Category: Blogs

  • Let’s Talk About the Impact of IoT In the Energy Industry

    Let’s Talk About the Impact of IoT In the Energy Industry

    As a world that is heavily dependent on technology for our work as well as our personal well-being, there’s no doubt that we are consuming more energy than ever. And only we think we’ve reached the apogee of energy consumption; numbers are proving otherwise.

    According to a report by Global Smart Energy, the energy consumption demands are expected to grow by 40% in the next 25 years. In some geographies, the demand is increasing by up to 100%.

    As alarmingly humongous this number is, there’s no denying that we are undergoing an energy revolution that is set to revamp our energy production, distribution as well as consumption. Solar power and wind energy are replacing the conventional sources of creating energy, and that’s a relief. As we transition towards smart energy solutions, IoT or Internet of things is dramatically impacting the field.

    Let’s talk about the impact of IoT in the energy industry

    Remote Monitoring and Management

    Remote monitoring of energy assets involved in the generation, transmission, and distribution is critical for reduced downtime, improved plant performance, and preventive maintenance.

    According to a study, 40% of the failures happen in circuit breakers with a failure probability of around 90%. This means that only maintaining circuit breakers can help prevent failures to a large extent. By using analytics, i.e., collecting data from the site and regularly evaluating it remotely, can not only help detect potential damage to the plan-equipment but can also help save significant costs that are incurred after the breakdown.

    With IoT devices, this is heavily streamlined. Affixing IoT sensors to energy equipment that measure vibration, temperature, and wear can significantly help in lowering down the failures, forecasting maintenance needs, and help in operating the plants at an overall higher efficiency.

    General Electric makes use of sensors and APM software at its Monitoring & Diagnostics Center in Atlanta for around 600 power plants for problem prediction. This is just an example of how IoT is rapidly being adapted for remote monitoring in the energy sector.

    Digital Twin

    The use of digital twin technology integrated with IoT can help in virtual troubleshooting support. Digital Twin is a groundbreaking technology that integrates IoT, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and software analytics to create a digital replica of an entity. In the case of the energy sector, digital twin technology can be widely put to use to optimize the maintenance and performance of physical assets. A digital twin will continuously feed off the data from multiple sources, synchronizing sensors, and continuously surveying to grasp the real-time operational status of the energy plants. A full digital twin of Energy plants can be created using IoT, or energy companies can start off by working around digital twins of vibration sensors or rotation machinery.

    Reputed organizations such as Shell Chemicals have opted for digital twin in one of its construction projects in PA, USA. Shell Chemical is capturing a digital twin using reality modeling of the plan. This digital twin is used for process monitoring, progress tracking, and issue resolution. This is just one of the examples of how digital twin technology is set to disrupt the energy sector.

    Process Optimization

    With the help of IoT devices, it is now possible to build completely autonomous and self-operating energy plants and oil drills. Fit with IoT-based smart sensors that detect the performance in real-time and adjusting its operational efficiency using AI can help in a highly optimized process without investing in human resources. Moreover, IoT-based drilling equipment can automate the drill depth, adjust to the conditions using algorithmic patterns, and eliminate the need for manual maneuvering.

    Smart Grid Technology for a More Distributed Grid

    According to a study by Credit Suisse, the residential solar capacity is set to increase more than 3 times by 2025. More and more individuals, homeowners, residential societies, and even business owners are gearing towards creating their own energy by installing solar panels. While this sustainable and renewable energy source is highly welcome, the grid operators have to now focus on managing the growing number of small generation resources across the grid.
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    This distributed energy transformation is supported and enhanced by the IoT-powered smart grid technology. IoT can be used to detect the variations in energy creation and consumption to achieve precision in the maintenance and management of a distributed grid.

    Improved Grid Management

    Along with being useful for a more distributed grid, IoT can also compellingly help to improve the overall grid management. By placing IoT sensors at substations and distribution lines, energy companies can make more courant arrangements on load distribution, switching, controlling voltage, and configuring networks. It can also, in fact, help in automating a few tasks for improved response time.

    Safety and Disaster Prevention

    Grid sensors can help in detecting power outages, damaged lines, and other physical hazards such as wildfires to prevent electrocution and other serious implications. Smart switching can help in rerouting from the problem areas, ensuring improved uptime. IoT-powered safety drones can also be deployed for hazard management to reduce human risk on nuclear power plants.

    US-based PG&E (Pacific Gas and Electric Company) used safety drones to detect methane leakage during the North Carolina wildfires. This is a good starting point for using IoT devices for the detection of hazards and preventing the repercussions to a large extent.

    Reduced Downtime

    Just in the United States, electrical system power outages and interruptions cost more than USD 150 billion each year. For countries with growing populations and more conventional energy distribution systems, this number can be even bigger, causing large impacts. Smart grids powered with smart IoT-powered sensors can help in reducing the downtime and the impending costs that come along with it.

    As the world transitions towards building and harboring smart cities, the dependence on energy is going to grow exponentially. Reduced downtime will no longer be an option, but a demand. Cities like Copenhagen, San Francisco, and Vancouver are also transitioning towards sustainable energy usage with the help of IoT-powered smart street lighting systems and electrified public transport.

    Smart meters for Monitoring Data Usage on the Users’ End

    In the United States of America, the residential sector consumes over 37% of the total energy usage in the country. With consumption as huge as this, it is imperative for the end-users to closely monitor their energy consumption and be informed about the usage. IoT-based smart meters can help in bridging this gap where the usage data collected is delivered to both the users and the providers. Users can have a detailed report for their energy consumption, install device-wise sensors to detect what is consuming the most power, and also make use of IoT-powered thermostats to optimize their energy use. The same can also be applied for commercial and industrial use cases, which are the next-largest consumers of energy.

    To summarize

    As we move towards a more energy-dependent era, it is urgent and indispensable to find and embrace sustainable energy choices and scalable solutions to optimize energy usage. In this crusade, IoT is anticipated to serve as a significant aid, unquestionably. The rise of avant-garde technologies such as digital twins is set to revolutionize the way technology is perceived in the energy sector. From real-time predictive analytics to remote asset management, digital twins can unleash interesting opportunities to encompass asset utilization, predictive maintenance, and reduce costs incurred by equipment failure and the like.

    At Pratiti, we help energy companies drive process and technology innovations across the value chain. Let’s connect to discuss more.

    Our Services

    Solar Energy Analytics | Healthcare App Development | Industrial IoT Solutions | 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.

  • Why Big Data Analytics is a Necessity for Solar Plants

    Why Big Data Analytics is a Necessity for Solar Plants

    Introduction

    While the world is battling with adverse climate-change conditions and other environmental crises, renewable energy resources are looked at as the lifeline for the planet today. Renewable energy industries are therefore gearing up to invent better ways to build robust solutions, and all with the help of inventive technology genius.

    According to IEA, the renewable power capacity world is set to expand by 50% between 2019 and the year 2024, led by solar PV. The Solar PV alone accounts for almost 60% of the expected growth with the onshore wind representing one-quarter.

    In India alone, the capacity for renewable energy has rapidly increased in recent years. At the end of the fiscal year 2019, the renewable sector accounted for over 22% of the energy capacity mix. India was the second-largest photovoltaic power plant in the year 2019 with a total installed power capacity of almost 360 gigawatts in 2019 and the renewable sector amounting to 80 gigawatts of that capacity.

    While the renewable energy sector is the hope for a better future, technology is enhancing and cementing it further to create a more sustainable business model. Technologies such as Big Data and Analytics are here to change the way renewable energy sectors can operate more efficiently and be able to optimize them for maximum benefit. Driven by the power of data, solar plants can function better and can be fully optimized if the data captured is being used smartly.

    In this blog, we discuss the importance of Big Data and Analytics in optimizing the power of solar plants.

    Role of Big Data and Analytics in Solar Plants

    Intermittent data and unpredictable readings coming through the sunlight can make the overall solution undependable. Big Data and Analytics are providing an edge to the solar businesses by eliminating the unpredictability factor. Hence, as for any other renewable energy plant, to work consistently well, solar plants also need technology that can predict the variations in climate or the weather conditions in order to optimize its capacity. In short, Big Data and Analytics can add the necessary method to the chaos of data usage and management, to help optimize it.

