Tech Trends – Intellectsoft Blog https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog Thu, 13 Apr 2023 12:32:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/cropped-favicon-1-32x32.png Tech Trends – Intellectsoft Blog https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog 32 32 Benefits and Perspectives of Artificial Intelligence in Software Development https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/benefits-and-perspectives-of-artificial-intelligence-in-software-development/ Thu, 13 Apr 2023 12:32:04 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=26531 AI has gone a long way from science fiction and theories to implementations in many areas of everyday life. Such an illustrious evolution has become...

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AI has gone a long way from science fiction and theories to implementations in many areas of everyday life. Such an illustrious evolution has become possible thanks to the efforts of both scientists and software engineers. However, the development of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning does not stop. AI technologies are gradually making their way to new areas of interest and finding new implementations in already established fields. Let’s see how AI and ML interact with their “hearth and home” – the field of software engineering.

Definition of AI and Its Various Applications in Software Development

Artificial Intelligence is one of the oldest concepts, originating from ancient times and myths. However, it was not until the 20th century when old ideas and crude prototypes got practical realization. Many prominent mathematicians, logicians, and computer scientists joined their efforts to define the concepts of “reasoning” and “learning” in the context of computers. The works of Alan Turing, Arthur Samuel, Tom M. Mitchell, and many others created the base for the progress of AI and ML technologies and computer algorithms and programming languages in general.

The generally recognized features that define AI are the ability to solve complex problems and the ability to generate information based on the source parameters. This way, researchers focus on the similarities between “human” thinking and “machine” thinking. Artificial Intelligence also should have the ability to learn, with human supervision or without it.

Thanks to the rapid progress of AI and ML technologies, they have been successfully integrated into many key areas of modern life. For example, the bond between AI and software development turned into two-way beneficial cooperation. This means that Artificial Intelligence has two major layers of interaction with software engineering.

  1. It is an immensely useful tool that helps developers with numerous tasks. An AI paired with great computational power and data storage capabilities easily outperforms human abilities.
  2. It is an object of software developers’ labor. Software engineers are often tasked to create an AI for specific purposes or to integrate an existing AI into a solution that is being developed.

Let’s take a look at both of these areas of interaction.

The Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Software Engineering

Software developers have mastered the art of training and customizing AI for various purposes. In general, state-of-the-art AI has unparalleled abilities for data mining, analysis, and classification. Those abilities also make Artificial Intelligence a great assistant capable of understanding requests and finding solutions. Here are a few examples of using AI technologies in software development:

Examples of using artificial intelligence in software engineering

Code Generation

Modern AI can write code based on given parameters. The results, on average, are quite satisfactory but not enough to replace a skilled programmer. However, specialized AIs and learning models are getting progressively better. It is just a matter of time until they become on par with junior-level specialists. This pace of progress should be a clear signal for software engineers to keep improving their skills.

The machine-written code still requires comprehensive checking from experienced specialists, especially regarding its security. In the near future, this tendency may change the role of software developers. It is possible that AI will perform the “writing”, and developers will switch to “editing” the code. This way, Artificial Intelligence will do the bulk of hard and mundane work, and software engineers will oversee this process.

Requirements Gathering

Developers often use Artificial Intelligence to compile a set of requirements for a future software product. It optimizes workflow and reduces the flow of documents associated with this task. AI proves to be extremely useful in demanding projects with complex requirements.

For example, Watson AI, developed by IBM, is especially useful for requirements management. In addition, it effectively assists in other stages of the software development life cycle. The use of AI eliminates or at least reduces the need for going through lots of paper and digital documentation manually.

Planning, Estimating, and Designing

Based on the gathered requirements, AI can take over the rest of the software development process. It is more efficient in tasks that require calculations, such as estimating costs and scheduling deadlines. It also can determine the development team setup and the number of required specialists to meet the deadlines within the set budget.

Of course, this process is closely supervised by managers. So, the role of AI here is to make rough drafts rather than final plans. It can also make suggestions regarding workflow optimization. However, humans still have the final word regarding AI advice.

Quality Control and Feedback Management

Artificial Intelligence can also assist developers by running error scans and looking for vulnerabilities in code. Software engineers can train AI using the existing guidelines and checklists for ensuring software security. Then, any particular development company can customize and enhance obtained machine learning models individually. The specialists can turn those models into intellectual property by training them on every software product created by that company.

AI is also invaluable for gathering feedback from users and testers in a convenient automated form. It can analyze reports and divide them into categories depending on the nature of feedback (positive/negative), the severity of a reported error (critical/major/minor), and other parameters. The resulting structured data will be much more useful for the purposes of QA than the bulk of assorted reports.

Areas and Industries That Use AI-powered Solutions

As was described above with reference to software development, specialists use AI for two general purposes. One purpose involves Artificial Intelligence performing tasks automatically with or without human supervision. The other purpose is to improve the productivity of human workers by assisting them and enhancing their abilities. Below are a few illustrative implementations of AI in different areas outside software development.

Areas and industries that use software engineering and machine learning

  • Data mining. One of the main purposes of AI nowadays is to gather enormous amounts of raw data on the Internet. It is the task of web crawlers that are used in search engines, including Google, Bing, Baidu, and others. However, those and other interested companies, such as Meta, Twitter, Amazon, etc., are also collecting information about their users. Every user’s activity on the Internet is usually tracked by several companies simultaneously. The resulting data flow would be impossible without the help of Artificial Intelligence.
  • Data analysis, classification, and statistics. AI is also responsible for analyzing user data mainly for the benefit of Internet corporations. It defines behavior patterns, habits, and preferences for every user account. The resulting data is used for targeted advertising and other types of personalized content. The latter is especially true in the case of social networks and streaming services.
  • AI assistants in smart devices. Artificial Intelligence is often integrated into gadgets to make them more convenient and resourceful. The most common types are, of course, smartphones, tablets, and speakers. This is because they have the necessary hardware to listen to users and respond, preferably using AI-generated voice.
  • Autonomous driving. Artificial Intelligence enables AI-assisted driving in the form of an autopilot that can be toggled on and off.  It also allows fully autonomous driverless operation of vehicles in certain environments.
  • Gaming. One of the earliest showcases of AI was in the form of chess computers. Specialized versions of AI are also used for such table games as go, backgammon, and poker. Artificial Intelligence is widely used in the video game industry, both in single-player and multiplayer games. It controls enemies, NPCs, and bots in order to react to players’ actions.
  • Writing and maintaining a dialogue. ChatGPT and its analogs are the hottest topics in all the tech news these days. They can hold written conversations with users and are often tasked to write letters, articles, and even scientific papers.
  • Creating visual art. The combination of AI and ML gave several amazing tools for visual artists and designers. Midjourney, DALL-E 2, and Neural filters in Adobe Photoshop are the most popular examples of such instruments.

The Benefits of Artificial Intelligence for Developers

From the description above, it is clear that Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning offer many advantages. Most of them can be effectively applied to benefit software development. Here are a few ways how AI improves the work of software engineers:

Advantages of artificial intelligence for developers

  • Precise planning
  • Predictable workflow
  • Informed decision-making
  • Accurate estimates
  • Better security and QA
  • Reduced workload

Overall, the main benefits of AI and ML in software development come down to higher efficiency and lower costs. Artificial Intelligence helps to automate many time-consuming processes. This allows managers to switch specialists from boring routine tasks to more creative and responsible assignments.

Additionally, these benefits offered by AI allow engineers to tackle more complex tasks that would otherwise be unfeasible or extremely costly. Ultimately, Artificial Intelligence enables the creation of more enhanced versions of itself. And those better versions will be able to solve even more difficult tasks, thus increasing the benefits.

Challenges of Using AI in Software Development

Challenges of using artificial intelligence in software development

  1. Higher demands for specialists’ skills. AI is a sophisticated tool capable of performing many tasks. However, to fully utilize its potential, it must be operated by a specialist with sufficient skills and experience. The main requirement is the ability to formulate all the input parameters with maximum precision. In other words, users must say exactly what they want to achieve and describe it in full detail.
  2. Advanced tools require large computational power, storage space, and energy supply. A software development company that heavily relies on AI technologies has to invest in top-tier hardware. Better equipment usually means that AI would perform its tasks faster. In its turn, this would speed up the work of the development team and reduce the time to release the final product.
  3. Extra licensing costs. Professional tools are not cheap, especially in the software development business. Most state-of-the-art AI and ML solutions involve a hefty price for their commercial use. However, the costs are reasonable and more than justified. AI-enhanced tools quickly pay for themselves, especially when they are used by skilled software engineers.

The Future of AI in Software Development

It is safe to admit that AI technologies are the present and future of mankind. They have been successfully integrated into both personal and professional aspects of our lives. This means more work for software developers who create and implement custom AIs.

The combination of Artificial Intelligence, software engineering and Machine Learning is growing more powerful as the technologies improve every day. Moreover, software developers can now use specialized AIs to create other AIs. The circle has come to a close. But it also created the foundation of the constant evolution of Artificial Intelligence, allowing engineers to create better versions of AI with improved abilities.

Though the use of AI simplifies the work of software developers, it also demands high levels of skill and knowledge. This is especially true when engineers need to integrate Artificial Intelligence into custom software solutions. Our team in Intellectsoft has enough know-how and experience to handle complex and challenging AI-related cases. We offer a range of AI development services for various industries. Contact us to bring the advantages of Artificial Intelligence to your software.

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Top Software Development Trends in 2023 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/top-software-development-trends-in-2023/ Thu, 02 Mar 2023 12:18:44 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=26464 Every industry reacts to all the changes that take place in our world by making trends. The diverse software development community also responds to global...

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Every industry reacts to all the changes that take place in our world by making trends. The diverse software development community also responds to global events in a similar way. The current trends in software engineering reflect the needs of other industries that employ software solutions. They also represent the fascination of developers with the newest technological breakthroughs and their pursuit to work more effectively.

The Current Situation and Main Tendencies in the IT Industry in 2023

Recent years were full of historical events, and the latest software development trends reflect how the IT field adapts to those phenomena. Technological breakthroughs, climate changes, and local conflicts are among the many reasons that constantly change the preferences of the coding community. Let us review the most popular trends, observe their dynamics and find the reasons behind their current popularity.

2023 software development trends chart

The Revolution in Artificial Intelligence.

While Artificial Intelligence was one of the top trends in software development over the last few years, the situation changed completely in December 2022. When Open AI launched its ChatGPT, the digital world experienced one of the biggest revolutions in its history. The immense scope of abilities of this chatbot is shocking and slightly frightening. It can maintain a meaningful dialog with the user, write an article or even a thesis on a given topic, and much more. For example, GhatGPT can write computer code based on a user’s request.

Naturally, program developers around the world started to investigate and exploit this opportunity. This feature allows a person with little to no knowledge of programming to create a basic-level software product or module. The more this chatbot learns, the more advanced its skills become. It seems inevitable that before long the AI will both write programs and teach programming languages to junior developers. Such industry giants as Microsoft and Baidu have already integrated AI chatbots in their search engines, browsers, and other solutions.

Other brilliant examples of interactive AI are Midjourney and DALL-E 2. These tools use deep learning to generate images based on the written description. The rise and evolution of such self-developing models have already caused concern among professional designers. As a related trend, Tensorflow is still the dominant platform for machine learning, thus retaining its popularity over the last few years.

New Horizons for Big Data Analysis.

All modern IT “whales” are deeply involved in Big Data and successfully turn it into immense profits and influence. Google, Meta, Twitter, Amazon, and other huge companies gather tremendous amounts of information and analyze it to create user behavior patterns. This way, they can provide personalized services, such as advertising, selected content, services, and so on by predicting customers’ needs.

Market capitalization of internet companies in June 2022

The related trend that has appeared just recently is called the Internet of Behavior (IoB). It combines the Internet of Things (IoT), predictive analytics, and behavioral research. This concept involves gathering data from a variety of smart devices, including wearable gadgets and household appliances. Then this data is combined with various information regarding online activities, such as search history, watched content, played games, ordered wares, and much more.

