cloud Computing Services Providers

  • Key Challenges with Enterprise IoT Applications!

    Key Challenges with Enterprise IoT Applications!

    Introduction

    Ever since the pandemic, using Internet of Things (IoT) in business processes has become a tempting concept. Basically, this means that the physical device has its own CPU in the form of a microchip that can participate and collaborate in the execution of business processes. This is called the Enterprise IoT. These physical devices act as data collection points, where inputs from various machines involved in the process can be calculated, and then these devices can issue control commands based on the context of the inputs and applicable business rules. This results in reduced human intervention and higher process efficiency which is namely the USP of the enterprise IoT.

    The IoT Proof Of Concept (POC) of sending device data to the cloud is relatively easy to build, but the challenges become more complex when deploying enterprise-level IoT on a large scale. These challenges include integration with OT (Operational Technology) managed factory systems and enterprise systems, data, and critical infrastructure security, gaining insights from device data, and accomplishing all of these without breaking the bank.

    Compared with building a POC or a consumer IoT solution, the enterprise IoT environment poses more complex requirements. The POCs using consumer components will not be integrated with the company’s existing IT infrastructure but will run in their own silos, requiring them to have their own databases, networks, security, applications, and analytics. Although they can be assembled quickly, they are designed for one-time use and lack strict production quality testing, safety policies, maintenance plans, and continuous support.

    In addition, these POCs usually have a 2-tier architecture, where data collection is at the edge, but processing/analysis and intelligence are in the cloud. Cloud service providers can easily connect to their services by providing pre-configured runtimes. However, factors such as cost, data privacy, and network latency make it impossible to expand deployment beyond POC. As a result, most POCs cannot scale, nor can they have any real impact outside of the business group that sponsors them. However, these POCs are still in their infancy and there are many challenges in implementing this concept.

    Challenges

    Despite the massive technological advancement, even with the promise of newer and more advanced communication models, many people are still skeptical about the prospects of the Enterprise IoT. The main challenges of adopting Enterprise IoT are:

    1. Lack of Highly Structured Data

    Clearly defined and structured data is the foundation of any successful IoT implementation. This is because computers need clearly defined categories under which data should be collected. If there is no correct classification, all data will be garbled to the machine. Although the data is unstructured, further analysis of the data becomes very difficult. The data can be judged based on three main parameters: quantity, type, and speed. In addition, for data that is ready for calculation, it should be clean data without errors. However, in many places, data entry is still manual. This is where human error occurs, which in turn makes the machine unable to read the data.

    Deciding which data to capture is also a major challenge. Providers provide specialized IT services to model your data, and you can always outsource database management plans to such third-party service providers. The amount of data and potential capture speed make data an important consideration for enterprise IoT adoption.

    2. Use Edge Computing to Scale IoT

    In some cases, device data needs to be processed in real-time, even if the network connection is lost, key business functions can continue to operate, which is a necessary condition for life-protecting safety systems or critical infrastructure. Edge computing can solve these IoT challenges by bringing data processing and analysis closer to the devices that generate the data. Device data can be prioritized and routed to when and where it is needed. Instead of all device data, just send a small portion of the data to the core site is used for long-term storage or further processing.

    Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) enable companies to proactively discover potential problems in real time so that they can take corrective actions to improve product quality and reduce potential downtime through predictive maintenance. This requires data scientists to develop, test, and deploy ML models for predictive maintenance. These models are then deployed to perform real-time inferences at edge sites. IoT solutions need to reflect the best practices of modern IT environments based on containers, kubernetes, agile development, AI/ML, and automation.

    3. Consistent Approach Covering Multiple Use Cases

    Another major challenge facing enterprises is to identify the right use cases for higher return on investment in IoT. At the macro level, IoT seems to solve many optimization problems. However, at the micro-level, when this idea needs to be implemented, it is difficult to determine which exact processes can be automated using IoT, and which processes should be left as they are. This will require a lot of investment to study the white space that can be inserted using IoT.

    Using a modular approach to build edge architectures can flexibly deploy any of the components shown in meaningful places – from core data centres to remote edge sites to meet the needs of various use cases including IoT. By using open APIs, developers can access data programmatically. Likewise, IoT with open-source components will allow companies to build vendor-agnostic solutions that best suit their needs from the core to the edge.

