October 2023 - RSI Concepts - Top IT Solution Provider Company in Dubai, UAE

October 23, 2023October 23, 2023

How Interactive Kiosks are Enhancing In-Store Engagement and Sales

The retail industry in UAE is huge, there are thousands of local and international brands who have established businesses and retail store chains all around the country. This means a really tough competition, above all the customers in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all around the UAE are also very demanding. This means if a retail business wants to succeed and grow then they must have to ensure their customers are having an excellent experience at their stores. Retail businesses invest a huge chunk of their hard-earned profit into managing and enhancing customer experience. Most of it goes directly to the implementation of the technology and digital solutions. The self-service interactive kiosks are one of the most rapidly growing trend in the UAE. Businesses of all sizes and types are implementing digital interactive kiosks to enhance in-store engagement and sales. That is not all businesses and organizations from all industry sectors are implementing self-service interactive kiosks. In this blog we will discuss how retail businesses can leverage the potential of self-service interactive kiosks to elevate customer experience, enhance customer engagement and to boost their sales and profits.

What is an Interactive Kiosk?

An interactive kiosk is a secure touch screen based device which enable customers to perform tasks, avail services, access information and make a purchase without requiring any help from the staff. The interactive kiosks are used to deliver a seamless self-service experience which not only give your customers more freedom and control over their interaction but it also help businesses to improve their operational performance and human resource management. An interactive kiosk consists of a touch screen display, internal computer, a secure enclosure and a management software. Furthermore there are several features which are very common such as thermal printer and various other kinds of printer, Emirates ID scanner, Credit/Debit Card Scanner, RFID, Document Scanner and various other kind of scanners. Some interactive kiosks also have external keyboard and track pad. However, now a days mostly on-screen keyboard is enough with a properly optimized UI for touch screens. The interactive kiosks can be connected to network via LAN, WiFi or cellular network. Different features, design and type of the kiosk depends on business needs, businesses can also have a customized interactive kiosk for their unique needs.

How Businesses can Enhance in-Store Customer Engagement and Sales?

Businesses are now realizing that the customers are valuing experience a lot, thus the focus has shifted from selling only products to selling good experience along. This also means that the customer engagements are becoming more important and impactful, the more a customer is invested in emotionally and physically, the more chances are to convert them to a sale and begin a relationship with them which can be leveraged to attain loyalty and build a strong brand image over it. Before we discuss what factors help increasing customer engagements and improving their experience, it is also worth mentioning what factors are countering to it. For example, the biggest problem a customer faces in retail stores is difficulty in finding the right product and long waiting lines at the cash counters. These two are also main causes of the higher customer churn. The interactive kiosks not only help customers find the right product, but also provide full access to all available items. The self-checkout kiosks help customers purchase an item and quickly checkout without relying on conventional cash counters.

Where the interactive kiosks are facilitating customers they are also very helpful for businesses. The retail store can use these devices to run their promotions, adverts, marketing and the can easily implement upselling strategies which help them increasing the average sale volume. The retail stores can greatly improve customer experience which ultimately help them building a strong and loyal customer base upon which the businesses can grow and prosper. In this blog we will discuss the key features of interactive kiosks which help retail businesses to enhance in-store customer engagement and boost their sales:

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Quick Service Delivery

In a traditional retail store, the customers usually have to wait for several minutes at cash counters to make the payments. In today’s fast-paced world where the time is one of the most precious commodity, making your customers to wait in long queues will deteriorate their experience. Moreover during the busy hours the long waiting lines are a common sighting at retail stores, during that time offering your customers an alternate checkout channel, much quicker than cash counter could greatly enhance customer experience. The self-checkout retail kiosks are equipped with necessary tools to let customers scan their items and make payments, completely independently. The interactive kiosks comes in multi-lingual user interfaces (UIs) which are very helpful in a multi-cultural society. Furthermore the on-screen instructions and information also make customer journey quicker and simpler. Customers can also access their reward accounts and redeem them if they wanted to. The interactive self-checkout kiosk for retail also enable customers to make payment with multiple payment methods such as some with cash and some with credit/debit card, they can scan discount vouchers and they can redeem their reward points if they want to. These features greatly increase customer happiness and satisfaction.

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Better In-Store Experience

The interactive kiosks have bright flashing display often running multimedia content on it which attracts customers and passerby. Businesses can provide access to important information via these self-service interactive kiosks. The customers have endless desires and choices, they tend to compare multiple products before making a purchase decision. That is because there are always multiple options available for the customers, which often make it difficult for them to make a decision. An interactive kiosk can provide customers access to different items along with their descriptions, features and all relevant information and also let them compare both in terms of price and features which help customers quickly take a decision. The interactive kiosks comes with a very powerful software tool which is integrated with other important systems and databases. This integration allow interactive kiosks to provide real-time data and updated information such as it will enable customers to see if the item is available or not, which variants and what stock is available, how much discount they can get, etc. Such information can greatly enhance customer experience and increase in-store engagements.

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Higher Customer Satisfaction

The customers who are using a retail self-checkout interactive kiosk are more likely to be happy and satisfied with their experience. As it is a quicker service channel and it provides easy access to information and content which help customers making their decision quickly. Furthermore these interactive kiosks comes with an intuitive multi-lingual user interface and several other software and hardware based features which are designed to enhance customer experience. A good customer experience means higher customer satisfaction. The customers can easily access to their inventory, compare multiple products and gain full control over their cart. They can add or remove an item whenever they want during the customer journey. It is worth mentioning that not all of your staff would have full knowledge of all of the products, however, the self-service interactive kiosk can provide full details about any product the customer is looking for. Furthermore the businesses can also personalized customer experience based on their demographic data, purchase pattern and much more. All these features are very helpful and add value to customer experience which translates in customer satisfaction.

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Better Inventory Management

One of the biggest advantage of self-checkout interactive kiosks is that they can very capable tool of collecting analytical and statistical data which can drastically improve your management and decision making processes. The interactive kiosk software features smart algorithms which are very capable of collecting business intelligence data and converting it into actionable reports which reports can be integrated in decision making process to make informed decisions. Businesses can not only understand which products or which variants are more in demand, but they can also acquire a deeper understanding of individual customer behavior which can help them personalized customer experience while they are interacting at the kiosk or other channels. The system can automatically make suggestions for products, add-ons and promotions as per the customer liking and past purchase pattern which can greatly increase the chances of sale and also enhance customer experience and raise their satisfaction. The businesses intelligence data also help businesses to prepare their inventory as per the customer trends and also help them improve the accessibility and visibility of the products which also help increasing sales.

Interactive Kiosk for Retail Business: Boost Performance and Productivity

The self-checkout kiosk, information kiosk, interactive signage and any other interactive kiosks are designed to aid the staff. Most businesses often think that these devices could replace the staff, but that is not correct. The interactive kiosks are meant to enhance customer experience and boost staff efficiency. With the implementation of self-checkout counters, informational kiosks and interactive signage businesses can lift heavy workload from the staff which not only provide a quicker alternate channel but also help the staff to focus more their primary tasks which enable them to deliver excellent customer service and improved customer experience. The implementation of interactive kiosks at a retail business also help management optimizing the human resource and help them leveraging the full potential of their staff. The interactive kiosks keep customers engaged while providing them all the information they want, businesses can also put videos, photos, and multimedia content to provide more details. This let your staff free from most of customer enquiries and allow them to focus on more productive tasks. High performing staff and a productive operation is a key to long term success and higher profitability.