Ultimately, an IoB platform can create a concise database that summarizes the preferences and behavior of a particular person. This extensive structured information can be used for providing a variety of personalized online content, including ads, news, articles, videos, and much more. The increasing popularity of IoT devices greatly speeds up the development of IoB solutions. Overall, the Internet of Behavior will certainly remain one of the dominant trends in the foreseeable future.

Alternative Approaches to Programming

The preferences regarding programming languages among software developers generally remain unchanged in relation to the last few years. According to the TIOBE index, Python is still number one in the world, and C is still the runner-up. Rust and Scratch are gaining popularity and rose by 4 points in the index, while Swift has dropped by 3 points over the last year.

Tiobe programming community index

While the developers keep using the same programming languages, the situation around coding approaches has changed drastically. A few new ways of creating software have sparked massive interest among specialists. One of the hottest trends in this industry nowadays is no-code development. A step forward from visual programming languages and low-code development platforms, this concept reduces the requirements for developers’ skills even further. Such services as Bubble, Webflow, or Adalo offer advanced functionality and various templates to create mobile and web applications without writing any code.

Naturally, the no-code approach will not seize the whole software development industry. However, it allows more people to express their ideas and create program products in an extremely easy fashion. The same purpose is one of the main reasons why AI-assisted programming also gets increasingly popular. Nowadays, virtually anyone can ask an AI bot like ChatGPT to write a fragment of code to solve a given problem. Of course, the no-code and AI-assisted methods do not meet many quality and security requirements. This way, they are not suitable for creating software for startups and businesses.

As an example of an ongoing software development trend, microservices remain very popular. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud are still the top three players in the field of cloud computing. Their reputation and demand have not declined over the years, and they remain trusty platforms for providing a large variety of computing services and resources.

High Demand for Security and Decentralization

One of the new trends in software development is the novel concept of the World Wide Web called Web3. The idea involves making the Internet more decentralized and secure, mainly through the use of blockchain technologies. While nowadays blockchains are generally associated with cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), tech specialists believe that this situation will change soon.

Decentralization is believed to be the potential solution to one of the biggest concerns in the IT industry. Some corporations have gained too much influence over the digital world and have almost monopolized several essential services and environments by suppressing their rivals. The software development community is actively looking for effective ways to minimize the dependence on those corporations and their products.

In the field of software development, the decentralization trend also refers to the structure and operation of an application. This approach focuses on ensuring the autonomous and uninterrupted work of software. For example, if one software module malfunctions, the rest of the platform should work. If several servers go down due to a sudden power shortage, the remaining part of the infrastructure should remain operational.

IT Services Outsourcing

The situation with human resources in the software development industry is extremely volatile. It seems just a few months ago, there was a dire shortage of tech specialists, and nowadays, the situation has reversed. There were massive layoffs by major IT companies, including Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Twitter, and several others. The numbers are shocking: more than 70000 employees of the largest tech enterprises have lost their jobs, and new waves of layoffs are expected.

These measures show the new tendency when more and more companies resolve to outsourcing rather than having massive development departments. Businesses are desperately looking for ways to minimize their losses, and outsourcing is a very viable and cost-effective way of doing this. That’s why the rapidly rising demand for outsourcing services is the latest trend these days.

IT services outsourcing market size

Why It Is Important to Monitor Trends

Modern software development trends represent the current needs and changes in the industry. If a company keeps a close eye on them, it understands and predicts the desires of its customers more accurately. That’s why Intellectsoft realizes the importance of researching and following the latest tendencies.

Knowledge of trends allows us to learn and use advanced software development tools even before they become mainstream. To maximize the efficiency of our work, we combine cutting-edge tools with time-proven technologies, thus uniting modern trends and conventional means. This allows us to create secure and effective custom software solutions for businesses operating in various industries.

For example, our knowledge of the IoT and security trends allowed us to create a solution for smart fridges with RFID tags and other peripherals. The recent trend regarding cryptocurrencies also did not catch us off-guard. We have developed a secure yet simple blockchain wallet to manage operations with Bitcoin and Ethereum. Overall, the information about modern trends allows our company to remain competitive and able to deliver effective solutions. It also challenges our specialists to master new tech and skills.

Last But Not Least

The developers in Intellectsoft take a keen interest in various new trends in software development. Learning about new tendencies, tools, and methods allows us to improve our skills and remain in demand as tech professionals. If you want to implement the latest trends in a custom-built software solution, contact us. Our specialists will find efficient ways to embody your idea using modern tendencies in programming.

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Data Governance: Use Cases and Ways of Implementation https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/data-governance-use-cases-and-ways-of-implementation/ Fri, 20 Jan 2023 09:32:37 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=26341 We live in the era of overflowing data. It’s everywhere, especially when it comes to businesses. Nowadays, companies gather more and more unstructured and cluttered...

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Data statistics

We live in the era of overflowing data. It’s everywhere, especially when it comes to businesses.

Nowadays, companies gather more and more unstructured and cluttered data, thus it becomes more and more important to know how to manage it effectively and not let it hinder business performance.

In fact, a dataset when governed effectively is supposed to leverage a lot of processes and bring an organization plenty of opportunities for growth.

In this article, we are going to dive deep into data governance. We will explain to you what data management/governance  is, what are the main data governance use cases, why it’s important for companies, and so much more. Let’s get started!

Main Use Cases of Data Governance

Before we will showcase the core business use cases for data governance, let’s start with the simple definition of data governance. So what is it?

Data governance is a set of certain standards, policies, and processes that are aimed at making the use of data and documents more effective and efficient which will help in achieving the company’s objectives. It is a data governance framework that enables businesses and organizations to better manage their data assets.

Even though data governance challenges are inevitable, here are the main benefits that data governance can bring to companies:

benefits of data governance

Data quality can make a big difference for companies. Evaluating data governance rules and standards allows organizations to reduce risks, minimize operational costs, optimize their workflows, and so much more.

By focusing on and optimizing your database governance as part of your business or enterprise software strategy it’s possible not only to improve operational processes within your organization but also with your clients as well.

Moreover, data governance fundamentally impacts master data management, increases the efficiency of a data management process and value from data, and improves data quality.

Now, we can proceed to explore the main use cases of data governance:

  • Self-service business intelligence. As self-service BI is a main priority of many organizations, data governance can help a lot. The information about data sets and reports will be easily accessible and available in a well-governed environment. It would be possible for users to quickly review and compare data, and understand its quality, and source. Therefore, data governance will facilitate the decision-making process and will make it more likely for a self-service BI program to succeed.
  • Personal information protection. When it comes to sensitive data, it’s important to understand where this personal information is captured and stored. In case of a data breach, it’s crucial to assess the overall impact as well as notify data subjects affected by the breach. And data governance is completely about it. It helps to understand who is accountable for data, to set policies for data use and access, and to define processes to solve issues with data.
  • Master data management. For making master data management successful, a high degree of engagement & decision-making across data silos is required. Without it, implementing a technology solution won’t be possible. Data governance can help make master data projects easier and allow them to reach final completion.
  • Digital customer experience. With the increased adoption of digital channels by businesses, the need for data collection also increases. Effective and quality data management might enable the simple collection, storage, and analysis of clients’ data, thus giving more opportunities for delivering positive experiences.

Let’s take a look at other most important and valuable data management use cases.

team working

Grounded Data Analytics for Companies

We all know how data analytics helps with operational processes as well as with business decision-making. As more companies are becoming data-driven, you should know that effective data governance can also help companies create grounded data analytics.

For ultimate success, it’s important for data to be easily accessible to all business users and employees. Sometimes it’s not possible to access and analyze existing data as a relevant specialist is required.

In this case, data management plays a crucial role as it eliminates this blocker by enabling anyone to access and analyze data without extra professional or special tech training.

With effective data governance, it’s possible to analyze multiple data sets simultaneously and share the results with ease while improving the overall data availability.

Data Privacy Compliance and Managing “Data-Related Risks”

Every business and organization possess plenty of sensitive data that can be subject to malicious attacks, misusage, and breaches. Therefore, protecting data and following privacy compliance standards are paramount. The regulations like GDPR or IAPP are meant to protect customers’ personally identifiable information. However, at the same time, these regulations also create plenty of risks for companies.

Optimizing your data governance practices will help you leverage those risks while having your client’s best interests in mind. Data management can assist you in identifying the place where this sensitive client data is stored, providing the data to customers if needed, deleting data if requested, simplifying the auditing process, organizing and reporting privacy terms, etc.

big data

Data: Collection, Structuring, and Access Control

If the company works with large amounts of data, data governance can be very helpful as it enables the creation of certain standards for data collection and structuring. Moreover, there are a lot of risks associated with big volumes of data stored. It’s pivotal to manage carefully who can access this data.

For example, if data is stored in multiple places, it’s difficult to make sure that all employees can easily access the data needed, and it’s even more challenging to perform audits. On the contrary, even if data is stored in a single location, it’s pretty difficult to manage permissions so the right data can be accessed only by the right employees.

Efficient data access governance can improve the situation as it makes it possible for simple and streamlined data access no matter where it’s stored. Automation allows businesses to classify data, come up with data policies, and achieve full control over all data they possess.

Creation of Terminology and Technical Metadata

Last but not least, data governance tools can work effectively with databases, and build up a business glossary across your organization which is possible to continue updating as the business evolves and expands.

This glossary can include specific company terms & definitions, technical metadata, data classification, and so much more if needed. It will allow all new employees to access it easily and get familiar with the basics.

Data Governance Impact on ML and AI outcomes

It’s worth noting that 97.2% of organizations are investing in big data and AI. Efficient data governance can play a huge role in the successful outcomes of artificial intelligence and machine learning implementation.

It’s important to remember that the effectiveness of ML and AI systems depends on the scale and diversity of the data as well as on its cleanliness. Investing in data management will help to achieve this data quality.

Even the top AI systems can fail in case the data used is not properly governed and didn’t pass through quality checks and data governance is the right solution.

coding process

Intellectsoft’s Approach to Data Governance

We hope this article about data governance use case examples shed a light on this burning topic. Our professionals believe that data governance is very important and can help companies achieve ultimate success, facilitate workflow, and drive more revenue in the future.

Intellectsoft is a reliable software development and IT consulting partner with an impeccable reputation and strong corporate culture and ethics. Our team has more than 15 years of experience in the field of enterprise software development as well as other services we recommend you get familiar with.

We have collaborated with dozens of renowned global companies as well as Fortune 500 businesses across various industries. Intellectsoft has specialists with exceptional knowledge of fintech, healthcare, construction, and other industries.

In addition, we encourage you to take a look at the list of our most prominent client cases that will show you how Intellectsoft’s expertise enabled us to deliver effective solutions that transformed our clients’ businesses.

If you have any questions left — don’t hesitate to get in touch with us and our managers will get back to you to provide all the information needed. We can start developing the solution that will take your business to a whole new level. Start your digital transformation with us!

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Main Data Governance Challenges and Ways of Solving Them https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/main-data-governance-challenges-and-ways-of-solving-them/ Mon, 16 Jan 2023 13:27:44 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=26295 At least 46% of businesses don’t have a formal strategy for data usage. Without effective data management, companies run the risk of mishandling sensitive data,...

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At least 46% of businesses don’t have a formal strategy for data usage. Without effective data management, companies run the risk of mishandling sensitive data, noncompliance with data privacy regulations, and distributing data of significantly poor quality. Data governance (DG), a vital data management concept for enterprise systems, exists specifically to combat these potential issues.

Main Data Governance Challenges statistics

Every aspect of data governance consists of the management processes of the use, availability, integrity, and safeguards associated with all internal data within different enterprise systems. Companies are wasting $62 million on data storage space that is unnecessary for what they need and this is a clear example of the importance of having consistently trustworthy data and data standards that help to prevent its misuse.

By implementing simple data governance models data governance challenges can be avoided, save companies time, and strengthen company profits. While there are some obstacles that surround this concept, there are solutions to overcome them.

Recognizing the Importance of Modern Data Governance

In the “information era” rapidly evolving technologies, and cutting-edge analytics and where massive amounts of data are used every day to drive critical business processes and decisions, data governance plays a vital role in every organization. From setting data management rules and regulations to measuring data quality and defining data interpretation processes, the benefits of following data management best practices are essential for forming proper business planning methods, and accounting approaches, and limiting operational risk.