    4. Analytical Modelling

    In order for IoT to work properly, an accurate data model is needed to actually analyse the data and make decisions. If there is no model to analyse the data, the data itself is worthless. This means that a good model must be developed to meet the expectations of IoT implementation. However, this is a time-consuming and expensive process. Every company has a different mode of operation, and each business function and process is a special case. Different stakeholders and different devices interact with each other in different ways. However, it is time-consuming and expensive to build a customized model for a specific situation. This is why there is a need for a universal model that can work in various situations. Until a general model suitable for various use cases can be made, the prospects for IoT in the enterprise seem bleak.

    However, this is only half of the problem. After a good model is realized, it must go through various stages of testing and repetition before it can become sufficiently accurate and accurate to achieve reliability. A small defect in the model may have a chain reaction, in which a false positive or negative at each stage will cause the entire production line to perform the wrong operation.

    5. Quantity, Complexity, and Security

    Another major problem with the adoption of IoT is the type of different devices. Many devices share architecture, but many other devices from different OEMs have very different architectures and operations. This is a major consideration when devices communicate with each other because the control signal sent by one device may not even be interpreted as a valid command by another device. This problem is very similar to the early stage of the Internet before the homogeneous communication of the general protocol. This is where a common interface is needed, which can parse the incoming commands and output the converted commands to the next device in the process.

    Data security is also one of the most pressing issues for any organization. For the enterprise IoT to be a viable option considered by the company, it must have stronger security measures. These are essentially devices, have their own ecosystem, and communicate with each other via the Internet. Therefore, concerns about possible security breaches are very effective concerns. With the continuous development of the enterprise IoT, suppliers, original equipment manufacturers, and customers must all work together to establish reliable security protocols and guidelines.

    Conclusion

    Enterprise IoT has great potential to disrupt the way business is conducted. The true benefits of the correct implementation of the enterprise IoT are now recognized by most business leaders, and enterprise IoT plans are being carefully considered in the strategic roadmaps of various organizations. However, there are many challenges to successfully adopting this technology, some of which are issues of serious concern. However, as the way we process and analyse data continues to evolve and the technology industry makes more progress, the enterprise IoT may become the next big event in the industry.

    Leverage Pratiti’s expertise in IoT development to co-create digital solutions at speed. Reach out to us today to engineer your digital journey today. We are an innovative product development company that possesses rich expertise in crafting and delivering software solutions using digital technologies. The Pratiti team helps their customers realize value while working with integrity, certainty, and insight; thus becoming the trusted technology partner in the customers digital transformation journey.

    Our Services

    Digital Product Company | Healthcare Software Development Services | Industrial IoT Solutions | Digital Twin Platform

    Nitin

    Nitin Tappe

    After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

  • Microservices vs Serverless – Which One To Use?

    Microservices vs Serverless – Which One To Use?

    Both microservices and serverless are currently the most important topics in the field of cloud native computing. However, although serverless functions and microservices architecture usually go hand in hand, they are different technologies and play different roles in modern software environments. While both serverless and microservices technologies are designed to host highly scalable solutions. However, they are not the same thing. Let us understand what these technologies are, their benefits, challenges and which one should you use for your application development?

    What Are Microservices?

    Building a microservice architecture (MSA) consists of multiple autonomous components, which are inter-connected using APIs. Each of these components (called microservices) performs a single function or process. Each microservice is deployed in a container that runs as a standalone application. Essentially, each microservice contains three basic elements – own database, libraries, and templates; that operates as stand-alone application.

    Generally, DevOps teams decompose all the features and functions of a software application into individual services, so that the full functionality of the application is preserved while the application is transformed into a decentralized model. The team defines the dependencies between these components and then assigns a component to different development teams for development and maintenance. While doing so, each of these microservices is independently developed and tested before they can be deployed in isolated containers.

