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Insights
PHP conference BGPHP is one of the best conferences for anyone interested in the PHP programming language. Speakers at the event covered topics for novices and experts interested in sharpening their PHP skills with there were a lot of interesting sessions aimed at improving the way programming is done on an everyday basis.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqznLOCVroY[/embed]
“Many programmers come from all around Europe to be part of this conference,” said Dan of Quantox.com “and we were proud to send six of our team lead programmers to the PHP conference. “A lot of the workshops were centered on an arcade game theme this year. Pixels, video games, potions (beer) - even the music being played was from famous games. Overall it was a terrific experience and a first class opportunity for programmers to learn from each other as we shared our own experiences and heard from other top software engineers about their own programming style to better define best practices that benefit all of our clients.”
Quantox understands that the continuing education of each part of the team is essential to evolving our skill set and staying ahead of the curve. Our clients succeed in fast-paced sectors of the digital marketplace, and they rely on us to always know the best way to do things right now, and the most likely ways to future-proof build with an eye on what’s about to happen next. BGPHP began as an initiative by a small group of developers who started the first PHP User Group in Sofia two years ago.
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Opening talks of PHP conference before the amazing session[/caption]
Sending half-dozen top-tier PHP programmers from Quantox to be part of the event is our way of supporting the creative culture that all digital professionals value. It also serves as a strong incentive for qualified employment candidates to come join the Quantox team because it’s easy to see that employee enrichment is a core component of Quantox DNA, backed by significant investment in each of our esteemed team members.
If you are seeking a career in Web Development, Programming, or Digital Project Management, and have a fascination with the new tools that are on the horizon, be sure to find a company that supports those initiatives and its staff effectively. It makes a world of difference for the way technology reaches the market and the way your career trajectory takes flight. At Quantox we are always hiring the right people to fill exciting positions in our dynamic production environment. Check out Careers at Quantox to learn more right now!
“Reset GIT branch to a specific commit” is the first topic we would like to address in the Help section. Since many of us find ourselves in a situation when we want to reset the master branch to a specific commit of the master- or some other branch, we'll take some time to write a short guide on how this can be done in a few steps.
RESET BRANCH TO A SPECIFIC COMMIT git reset –hard 87a9789447846c6ff3275f93589fbab3c7b801ec (commit hash that we want to reset the branch to)git checkout -b xx (we check out a fictive branch, which will become master)git branch -m master old-master (rename current master to something else)git branch -m xx master (rename fictive branch to master)git branch -d –force old-master (delete old master – not needed anymore)git merge -s ours origin/master (merge master branches, but prefer local data)make some changes to test git.git commit -m ‘test’ (if needed do git add . first)git push –set-upstream origin master (set local master branch to track origin master branch)git pushgit pullWe have also made a package that automates this process via artisan: https://github.com/ivanciric/artisan-git-toolsEveryone is invited to contribute to join the development of various commands that further facilitate our work.
As we announced in period from 30.06.2016 to 03.07.2016. Rafting Center Tara-Raft welcomed 72 people from Quantox Technology.We came to rafting center on Thursday around 2pm, and left it on Sunday at 11am, which means we spent around 70 hours hanging together.
Camp management estimates we had around 4 or 5 hours of sleep per person out of those 70 hours.Out of 72 people that came to rafting, 65 decided to go on adrenaline river ride on Friday. We were driven by 11 cars, and spread over 9 boats with 9 rafting skippers. All river boats went over 16km long riverbed of Tara river and another 4km of riverbed of Drina river. We got to finish in 3.5h spent on river. Out of which 3h were spent on water and 0.5h in pauses by the river.
By unofficial, but precise measurements of skippers, every boat made average of 1236 strokes. Taken care that every stroke spends 32 to 36 calories, we burned approximately 44000 calories per boat. Pretty impressive, no? We weren’t lazy and make a bit different calculation, every boat became lighter in average by 4 to 6 kg.This time of year around 500 cubic meters of water flows over Tara riverbed, which means for the time we spent on river approximately 324.000.000 cubic meters of water, which equals the capacity of Perućačko lake on the Drina.
We estimate each person had two sips of Tara river while, so we all took this natural beauty forever in ourselves.On Saturday, 58 people took safari tour through national park Sutjeska. Passengers were spread over 9 jeeps with 9 drivers. During the trip, we went over Tjentiste, rainforest Perucicu with view on waterfall Skakavac (71m) and climbed viewpoint Prijevor with an elevation of 1660m. As our camp is on 440m, it means we overcome 1200m altitude. Way to go crew!
Prijevor is beneath Maglic, which is the highest peak in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2386m). After Prijevor we visited the biggest open pool in Europe – Tjentiste. We crossed 140km during the safari and estimate loss of 6l of body liquid during the drive on the hot summer day.During our stay hosts organized 3 music bands to play and entertain us in night hours. Music spent a total of 18 hours playing, which is a total of 567 songs played. Out of these only 4 songs were a folk genre. Also in the night between Thursday and Friday, they played 10 heavy metal songs which were taken very well from hosts as well as Quantox team.