Conclusion

Retail businesses in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and everywhere in UAE knows very well that their customers often have multiple options and they can switch quickly. In fact on bad experience is enough to send your customer to a competitor. This demands highest level of service and high-performing operation. A good customer experience is a key to customer satisfaction, now a days customers tend to prefer businesses and brands who offer them better experience. The interactive kiosks are a great way to enhance in-store customer engagements. Businesses can utilize a variety of different interactive kiosks for different purposes. The information kiosks are usually placed in different sections and the customers can quickly access information about the products in that particular section, they can also explore other sections and get real-time inventory and stock updates, prices, promotions and much more right from the kiosk.

Businesses often put interactive self-checkout kiosks where the customer can scan their cart, make payments, and perform several other tasks and all that is completely self-service. This empowers customers, gives them more control and also help businesses improving human resource management. All these benefits of interactive kiosks can greatly enhance customer experience and boost sales. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to design a customized interactive kiosk for your business, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

October 18, 2023October 18, 2023

The Cost of Custom Software Development: Factors to Consider

Every business is unique, and it is this uniqueness that help them gaining competitive advantage and it also attracts more customers. It is very obvious that businesses belongs to same industry must be selling almost similar products, however, most of the business leaders are agreed that every business took a different evolutionary path which is why every business has a distinct organizational culture, internal processes, workflows, mechanisms to deal with obstacles, strategies, policies and even goals. And the markets in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other cities of UAE are moving in a direction which will further amplify this diversification. Business leader all around the world encourage such evolution and encourage innovation. This proves that every business could have different business needs and internal workflows which demand a software solution that not only aligns with their unique business needs but also be supportive for their emerging needs and could remain relevant for coming years as well. The traditional off-the-shelf software solutions fell short in meeting unique business needs, as these solutions are designed for masses considering industry standards and popular trends. There is very little to no room for customization. However, the custom software development provides a tailor-made software solution which fully aligns with your unique business needs and requirements.

Why Businesses Prefer Custom Software Development over Off-the-shelf Solutions?

Over the time the custom software development have become an essential component of a business to support their growth by driving efficiency, performance and productivity. The custom software development is also considered more cost effective comparing to commercial off-the-shelf solutions. The off-the-shelf solutions offer very little customization, and that too is very expensive. However, a business can mold their custom software whenever they want and however they want. Unlike cloud-based or off-the-shelf solutions, the businesses owns the proprietary and full ownership rights to their customized software solution. Which also give them more security and allow them to host their crucial data with themselves. The off-the-shelf solutions evolve slowly, unless some requirement have become universal usually the vendors don’t include them However businesses can make any change any time to their custom software to maintain optimum level of efficiency and efficacy. All these advantages are turning most of the business in UAE to custom software development.

How much Custom Software Development Costs?

On an average a custom software tool could cost you from very humble AED 20,000 to a whooping AED 250,000 or it could be even more. The cost of a custom software development project depends on your requirements, needs, choice of platform, and even the choice of development team. Different experts charge on different rates, some would charge you AED 50 to AED 200 per hour, some might charge you even more, and it mainly depends on their expertise and level of experience and also on your technology choice. When it comes to custom software development, businesses often make several mistakes which later on cause them to pay more than they needed to. In this blog we will discuss the key factors that influence the cost of custom software development project and how businesses can be more mindful to minimize the cost and maximize the ROI of their custom software development project. Another important thing to consider is that you would be needing the maintenance service for your software as well. Usually business need at least one to three years of service, support, and maintenance for any particular customized software solution and that too should be considered during cost estimation.

Important Factors That Influence the Cost of Custom Software Development

There are several factors that can influence the overall cost of your custom software development. However, it is important to learn what those factors are and how you can optimize them to minimize your cost. Here are the most influential factors that would mainly determine the cost of your custom software development project:

Cost of Custom Software Development: Software Complexity

This is one of the major and most influential factor in determining the cost and planning of your custom software development project. If you are a small business or a startup, and you need to streamline an internal process, you would be needing a simple application, but if you are a large business, operating in many regions with multiple branches, then for the same purpose your software application would be much complex. The software complexity is usually determined by the software size, number of functions it has, number of users and user roles, and integration needs. For example, if you need to build a corporate website, it would have a homepage, some products/services pages and contact us page with a contact form and Google Map integration, however, if you need a SaaS ERP solution, that would be 100 times more complex and sophisticated than a humble website.

Usually the software complexity is classified in three groups:

Software Complexity – Basic: Fewer features, less users, and small size. It could cost you around AED 20,000 to somewhere around AED 40,000
Software Complexity – Medium/Average: Lots of features, user roles, multiple user groups, and comparatively large software size. It could cost your around AED 40,000 to AED 200,000
Software Complexity – High: Tons of features, dedicated dashboards, complex user roles, diverse user base, advanced technologies, highly sophisticated structure, large-scale integration and extremely large software size. It could cost your around AED 200,000 to AED 500,000+

Important Factors That Influence the Cost of Custom Software Development

Furthermore the user type of the software can also increase or decrease its complexity. For example, if a software is meant to be utilized by an internal team, let say the HR staff, that software might not be usable for a layman. However, if a business is offering some services from their online portal, that customer portal would be used by people with different levels of technical proficiencies and in some cases you might have to make it multi-lingual, however, for the HRMS or a tool for HR might not require that kind of simplicity. Therefore there are multiple factors that can add up to a software’s complexity or sophistication. The number of required functionalities could also make your custom software development lengthier and complex. It is not only about the number of functionalities but how these functionalities are working would impact the complexity of a software application. For example, a certain feature which requires a simple mathematical problems let say, calculating percentage is a simple function, however, a function that requires the software to communicate with other databases and interact with other software would be complex and complicated. So all these factors will determine the complexity of a software and the complexity of the software will influence the price of your custom software development project.

Cost of Custom Software Development: Software Complexity

Cost of Custom Software Development: Development Team

The software development team that you chose for your custom software development project could also make huge difference in the cost of the project. There are several factors that are important to understand the cost of the development team. For example, here in UAE businesses usually have two choices, on-shore team or off-shore team. There is a big difference between the pricing/rates of companies that are located inside the UAE or are from outside such as from India, Pakistan, or any other Asian country. This can make a huge difference, but it is also important that your agreement is only secured with the company or business that is located inside the UAE. Other off-shore software development agencies will most likely asked you for upfront. If you are hiring a team consisting of highly experienced developers then the cost would obviously be very high. This can be optimized based on the complexity of your software application. If you need a simple one you can chose a mid-level agency or team who can offer you best price without compromising on the quality. There is another most important factor, for example, if you need a CRM and the team you are hiring is specialized in developing webapps, then they cost would be high. The team is very much capable of building a CRM but they are not specialized in it, so they will take more time and they had to do more efforts to deliver it which will obviously increase your cost. So it is important to choose a team wisely and do some research to optimize the cost of your custom software development project.

Cost of Custom Software Development: Technology and Platform

Another most important thing to consider is the technology and platform that you are choosing. If we take an example of mobile apps, the native apps are always expensive and the hybrid apps cost you less. For native apps, you will have to have different developer for both Android and iOS. However, a single team can build a hybrid app for both of the platforms, this is why the native apps are expensive and the hybrid apps are very cost-effective. Similar if you need a web-app that would be cheaper than building a software tool for Windows OS or Linux OS. If you need a software solution then you must chose the platforms wisely because this could have a huge impact on the cost. Furthermore if we talk about the technology it is the tools and programing platforms. For example, the .NET and PHP are two widely used technologies for the backend development and widely popular not only in UAE but all around the world. Typically most of the developers chose to work with PHP this means the PHP developers are widely available in the market, however, the .NET developers are less. This also means that the per hour cost of a PHP developer would be lower than the .NET developer and this could have a huge impact on your overall cost. Therefore when you are choosing the platform and technology you should chose the ones that are more common and easily available in the market.