    Through this framework, even if a microservice is interrupted or maintained, it is easier to repair and redeploy without affecting other services or the entire framework. Besides, microservices can also improve the reliability and performance of an application by distracting the footprint of the application: if a microservice fails, the rest of the application will continue to run, so your users will not be completely locked out. In addition, because microservices are smaller than the entire application, starting a new microservice to replace the failed instance (or increasing the capacity when the application load increases) is faster than reloading the entire application.

    When to Use Microservices and What are its Benefits?

    Microservices are most suitable for applications and systems that are evolving, complex, and require high scalability. Especially for applications that involve a large amount of data processing, microservices are an ideal choice because you can decompose complex functions into multiple services for easy development and maintenance. A few 

    • Flexibility in Adding / Updating Features: You can roll out or update one feature at a time instead of updating the entire application stack,
    • Resilience: As the application is divided, the interruption or crash of a part of the application does not necessarily affect the rest of the application,
    • Flexibility for Developers: Microservices can be written in different languages, and each has its own library,
    • Selective Scalability: Instead of extending the entire application, only microservices with high usage can be extended

    Challenges of Microservice Frameworks are

    • Increased overhead for managing multiple databases, ensuring data consistency, and continuously monitoring each microservice
    • The need for expertise and computing resources can be expensive
    • Distributed environment requires stricter interface control and high-test coverage
    • More vulnerable to security attacks
    • It may be too slow and complicated for small companies that need rapid implementation and iteration

    Now, let’s move to serverless.

    What is Serverless?

    Serverless is a model in which application code is executed on demand in response to triggers configured in advance by the application developer. Code that runs in this way (called a serverless function) can represent the entire application. However, it is more common to use serverless functions to implement discrete units of application functions.

    Compared with traditional cloud-based or server-centric infrastructure, serverless computing has many advantages. For many developers, serverless architecture provides greater scalability, greater flexibility, and faster release times at a lower cost. With serverless architecture, developers don’t need to worry about purchasing, configuring, and managing back-end servers. However, serverless computing is not a panacea for all web application developers.

    Benefits of a Serverless Environment

    • Reduce the time and expense used to build, maintain and upgrade the underlying infrastructure
    • Reduce the cost of hiring database and server experts
    • More focus on developing high-quality applications with faster deployment speed
    • Best suited for short-term and real-time processes that are client-intensive and expected to grow
    • Multiple subscription-based pricing models for efficient budget forecasting
    • Fast scalability-does not affect performance

    Challenges of Serverless Environments

    • Applications or functions that have been inactive for a long time may require a cold start to run, which requires additional time and effort 
    • Technical changes may make the transition to another supplier challenging
    • If/when adjacent tenants deploy error codes, multi-tenant serverless platforms may introduce performance issues or errors in the pool platform
    • Commitment to sign a long-term contract with a management third party

    Conclusion

    While making an informed decision on which to use, you should consider these points – The level of granularity of serverless affects tools and frameworks. This is because the higher the granularity, the more complex integration testing becomes, making debugging, troubleshooting, and testing more difficult. In contrast, microservices are a mature method and are well supported by tools and processes.

    Time to market also plays a role. Due to the lightweight programming model and ease of operation of the serverless architecture, the time to market for new features is greatly reduced, which is a key driving factor for many companies. This also means that Functions as a Service (FaaS) can be used for data processing to quickly prototype Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to showcase new technologies to investors or customers. Although microservices still provide a reliable approach to Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), serverless is making progress in event-based architecture and has clear advantages in shortening time to market, flexible pricing, and lower operating costs.

    It is unlikely now that serverless will or should be the method of every system-but as it matures, it very well could. Best solution right now is to combine these two architectural approaches to help deliver and leverage the benefits of cloud for you and your end users. Serverless is a way to host microservices, but it is not the only way. You also don’t deploy and manage microservices in exactly the same way as serverless functions. Both of these technologies provide important advantages for cloud native computing, but they solve different types of problems. Given your requirement, you could either opt for serverless or microservices or both.

    From core to cloud to edge, we deliver custom software development services and cloud-native application development services to leading enterprises, industrial customers, and tech start-ups to accelerate their digital transformation journey. To know how we can assist you in crafting your digital journey with microservices or serverless, reach out to us today!