    Making Data Predictable and Structured

    Big Data has a huge benefit when it comes to providing support to the solar industry and solar assets owners. Using Big Data and Analytics, solar asset owners can categorize data by analyzing data patterns and generate useful insights. With these valuable insights, the utilities can then manage the variations in solar winds and radiations while accurately predicting the amount of energy that can be redirected into the power grid. The data is then converted and utilized for the optimized performance of the solar assets. This technology helps create sense out of the massive data being made available for better outcomes.

    Must Read: How Can Organizations Derive True Value Out of Their Data?

    Enhanced Operational Efficiency

    Typically, a solar plant requires enormous amounts of solar panel installations and sensors along with a complex ground-level infrastructure. Usually, such vast installation of plants requires a vast terrain that brings along with it a lot of operational and maintenance challenges. Big data and analytics can help the plant operators get timely updates about the overall performance of the plant.

    Effective Maintenance

    The vast solar plant installations have very complex infrastructure comprising of panels, sensitive equipment, sensors, and wires, etc. The ground level maintenance of these assets is extremely challenging and time-consuming. Using Big Data and Analytics, companies can predict the maintenance needs through historical data analysis and streamline their maintenance operations. Through preventive and predictive maintenance, companies can reduce downtime.

    Measurable ROI

    Using Big Data and Analytics, solar companies can better understand their customer needs and demands. They are using this data to implement strategies to innovate different revenue models and more business opportunities. It provides companies with incredible data insights and analytics to help them take the right decisions at the right time. This adds to the ROI and directly impacts the business in a positive way.

    The renewable energy sector is also attracting more and more investors today. With the growing demands and the government’s ambitious green energy targets in India, it is attracting both foreign and domestic investors. The country is expected to attract investments for up to USD 80 billion in the next four years.

    Big Data and Analytics are here to change the future of solar plants as these technologies are indeed revolutionizing the renewable energy sector. From bringing down the installation charges to making operations easy, Big Data and Analytics can be counted upon as a bankable solution that is creating the sustainable business model that the world needs today. If you are looking for an energy analytics solution, contact us today.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    How is Data Analytics Helpful for Renewable Energy?

    Clean energy can benefit from data analytics in a variety of ways. Solar data analysis for example, can collect data to improve power performance, reduce maintenance, forecast forthcoming maintenance dates, or compress solar collection. All of these applications necessitate a large amount of data collecting and processing. The data management guiding concept is a continuation of data management approaches that are currently prevalent in the non-renewable energy sector.

    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.
  • Insourcing Vs. Outsourcing – Benefits and Challenges for Startups

    Insourcing Vs. Outsourcing – Benefits and Challenges for Startups

    Technology startups have several decisions to make when they start building their tech business. One of the most critical decisions, though, is choosing whether you want to have an insourced or an outsourced team, or a combination of the two. You also need to decide which roles can best be outsourced vs. insourced.
    Here’s a wrap up of the plusses and minuses of each side of the coin to help you decide when to hire in-house talent and when to trust an outsourced software product development partner.

    Pros of Insourcing

    Having an in-house team to develop your product has several advantages, such as

    Business agility – You own and manage the talent you hire in-house. They are solely committed to working with you. They won’t mind it when you change the operational strategy or take a U-turn on something. Therefore, you don’t need a lot of buy-in from your in-house teams, as much as you do from contractors and freelancers.

    Transformation needs in-house talent – To make digital transformation a reality for your startup, you need a team that is committed to you in the long haul.

    Fewer cybersecurity threats – In the wake of extreme cybersecurity threats, you are well off trusting your own infrastructure and its security arrangements rather than having to lay your loyalty on someone else’s infrastructure. As a tech startup, you can ensure your employees are guided and limited by strict NDAs, not becoming a risk for your enterprise.

    Challenges of Insourcing

    While the benefits are fairly obvious, setting up an in-house team is not easy. It can have its own set of challenges such as

    Team strategy – Since everything lies on your shoulders, you are responsible for creating a hiring strategy. Which roles should you fill up first? What salaries to offer? Would you want to hire beginners or experts? Mix and match in what ratio? Building a team strategy can easily be the most difficult thing a tech startup owner has to do. With a limited budget, this is a critical factor that could determine your success or the lack of it. According to estimates, the average company spends about $4,000 to hire an employee.

    Training and communication – Hand-pick your staff, but then you have to train them on key technologies and tools. Hiring a trainer or enrolling individuals in online training programs can be a significant parameter in your success. You also need to lay down a system for efficient communication within your enterprise. Do you hold monthly meetings? Weekly calls? Install a communication application?

    Investments in training/infrastructure – Budgeting could be a huge challenge for you as hiring in-house talent compels you to incur training, infrastructure, and power expenses.

    Talent not widely available – If you need specialized talent for your start-up, you might find it hard to find it locally. Since you are a start-up, star candidates might not be willing to move to a different city to get onboard, unless your idea is really groundbreaking.

    Challenges of Outsourcing

    Considering the challenges with insourcing, companies are tending to rely on outsourcing partners for their product development. But you need to be aware of the following challenges

    Inconsistent communication – When tech startups work with remote teams and contractors, they need to establish a system to support consistent communication. The challenges of doing that triple when you hire talent from across boundaries. Therefore, establishing frequent and clear interaction is a struggle when working with outsourced teams.

    Cultural differences – Tech startups are small in size and need to function as a single unit. When hiring outsourced talent, you need to ensure there is a cultural fine-tuning to avoid differences. This can be a challenge for tech startups working with cross-cultural teams.

    Complex contract negotiations – Contract negotiations with an outsourced product development and consultation team can be complex and time-consuming. It’s not over the top to schedule several weeks to fine-tune a contract, since there is no easy way of defining the scope of work, responsibilities of each party, and putting together a service-level agreement.

    Pros of Outsourcing

    While acknowledging the challenges with outsourcing, one cannot ignore the several benefits it offers

    Hiring agility – Outsourcing can look like an appealing option when you need hiring agility. For example, you may want to hire high-quality talent, but you are not sure if you will need their full bandwidth in the future. Hiring an outsourced team can help you tweak the team size and shape as per the changing business needs – quickly and easily.

    Engage specialists at reasonable costs – Specialists that work as your outsourcing partners are likely to charge way less than an in-house team of experts. As a startup with a limited budget, you can easily engage the best in the industry and leverage from their proficiency in various functions. According to a recent study, outsourcing can help companies save 60 percent on overhead costs!

    Domain expertise – One of the most significant benefits of outsourcing is access to domain expertise that you get by engaging the partners who are experts in their specific fields. With the help of the right partners, who have worked in the domain and delivered cutting-edge solutions, you can have a unique advantage over your competition.

    Processes and methodologies like DevOps and Agile – Often, outsourced product development companies and consulting teams follow the leading processes and methodologies such as DevOps and Agile, bringing modernization to your company out-of-the-box.

    Scalability – Another shining benefit of engaging an outsourced team is that you are free to scale up and down as per your unique needs without having to think about the incurred investment in the team. This scalability is of the utmost importance when you want to scale up your startup without a lot of hassle.

    End-to-end servicing – An outsourced development team can handle your needs end-to-end. For instance, when you partner with a software development company, you can expect everything from product ideation to testing and maintenance under a single umbrella.
    At Pratiti, we have helped several startups realize their innovations faster. We are proud to be the partner of choice for several technology companies for their outsourced product development (OPD) needs.
    Let’s connect, and we can discuss how we can help you with our unique blend of domain expertise and technology craftsmanship.

    Our Services

    Solar Energy Analytics | Healthcare App Development | Industrial IoT Solutions | 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.

  • Tips to Help You Succeed with Offshore Product Development Partner

    Tips to Help You Succeed with Offshore Product Development Partner

    Over the years, several startups as well large enterprises have gained tremendously from partnering with outsourced product development companies in India and other such countries.

    According to Statista, in 2018, the global outsourcing market amounted to 85.6 billion U.S. dollars.

    Access to top-notch technical expertise, domain knowledge, and the know-how of product development and product management helps tech startups leverage the benefits of outsourcing. However, working with an offshore partner is not the same as working with an in-house team. With offshoring, you are working with a new team that is in a different part of the world, comes with its own experience of executing projects, and possibly, works in a different time zone.

    If you are considering partnering with an offshore software product development company in the coming year, here is a blog that enlists some practical tips to help you make the relationship a success.

