Tag: technology

Data Science Services: Introducing CRISP_DM

Posted on by Volodymyr Marynenko

Data science services are fast becoming the most in-demand type of business service. It’s because business owners understand that it’s impossible to succeed in modern extremely competitive markets without having an extra edge. Data analytics is the most effective way to get that edge. But it’s also important to understand that it’s a highly complex subject. So, any company that wants to get valuable insights needs to know exactly how data mining and analytics work.

Modern data science services are based on a methodology called CRISP_DM, which stands for a cross-industry standard process for data mining. It’s a cycle of processes that allows data analytics professionals to set and achieve goals. This process can be ongoing, continuously circling back to the first step and setting new goals as the project grows.

Data Science Services Breakdown: CRISP_DM Methodology

Business Understanding

The primary task of the data professional at this stage is to define exact project goals. The goal is to develop a deep understanding of the client’s needs and requirements. Business understanding goes hand in hand with project planning.

This step is crucial because building a strong foundation of business understanding is imperative before you start data mining. The process goes like this:

  1. Understand the client’s business objectives and how they can be achieved.
  2. Perform a thorough assessment of the situation by analyzing available resources, requirements, risks, contingencies, costs, and benefits.
  3. Define exact goals for the data mining process that correlate with the project goals.
  4. Create a detailed plan that describes each phase of the project and lists all necessary tools and technologies.

Data Understanding

The data understanding phase enhances the previous by defining the data sets needed to accomplish the client’s business goals. Data scientists need to complete four tasks at this stage.

  1. Collecting initial data and loading it into analytics tools.
  2. Examining the data and documenting its properties as required.
  3. Exploring the data: query, visualize, and determine relationships between separate pieces of data.
  4. Verifying the data quality and documenting it.

Data Preparation

Data preparation is the most time-consuming task in the entirety of data science services. It takes up about 80% of the data professional’s time working on a project. The quality of preparation is the crucial factor that defines analytics accuracy. This stage consists of five tasks:

  1. Choosing data sets that need to be used and documenting reasons for these choices.
  2. Cleaning the data: correcting, imputing, or removing erroneous values.
  3. Constructing data by deriving new useful attributes.
  4. Integrating data by combining multiple data sets from different sources.
  5. Formatting or reformatting data as necessary.

CRISP DM methodology applied in data science services.

Modeling

Surprisingly, data modeling often takes the least amount of time among data science services. However, it can’t be completed without the lengthy preparation of the previous step. During this stage, data scientists create and assess models until they find the one that’s ‘good enough’. However, the entire CRISP_DM process must go through several iterations so the end model is ‘the best that could be’.

The modeling process consists of four steps:

  1. Choosing modeling techniques, for example, which algorithms to use.
  2. Creating a test design for modeling.
  3. Building models.
  4. Assessing each model and comparing them against each other based on test design domain knowledge and success criteria that are set at the beginning.

Evaluation

The evaluation stage is similar to the model assessment step of the previous stage. However, the evaluation goes deeper and considers not the technical aspects of the model but how it meets the business’ needs. The evaluation consists of three integral steps:

  1. Evaluating the model results based on business success criteria defined in project requirements.
  2. Reviewing the work to make sure nothing was missed. The findings are summarized, corrected if necessary, and documented.
  3. Making decisions about the following steps based on the collected data. There are three choices: deployment, further iteration, or initiating new projects.

Deployment

The project requirements define the exact process of deployment. It can differ greatly from generating a report to establishing a repeatable data mining process. At this stage, the customer must be able to access and use the model’s results. To that end, data science service providers must complete several steps:

  1. Create and document a deployment plan.
  2. Develop a plan for model monitoring and maintenance, depending on project requirements.
  3. Develop a final report that summarizes the entire project and includes a presentation of data mining results.
  4. Review the whole project, determining what went well and what could have gone better to develop plans for future improvements.

How Data Science Services Help Businesses

The primary purpose of data science services is to help the decision-making process of the business. Different types of data analytics can provide a variety of predictions that clients can use for development and growth. It’s also invaluable for risk assessment and decisions about expanding to new markets.

Data analytics works best when combining AI’s ability to process vast masses of information and human intelligence that can see the best ways to implement data mining results. If you want to find out how this works and what value your business can get from analytics, contact our data science team for a free consultation!

Ecommerce Website Development Tips: How to Make Your Shop Attractive

Posted on by Volodymyr Marynenko

There are millions of online stores today, which is why eCommerce website development is so hard. Now anyone can make a store using simple and even free platforms. However, attracting buyers to such a run-of-the-mill shop is nearly impossible. The buyers of today are looking for cool designs, fantastic user experience, and features that take online shopping to the next level.

To have a store like that, you’ll need to not only invest in end-to-end eCommerce solution development. You must also understand what makes online shops attractive and use these tools when designing your own.

Choose the Best Ecommerce Website Development Platform 

Unless you are developing an end-to-end eCommerce solution from scratch, you will need to choose an existing platform. The right choice of an eCommerce platform is key to building an attractive store that will bring you money.

In large part, the platform will define store design and overall usability. It will also affect SEO and other types of optimizations you need to attract traffic. In addition, remember that some platforms might have limited opportunities for integrating third-party solutions. Therefore, you must research available plugins and extensions when comparing different options.

First, you should define what you want your eCommerce website to be. Then, find a platform that can realize your designs. Moreover, consider scalability and flexibility. Will you be able to change and grow your store in response to the increasing demand?

Remember that having the website crash during a surge in traffic, for example, due to holiday sales, might ruin your entire business.

Invest in Top-Notch Security

Nothing is as vital as customer security for online businesses. Therefore, you must hire an eCommerce website development company with cybersecurity expertise. The attractiveness of your store will grow if you can prove to consumers that their data and money are 100% safe.

To do this, you need an end-to-end eCommerce solution audited and tested by experts. They will identify all potential weaknesses, so you can cover them and make your business an online fortress.

Moreover, a part of eCommerce platform development should include planning for maintenance and updates. Keeping your store updated on every level will help protect it from rapidly evolving cyber threats.

Have your website protected by specialized software and certified experts. These certificates on your homepage will make people trust your brand. The eCommerce industry is already losing over $20 billion due to fraud. Investing in top-notch security is investing in your future.

Integrate AI in Your ECommerce Website Development

Today, if you choose AI-driven software development, you will undoubtedly get a huge advantage in your niche. Developers can use AI technology to streamline their workflows and increase the quality of some services. For example, QA testing benefits greatly from implementing AI-powered solutions.

Regarding eCommerce website development, artificial intelligence can be used both to speed up the process and enhance user experience. The easiest way to implement AI in an eCommerce business is to add a chatbot to your website. You can use it to improve customer service and reduce the costs of outsourcing a call center.

However, today’s eCommerce platform development allows incorporating multiple chatbots with different functions. For example, you can create an assistant that offers buyers style suggestions. Another idea is to make a helper for choosing sizes. This way, you will enhance the user experience and reduce costs associated with order returns.

Ecommerce website development tips: the importance of UI/UX design.

Focus on Attractive Responsive UI/UX Design

ECommerce website development should always prioritize UI/UX design. The site is your only medium of interaction with consumers. Therefore, your goal must be to make it beautiful and comfortable to use, so people enjoy spending time there. The ease of use and intuitiveness affect sales directly. However, they are also the factors that your eCommerce platform development capabilities can limit.

Therefore, hiring a development company with a team of talented and experienced designers is imperative. These professionals should be able to advise how to provide your customers with a high level of user experience.

In addition, be sure to explore multiple online shops yourself. Note that you should look beyond your competitors. Browse different eCommerce websites and take notes of the features and designs you like most. Then, discuss them with your team to see whether you can implement these ideas for your store. 

It should be an ongoing process when working on an end-to-end eCommerce solution. This way, you’ll be able to update the store regularly to keep up with the UI/UX design trends.

Write Really Good Product Descriptions

Indeed, people don’t spend much time reading on the Internet these days. However, nothing can diminish the value of a good product description. This small piece of content is a tool that can help you motivate visitors to actually make a purchase.

Most importantly, the description gives you room to make your store stand out. You might have a dozen competitors that sell the same or similar products. However, by creating captivating descriptions, you can make people choose your store above others.

But bear in mind that product descriptions need to be not only fun and engaging. Also, they must be highly informative and offer all essential details about your product. Additional interesting facts and tips on how to use the product are also welcome.

In addition, product descriptions are your SEO tool. They must contain relevant keywords to help your Google ranking and attract organic traffic.