    Our Services:

    Digital Product Company | Offshore Software Product Development | IoT Development Services | Digital Twin Platform

    Nitin
    Nitin Tappe After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.
  • Importance and Benefits of Digital Quality Assurance for ISVs!

    Importance and Benefits of Digital Quality Assurance for ISVs!

    The global pandemic has undoubtedly accelerated Independent Software Vendors’ (ISVs) rapid start of their digital transformation journey. Digitalization is rapidly changing the way companies create value and compete in today’s world. Although many ISVs are becoming potential partners for digital transformation themselves, they should also look at vendors that put customer experience first. As companies adopt artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and edge computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and other software-driven tools, experience assurance has become a driving force for digital transformation. To achieve growth in this environment, ISVs are increasingly going beyond quick fix programs to take advantage of multiple value creation levers and take advantage of digital transformation opportunities. More and more ISVs are now paying more and more attention to accelerating product modernization and promoting continuous innovation through the influx of skilled engineering talent.

    It is important that the ISVs stay ahead of industry trends that may create opportunities and drive major disruptions during the digital business transformation phase. Like many other industries, cloud has significantly changed the ISVs landscape as well. Recently, building and scaling applications on a secure cloud has become increasingly important for customer retention and acquisition. However, modern application development and migration to the cloud present some challenges. ISVs must transform their entire business model into a software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model, which means they need to switch from traditional delivery packaged software to a subscription-based model that requires frequent releases rather than annual upgrades. This is all easier said than done.

    Today, a small failure in the customer experience can cause huge losses to the enterprise, leading to business losses. By addressing performance, security, reliability, and speed challenges, quality assurance & testing plays a key role in ensuring that customers and end users enjoy the superior experience they expect. When starting digital transformation, people expect ISVs to use the best quality and assurance practices to help companies enable devices, applications, web, and mobile platforms to interact smoothly in their environment. The quality assurance & testing services being implemented should include security aspects, interoperability, performance, and network capabilities, and go beyond functional validation of the SMAC (social, mobile, analytics, and cloud) stack.

    According to Gartner’s latest research- “88% of service leaders say their current quality assurance processes are ineffective and rarely match customers’ perceptions of quality, and 91% of organizations participate in some form of digital initiatives.”

    Digital Quality Assurance Framework

    In the process of digital transformation, ISVs should ensure that every software they develop passes through the appropriate quality assurance framework channels. It is imperative to measure progress and the commercial value it creates. Creating an efficient digital quality assurance framework requires organizations to have access to established processes, checklists, test assets, and proven methods to effectively verify all resource files on all connected devices. The digital quality assurance framework should consist of the below components:

    • Digital Ecosystem: Cloud, mobility, big data and quality assurance of connected devices.
    • Advanced Analysis: Use advanced and defect analysis to define assurance strategies.
    • Digital Tools: Internal tools for test data, data visualization, automation, performance and security.
    • Digital Accelerators: Accelerators on IoT, cloud, analytics that help in taking the solution faster to market and reduces development time.

    Quality assurance & testing services enable ISVs to test their software across multiple devices, channels, platforms, and their internal layers. These services use analytics to define test methods and have built-in performance, security, and usability parameters. Benefits for businesses are:

    • Making the application future-proof: To ensure the performance, scalability, resiliency and security of all applications.
    • Faster time to market: Helps in accelerating time to market.
    • Lesser defects higher stability: By testing aggressively and deploying industry best processes across test cycles, defects can be found early.
    • Application performance: Checking server-side and front-end performance issues improves application’s performance.
    • Reliability: Use dependency solutions to check for any security vulnerabilities to ensure reliability and availability.

    Tech enterprises and ISVs around the world are rapidly adopting quality assurance & automation testing to help improve operational processes and customer experience. A strong digital quality assurance framework will take into account all aspects of digital transformation and is essential to the success of any digital plan.

    Pratiti Technologies’ quality assurance & automation testing services can help ISVs take advantage of the latest industry trends. We automate complete business process testing and can also enable you to use the test scripts to test applications on mobile and web devices. Our quality assurance team can test software components when they are built using different testing frameworks. We provide custom software solution development services for web and mobile development, and business-centric innovations and new product development as well as product support services. If you have any questions, please contact us to learn more about your choices.