    Research and Hire a Reputable Partner

    First things first. You need to do your research and select the right Outsourced Product Development Partner. Ensure that the partner that you choose has a strong industry and technical knowledge you need to develop your product. The partner should follow the latest product development and management processes such as DevOps, Agile, and have transparent, flexible, and well-set processes. Do check out the work done by the company in the past. If required, speak to their existing clientele to understand their working models, communication, and proactiveness. After all, you need a partner who will work as your extended team and show commitment towards shared goals.

    Discuss Long-Term and Short-Term Project Goals

    Assigning a project to an offshore team without telling them the goal behind it is going to turn into a catastrophic disaster. The developed product, in all possibility, will not be as per the expectations of the stakeholders. The way to go about this is to discuss long-term and short-term goals with your outsourced development partner. It can be the vision about your product, a clear roadmap of how you want the product to succeed, and what you want to achieve through the product. This will help them think and work innovatively and effectively to help you get to your goals.

    Clearly Specify Your Requirements

    More often than not, we want to achieve perfection in the projects and want the offshore development teams to understand and follow suit. For this to happen, you need to get the offshore development team on the same page. This includes specifying what exactly you are looking forward to, the specific areas that you can or can’t compromise, and so on. The requirements can be in terms of what are the tasks that the product needs to solve, the functionalities and the features that need to go in making the product, and the platform for which the product needs to be developed. This will help the team to prepare a clear path for getting the product ready within the stipulated time frame. The ideal offshore development partner would also like to understand your target audience, their needs, and preferences and then they will guide you on making the right choices.

    Clarify Your Company’s Culture, Ethos, and Values

    When you want to hire an offshore product development partner, one of the mainstays is to make sure that the outsourced team is in-sync with your company’s culture, ethos, and values. This is especially important because the offshore teams will be located in different countries and will have a different perspective on various aspects. If you don’t take this into consideration, then it can affect the progress of your project in the long run. Therefore, it is crucial that you clarify your company’s core culture, ethos, and values to the partner beforehand.

    Communicate Effectively and Often

    Communication is the cornerstone when you want to work with an outsourced product development team. Make it a point to communicate with them as effectively and as often as you can. This will be crucial during critical projects when you have to communicate back and forth a number of times. Holding daily meetings or asking for weekly status reports can be a few ways to help you stay updated on the status and also get an opportunity to put your points across. This will help you both to be on the same page. There are several communication tools that can help you in keeping them in the loop. Do check with your partner on their communication processes and see how those align with your needs.

    Set Realistic Expectations

    The next point on our list is to set realistic expectations. Understand that they are your partners, and you need to work together towards the success of your project(s). For instance, sometimes the offshoring partners will need more time to learn the ropes or to understand your business in the initial stages. By giving them the time, you can expect them to reach a certain level of work quality.

    Trust them to make decisions on their own

    Offshore development firms who have been in the business for a long time can offer you the best returns on investment. However, you also need to give them the leeway to make decisions on your behalf. Micromanaging them will only crop up the differences and lead to the loss of time. Trust them by offering visibility in your overall business plans so that they can assist you in the best possible way and get the best talent on board so that your project is ready within the stipulated timeframe.

    Find the Right Match for Your Offshore Product Development

    When it comes to working with outsourced software product development services companies, the gist is in weighing them on their knowledge, the way they fit in your company culture, their prior experience for executing similar projects, and their ability to innovate and deliver. We hope that the above-mentioned tips help you get the most from your partnership.

    Let’s connect if you are looking for a team that offers a unique blend of domain expertise along with technology craftsmanship. As your outsourced product development partner, we are committed to help you realize your innovations faster.

    Our Services

    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.
  • Why Do Companies Struggle to Build Great Products?

    Why Do Companies Struggle to Build Great Products?

    Here’s a not-so-pretty number about software product development projects:

    75% of business executives anticipate the failure of their software product right in the beginning.

    If a software product is a crucial part of your business, you can’t afford to get it wrong. Your entire business and all other functions depend on how robust and fully-featured your software application is.

    Whether you are working with an in-house development team or an outsourced product development in India, your software product might fail if you don’t take the right steps in ensuring its success.

    Let’s look at the most common reasons why software products fail and learn how to avoid them.

    Why companies struggle to build standout software products

    Standout software products take a great deal of planning, execution, and everything in between. Here’s why software products fail and how to prevent yours from getting doomed.

    Inaccurate Product Definition

    Product specifications go way beyond defining and jotting down customer requirements. A comprehensive product definition would bring all stakeholders on the same page regarding the product features and execution stages, as well.

    This product definition would talk about the problems the product aims to solve, the market necessities, use cases of the product, and the UI/UX needs to create an attractive software product.

    When either of these components is left out of product definition, the product gets set up really quickly for a failure. Inaccurate or incomplete product definitions pave the path for inefficient products that don’t solve a real market challenge.

    Insufficient Market Research

     Often, software products fail because they fail to identify or generate market demand. As a software product business, you need to conduct enough pre-development surveys and polls to gauge your audience’s interest in such a product.

    Another idea is to beta-test your software product with a niche group of users who can offer unbiased feedback about your product, so you can go ahead and tweak according to their opinions and be confident of your product’s success in the wider market.

    Sufficient market research is necessary if you want your software product to address market needs or be desirable to its target users when launched.

    The Assumption that Leading Technologies Mean Innovation

    Companies that focus all their energy on adopting a new technology just for the sake of it prep their product up for failure. Primarily, a software product should identify a market need and then work toward eliminating a challenge or addressing a need.

    In order to serve the customers, technologies (latest, new, or old) can then be leveraged. However, as digital technologies gain more hype, businesses focus too much on choosing the tech stack than on solving the right issue for their customers.

    Innovation happens when there is a necessity for it, not when there are enough technologies available. Therefore, it is important for you to channel your in-house or offshore software product development team toward working to meet customer needs first, then making the tech stack work.

    Considering Software Product Development Investment as an Expense

    Product development is really an investment for any company that wants to build a business around it. Therefore, when founders and owners consider a software product development initiative as an expense, they try to be stingy where they should rather be generous.

    Early on in a startup’s journey, a business might struggle with low budget or availability of talent. This is when outsourced software product development services look appealing.

    Instead of saving on UI, testing, or app security, outsource software product development to a reliable team and consider the process like an investment that will pay returns when done perfectly.

    Features Don’t Add Value to Users’ Lives

    According to a study by Standish Group, for an enterprise software system, only 7% of the features are “always” used, 13% of the features are used “often”, and 16% are used “occasionally.” This also means that over 64% of the features are “never” used!

    In today’s fast-changing environment, you cannot afford to spend your time and energy in building features that your users may not use. To avoid this, you need to work on the features that will truly add ‘value’ to the users’ lives, gather continuous feedback, and focus on continuous product definition.

    Right Idea, Inefficient Development

    Software products often fail because of the wrong idea. But, more often, even if the idea was breakthrough, the implementation lags. Mind-blowing product ideas happen in-the-instant. But, putting them to execution takes harmony in the various steps, including testing, designing, and perfecting the application for the right market and audience.

    Failing to execute any of these steps can lead to a failed product. Application usability, content, and connectivity are a few more factors that play a vital role in ensuring a software product’s success.

    Make sure your product development does not compromise on its security, usability, UI/UX interface, and testing- so that you have the recipe for software success.

    A majority of these factors play out when a company’s founders are also the ones leading and overseeing the development efforts. This is when they split their focus between too many tasks and don’t see the inefficiencies in their product.

    To prevent yourself from these software development disasters, outsource product software development to an offshore team such as Pratiti Tech. We offload the entire software product development task from you on to us.

    Our expert software developers pay due attention to detail and create the best software product that addresses a market need, appeals to the ideal customer, and proves secure, reliable, and robust against the best benchmarks.

    Talk to one of our specialists today or learn more about our services.

    Our Services

    Digital Product Development | Digital Twin Platform | Healthcare Software Development | IoT Development Services

    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.

  • How are Technology Innovations Transforming the O&M and Asset Management Market?

    How are Technology Innovations Transforming the O&M and Asset Management Market?