As you can see, product descriptions are precious indeed. That’s why you should have them written by a professional. However, even small businesses that can’t afford a full-time content writer have a solution today. You can use an AI content generation platform to help you write exciting texts about your products.

In Conclusion: The Key to Outstanding ECommerce Website Development

ECommerce website development can be challenging because competition in this industry is insane. So creating a store that will provide a great user experience and stand out among competitors is difficult. But it’s not impossible.

All you need is an experienced and creative development team. Of course, the people you hire must be top-grade professionals. But also, they need to be able to understand your vision and offer their own original ideas on how to make your shop outshine everyone else’s.

Looking for a team like that? Contact us and schedule a meeting.

See what we can offer with your own eyes!

How AI Can Be Used in Fraud Detection Software

Posted on by Volodymyr Marynenko

It’s a well-known fact that the cost of data breaches is going into trillions by now, and fraud detection software can be the thing that saves your specific business from being a part of that dreadful statistic. That alone is sure to be an excellent motivation for investing in this type of cyber security solution.

However, as a company with ample expertise in fraud detection software development, we advise taking your plans a step further. Adding AI technology to these solutions can make a huge difference. Already, AI-powered tools are used at the highest level, including monitoring government fraud in the US. Therefore, businesses that will implement this technology sooner have a higher chance of becoming leaders of their niches tomorrow.

How AI Is Used in Fraud Detection Software

Artificial intelligence has far greater analytical and processing capabilities compared to humans. Of course, it’s not to say that AI is ‘smarter’ than a human. However, it can process large amounts of data much faster.

Implementing these capabilities of AI in fraud detection software development allows businesses to get solutions that can:

  • Detect anomalies.
    AI can effectively identify anomalies caused by fraudulent behaviors. Moreover, it can learn to detect patterns that do not yet exist. It means that AI protections of this kind can adapt to future threats.
  • Predict behaviors.
    Furthermore, AI can analyze current behaviors to predict patterns. Then, a breach of such a pattern will trigger an alert of possible fraud. For example, a change in password or logging in from a different location can be causes for concern. Finally, note that AI-powered fraud detection software will learn and therefore improve with each case.
  • Create fraud scores.
    Analyzing the data from fraudulent cases enables the AI to create scores that it can use to flag, approve, or reject future transactions. In addition, the scores will be updated automatically, so machine learning will continue making the software more accurate.
  • Identify customers fast.
    KYC (know your customer) technology powered by AI makes customer identification both faster and more secure. It’s particularly effective when applied in facial recognition tech due to AI-driven computer vision.

Particular applications of AI in fraud detection software can vary depending on customer requirements. However, as a rule, this technology is used to detect, flag, and investigate inconsistencies and potentially fraudulent actions. Then, the quality of your custom software development team’s skills will determine how well your business responds to these threats.

Remember that this software is also used to reduce false-positive alerts, which helps you save money further.

Benefits of AI in fraud detection software development.

Benefits of Using AI in Fraud Detection Software

Implementing AI technology in fraud monitoring software development does not only increase opportunities of what the solution can do. Depending on how the developers use AI, they can grow your business’s benefits.

  • Faster detection.
    Detecting threats earlier allows you to minimize losses associated with the fraud. Note that AI-powered software also identifies these dangers more efficiently. So, in the end, you are able to save the maximum amount of money. Moreover, you can build a reputation as a reliable and trustworthy business.
  • Increased accuracy.
    Accurate identification of threats does not only help you neutralize them effectively. Most importantly for business, it allows you to avoid complaints and issues caused by false-positive calls. So, your customers won’t get frustrated for their accounts being blocked and reported by mistake.
  • Better prediction.
    Nothing does predictive analytics better than AI today. Therefore, even if you have a team of outstanding analysts working for your company, augmenting their work with AI will improve results. Also, using fraud detection software for this enables you to work faster. It means that your experts can spend more time on high-priority tasks that require human intervention.
  • Cost-efficiency.
    It’s true that custom AI-powered fraud monitoring software development is a significant investment. However, considering the money you can save through fraud prevention, this investment is sure to be worth it. In addition, your business is guaranteed to increase revenue due to offering customers a higher level of protection.
  • Better classification.
    Classifying threats is incredibly important to ensure accuracy and overall efficiency in fighting fraud.
  • Easier scalability.
    Fraud detection software developed by an outstanding team can grow with your business organically. Therefore, you won’t waste time or incur a loss because it can’t keep up with your growing demands.

Bottom Line: Should You Invest in Fraud Monitoring Software Development?

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not only financial businesses that will benefit from using fraud detection software. Of course, businesses that specialize in security need to create such solutions. They often do this by outsourcing such tasks to Devtorium, an ISO-certified company. Also, any enterprise-level business selling paid services to customers can offer this extra level of protection. Finally, government and non-profit organizations that work with personal data require such cyberdefenses.

Simply put, if frauds can get to your customers, it’s your duty to protect them. Therefore, creating a custom solution is an investment that will surely pay off in the long run. To find out what AI-powered fraud detection software can do for your business in particular, contact us today! Our expert team will analyze your business and come up with a plan that will fit any budget.

Penetration Testing Types Explained

Posted on by Volodymyr Marynenko

If you wonder whether investing in information security and penetration testing is worth it, consider that cybercrime is expected to cost $10.5 trillion by 2025. So, top-notch cybersecurity is invaluable if you want to minimize the risk of losing a massive part of your business money. Your IT infrastructure will require extensive testing to create an efficient information security system.

During penetration testing, auditors simulate all kinds of attacks. Therefore, they use different approaches depending on the level of information available to the expert. To make the conditions close to real life, testers might not have any ‘insider’ info, like any external hacker. Using this criterion, experts distinguish three main approaches to pen tests: black, white, and gray box.

What is white box penetration testing.

White Box Penetration Testing

White box pen testing is when the tester has access to complete information about the source code and environment. Basically, the pen testing team knows all there is to know about the system. Therefore, they can perform a most comprehensive study of its weaknesses. This analysis includes assessing areas such as code quality or system design.

Other names for white box testing include internal penetration testing or clear/glass box testing. The names indicate that this audit aims to study the entire system in-depth. Such a comprehensive analysis is rather expensive. Each area of the whole security infrastructure must be tested thoroughly. Therefore, on average, white box penetration testing can take two or three weeks.

Black box penetration testing explained.

Black Box Penetration Testing

Black box, otherwise called external penetration testing, is an approach used to simulate an attack from outside. The tester has very little, if any, information about the system. This approach allows running tests in a setting closest to a real-life hacker attack.

The cost of these penetration tests can vary greatly depending on the business’s IT infrastructure and requirements. However, it’s important to note that black box penetration testing can take as many as six weeks. In addition, these audits require extensive planning and creating a detailed report on how to address all system vulnerabilities.

The attack can be complex, and the tester will use all possible means to break into the system. To perform a quality black box audit, testers must have specialist experience. Look for certified professionals only.

What is gray box penetration testing?

Gray Box Penetration Testing

Gray box penetration testing is a mix of black and white. First, the tester has partial information and access to the system. From there, they will use a wide range of techniques and tools to break into it. One common gray pen testing scheme is giving the tester standard user privileges.

Note that for this approach the customer might request a specific set of conditions. For example, trying to get access to the application source code from the position of a registered user account.

Due to this methodology, gray penetration testing is more precisely targeted. So, the customer might use their budget most efficiently. In addition, this testing allows the creation of particular recommendations on how to get rid of the identified vulnerabilities.

Types of penetration testing.

Penetration Testing Types, Tools, and Methods

White, black, and gray are approaches that cybersecurity experts use during an audit. Those approaches are realized through a set of pen tests that can be divided into types based on targeted areas.

Network service testing

Network service penetration testing analyzes the infrastructure of the network to find vulnerabilities that can be exploited. This type of testing studies servers, firewalls, routers, printers, switches, workstations, etc. The purpose of this test is protection against the most common threats that target networks. Those include:

  • Router attacks
  • DNS attacks (zone transfer attacks and switching/routing attacks)
  • Firewall misconfiguration or bypass
  • FTP/SMTP attacks
  • SSH attacks
  • Database attacks
  • Proxy server attacks
  • Man In The Middle (MITM)
  • Unnecessary open ports

Network services are critical for any business. Therefore, it’s imperative to ensure your absolute security in this area.

Application testing

Apps can perform a multitude of tasks, both within the business and for its interactions with customers. However, they also serve as inherent security weaknesses, especially web-based apps. Therefore, penetration testing of each app becomes a necessity.

This type of testing will use a wide range of methods to try breaking the application from every entry point. Therefore, these tests must be highly targeted and detailed to ensure no weakness is missed. In the end, the team of auditors should provide a detailed report. It must list all the vulnerabilities and rate them by the threat level. Also, they must offer solutions for each issue.