A couple of interesting facts come from Tara-Raft bar. For the time we spent in camp, we drank 13 barrels of beer, 146 bottles of beer, 98 bottles of juice and 9l of spirits. The part which will mostly be interesting for programmers is how much coffee was consumed. Well, here’s the number: 200 domestic coffees and 32 nes coffees. No one was drinking tea.Restaurant statistic says we had 22kg of meat during 4 days.
Approximately 80kg of meat was consumed during lunch, around 60kg was used for breakfast, and another 80kg was served for dinner. We also spent 20kg of milk products, cheese, and kajmak.Hope you enjoyed the read and facts and that we managed to present you part of atmosphere from teambuildingUntil next time…
Digital publishing used to include many small subcontractors and often required a lot of management supervision time from in-house executives, dealing with overages and missed milestones on project timelines. Worst of all, when anything went wrong, all the individual subcontractors would try to point fingers at each other as the way to avoid any level of accountability for their own errors. Quantox has helped to change all that by providing project continuity and the results are exceptional.
When you have Quantox build your digital property, you aren’t just getting a gifted designer, a talented coder, an experienced marketing team and each of the elements you need to succeed on the modern web – you are getting a coherent team of professionals. People who are used to working together and who understand that the sum total of their effort will be better than the individual effort of any one part of the whole.
More importantly, our supervisory staff and project management leads are familiar with every member of the team, are able to motivate and inspire their team, and significantly reduce the need for any outside resources being allocated to keeping the project ahead of schedule and under budget. That isn’t to suggest we are perfect, nobody is perfect, but we can guarantee you that if we do ever make a mistake, we are accountable directly to you and we will make it right quickly because our reputation depends on your satisfaction. We only point fingers at each other when we are complimenting one another, errors or mistakes that need to be corrected are the responsibility of every single person who is part of Quantox.
That continuity gets you the best results, with the least resources every time, and it is a key component of what your Quantox relationship is all about!
When you are starting up a new business, with a startup methodology, it’s best to do things right straight from the start. In 2008, entrepreneur, Eric Ries developed the LEAN method of creating a startup, and it’s a great methodology. Ries came up with this because he wanted to create something that would shorten product development cycles and create continuous innovation in startups.Ries came up with this idea through failures. His first startup, Catalyst Recruiting, ultimately failed because it was not agile enough to recover from the initial product launch to give their customers what they wanted. Ries experienced a similar failure with There.com, giving him plenty of learning material from his experiences.
What is Lean Start-up Method?
Ries took a look at something called LEAN manufacturing, which was developed by Taiichi Ono in the 1950s. This particular system of manufacturing helped to both reduce waste and increase productivity with a few methods, one of which being quality assurance checkpoints placed in key parts of the manufacturing process. The lean startup process takes this philosophy and moves it into the startup atmosphere.The basic gist of a LEAN startup is that companies must first create an MVP or minimum viable product - the product with the least amount of features needed to function correctly - and then test it and see if customers can actually use it. Like Ono’s many quality assurance checkpoints, the customer feedback then informs the future adjustments to the product, creating a continuous feedback loop. This helps to reduce waste created by companies who put too much effort into launching a product with many bells and whistles.Using the LEAN startup method can really help you to save money and be more efficient.
LEAN on Quantox To Bring Your Idea To Life!
Working with Quantox on developing your idea promises only steps forward, and very little or none going back. As we work toward creating an MVP from your initial idea, we are already a few steps ahead. With each upgrade of your product after the launch, we climb higher towards the success. One step at the time, building your brand with diligence and continuity that always bring the best results. Let's Talk!
In our vast experiences dealing with projects and project management, we have learned that it is best to KiSS. No, don’t worry, that isn’t a romantic come on, it is simply a witty acronym that stands for Keep it Simple Stupid. Complicated projects with multiple moving parts that all depend on one another rarely succeed, from what we’ve seen.
Start From Creating MVP
Our advice is to get to an MVP (minimally viable product, or the least amount of features your product or project needs to get started) as soon as possible, and launch. Once you are actually launched it is quite easy to work towards incremental improvements continuously throughout the life of a product. One of the biggest mistakes that we have seen in our experience is people who have an unclear vision for their projects, which doesn’t make for a clean and concise MVP.Another mistake that often hampers projects is when companies try to do too much and create too many features prior to launch so that your product is sitting around while competitors can easily take advantages of gaps in the market. Ambition is definitely good, but too much ambition can also be a killer.
How To Get From Idea to MVP?