Conclusion

The customized software solutions are very common these days. Businesses in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and all around the UAE are turning towards custom software development to meet their exclusive and unique business needs. It is important for a business to stand out of crowd in a competitive market. And businesses tend to be different and unique from others even though they operate in a same industry or offer similar kind of products and services. This is the reason every business have their own unique needs, requirements, preferences, internal processes, workflows and even the entire organizational culture. The off-the-shelf software solutions are not designed for individual businesses, in fact these tools and apps are designed for masses based on industry standards and popular market trend. That is the reason the off-the-shelf software solutions failed to fully align with your business needs. Furthermore the businesses keep evolving and growing, a good software solutions must have to be able to support growth. That is only possible with a customized software solutions that is tailor-made for your needs and you have full control and authority over it. The custom software development is a crucial but expensive process. It requires a lot of research, patience and budget. However, some businesses due to lack of understanding of the custom software development process, eventually end up paying more for what they bargained for.

In this blog we have listed the most important and most influential factors that determine the cost of a custom software development project. If you follow the tips above and understand all these factors you can easily optimize the cost of your next custom software development project. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help with your next custom software development project, please feel free to contact us though our Contact Us page or leave a comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

October 16, 2023October 17, 2023

How to Create Effective Email Marketing Campaigns

It is a common misconception that the email marketing is not as that effective anymore, however, studies have revealed that the email marketing is still one of the best digital marketing tool which could return up to $40 against each $1 spent. The problem is that this misconception is widespread, and the reason behind it is that most of the businesses doesn’t know how to create an effective email marketing campaigns and how to fully leverage a modern email marketing system and automation, which lead to their disbelief in email marketing. There is nothing wrong with the email marketing it is still the most effective and impactful digital marketing and communication tool, the problem is that most of the businesses are unable to leverage it at its full potential. The emails are not only used for digital marketing, but an effective email marketing campaign can be used for brand awareness, customer relationship building and nurturing leads to convert them in to sales. This makes email marketing one of the most powerful marketing and communication medium and Building a Successful Email Marketing Funnel with Email Marketing System was never easier before. The email marketing campaigns are usually used for pushing personalized content, boosting customer engagements, improving communication, generating traffic for your website, collecting customer feedbacks, generating and nurturing leads and much more. In this blog we will discuss how a business can create an effective and successful email marketing campaign to achieve their objectives.

What is the different between email marketing and email communication?

There is a striking difference between email marketing and email communication. Both have different goals and objectives and technically both are part of a modern day digital marketing campaign. The email marketing in simple words is a marketing strategy where the emails are used as the primary medium to promote products/services and share your brand’s value to existing customers and prospects. The prime objective of email marketing campaign is to boost sales, improve lead generation and lead conversion and engage existing customers. Whereas the email communication is simply sending emails, reminders, acknowledgments, announcements, etc. to the existing customers. Now a day’s the difference between email communication and email marketing is shrinking, especially when your target is customer engagement but one distinguishing difference between email marketing and email communication is that the email marketing campaign is usually sent to mass audience which includes both customers and non-customers, but the email communication is usually only for existing customers and the email communication could be for individual customers as well as a group of customers or it could be aimed for the entire customer data.

How to Design an Effective Email Marketing Campaign?

Before we discuss different aspects of email marketing campaign it is important to consider and understand how these emails are perceived by your audience. According to a research article published in The Telegraph, humans have shorter attention span than a goldfish!, the research was conducted by experts from Microsoft and the reason behind this phenomenon is the intensive use of smartphone. Now a day’s the human attention span is roughly about 8 seconds which was about 12 seconds in the year 2000, whereas a goldfish have an attention span of almost 9 seconds. This phenomenon is crucial to understand as your email will get only somewhere from 5 to 8 seconds of attention and during that short span of time your email should incite the interest of the user to compel them to read it further and if you succeed in attraction readers, they might convert too.

Here are important things to consider while preparing your email marketing campaigns:

Effective Email Marketing Campaign: From Name

What is the first thing you notice when you receive an email? The sender name or from name. That is the very first thing everyone notice when they receive an email. Hence the ‘from name’ is the most important element to work at while preparing your email campaign. And that is the reason why in many desktop and mobile email clients display the sender’s name in larger, bolder and more prominent text than anything else. Therefore a majority of your audience’s decision of opening the email will solely base on the ‘from name’ or ‘sender name’. For any successful email marketing campaign it is crucial to optimize this factor and the best way to do it is by using a familiar ‘from name’ or sender name. Think from the reader’s prospective, would you rather open an email from an unknown sender or from a businesses or person you know or at least heard of. Obviously people will prefer to open an email from a familiar sender therefore it is important to use a familiar sender name or simply put your business name in the ‘from name’, the goal here is to make is as much familiar to your audience as possible.

Effective Email Marketing Campaign: Subject Line

After the sender name the second most important thing is the subject line or simply the ‘subject’ of your email. Poorly written subject lines are mostly ignored and people doesn’t open such emails. Most of the email clients and devices also highlight email subject with a bolder, larger and darker text. Almost everyone notices it. Both the sender name or ‘from name’ and the email subject line can have huge effect on your emails’ open rate. If these two factors are not properly optimized your most of the emails will go unopened. The first and most important thing to consider while optimizing the email subject is that it should be short and it should also convey value, or highlight the benefit user can get which will compel the reader to open up the email and see how this can be beneficial for them. The second thing to consider is the length of the subject line, although the advisable length is 30 characters, however, it can also be longer than that. According to many experts the email subject line’s length doesn’t have much impact, but in most of the devices and platforms only first 30 characters would be visible, so your message should be conveyed in first 30 characters. These tips will help you optimize your subject line which can greatly increase the open rate.

Effective Email Marketing Campaign: Preheader Text

The preheader text is the short summary which followed by the subject line. This short summary or preheader text is placed just underneath the subject line in the inbox, therefore it can also have significant influence in compelling the readers to open the email. Optimizing the preheader text can greatly improve the email open rate. It the preheader text is not properly optimized, doesn’t convey any message or is incoherent from the subject or sender name, the chances are more than 70% of your audience will never going to open your emails. There are three major elements, the from name, subject line and then the preheader text, all three should be synchronized completely and should be able to convey a message which is appealing enough to compel your reader to open your email campaign. The preheader text, subject line and the ‘from name’ will help you boost your open rate, which is the first step towards success of your email marketing campaign. Another most important thing to consider is that your email content and all these three factors should be properly customized for the targeted audience, the generic subject and preheader text doesn’t compel most of the audience which is one of the main cause of the failure.

See Also: Importance of Digital Marketing

Effective Email Marketing Campaign: Preheader Text

Effective Email Marketing Campaign: Email Body or Body Content

As you have completely understood how to drive email opens using the sender name, subject line and an appealing preheader text, it is time to optimize the click through rate and generate the real value from your email campaign. Once a reader opened your email now it is all about the body content, if that is content succeed to deliver the right message, you are most likely to achieve your campaign goals. There is not set of rules or a successful template which can offer you a magical body copy. The best way to prepare your email body content is to make it short, simple, easy-to-understand and convey the genuine benefits of what your product/service or solution can bring to your customers. Do not brag about your features, make it short and to the point, don’t fill your email body with paragraphs upon paragraphs and images or links, just keep it simple, short and clean. Just remember two things while writing your email copy:

What your product or service does?
What benefits reader can get if they acquire your solutions?