Wireless network testing

Wireless penetration testing focuses specifically on the WiFi part of the business’s IT infrastructure. Today this testing covers not only laptops, smartphones, and tablets but also all connected IoT devices. Note that this type of audit should be performed on-site.

Important points to consider during this type of pen testing include:

  • Identifying every single entry point.
  • Analyzing the level of encryption at each point.
  • Assessment of the systems used for monitoring for possible unauthorized users.
  • Studying the network configuration.
  • Evaluating current protection measures.
  • Checking if all entry points use the WPA protocol.

Social engineering

Social engineering pen testing looks into the possibility of an outside agent using different methods to trick sensitive information out of the users. For example, one such threat is cons that aim to persuade you to give up bank login information. Bear in mind that most cyberattacks use social engineering at some point in their schemes.

Penetration testers use the following simulated attacks and tricks to run this audit:

  • Gifts
  • Phishing
  • Pre-texting
  • Smishing
  • Name dropping
  • Vishing
  • Imposters
  • Dumpster-diving
  • Eavesdropping

Client-side penetration testing

Finding any weaknesses in client-side apps is a must to identify specifically targeted cyberattacks. This type of testing is used to fight against threats like:

  • Malware infections
  • HTML injections
  • Cross-site scripting attacks
  • Hijacked forms
  • Clickjack attacks
  • Open redirections
  • Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS)

Red team & blue team

Red and blue team penetration testing audits the system using two different types of simulations. Red teams focus on offensive defense. It means that they simulate external attacks. Meanwhile, blue teams are pure defense. Therefore, they clash with the red teams, and each side tries to find weaknesses in the other.

The testing environment is completely controlled. However, it’s as close as you can get to an attack from real hackers. As a result, it can provide valuable insights and help design an effective cyber security infrastructure.

Mobile penetration testing

Penetration testing specialists will use manual and automated testing tools to find weaknesses specifically in mobile apps. Those are always high-risk. Also, they often use multiple third-party software integrations. Therefore, the number of possible weaknesses increases.

Extensive penetration testing will enable auditors to find any vulnerabilities and issues with:

  • Authentication
  • Authorization
  • Cryptography
  • Session management

In Conclusion: Which Testing Type Does Your Business Need?

There can be no doubt that penetration testing is essential if you want to ensure the security of your business in the digital age. However, as you’ve seen, information security testing can be highly varied. Therefore, the most efficient way to provide your business with the best defenses is to consult an experienced cyber security services company.

Expert auditors will be able to assess your business’s current cybersecurity infrastructure and needs. Then, they can use this information to develop a plan that will give you the maximum level of protection for any budget. If that is your goal, contact us and make an appointment with Devtorium information security experts anytime!

How AI Content Writing Software Can Benefit Small Business

Posted on by Volodymyr Marynenko

Any online business that wants to succeed today must attract organic traffic in droves. An essential part of the process that will allow you to do it is posting tons of fresh, exciting content daily. But the services of content writers can be pretty expensive, so a solution was needed. That’s how AI content writing software came to be. This type of AI-powered solution is relatively new, but due to the enormous demand, it’s developing rapidly.

If you run a small business that needs high-quality content regularly, this post will explain whether a content-generating AI SaaS platform is for you.

Who Needs AI Content Writing Software

Any business with a ‘live’ website or just social media accounts can benefit from using an AI-powered platform for content generation. It’s because to stay active on different online platforms, you must post lots of content often. Preferably you should strive for a daily post on social media and at least a weekly blog article. Also, don’t forget things like Facebook ads, email newsletters, and new pages on the site.

Hiring a full-time content writer is well above the budget for any small and even the majority of medium businesses. Another option is to order content at UpWork or a similar platform. However, a 700-word blog article from a decent writer can cost around $70. It’ll be a few hundred from a top-rated professional. Such an investment can be viable sometimes but definitely not something you should add to your regular expenses log.

Despite the costs, the importance of content is growing for online businesses. Moreover, requirements for the quality of those texts are constantly increasing.

AI content writing software was born out of the demand for affordable quality content that can be created fast. This industry is exceptionally well-suited to implementing fast-developing AI technologies. So, the results these solutions can produce today are awe-inspiring. The result of their work might not be able to replace a human content writer completely. However, they can provide small and medium online businesses with a massive part of the raw content material they need.

What AI Content Writing Software Can and Cannot Do

How AI content writing software looks like and works.

Benefits of using an AI SaaS platform for content generation

Saving time and money. These are the most important benefits of using an AI-powered platform for content generation. The most notable thing about it is that it can create an article in a few minutes max. Meanwhile, even a highly experienced and skilled content writer will need at least an hour to research and write a basic blog post of 400+ words.

To see how it works, you can look at our AI content generation platform Marquètte. You log into your account and get to see a homepage that already has some info on recent industry trends. So, even if you don’t know what to write about, you can get some ideas right away.

Then, you ask the engine a question and it provides you with an AI-generated text in a couple of minutes. Of course, the text itself is already fit to use in different types of posts for a blog or social media. But suppose you are aiming for a sizeable informative article. In that case, you can look at the Additional Info section included in the answer to help you ask further questions on the subject.

The whole process shouldn’t take you more than 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, you can use your precious work time to focus on other important marketing and business tasks. 

If you wonder about the quality of texts generated by AI content writing software, you’ll be happy to know that over 60% of people can’t even spot the difference between human and AI works. Therefore, AI can be a fantastic help for your content marketing strategy and not only that. And the subscription costs only $19.95 compared to the minimum of $1 per word for a content writer.

Limitations of an AI-powered platform for content writing

For all that a content writing AI SaaS platform is amazing, it cannot completely replace a human expert. For a small business using it for marketing, this means that you will need to hire a content writer from time to time. However, you can only do it for sophisticated tasks, like filling your main website pages with content or creating specialized marketing materials and presentations.

Meanwhile, you can use an AI-powered platform for the majority of your content marketing needs, including:

  • Blog posts
  • Social media posts
  • Emails
  • Forum marketing

However, you’ll need to do some editing on those texts sometimes. But that’s a minor task that doesn’t require you to be a professional writer. For example, you might need to cut some text out of the piece generated by AI to make it small enough for a Facebook post. Or you can break it down into a series of posts.

You might also need to add some paragraphs to tie the AI-generated text to your brand. For instance, you might add specific paragraphs describing your services or products.

Bottom Line: Should You Invest in an AI-Powered Platform for Content Writing?

If you want to enjoy the benefits of content marketing without spending hundreds of dollars on a content writer every month, investing in an AI-powered platform for content generation is worth it. AI-driven software development is evolving rapidly, so the technology that is already impressive is getting better every day.

It means that a small business can get a big boost for a relatively small investment. Also, you will be able to cut down your time on creating content and focus on other things, like SEO or conversion.

Do you want to try it out? Get a free trial of Marquètte now and see for yourself!

Have an Idea for an App: Use Custom Mobile App Development Services to Start Your Business

Posted on by oleshchenko

If you have an excellent idea for an app, hiring a custom mobile app development services provider is the next logical step you should take, right? Well, it turns out there are quite a few things you’ll need to do to create a successful product.

The following guide will take you through every step of this process and offer all the resources you’ll need. Then, armed with a plan of action, you’ll create an app that will turn in profit while helping people.

Now is a great time to get into custom enterprise application development. The industry is piping hot, and the number of app users is growing fast. In addition, smartphone users today spend close to three hours daily using different apps. With the smartphone penetration rate growing rapidly, you shouldn’t miss out on the chance to launch an app that will become the next big sensation. Mobile app development is the future, so act on your ideas fast.

Introduction to custom mobile app development services.

Custom Mobile App Development Services: Going Above and Beyond

Why having a great idea for an app is not enough

Mobile and web apps are popular, everyone knows this. But have you ever thought about exactly how popular they are?

In the last quarter of 2020, over 3.14 million apps were in Google Play Store and over 2 million in App Store. However, bear in mind that those aren’t the only app stores on the Web. Also, there are specialized custom apps that only work within enterprises or businesses. Therefore, the actual number of unique applications is enormous.

It shouldn’t be a surprise as the mobile app revenues are projected to reach over $935 billion by 2023. So naturally, everyone wants a piece of that pie.

All things considered, even if your idea is unique and lucrative, getting noticed will be tough. That’s why you need to think well beyond end-to-end application development. You’ll have to finance, market, and support your product to give it a chance at success. Moreover, you’ll require assistance from experts in various fields. It can make the difference between launching a breakthrough product and failure.