Enterprise data governance challenges present companies with a wide range of potential problems that could affect their resource allocation tactics, operational decision-making, and revenue sustainability. If a corporation intends to be “data-driven” it must successfully adopt data governance which is an ongoing problem for a variety of companies across multiple industries. DG lays the foundation for organizational data and it gives meaning to all the data that a company has.

This concept is important because it streamlines digital transformations and ensures the accuracy and reliability of all data that a company uses. The main purpose of DG is to optimize the quality of data and to decrease the chance that internal data is incomplete, inaccurate, or duplicated.

big data

The Top Data Governance Issues and How to Solve Them

Some of the biggest challenges revolve around a lack of data control. Uncontrolled data results, misuse of resources and noncompliance with regulatory mandates are some of these issues. Due to problems like this, companies often struggle with identifying what to avoid when implementing a data governance program. For example, some of the most commonly made mistakes with data governance are having

  • Unclear objectives
  • Data that is inconsistent or unrelated to what the business specifically needs
  • Not enough focus on data organization processes and too much on individual tools
  • Silo prevention tactics that come too late

Additionally, data management challenges can address a variety of other hurdles. Whether poor risk management decisions, data loss, data breaches, or unregulated environments, the data governance framework is designed to adapt to these obstacles through its four pillars. The four pillars of DG include:

Pillars of Data Governance

To get a better understanding of why challenges of data governance and data governance risk are often complex, it’s best to get an idea of the type of problems companies often face, why these key data governance issues occur, and the potential solutions that could remedy them.

Main Data Governance Challenges

Soiled Data

The problem with soiled data is that it causes a range of data governance issues. Some of these could be productivity losses and a waste of resources. At least 26% of global companies have bad data. Another word for this is “dirty data” and it can cause company budgets to be used incorrectly which often causes a downward dive in revenue.

Soiled data is any information that isn’t accurate, that’s inconsistent, incomplete, insecure, or simply outdated. One of the key challenges for data governance is exactly this as it contributes to the dysfunction of enterprise databases. Without eliminating dirty data before implementing data governance practices, they won’t be as effective. To get rid of flawed data, you’ll have to reassess the infrastructure of your company’s data management processes. Basically, instead of cleaning up what’s already dirty, you should, in a sense start over.

Resource Limitations and Misallocation

Better resource allocation can help to establish more accurate decision-making and data collection processes. A lot of the time, misallocation stems from a scarcity of resources altogether. This can sometimes happen when a corporation doesn’t have the capacity to develop a program dedicated to key challenges for data governance.

Not having proper resources for issues in data governance can result in additional problems. It can inhibit the use of business intelligence and artificial intelligence tactics. To strengthen your data governance approach, know what should be assigned to who. Determining this starts with a better understanding of a company’s data and what that corporation actually requires. As a tip, making use of data lineage is a good approach for visualizing the data. It will also help with forming a more in-depth understanding of what data is being collected.

Using master data management (MDM) is a useful consideration as well. This is a form of technology that helps to make use of master data coordination across an entire company.

Data Silos

Data silos are a form of insular management. What this means is that this type of system doesn’t have the capability to reciprocate information and is unable to talk to other systems. The data they collect is owned by one department within a company. However, that same data isn’t accessible to other groups within that same company. In other terms, data silos are formations of data that aren’t compatible with internal multi-departmental communications.

Data silos, unfortunately, put strain on the user limitations of enterprise data. This also limits the use cases for that same data which negatively alters business decision-making and proper collaboration. Overall, most companies don’t assume that data silos are much to worry about initially and this is where the issues arise. Over time, they become more problematic and limit data strategy options. By that point, data analytics and analysis methods will have already become unnecessarily complex.

Lack of Data Ownership

A common misconception is that IT has full ownership over a company’s data. This is untrue and really, ownership over data involves various departments. The best way to approach forming the proper structure of ownership is to develop an ownership model. Ownership of enterprise data is often split into three different categories;

  • Ownership; includes full responsibility as well as possession of that information
  • Stewardship; oversight of usability, safety, trustworthiness, and accessibility of data assets including quality
  • Custodianship; assembly and storage of data sets including data use case determination

It’s important to realize that data governance is a compilation of different procedures and policies that are used to aid the functioning of an enterprise database. Data governance is technically different from data ownership, stewardship, and other facets of data control. They all, however, do work together and without one, another component may not be as effective. For example, without data stewardship, ownership of data won’t be as simple to follow. Without data security, data governance, regardless of its success, could still experience a data breach or problems with data access.

Implementing an ownership model will help to determine those that have direct access and control of a company’s information. This affects accountability, the stability of a company’s database, as well as the levels of security surrounding that data. Having a lack of data ownership will often result in a higher potential of the quality and accuracy of data suffering.

Companies often plan to diversify their risks and this is why at least 42% of businesses have no appointed data owner at all. In general, the majority of corporations default to leaning completely on IT for taking on the role of data ownership and use. This is one of the most common reasons that an organization would experience issues with data governance.

professional solving a challenge

Overloading Unstructured Data

Unstructured data wastes company time and funds. It takes a long time to process, there is no standardization involved, and the conversion of it to useful information can come with a hefty price tag. There are multiple ways to limit the challenges in data governance associated with unstructured data.

Businesses can ensure that they only utilize trusted data sources. They can also establish policies that limit the incidents of data becoming unstructured. Additionally, all bad and irrelevant data should be disposed of properly instead of allowing it to accumulate.

Final Thoughts

Data governance problems can stall company operations and cause a loss of funds. Irrelevant and inaccurate data only contributes to the problems that multiple data silos and poor resource allocation presents. The main issue behind failing data governance strategies is the complete lack of proper data housing. If companies continue to allow their departments to operate as disconnected entities, there will never be a clear picture of enterprise data, how it works, and how relevant and accurate it truly is.

Consider Intellectsoft Your Trusted Partner

Intellectsoft focuses on designing and delivering cutting-edge technology solutions for companies across the globe. With specific expertise in digital transformation and product engineering, Intellectsoft offers services tailored to solving a variety of enterprise data and technology problems.

Streamlining data usage and internal approaches to a variety of some of the most unique and biggest challenges in data governance is simple with the right form of help. Our knowledgeable and experienced team specializes in cloud computing and workflow automation, and big data processing, and offers consulting services. Your business will benefit from an effective and custom software development solution that takes your project from end to end with enhanced efficiency and no confusion. To get started, learn more about our services.

The post Main Data Governance Challenges and Ways of Solving Them appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

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12 Software Development Methodologies: When, Where and How to Use Them https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/top-12-software-development-methodologies-you-should-know/ https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/top-12-software-development-methodologies-you-should-know/#respond Thu, 29 Dec 2022 07:10:24 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=17965 As the digitalization of our world picks up pace, more and more businesses are focused on building scalable and feature-rich software that can address challenges...

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As the digitalization of our world picks up pace, more and more businesses are focused on building scalable and feature-rich software that can address challenges of their clients as well as within their organization. In case you are interested in developing a solution that will transform your business, this article will be beneficial to you.

Software Development Methodologies Developer

More and more different software development methodologies are introduced within the tech industry. In most cases, all of those were first presented during the past decades, when a particular case required the use of a new development model that can fully meet the project’s characteristics, requirements, and goals. And, all the innovative approaches used were to make the development more productive and boost the desired results.

By the end of 2023, IT spending on enterprise software is expected to reach over $755 billion worldwide. As a substantial amount of these costs are invested in the software development branch, developers are now looking for the most optimized and effective software creation methods.

Different types of methodologies in software engineering can significantly eliminate the time, resources, and costs needed for project realization. However, due to the vast number of these methodologies currently existing, it becomes more and more challenging to pick up the best model for each specific case.

In this article, Intellectsoft’s best experts will analyze all the available different software development methodologies within the industry, as well as define their strong sides and possible drawbacks so you could come up with the most beneficial yet efficient software development models that ideally fit your project.

Let’s get it started!

What Is a Software Development Methodology?

To understand the types of development models existing, it’s important to learn the project development basics first.

The software development methodology refers to the development SDLC (software development life cycle) model, which is focused on organizing beneficial yet effective project development processes from the idea and planning to front-back & back-end development, testing, and software launching.

In other words, it is a so-called app development lifecycle that applies different formats, approaches, and techniques and helps to:

  • Effectively organize the workflow
  • Eliminate time for the project development
  • Reduce the costs needed to develop a software
  • Track the process of creation
  • Provide a set of norms for the effective communication
  • Improve the quality of the final product and more

Today, there are 12 standalone types of software development methodologies that introduce different models of project creating. However, each of those has its unique advantages and possible drawbacks, so it’s essential to analyze the core gist of your project as well as learn the pick up the most effective

As for 2021, one of the leading technological approaches practiced for software development is DevOps methodology, which is used in every third project (35.9%), says Statista.

But, in practice, it’s more efficient to review all the options available on the market and define which of the software development methodologies can fit your program best.

Types of Software Development Methodologies

As you already know, there are various types of different software engineering methodologies aimed at improving SDLC.

However, having reviewed them you can find out there’s no one outright winner – for each specific case, the strategy will be different based on the project’s characteristics, requirements, main goals, core features, and more.

Thus, the detailed comparison of software development methodologies can simplify the choice and help you to define the most winning option for each app development project individually.

Here is a list of software development methodologies we’ll look into:

1. Agile Software Development Methodology

The main focus of this methodology of software development is the project/product itself. That is why, it presupposes various constant alterations based on users’ and customers’ feedback, as well as internal changes related to the work of engineers.

The agile software development methodology is free of rigid frameworks on the one hand. While, on the other hand, the software development process is divided into short time boxes, thus offering real results and feedback truly fast.

Major Benefits

  • Problems are detected and fixed at the early stage
  • Higher flexibility to the plan and easier adapting to different project changes
  • Eliminated time of project deliverables
  • Enhanced communication with the clients, and their close engagement to each stage of the software development process
  • Top-notch quality of the final product
  • Mostly fits smaller, young companies that are more flexible and open up for the active communication

Possible Drawbacks

  • Lack of understanding the solution specifics before their implementation
  • The high risks of ignoring the project documentation and requirements
  • Insufficient predictability of the budgeting, marketing plans, sales, and more
  • Requires immediate responding to issues and feedback in real-time
  • Easy to get lost in details and be pulled off the project course

2. Waterfall Development Methodology

The absolute opposite of the previous approach, this methodology is strict and linear. A new stage can only be started if the previous one is completed. In other words, each phase gradually flows into the next one.

What is more, there is no going back to the previous stage. This approach is easy to understand as it presupposes a strict sequence of completed tasks. Waterfall software development methodology is often regarded as a classic representation of software development.

Major Benefits

  • The project plan is simple and straightforward, with all the goals, requirements, and important aspects defined before the software development process
  • All the processes are easy to understand
  • Enforced discipline and better keeping the timelines
  • All the steps of testing scenarios are planned in advance
  • No financial risks due to the high planning accuracy
  • The outcomes are easy to predict, as they meet all the requirements and criteria outlined in project documentation, so the companies get exactly what they were expected to develop

Possible Drawbacks

  • The planning stage can be too challenging to organize the entire process
  • Low flexibility and inability to implement the changes once the software development process is started
  • The immediate changes to the project can result in additional spendings that are usually enormously high
  • A longer time of delivery
  • Weak for long or ongoing projects

3. Extreme Programming Method

One of the software development approaches is suitable for unstable projects, as it implies engaging with the customer as much as possible. What is more, it presupposes considerable flexibility.

Extreme programming methodology is believed to boost the quality of software owing to its ability to adapt to dynamic changing demands. In addition to that, constant feedback and communication is the key to an efficient and happy team environment.

Major Benefits

  • Significant customer involvement results in high-quality products
  • Stable final product due to the continuous software testing
  • Pair programming eliminates the errors that may occur during the software development process
  • High level of flexibility and the ability to immediately implement the changes
  • Code stays clear and comprehensive
  • No rush to keep the timelines – developers work at their own pace

Possible Drawbacks

  • Efficiency is much dependent on the people involved
  • Vague and unknown future results
  • Clients must always be engaged in the software development process
  • Comparatively large time and high costs investments
  • Is too challenging for the small teams, as they might not possess all the necessary skills and knowledge

4. Lean Development

Value for the client is the essential core element the whole approach revolves around. If something is worth it, it should be done immediately; if not, it should be removed.