    Our Services:

    Digital Product Company | Offshore Software Product Development | IoT Development Services | Digital Twin Platform

    Nitin

    Nitin Tappe

    After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

  • Data Foundation on Cloud to Drive Greater Value!

    Data Foundation on Cloud to Drive Greater Value!

    Today, no matter where we go, we can see companies from all walks of life are striving to modernize their data foundations. The first preference for modernization is the cloud. The first step in any transformation journey is to understand the data you have. According to Gartner, “By 2022, 90% of corporate strategies will clearly mention data as a key corporate asset, and analysis as an essential capability.”

    But before you can get value from the data, you must first find it and understand it. The single most important challenge of becoming a data-driven company is generating more data than ever before. At the same time, these data are scattered in more complex environments, including local, multi-cloud, and hybrid environments. Your data may exist in any number of places like your data center, SaaS application, cloud data lake or a local / on-premises data warehouse. It is important to get the answers to questions like ‘Where is all your data? How do you find it, organize it, and accelerate the speed to value?’. Only when you have answers, you can accelerate any data-driven plan, no matter whether you are looking to:

    • Deliver trusted and regulated data and comply with data-centric regulations,
    • Gain a holistic view of key data,
    • Accelerate time to insights with next-generation analytics,
    • Modernize the infrastructure by moving data sets to the cloud

    Why The Cloud Makes Data More Valuable?

    Today, data is everywhere. It comes from humans, machines, IoT devices, edge systems-whether on earth or in space. All the data gets piled up. Presently, we generate an astonishing 2.5 terabytes of data every day. But unless it is accessible and widely applicable, all this data is worthless. The challenge is not only to process the huge amount and variety of data from many different sources, but also to realize its full value and make the data worthwhile. This can only be achieved with a truly modern data foundation on the cloud. The cloud is the only place where data has the necessary scale and agility to be accessible, applicable, and ultimately become more valuable.

    The cloud-based architecture and platform enable all types of data to be concentrated in one place as a powerful collective resource for the entire enterprise. On the cloud, you can ingest large amounts of data in real time, let all the data work together seamlessly, and then use analytics, artificial intelligence, and automation to adjust the data to suit various use cases. Artificial intelligence-driven data catalogs can help enterprises and IT users easily discover, manage, and popularize trusted data on a large scale easily and efficiently.

    Discover the Data You Have

    Since data exists in various places (from local data warehouses to cloud applications), gaining visibility into all data is a challenge. To do this at an enterprise scale, you need to:

    • Use advanced Machine Learning algorithms to automate across hybrid and multi-cloud environments,
    • Use simple business terms that can be easily extended to analytics tools and other application environments for smart data searches,
    • Use Artificial Intelligence-driven data set association and linking, and automatic recommendation of data sets based on metadata such as domains, entities, source systems, and usage statistics.

    Know and Understand Your Data at Scale

    When you understand its context, the data becomes valuable. When you apply business context to data, you make it easier to use, manage and make sense out of it. Smart data catalogs can achieve this at scale with the following features:

    • Automatic domain discovery and classification to automatically identify domains and entities and use this information to tag data,
    • Ability to automatically associate business glossary terms with physical data sets to save thousands of hours of manual work for data administrators,
    • Collaboration to further enrich data and maximize the use of shared data knowledge,
    • The ability to understand data quality through data profiling and track how data quality changes as data flows through the enterprise.

    What is a Modern Data Foundation Made Up of Then?

    ·      Setting Up the Stage

    It first asks and answers the following questions: What data do you need and in what form to run and grow your business? This is an important first step in understanding the baseline capabilities required by the data foundation to deliver the desired business results. Then, you need to choose the right cloud service provider that can provide these features based on your current and future goals. Since not all aspects of a modern data foundation on the cloud can be developed at the same time, you need to create a roadmap of which features can be developed immediately and which features can be introduced over time. Focus on MVP approach and try to derive greater value in the future.