Follow the steps below if you are hyped up and sure that your idea has a fighting chance.

Before You Get to Custom Mobile App Development Services

Conduct a thorough market research

When you get an idea for an app, the first thing you should do is research the market. Questions you need to answer:

  • Who is your target audience?
    Decide who will use your app. First, you need to understand these people’s age, gender, and education level. Also, research the apps they are using already. Finally, find out what devices they prefer.
  • How is your app going to benefit people?
  • Are there already apps similar to the one you have in mind?
    If yes, how is yours going to be different?
  • What are the current trends in custom mobile app development services?
  • What apps are most popular now?
    What’s unique about their design or functionality?
  • Who are your future competitors going to be?
  • What do those companies and their products offer to customers?
  • How can your app be better?
  • Should you look for end-to-end application development or a different type of development service?

Quality market research takes a lot of time and effort. However, any business that wants to succeed today must be built on relevant Big Data analysis. You can’t create a project using only conjectures, rumors, or subjective opinions. Therefore, you’ll have to do dozens of searches and study multiple industry reports.

Custom mobile app development services: where to start?

Develop your USP by studying future competitors

As an aspiring app creator, the primary source of information on mobile application development solutions should be your competitors. As Mark Twain said, “there is no such thing as a new idea.” Therefore, there’s a high chance that a product similar to the one you want to launch already exists. You’ll need to study all these solutions to make sure that your own stands out. That’s how you’re going to develop a unique selling proposition (USP).

In case you have the incredible luck of being the first, study the apps most popular with your target audience. Then, install those yourself and analyze them thoroughly.

Analyze the following:

  • What kind of UI/UX design do they have?
  • What features do they offer?
  • How do they benefit the user?
  • Why do you think people like them?

If you have direct competitors, you’ll need to do your best to find out everything about their products. 

  • What programming languages did they use?
  • How do they market their products?
  • What kind of monetization strategy do they use?
  • What are the exact features of their apps?

Also, you should take the time to go through reviews of your competitors’ products on AppStore and Google Play. Take notes of the features users like and their most common complaints.

Finally, analyze all this data and highlight the weaknesses and holes in the strategies of your competitors. Then, start building your own plan by turning those issues into your product’s strengths. Again, the enterprise mobile app development company you choose should help you with this.

Create an app monetization plan

Obviously, the app you are building should bring profit. And to do that, you need to decide precisely how you are going to monetize it. This decision will be an essential part of the business plan you’ll use to obtain financing. Therefore, be sure to think about this carefully and compare the pros and cons of every method. In addition, take a look at how your competitors monetize their products. 

The most common mobile app monetization strategies are:

  • In-app purchases.
    The number of purchases made through mobile apps keeps growing steadily. So, this can be an excellent option for many industries. However, if you plan to use this method, you’ll need to discuss it closely with your end-to-end application development team. They will need to create this type of functionality for your product or integrate a third-party payment provider.
  • Data monetization.
    You might not require any additional custom mobile app development services if you choose monetization through selling data. Of course, you’ll have to be upfront about this and ensure complete confidentiality. If you can do this, selling some types of user data to third parties can be highly lucrative. For example, this information can be used in market studies, like the ones you used to develop your business plan.
  • Subscription plan.
    Use the freemium model if you want to go with a subscription plan. You should either offer a free trial of the app or make some of its basic functionality free to use. So people will be motivated to try it and see if they want to buy the product.
  • In-app advertising.
    Remember, if you use in-app ads, make sure they aren’t annoying.

Develop an app wireframe

After settling with your idea and developing a business plan, it’s time to create an app wireframe. It’s a task for your custom mobile app development services provider.

Think of a wireframe as a blueprint for your product. Many people mistakenly believe that a wireframe must include application design. However, it’s not true. The purpose of a wireframe is to show what exactly your product will do. Therefore it must consist of:

  • Page elements
  • Possible actions
  • Object categories
  • Conversion and navigation areas
  • Content prioritization

You will present this wireframe to possible investors. In addition, you’ll use it within the team to ensure everyone is on the same page about the product.

When developing the wireframe, keep in mind that it has to show every step of the user’s journey. It will also help you see whether you need to cut some of the steps. Do not forget that users prioritize convenience above all in mobile apps. Therefore, every additional click or page load might bring down your revenue.

It doesn’t really matter what the wireframe looks like. So, you don’t have to invest in designer services before making it. However, you can provide some concept art for possible designs to add to your business plan presentation.

You don’t even need to have a logo at this stage of the project. Therefore, you can use your resources efficiently to maximize app functionality while looking for financing.

How to get financing for a mobile application development project.

Where to Get Financing for Mobile Application Development Solutions

The cost of custom mobile app development services varies depending on multiple factors. Sadly, many great application ideas never make it past that stage because people cannot secure financing.

The good news is that today, you can explore many avenues to get money for your app. So, even if you don’t have a starting capital and banks refuse you a loan, you still have options.

  • Crowdfunding.
    Crowdfunding is a great financing option nowadays. It’s a very effective way to fund custom mobile app development services. However, you’ll need to launch a good marketing campaign early for your crowdfunding efforts to be effective. Otherwise, people won’t know much about your idea, and they won’t have the motivation to fund it. Today’s best crowdfunding platforms are Indiegogo, Gofundme, Mightycause (for non-profits), and StartEngine.
  • Angel investors or venture capitalists.
    Both angel investors and venture capitalists are businesses or individuals who can fund your app if they consider it promising. Angel investors usually offer funds at the beginning stages of development. On the other hand, venture capitalists are more likely to join when the app creation process is already in the works.
  • Startup finance programs.
    A wide range of small business grants and financing programs are available in the US and worldwide. These financing options are highly versatile, and often entrepreneurs don’t know that there might be government-backed help open to them. Therefore, be sure to research these options and look up any programs available in your community. But remember that such programs and grants usually have rather specific requirements. So, you might need to adjust your product plan to make it compliant.

How to choose a provider of custom mobile app development services.

Custom Mobile App Development Services: How to Find the Right Developers for You

After you secure financing, you should start looking for a reliable provider of custom mobile app development services. Your development company should be trustworthy and consist of people you can connect with on a personal level. These professionals will translate your vision into a real-life product. Therefore, they must be able to assume your perspective and understand exactly what you want to accomplish.

The search for such professionals should start with studying their portfolios and case studies. It’s usually best to hire developers who have experience with the type of apps you want to create. It means that to get a fantastic online store, you should hire an experienced eCommerce application development company. This way, you can ensure that developers understand the niche and know how to overcome its challenges.

However, you shouldn’t discard the idea of hiring an enterprise mobile app development company that’s new to the niche. If the company’s case studies are impressive and versatile, they prove that these developers are skilled and creative no matter the challenge.

Overall, the qualities you should look for in an end-to-end application development provider include:

  • Impressive portfolio and customer testimonials
  • Willingness to sign an NDA from the start to ensure the security of your idea
  • Effective project management skills
  • Good communication with the customer to keep you updated about the progress
  • High development and testing standards
  • Wide range of QA testing measures to make sure your app performs well when it’s launched
  • Putting the client’s needs and vision first

Remember, you should hire an app development team that will work with you to bring your idea to life.

Next Level of Custom Mobile App Development Services: Launch an MVP

One of the best ways to start your mobile app business is to launch an MVP to start attracting people as soon as possible. MVP stands for a minimum viable product. Basically, it’s a ‘barebones’ version of your application. However, it’s good enough for people to actually use.

An MVP of a mobile application must have all the essential features so customers can use it. Those users then can provide truly invaluable feedback. It can help you understand what works and what doesn’t. But most importantly, you will be able to see the right direction for moving forward.

Releasing an MVP is essential not only to start making money sooner. The main goal of this business model is to avoid wasting your money on developing unnecessary features. In this case, the whole process of future development is based on the feedback loop you can build with your users.

Note that your MVP can validate the very idea of your product at the starting level. After that, you will get to see the market response to it. Unfortunately, some apps never make it past an MVP. But many more undergo complete transformations as the owners adapt them to real-life user responses.

In addition, you get a chance to find some new business opportunities. The feedback you get will be much more informative than impersonal market studies. So, you’ll be able to exploit other potential business avenues in the niche.

In essence, launching an MVP can be considered a large-scale type of A/B testing. Therefore, use this opportunity carefully to refine your idea into a product that will truly rock the market.

How to market your new mobile app.

Marketing: Must-Have Step for Custom Mobile App Development Services

It’s essential to understand that no matter how good your idea is or how well the custom mobile app development services company does its job, no one will know about your product without marketing. Nowadays, a good marketing strategy is not some kind of luxury for big corporations. On the contrary, it’s a must-have feature for any business, no matter how small.