The lean software development methodology is one of the software design methods which focuses a lot on loss reduction. That is why the whole project is examined significantly beforehand to eliminate any wasted time or money. As value is the core component, feedback plays a crucial role itself, so that the actions are taken fast.

Major Benefits

  • Perfect for a low-budget project and rigid time limitations
  • The team is focused on delivering on-demand tasks
  • Provides fast deliverability by eliminating waste and useless processes
  • Is easily scalable – ideally fits for large projects, unlike most of the other software development methodologies
  • Cutting out tasks allows getting more time for the core processes and implementing the high-value features to the final product
  • Enhanced teamwork enables focusing on meaningful and impactful work with a greater sense of purpose

Possible Drawbacks

  • Success is much dependent on the working capacity of a team
  • Low experience and lack of expertise might not work if the team works independently
  • Cutting too many things can lead to a loss of project focus
  • Risks of the delays due to certain bottlenecks or low resource levels
  • Requires excellent documentation to ensure all the aspects are developed correctly

5. Prototyping Methodology

Based on the waterfall approach and having a significant focus on customer feedback. There are some initial requirements, developers provide samples, and only after customers evaluate the functionality of samples, the final development begins.

The gist of this software development methodology lies in the name itself – prototype methodology. In other words, before getting down to business, there will be painstaking research and prototyping to avoid unnecessary risks.

Major Benefits

  • The prototype model can become a great information source for UI/UX improvements
  • Enhances the system functionality by analyzing the actual look and feel of the system being developed
  • High involvement of clients and final consumers during the developing process
  • Easier and more effective detection of errors and issues
  • High flexibility of the app developing process, that enables adding the missing functions or redoing the existing ones
  • Reduced time and costs due to the early detection of the critical issues

Possible Drawbacks

  • Too much client involvement can affect the process by slowing it down
  • Possible budget increase, as the management cost may go beyond the money limit
  • Increased complexity system that can enlarge beyond the original plans
  • Developers can reuse the existing prototypes that don’t always meet the client expectations instead of creating the new product from a scratch
  • The risks of the development overdoing with too much effort, time, and costs invested

6. Dynamic Systems Development Method

There are two main focuses: a strict time frame and an assigned budget. The idea is to manage to provide successful and effective software within a particular time limit and not exceed costs. Users’ involvement is of high importance as well. The dynamic systems model presupposes continuous feedback to deliver maximum functionality within the agreed requirements.

Major Benefits

  • Time-boxed yet predictable project deliverability
  • Developing processes are delivered at a standard level of quality, that can be improved through the analysis of documentation, software testing, and periodical reviewing of the outcomes
  • Great communication between developers and clients
  • Reaching the needed functionality as fast as possible
  • Producing enough design work upfront (EDUF) to get a more concrete idea of what product client needs
  • High control under each stage of the project development

Possible Drawbacks

  • Requires considerable costs for development
  • The approach will not fit and meet the needs of a small organization
  • Doesn’t stimulate the developer creativity
  • Projects are mainly focused on complying with the documentation and standards while can neglect some of the more sophisticated options available
  • Requires an experienced team of developers with deep expertise in both business and technical aspects

7. Feature Driven Development

Features are regarded as a sort of user feedback. Planning, designing, and building are all feature-based. This approach involves iterations to boost functionality and deal with varied complexities. Feature-driven development aims at organizing the work of a large number of teams within a big organization.

Major Benefits

  • Mostly fits large-scalable, long-term, and ongoing projects
  • Provides a detailed understanding of the project’s scope, major goals, and context
  • Breaks the feature sets into smaller chunks and regular iterative releases, thus reducing the risks of errors and enabling delivering the specific features in shorter time frames
  • Utilizes the pre-set standards to simplify the developing procedure
  • Enables any developer with appropriate experience and expertise to handle the tasks
  • Based on a user-centric approach, where the outcome depends on the user opinion

Possible Drawbacks

  • Cannot be applied by small organizations and for smaller projects
  • Requires several experienced developers to monitor the process
  • Difficult to guarantee a strict deadline
  • Doesn’t provide the written documentation for the clients, only the communication among the developers during the project launching cycle
  • Is more focused on individual code ownership instead of the shared team model

8. Rational Unified Process

The idea of this approach lies in having four stages of the developing process. ‘During each of the phases, all six core development disciplines take place – business modeling, requirements, analysis and design, implementation, testing, and deployment’, according to study.com.

The main focus of this software development methodology is to craft effective software of high quality without expanding the budget and missing the time frame.

Major Benefits

  • Provides reliable, accurate, and strict documentation
  • Eliminates the risks by taking into consideration the clients’ evolving needs
  • Requires less time for integration when completing the software development life cycle
  • The reuse of components allows reducing the time of project completion
  • This development model can be studied through the online pieces of training and tutorials available on the Internet
  • Incorporates the most effective practices of Waterfall by combining them into a more iterative process that is more flexible for changes

Possible Drawbacks

  • Requires an expertized yet well-trained developer for this methodology to ensure the project success
  • It May be too difficult to make the head or tail of the rational unified process model
  • This development model doesn’t allow to reuse of the pre-made components
  • Not effective for the big projects with multiple development systems, as it can cause more issues and confusion during the testing process
  • The delivery process may be too time-consuming for certain types of projects

9. Spiral Development Model

The main idea is to eliminate the risks at the early stage of the project. The developing procedure goes from smaller levels to the big ones gradually. This approach combines waterfall ideas with iterations.

Each stage involves setting goals and receiving feedback from a client. Moving from one phase to another in a spiral model implies completing and removing the risks before moving forward.

Major Benefits

  • Best fits mission-critical and long-term projects which require professional risk analysis and thorough control
  • The process of the estimation of the costs is pretty easy yet straightforward
  • Features the fast achievement of progress
  • Repeated development helps to eliminate the possibility of risks and effectively control the system quality
  • The specific functions or changes can be implemented at earlier and later stages
  • Leaves a lot of improvement opportunities taken from the customer feedback

Possible Drawbacks

  • Not suitable for small organizations and projects
  • The danger of failing to meet the agreed budget and time limit
  • Requires accurate following the spiral model project development protocol
  • Demands a strict risk assessment expertise
  • The correct risk analysis can be conducted by the expertise developers only

10. Joint Application Development

This approach implies significant interaction between users, designers, and developers. There are workshop sessions to facilitate and increase the development process. During the session, the following people are involved: a facilitator, end-users, developers, observers, mediators, and experts.

What is more, in joint application development there is a considerable focus on eliminating errors at the early stage, thus saving the expenses needed to correct the mistakes later on.

Major Benefits

  • Valuable information is achieved within a short period
  • Immediate elimination of errors and resolving the differences, which greatly boosts the software quality
  • Features accurate project requirements focused on improving the system quality
  • Reduces the time and costs needed for the project development
  • Enables close communication between the team members and client, which greatly speeds up the development process
  • Allows team members to push each other for faster yet high-quality deliverables

Possible Drawbacks

  • Can be quite a time and energy-consuming model when it comes to planning
  • Requires significant budget for the project launching
  • Needs highly experienced and expert professionals
  • Depending on the project size, it can be more difficult to align goals and maintain the overall project picture
  • The clients usually make a huge laundry list of demands with making them all “high-priority”

11. Scrum Development

Easy to understand and effective when it comes to achieving results. The working process is divided into sprints. All the assignments for each sprint are set beforehand and are then discussed after this period.

Thanks to this approach, it is easy to get a response to emerging problems early, and as a result, solve them immediately. Scrum software development methodology is by far the most flexible. For this reason, it easily deals with projects having changing requirements.

Major Benefits

  • All the stages and processes are clear and transparent
  • Light control goes together with constant updating that keeps all of the team always on guard
  • Removing the errors and project issues becomes much easier
  • Implies high engagement of clients
  • Enables frequent updates of the progress, which are proposed on the regular meetings
  • Clients can trace the various project processes and measure the development performance

Possible Drawbacks

  • The costs and time needed can often be uncertain
  • No deadlines for the product delivery
  • Big projects cannot be managed with this approach
  • Only expert professionals that are constantly up to the tasks can be involved, with no beginners
  • The test team must conduct regression testing after each sprint, which is one of the most notable difficulties of this methodology

12. Rapid Application Development

It is clear from its name that the main goal of this approach is to achieve fast results. To do so it uses the assistance of other development methodologies. It focuses on fast prototype releases and iterations.

As a result, quick feedback is received, errors are eliminated and the desired results are reached. It is as flexible and adaptable as possible. The main focus is to adjust so that the software is crafted, functional and effective fast. Rapid application development methodology includes 5 stages: analysis and quick design, prototype cycles, testing, and implementation.

Major Benefits

  • The client is encouraged to take fast reviews and constant feedback for the improvements
  • Enables easy change of the core functions when the software is in the testing phase
  • Minimizes the risks since the early stages of development
  • Reduces the time of development by setting the deadlines for the project completion
  • Is mainly focused on delivering the business problems important for the end-users
  • Applies the use of automated tools that allows creating the prototypes easier and much quicker

Possible Drawbacks

  • Not suitable for small projects
  • Requires highly expert developers and a strong collaboration between the teams
  • The stages are not strictly defined, which impacts the overall project structure
  • The development costs are comparatively high
  • All the requirements should be outlined before the development process starts

Why Should You Adhere to a Software Development Methodology?

Following concrete software development methodologies can significantly impact the quality of your final product, its usability, and the profits gained after the software release. Additionally, the most beneficial software methodology can impact the time and costs of the specific project development.

Software Development Methodologies

Having analyzed the detailed software development methodologies list, you can now have a more concrete idea of which models could fit your project best and deliver a high-quality yet feature-rich software product after implementation.

Whatever type of software methodology you’ll choose, you can always have a clear understanding of the project flow and provide the most effective updates in time.

How to Choose the Appropriate Software Engineering Methodology

As you can see, there are so many various enterprise software development methodologies, and it’s not very easy to choose between them. Each model has its own pros and cons that are important to take into account. Now, let’s take a look at a few very effective tips that will help you choose the right one between the variety of IT methodologies.

1. Evaluate Your Flexibility

In this particular case, flexibility refers to your ability to easily adapt to new requirements. Before deciding on your future software development methodology it is important to define the level of flexibility of your software requirements and specifications. For instance, web and app development can be very unpredictable with frequent requirements changes. In this case, Agile can suit perfectly. If your team values predictability and stability, Waterfall is the most suitable solution.

2. Define End-Users of Your Software

Knowing well your end-users as well as their expectations will help you pick the right methodology. It’s important to understand if the needs of your clients are fixed and consistent or if they vary a lot. If they are fixed then a non-iterative approach will be the best. A more collaborative approach will be better in case the needs of your end-users can fluctuate and they might require new features after the product launch.

3. Keep in Mind Project Size

An important characteristic such as project size and complexity can also determine the matching methodology. If you have an ambitious project that requires a lot of resources you can consider Agile methodology. In contrast, Waterfall will be suitable for smaller teams that require fewer people involved in the development process and can fully benefit from this option.

4. Determine Software Development Time Frame

Timeline also plays a paramount role while choosing the software development methodology. For example, if you have a long-term project you have to ensure that the chosen methodology can account for the potential staff turnover and infrastructure changes that should be accommodated. In case no strict deadline is determined, Waterfall can be one of the suitable options. If you want to work through sprints with defined deadlines, Agile or any other iterative-based approach can be perfect.

5. Take Into Account Team Location

Last but not least, is the importance of your software design and development team location, especially when you work with an outsourced team. In this case, the Waterfall methodology will be one of the best to achieve smooth process coordination and coherence but you don’t have to limit yourself. On the contrary, Agile methodology requires constant meetings and discussions which won’t be convenient with remote developers and will be more suitable if you have local engineers.