    All industries are gradually riding the digital transformation wave and the Renewable Energy Industry is no different since the early 2000s, a lot has changed in the world of Operations & Maintenance & Asset Management – and technology is at the core of this change. Organizations are now willing to invest in digital technologies driven by innovation to get a bird-eye view of their entire portfolio; predict failure of their critical assets to prevent downtime; get visibility into operations of their assets to improve overall efficiency and do a lot more be leveraging technology for advanced innovations.

    At the centre of this digital transformation, organizations are looking to move away from legacy ‘enterprise IT’ systems that required long development and upgrade cycles. Organizations are now keen on a modern architecture which lets them adopt agile methodologies where they can continuously develop, integrate and mobilize changes into operations. Here are a few ways technology innovations are reshaping the Operations & Maintenance as well as the Asset Management markets:

    • Moving to a cloud native technology to generate up to 10x infrastructure savings and 100x faster responses.
    • Adopting Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), that provides a ‘gateway’ to access data / services.
    • Using microservices architecture to move away from rigid IT upgrades that enables the users to replace or upgrade individual components ‘block by block’.
    • Using IoT and Digital twin to enable asset operators and O&M engineers to: receive alerts & notifications; reduce manual asset search & asset life cycle cost as well as move away from multiple platforms and establish a single channel for multiple manufacturers and service providers.
    • Leveraging AI/ML technology to easily facilitate automate manual processes and create seamless customer journeys. Using AI/ML to provide greater transparency in overall operations.

    If you too are concerned about the operational efficiencies of your assets and processes, then technology innovation enabled energy analytics software is what you need. Energy analytics is the process of gathering electrical/technical data with the help of software in order to assist energy suppliers to supervise, analyse and optimize energy related KPIs such as consumption, production costs, production distribution, etc. Collecting and storing large amounts of data on a global scale is certainly not a problem in the energy industry. The problem arises in combining the nature of the collected data. For this, the energy industry needs to capitalize on the innovative energy analytics software that is increasingly being made available. Energy analytics software allows you to effectively analyze the efficiency of the project and eventually its success.

    Why Energy Data Analytics Software Is Important?

    The energy industry is very extensive, covering many businesses, departments, processes and units. In this process, right selection of energy KPIs, data collection, and data analysis are always changing, but their sources are completely different. This makes data difficult to merge, understand and integrate, and the whole process becomes very complicated. In such cases, ensuring low-cost and high-availability power management load is of utmost importance to ensure that the changes in demands are anticipated while maintaining a balance in the supply. In short, the energy analytics software helps in streamlining entire data.

    The Impact of Energy Analytics Software

    Modern energy analytics tools have multiple uses and have had a huge impact on enterprises of all sizes. Recently, smart meters regularly communicate information to the database for monitoring purposes. The resulted findings gives an accurate view on the equipment’s health, helps in lowering operating expenses and provides better clarity to the operations by easing the maintenance of all the involved projects.

    A Few Benefits Offered by Digitizing O&M and Asset Management Are:

    • AI improves overall asset efficiency and reduced maintenance costs
    • Reduces asset downtime by increasing the response time.
    • Real-time reporting of the assets from any location.
    • Access to the entire operations & maintenance without being physically on-site.
    • Faster and better response rate in times of emergencies.
    • Prioritize critical assets for preventive, predictive maintenance that also aids in asset downtime and failure.
    • Streamlines your O&M Activities
    • Simplifies data sharing and collaboration among teams

    Organizations have now begun to realize the financial, technical, environmental and business benefits associated with energy efficiencies. It has become vital to maintain the optimum level health and performance of key assets and maintain their reports on a single platform. Data sharing, fast and clear communication have become imperatives to improve overall efficiencies. Apollo – our energy analytics software fulfils this demand through its patented digital twin technology, advanced decision-making engine, root cause analysis IoT based KPIs and event discovery.

    Apollo solution provides unique key health and performance insights into various assets. With Apollo’s closed loop insights, technicians and engineers get direct visibility into working of these assets that further helps them eliminate the time required for manual inspection otherwise. Apollo helps them with actionable insights to solve the underlying problems efficiently and effectively. All these advances in the modern digital technology will be transformative for the Operations & Maintenance and Asset Management industry. A new era of technology innovation driven by a digital transformation is looming around us. Adoption of technology led innovations such as Apollo will separate the leaders from the followers in the coming years.

    Our Services

    IoT App Development | Digital Twin Software Platforms | Industrial IoT Solutions | 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.
  • Why is Custom Software Development more Productive and Agile?

    Why is Custom Software Development more Productive and Agile?

    What is Custom Software Development?

    Let us begin with first understanding what custom software development is. Custom software development is the process of designing software applications that meet the specific needs of individuals or companies. Unlike Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software, customization options are usually targeted at specific issues. They are also suitable for internal use, not for resale, often at times.

    While Microsoft Office is an example of COTS software, an application that records patient files and local clinic visits such as EHR or EMR systems are an example of customized software. Bespoke solutions or bespoke software is another name for custom software. The way custom or custom software is built is very similar to the way any traditional software is built.

    However, although the methodology may be similar, in custom software development, there are often focused and unique efforts in application customization, modernization, or management. In order to better understand these, let us look at their definitions:

    • Application modernization – the practice of adopting existing technologies and upgrading or updating them to modern standards for your existing or new solutions,
    • Application customization – customized software development, modify the concept of COTS applications according to personal needs and
    • Application management – Optimize software to support tasks such as installation, updates, and other maintenance-related service desk functions.

    How Do You Know If You Need Custom Software for Your Business?

    Organizations can ask themselves the following questions to understand whether customized software makes sense for their business.

    • Do you have your own processes that need to be digitized or you want to change any internal processes?
    • Is your existing process streamlined?
    • Are the people using your software satisfied with the COTS software? Is the COTS software serving the purpose for which it is being used?
    • Do you use multiple software to complete a single process?
    • Do you need tools that can be integrated with other systems?
    • What are the potential benefits of the software?
    • Is ease of use one of the goals of the software being developed?

    If most of your answers are “yes,” then you need a custom software or need to customize the software for your company.

    Why Custom Software Can Be a Valuable Asset for Your Business?

    Customized software development can be used according to the specific needs of the enterprises, ISVs, industrial customers or even start-ups. However, in most cases, the definition will change due to different aspects of the business. Based on features and functions, it can transform your business scope into a larger length in the following ways:

    • Helps you digitize your processes,
    • Enables you to streamline different departments under a single application,
    • Provides you with visibility and thereby a competitive advantage,
    • Well-documented and engagement tools,
    • Unique and innovative sources that can even increase profitability,
    • High-end products that can increase efficiency and productivity while improving customer experience,
    • Reliable tools to integrate data and simplify workflows.

    What are the Benefits and Advantages of Custom Software Development?

    1. Greater Scalability

    Your needs grow as your business grows. For a large enterprise, license fee of COTS solution can often run into thousands of dollars. COTS solutions also cannot cater to the complexity of large enterprises or large processes.

    Off-the-shelf solutions may be more suitable for small companies at the start-up stage of the business cycle when operations are still unstable, and the focus is on making the company viable. It is a wise choice to develop solutions that can extend and extend business processes depending on the stage of your organization.

    2. Tailored Solutions

    Perhaps the most important reason to invest in custom software development is to develop a product that not only meets but also exceeds your exact needs. It is not uncommon for companies to choose an off-the-shelf software option just to realize that it is not suitable for them.

    Every company is unique, and it is difficult to find a one-size-fits-all solution in terms of software. Choosing to use tailor-made products not only provides room for growth, but also means that you are serious and invested about the company’s success and its best interests.

    3. Improved Reliability

    When you buy off-the-shelf software, you rely on the company that developed it. Pricing, terms and conditions, and the future of the business are all under the vendor’s control. If the company suddenly goes bankrupt or stops updating its products, it will be difficult for you to find a new software supplier, and time is limited.

    With custom software, you can use it as you want. Of course, maintenance costs must also be considered. Often at times, dependency on these third-party vendors require you to raise tickets in their system and takes about hours or even days to resolve your issue. For a business-critical process, this dependency can result in a loss of thousands of dollars if not resolved immediately.

    4. Software Integration

    Using custom software development, you can integrate new software with existing software to optimize business processes. COTS software may not be easily integrable with your existing software solutions and might cause errors, leading to a decrease in productivity.