Also, if you want to launch a successful app, you’ll need to think about marketing even before looking for an end-to-end application development company. It’ll be necessary to attract investors, as well as to generate some hype for the launch.

Start by creating a marketing plan for your app. You can find free templates like this one from HubSpot. While building your project, keep in mind that a marketing campaign for a mobile app should include the following stages:

Awareness generation stage: pre-custom enterprise application development

At this stage, you need to focus on raising product visibility. Therefore, it will be best to launch a social media campaign. You’ll need to establish your brand online and build up a following. Use advertisements and, if possible, influencer endorsements.

It’s also imperative to get involved in a variety of industry-specific groups. Bear in mind that you’ll need to post not only self-promotional content. To attract attention through social media groups, you’ll have to become an active member and build a reputation as an expert. Then, you can start sharing information about your upcoming product launch.

Note that these groups might help you attract not only future app users but also investors and business partners.

User acquisition stage

At this stage, your priority is to get people to download your app as much as possible. You also need to track all downloads to see which of your channels perform best. Then, focus on them to grow your user base.

Using paid ads will be very effective at this stage. However, you will also need to work on your app’s page optimization in the app store. It’s very similar to SEO, as you’ll also need to optimize the app description for searchable keywords. Your goal here is to increase app visibility on the platform.

In addition, you should try pitching your app to the app store’s editorial team to get it featured. It will boost visibility and increase your authority as a creator.

User retention stage

Having people download your app will be of little help if they don’t use it. Therefore, it’s imperative to establish communication with your users and keep them involved. You can do this through push notifications, email marketing, and organizing various in-app events and contests.

Also, be active with your social media marketing. Remember that you should communicate with users outside the app as well.

Finally, publish regular updates and request feedback. In addition, be sure to reply to all user comments.

How to Get More Downloads: App Store Optimization Tips

When uploading your app to any app store, you need to remember that these stores use an inner search protocol. It means that you need to apply SEO principles to your app page as you do for websites. This way, the chance of your app appearing in the store users’ search results will be higher. Therefore, your download rate should go up as well.

The most important thing for app store optimization is to use relevant keywords in your product description. Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Keyword Planner to find the right keywords for your niche.

Bear in mind that you’ll also need to use these keywords in the title. The title must be compelling and stand out. After uploading it, search for your app yourself to see how easy it is to find using keywords. Compare with the other titles in your niche and think of what you can do better.

Another important part of app store optimization is choosing the images to include in the app description. From the app icon to screenshots, every image must be top quality. You also need to select the most compelling pictures to show off your product in the best possible way.

Finally, be sure to add a video as this is the most popular type of content today. Internet users prefer watching videos to get info quickly. Therefore, you need to give them a chance to see your app in action through a short clip. You can’t make it too long, so show the app’s most valuable feature first.

End-to-End Application Development Isn’t Really “The End”: Monitoring Your App Post Launch

Now that you’ve successfully built and launched your app, you need to decide what to do with it. There are two routes before you. One is to sell the project, thus entrusting its future to someone else. Or, you can keep working on it yourself.

If you choose the latter option, you’ll be in for a great ride.

In this case, you’ll need to determine KPIs to track the project’s progress. Then, perform detailed assessments, monthly or weekly, to see whether the app lives up to your expectations.

In the meantime, you’ll need to keep your iOS/Android app development company involved to monitor technical app performance. Also, a team of engineers will have to keep working on updates and improvements for the solution.

Finally, you’ll need to provide your product with maintenance and customer support teams. Luckily, these services can be largely automated and entrusted to AI-powered solutions.

It’s crucial to understand that your work as the product owner doesn’t stop at end-to-end application development. If you want people to keep using your app and spend money, you need to keep improving it. Adding new exciting features, organizing events, and tracking product performance will keep your product profitable for years to come.

Bottom Line: Using Custom Mobile App Development Services to Make Your App Idea a Reality

If you have a fantastic idea for an app, you should treat it as a full-scale business project, from creating a business plan and attracting investors to end-to-end application development. Launching your app and making sure it succeeds will take a lot of work. However, seeing the results is sure to be highly fulfilling, not to mention the product’s profit.

To bring your idea to life, you’ll need to study the market, make a great business plan, obtain funding, find a reliable enterprise mobile app development company, engage a marketing team, and ensure that your product has continuous support. The Devtorium team is ready to do all that and more! Contact us, and we’ll be happy to assist in bringing your vision to reality.

Software Developer Vs. Software Engineer: Encyclopedia of Custom Software Development

Posted on by oleshchenko

When looking to hire a custom software development company, you can get quite confused by the multitude of choices and professional jargon. One of the most important questions you’ll need to ask is whether you should hire a software developer or a software engineer. This choice will matter greatly, so you must understand the difference between these experts.

There has been a long debate about the roles and responsibilities of these two professions within a custom web development company. Some say that software developers and engineers are the same because their job descriptions are pretty similar. However, others believe that these professionals’ levels of engagement and skill are quite different despite this overlap.

Let’s put an end to this discussion today and explain who is who in the world of custom software development.

Breaking Down Custom Software Development Duties: Software Developer Vs. Software Engineer

Custom software development: software developer duties and skills.

What does a software developer do? 

Most people think that software developers are nerdy geeks. That may be true in their personal lives. However, these people have to be highly creative at work to bring cutting-edge ideas to life using tech skills. In addition, they are great analysts as they constantly compare and use various technologies, libraries, and approaches to create software.

Moreover, they must possess a high level of creativity to apply a limited number of structured tools in new ways to achieve original results.

The complexity of a developer’s position is that they must both engage in custom software development and negotiate with clients. These experts are responsible for different stages of product development, components design, and troubleshooting. Every dev must consider end-to-end development principles as they help monitor and analyze the software creation process.

Usually,  developers juggle several projects simultaneously. However, if the project is large and scalable, the dev might focus on it exclusively.

Dev’s responsibilities during custom software development

The scope of a software developer’s responsibilities is quite enormous. The list below gives some idea of it: 

  • Working closely with designers to ensure the result fits the client’s requirements.
  • Testing software and fixing all issues that come up.
  • Integrating the solution with third-party tools.
  • Writing clean and high-quality code.
  • Reporting about the completed tasks regularly.
  • Maintaining the systems once they’re up and running.

Must-have skills for a software developer

One of the significant differences between software developers and software engineers is the level of engagement with a project. While engineers manage the entire process, developers are responsible for one aspect of software building. Therefore, to succeed in custom software development, these experts require a specific set of skills: 

  • Solid analytical skills.
    Developers have to translate clients’ needs into functionalities using different programming languages, tools, and frameworks.  It means that analytical ability is crucial for the profession. 
  • Knowledge of several programming languages.
    A software developer doesn’t need to know all programming languages. However, it’s essential for them to know several. This way, they can come up with more creative and efficient solutions and have a better understanding of the products they design. The most popular languages today are Java, JavaScript, C#, C++, and Python. Software developers should understand the logic behind different languages. However, they usually specialize in one.
  • Skill in using open-source platforms and tools.
    Today’s leading developers should understand and have the skills to use open-source tools such as Azure, AngularJS, Atom, CloudForge, CodeCharge Studio, etc. But, again, the dev should specialize in a few. 
  • GitHub.
    Over 50% of all organizations use GitHub, so a software developer today must have an account there. In fact, showing off that account is an essential part of a dev’s CV.
  • Cloud computing.
    Every software developer should have a good understanding and experience working with cloud services. Today everything is moving to the cloud, so being an AWS certified expert or similar is a must.
  • Great self-organization skills.
    A good dev should be detail-oriented to successfully manage different projects and prevent minor bugs that can result in significant challenges. 
  • Strong communication skills.
    Remember that communicating with a customer is an important part of the dev’s work. So, this professional must have communication skills and good mastery of the customer’s language. Even a tiny bug or miscommunication can lead to severe operational and financial losses.

Interestingly, having an actual degree in computer science isn’t mandatory for a top-level developer. Many people start their work in custom software development from basic courses or even by learning independently. The most important things are the expert’s skill and proof of that skill through a portfolio.

Custom software development: software engineer skills and duties.

What does a software engineer do?

Software engineering is more complex than mere development. Therefore, this profession requires a higher level of education and expertise. Devs are solely engaged in building software that should be running seamlessly across different devices. Meanwhile, software engineers perform and manage multiple tasks to make sure that the solution as a whole works smoothly.

Engineers apply software engineering principles in UX/UI design, custom software development, QA testing, and maintenance. 