You can also highlight what problems your product or service can solve but it is extremely important to keep your email copy shot and to the point.

See Also: Branding and Online Marketing

Effective Email Marketing Campaign: Email Body or Body Content

Here are some important elements that you can use in your email body copy to make it more appealing and effective:

Instruction: Include a relevant article or blog-post which describes more about your product or service and how to use it.
Engagement: The email body copy must be engaging and interesting, it shouldn’t use any technical or legal language, instead it should use simple and easy to understand language.
Targeted Content: You should segment your email data into most relevant targeted groups and then direct your communication to align it with their interests.
Nurture Relationship: A successful email marketing campaign requires to slowly build and nurture relationships with your prospects which will eventually help you convert them to customers.
Simple Design: Keep your design simple with a combination of both plain text and HTML, it will also help you to pass from most of the email filters or security systems.
Offer Service: It is important to focus on what you can offer instead of focusing on what you want your reader to do to make them convert.
Add Links: It is important to include useful links for blogs, articles, portfolio or knowledge base but do not overdo it. Use fewer links possible as it will distract your readers.
Contact Details: It is extremely important to put your address, contact number and even emails in your email, as it not only help reader to connect with your business but also build trust.

It is important that your email campaign is planned in upfront, all your messages should be planned to take the reader from the sales funnel and eventually convert them into loyal customers. A well-thought email copy or body content can boost your chances of success by up to 60%.

A well-thought email copy or body content can boost your chances of success by up to 60%

Effective Email Marketing Campaign: CTA Button

The CTA Button (call-to-action) plays a crucial role in success of an email marketing campaign. It is an extremely important and influential element of your email. The message you put on it the color scheme you use for it and even the text style and size also matters and have tangible effect on your click through rate (CTR) and conversion rate. Most of the time businesses done CTA buttons wrong and undermine the overall performance of their email campaign. However, setting up your CTA button is a very simple thing, the key here is to make it relevant and clarify what it will do for the reader. For example, you can label it as “book a free appointment/demo for [product name]”. The key here is that your CTA button should be aligned with the rest of the email and it should enforce the same message/benefit you are emphasizing on throughout your entire email. This will not only increase the click through rate but it will also eliminate any perceived obstacles that the reader might have in their minds. It is also important to avoid commonly used friction words. A friction word perceived as an action which most of the time reader doesn’t want to do, for example, download brochure, apply now, order now or submit, etc. These words doesn’t clarify the action in adequate details and could be misleading. A well-crafted CTA button can greatly increase the chances of success of your email marketing campaign.

How to Avoid Email Filters and Improve Deliverability?

If you follow all of the above steps, invest both time and efforts and create an excellent email marketing campaign, but at the end your emails are filtered-out by spam filters and security systems, your all hard work will be wasted. With every passing day the security and safety concerns are rising, this is compelling security solution providers to tighten their policies and develop systems which effectively prevent spammers to reach out to a common email user. Where this is great from the reader’s prospective it could become problematic for a common marketer who is not much familiar with these complex and sophisticated security systems. According to Wikipedia, almost 180 billion spams are sent every day, yes, you read it right it is ‘billion’, 180 billion. However, if you are sending a genuine message it is very simple to avoid these spam filters.

Avoid using “buy” or “free” too many times in your email copy
Request your readers to whitelist you or add you to their contacts
Customize your communication for the targeted audience groups
Use a real reply-to and sender email addresses (use business domain)
Avoid infusing too much HTML code in your emails
Keep your email’s size as small as possible
Do not include too many links in your email
Use organically-generated contact lists
Avoid using purchased or rented email databases
Chose a good and well-reputed email hosting/email server provider

It is important that you make sure your emails doesn’t caught up in spam filters and are designed exclusively for the targeted audience. Because if you are doing a mass email shootout then your email would be unwanted for most of your audience, and most of these users are likely to mark you as spam which will eventually blacklist you among connected networks and prevent your emails from reaching to even to your targeted audience as well. Furthermore, using your business domain email address for your email marketing campaigns not only increase deliverability but it also help building trust and give your audience confidence to open your message.

How to Avoid Email Filters and Improve Deliverability?

Conclusion

The email marketing campaigns are still one of the most cost-effective digital marketing tool with a potential of generating $40 at every $1 spent on email marketing. However, most of the businesses are failed to leverage it. There are several reasons of failure of an email marketing campaigns, such as, your emails are failing to pass spam filter, even if they land in the inbox it is not appealing enough to compel a user to click on it and open it. Let say if your subject line and preheader text is optimized even then if your email copy is not engaging enough or failed to present the value proposition, your campaign will fail. Therefore if you are creating an email marketing campaign you should properly optimize each and every element from sender name, subject line and preheader text to the email server you are using and everything in between should be up-to-the mark if you want to achieve your goals. In this email we have briefly discussed all crucial elements of an email marketing campaign. If you follow the above listed steps and tips you can easily create an effective email marketing campaign which can greatly help you achieve your business goals. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want us to help with your email marketing campaigns, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

October 14, 2023October 14, 2023

Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Your Custom Software Development Project

In the today’s technology driven world, the businesses are dependent on software solutions more than ever before. Especially in competitive markets like Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other cities of UAE where the customers are also very demanding and tech savvy the software solutions have become absolutely essential to ensure greater operational efficiency, productivity and performance of the entire business. Where the integration of technology become deeper and raise new needs for software solutions, the custom software development industry have also evolved in UAE. Once software tools thought to be meant for high-value and large-scale enterprises are now in the reach of a startup, thanks to the advancements in the software development tools and technologies, now a days, building a great software solution is not a luxury anymore. Every business can build software tools to drive performance and productivity which can gain them the much needed competitive advantage and help them stand out of the crowd. The commercial off-the-shelf software solutions more often doesn’t fulfill all the needs, hence businesses are turning to custom software development. The custom software development not only offer exclusive solutions and tools that perfectly aligns with business needs but it also tend to offer better ROI in longer run. In this blog we will go through a step-by-step guide to planning and executing your custom software development project which can drive efficiency, improve workflows and processes and enhance customer experience for your business.

Why do You Need a Custom Software Development Project Plan?

When it comes to deploy a new software solution your project goals could fall in any of the three, operational improvements, customer experience improvement or improved management process and workflows. When it comes to the commercial off-the-shelf software solutions is relatively easier to carry out market research, done a competitive analysis and chose the right tool or solution as per your needs. However, when it comes to developing a custom software, the businesses must have to do in-depth analysis, research and due diligence to ensure the final product will fulfill their needs. Since comparing two or more existing products is easier, you can simply signup for trials or have demos to compete COTS, however, in case of custom software development, there is no product hence your project plan will help transforming your software requirements into a fully functional software solutions. That is why a proper and comprehensive project plan is absolutely essential.

Your project plan will help you understand the following very basic questions that will help you effectively executing your custom software development project:

What technology or tools you will be needing to develop your custom software?
Which department is the project owner and who are the main stakeholders?
Who will be managing the software and who will be the primary users of the software?
What skillset and resources do you need in your team?
What external resources you will be needing?
What your success will look like? What are your success criterions?
How much time is required to develop your custom software solution?
What is your budget limitations? What is the estimated cost including all assumption (if any) you are making to estimate the cost of your custom software solution?