How We Work at Intellectsoft 

Intellectsoft has years of experience delivering software solutions to clients from all over the world. We have established our own Software Development Life Cycle that we follow with our clients to ensure clear expectations and top-notch results.  There are 7 main phases that we stick to, and it starts with project planning. Our team conducts the initial planning that includes budget projections, creating a schedule with KPIs and milestones, and defining team composition as well as the scope of each development phase.

Once the first stage is over, Intellectsoft’s business analysts analyze all project requirements and write software specifications to meet business objectives and performance requirements. After, UI/UX professionals work on software mockups while our solutions architect designs the solution infrastructure.

The development phase is led by a Project Manager throughout all development stages. It’s worth noting that Intellectsoft uses Scrum methodology in most cases.

We put together and deploy a development team with a dedicated Project Manager that works with the Client in accordance with the project plan throughout all development phases. Development is performed in agile sprints according to the Scrum methodology. Our experts prefer this software application development methodology as it is easy to understand and it helps to achieve tangible and accurate results. No matter what issue appears in the middle of the development process, we are able to detect and address the problem effectively thanks to the Scrum development method. Our team also appreciates its flexibility, clarity, and transparency.

When the development phase is over, our QA team conducts thorough software testing to eliminate errors and ensure the highest quality level. Only when it’s done, we can tackle software deployment so the solution is available to end users. In addition, Intellectsoft is committed to building long-lasting partnerships, therefore, we offer software maintenance even if a client might require some new features or changes.

Consider Intellectsoft Youк Trusted Software Development Partner

At Intellectsoft, we know how important it is to plan each stage of the project development to achieve the best product quality. That’s why our team of developers provides an individual approach to each client’s idea and dedicates lots of time to thinking over the slightest details that can improve the overall product performance.

Intellectsoft is a software development and IT consulting company that has already been in the software development market and is ready to implement the best practices and experiences for our client’s growth.

We’ve got deep expertise in launching projects within different industries and are now ready to provide a variety of software development services for delivering the best outcomes for each of our clients!

Our team collaborated with dozens of renowned companies all over the world as well as Fortune 500 businesses. Check out our most prominent client cases to see what software solutions we built as a response to our customer’s business challenges.

Do you already have the concept we can start working with? Don’t hesitate to share your ideas with us as we are ready to assist you in your digitalization journey.

Contact our team today to get a professional consultation regarding your project and discuss what benefits you can gain from day one!

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are different types of software development methodologies, with each of those having its unique characteristics, valuable benefits, and possible drawbacks to be aware of.

Having learned the most important qualities of the development methods available on the software market today can not only eliminate the time, effort, and resources needed to get the project completed but also can radically improve the overall process of app creation.

Moreover, knowing the software methodologies list in detail can provide you with a better understanding of which of the models can be the most winning option for each specific software development project of yours!

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Role of a Solutions Architect: Importance, Required Skills, Responsibilities https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/what-is-solutions-architect/ https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/what-is-solutions-architect/#respond Fri, 16 Dec 2022 07:45:15 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=17573 We live in the era of rapidly evolving technological advancements. Nowadays, it’s impossible to imagine a successful business without a solid software foundation. Therefore, more...

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We live in the era of rapidly evolving technological advancements. Nowadays, it’s impossible to imagine a successful business without a solid software foundation. Therefore, more and more organizations and companies all over the world are facing the ultimate need to go digital and adopt innovations and high-end software to multiply their efforts and keep growing.

However, it goes without saying that a comprehensive digital transformation also requires specific skills and professional expertise to ensure the business needs are aligned with the technological solutions envisaged. Therefore, the role of an IT solutions architecture is integral to making it all happen.

In this article, we will explain in-depth what a solutions architect’s role is, what the required skills and responsibilities are, their average salary as well as why having a solutions architect is critical for organizations and projects.

What Is the Role of a Solutions Architect

Before we dive into the topic, let’s clarify who is a solutions architect in general.

An IT solutions architect is an expert and one of the most significant and client-facing roles in the IT industry. Its importance is nonetheless often overlooked or even completely ignored by companies at both ends.

For a software solution to work effectively, scale, and meet the set business needs, it needs to have a well-thought-out architecture that accounts for numerous technical and customer nuances. Put simply, the long-term success of any IT project relies on the input from a solution design architect, who needs to have:

  • wide-ranging technical expertise
  • business analysis skills
  • project management skills, etc.

What Is a Solutions Architect’s Role in a Company?

A solutions architect is responsible for creating a comprehensive architecture for a software solution and providing strategic direction throughout the development process.

This person needs to ensure that the new solution fits into the existing enterprise architecture from technical, business, user, and other perspectives.

They cooperate with all the teams involved in the development process and need to know how every product and service works in architecture. An IT solution architect needs all this knowledge to oversee a successful delivery of a quality end product to its end users.

What Does a Solutions Architect Do?

Having a clear vision for the project, and a clear understanding of the client’s business needs, a solutions architect maps out the parts that will constitute the software solution and how they are going to work together.

A solutions architect starts very early in the project, laying out what is to come. Their tasks usually begin with choosing the right technology for the business problem(s) and managing architectural concerns to ensure more productive and effective outcomes.

A solutions architect is responsible for translating the vision for the project to the development team and plays a pivotal part throughout the entire systems development lifecycle. They are also involved in future updates to the solution.

Solution architect certification

One crucial thing that we also want to mention related to the IT solution architect is their certifications which are needed to validate their skills and qualifications. The certifications are aimed at assessing the overall knowledge, abilities, and experience of an IT solutions architect and at proving their proficiency.

There is a big variety of certification platforms available that offer training, access to plenty of learning materials, tests to practice the knowledge, etc. Nevertheless, the exam can be taken without any previous preparation in case a professional has a deep understanding of the architecture principles along with solid experience in the IT industry.

It’s worth noting that there are different certifications available for IT solution architects and down below we will provide a brief overview of the most popular ones:

  • AWS certification. This certification targets professionals of different levels of seniority who work with AWS technologies while developing apps and systems. The exam lasts 130 minutes and requires a registration fee depending on the exam type. The minimum experience needed for this test is at least 1 year working in the field. The certificate is valid for 3 years and requires recertification once expired.
  • Azure certification. This specific exam will be suitable for specialists working with Microsoft Azure and possessing advanced knowledge of Azure infrastructure. The price for the certification varies from one country to another.
  • ITIL certification.  It’s a well-recognized set of qualifications that consists of 5 different levels to fit different experiences and seniority levels. This exam will be suitable not only for IT solution architects but also for people who want to obtain managerial positions in the IT field.  The costs for this exam as well as for training depend on the country.
  • Google cloud certification. This exam will be suitable not only for solution architects but also for any experts dealing with Google cloud technologies. The exam lasts 2 hours and requires a registration fee. According to Google’s recommendation, it’s better to take this exam with at least 3 years of experience. In addition, it’s also crucial to do the recertification every 2 years.

What Does a Solutions Architect Do

Solutions Architect Responsibilities & Detailed Role Explanation

As the job title implies, a solutions architect primarily focuses on solution-level decisions and evaluation of their impact on a client’s overarching business objectives and outcomes.

In most cases, a solutions architect’s responsibilities revolve around ensuring that the software solutions align with a client company’s resources, risk identification, and planning. Here are some of the main responsibilities of a solutions architect:

  • Creates and leads the process of integrating IT systems for them to meet an organization’s requirements.
  • Conducts a system architecture evaluation and collaborates with project management and IT development teams to improve the architecture.
  • Evaluates project constraints to find alternatives, alleviate risks, and perform process re-engineering if required.
  • Updates stakeholders on the status of product development processes and budgets.
  • Notifies stakeholders about any issues connected to the architecture.
  • Fixes technical issues as they arise.
  • Analyzes the business impact that certain technical choices may have on a client’s business processes.
  • Supervises and guides development teams.
  • Continuously researches emerging technologies and proposes changes to the existing architecture.

Core Solutions Architect Skills

To successfully design, create, and lead the development of a software solution, a solutions architect needs to have a certain skill set.

Solutions Architect Skills

Let’s take a closer look at the most important skills of a solutions architect below:

  • Superior CommunicationBeing able to communicate effectively with stakeholders, project managers, developers, and software vendors involved in the software development process is essential for a solutions architect. As the architect has a central role in any project and leads every team on it, ineffective communication can lead to big bottlenecks. So, a solutions architect should be able to clearly explain, understand everyone’s point of view, listen, advise, and influence.
  • Project and Resource Management. Although a solutions architect is not directly involved in project development, they still need to ensure that project resources are being used efficiently and impactfully. They should be business-minded, capable of identifying the most effective solution at every turn, for every part of the architecture. It is their responsibility to focus on business goals, including hiring new people, and understand how to achieve them in the set timeframe and within the given budget.
  • In-depth Analysis. Software architecture and systems integrated into it are numerous details that work together. A solutions architect needs to be very attentive to those details, as overlooking something may hinder the development process, lead to breakdowns, or make the software solution inefficient. They also should be able to understand the technical specifications of many different software solutions and hardware and perform analysis of different business layers. The solutions architect is also responsible for the project context from the very beginning to the current moment. He or she needs to remember all the details of the projects and ideas to validate and approve them on time.

Solution Architect Responsibilities

  • Risk Identification and Management. A solutions architect must be capable of analyzing and identifying potential short and long-term risks that may cause technical issues and impede business operations in the future.
  • Technical Skills. Expectedly, the role of a solution architect requires technical education and hands-on experience across all major areas of the software development process as well as hardware engineering expertise (for software projects that rely on hardware).

Thus, a solutions architect should have at least 6 to 8 years of experience in the following areas:

  • Business analysis
  • IT infrastructure
  • Software architecture design
  • Cloud development
  • DevOps

Enterprise Architect Vs. Technical Architect Vs. Solutions Architect

There are three different architecture-related roles in the IT industry. Each of these roles is equally essential for the success of a project they are involved in and cannot be replaced by any other positions:

  1. Enterprise Architect
  2. Technical Architect
  3. Solutions Architect

Now, let’s learn more about these roles and how they differ from one another.

Enterprise Architect Vs. Solutions Architect Role

An enterprise architect is responsible for overseeing a company’s entire enterprise ecosystem. Enterprise architects focus on constructing and managing complex solutions that solve the company’s critical strategic issues.

The overarching goal of an enterprise architect is to ensure that the company has smooth development lifecycles and uses available resources for every enterprise application effectively.

Meanwhile, a solutions architect has a much more practical role. They take the business requirements and turn them into new software solutions that use a company’s emerging technology.

Technical Architect Vs. Solutions Architect Role

A technical architect chiefly oversees the software architecture, technical engineering, and implementation technology. Their main task is to provide technical leadership and make decisions regarding the most vital parts of the system that is being developed.

They work closely with development teams to communicate IT strategies and outline practices that are meant to be followed throughout the project. The main difference between a technical architect and a solutions architect these two roles is that the first focuses primarily on the engineering side.

Here’s an image that gives a general perspective on how these three roles differ:

Technical Architect Vs. Solution Architect Role

Source: eapj.org

Importance of Solutions Architect In a Company

One of the main reasons why a company should employ a solutions architect is to successfully design and develop new technology solutions that align with its business needs, as well as fill in the communication gap between technical and non-technical experts involved in an IT project.

As the process is always heavy on the budget and highly risky, every company should have a solutions architect to implement new solutions and scale them successfully. A solutions architect can be introduced to a company’s enterprise structure through software architecture consulting services.

Solutions Architect Salary

Now, you probably want to know what the salary of a qualified Solutions Architect is. According to job search sites, the average salary for a Solutions Architect role can vary widely depending on the location, education, certifications, additional skills, the number of years in the profession, etc.

This position requires at least a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, or software engineering. Although experience is not always required, several years of network administration experience is beneficial.

Salaries vary from one country to another so let’s take a closer look to compare. This will help you to make a well-informed and cost-effective decision for your business.

Solutions Architect Salaries

How Intellectsoft Can Help You

A solutions architect is responsible for building and implementing IT systems architectures that meet the set business requirements. Their role starts with gathering the requirements, understanding the specifications, evaluating the systems that are in place, and working closely with stakeholders to deliver the right solution.