In the same way, any store manager worth their salt can operate the entire shop, from goods supply to utility management, and work with customers, a software engineer can run the whole software creation and maintenance process. Taking the comparison further, the engineer is often a network manager instead of a single store. Simply put, the engineer’s work is the next step above developers. But software development is something that an engineer must have knowledge and expertise in.

Engineer’s responsibilities during custom software development

  • Managing all components of the hardware system.
  • Creating tools to support every stage of software development.
  • Building resilient and fault-tolerant systems from scratch.
  • Software testing using various automation tools and QA specialists. 
  • Building and maintaining IT architecture, large-scale data systems, and cloud-based applications.
  • Developing scalable pipelines for deployment to support third-party integrations.
  • Working effectively with multiple teams.
  • Monitoring system analysis, UI/UX design, and development programs.
  • Supervising junior and middle developers.

Essential skills for a software engineer

Due to their critical role in the custom software development process, a software engineer must have all the skills of a dev. However, they must take it further. To succeed in this profession, you’ll need some highly specific skills that have little to do with the actual development process.

  • Computer programming and coding.
    An engineer should have a deep understanding of the most popular languages for their niche. For example, for a custom web development company, this can include C#, C++, HTML, Java, JavaScript, Perl, PHP, and Python.
  • Object-oriented design.
     A software engineer must be able to come up with a design that will be efficient on every level, from production to marketing.
  • Software testing and debugging.
    While not replacing QA specialists, software engineers must understand precisely how to find and fix any product issues.
  • Problem-solving skills.
    An engineer must have the ability to solve immediate issues, minimizing trade-offs to other system’s parts.
  • Efficient teamwork with versatile teams.
    Software engineers need the ability to coordinate every team involved in tor product’s release.
  • Strong communication skills.
    Software engineers often have to clarify specifications with clients. They must be able to communicate effectively and sometimes intervene in the chain of communication between customers and developers.

Unlike software developers, it’s highly recommended for an engineer to have a Bachelor’s or even a Master’s degree in computer science, information systems, or programming.  

Conclusion: Role of Devs and Engineers in Custom Software Development

A custom web development company, as well as any other business that offers end-to-end solutions, must employ both software developers and software engineers. These experts work very closely together. However, they have distinctively different roles in the process of creating top-quality software.

To learn more about these professionals and how they can help bring your ideas and plans to life, contact us directly!

Ultimate ECommerce Website Development Guide

Posted on by Volodymyr Marynenko

The world of online shopping is insanely competitive now. So, eCommerce website development has become true art. You need to hire outstanding experts in multiple areas to create a site that will stand out and give your business a chance at success.

Bear in mind that creating an excellent eCommerce site is complicated, despite 500-word step-by-step guides that tell you otherwise. An online store that can attract people and nurture customer loyalty is a complex machine produced and maintained by highly-skilled professionals. This guide explains how to build one for a business with any budget.

How to Choose an ECommerce Website Development Company

Decide whether you need an end-to-end eCommerce solution

First of all, you need to decide whether you need an end-to-end eCommerce solution development or if you are going to build a website based on an open-source eCommerce platform. Of course, the main deciding factor here is the scale of the project you plan. If you want to launch a versatile marketplace for multiple businesses, you should look into eCommerce platform development from the start.

However, launching on an existing platform like Shopify or Magento can be the best choice for the majority of businesses. Even if you plan to offer thousands of products from the get-go, these platforms can support it.

Basically, it would be best to discuss your business plan with expert developers. Then, they can advise which is the better route for eCommerce website development based on your business plan.

There are three most common ways to go about creating an eCommerce website:

  • Build an eCommerce solution from scratch or using open-source software.
  • Customize a SaaS eCommerce platform to suit your needs.
  • MACH architecture.
    MACH stands for Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, and Headless. This architecture is the best option for businesses planning to scale and grow fast. Compared to monolithic solutions, they are much more flexible. Moreover, this type of eCommerce business will be able to add and remove various features as needed without bringing down the whole system.

Understand and compare eCommerce developers’ strengths

Every developer, no matter how great their skill, has a specialization. The same goes for a custom software development company. It means that when choosing a development team, you need to do a lot of research. Take a look at the developers’ case studies and make your own assessment. Study customer reviews if they are available. Also, take a look at the company’s ranking on websites like Clutch.

However, you should also remember that many software development projects are under NDAs. Therefore, the developers might not be able to show off their complete portfolio. That’s why you should also arrange an interview to make your assessment.

When doing your research, make a list of every developer’s strengths. Then, think about what you want from your website and see whether they can deliver the results you want.

Must-have features for eCommerce website development

Must-Have Features for an End-to-End ECommerce Solution

When planning the eCommerce website development process, you need to outline your customer lifecycle in detail. Use the data to determine what features your online store should have. Consider the following guidelines to make these decisions:

  • Make a generalized list of eCommerce store features. Doing some competitor research will be a great help here.
  • Make a list of your personal must-have features for the store. For example, this can be business-specific features like tax or international shipping rates calculators.
  • Prioritize every feature in those lists from 1 to 5.
  • Discuss the costs of adding each feature with your eCommerce application development company.
  • Make your final decision and build plans for upgrades and expansion.

Bear in mind that some features might heavily affect eCommerce website development costs. Therefore, your budget will be a deciding factor in your plans. However, some features are absolute must-haves for any modern eCommerce business.

Responsive web design

In 2022 if you aren’t doing it mobile-first, you are doing it wrong. The number of people who prefer mobile shopping is growing exponentially every year. In addition, today, you can’t really have a high Google ranking if your website isn’t mobile-friendly.

Therefore, the responsive design must be the basis of any eCommerce website development in 2022 and beyond. But you also need to understand that nowadays you have many options to be mobile-friendly.

The good news is that all leading eCommerce platforms offer responsive design capabilities. Therefore, your developer shouldn’t have any issues optimizing your shop for multiple devices if you are using them. 

However, your approach can be different if you plan to launch an enterprise-level business and want to do your eCommerce platform development from scratch. In this case, you should talk with your development team about making a mobile eCommerce app. It can be a more cost-efficient idea in the long run.

SEO capabilities (+CMS)

Any eCommerce business must attract organic traffic in droves. Therefore, you need to consider SEO at the early stages of eCommerce website development. Your site must be designed for the highest level of optimization. Moreover, it must have specialized SEO capabilities that will allow you to improve the site with time.

For example, you need to think about how you will add content to the website. Better SEO requires renewing product pages and adding new pages, like blog articles or informative pages about the business. In addition, these new pages must have optimized templates to make it easier for you to boost the website fast.

Speaking of content, an eCommerce website should have a CMS (content management system) to make working with it more manageable. It allows you to handle and store all dynamic content with ease. Most importantly, a CMS allows you to make quick changes that will be immediately and automatically implemented across the website.

Loading speed

The bounce rate grows with every extra second your website takes to load. So nearly 100% of people who come to your website will leave it if it takes as little as six seconds to load. That’s how much speed matters.

Since online shops must offer rich visual content to increase conversion, clever eCommerce website development is essential. The team working on your site must have the experience and skills to optimize it to the max. This kind of optimization might require quite a bit of back-end work. So, make sure that the developers have expertise in this area.

Moreover, website loading speed is a Google ranking factor. Therefore, it is a part of the website SEO that must be integrated at the level of design.

Product management system

What can be worse than placing an order for an item you want, marked ‘in stock’, and then getting an email that the product isn’t really in stock? Everyone has undoubtedly experienced this kind of frustration. Did you return to that store after such an experience?

In the age of extreme competition that we live in, such mistakes are deadly for an eCommerce business. Therefore, it’s imperative to build an effective product management system while developing your store. It must make it easy for you to:

  • Add new products
  • Automatically update and manage the inventory
  • Edit product pages
  • Realize promotions and discount codes

Payments and checkout

It’s essential for eCommerce website development to integrate multiple payment gateways from the start. Nowadays, diversity is critical for global businesses. Every buyer seeks convenience. If you aren’t offering all the popular payment types in your region, you’ll lose clients.

ECommerce website development for businesses that target multiple countries will be more complex. It’s because the payment gateways must support multiple currencies and have a converter feature.

Moreover, the entire checkout process must be streamlined to the max. It’s essential because a quick and efficient payment process often motivates people to buy more. Therefore, you must make your payment and checkout as short as possible so people can complete a purchase in a few clicks.

Meanwhile, your eCommerce application development company must ensure the security remains top-notch. It means facilitating the checkout process must not affect the security measures of the payment processing provider. Trusted providers would have a set of requirements for integrating them into an eCommerce shop. Your developers will have to study them carefully to ensure full compliance.