    Customized software reduces the possibility of integration problems and can be easily integrated into any enterprise’s software ecosystem. With customized software, you are also at liberty to choose the technology stack of your liking instead of being forced the vendor’s technology stack down your throats.

    5. Infrastructure Costs

    Licensing off-the-shelf software usually means that additional hardware must be purchased to run the software effectively. Developing tailor-made software, taking into account the current hardware functions, helps you save money and avoid additional costs. Custom software is developed in a way that supports your business, so you are not forced to adapt to the available software.

    The development and integration of custom software should consider all aspects of your business to implement the software as seamlessly as possible. With custom software you can make the most of your existing infrastructure and save a good amount of money that you would otherwise end up spending with an off-the-shelf software.

    Custom Software Development VS Off-The-Shelf Software

    Below is the table comparing custom software development and off-the-shelf software.

    Pratititech

    Conclusion

    In order to increase flexibility and growth, customized software solutions are the only way to go. Custom software development can increase efficiency and promote business growth. This is why leading companies and even small businesses are interested in investing in custom software development. Custom software solutions allow you to adopt the features to meet your exact business needs.

    If you want to take advantage of the true possibilities of customized software to add value to your business, Pratiti Technologies can help you meet all your specific business needs. 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

    Cloud Computing Services Providers | 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.

  • Edge Computing is Now the Stepping Stone for Smart Manufacturing Success!

    Edge Computing is Now the Stepping Stone for Smart Manufacturing Success!

    What are the Growth Drivers for Edge Computing?

    IDC research predicts that 45% of the data created by IoT will be stored, processed, analyzed and processed at the near end or edge of IoT, and more than 6 billion devices will be connected to edge computing solutions by the end of 2023. Edge computing infrastructure minimizes the inherent challenges of cloud infrastructure (such as network latency, network bandwidth and data storage costs, security and compliance issues), which is the single most important key driver of edge technology.

    The history of manufacturing is marked by major changes brought about by new technologies in the last couple of centuries. The first industrial revolution captured the power of water and steam. The second revolution brought electricity to factories, and the third revolution brought computerized automation. Today, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has ushered in the era of smart manufacturing, driven by new digital technologies for capturing and analyzing data and gaining insights and efficiency from data through not only edge computing but also artificial intelligence applications. Smart manufacturing supported by digital technology and enterprise-level infrastructure is the key to reducing downtime, improving product quality, increasing overall output, and exceeding current and future business goals.

    To effectively compete in this new era, manufacturers must adopt smart manufacturing processes and the leading infrastructure that supports it. Delaying this conversion is no longer a viable option. Companies that want to remain competitive must now embrace a complete smart manufacturing journey.

    How Do You Get There Though? How Do You Embark on a Smart Manufacturing Journey?

    This is the journey from the factory floor using Edge Computing. Edge computing is an accelerating ramp towards smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0. In the industrial and manufacturing environment, there are two edges – the industrial edge and the enterprise edge.

    Industrial Edge computing solves the problem of extracting data from traditional industrial assets such as PLC, DCS, robots and controllers, as well as the challenges of interfacing with hundreds of protocols, a large number of connected sensors, different data sources, and incompatible data formats. This is the key point for industrial equipment and factory systems to meet the digital world. Industrial Edge Computing provides the data context, repeatability, security and scale required for true conversion.

    Standardized, rugged gateways can be quickly and repeatedly deployed to the field or factory floor through an IT-approved enhanced operating system. Applications for virtualization and containerized OT (Operational Technology) can be deployed at this edge to convert traditional protocols and sensor readings into analytical quality data, ready for any enterprise or business application in the data center or cloud.

    Enterprise Edge deploys enterprise-level infrastructure and modern IT concepts locally on the factory floor or on-site. Systems at the edge of the enterprise need to manage and aggregate hundreds of data streams from the industrial edge. They can help bridge the gap between IT and OT organizations. Enterprise Edge Compute resources can manage Industrial Edge, deploy containerized and virtualized applications, provide cloud-native principles on Edge, and can immediately generate valuable insights through real-time and streaming analysis.

    Computing at the edge of the enterprise can help manufacturers significantly reduce their cloud computing costs while providing low latency to achieve immediate response and real-time insights from the analysis of IoT data. It also addresses key regulatory and governance issues related to data sovereignty and the prohibition of cross-border mobile data.

    There are usually three types of edge computing:

    • Local Devices and Equipment: The local equipment can meet the defined and specified purpose. These are easy to deploy and maintain.
    • Localized Data Centers: The localized data center can provide powerful storage and processing capabilities. These are pre-designed and can be customized and assembled on site. They save capital expenditures (CAPEX) very well.
    • Regional Data Centers: These are closer to data sources than centralized cloud data centers. They will have higher storage and processing capabilities than local data centers, but they will cost more and require more maintenance. These edge devices can be designed to be manufactured to order or prefabricated.

    Five Substantial Advantages the Edge Brings to Smart Manufacturing and Industry 4.0

    Lower latency

    One of the most frequently mentioned benefits of the edge is that it can greatly reduce the waiting time. It takes time to send the request to data centers around the world, and then wait for the response to return. Therefore, traditional cloud computing is not an ideal choice for many mission-critical applications.

    Without such low-latency smart manufacturing, you will not be able to experience all the advantages of the IoT. If the connected machine on the assembly line recognizes a fault, any delay in transmitting that signal can be costly. Otherwise, parts may stop functioning or even be damaged beyond repair. Low latency is essential for the normal operations of interconnected systems. The nature of traditional cloud computing is limited in this regard.

    Increased Cybersecurity

    Contrary to what is touted by most technology industries, for personal gain, cloud is not a hard requirement for the Industrial Internet of Things. You do not necessarily need a cloud IoT platform. Industry 4.0 is all about connected machines, so your manufacturing process can respond faster and smarter to changing factory floor conditions. Connecting assets will help you achieve a higher level of agility and automation. But this also increases your risk. More connected organizations can provide more attack surface and are more vulnerable to cyber attacks. However, your Industry 4.0 strategy can minimize risks through edge computing.

    If you process as much data as possible at the edge instead of sending them to the cloud, the risk of interception or tampering is much lower. A powerful edge computing system allows you to keep most of your IT and OT systems in a secure network.

    More Manageable Data Analytics

    Bringing intelligence to your manufacturing operations means collecting and analyzing data from sensors in your equipment to make real-time decisions and predictive maintenance. However, even in a modest Industry 4.0 project, the amount of data can overwhelm existing and new systems and increase bandwidth, data storage, computing, and data science huge costs.

    Processing most of the data at the edge to filter out the signal from the noise can help ensure that you only focus on the most important information, which greatly reduces the cost of data.

    Expanded Interoperability

    Edge computing can be the integration layer between your factory data and ERP systems. Just as edge computing can help you connect devices and processes without sending data to the cloud, it can also integrate factory floor data with ERP systems without cloud.

    Companies are rapidly moving towards event-driven architectures and expectations for real-time automated digital processes. Edge computing can be a real-time, event-driven integration layer between factory floor data and enterprise systems that can help you accelerate and automate business processes and digital insights.

    Reduced Storage Costs

    Smart manufacturing involves a large amount of data that needs similar storage. Traditional local storage options can be inconvenient, and cloud services can be expensive. Storing data at the edge is the ideal middle ground. With edge storage, factories can choose to only send relevant data to their cloud solutions. By analyzing data locally and sending only the results or aggregated data to the cloud, the edge can act as a gateway.

    In addition to reducing the pressure of cloud-based analytics, this also helps save storage costs. Some edge applications can even save some data locally. They do not need much storage, because each machine only processes its own operating data. The result is a segmented, organized and affordable data storage solution.

    Pratiti’s PraEdge – an Edge Computing Platform

    Pratiti has developed its own Edge Platform – PraEdge, for building IoT Apps on Edge to enable industrial device connectivity with a simple drag and drop interface, application deployment, and secure access to remotely located gateways.
    Key Features of PraEdge are:

    • It is meant for collecting data from various industrial systems, aggregate, analyse and connect it to cloud systems.
    • Industrial systems include Sensors, PLCs, Industrial Controllers, SCADA systems or Historians.
    • It is meant for on-premises of Discrete Manufacturing, Process Manufacturing, Power Generation, Water Distribution, Sewage Treatment etc.
    • It is meant for various requirements of IoT apps ranging from data acquisition services to building full-fledged apps to run within plant firewalls.
    • It is deployable on Industrial PCs or Windows Servers or Linux Servers.
    • Benefits include maximum privacy & security, enablement of proactive use cases, lower bandwidth & latency issues, reduced hosting costs and real time insights and triggers.