In general, the solutions architect’s role is to explain the business requirements to the development team and lead them in building a product that can solve real business issues effectively. The position is very responsible and requires wide-ranging IT skills and knowledge. With companies increasingly relying on software and emerging technologies, the role of a solutions architect will continue to gain weight.

At Intellectsoft, we have gathered the best specialists including accomplished IT solutions architects. Our company has more than 15 years of experience in the outsourcing market and a track record of successful collaboration with international businesses and Fortune 500 companies.

We offer a wide range of services starting from software, mobile, and web app development to outstaffing and IT consulting services. Intellectsoft has extensive experience across various industries such as healthcare, logistics, construction, fintech, and others.

Feel free to see the list of top client cases to see how our team has solved the business challenges of our clients and how custom software solutions can take operations to the next level.

Contact us today to discuss your software development needs and our manager will be happy to assist with any questions you may have.

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Fraud Prevention as a Competitive Advantage https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/fraud-prevention-as-a-competitive-advantage/ Tue, 13 Dec 2022 13:45:20 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=26181 As with any transaction, doing business online comes with risks. With a brick and mortar shop, you wouldn’t just leave the front door open after...

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As with any transaction, doing business online comes with risks.

With a brick and mortar shop, you wouldn’t just leave the front door open after closing, leaving it vulnerable to theft and vandalism. So, why leave your company unguarded on the digital side?

hacker man laptop

Did you know that during PwC’s Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey 2022, about 46 percent of organizations surveyed reported experiencing fraud, corruption or other economic crimes in the last 24 months?

Preventing online payment fraud is a difficult challenge. Thankfully, brands are aware that protecting their customers from external attacks should be first and foremost on their minds.

And instead of being reactionary, many are choosing the proactive route as a way of gaining a competitive edge against other players in the industry.

Fraud Prevention for Online Payments as a Competitive Advantage

Online fraud protection is no longer a buzzword thrown about by brands claiming hassle-free transactions.

Companies now know the value of offering this service as a “must have.” And if they want to be viewed as a trusted brand, it goes part in parcel with the product.

The key is understanding what you’re up against. It comes down to data — a crucial component to building a strategy to tackle online fraud and prevent it from happening again.

Before the start of the pandemic, e-commerce sales worldwide had seen gradual growth. With the onset of COVID-19, the numbers grew at an exponential rate.

Unfortunately, with more online transactions came more fraudulent activities.

Global payment fraud will cost merchants $40.62 billion in losses by 2027, according to the latest figures.

Fraud Prevention statistics

Let’s look at what this means for a single brand — this equates to over 350 percent of Apple’s reported net income in the 2021 fiscal year.

A recent survey also found that daily attacks on retail websites spiked to more than 75,000 by the 15th and 30th of every month.

Online payment fraud losses include the sales of digital goods, physical goods, money transfer transactions and banking.

Attacks can include phishing, business email compromise and social engineering fraud.

The question is, do you want your company to end up as another statistic when it comes to theft and online transaction fraud?

In this article, we’ll unpack why companies and industries need to strengthen their defenses, look at successful case studies and fraud prevention techniques.

Image describing topic on page

Why is Fraud Prevention Important?

Benjamin Franklin once said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

It’s imperative that you arm yourself with the knowledge and understanding of the importance of fraud prevention. But first, we need to look at the definition.

In a nutshell, fraud prevention is a strategy implemented to detect fraudulent online purchases or banking transactions and prevent these actions from causing not only financial, but reputational damage to the customer and financial institution.

But there are other aspects to online fraud prevention as well. Most companies are well aware of the Dark Web. However, its influence spreads far beyond Hollywood cybercrime movies and pop culture.

Fraudsters are currently exchanging your information on the Dark Web after obtaining it and monetizing it by using sophisticated malware techniques.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t take measures to protect your business. Thanks to sophisticated fraud prevention technology, you can ensure your company’s online security is one step ahead.

The key is to be aware of online transaction fraud and how to prevent it.

hacker

Who Needs to Use Fraud Prevention?

E-commerce Industry

The e-commerce sector has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years, thanks to the proliferation of innovative advances such as digital wallets and AI. The customer experience was also improved thanks to CRM integration.

So, it comes as no surprise that the total cost of e-commerce fraud to merchants is likely to exceed $48 billion globally in 2023.

Fraud prevention is tantamount to stem the massive losses from online transaction fraud in e-commerce and B2B sales.

Banking and Financial Institutions

Financial crime is probably one of the biggest headaches for the banking and finance industry.

The evolution of digital payments, as well as real time payments, has created a myriad of challenges, requiring banks to keep up with the growing online threats that could see them lose billions every year.

And it’s not just account hacking. Fraudsters have adopted sophisticated ways of flying under the radar.

For example, social engineering scams target impressionable account holders, while data security breaches are easy pickings for low-hanging fruit, especially when using public Wi-Fi.

It’s for these reasons that fraud management solutions need to be put in place before fraudulent actions take place.

Cryptocurrency

The fast-growing cryptocurrency sector may have reached a tipping point.

The same regulations that govern the banking sector do not apply here. For those who don’t understand how the system operates, transparency and trust are big issues.

And because this type of currency has been negatively associated with cybercrime, its biggest selling point — anonymity — is now working against it.

statistics

According to the Federal Trade Commission, 46,000 people lost more than $1 billion to crypto scams between Q1 2021 and Q1 2022, and currently, crypto scams account for 40 percent of all dollars reported lost to fraud on social media, Thomson Reuters reported.

Hospitality sector

Many people who book via online travel platforms have found themselves victims of credit card fraud and identity theft.

Hotel and airline loyalty programs have also been used as pawns in enterprise fraud.

These programs have evolved to offer liquid assets such as gift cards, airline tickets and travel packages. It was only a matter of time before fraudsters found a way to exploit the lack of security and protection by taking over accounts, Deloitte reported.

Airline ticketing fraud scams are also on the increase. Airlines Reporting Corporation’s manager of fraud investigations, Doug Nass, told Travel Weekly that the airline ticketing fraud schemes resurfaced after remaining dormant since 2014.

It also comes as no surprise that the travel and hospitality fraud sector is fuelled by data breaches. Since January 2021, over 4.4 million leaked credentials related to airlines, travel and hospitality organizations were reported to cybersecurity companies.

Common Online Payment Schemes

Personal Fraud

In most cases, people feel ashamed of being tricked and many incidents of personal fraud go unreported.

Unscrupulous criminals target the desperate and lonely, using psychological tactics to bait their victims.

We all know the cautionary tale from the hit Netflix docuseries Tinder Swindler, and the term “it will never happen to me” was on everyone’s lips. But are you sure it could never happen to you?

Social engineering scams is a broad term that refers to exploiting someone’s trust in order to swindle them out of money, and is especially rife on social media.

According to Interpol, this scam is used to target a wide audience in order to gain as many victims as possible.

This can happen in many ways, including phishing, telecom fraud, romance scams and sextortion.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that this type of fraud cost victims about $956 million in 2021.

Other forms of personal fraud are credit card fraud, identity theft and Ponzi schemes.

Business Fraud

Having valuable data compromised is the last thing any company needs.

Yahoo! suffered a major blow in 2016 when news broke that the tech firm experienced the biggest breach with three billion user accounts compromised.

Even in the aftermath, Yahoo! is still dealing with a class action lawsuit and settlement payments to affected users.

Here’s another thing to consider — if your brand has an online presence, it is susceptible to e-commerce fraud.

When publishing its 2019 phishing and counterfeiting report, Forbes identified more than 4.2 million fraud websites.

Unfortunately, these fake sites are notoriously difficult to take down, and the longer they stay up, the more damage they do to brand authority and business-customer relationships.

The most common fraudulent schemes targeting online users are fake online stores and fraudulent giveaways and sweepstakes, fake streaming services and phishing-related banking and payment sites.

Fraud Prevention Techniques

Fraud Prevention

Machine Learning

Machine learning (ML) has become one of the most advanced technologies used across different industries.

Because of its innovative characteristics, ML can be a viable tool for detecting and preventing fraudulent activity such as blackmailing and breaching servers in search for valuable data.

A subset of data science, ML is programmed to learn and improve from experience, which means the technology will be improving systematically.

So how does it work? ML detects fraudulent activities and based on the information it receives, provides an instant response to any suspicious actions. The result is that your company receives valuable insights for fighting future cases of such activities.

Intrusion Detection System

Cybersecurity issues in the hospitality industry will cost this sector approximately $6 trillion per year on average after 2021, a study published by ResearchGate found.

Cyber attackers use hacking methods to obtain data like clients’ personal information and sensitive business information.

Intrusion detection technology analyzes all activity on the internal network or any other system to detect suspicious activity, intrusions and attacks.

Intrusion detection systems detect internal attacks and authorized attacks.

Secure Payment Gateway

Yes, you’re selling a quality product, but how secure is your payment gateway?

When clicking “proceed to payment,” customers want convenience and security. If your company can’t deliver either, chances are they’ll buy the same product from a competitor.

Fraud Prevention stats

According to the latest figures, 11 percent of online users abandon their order when the checkout system is complex, 12 percent if they need to enter too much personal information, 7 percent if there are too few payment methods and another 14 percent if there is no guest payment option on the site.

The technology that a secure payment gateway provides is peace of mind for your customer, who will readily visit your e-commerce website again for another purchase.

The premise is simple enough. The secure payment gateway acts as an interface between the supplier website and its customer.

Another very important function is the encryption of confidential data, like the client’s credit card information.

Using Fraud Prevention to Gain a Competitive Advantage

Transformation is inevitable. No one knows this better than brands competing in the online space.

If you want to stand out, offering your customer a seamless, secure experience will convert to sales. And that’s the end game — making money.

But to make money, you have to invest in reliable systems to ensure you’re not vulnerable to internal or external attacks.

Once you realize the importance of online fraud prevention and implement the technology, you’re already two steps ahead of your competitors.

And don’t forget, it saves you time, money and valuable resources.

programer coding

Consider Intellectsoft Your Trusted Partner

With more than 15 years of experience, Intellectsoft is a digital transformation consultancy and technology provider that prioritizes establishing an end-to-end partnership approach with its customers – that range from growing startups to multinational corporations.

Intellectsoft’s mission is to transition brands into a new digital era with the help of new technologies and impactful software solutions.

But don’t just take our word for it. Our impressive portfolio of clients includes Fortune 500 companies, including Jaguar, Walt Disney, Audi and Universal.

Intellectsoft created an iPad app for Harley-Davidson’s exhibition staff, helping brand reps visually showcase product customizations through a “user mentor” feature that works in more than 15 languages.

With the app, brand reps could seamlessly sign prospective clients up newsletters and test rides, while the integration of SSL ensured safe handling of all data.

Why choose Intellectsoft?

From consumer-oriented apps or to transformative enterprise-class solutions, Intellectsoft is a trusted authority in the digitization process.

Conclusion

Now that you have the facts and know the risks of not using online fraud prevention technology for your company, there’s no question of why. Rather, ask yourself when?

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How to Come Up with an Effective IT Outsourcing Strategy for Your Business https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/best-it-outsourcing-strategies-pros-and-cons/ Tue, 06 Dec 2022 08:55:33 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=21103 Having a wise corporate strategy is integral for the success of any business. Nowadays, modern companies are confronted with uncertainty as new advanced technologies emerge...

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Having a wise corporate strategy is integral for the success of any business. Nowadays, modern companies are confronted with uncertainty as new advanced technologies emerge and trends change pretty fast. To keep up with the competition and survive among other companies present on the market, businesses across various industries choose to digitize their processes with the help of outsourcing to minimize risks, boost their performance, and provide top-notch experiences to clients and employees.

IT outsourcing strategies team

IT outsourcing strategies are key enablers of the sustainable competitiveness of companies engaged in technology-intensive business. As a result of a successful outsourcing experience, the company can reap the benefits of enhanced dynamic capabilities, market-oriented innovation, strategic flexibility, agility, and increased efficiency.

The cooperation between an outsourcing company and a business will result in the development of dynamic capabilities related to knowledge management routines such as learning, sharing, integration, and reconfiguration.

In the article, we will dive into strategic outsourcing services, their advantages, and disadvantages, as well as will showcase the best practices for developing a well-performing outsourcing strategy. Let’s get started!