How do you get the perfect MVP? It’s not that hard. Think about your product or project. List the features that are essential to it’s functioning, and get those features working flawlessly. Leave out anything that is extra, or not essential to the product you want to create. Those most basic features are the ones to launch within your MVP. After launching, think about any bells and whistles you would like to add to enhance or change your project.Remember, the thing that matters most is having a functioning product that does what you want it to do, not having the most elaborate product out there on the market.
Quantox- Keeping Software Development Simple Since 2006!
Quantox operates with the help of Kaizen mindset, meaning we achieve great results by first completing smaller, but equally important tasks. Each one of us, but working as a team, has a clear task to complete that will enrich your project and lead to project realization faster and without hassle. Task by task, we'll take your project from idea to MVP, launch your product and keep on improving it with new features and possibilities. Do you want to see simple and clear project development process? Let's Talk!
So, you have a project and you are going to create a request for an exterior company to get the job done. Keeping your project request clear and detailed will help you a lot down the line, and will also save you money. Project requests set the precedent for the entire project, and it is helpful to start it off on the right foot.
Disadvantages of Not Having a Clear Project Request
If you end up presenting a project with a confusing description and scope of work, it costs your team time, costing you money. There are a few ways that this will drain your pockets. First of all, all of the back and forth communication it will take to clarify your work request just isn’t worth it, when with a clear work request your project can get started right away. Each minute you spend communicating and clarifying is the time that is not being spent working on your project. What is even worse, is the second way that an unclear project proposal can cost your company money: unclear project requests can lead to drafts of your project being created that are completely misguided or simply not what you are looking for.
Advise With Your Team
In creating clear project requests it is also important to get your whole team’s input early on in the process, before making the request, rather than presenting them with a nearly finished project and getting their input then. This will also save you a lot of time and money because your team is smart and probably has great ideas that would improve any project your company is working on. Using their ideas early on will keep you from having to revise projects over and over to incorporate innovative employee ideas.Start your project off right with a clear and concise request that will lead the way to the project you are envisioning.
Quantox- An IT Solution Company To The Point!
Creating project request and presenting it to an exterior IT company is not an easy task, but with Quantox it can be a lot easier. The project managers working in Quantox know that the best developed ideas are presented in the clear and concise manner. So, when you're ''stuck'' and can't seem to organize your project, our PM's are there to help you determine the scope of work, requirements, timelines and deadlines of your project, thus helping you save money. You have a great idea, but don't have all the details ''polished-out''? Let's Talk!
Project documentation is an important part of any project, but especially those that create systems that will be used by people whether inside or outside of your company, which are either created by people outside of your company or will be used by outsourced employees. Proper project documentation can set the precedent for the way your company will manage that project once it is complete and the way that other related projects will get managed in the future.A job certainly isn’t over when a project is completed, especially in the sphere of web and technology.
Most projects in this sphere are development projects that will get used in the future either internally within a company or externally by consumers. These projects will need to be supported since your internal teams will need to learn new systems and get used to using them. You can really prevent problems down the road by having great documentation.When you use project documentation, it is best to use whatever best practices are suitable for your industry, because then it will be easier for your team to learn the new system, and any new team members who come on should be able to learn it easily, as long as they are familiar with your industry best practices already. In addition, should your team run up against any obstacles in the months or even years after the project was completed, having proper documentation can save your company a lot of money and time.
Without documentation, your company will have to spend money and use people’s time to figure out any issues, but with the project being clearly explained, you should see nothing but smooth sailing in your future.
Quantox Professional Project Documentation For a Smooth Sailing!
At Quantox we keep our organisational skills at the highest level. By having professional project documentation, but also company profile documentation and Quantox people documentation, we armed every Quantox member with a reliable source for solving problems and built bridges between our own people.
Outsourcing with Quantox gets that much easier when we present our documentation, leaving no questions unanswered. Still, error prevention may be the best outcome of our diligent record keeping of everything we do for our clients. Do you want to learn more- Let's Talk!
What Is The Difference?
When hiring someone for work that is not going to be done within your company, it can be hard to tell whether you should hire a freelancer or use an outsourcing company. What is the difference? Freelancers are typically individuals who provide specialized services on their own time while outsourcing companies have full-time employees who can provide many types of services under their direct supervision.
Why People Prefer Outsourcing Over Freelancers?
Many professional companies and people prefer outsourcing companies because there is a single contact person that can give you access to a wealth of services. When you go with freelancers, you will have to contact different freelancers for different services, which will not only make your Rolodex quite large but can get confusing and often leads to scheduling conflicts that cascade if anyone freelance misses a milestone that the others were relying on having completed in time. This becomes especially problematic if you have a lot of projects happening simultaneously.
Outsourcing Companies Are Better For Project Continuity
Another reason why businesses prefer to use an outsourcing company is that it mitigates risk. If a freelancer gets sick or has some type of family emergency – that’s it - your project becomes delayed. Your work will not get done until they are better and back to work. However, if the person working on your product from an outsourcing company is ill one day, there is typically someone else there who can pick up the slack and keep your projects going full steam ahead. Thus, outsourcing companies tend to give you more complete coverage and usually get a job done faster.