Integrations

Even if you are doing an eCommerce platform development from scratch, it will require some integrations with third-party software. Therefore, your website must have capabilities for integrating solutions and plugins you might require. Bear in mind that you need to think ahead when planning this. Your need for integrations might increase as your business grows.

When using an existing eCommerce platform, your developers must ensure that integrations with various solutions are possible. Unfortunately, not all platforms are equal in this, so you have to pick the one that will work with every solution you want to use.

Moreover, maintaining the cohesiveness of all integrations is an essential task for the developers who will manage your website. Remember that every plugin update risks adding vulnerabilities or even crashing the entire system.

Security

PCI compliance, as well as top-notch cybersecurity, are essential requirements during eCommerce website development. These sites handle a lot of sensitive information, including credit card details. Therefore, they have to be above reproach. Moreover, meeting various specialized compliance criteria is a must to be allowed to process payments.

Your development team must understand that and know how to make your store safe. Breaking any of these requirements might result in not only in loss of trust from your customers, but also in hefty penalties. You might even lose the right to accept payments.

Moreover, you need to understand that threats evolve rapidly in the digital space. Therefore, your development team must be able to provide you with a dynamic information security system that will help keep up the safety of your business.

eCommerce website development process step-by-step

ECommerce Website Development Step by Step

Define your product offering range

The first thing to do when planning an online store is to decide what you will sell. How you make this decision is up to you. It can be a passion-driven choice, or you can study the market to find the most promising niches. However, you must outline at least the initial product offering range.

Once you do this, you will be able to decide on product categories and make a draft of your future website map. It will also be helpful to study your prospective competitors’ sites and find issues they have. Your own website must fill in those holes, thus offering customers a better shopping experience.

Set business goals

Your eCommerce website development should be preceded by creating a clear business plan. It means that you must start by setting exact goals and metrics for your business.

First of all, outline the goals:

  • Is your primary goal to build a direct-to-consumer online-only business?
  • Do you want to expand your B2C business with B2B capabilities, or vice versa, using eCommerce?
  • Do you need to grow your existing brick-and-mortar business by bringing it online?

The metrics you should consider during eCommerce website development include

  • Business growth.
    Decide how exactly you will measure it, for example, through weekly/monthly/quarterly sales and revenues, ROI, etc.
  • Local and international sales.
    Decide from the start whether you plan on selling globally, as this will affect the features your eCommerce website must have.
  • Customer Lifetime Value.
    Decide how you will measure and plan to grow CLV at the business planning stage.
  • Sales.
    Think about how many products you need to sell to turn in a profit and how you expect these sales to grow over time.

Define your target audience for eCommerce website development

Whether your business plan is B2B or B2C will help define the website structure and design. However, you also need to research your target audience in-depth. You need to know what these people like and dislike in everyday lives, not only concerning your specific niche. This way, you’ll be able to provide them with a better shopping experience.

Never forget that you can find inspiration in the most unlikely of places. Also, if you target a specific generation, like Gen-Z, you need to understand their preferences in tech. This will help you decide on website functionality and various features that must be included at launch.

Outline the desired shopping experience

You need to plan the exact shopping experience step by step. First, take note of every action your customers will take to make a purchase. Then, think about how to make the process as smooth as possible.

Remember that every extra action reduces the chance of a conversion. Therefore, you must aim to make the user experience straightforward and smooth.

Some ideas to consider:

  • What filters do you need to include in the website search?
  • Can you provide a one-page checkout?
  • Do you need to integrate a product comparison feature?
  • How will you realize the function of discounts, coupons,  and promo codes?

Consider eCommerce platform development options

If you plan to build an end-to-end eCommerce solution, you must make a considerable investment. However, today you don’t have to do this from the start. There are dozens of eCommerce platforms that allow you to set up any kind of shop. This will reduce the workload on developers. Therefore, you will be able to use your budget more efficiently.

Many of the top-grade platforms allow for scalability. So, you will be able to scale up your shop with ease. Meanwhile, as your business progresses to the next level, you can start the development of an end-to-end eCommerce solution.

Many of the top platforms have multiple plugins that make it easy to add any features you need. However, not all these platforms are the same. Therefore, you should research their capabilities carefully. Talk to your developers, as they should be able to offer advice on which platform is best suited to your business goals. Today’s most popular options are Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce. Each of them has some important pros and cons. Therefore, you should choose what meets your specific needs best.

Define the procedure to add new products

The process of adding and editing products must be supremely easy for you. Therefore, discuss this with developers in detail and make sure you resolve any issues regarding:

  • Syncing the inventory across all sales channels you have.
  • Adding high-res product images and videos without bringing down the website loading speed.
  • Ease of adding and editing structured product descriptions with SEO elements.

Most importantly, the process has to be set up in such a way that you can add products without involving developers. It means that not only does the process need to be simple. It’s also crucial to set it up so that it won’t bring down the website if you make a simple mistake.

Integrate payment and shipping

It’s a vitally important step in eCommerce website development. Even if you are using an eCommerce platform to build your shop, using the services of an experienced developer is a must. The expert will be able to set up the payment gateways and checkout, so everything runs smoothly.

You will need to offer multiple payment options. So, the developer will have to ensure that they are secure and reliable. The task will be more complicated for businesses that target an international audience. In this case, you will need more diverse payment gateways. Also, consider integrating a specialized bookkeeping solution to help you keep track of your finances and generate reports.

When dealing with international payments, you also need to research the regions carefully. Despite what some providers claim, some e-wallets and digital payment services are banned in specific regions. So, you need to make sure that the payment gateways you choose are actually supported by the areas where your audience resides. Moreover, make sure that the transaction fees they offer are reasonable.

Develop and implement a content strategy

You must have a content strategy ready before getting to actual eCommerce website development. It’s because the site will be much better when it’s built with actual content instead of fillers.

Note that the content strategy is vital for eCommerce. It’s because the content is a parge part of SEO. In turn, SEO is key to attracting organic traffic, which is the primary source of income for online stores.

Your content strategy must cover the following:

  • Establishing a consistent brand voice
  • Creating a structure for informative, captivating, and search engine optimized product descriptions
  • Creating additional information pages about your brand’s history, products, materials, mission, vision, etc.
  • Adding a blog for continuous SEO improvements
  • Integrating social media into the website

Remember that content is not only text. All the images, videos, GIFs, and graphics on the site also count as content. Therefore, you need to keep all of them in the same style and quality.

Moreover, all content must be fresh and relevant. So, you must make sure that there is a way for you to update and add new pages easily. Whether you are building an end-to-end eCommerce solution or a small website, you must make it so that content can be updated without involving a developer.

Final stage of eCommerce website development

Test and launch the website

Finally, you are ready to take the most important final steps with all that done. First, your eCommerce website must undergo thorough QA testing. There are different types of quality assurance testing that will be used. Your developers should be able to perform it or advise how to best go about it.

You can use this simple checklist for testing your website personally:

  • Check all CTAs and other buttons
  • Check all the forms
  • Test the checkout process in every possible way
  • Double-check every payment processing option you offer
  • Go over product categories and descriptions to make sure everything is in its proper place
  • Check every image and video to ensure their quality matches
  • Check every link
  • Go over the inventory to make sure everything is right
  • Test the coupons/promo codes feature
  • Test the shipping settings

When every test is complete, and you are sure that the website runs smoothly, you can launch!

But remember that you’ll need to do quite a bit of marketing pre-launch to make sure that people come to the Big Day. In fact, you should start marketing your business and building your brand while your eCommerce website is still in development.

Bottom Line: The Long Road to ECommerce Website Development

Creating an eCommerce website that is sure to rock is a task that takes a special kind of skill. It also requires a team that’s expert not only in development but also in business analysis, project management, cybersecurity, and marketing.

When you have all these experts working together, your online shop is guaranteed to be successful. Contact us if you want to see how it works!

What Is AI-Driven Software Development?

Posted on by Volodymyr Marynenko

Making things better, faster, and leaner, that’s what AI-driven software development is all about. Integrating AI into software products can help any business achieve incredible results. So, investing in an artificial intelligence software development company has become a trend among business leaders of today. If you consider taking your business to the next level, keep reading to learn how AI can boost your profits.

What Is AI-Driven Software Development?

Simply put, AI-driven software development is a method of adding AI to the software. The result creates an AI-powered platform or app that can be extremely efficient. AI-based tools are highly versatile as there are multiple applications for this technology.

Most often, these solutions are used for automation or to speed up research and analysis. In essence, an AI can do many of the things that a human data analyst can do. However, it processes data at extremely high speeds. In addition, it reduces the risk of human error.