These are just a few questions that will help you align your project with your timelines and budgetary limitations. A project plan for your custom software development project will mainly cover, requirement analysis, ideation, concept, development process, testing and deployment, post-launch processes and obviously documentation. Everything has to be documented properly to ensure an effective and successful project execution.

Why do You Need a Custom Software Development Project Plan?

How to Setup a Successful Plan for your Custom Software Development Project?

A successful project plan is essential for a successful custom software development project. It is important to understand that a business have to invest a lot of resources, efforts and time to develop a custom software therefore the stakes are very high and businesses must have to make sure that the final product resonates perfectly with the set success factors. Businesses often doesn’t pay much attention to the planning phase, overlooking its importance, which lead to unsuccessful custom software development projects and result in loss of a lot of resources, time and money. Here is a step-by-step guide to planning your customer software development which will raise your success probability to 100% if the plan is properly executed.

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 1. Define High-Level Workflow

The high-level workflow of your custom software development project will help you segment the entire project and understand how each stage transitions to the next stage. It is a common misconception among the businesses in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and in fact all around the UAE that only the launch is the most important stage of a project, however, a good high-level workflow for a custom software development project must look like the following:

Planning –> Designing and Development –> Launch –> Final Delivery –> Maintenance

Most of the time the key stakeholders emphasize much on the launch and delivery phase, while completely ignoring the importance of the previous stages. Which cause several problems and sometimes cause serious issues which require to make major changes in the software which also result in delays and increase the overall cost of your custom software development project. Therefore it is crucial to define a high-level workflow before starting your custom software development project.

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 1. Define High-Level Workflow

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 2. Define the Scope of Your Project Plan

The scope of the project plan is a pretty vague term, however, it can easily be understood. A good way to define the scope of a project is to first determine the project timeline, importance, and sophistication. Any custom software development project which is meant to last longer than 2 weeks must require a proper upfront plan in order to ensure success. However, some custom software projects might last longer than 6 months, for such projects it is difficult to plan for the entire project, hence the planning could be done for 4 to 6 months chunks. Because in custom software development projects most of the time after six months due to external, internal or some unexpected circumstances will most likely render your estimation inaccurate, if not fully inaccurate there would be some off-set, which must be accounted for. Therefore it is a good practice to plan for maximum 6 months and not longer than that and after 5 or 6 months revisit your plan and set course accordingly as per the current circumstances to ensure success.

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 3. Define Success Factors and Project Outcome

This is one of the most part of a project plan. Every project has a purpose and a business ultimately want to achieve something with their custom software development project, for that they business must have a criteria or expectations which will define the success factors. It is important to clearly define what the success of the project will look like, it could be from functional point of view or from performance point of view or it should be the improvements the software could bring to existing processes and workflows, or customer experience, whatever it is, your success factors should be clearly defined and listed. All the stakeholders must be taken onboard at this stage and all the success factors should be discussed thoroughly with all stakeholders and approval should be taken if needed to ensure there won’t be any surprise at the end for any stakeholder or user group. This cannot be done without considering the custom software development process, and for that most of the time some assumptions are made, which should also be discussed thoroughly with the stakeholders with the possible outcomes to ensure all goals are met and the target is achieved.

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 4. Estimate the Project Workload

This is the time when a proper blueprint of the project has to be written. For that the project manager should engage the development team whether it is in-house team or an outsourcing custom software development partner, the actual programmers, software developers and engineers should be onboard during this phase. As all the requirements are set, the final outcome is defined and the success factors are set, now is the time to estimate the actual workload of your custom software development project. This is the workload involving the software designing and development teams, who will be performing various different tasks. Furthermore the responsibilities of every team or team member can also be divided into individual tasks, and accordingly a timeline is set for each task which then should be accumulated to estimate the total project workload and estimate the time and effort required to deliver a successful project. It is important to take feedback from each individual team member on each individual task rather than asking only supervisor or team leads or managers to give an overall estimation. It is important to understand that the project workload estimation could have significant influence on the cost of the project that is why this stage is important.

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 5. Scrutinize the Estimation

The significance of the estimation of project workload is very crucial for a successful deliver of your custom software project. That is why it is absolutely necessary to scrutinize it thoroughly and repeat it many times if needed. But most of the time when project managers are repeating the estimation or cross-questioning the teams and team members their prime agenda is to minimize the timelines and encourage quicker deliver. However, that is not a correct approach. The project manager should provide full freedom to each individual team mate to let them express themselves freely, however, questioning their feedback will help refining the estimation and will also keep your team motivated to deliver good quality work. Here another important thing to consider is that the custom software development projects are often complex and sophisticated and a lot many assumptions are also made, which sometimes proven to be incorrect or slightly off-set. That is why it is important to keep some room for errors and mistakes and consider some gaps for the unforeseen circumstances and unexpected scenarios to ensure you don’t miss any milestone or even the overall deadline.

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 6. Setup and Define Milestones

Setting up milestone and clearly defining them is important, it will help the project manager and the development team to track the progress throughout the custom software development project. There could be a high-level milestones marking different stages or phases of the software development process such as design, development, MVP, completion, testing, delivery, etc. Or each of this milestone can further be divided into many more to improve the performance and progress. Some custom software development project teams follow a modular approach where the entire software application is developed in form of different module on a single platform. These kind of project management method ensure each module deliver all the needed features and fulfill all of customer’s expectation. Whatever approach you follow the important thing is that your custom software development project must be divided into several stages or phases with pre-set milestone marking different levels of progress to ensure the development process remains on track which is a key to successful project delivery.

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 7. Resource Forecasting

After estimating the workload, setting up milestones, and defining the success factors now a project manager can easily forecast resources required to deliver the project. As the entire custom software development project is divided into several phases and milestones are set for each phase, now it is easier to accurately forecast which resource or technical team and personals would be needed at which stage. For example, the initially phase is the designing at this stage, the design team would have to lift the heavy load and later on during the development phase only the software developer, programmers and engineer would be working on the project, and very little input would be needed from other teams. Similarly at the testing phase and deployment phase different teams and different resources would be needed, hence there is no need to engage the entire skillset throughout the custom software development project execution. This also help improving the project management and speeding up the entire process. It is important thing to understand that adding more resources to the team or engaging more people at a time won’t guarantee a fast-paced project execution, in fact it will further complicate it and could even slow down the progress.

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 8. Consider Changes and Obstacles

It is extremely difficult to ensure a seamless custom software development project execution, one way or another something will eventually go wrong which could cause revisions, changes and delays. Your custom software development project plan must have room for changes. That is a very simple process, it can be done by holding up a meeting or discussion with all stakeholders from the management and development side and asking everyone of their pinion thus concluding the most obvious things which could go wrong and at the same time defining a strategy and plan of action for mitigation. This step usually referred as pre-mortem session, even if you do not conduct a pre-mortem you should account the changes and delays in order to ensure the project executes smoothly and the deadlines are met successfully. A great way to dealing with such risks is to make a proper list of all expected risks, delays and obstacles along with a realistic mitigation strategy. This list could be very helpful for both the development team and the management throughout your custom software development project execution process.