Reputation Matters!
Lastly, with freelancers, there is no surefire way to vet them. Sure, there are online review sites, and they may provide you with references before you hire them, but if you choose an outsourcing company, they have already gone through the hiring process. Thus, they know their employees well, and typically know that they are quality workers who will finish the job in a timely manner because they have a reputation to uphold. Hiring a random freelancer off Fiverr may sound like a smart way to save money until you examine all the unintended consequences and learn to leave those risks on the shoulders of an outsourcing company with shoulders broad enough to carry them all for you.
Quantox- A Full-Service, Risk Free and Trustworthy IT Outsourcing Company!
If you don't need only one Java Developer or a web designer, but a whole development team, you should consider outsourcing a company like Quantox. You'll have access to all necessary staff members- from developers, to analysts to QA specialists. It you have any questions about IT outsourcing, we are glad to answer them and help you reach an inofrmed decision. Let's Talk!
When you hire an outsourcing company to get a job done, you may feel comfortable knowing that they have the experience to deal with your project, so creating some type of official agreement may not be on your radar. However, agreements are actually quite important, no matter how much you trust the company you are hiring to get the job done. It helps to protect yourself as the client and them as the vendor, should anything go wrong during the job, as small as that possibility may be.
Benefits of Having a Written Agreement
First of all, having an agreement is really the only way to make sure everyone truly understands the project at hand. It usually spells out the scope of work entirely, with specific details, so both parties know what is expected of them, and that includes you.
The company you hired won’t be waiting for a month to start the project because you didn’t know you were supposed to send them some photo assets, and they will be able to provide the results you need when you need them.Agreements can also help to avoid miscommunications during the work process, and also can avoid conflict when miscommunications do happen during the project timeline. If a miscommunication does occur, you can just refer to the agreement and quell the worries of both parties since the job will be spelled out plainly in the agreement.
Finally, agreements help to create a timeline and actionable checklist that the team working on your project can work from and check to make sure that all the work agreed upon is done in a timely manner and at the level of quality that you have requested.Basically, having an agreement always ensures that both the client and vendor are protected and covered, and prevents things from going wrong due to mistakes and miscommunications. While things hardly ever go wrong, agreements make it easy to smooth things over on those rare occasions.
Transparent Outsourcing Collaboration is Promised With Quantox!
Here at Quantox we understand how important it is for you to feel that your intellectual property is truly yours. Not only will we protect your idea from plagiarism, we will also ensure that every word of our written agreement pertaining to the development process is fulfilled.
Don't take our word for it- our promise are our signatures on the project detail and development process contract. Let's Talk!
Employing people in-house is the most costly option, and beyond the obvious costs of salary, benefits, and training there are many other expenses that come along with the challenge to continually motivate your own staff. Outsourcing is a good way to save some time and money by utilizing a fully managed team of personnel who already have exactly the kind of expertise you require.
Outsourcing also gives you the opportunity to save money by only utilizing the people you need for the specific tasks you wanted to take care of right now while letting someone else worry about all of the HR challenges and ancillary costs that come along with maintaining a world-class workforce.The main barrier companies have when starting to outsource workflow is the fact that choosing the right outsourcing company to work with can be a challenging and confusing ordeal in itself. However, if you follow some common sense tips, choosing an outsourcing company can be made easier and establishing a streamlined workflow that saves you resources while improving your results is an attainable goal.
When starting to think about choosing an outsourcing company, always get references from trustworthy brands in the industry. Just as you would get a reference for a good dentist from a friend you trust, an outsourcing reference about the team that seems to have everything together is the key to knowing the difference between an option that merely looks good and one that actually is great.Once you have a potential company in your sights, do the research necessary to get to know the company and the individuals you will be working with on your own projects.
Make sure the company has a good track record and can articulate a recent easy to verify trail of satisfied companies who have already had similar projects to your own perform. Most importantly, get examples of work they have already done.
Many outsourcing company sites will proudly display some of their clients, and they may even have a case study or two on their sites to show how using their services can positively affect your bottom line – but always be careful to vet those items by speaking to the actual clients being quoted and making sure they are recent examples rather than old work done by someone else who left long ago.
It is also important to make sure that any outsourcing company that you are considering is able to come up with a clear plan that has concise milestones for your needs. It’s one thing to be able to talk the talk, but can they walk the walk? Displaying the ability to set a plan in place is a good sign that they can also complete the work assigned. All too often you’ll notice the same people who failed to show you a workable plan are the ones who are unable to complete the work as well.
Benefits Of Outsourcing Quantox Technology!
There is plenty of work to be done in preparation of your project, and that phase of the relationship is also an excellent opportunity for you to evaluate the team you are hiring and the way they work with you.