The human expert is needed to make conclusions from the analysis. However, the bulk of gathering, processing, and sorting data can be done by a machine. And this type of AI-powered platform can be used in a great number of ways.

In addition, the machine learning technology that powers AI enables it to improve with every use. Therefore, all AI-based tools continuously grow more efficient, bringing more and more benefits to the user.

An artificial intelligence software development company can do both: use AI technology in the development process and create tools that use this tech.

During software development, AI can be applied at nearly every level:

  • Understanding and refining requirements.
    Outlining and defining requirements for a project is a part of a business analyst’s work in the IT industry. AI can be applied at this stage for automating manual tasks as well as gathering and processing information. The analyst can use this data to come up with a better list of requirements for the project.
  • Design of the app.
    AI can assist with ensuring the accuracy of the app design. A specialized AI-powered platform can facilitate the work of designers and enable them to work faster.
  • Development of the application.
    The actual development is long and hard work that requires a lot of effort from human experts. However, there are some coding tasks that can be automated. It’s a great way to reduce redundancy and speed up the development process.
  • QA testing.
    QA software testing automation powered by AI can achieve outstanding results. AI can catch a greater number of mistakes and test the solution much faster. Human intervention is necessary but assisted by AI the overall productivity of a QA expert increases greatly.

Examples of AI-Driven Software Development in 2022

Personal Assistants

The majority of people now use AI without even thinking about how it’s actually an AI. We mean the use of personal assistants integrated into almost all smartphones and smart-tech. Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa are the most popular among them. With every update, they offer a better and broader scope of services.

These assistants are versatile and can do everything from being your personal butler to running a smart home.

AI-powered platform Marquette as an example of AI-driven software development services

AI Content Generation Software

Content is becoming an ever more prevalent ‘currency’ in the modern world powered by information. Therefore, businesses that want to succeed in the digital space must consistently produce tons of fresh content. It’s hard and expensive work. However, AI-driven software development is offering ways to facilitate it.

Today, you can use an AI content generator, like Rytr or WriteSonic, that will produce texts of varying lengths. Depending on the solution and your subscription level, the levels of the texts will differ. They can range from average blog posts to short targeted messages that can be used as ads, for example.

Another type of an AI-powered platform that can be used for content marketing is Marquètte. Unlike a simple content generator, this product provides the user with information on any topic. Basically, you ask a question and Marquètte delivers an opinion on the matter drawn from the vast database of knowledge that AI can access.

This information can be used as inspiration for content writing or even as a social media post. It can provide you with answers to use on Quora and various forums as a part of your marketing strategy. Moreover, it can simply provide valuable insights that will help you understand a topic or make better business decisions.

Healthcare Apps

AI-driven software development is extremely valuable for the healthcare industry. Variations of the same personal assistants we use daily can literally save people’s lives. There are monitoring apps powered by AI that keep track of a patient’s vitals.

There are apps like Covera Health that reduce the instances of misdiagnosis by combining databases and offering a more detailed list of symptoms. Apps like Well by Chapel Hill, NC, provide people with medical guidance to improve their quality of life. There are also multiple chatbot assistants that help people access healthcare services from remote places.

Healthcare institutions, like the Massachusetts General Hospital, are investing in research and AI-driven software development to come up with unique diagnostic and treatment opportunities.

There are also apps that help manage one’s mental health. For example, Youper offers guidance in meditation and a chatbot to help relieve emotional stress.

Study Apps

An AI-powered platform can become a great learning aid as it itself learns while you are using it. This advantage has been realized in many AI-augmented study apps. For example, there is Socratic, which aids students who learn math, literature, science, and a few other subjects. The app processes images and provides explanations. So, a student only needs to take a picture to learn more about any subject.

AI-driven software development is also useful for language learners. There are apps like Elsa that help understand and learn languages dynamically. Some of them also offer translations in real-time. So, they help travelers as well.

In Conclusion: What Is the Future of AI-Driven Software Development?

The future of AI-powered apps is certainly bright. It’s crucial to understand that the list above is only a drop in the ocean of AI applications. Today you can find an AI-powered platform for marketing, self-driving cars, robotized factories, and many other tech made with the help of AI. Moreover, the number of these products is growing daily.

As it stands, a business that really wants to get the most out of technology today should be using the power of AI. But the question is how do you do this most efficiently?

The answer is simple, you talk to an artificial intelligence software development company about your business. From there on, our experts will be able to help you create a product that will bring the greatest value to your company. There is always a way to boost cost-efficiency and productivity for any business. We are here to help you achieve this!

How to Use an AI Content Generator to Boost Your Content Marketing

Posted on by Volodymyr Marynenko

Are you using an AI content generator for your business already? If not, you should get on with it right away. There is no doubt that content marketing is at the heart of any efficient marketing strategy. In fact, no marketing strategy can exist without content. That’s why over 80% of marketers are actively investing in it.

And that can be a hefty investment because top-grade content is expensive, right?

Wrong!

The world has been changed by AI technology already, and the marketing industry isn’t an exception.

The power of AI makes top-grade marketing strategies affordable to any business, no matter how small. An AI content generation tool, in particular, can ensure that your business has a steady supply of rich content. It can be edited for your target audience by default. Moreover, the AI will use multiple algorithms to ensure maximum impact.

How an AI Content Generator Can Benefit Your Business

This phrase is definitely overused. However, content is still king. It’s the lifeblood of your marketing strategy. You must generate tons of fresh, engaging, and relevant content to get and stay visible in the torrent of the information world we live in. And doing that is extremely hard.

Of course, the best possible way to get the highest-quality content is to hire a team of writers. They will research and work relentlessly to ensure your website and social media channels remain relevant and engaging.

However, the majority of businesses can’t afford that. And even working with freelancers part-time can be too expensive for small and medium businesses in the long run.

Unsurprisingly, the solution to this problem came from rapidly-developing AI-based software. Using an AI container generator allows you to streamline the content creation process. Moreover, this AI-based solution can save you a lot of money and time.

At the moment, even the most advanced AI content writer can’t replace a human professional. However, it can give anyone the power to become a writer.

So, the business gets an affordable source of content that only requires minimal tweaking to use in any marketing strategy. Therefore, your overall marketing costs are going down while the ROI increases exponentially.

How to use an AI content generator to save money on marketing.

What Is an AI Content Generator?

An AI content generation tool is a piece of AI-powered software that can create texts on a wide range of topics. These solutions vary in the types of texts they are able to generate. Those are dictated by the power of the AI used and the skills of the AI-based software product development company.

Usually, the customer will be able to request content of varied length, type, and tone. For example, your options might be:

  • Content in various languages.
    This type of AI content generator is excellent for cutting localization costs for small businesses that want to go global.
  • Different content types.
    The most common options are blog posts, SMM posts, ad copy, email newsletters, etc. In essence, the best AI content writing software will allow you to meet all your content marketing needs. Some solutions will even have specialized templates for you to choose from.
  • Varied tones of voice.
    What is your brand tone? Do you prefer your SMM posts to be fun and easygoing or knowledgeable and sophisticated? Your target audience dictates these requirements. A good AI content generator will give you tone options, so you can ‘hit close to home’ right away.

AI-based content writing is a relatively new industry. Therefore, these solutions are advancing fast now. It means that the benefits you get from an AI content generator are increasing as the quality of texts improves.

Also, note that AI content writing software uses proven copywriting formulas. Therefore, the efficiency of the copy you get is guaranteed. Moreover, the content will also be reader-friendly as you can gear it toward a specific niche. A high readability rate is also assured, which offers SEO perks.

How to Use an AI Content Generation Tool

One of the main benefits of using an AI content writer is the ease of creating any type of content you need. You only need to set up an account. Then, follow the program’s instructions and type in your topic. Next, choose your settings for tone, type, and formatting. Then, click the button to generate the text and wait for results.

Anyone can do this, and you can use the generated piece of content right away. Or, you can go over it to edit some parts to fit your brand voice better. Another option is to have the piece edited by a professional working with the team that created this AI content generator.

It really is that simple.

Just click a couple of buttons and you’ll be able to share rich, engaging content with your audience. This way, you can create even large informative articles up to a thousand words within a few minutes.

Is creating quality content fast something you are interested in?

Our AI-powered platform Marquètte can do this for you! Contact us now to learn more.

We are a team of 200+ qualified software engineers, business analysts, data scientists, project managers, and UI/UX designers. All our professionals hold specialized certifications in their niches and have expertise in complex projects for a variety of industries.

    Contact Us

    sales@devtorium.com

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