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 9. Conduct a Thorough Post-Project Review

Businesses operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi or anywhere in UAE doesn’t usually conduct a post-mortem or post-project review of their custom software development project. One of the biggest reason of neglecting the post-mortem review or post-project review is that the project teams and resources are immediately dismantled and appointed to other tasks as soon as a project got completed or delivered. The post-project review consists of discussion and feedbacks. The discussions and feedbacks are aimed to answer the following few important questions:

What lessons have we learned during this custom software development project?
Was the project successful or not or how much of project goals are achieved?
What actual value or benefits our business will get from this custom software development project?
What went as per expectations, what went well, and how this can be done in future projects?
What went wrong, why it went wrong and what can be done to avoid it in future projects?

These are some very simple open-ended questions and everyone should be able to share their opinion and thought freely. Which can be further processed and analyzed to make them a useable charter for future projects. If the post-mortem or post-project review is ignored your businesses will have to spend time and resources in learning this over and over again. That is why it is important to allocate resources for post-project review in the planning of your customer software development project.

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 9. Conduct a Thorough Post-Project Review

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 10. Service and Maintenance

Here in UAE it is common that large businesses have in-house teams who are developing custom software tools for their needs. However, acquiring services of a professional software development agency is also common for large-scale or sophisticated projects. Small and medium sized businesses usually outsource their software development projects as they usually don’t have sufficient in-house resources to be able to handle custom software development projects. Regardless of the size or industry of your business the either your will maintain the software in-house or you will outsource it to get the technical support and maintenance tasks done. When it comes to outsourcing businesses usually prefer to take AMCs (annual maintenance contracts) form the same software development agency who has developed the software or either they go for another vendor.

It is extremely important to include a proper plan for support and maintenance in your custom software development project plan. If you are choosing a maintenance and support service provider other than the company who developed your custom software then you should consider the transition of service requirements to ensure a smoother handover and transition to the service provider whether it is a third-party vendor, outsourcing partner or in-house team. Because it requires a lot of resources and time to handover a complete software solution to a team for maintenance and if that is not done, it could not only cause serious issues but it will also hinder the performance and impact of your custom software application.

Custom Software Development Project Plan: Step 10. Service and Maintenance

Conclusion

Businesses operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi or anywhere in UAE are turning away from commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) solutions and leveraging the remarkable potential of customized software solutions. This also empowered the software development industry in the country and further make tailored solutions more accessible all sizes and industries. Businesses are relying on custom software development to drive performance and operational efficiency which help them gaining competitive advantage and customer satisfaction. However, when it comes to developing a customized software solution most businesses overlooked the important of developing a proper project plan before starting the work. Businesses do have project plan but it is not as that comprehensive as it should have to be, which results in a complete failure or partial success. A well-crafted customer software development project plan is absolutely essential to ensure success, as it provides a complete roadmap to transform your unique business requirements into a fully functional software solution which can deliver performance and efficiency as per your goals and expectations.

This blog covers a complete step-by-step guide to planning your custom software development project and equally beneficial for small, medium or large custom software development projects. Regardless of the size, scope, duration or complexity of the project if you make a plan following the above mentioned steps you can easily execute a successful custom software development project. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you need our help with you custom software development project, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

October 9, 2023October 9, 2023

Why Businesses should offer Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps?

Everyone knows waiting in long queues could be so frustrating, whether it is a bank, a hospital, a retail store or a government office, the long waiting lines bother everyone. The long queues are not only wasting your customers’ valuable time but are also very frustrating for your staff. Long waiting lines and crowded waiting areas deteriorate customer experience and also engage your staff in activities which doesn’t produce much value and hinder productivity of your branch or business. In order to enhance customer experience and improve performance businesses started adopting to modern queuing practices and deploying digital queue management systems. A token management system or queue management system is a combination of hardware devices driven by a powerful smart software engine. With the passage of time the queue management systems also evolved and become more effective and impactful. Now a days a queue management system is not limited to just reducing the wait time, but it can offer a plethora of features which help businesses improving customer journey and their staff performance. In this blog we will discuss how integrated queue management system smartphone apps can great enhance customer experience and branch performance.

What is Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone App?

An integrated queue management system smartphone app is a mobile application developed exclusively for allowing users to interact with the queue management system even remotely via the internet. The integrated queue management system smartphone apps are developed for both Android and iOS, now a days’ hybrid mobile apps are also used. The word integrated here represents various different types of integrations of the smartphone apps with other systems, tools and databases. It usually depends on the nature of business and services you want to offer through your queue management system smartphone apps, however, there are certain features which are very common such as integration with the customer database to allow quick sign-in, integrating with other branch data, Google Maps, appointment booking portals, customer portals, or even with customer service center. Businesses often integrate queue management system smartphone apps with their CRM or customer feedback system too, to collect valuable customer feedback data. Thus the integrated queue management system smartphone apps can be used to offer a multitude of services and information to improve customer experience and it is also a type of paperless queue management system.

What are the Benefits of Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps?

Every business have unique needs and different way to handle certain things, same is the case with the queue management systems as well. Every business have different challenges and different strategies to handle those challenges which is the foundation stone of a unique business identity. It is this uniqueness that attracts most of the customers and help businesses established a unique brand identity which stand out of the crowd. When it comes to the integrated queue management system smartphone apps, every business have different preferences, however, there are certain traits of these smartphone apps that can greatly benefit a business by enhancing customer experience and by driving performance and productivity. Here are the key benefits of an integrated queue management system smartphone app:

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Remote Sign-in and Virtual Queues

Enabling your customers to sign-in remotely from their smartphones or any other online channel for the waiting lines is one of the most effective feature of an integrated queue management system smartphone app. With the rise of technology different platforms has emerged over the time and become very popular among the people for example, the WhatsApp. Now a day’s almost every business is holding a WhatsApp business account. Similarly the smartphone apps have become a crucial part of customer services, many industries have made smartphone apps and industry standard over the past few years. Businesses operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other cities of UAE are increasingly developing their smartphone apps to improve customer experience and customer service. The integrated queue management smartphone apps allow customers to sing-in for the virtual queues with just a few taps on the screen. The customers can sign-in and get estimated time, which allow them to plan their visit in a way that they can get served instantly as they arrived at the business. Hence minimizing the customer wait time to almost none. This remote sign-in features makes integrated queue management system smartphone apps the most ideal solution for modern day queuing.

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Better Waiting Experience

The customer experience is one of the most crucial factor in customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are absolutely essential for a stable and long term growth. The integrated queue management system smartphone apps can offer features which can greatly enhance customer experience and help raising customer satisfaction. Moreover the virtual queue management system can enhance the business processes by leveraging digitalization and automation. When it comes to customer wait time, there are two different wait times, one is the actual wait time as per the clock, and the other is the perceived wait time. The perceived wait time is what our brain thinks is the waiting time, to understand this phenomenon think of driving on a busy road, we usually think traffic flow is quicker in the adjacent lane, however, in reality that is not true. However, this impact on mood and similarly in the waiting areas the perceived wait time also impact the customer experience in the waiting areas. However, with the help of the integrated queue management system smartphone apps businesses can not only reduce the customer wait time but they can also improve customer waiting experience as well. The smartphone apps is integrated with the queue management system which allows it to provide highly correct estimation of the wait time which prevent the impact of the perceived wait time and the live queuing information and alerts help customers to plan their visit according to their turn so they don’t have to wait much. This greatly improve customer experience and increase customer satisfaction.