Once you have the right people in place, from a company like Quantox, the scalability of an outsourced option gives you tremendous advantages over in-house employees, because unlike the arduous process to hire one person in your office, the outsourcing path opens up the possibility to acquiring a limitless pool of qualified experts at virtually any task you want to accomplish. Let's Talk!
In sports and virtually every other form of competition, the cliché is that speed kills, because getting to the goal first provides an undeniable advantage for one competitor over the other. That same principle applies to all forms of web development and it is becoming increasingly essential thanks to recent changes by Google and others to the way organic web traffic is allocated.
Even more importantly, the expectations of your customers are tied directly to the speed of your site, apps and digital products.
No Lag—No Inefficient Coding
In the dial-up era, it was common to wait for a page to load due to lag times caused by low bandwidth. This was also a blessing for inefficient developers because the slow loading times and resources squandered by their code were often covered up by the even slower download speeds available to customers. Now, with many clients having access to 1GB connections and mobile providers continually improving throughout while spreading the reach of public WiFi, even the smallest lag or latency is infuriatingly obvious to your potential customers or clients.
Test Your Website Load Time
Google had repeatedly expressed the fact that mobile load times are now a significant signal used in determining their search results, and that has even gone so far as to provide a simple tool to test your load times on desktop and mobile versions of your website. The tool is free and it assigns a 1 to 100 score for your site speed. Even more importantly, it makes simple suggestions of ways to improve your speed score, and it is critical to achieving a score of 85 or better for both Mobile and Desktop on nearly any website you publish.
What Is Mobilegeddon?
The so-called Mobilegeddon update Google made in 2015 underscored the importance of Mobile responsive design and echoed the significance of making sure your site loads lighting fast across any device that a viewer decides to use.
Quantox Smart Coding for Supersonic Speed!
Quantox helps many of our clients by cleaning up the antiquated code, refreshing the underlying database structures being used and making many other seemingly small improvements to incrementally optimize existing websites. We also use industry best practices and many proprietary methods to ensure that any new site we create for you is as fast as possible, to the delight of search bots and human visitors alike. Let' Talk!
Imagine if you walked into a brick and mortar store and were greeted by a salesperson who immediately asked, “What is your date of birth and credit card number?” A store like that wouldn’t get many sales or last very long, yet online site owners seem to think it is somehow more acceptable to create landing pages that abruptly demand all kinds of personal information from potential customers in a completely non-conversational way.Too often we are given site mock-ups or see sites designed by others that immediately request signup information from end users. Sure, having a signup button makes sense, or asking for a name and email address may be part of your business model, but the conversion ratios, time on site, bounce rates and other metrics can easily be improved across the board by engaging the viewer in a more conversational way.
The Right Time And Place To Ask For Personal Information
For example, instead of asking someone to enter their purchase information and then giving them access to a catalog of items for sale after they have registered, you will earn far more by allowing customers to browse your catalog as guests, let them choose the items that they want and only ask for payment details once they reach the cart page to complete their transaction.The psychology of this method is very simple. Once someone has already invested ten or twenty minutes of their time browsing items, choosing products or services, and building a basic level of trust with your brand by seeing how well your site satisfies their requests, they become far more likely to take action at the eventual point of sale. Exactly the same way a shopper is more likely to buy a pair of jeans at a clothing store after browsing the shelves, selecting the perfect pair, trying them on, interacting with a sales associate and then later being asked to pay at checkout by a cashier.
Make Spending Money an Afterthought For Your Customers
The best sites do a terrific job making the sale seem secondary. As online marketers we are all focused on improving the CTR, maximizing revenue and preventing traffic leaks – but as a customer that all need to fade from your attention and be superseded by the fun and excitement of finding the site you want most, getting the attention you deserve and feeling as though the money being requested is more of an afterthought than the central priority of the entire user experience.
Upgrade Your Sales Funnel with Quantox!
Quantox experts are available right now to look over your existing sales funnel and to make actionable suggestions that improve the flow of traffic from your landing page to your join form or cart transaction page. The results are easy to track, and as any experienced marketer can tell you it is almost always easier to earn more by properly monetizing the traffic you do have than by inefficiently marketing to a new wave of visitors. Let's Talk!
One of the more common buzzwords among developers these days is ‘responsive design’, which many confusingly misunderstand as ‘using a Wordpress theme that looks sort of OK on mobile devices or desktop screens.’ The fact is that responsive design actually requires quite a bit more than that, and the benefits of doing it right are substantial.
What is Responsive Web Design?