    ·        Take Action (Migration and Modernization)

    It is almost always recommended to build automation and configuration tools for data ingestion and management to accelerate the conversion of data to the cloud. AI/ML technology can be used to deal with data engineering and data management challenges. It is very important to build data catalogs and self-service functions to democratize data and make data “citizens” more widely available.

    ·      Operational Optimization

    Managing a modern cloud-based data foundation requires extensive standardization and automation. And for the cloud, continuous optimization is also necessary. In addition, if you want to make full use of data as a valuable asset throughout the enterprise, ensuring data quality and credibility is crucial. As long as your security team has the skills and tools specific to your cloud platform, the cloud can be more secure than a proprietary data center.

    By providing visibility into all enterprise data, as well as the ability to collaboratively organize and enrich data, intelligent data catalogs provide a critical first step for data-driven digital transformation. In addition, data catalogs can lead to widespread changes in the way companies handle data:

    • Change the culture and behavior of the entire organization – to achieve cross-functional collaboration around data,
    • Democratize data through self-service analysis – enable more people to use the power of data, and spend less time searching for relevant data,
    • Increase trust and confidence in data – by providing transparency in data sources and quality,
    • Increase productivity and efficiency – by modernizing data infrastructure, eliminating duplicate data and simplifying processes

    Let’s talk about how we as one of the leading cloud computing services providers can help you accelerate your data foundation transformation to grow, innovate, and generate sustainable value for your business. If you are looking for an expert cloud computing services companies and need help in strategizing and implementing your digital transformation initiatives, Let us connect.

    Our Services

    Edge Computing Services  | Offshore Software Product Development | Innovations Services | Digital Product Company

    Nitin
    Nitin Tappe After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.
  • Industry 4.0 Trends That Will Transform the Manufacturing Industry In 2020-2

    Industry 4.0 Trends That Will Transform the Manufacturing Industry In 2020-2

    If we were to look back at the way our industries and manufacturing processes have transformed over the course of the last three industrial revolutions, we’d be amazed at how far we’ve come. The third industrial revolution arrived in the last decades of the 20th century, in 1969 to be precise. And just in about 50 years, we are at the onset of what is known as the fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0.

    As we gear up and fine-tune the nuances of Industry 4.0, we come across technologies that are nothing short of revolutionary – bringing unmatched precision to the way manufacturing happens and the way we perceive the industrial sector as a whole.

    Also Read: Here is What Digital Transformation Means to These Industries

    In this article, we will discuss the technologies and trends of Industry 4.0 that are rapidly revamping manufacturing. But let’s begin with the basics…

    What is Industry 4.0?

    Industry 4.0 is the term coined for the fourth industrial revolution that encompasses the tech, such as interconnectivity, automation, real-time data analysis, and machine learning. Industry 4.0 minimizes the need for human intervention in factories and manufacturing units, duly replacing them with digital technologies to obtain the desired outcomes with more precision and at a faster pace. Needless to say, Industry 4.0 relies heavily on computers and data for decision-making as well as production.

    The conventional market has mixed opinions about Industry 4.0, some experts going to the extreme of calling it simply a ‘buzzword’. But look around the way industries operate today, and you’ll know that industry 4.0 has already arrived, and we are deep-seated into it, so much so that we might have to brace ourselves for an Industry 5.0!

    But what makes Industry 4.0 gain the blitz? Let us have a look –

    Technologies That Power Industry 4.0 Trends

    ·        Data Analytics

    “Data is fueling the growth of Industry 4.0” – Andy Rowland, Head of Digital Manufacturing, BT

    Data breathes life into modern technologies, and it is imperative to have real-time data to be fed into these technologies – right from Artificial intelligence to Augmented Reality. Data analytics helps in organizing and managing the data and making it actionable and ready for actual use. In Industry 4.0, data analytics is what fuel is to vehicles and is critical at every stage – from ideation to prototyping, from actual manufacturing/production to maintenance. Data analytics helps drive innovation and strike the harmony within several ecosystems that make Industry 4.0.

    And not just that, data analytics immensely helps in resource allocation, optimization, asset planning, and utilization. Industry 4.0 is essentially about collecting data from various sources, pooling it together in the data lake, and then using it to drive modern tech.