    In Conclusion

    The future of Industry 4.0 depends on edge computing. Industry 4.0 can only go so far. If the IoT is a computing step after the cloud, then the edge is the next logical step after the IoT. If this technology is not adopted, Industry 4.0 will not be able to develop all its functions and realize its maximum potential.

    This transition is almost inevitable but will not happen overnight. The speed at which the manufacturing industry can enter the next industrial revolution depends on the speed at which it implements these latest technologies. To realize the maximum potential, it is important to adopt edge computing and make it a cornerstone of your digital transformation initiatives, wherever applicable. To start your edge journey, reach out to us today!

    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 Role of Cloud Computing In the Internet of Things (IoT)

    The Role of Cloud Computing In the Internet of Things (IoT)

    Internet of Things (IoT) has gradually changed the way daily tasks are completed. IoT has spawned a network of interconnected devices and sensors, which is revolutionizing the way we perform daily tasks. Smart cities, smart homes, smart factories, smart retail, connected cars and wearable devices prove how connected devices can disrupt the status quo, creating an efficient, smart & automated planet. In addition to providing smarter solutions for families and housing communities, IoT is also used as a tool in the business environment of various industries. The IoT is booming, and predictions are promising – Statista estimates that by 2025, there will be 75 billion connected devices. Interestingly, these IoT devices themselves do not provide any major benefits, because the data they collect can be transformed into meaningful information, paving the way for the development of the IoT. However, due to the large amount of big data generated by the IoT, the Internet infrastructure is under great pressure. This makes companies and organizations look for a solution that can alleviate this burden.

    Enter cloud computing as an on-demand delivery of computing power, database storage, applications and IT resources. It enables organizations to consume computing resources such as Virtual Machines (VMs) instead of building computing infrastructure internally or on-premises. No wonder 96% of organizations have adopted the cloud in one form or another. Today, cloud computing has penetrated mainstream IT and its infrastructure. Many technology giants such as Amazon, Alibaba, Google and Oracle are using cloud technology to build Machine Learning tools to provide a wider range of solutions for global enterprises. In this blog, we will discuss why cloud computing is essential for the growth of the IoT.

    How Does IoT and Cloud Complement Each Other?

    Based on the principles of scalability and agility, cloud is hailed as a global revolutionary technology. Cloud solutions can promote the mass adoption of IoT initiatives. Here are some key reasons why the cloud is essential to the success of the IoT.

    Cloud computing and the IoT are dedicated to improving the efficiency of daily tasks, and there is a complementary relationship between the two. On the one hand, the IoT generates a lot of data, on the other hand, cloud computing paves the way for the transfer of these data. Many cloud providers use this advantage to provide a pay-per-use model in which customers pay for specific resources used. In addition, cloud hosting as a service reduces its overall cost structure by providing economies of scale. Cloud computing also facilitates developers to store and access data remotely and the cloud enables developers to implement projects without delay.

    • Remote Computing Capability:

      Cloud technology enables the IoT to surpass conventional devices, such as air conditioners, refrigerators, etc. This is because the cloud has such a large storage space that it eliminates the dependencies on on-premises infrastructure. With the rapid development of 5G and Internet speed, cloud technology has become the mainstream, enabling enterprises to access remote computing services with a single click of the mouse.

    • Security and Privacy:

      The prosperous development of IoT devices may enable organizations to perform tasks automatically, but it also brings serious security risks. A cloud with a wide range of control can be a viable solution here. Cloud makes the IoT more secure through preventive, detective, and corrective control. By providing effective authentication and encryption protocols, it provides users with strong security measures. In addition, with the help of biometric technology, IoT products can also manage and protect user identities. All of this is possible because to the enhanced security provided by the cloud.

    • Data Integration:

      With the continuous development of the IoT, companies have begun to try to use connected devices to extract real-time information about key business processes. Although these devices improve operational efficiency and optimize costs, they also generate huge amounts of data, which are too cumbersome to process even for their analytics platforms. Cloud-based solutions are very useful here. The cloud system has powerful data integration capabilities that can handle large amounts of data sent from multiple sources. As a result, data from enterprise systems and connected devices are stored, processed, and analyzed in the same location.

    • Low Threshold:

      Nowadays, many innovations on the IoT are looking for plug-and-play hosting services. Therefore, the cloud is very suitable for the IoT. Hosting providers do not have to rely on large equipment or even any type of hardware that does not support the agility required by IoT devices. With the emergence of innovative cloud hosting solutions, barriers to entry for most IoT-based companies have been minimized, allowing them to seamlessly implement large-scale IoT plans.

    • Business Continuity:

      Cloud computing solutions are known for their agility and reliability. Cloud services are located on top of a network of servers located in multiple locations. Their system stores copies of data in multiple data centers. Due to this redundancy, even if one of the servers goes offline for some reason or other reasons, IoT-based operations will continue to work. In addition, there is no risk of data loss as well.

    • Communication Between Devices:

      In addition to communicating with us, IoT devices and services also need to be connected to each other. Cloud solutions facilitate seamless communication between IoT devices. They support many robust APIs, such as Cloudflare, CloudCache and Dropstr, and allow interaction between connected devices and smartphones, paving the way for the development of connected technology.

    • When Paired With Edge Computing:

      In IoT-based solutions, edge computing or data processing near the edge of the network where the data is generated are usually used to shorten response time and speed up data processing. The deployment of the IoT usually uses a combination of cloud computing and edge computing for maximum utilization. Only the best combination of cloud and edge can help companies get the most value from their IoT plans. Even though the cloud can accelerate the growth of the IoT, there are certain challenges and shortcomings in deploying cloud technology. It is not because the cloud is technically flawed, but the combination of the IoT with the cloud is bound to bring in some obstacles for the users. If you continue to use IoT cloud solutions, it is best to know in advance the challenges you may face.

    What are the Challenges That Cloud and the IoT Bring Together?

    • Handling Large Amounts of Data:

      Processing large amounts of data can be overwhelming, especially when there are millions of devices. This is because the overall performance of the application is threatened. Therefore, following the NoSQL movement may be beneficial, but it has not been tried and tested for a long time. Therefore, for the cloud, there is no sound or foolproof way to manage big data.

    • Network and Communication Protocol:

      Cloud and the IoT involve Machine-To-Machine communication between many different types of devices with various protocols. Since most application areas do not involve mobility, managing this change can be difficult. So far, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have been used as stopgap measures to promote mobility to a certain extent.

    • Sensor Networks:

      The sensor networks enable users to measure, infer and understand fine-grained indicators from the environment. However, processing large amounts of such sensor data in a timely manner has always been a major challenge. Although the cloud provides new opportunities for aggregating sensor data, it also hinders progress due to security and privacy issues.

    In Conclusion:

    The integration of cloud computing and the IoT heralds the next major leap in the Internet world. The combined new application is called IoT Cloud, which opens up new avenues for business and research. Cloud technology can play a very important role in unlocking the true potential of the IoT in the near future. To know more about how cloud and edge computing coupled with IoT can help your organization in your digital transformation, contact us today!

    Pratiti is an innovative Product Development company that possesses rich expertise in crafting and delivering software solutions using the latest digital technologies such as IoT, cloud computing, edge computing, data sciencedigital twin and AR/VR to name a few. The Pratiti team helps their customers realize value while working with integrity, certainty and insight; thus, becoming the trusted technology partner in their digital transformation journey.

    Our Services:

    Industrial IoT Companies | Offshore Software Product Development Healthcare Software Development | 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.

  • Why Application Testing Is So Important For A Successful Cloud Migration?

    Why Application Testing Is So Important For A Successful Cloud Migration?

    Moving applications and data to the cloud has helped organizations with functionality and flexibility. Migrating to the cloud is a strategic move, and organizations are adopting the cloud to realize various business benefits. Using cloud-based services is relatively more efficient, highly secure, and increases productivity, without any performance failures in the seamless expansion mode and safe operating environment. In addition to a reasonable pricing model, the use of multi-tenant features cannot be matched by the local infrastructure. Cloud migration testing can meet many business needs, such as improving operational efficiency, upgrading customer experience, providing omni-channel experience, and so on.