Responsive design is all about presenting online content on any device as if it were intended to work perfectly on that device primarily. When a customer views your website from their desktop computer, they could care less how it might look on an Android phone. If they use an old and antiquated version of Netscape at their browser, they want to see the site in all its glory, and how it would have looked if they chose Chrome instead becomes meaningless to them. When it comes to design, the customer is always right, and that includes their implicit choices of mobile carrier, platform, operating system, browser, hardware, and software each time they visit your website.Some great tools have been added to the development arsenal recently including HTML5, H.265/HEVC video codecs, letsencrypt.org SSL certifications, a slew of mobile diagnostic tools from Google and more.
How Does Quantox Make Your Design Ideas Work Anywhere, Anytime?
Utilizing these tools and many others, Quantox creates websites, mobile apps and offline marketing materials that give your brands a terrific uniform presence in a way that is completely agnostic to the choice of device or viewing methods your existing or potential clients prefer. To learn more, contact your Quantox agent and see some examples of what responsive design can actually do for your own bottom line. Let's Talk!
Some consulting companies will try to tell you that everything should always be outsourced (because it benefits them for you to outsource every task), but at Quantox our goal is to help you succeed so that we can be part of a long-term arrangement that earns you far more than we cost. That’s why we have created this simple checklist to help potential clients determine if a specific task is appropriate for outsourcing.
Project Complexity
The first factor is the complexity of the project or components you are considering. Small tasks that are not mission-critical are excellent opportunities for outsourcing because they can be cleared off your timeline and accomplished easily by a qualified third-party developer. Often, larger more complex tasks can be segmented into several smaller tasks, and an outsourced team of professionals can also carry out a significant group of those elements.Once you have established a strong degree of trust with a company, even the most complex modules can easily be outsourced unless they are a part of your own core competency.
Core Competency
Every company and employee of that company has a set of skills and talents that they bring to the table. If you are a terrific database designer, outsourcing database design will only serve to frustrate you because you would be asking someone else to do what you are best at accomplishing. The best use of outsourced labor is in areas where you have some familiarity but do not have a high degree of expertise.Quantox often works in a modular manner to provide what our clients need most while leaving the things they are best at to be done in-house as part of the overall timeline.
Milestones Matter!
Almost any large task can be segmented into smaller better-defined milestones. Outsourcing works well when you can monitor progress along the way and offer input at specified intervals. That allows you to steer the project toward your desired goals, maintain maximum efficiency, and the result is almost always a great product completed on time and under budget.The more well defined your timeline is, the more likely outsourcing is the right answer for you.
Leverage the Power Of Outsourcing with Quantox!
Getting great results from outsourcing projects to Quantox is as much a matter of setting achievable milestones ahead of time as anything else. That’s why we work diligently with you before any project begins so that we have a clear and concise set of deliverables, dates, and desires in mind right from the start. Let's Talk!
The traditional spring CS 2 tournament is here!
Serbian IT companies will unite on April 20-21 for the charity tournament.
Previous years were marked by playing for Serbian maternity hospitals, and the IT community did an outstanding job. Generous donations were distributed to hospitals in Pirot and Priboj. In 2024, companies will come together for a new cause - Serbian forests and the Quantox Foundation users.
Companies can register up to 3 teams and contribute financial funds to the common fund. Just like in previous years, Quantox is kickstarting with a donation of one million dinars.
The seedlings transplantation will be organized in collaboration with Zvezdine igre, aiming to achieve a noble mission - one million new trees in Serbia within the next 7 years.
We anticipate the HIT CS 2 crew to expand this year with new companies and teams that will compete, enjoy the game, and once again showcase that the greatest victory is Humanity.
Register your team by April 18th.
For team registration and more details, visit: https://hitturnir.com/
It's time to continue to play even harder!
Quantox team is set to attend the Money Motion 2024 conference to explore new opportunities in fintech and blockchain.
Money Motion 2024, taking place on March 21 and 22 in Zagreb, promises to be the pulse of FinTech innovation. Attendees can expect the latest updates, groundbreaking insights, and exclusive interviews covering finance, payments, crypto, and technology.
This conference presents an excellent opportunity to delve into the present landscape of payment methods and investment diversification, while also gaining insights into projected future customer expectations.
Q crew, led by Nemanja Lazić (CBO) and Ivan Ćirić (CTO) will be in Zagreb to network, share expertise in the FinTech field, and offer top-notch software solutions.
Location: Zagreb Fair, Avenija Dubrovnik 15
See you in Croatia!
Our next stop is Las Vegas, a go-to destination for the latest technology and innovations!
The Acumatica Summit 2024, is scheduled from Sunday, January 28, to Wednesday, January 31. This four-day event offers a prime platform for networking, learning, and training. Attendees can expect visionary mainstage keynotes, informative breakout sessions, and inspiring customer stories that highlight the latest industry-defining innovations and trends.
Acumatica Summit is the perfect destination for connecting with experts, discovering cutting-edge technology, and fostering business growth.
Our Q team - CEO Filip Karaičić and Head of Managed Services Dušan Milojević, will be on the spot participating in interactive sessions and offering high-quality software solutions and unique digital experiences.