    ·        Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

    AI revolutionizes the traditional supply chain and helps in driving improved asset management, supply chain, and inventory management, offering better visibility into the supply chain processes, inventory and logistics. Adoption of machine learning, using the data fed by analytics, helps in achieving predictive maintenance in manufacturing, which helps to in turn reduce downtimes as well as maintenance costs.

    Further, the combination of AI and ML aids in achieving Predicting Remaining Useful Life (RUL) of machines, equipment, and systems. This helps in tracking their behaviour in operation, improving performance, and predicting the downtimes to optimize the overall operations.

    ·        Internet of Things (IoT)

    According to Gartner, by 2020, 30% of our interactions with technology will be through “conversations” with smart machines.

    The IoT or Internet of things is so critical to Industry 4.0 that it is often used interchangeably and is also combined to be known as IIoT. Industry 4.0 makes wide use of the Internet of things, or even Intranet of things such as robots, sensors, and simulation tools that together contribute to the creation of a smart factory. In a smart factory, several entities such as the machines, systems, as well as the humans communicate and coordinate seamlessly to coordinate and track the production progress along the assembly line.

    IoT brings about the change with centralized controls and optimized processes, training, and maintenance with the help of digital twins. Digital twin eliminates the need for working on physical devices or systems to troubleshoot errors but instead creates a replica of the device or system digitally to provide insightful training to support maintenance.

    ·        Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

    Augmented and Virtual Reality help in transforming the way data and information are accessed, used and processed, to begin with. AR and VR help in offering training and support to the on-floor factory workers. This significantly contributes to minimizing errors, speeding up operations, and improving overall efficiency.

    AR helps in the design process by helping create a targeted user experience by overlaying virtual information in the real world. The technicians can observe the machines and systems without actually handing the device, receive first-hand information on possible inefficiencies and errors that the systems can run into, study its impact, and come up with solutions.

    ·        Cloud Computing

    As Paul Maritz, the CEO of VMware, famously quoted, “Cloud is about how you do computing, not where you do computing.” Cloud Computing facilities every other data-dependent technology by making relevant data promptly available for use, irrespective of the location. With cloud computing, storage, access, and management of data across several locations become easy. Cloud environment facilitates data collaboration and exchange, which helps in effectively driving all the processes- right from supply chain to maintenance.

    What this means for Industry 4.0 is that while data analytics-driven AI, ML, and IoT are necessary, the cloud is imperative for a ‘factory’ to transition to a ‘smart factory’.

    Our Services

    Offshore Software Product Development | Digital Twin Software Platforms | Outsourced Software Product Development Services | Digital Product Development

    Nitin

    Nitin Tappe

    After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

  • Industry 4.0 Trends That Will Transform the Manufacturing Industry In 2020

    Industry 4.0 Trends That Will Transform the Manufacturing Industry In 2020

    If we were to look back at the way our industries and manufacturing processes have transformed over the course of the last three industrial revolutions, we’d be amazed at how far we’ve come. The third industrial revolution arrived in the last decades of the 20th century, in 1969 to be precise. And just in about 50 years, we are at the onset of what is known as the fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0.

    As we gear up and fine-tune the nuances of Industry 4.0, we come across technologies that are nothing short of revolutionary – bringing unmatched precision to the way manufacturing happens and the way we perceive the industrial sector as a whole.

    Also Read: Here is What Digital Transformation Means to These Industries

    In this article, we will discuss the technologies and trends of Industry 4.0 that are rapidly revamping manufacturing. But let’s begin with the basics…

    What is Industry 4.0?

    Industry 4.0 is the term coined for the fourth industrial revolution that encompasses the tech, such as interconnectivity, automation, real-time data analysis, and machine learning. Industry 4.0 minimizes the need for human intervention in factories and manufacturing units, duly replacing them with digital technologies to obtain the desired outcomes with more precision and at a faster pace. Needless to say, Industry 4.0 relies heavily on computers and data for decision-making as well as production.

    The conventional market has mixed opinions about Industry 4.0, some experts going to the extreme of calling it simply a ‘buzzword’. But look around the way industries operate today, and you’ll know that industry 4.0 has already arrived, and we are deep-seated into it, so much so that we might have to brace ourselves for an Industry 5.0!