    Many cloud platform providers (such as Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and AWS) provide these high-yield services. They curb high procurement costs and provide services for expensive physical equipment to test applications/software before releasing products on the market.

    recent Forbes report states that “By 2020 a staggering 83% of the company workload will be stored on the cloud” which implies that many companies are already transferring their data and hosting their applications in the cloud. Another recent O’Reilly survey shows that 25% of businesses plan to move all their applications to the cloud within the next year. More and more businesses are leveraging the many benefits of the cloud. A report by Gartner forecasts that worldwide public cloud revenue will grow exponentially through 2022. Almost one-fourth of cloud budgets are spent on cloud-related services such as cloud consulting, implementation, migration, and managed services.

    Through this blog, we have consolidated our Subject Matter Experts’ thoughts on why you should test your applications after migrating to the cloud, why Cloud Migration is not complete without Testing, and What to test when migrating your application to the cloud.

    Why Should You Test Your Applications After Migrating to the Cloud?

    1. Avoid Hacking from Cybercriminals:
      During the migration process, security controls and compliance configurations may be destroyed, resulting in security vulnerabilities, which cybercriminals may take advantage of. Testing your application after the cloud migration ensures that all security mechanisms still exist.
    2. Improved Scalability:
      It also ensures that the application is running at the same or higher performance as before the migration. During the application testing phase, you can find settings and controls that can be adjusted to improve the overall scalability of the network system.
    3. Reduced O&M Costs:
      After migrating to the cloud, you need to ensure that mission-critical data, applications, and interfaces are still accessible. It is better to find out now, rather than later discovering that the third-party application is not yet fully integrated or has no access to the decision data. This helps avoid loss of revenue or unexpected Operations and Maintenance (O&M) costs in the future.
    4. Compatibility Check:
      The application testing process also makes sure that new applications and technologies are compatible with the new cloud environment and meet industry compliance requirements. Nobody likes to find out that the new technology is not compatible with the new environment or with your application.

    Why is Cloud Migration Incomplete Without Testing?

    To ease the cloud migration testing process for QA teams, it is important to implement the right test strategy. With the right test automation strategy in place, IT companies and QA testers can carry out cloud migration within an optimal time and take their product to the market sooner. There are tremendous benefits when Test automation is carried out using cloud testing platforms like AWS Device Farm, Sauce Labs, and Xamarin Test Cloud. Some of these benefits are:

    • Use appropriate quality gates to handle many test cases.
    • Using automation to accelerate cloud migration testing.
    • Expanded the scope of testing in platforms, browsers, and devices.
    • Effective communication and collaboration with stakeholders.
    • Parallel execution.
    • Test reporting.
    • Seamless DevOps integration.
    • Scalability.
    • Reduced infrastructure costs.
    • Advanced analysis of test results.

    What to Test When Migrating Your Application to the Cloud?

    1. Application Integration:
      After migrating your application to the cloud, perform integration tests to confirm that the application has been seamlessly integrated with the new infrastructure and other third-party applications. Integration testing includes checking whether APIs and libraries are still working and whether the dependencies between applications have been broken. In order to successfully perform integration testing, you need to be vary of the systems and interfaces that should be tested for integration, the resources you need to ensure effective verification and integration testing, the plan to test third-party components, and the mechanisms you can use to identify coordination issues in the new cloud environment. It is always worthwhile to spend a few extra bucks to ensure that there are no errors in the integration.
    2. Application Security:
      When storing data in the cloud, security is the most important factor. The cloud-based environment comes with advanced security technologies that can mitigate some of the most complex cyber-attacks. Since new forms of malware and viruses are released every day, you need to confirm that the data and network environment are still safe after the cloud migration. Application security testing involves performing various tests, including penetration testing, security audits, and vulnerability scanning. To develop an effective security testing plan, you need to know the type of sensitive data that you store, use or transmit as well as users who can access this data. One needs to be also cognizant of what compliance requirements need to be considered and what data access controls are available. During the security test, please ensure that only authorized users can access your cloud network, preventive measures against common threats are in place and functioning normally and the data in transit, in use, and sitting idle is properly secured.
    3. Application Performance:
      The final process of determining the successful migration is performance and response times. This important step ensures that your customers and end-users still get at least the same level of performance as before the migration. You need to ensure that performance expectations and your SLAs with the cloud provider are met. You need to carefully identify and document the end-to-end process of all business applications; identify and resolve any application architecture not supported by the cloud; determine monitoring requirements and set up appropriate tools and perform load testing in parallel with traditional networks to confirm response time is in accordance with the SLAs.

    In the process, you may also encounter areas where workloads can be optimized to take advantage of the underlying advanced technologies in the new cloud environment.

    Application Testing is a very important part of cloud migration strategy that cannot be ignored. At Pratiti, we possess rich expertise with devising Cloud Strategies, building and testing Cloud-Native Applications, Cloud specific frameworks, Microservices development, Managed Services, and more. If you are looking to adopt cloud or migrate your applications to the cloud, do get in touch with us today for a seamless experience.

    Our Services
    Industrial IoT Companies | Data Analytics SolutionsHealthcare Software Development | 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.
  • How To Choose Between Native, Hybrid or Web App For Your Business

    How To Choose Between Native, Hybrid or Web App For Your Business

    The moment you decide to build an application, you are faced with many decisions. Technology, business, design, marketing, branding-all these have a certain effect and influence on the success of your application. If you make the wrong decision, they can also have drastic consequences. The most expensive thing in any application development is technology.

    Changing your view of the platform, technology, or application type late in the development process can cause hundreds of hours of work interruption and multiply the overall cost. However, if the problem is solved immediately, it will speed up application development and benefits from it can be reaped in the long run.

    What All Matters When Choosing an Application Type?

    The selection you make between native, hybrid, and web applications depends on many factors, and no two companies will have the same factors that triggers this decision in the same way.

    Before understanding these factors though, let us first understand some key differences between native applications, hybrid applications, and web applications:

    • Programming Languages: It can range from native device languages such as Switch and Java to web-based technologies with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript,
    • Distribution Method: This defines the channel through which the application could be found conveniently – the application store or online web,
    • Multi-Platform Support: This just means that different application types have different functions that run on iOS and Android,
    • Access to Native Device APIs: This means that the app has the ability to use the native functions of the device and other available APIs.

    Before we learn more about these key details of each application type, please make sure you know the following answers:

    • How quickly do you need to develop or build your application?
    • What functions and features do you need towards MVP / full-fledged application?
    • What is the user experience that you want in your app?
    • What is your overall budget?
    • What do you want to accomplish with this application?
    • What are your options for internal and outsourced software application development?

    Native Applications:

    Native mobile applications are written specifically for the platform or operating system (such as Android or iOS) using the native operating system language. For example, to develop a native Android application, you need to write code in Java or Kotlin; similarly, for an iOS native application, the code is written in Swift or Objective-C.

    Advantages:

    • Native applications can widely use the hardware of the device, such as the camera, GPS, microphone, compass, etc., as well as the functions of the operating system.
    • Native apps utilize the device’s UI to provide the best customer experience.
    • Native apps are specifically developed for platforms with a single focus which makes it faster and more intuitive.
    • The native application has the characteristics of high performance, more reliability, and faster response, and provides the ultimate user experience, unmatched by other types of mobile apps.
    • Native mobile application development is a future-oriented investment.

    Disadvantages:

    • The main disadvantage of choosing a native application is that it has a high upfront cost of development.
    • Compared with other application types, native applications have the highest cost of ownership.
    • Code written for the Android platform cannot be used in the iOS operating system and vice-versa.
    • You need to hire different coders for each platform driving up the overall application cost.
    • Every time there is an update, the user needs to download and reinstall the application.
    • Native applications are also not suitable for companies that want to achieve faster time to market.

    Web Applications:

    Web applications are just websites that “feel” like applications because of their interactivity and functionality. They provide services over the Internet, they run in a browser, and cannot be downloaded to mobile devices like native applications.

    Advantages:

    • Can cater to a wide range of customers across regions and provide services across multiple types of devices.
    • A single version of the website helps to improve SEO.
    • The adaptive web application can be scaled and adapted to different screen sizes from tablets to smartphones.
    • No need to customize web-based applications for specific platforms or operating systems. Hence, lower development costs.
    • Users do not need to download or update web apps from the app store.