Facts About IT Outsourcing 

What Are the Outsourcing Strategies

Outsourcing means finding and hiring a third-party service provider to deal with certain tasks that are beyond the capabilities of the in-house team. Recently, the practice of working with external resources has grown into a trend as it brings a number of benefits to the outsourcers.

Strategies of outsourcing are an outsourcing plan built on the analyses and assessment of the functions that should be better performed by an external service. It means that the company defines tasks that are hard or impossible to perform with its own resources and starts searching for companies that have all the necessary tools and qualified staff to deal with the task within the stated time frame.

The same goes for outsourcing strategies, as IT companies work in different directions within the field and might not have all the means to complete certain operations or implement new technologies on their own.

IT outsourcing strategies planning

Types of Outsourcing: What Is the Difference?

Over the years, outsourcing strategies have developed and grown into different types that have specific purposes.

Outsourcing can be divided into:

  • Onshore – you are looking for third-party services in your own country
  • Nearshore – hiring from the neighboring countries
  • Offshore – working with distant countries

In addition to this, outsourcing strategies are usually grouped into the following categories:

  • Professional Outsourcing: your company lacks mobile app developers, so you decide to outsource the professionals who can fill in the gap and provide their services.
  • IT Outsourcing: nowadays, small or large companies in any field have IT needs (infrastructure, software development, maintenance, support, etc.). It’s usually cheaper to contact a third-party IT service rather than build your own to deal with certain functions.
  • Multisourcing: this strategy means hiring IT services in combination with other business functions.
  • Manufacturer Outsourcing: if you want to produce products under your brand, you might look for a company (manufacturer) that already has all the necessary equipment and is capable of providing you services.
  • Process-Specific Outsourcing: means hiring an outsourcing team that specializes in a narrow or specific service.
  • Project Outsourcing: you have too many projects, and you cannot complete all of them, so you look for a company that will deal with one or a number.

What IT Services Are Usually Outsourced? 

Before you start building your outsourcing strategies, it’s important to also understand what IT services can be outsourced. It will enable you to request the relevant set of services that will help you achieve desired results within a shorter time frame. The most widely outsourced services it’s possible to name:

  • Web development
  • Application development
  • Custom software development
  • Mobile app development
  • Product development
  • Website or app testing
  • Application maintenance and support
  • Database management
  • Infrastructure management
  • Disaster recovery
  • Data Center management
  • Data cloud storage
  • Web security

Steps to Develop an Effective IT Outsourcing Strategy

Here are some hands-on tips that will help you to build a winning business strategy for IT outsourcing needs.

1. Define Your Outsourcing Goals

The first and most important step in developing an outsourcing strategy is clearly setting up your goals and expectations. You should clearly define what type of software you need, what challenges it has to solve for your business, and how fast you want it to be done. Gather all the information and requirements into one document that you will use as a guide.

2. Choose Reliable Outsourcing Partner

The market is overflowing with outsourcing companies so your main task is to choose the best-matching partner for loyal and long-lasting collaboration. Do some research and trim down your list to a couple of options. After that, check out carefully their websites, and don’t forget to take a look at their clients’ reviews on external sources. Also, you can contact them and describe your project to see which company offers you the best price and conditions.

IT outsourcing strategies developer

3. Pick Matching Engagement Model

There are 3 main engagement models — the dedicated team model, the team extension model, and the project-based model. We highly recommend you get familiar with all of them in order to understand which one fits your needs and is the perfect choice for you. However, if you don’t know what decision to make, you can also contact your outsourcing partner and discuss all possible solutions for you and rely on their expertise and advice.

4. Plan Your Budget

Now, once you are halfway to success, it’s obligatory to calculate the project budget and understand how many financial resources will be needed to finalize the idea. It’s crucial to also take into account also all the potential hidden costs and risks that can happen during your collaboration and plan your budget accordingly. Software development processes can often be very unpredictable so in order to stay antifragile in the process, it’s better to be ready for different financial outcomes.

5. Actively Track Outsourcing Progress

Once the development process is started your core task is to closely manage all the software development steps and track all progress. Taking into account that the outsourcing team is usually located in the vendor’s premises, you will have to learn to manage developers remotely and track their productivity and effectiveness with no opportunity to see them in person. Use management tools, set clear tasks and expectations, and always stay open to communication to make sure that your team and outsourcing colleagues are on the same page.

6. Build Strong Communication with a Vendor

As we mentioned above, managing a remote outsourcing team is not always easy. Therefore, it’s your responsibility to establish robust and timely communication with a vendor and a remote team to avoid potential risks and miscommunication. Set up a schedule of video conference calls, and organize chats for all team members. We also recommend you schedule face-to-face meetings with each team member individually to communicate project details clearly and make all the processes smooth.

Primary Advantages of Strategic Outsourcing

External cooperation brings a number of advantages of outsourcing strategy as the company can build a wide network of competencies linked by outsourcing contracts, from which necessary functions such as raw materials, components, and systems can be outsourced.

The company can build strong relationships and partner with external services to work on certain projects or tasks on a regular basis. It gives a chance to exchange knowledge and experience between the companies, build tight, professional relationships, and develop the managerial and communication skills of both teams.

In addition to this, strategies of outsourcing can offer such advantages as:

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Reduced Expenses

It is one of the most prominent advantages of outsourcing. It is common practice to be based in the USA or Western Europe but hire teams or individual specialists from Asian countries, India happens to be the most popular one. There are companies that offer their services at a lower price in comparison with the US and EU companies, but they have proven to be of high quality.

Better Efficiency 

Outsourcing results in higher efficiency, as you hire experienced teams who can deal with complex tasks and can provide the most effective and suitable solutions for your company. As they have a good understanding of the field and years of experience, productivity, and efficiency increase.

Focus on Important Tasks 

Outsourcing services will take care of the issue you are facing at all stages of the process. The CEO and managers of the company would be kept in the loop but they will not be required to perform any of the tasks related to the project. Thus, it gives them an opportunity to work on the other important aspects of your company’s development.

No Need to Invest in New Tech Tools 

Outsourcing service takes all the responsibility for the infrastructure and technologies. In most cases, they already have all the necessary tools to work on your task.

Skilled and Experienced Resources 

Outsourcing saves your time spent on recruitment and training of the specialists for the in-house team. Companies that provide outsourcing services have highly-qualified, experienced, and educated experts who will be able to complete the project.

It follows that outsourcing is also time-effective, as you do not have to spend years searching for the candidates and growing the specialists you need to support your business growth and development.

Main Disadvantages of Strategic Outsourcing

Though advantages of strategic outsourcing are prevailing, it still has a few disadvantages that you need to keep in mind as well. Among the top challenges that companies encounter while outsourcing are data security concerns, disaster recovery issues, as well as potential problems with data ownership.

In addition, it’s not that easy to maintain communication while outsourcing as usually, you are going to be located in different countries and even on different continents with the big time-zone difference. In its turn, it can create slower response time, potential misunderstandings, as well as a language barrier.

In case you collaborate with a reliable outsourcing partner you will manage to easily avoid these issues. Finding the cheapest vendor is not an option if you want to receive quality services.

Keep in mind that it’s paramount to check the outsourcing service before you have a contract with them. It should be a company with a good portfolio and customers’ reviews. It is recommended to contact previous customers in order to have a better picture of the company and make sure they have a good reputation and provide excellent services.

IT outsourcing strategies

Strategies for IT Outsourcing: Things to Know

IT outsourcing strategies require the cooperation of several departments (legal, HR, operations, etc.), and the outcome depends on unified work and a clear business plan. Usually, organizations have only one goal for this strategy: to get the best technologies at the lowest cost. But it can lead to failure, and it is essential to take into account the tips listed above.

First of all, it is essential to have clear objectives, and your team should understand them. Another critical issue in external outsourcing is communication. Companies should make it simple and clear for both parties to understand the requirements, terms, and conditions of the cooperation.

Best Practices for Implementing Successful IT Outsourcing Strategies

It cannot be said that there are bad or good outsourcing strategies. The success of outsourcing depends on a number of aspects that every company should think of before hiring external services. Although IT outsourcing strategies described above have different goals, they all have the same structure. Thus, there are certain steps to follow in order to make it successful.

  1. Outsource the right things for the right reasons: do not only fall for a cost-driven strategy but make sure that both outsourcing and your business strategies are aligned.
  2. Define what you expect: develop a sound business case that outlines the business value of outsourcing and how this initiative supports your company’s objectives. In addition, develop an achievable and realistic plan for the end product you and your outsourcing partner can rely on.
  3. Prepare the documentation: in order to make the collaboration between you and an outsourcing partner effective, you need to prepare all the relevant specifications and requirements to proceed with the development right away. At the end of the article, we have prepared a quick checklist that will help you make sure you have all the necessary documents ready.
  4. Choose the right vendor: the vendor should suit your needs and be capable of completing tasks of any complexity. Take your time and research the company’s reviews on the Internet as well to see what their previous clients say about them. Also, do not underestimate your in-house staff and make sure that senior management is involved in the process.
  5. Pick the best-matching outsourcing engagement model. There are three main different approaches to collaborating with an IT outsourcing company so research each option. Before you make your final decision, it’s crucial to know what financial resources you are ready to allocate for the development process. Once you know your budget, you will be able to choose the right engagement model that will help you get all the work done that will fit into the budget that is most suitable for your team.
  6. Create an effective contract: it should reflect strategic goals and clearly define expectations for the vendor and the company. It’s the legal basis of your partnership so pay close attention to this aspect.
  7. Track the process: make sure that you are getting what you have paid for. Reporting on the project’s progress and transparency are extremely important. It would be highly recommended to clearly define your KPIs so you can easily track your progress and make sure everything is done in a timely manner.

These are the aspects that companies should keep in mind in order to outsource external services successfully.

Bonus: Checklist for Outsourcing Efficiency

Before you even consider outsourcing your software development services, it’s important to go through the preparation stage. Make sure you can answer the questions below.

  1. Are you and your team clear about the main task or project that you are planning to outsource?
  2. Do you have all the documentation ready such as an outline or manual describing in detail your future project? Make sure it contains the following information:
  • Specific task/project description
  • Main technical requirements
  • Description of a customer problem that you want to solve as well as the possible solution
  • Expected results
  • Overall project budget
  • Deadlines
  • Technical skills that you are looking for
  • Who will be responsible for managing the whole development process and being a contact point with an outsourcing vendor?

Once you have all this information ready, you can establish your collaboration with a software outsourcing company. It will help your partner quickly and easily understand their primary task and start the development process as soon as possible to deliver the quality results you expect.

IT outsourcing strategies coding

IT outsourcing strategies: Bottom Line 

As you can see, outsourcing is a very cost- and time-effective option when it comes to software development and digitization initiatives. However, it should not be treated as an easy path to take.

In order to make your collaboration with a chosen IT outsourcing strategy partner, you should take your time for the preparation stage. Having a clear and effective outsourcing strategy will help you make your staff augmentation initiative successful and will bring you a number of business advantages.

If you are considering hiring a skilled and experienced development team you are in the right place. Intellectsoft is your #1 software development outsourcing partner with more than 15 years of experience on the market.

Our extensive expertise includes both, short- and long-term partnerships with Fortune 500 companies and other international organizations. We work across multiple industries including healthcare, construction, fintech, logistics, and others. We offer a wide range of services including IT consulting services, enterprise application development, mobile, and web app development, and so on. Check out the full list of our services here.

Intellectsoft has gathered the best industry professionals to help businesses maximize their growth through digitalization. Take a look at the top prominent client cases to evaluate the tech solutions we built.

Don’t hesitate to talk to our experts today to find out more about the topic and how your business or project can start benefiting from it! We have dozens of qualified professionals with relevant experience who can help you not just with defining your IT outsourcing strategies but also be instrumental in building an innovative solution that will ensure your ultimate growth.

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ERP System in Healthcare: Benefits, Components & Implementation Process https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/what-is-erp-and-how-enterprise-resource-planning-works/ Mon, 15 Aug 2022 12:50:14 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=21375 Optimized and automated operations are the essences of successful business practice. This rule is easily applied to the healthcare industry as well. Implementing the latest...