    But what makes Industry 4.0 gain the blitz? Let us have a look –

    Technologies That Power Industry 4.0 Trends

    ·        Data Analytics

    “Data is fueling the growth of Industry 4.0” – Andy Rowland, Head of Digital Manufacturing, BT

    Data breathes life into modern technologies, and it is imperative to have real-time data to be fed into these technologies – right from Artificial intelligence to Augmented Reality. Data analytics helps in organizing and managing the data and making it actionable and ready for actual use. In Industry 4.0, data analytics is what fuel is to vehicles and is critical at every stage – from ideation to prototyping, from actual manufacturing/production to maintenance. Data analytics helps drive innovation and strike the harmony within several ecosystems that make Industry 4.0.

    And not just that, data analytics immensely helps in resource allocation, optimization, asset planning, and utilization. Industry 4.0 is essentially about collecting data from various sources, pooling it together in the data lake, and then using it to drive modern tech.

    ·        Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

    AI revolutionizes the traditional supply chain and helps in driving improved asset management, supply chain, and inventory management, offering better visibility into the supply chain processes, inventory and logistics. Adoption of machine learning, using the data fed by analytics, helps in achieving predictive maintenance in manufacturing, which helps to in turn reduce downtimes as well as maintenance costs.

    Further, the combination of AI and ML aids in achieving Predicting Remaining Useful Life (RUL) of machines, equipment, and systems. This helps in tracking their behaviour in operation, improving performance, and predicting the downtimes to optimize the overall operations.

    ·        Internet of Things (IoT)

    According to Gartner, by 2020, 30% of our interactions with technology will be through “conversations” with smart machines.

    The IoT or Internet of things is so critical to Industry 4.0 that it is often used interchangeably and is also combined to be known as IIoT. Industry 4.0 makes wide use of the Internet of things, or even Intranet of things such as robots, sensors, and simulation tools that together contribute to the creation of a smart factory. In a smart factory, several entities such as the machines, systems, as well as the humans communicate and coordinate seamlessly to coordinate and track the production progress along the assembly line.

    IoT brings about the change with centralized controls and optimized processes, training, and maintenance with the help of digital twins. Digital twin eliminates the need for working on physical devices or systems to troubleshoot errors but instead creates a replica of the device or system digitally to provide insightful training to support maintenance.

    ·        Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

    Augmented and Virtual Reality help in transforming the way data and information are accessed, used and processed, to begin with. AR and VR help in offering training and support to the on-floor factory workers. This significantly contributes to minimizing errors, speeding up operations, and improving overall efficiency.

    AR helps in the design process by helping create a targeted user experience by overlaying virtual information in the real world. The technicians can observe the machines and systems without actually handing the device, receive first-hand information on possible inefficiencies and errors that the systems can run into, study its impact, and come up with solutions.

    ·        Cloud Computing

    As Paul Maritz, the CEO of VMware, famously quoted, “Cloud is about how you do computing, not where you do computing.” Cloud Computing facilities every other data-dependent technology by making relevant data promptly available for use, irrespective of the location. With cloud computing, storage, access, and management of data across several locations become easy. Cloud environment facilitates data collaboration and exchange, which helps in effectively driving all the processes- right from supply chain to maintenance.

    What this means for Industry 4.0 is that while data analytics-driven AI, ML, and IoT are necessary, the cloud is imperative for a ‘factory’ to transition to a ‘smart factory’.

    Our Services

    Offshore Software Product Development | Digital Twin Software Platforms | Outsourced Software Product Development Services | Digital Product Development

    Nitin
    Nitin Tappe After successful stint in a corporate role, Nitin is back to what he enjoys most – conceptualizing new software solutions to solve business problems. Nitin is a postgraduate from IIT, Mumbai, India and in his 24 years of career, has played key roles in building a desktop as well as enterprise solutions right from idealization to launch which are adopted by many Fortune 500 companies. As a Founder member of Pratiti Technologies, he is committed to applying his management learning as well as the passion for building new solutions to realize your innovation with certainty.

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