    Disadvantages:

    • Web applications are completely dependent on the browser used by the device, which means that the functions supported by one browser may not be available in another browser.
    • Since web applications are the shell of the website, they cannot work completely offline.
    • Even though the web application can choose the offline mode, it still needs an Internet connection to back up the data on the device, get new data or refresh the screen.
    • Web applications may not always be integrated with the device hardware.
    • You cannot sell web apps through the app store.

    Hybrid Applications:

    The hybrid mobile applications happen to be between the native applications and the web applications. They have the feel of a native app because they can be downloaded from the app store and displayed on the home screen, but they rely on rendering in a browser embedded inside the app.

    Advantages:

    • Compared with native applications, hybrid applications can be developed faster and are more cost-effective.
    • Before the enterprise decides to build a native application, a hybrid application can act as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
    • Hybrid apps load fast and are ideal for countries/regions with slow internet connections.
    • Hybrid applications provide a streamlined and consistent user experience.
    • Once the code is written, it can be used on multiple platforms.
    • Since hybrid applications use a single code base, there is less code to maintain.
    • The plug-in system helps applications access platform functions.

    Disadvantages:

    • Although hybrid apps look and feel like native apps, they lack functionality and speed, which is considered a hallmark of native apps.
    • In hybrid applications, achieving excellent UX and navigation patterns is challenging.
    • Hybrid applications need to download various elements, which can lead to increased loading time.
    • Hybrid apps cannot access all device features and functions.

    How to Choose One?

    If you want to develop a mobile application for your business, the type of application you choose will depend on many factors. The following business requirements should help you choose your ideal mobile application.

    • Need a High-Performance Mobile Application – In terms of performance, no other application type can match the native application experience. Next, in terms of performance are hybrid applications and web applications.
    • Need to Use the Mobile App as Soon as Possible – If you put faster time to market first in your business plan, then native mobile application development should not be your ideal choice. You should invest in building a web application that takes the least time to develop and deploy.
    • Limited Resources and Budget – If budget constraints limit your business, you must consider building web applications or hybrid applications. Hybrid applications can act as the MVP of your enterprise to test waters.
    • Business Application Should be Fast and Stable – If performance and functionality are your top business priorities, then there is no way to solve it. All you need is a native application because it can provide you with speed, stability, and custom features, which are vital to your success.

    Conclusion:

    Each of these three types of applications has its own advantages and disadvantages, and the choices you make will affect your growth process. This is why the key to this process is to understand your assets and limitations and use them to get the best return in the form of an application.

    After considering various options and making a decision, it is important to work with developers, who can visualize and put your ideas into practice based on your budget and the core goals of your business. It is important to work with a team that can support the knowledge and experience of the exact technology you choose so that your application can reach its full potential.

    At Pratiti, we possess rich expertise in developing software applications on various platforms to best suit your business requirements. We are committed to making our customer’s digital journey as smooth as possible by collaborating, co-creating and co-innovating with them. If you are looking for an expert software application development company for your business, lets connect today!

    Our Services: 

    Digital Product Company | Offshore Software Product Development | Healthcare Software Development Company | 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.

  • Is Serverless Architecture for you?

    Is Serverless Architecture for you?

    Both serverless and microservices technology have been designed to host highly scalable solutions. But they are not the same thing. In this blog, we will look at what serverless architecture is, its benefits, challenges and if Serverless Architecture is right for you?

    A Brief History of App Development:

    Like everything in technology, microservices and serverless are responses to specific problems. The traditional way to build web-based applications is to implement the monolithic architecture, which essentially consists of: i) A central database, ii) A web server and iii) A user interface. This required hosting the physical database and web server on-premises as well as employing an in-house technical team to maintain the architecture.

    As the scale of the enterprise expands, this architecture becomes unscalable. Due to the high technical overheads, they were less adaptable, more resource-intensive and generally more expensive to manage. To overcome this problem, companies needed an agile, scalable, and cost-effective architecture while maintaining performance. These requirements have spawned serverless and microservice technologies that are designed to host highly scalable solutions.

    So, What is Serverless Architecture?

    Serverless architecture provides a way for companies to build and run applications without having to manage the infrastructure. It provides a way to remove architectural responsibilities from the workload, including provisioning, scaling or expansion, and maintenance. Scaling can be automatic; you only pay for what you use. The real meaning of serverless is that the organization does not need to invest or maintain physical hardware. Instead, you rely on a trusted third party to manage the maintenance of the physical infrastructure, including servers, networks, storage, etc. This method allows your organization to develop applications without managing infrastructure. A few popular third-party serverless platforms include i) AWS Lambda, ii) Microsoft Azure Functions and iii) Google Cloud Platform Functions

    The main reasons behind the adoption include reduced costs, scalability, developer productivity, and more, per the chart below.

     

    Serverless Includes Two Different Perspectives:

    1. Function as a Service (FaaS):

      An evolved model that allows developers to run application code modules (functions) instantly without worrying about back-end infrastructure or system requirements.

    2. Backend as a Service (BaaS):

      A model in which the entire back end of the system (database, storage, etc.) is processed independently and provided as a service. One can consider outsourcing back-end services to a third party for maintenance and management, allowing their organization to focus on development of core functions.

      On the notion of adopting serverless on a large scale by all most organizations, the research uncovered concerns about safety, fear of the unknown, and the lack of suitable employees. Since, serverless is relatively easier, team expertise and skilled competency is still required.

    What are the Advantages of Using Serverless Architecture?

    • The main advantage is that your developers can focus on core product development. They no longer need to be responsible for managing and operating servers. Components such as the network configuration or the physical security of the server are handled by the vendor, not your team.
    • Decomposition drives have better observability-with serverless, you can decompose your application into smaller and smaller parts, called decomposition. In this way, you will get better observability throughout the application. For smaller parts, less knowledge is required to make changes or create bugs and fixes.
    • Serverless is event-based-Serverless uses an event-based system instead of a stream-based system. Using an event-based architecture, each subsection of the application is independent. Events trigger each other. In stream-based services, each service has a connection. If a failure occurs, it will only affect the event and not the entire log.
    • You can quickly deploy applications in a matter of hours because no infrastructure can overwhelm you. As the speed of deployment increases, so does scalability. By using such an agile architecture, you can be very flexible in the release. With serverless architecture you get faster deployment, greater flexibility and accelerated innovation.
    • Because this is a faster process, you can accelerate innovation and this flexibility is especially valuable in emergency situations. In response to this pandemic, these types of scenes are spreading all over the world. The organization must change its focus to meet emerging needs.
    • Since there are no servers, the organization is actually outsourcing server and database management, it reduces the cost of architecture. You are no longer responsible for the huge investment required for internal architecture management. Ultimately, your use case will define how much you can save.
    • If your application has end users (and they might do), they have high expectations for the digital experience. If you no longer care about the architecture, then it will leave more time to deal with the user experience (UX). You cannot help but invest in the user interface, so serverless can provide you with a way to reallocate resources.

    Challenges of Serverless Environments:

    • Applications or functions that have been inactive for a long time may require a cold start to run, which requires more time and effort to initialize resources
    • Sign long-term contracts with management third parties
    • Business logic or technical changes may make the transition to other vendors challenging
    • If/when adjacent tenants deploy error codes, the multi-tenant serverless platform may introduce performance issues or errors in the pooling platform

    Is Serverless Architecture the Right Option for You Then?

    Serverless architecture is just one more option for deploying applications. Being able to monitor and troubleshoot serverless is also critical. Of course, there are advantages and disadvantages of serverless architectures. Determining which architecture to go with comes down to analysing your company’s business goals and product scope. If cost and a quick deploy-to-market are your priorities, then serverless is a better option. Every industry, from manufacturing to finance to education to even government, can benefit from serverless architectures. Your employees and clients will be asking for serverless solutions sooner rather than later. For those looking to build event-based apps quickly and efficiently, serverless computing is the way to conserve resources, increase efficiency, and boost productivity. To know more about how we can engineer a serverless architecture for you, contact us today.

    Our Services:

    IoT Development Services | Digital Twin Platform | Industrial IoT Companies | Outsourced Software Product Development Services

    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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