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Appointment Booking Features

The integrated queue management system smartphone apps also allow customers to book an appointment as per their convenience. The modern queue management system smartphone apps comes with in-built appointment booking module and moreover these apps can be integrated to an existing appointment booking portal to enable customers to book appointments from the apps. The appointment booking module will allow users to view the queuing data and also any future bookings for example if they want to make an appointment for the next week. The integrated queue management system smartphone apps are built on smart algorithms which have ability to access and analyze the live queuing data as well as historic data. This enables the apps to estimate the waiting time and overall footfall based on historical data present this information to the customers so they can chose the right day and time with less waiting time expected. The integrated queue management system smartphone apps also have ability to send reminders, alerts and notifications to remind customers of their appointment and furthermore it can allow the service agents to directly communicate with the customers and push information to their dashboard regarding any change or update in the schedule. Such features help improving customer experience and ensures the customer gets the fast-track service.

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Branch Locator

Most of the businesses have multiple branches, especially in large cities like Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi there could be several branches within a 20 to 30 minutes of drive. The integrated queue management system smartphone apps can fetch data form all branches and analyze it in real-time and based on historical data and current customer flow they can accurately estimate the wait time at each branch. Furthermore the smartphone apps are also integrated with Google Maps which enable them to find the customer’s location and suggest them the branches that are closer to them with them and have shortest expected wait time. All this information can be shown to customers as well and allow them to compare different branches and sign-in to the branch which is most convenient for them. Furthermore some businesses also allow customers to shift their ticket form one branch to another based on the current customer flow and queuing speed. The integrated queue management system smartphone apps not only provide branch location but can also provide full contact directory which makes it easier for the customers to directly call or contact the relevant staff if they have any query regarding the service they want. All these innovative features significantly improve customer experience and raise their satisfaction.

Integrated Queue Management System Smartphone Apps: Better Staff Performance

The integrated queue management system smartphone apps doesn’t only streamline customer flow and enhance customer experience but these apps are a great tool to improve staff performance. With the help of integrated queue management system smartphone apps businesses can have more control over the customer flow and it also allow them to effectively implement their queuing policies. Most of the customers will only arrive when their turn will come or is about to come. This help minimize the load in the waiting area and prevent crowd formation. The busy waiting areas put extra stress on the staff and deteriorate their performance. When the customer flow is good and the waiting areas are not crowded the staff can focus more on their primary tasks which makes them more productive and also improve their performance. The queue management system itself can provide a great performance monitoring and tracking metrics which are also very helpful in improving staff performance. Furthermore the integrated queue management system smartphone apps enable a direct communication channel and provide more control to the service agent which help them improve customer flow and deliver good quality service.

Conclusion

A queue management system has become an essential for a modern business. Whether you are a bank, hospital, government office, HR office, retail business, educational institution or any other organization in service sector. If you are serving your customers at your premises, you need an effective customer flow management system to ensure your customers will get a good customer experience. The integrated queue management system smartphone apps are a significant leap forward in improving service quality, performance and customer experience. Businesses can leverage the features such as remote sign-up, virtual queuing, customer alerts and notification system, appointment booking and data insights to greatly enhance customer experience. A good customer experience will help you increase customer satisfaction and make your customers loyal which is essential for a long term and stable growth. The innovative features and valuable insight for both customers and service agents can greatly improve productivity, performance, and customer experience and service quality. Happy and satisfied customers and high-performing teams/branches means high profitability and help businesses raise their overall ROI for deploying queue management system. If you want to learn more about integrated smartphone apps or if you need our help to build and deploy customized queue management system smartphone apps for your business please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

October 2, 2023October 2, 2023

Top Trends in Custom Software Development: What’s Shaping the Industry?

Any modern day business runs on a variety of different software and digital solutions. The software and digital ecosystem is considered to be the backbone of modern business landscape. Every business’s day-to-day operation depends on different kinds of software tools. That is true in some industries the software are more important than the others, but in modern day and age, no business can effectively and efficiently operate without leveraging any software tool, even the emails that you use daily are also through a software tool. That is why business invest a huge chunk of their profits in modernizing and digitalizing their various operational processes. When it comes to acquiring a new software solutions there are two ways, either businesses can go for a commercial off-the-shelf software solution or they can go for custom software development. The questions arises which one is better? Well, in short the custom software development is much better than the commercial off-the-shelf solutions (COTS) as it can fulfill your 100% of needs, it offers excellent ROI and enable businesses to mold their software and applications as per their emerging needs. In this blog we will discuss the top trends that are reshaping the custom software development industry.

What makes Custom Software Development the Ideal Solution for your Business?

The custom software development offers many benefits and advantages over commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) solutions. The COTS are ready-made software which are designed for masses, the custom software development is dedicated to cater to the needs of a single business. The initial cost of COTS is low, it can be deployed even within in a day. The custom software development on the other hand is a lengthy process. However, the custom software are exclusively designed for the business after doing rigorous research on the business needs, and are fully aligned with the business requirements. The COTS are designed as per industry standards, and mostly failed to fulfill all needs. The custom software development allow businesses endless customization. Whereas the COTS doesn’t offer a flexible customization, in fact the COTS allow very limited but very expensive customization. Which is why businesses either end up using multiple software or they have to replace a software which is not ideal. The customized software are keep on evolving with emerging business needs and doesn’t have any restriction which makes them ideal for businesses. Similarly the customized software are more flexible with integration, upgrades and can evolve according to emerging business needs which make them much superior to the commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) solutions.

Top Custom Software Development Trends that are Reshaping the Industry

In today’s fast-paced markets businesses heavily rely on data and information flow, in fact the information and data is considered to be the lifeblood of the modern technology-oriented business operations. Therefore most of the time when a business needs a new software or application it has to be integrated within their existing digital and IT infrastructure, just like a jigsaw puzzle, every piece should align with each other to form the perfect picture. Businesses utilize a multitude of software, tools, and technologies to drive efficiency and performance in their operations, day-to-day work, and data management. This further complicates the digital ecosystem as multiple technologies, platforms and software types are work collaboratively and in harmony to ensure the desired performance. For example, businesses tend to have ERP systems, performance management system, customer feedback systems, CRL or customer relationship management system, facility management system, inventory management system, accounting system and HRMS or human resource management systems are the few most commonly used software tools. Furthermore businesses use websites, mobile apps, and other digital channels for communication and even to deliver service and support.

All different software types, tools, technologies and platforms evolve and transform on a different pace. For example, the ERP systems may evolve quickly comparing to asset management system, and so on. All different software and tools are built on different technologies, different programming tools and with different platforms. Although this might not sound a big problem, but for large enterprises and organizations this could be a very challenging task, however, startups and small businesses who might not have as much diverse digital eco-system doesn’t face much problems with their IT needs. That is why when it comes to a custom software development, businesses must have to seriously consider the technology barriers and integration limitations. Therefore businesses who are planning to implement a new software solution or a business tools must have to consider these facts, or else they should be aware of the latest market trends. Because all top custom software development trends are influenced by all these technological advancements and all external factors which is why if you follow the top trends, you will get a perfect application which not only aligns with your business needs but also with the industry standards and your existing digital ecosystem and this will enable you to leverage your custom software at its full potential and maximize its ROI (return over investments). Here are some top trends in custom software development which dominated the year 2023 and are going to dominate the software development market for many coming years.