Location: The Wynn Hotel, Las Vegas
Looking forward to meeting you in Las Vegas!
The return of Miljan Simonović to our company marks not only the comeback of an experienced professional but also the continuation of an exceptionally fruitful collaboration. During the past period, Miljan has demonstrated his qualities and dedication, and we have been pleased to follow his professional development. We maintained contact, waiting for the right opportunity to embark on a shared journey towards an even more successful future.
Miljan's return to the role of a Project Manager enables him to, step by step, realize his professional ambitions. We continue to build our story together, with full confidence in Miljan's ability to achieve outstanding results.
How do you view your previous experience with Quantox, and can you share some details about your start with the company?
My first encounter with Quantox was during my studies when I started as a junior Project Manager. Before that, I was active in the nonprofit sector, organizing events and small projects. So, Quantox marked the beginning of my corporate career. I worked on numerous projects, learned, tried new things, and developed myself. Despite the later challenges of the pandemic and uncertainty, Quantox is a company that truly cares about its employees and made an effort to ensure that challenges were not felt, and teams adapted well to remote work.
How do you believe the time initially spent with us prepared you for your current career?
Regarding my initial experience with Quantox, I would highlight two things. Firstly, the excellent mentorship I received. I believe that at the beginning of one's career, having a good mentor is crucial. They provide support for learning and development while also assigning real and challenging tasks that help gain experience – something I definitely had at Quantox. Secondly, the diversity of projects. Working in the outsourcing world allows constant learning through different projects and working with different clients. Each new project is a unique story, a new idea to be realized, and new challenges to overcome – each new experience contributes to making future work easier.
Do you believe this is the right moment for your second experience at Quantox, and why?
Absolutely! In the past period, I have matured and gained a lot of experience, working with startups, smaller companies, and even corporations like IBM. Now is the right time to leverage that experience and take project management to a higher level. Quantox has also matured significantly, working on internal organization, growth, and strategic expansion. Despite industry challenges, there's no better way to progress than by solving problems and facing challenges.
Have there been any changes in your professional journey in the past?
The core of my career has always been communication with people and working on various activities. The type of projects has changed, ranging from in-house product development to outsourcing projects and improving internal processes. Industries have also changed – from education to healthcare, cloud services, and blockchain. However, my role as a Project Manager has remained consistent, helping teams develop outstanding products.
In which areas do you think your previous experience will bring the most value to the PM team?
Primarily, in improving organization and processes. I've had the opportunity to work with numerous startups and scale-ups in establishing PM teams, creating custom PM frameworks, and structuring internal processes. Quantox has made significant progress in internal organization since my first time here when there were around 200 employees, so I see room for further improvement and stability to support the company's continued growth. Of course, my primary focus is on project delivery, and my previous experience in different industries will make it easier to work at Quantox, where each project is innovative in its own way, depending on the industry, technologies, and the client's imagination.
What do you think are the biggest challenges for project managers in the industry today?
As a global challenge that has been widely discussed recently, I would mention remote work. It's much easier to work with a team that's in the same room because co-location facilitates effective communication, team building, and problem-solving.
The pandemic has brought a new normal – distributed teams and remote work, but the post-COVID era is trying to reintroduce office work through hybrid models. It's up to project managers to find the best solution for their projects and teams. Additionally, there are constant industry changes, a constant influx of new methodologies, frameworks, and tools – all of which need to be followed to stay up-to-date and deliver the best results.
What is your primary motivation and inspiration in business - what keeps you going?
Client satisfaction and team fulfillment. Although project managers don't create tangible value by writing code or creating content, enabling smooth work, leading teams, and solving problems are also crucial for a successful project. The feeling within the team when a project is completed and delivered, whether regularly through sprints or in phases, is highly motivating. When all of that is delivered to the client, client satisfaction is another motivator to continue delivering quality work.
New York is the place to be when it comes to attending one-of-a-kind affiliate marketing events!
Affiliate Summit East is a conference where more than 3500 advertisers, e-commerce sellers, publishers, and tech suppliers will gather from July 31 - August 1, to create partnerships and grow their businesses.
ASE has been rated in the top 5% of events in the world and its Meet Market has a special “speed networking” setup style for the most efficient way to build partnerships.
Quantox team will be in New York to share the experience, strategies, tips, and tactics with other experts in the industry. As a leading software development company, we will be there for all attendees interested in innovative software solutions and unique digital experiences.
Visit our booth No.1609 and meet the Q crew - Vuk Popović / Founder, Filip Karaičić / CEO, Danijel Petrović / COO, and Marko Ristanović / Resource Manager.
Location: New York Marriott Marquis Times Square
See you in the Big Apple!
Quantox ekipu i ovog leta očekuje neobičan i jedinstveni timbilding. Čačak je ove godine imenovan za prestonicu kulture, a mi se okupljamo upravo tu gde je pre 17 godina počela Quantox priča.