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Healthcare statistics

Optimized and automated operations are the essences of successful business practice. This rule is easily applied to the healthcare industry as well. Implementing the latest software solutions is crucial for any medical institution or business as it boosts efficiency and solves a wide range of challenges this industry faces daily.

Among the most common challenges healthcare providers face are the difficulty in finding patient and doctor management tools that will enable them to reduce paperwork, improve efficacy, and enhance patient care while reducing the overall budget expenses.

More and more organizations have started adopting medical ERP software with exceptional functionality that fits perfectly in every hospital.

It is one way to enhance any healthcare organization’s efficiency. For hospitals of different sizes, the enterprise resource planning system helps to overcome operational challenges, provide better efficiency of the services, and correspond to the needs of the modern market.

In this post, we’ll provide a detailed overview of healthcare ERP solutions, including their types, benefits, and implementation peculiarities.

What Is ERP and What Is It Used For?

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a modular software solution that centralizes the organization’s information, optimizes connections, and facilitates data sharing between enterprise departments. With its help, a company can establish end-to-end connectivity of all the running business operations, including the relations with vendors and customers.

The ERP system brings together multiple modules and facilitates cooperation between various departments of the company. This way, distinct business units can constantly communicate, interact, and share data while dealing with daily operations.

Even more, the ERP system stores all the relevant information and enables automation of collecting and using corporate data for the business’s benefit. In this regard, ERP systems harmonize the decentralized workflow which usually adds some hurdles to process management.

6 Ways ERP Software Benefits Healthcare Business

ERP system for healthcare is a multifunctional software tool that adds value to hospitals in a number of ways, including cost savings, improved efficiency, enhanced collaboration, and optimized patient management.

ERP-Software-for-Healthcare-benefits

The exact list of advantages of medical ERP includes:

1. Improved patient care

The first core benefit of ERP systems in hospitals is enhanced patient care. As the system minimizes paperwork for doctors, and reduces their time spent on finding the patient data, they significantly improve the patient service quality as doctors can focus on patients more than on redundant administrative tasks.

2. Better finance management

ERP systems are perfect for managing hospital finances as well. It will make it so much easier to process and control all patients’ payments as well as hospital operating expenses. It also minimizes administrative errors to avoid any unnecessary costs.

3. Virtual data storage

Enterprise healthcare systems allow organizations to store effectively all their strategic data related to their patients and business operations. The system can enable full privacy and confidentiality so you can be certain no data leakage is possible. In addition, it’s very convenient for employees as it allows easy data access for anyone as all data will be stored in one system.

4. Enabled strategic planning

Enterprise healthcare software will be very useful for owners and hospital managers to make well-informed strategic decisions. It’s easy to analyze all core success indicators of the hospital to improve the overall results in the future.

5. Simple integration

It’s worth noting that some hospitals still use very outdated systems that are super challenging to maintain. A medical ERP solution is a nice way to streamline all the operations. This software enables the integration of all the departments including HR, finances, and inventory to improve the efficiency of work in the hospital.

6. Business intelligence

Medical ERP system is an important tool for those who run hospital operations. It’s an integrated solution that provides better business intelligence and enables generating more financial value for an organization by assessing the hospital’s performance and detecting areas for potential improvements.

All in all, ERP increases productivity and efficiency; introduces interconnection between various departments, suppliers, vendors, and provides storage for data-driven insights.

As for the possible limitations of healthcare ERP software, companies should be ready to address these three factors:

  • Prices: You’ll need to cover the expenses of ERP consultants, server providers, in-house IT specialists, and software implementation.
  • Maintenance: As technologies develop, the system should be constantly updated and enhanced in order to maintain the level of compatibility of the company.
  • Training and Education: You should show your employees how to use the system and notify departments about new tools and functions added.

male surgeon using digital tablet operation room

Types of ERP Systems in the Healthcare Industry

Over the years of deployment, ERP systems have developed and grown in their number. Nowadays, they can be classified according to the implementation process and a number of functions.

Nowadays, there are three types of ERP classified by implementation:

  • On-premise (for large healthcare institutions)
  • Cloud ERP (for small healthcare institutions)
  • Hybrid (for developing healthcare institutions)

1. On-Premise ERP System

On-premise software requires in-house installation and maintenance, meaning its availability on the organization’s computers and the presence of an internal IT team.

There is no need for an Internet connection to get access to the information stored on-premises. Servers are owned by the organization, and an IT team takes care of the software and constantly updates it. Large businesses can consider this type of ERP software implementation, as having a license for the program means having control over every module and aspect.

2. Cloud-Based ERP System

Companies can purchase cloud ERP from third-party vendors on a monthly or annual basis. It grants access to the data anytime and anywhere via an Internet connection. 

There is no need to employ IT specialists, as cloud ERP will be maintained by the vendor. That’s why it’s important to find a reliable tech partner. Generally, this software type is cheaper than the on-premise one and suits the needs of small businesses more.

3. Hybrid ERP Systems

Hybrid ERP is a combination of on-premise ERP and cloud-based ERP. It perfectly suits the needs of companies that occupy a specialized niche.

The cost of hybrid enterprise resource planning maintenance depends on its sophistication. Usually, businesses turn to a hybrid ERP system when they need to integrate cloud-based modules into existing on-premise software as they grow. So, data is split into two parts — on-premises and on-cloud.

If you don’t know what type of healthcare ERP system would suit you most, you have to define your needs first. If you are a small developing organization in the field of healthcare that strives to optimize the internal processes, then a cloud-based option will be a more reasonable choice for you.

Speaking of healthcare giants that want to digitize their businesses and innovate — on-premise ERP software will be more suitable. It will be more costly and time-consuming but at the same time, it will enable exceptional personalization and system customization based on their specific business goals.

The hybrid option can be a good match for many organizations as it’s a combination of both and incorporates all the best practices of both on-premise and cloud-based systems.

team young specialist doctors standing corridor hospital

Healthcare ERP Solution Components

ERP systems combine a number of modules and sub-modules that are interconnected and distinguished by serving a particular hospital area. Each module contains several sub-modules or tools that manage different tasks and projects. Combined together, modules cover all organizational operations, both internal and external.

Usually, each ERP task is collaborative, meaning that employees from different departments can be added to manage and complete the request on time.

Usually, ERP systems consist of Human Resources, Sales, Finance, Logistics, and Inventory modules. Other modules can be added to the system if your organization has specific needs and wants to automate certain operations.

  • Electronic health record: An ERP system can be easily integrated with an EHR that can significantly boost your operational efficiency. It will allow you to control the supply chain of your hospital as well as analyze and predict the needs of patients and suppliers.
  • Human Resources: This module handles employee management tasks such as enrollment, offboarding, timesheets, and benefits administration. HR components can automate payments calculation, thus reducing human error and time spent on monotonous tasks.
  • Patient Relationships Management: CRM module stores and stacks generated patient data. It will help you easily store, access, and manage all relevant patient information including health records and payments.
  • Business Intelligence: This module helps to solve issues related to hospital data collection, analysis, and report delivery.
  • Inventory Management System: This ERP element keeps track of all the inventory of the hospital and automatically updates your system for the employees to know whether some medicines or other materials are out of stock.
  • Financial Management: This component analyzes and keeps track of the financial data of the company. It helps to control the enterprise’s budget, spent costs and received payments

Any other components can be added to the system per your requirements. The main issue here is to have a team of employees who are capable of creating and integrating new functions.

Core Features of an ERP System

  • Centralized database: This feature is needed to comprise the data flow from all the hospital departments and store it in one place.
  • Modular: The system consists of a number of interconnected modules.
  • Flexible: The system can be upgraded according to the healthcare organization’s needs by replacing functions or tools or adding new modules.
  • Automated: The main ERP purpose is to automate manual processes and omit duplication of the information for healthcare administrative employees.
  • Time and cost-effective: As the system automates operations, it saves time spent on a product or facility delivery as well as reduces costs.
  • Real-time analytics: An ERP system will help you easily analyze your organization’s performance and financial condition so that your team can make all possible business amendments. ERP reports usually include visual representations of your performance to identify bottlenecks and solve issues.

doctor work

ERP Implementation Process

An ERP implementation process is a complex and all-inclusive process of planning, system deployment, data migration, and user training. These are the main stages needed for your healthcare institution to successfully transfer to a new ERP system while maintaining your best practices.

There are two possible methods of implementing ERP software for your healthcare organization. The first one consists of transitioning to a new system at once meaning all the data will be switched to ERP software and all employees will start using it simultaneously. The process will take less time but you have to be ready for the potential technical issues depending on the amount of data stored.

The second method means that you will transfer data in clusters by function or priority, and your team will be switched to a new system gradually step by step. It goes without saying that the second option takes more time but it will potentially cause fewer technical problems while transitioning.

Probably you are also wondering how long the implementation process of an ERP system takes on average. The answer is the overall ERP implementation should never be rushed. This is a very serious step for your business and many internal processes will depend on the success of the implementation so you have to stay patient.

Generally, it will take from 3-9 months but it varies from one case to another and you should take into account all your business peculiarities that will shape the final date. The factors that define the length of the process include the healthcare business size, complexity, locations, languages, and currencies involved, etc. So now, let’s take a closer look at the main implementation algorithm.

Algorithm

We recommend following this process to get the most from an enterprise resource planning implementation:

  1. Define your desired results by understanding your business aims and current processes.
  2. Do not automatically reuse old workflows to make sure you’re bringing in the changes needed.
  3. Map all your business processes to create a clear business case.
  4. Select the right solution and partner who is capable of running the implementation process to the end.
  5. Create a long-term ERP plan that drives your business forward.
  6. Ensure executive-level support so that every department is involved in the process and creates a perfect architecture for your business.
  7. Assemble the right project team with key players assigned during every implementation stage.
  8. Focus on getting the right data for a smooth and accurate migration process.
  9. Standardize the process and minimize development to the basic functional suit to which you can add further enhancements in the future.
  10. Plan training to educate the employees and teach them how to use ERP.

healthcare and technologies

Mistakes & Best Practices

Now, let’s take a look at the best practices for Implementing the healthcare ERP system as well as the mistakes you should avoid to make this process as smooth as possible.

1. Plan thoroughly

Some healthcare companies underestimate the importance of planning before even considering developing an ERP system. It’s very important not to rush with any decisions and actions, and to plan all the processes from the very beginning to the system launch. You need to create the foundation for all future processes. Yes, it will take time, but once you start the development process, everything will happen faster and more smoothly with the minimum risks of failure.

2. Invest in support and training

After your collaboration with external vendors, don’t forget to invest your resources in training. After the system deployment, you still have to ensure its technical support, fix potential issues, and be able to provide system updates. It’s going to be the biggest mistake not to allocate a budget for tech support and proper employee training as well. All staff including doctors and representatives of other administrative departments have to be confident and comfortable using a newly adopted software for their better efficiency.

3. Arrange data migration

Some organizations don’t plan data migration accordingly or simply migrate all old data to a new ERP system and it might create some bottlenecks in the future. Pay attention that some information can be outdated and unnecessary and there is no point in transferring it to a new system. It’s your unique chance to clean up your system a bit and leave only relevant data that will come in handy.

4. Communicate effectively

The last but not least mistake that healthcare business owners make is they don’t communicate enough through all the stages of the ERP solution implementation. It’s paramount for the whole team to communicate with the software company to make sure that everything is done according to your initial business requirements and needs. The development process of this software is very costly and time-consuming, therefore, it’s your main priority to make sure that everyone is aligned and nothing goes off track.

Consider Intellectsoft Your Healthcare ERP Software Development Partner

ERP solutions facilitate operational processes for healthcare businesses of any size. Being highly flexible, the ERP software is tailored to your needs and expanded as required.

We recommend companies use enterprise resource planning technology as a tool to reduce the time spent on daily operations, increase revenue, and enhance relationships with customers and vendors.

We, at Intellectsoft, empower companies and their workforce with cutting-edge transformative solutions and data-driven insights. Among our enterprise software development services, you can pick the set of modules and technologies needed for your business needs.

Are you and your organization ready to shift mindsets and get the most out of innovations? Talk to our experts to request an ERP software solution from us!

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