Businesses utilize a multitude of software, tools, and technologies to drive efficiency and performance in their operations

Top Custom Software Development Trends: Progressive Web Apps (PWA)

A progressive web apps or PWAs are developed using modern web platforms in a way that user can have a user experience like a native or platform-specific apps. Another great advantage of progressive web apps is that a PWA can run seamlessly on multiple platforms/devices, same like a modern websites while having only a single codebase. Thus the progressive web apps or PWAs enables the developers to utilize the native features and security of multiple compatible platforms while having only one codebase. Traditionally the software and apps are developed exclusively for the platform or are platform-specific. This means that if a business have users who are utilizing multiple platforms then they have to develop it separately for all these platforms, each platform will have its native codebase which is not usable on other platforms. This results in developing a similar app for multiple time which undermine the user experience, as each platform could have slightly different user experience, furthermore the business will have to pay for each individual platform which increase the cost too. With the progressive web app (PWA) the users can have a similar experience on all platforms, the business can get them in very less cost, the maintenance, upgrades, customization and updates are very easy and cost-efficient. That is why more and more businesses in Dubai and all around the UAE are embracing PWAs.

Top Custom Software Development Trends: Web 3.0 and Blockchain

The Web 3.0 or Web 3 is the third era of internet, it could be as disruptive as the first-age internet was and it could have great potential to completely transform the internet, software and web industry. The Blockchain is a Web 3.0 or Web 3 technology and it is currently in its infancy but businesses all around the world are exploring different ways to integrate it within their existing digital ecosystem. The primary different between the Web 3.0 and the Web 2.0 or what form of internet we are currently using is that the Web 3.0/Web 3 would be open-source, decentralized, and would offer highest level of network security. This means that the fraud and theft would be closer to none, as all the transactions, information and data will be distributed and open to all. The Blockchain is the perfect example of Web 3.0, although it may take it a few more years or a decade to gain significant market share, but it is evolving rapidly and tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Meta and other key players are already involved in it. The Web 3.0 not only have potential to integrate smart technologies, but it will streamline data flow and communication between people, devices and services which will help developers to overcome several security related problems and will also help businesses to boost automation and efficiency.

Top Custom Software Development Trends: IoB and IoT

The IoB is the internet of behavior and the IoT is the internet of things. The IoB or internet of behavior is the technology to connect physical objects/devices to the internet and monitor human behavior or how human interact with the environment around them. The IoB is majorly based on behavioral science, IoT or internet of things and edge analytics. The IoB platforms are designed to gather huge amount of statistical and analytical data from multiple sources and leveraging this data to enhance customer experience. The IoT or internet of things connect digital devices via internet and let them interact with each other and based on this interaction or human intervention, the connected devices behaves according to pre-programmed instructions or direct instructions from the human user. This is why it is very useful in IoB as the internet of behavior platforms utilize the data from digital devices, wearable tech, and user behavior on internet via mobile phones or laptop and then utilize this data to enhance user experience and help businesses to improve their communication and solutions according to customers’ needs. The major application of IoB is in customer experience management, e-Commerce, communication, self-service solutions, and SEO (search engine optimization).

Top Custom Software Development Trends: Microservices Architecture

The Microservices Architecture is a custom software development methodology where an application is developed in smaller modules or a collection of multiple smaller services. The Microservices Architecture is also referred as only Microservices. A Microservices software application can call on multiple microservices to perform the task as per user’s instructions. Another important thing to understand is that all the microservices that are used in a single software application are usually loosely coupled and can independently deployed too. This means that these services can be developed by different teams as well. The Microservices Architecture is very popular in custom software development as it allow developers and software engineers to utilize many pre-built or ready-made services and build their software application above these microservices, which speed up the development and delivery process and also allow businesses to get innovative features at a comparatively less cost. Another great advantage of microservices architecture over monolithic software is that businesses can independently upgrade or customize individual component of the software or individual microservice which also help optimizing the maintenance and customization cost and results in more stable product.

Top Custom Software Development Trends: DevSecOps

The DevSecOps is a short form of Development, Security and Operations. This method is majorly adopted in custom software development to improve security and performance of the customized applications. The DevSecOps is a method of custom software development where the security features are introduced and implemented at all phases throughout the software development lifecycle. Traditionally the security features are implemented at the end of the software development and usually by a different team who is specialized in software security. However, with the DevSecOps method, the security features are implemented from designing up till software delivery phase including from designing, development, integration and testing phases of the software development lifecycle. This method enables multiple security layers in your custom software applications while prioritizing the security as the primary goal of custom software development. The DevSecOps help businesses leverage the security features of the application and infrastructure while ensuring maximum performance and seamless operation of their custom software application. The DevSecOps method not only ensures ultimate performance but also ensures highest level of security while keeping the cost at the minimum and instead of slowing down the development process, it tends to speed it up.

Top Custom Software Development Trends: Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The Artificial Intelligence or AI is the buzz word in today’s world where the ChatGPT, Microsoft Bing Chat, Google Bard, Proplexity, MidJourney and countless others have become internet sensation over the night. Everyone is talking about these tools, especially the ChatGPT have taken the world like a storm. But what does this means for the businesses and how does businesses can leverage the power of artificial intelligence to boost their productivity, performance and quality of the work? Normally the artificial intelligence or AI is referred to a software tool or application which can perform tasks which are normally not performed by ordinary computer programs or which are normally performed by humans. Just imagine you can have a computer software which is capable of analyzing data and information, monitoring a situation and taking decision like a human in real-time, working non-stop and 24/7 with extraordinary ability of processing huge data and numbers which no human can does! This is what artificial intelligence is capable of, it is not just limited to chat bots or automated customer call center, the artificial intelligence or AI can do much more than we can imagine. Although it is still in its infancy, but sooner it will be everywhere, it will become an integral part of software development and its scope and ability to operate will be greatly enhanced.

How Top Trends in Custom Software Development can Help your Business Grow?

Businesses often are not familiar with the custom software development trends, which results in using technologies and platforms that are fading away or losing the edge they might have had a few years back. That is why it is important to know the latest software development trends as well as emerging trends so your bespoke software remains relevant for many coming years and yield you the best ROI. Mostly software trends comes and goes, but only a few stay, for example, the world is slowly adopting to AI and moving toward cloud computing, and it seems that in coming years these two technologies will grow exponentially, that is the reason major giant technology companies are investing huge in these two sectors and for the matter of fact many more such trends are here to stay for long. All the technological advancements in custom software development and enterprise solutions are aimed to streamline data and communication, drive automation and to boost performance. Businesses can gain a great competitive advantage by leveraging the latest trends and technologies in software development. Therefore it is important to follow the right trend and develop such applications which can evolve with your emerging and upcoming needs. Choosing technologies and trends that are fading away will limit your software’s ability down the road and will compel you to a point where you will have to replace it with more modern and efficient technology. That is why it is crucial for businesses to follow the popular trends in custom software development.

Conclusion

Businesses need customized software tools to boost their operational performance and capabilities. A good software tool can provide a great competitive advantage, however, it is important to understand that deploying a software is not the only part, in fact you should consider the future needs, customization and the technology you are using. It is important that the software you are implementing will remain relevant for coming years too, the technology and platform it is based on should also grow so it can support your future needs and it can support your growth. For that businesses should follow the latest custom software development trends. A custom software development requires a lot of time and resources, which means repeating the same after a year or two is not good at all. Therefore if the software you will develop based on latest and emerging trends can remain relevant for many years and offers you a great ROI over a longer period of time. In this blog we have listed top emerging custom software development trends which are not only emerging but gaining huge popularity and are meant to stay for many coming years.

If you want to learn more about the top trends in custom software development or if you need any help with your upcoming custom software development project, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.