Već osmu godinu za redom, Čačak je domaćin festivala Dani urbane kulture u sklopu kog muralisti iz zemlje i sveta oslikavaju prepoznatljive građevine ovog grada. Ove godine će, uz pomoć lokalnih street art umetnika, jedan od murala biti posvećen Quantox-u.
DAN
Prirodne lepote Ovčarsko-kablarske klisure su nadaleko poznate, a mi smo iskoristili posetu ovim krajevima da oformimo i budemo deo jednog novog i autentičnog spektakla, a to je - Moravska Quantox regata. Sa uigranim timom ekipe Discover Serbia osmislili smo nezaboravnu plovnu avanturu klisurom.
Katamaran, čamac ili sub-daska - izbor je u potpunosti naš! Quantox tim ima slobodu da izabere kako će doživeti magičnu Zapadnu Moravu.
NOĆ
Ove godine smo hteli nešto drugačije. Zato smo rešili da probamo nešto nesvakidašnje - Quantox će biti partner lokalnog muzičkog festivala - Uzlet Fest - u sklopu kog ćemo imati i naš Quantox Electro Stage.
U okviru samog stejdža nalaziće se i chill out zona, kao i Barbot 2.0 - unapređeni robot koji pravi koktele za sve posetioce. Istovremeno, a u duhu Quantox-a, radimo i na podizanju svesti o ekologiji i očuvanju životne sredine. Dok Barbot priprema piće, svako ko donese 5 praznih limenki ili plastičnih čaša dobija besplatan koktel - jer Svaka Limenka Se Računa.
Mnogobrojni specijaliteti, kultura, istorija i zanimljive destinacije nas čekaju - sve što Čačak ima da ponudi ovaj vikend je namenjeno upravo nama!
Nova avantura za stvaranje uspomena uskoro kreće!
Affiliate World Conference is a place where the industry’s brightest minds absorb mastermind-level content on stage!
The world’s top affiliate marketers and e-commerce entrepreneurs will meet in Barcelona from the 12th to the 13th of July, and represent actionable insights, data-driven knowledge and innovative ideas.
As a leading software development company, with a wide range of services, Quantox will be on the spot, offering quality software solutions and outstanding digital experience to more than 5000 attendees. Drop by our booth C36 and meet the Quantox crew - Filip Karaičić / CEO, Danijel Petrović / COO, Petar Slović / CINO and Marko Ristanović / Resource Manager.
Can you think of a better way to network, interact and look for potential collaboration?
Location: Fira de Barcelona, Spain, Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, s/n
Booth: C36
We are thrilled to meet you in Spain!
Adriatic Valley is a tech community currently located in Banja Luka.
With the aim of professional networking and career development within the IT industry, this community organizes various events such as panel discussions, meetups, and workshops.
Adriatic’s upcoming event is a C-level panel #2, in Belgrade. Quantox will be there, with our founder Vuk Popović. The main topic is ChatGPT vs The Future of Software Engineering, and all the participants will share their thoughts about the influence of ChatGPT on this industry.
The panel will be on June 29 @ Dorćol Platz, starting at 6 PM. If you want to attend, you can register here.
Looking forward to listening, sharing experiences, and meeting great people!
Quantox Technology se priključuje misiji prikupljanja novčanih sredstava u okviru donatorske večeri koju organizuje humanitana organizacija “Srbi za Srbe”.
Donatorsko veče biće održano 20. juna u hotelu Royal Residence u Čačku sa ciljem pomoći porodici Bešanski, kao i Narodnoj kuhinji na Kosovu i Metohiji.
Domaćin dogadjaja biće proslavljeni košarkaš Srbije Aleksa Avramović, a sve prisutne očekuje bogat program! Cena ulaznice je ujedno i donacija - minimalne vrednosti od 100 eura po osobi. Pozivamo sve zainteresovane da učestvuju u sakupljanju 50.000 eura i doprinesu ovim humanim ciljevima.
Humanitarna organizacija “Srbi za Srbe” u proteklih 18 godina prikupila je više od 11 miliona evra i pomogla više od 3 hiljade porodica.
Pridružite se akciji i podržite one kojima je pomoć najpotrebnija!
Prijave za donorsko veče poslati na e-mail adresu: donatorskovece@srbizasrbe.org
Više informacija je dostupno putem linka: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dCaiaLw3YY4K7l81y4nIeEzoDfIsp2Or
AW Summit at Bucharest is a merge of learning, innovation and networking!
More than 300 companies from different industries and from 80 countries will meet in Bucharest from 7th to 9th of May with the common goal to network, learn and share their practice.
As the largest European hub for affiliate marketers, digital companies, monetization platforms, entrepreneurs, content creators and social media specialists - the AW Summit conference gathers all those who are experienced in their business fields, willing to exchange ideas and build new business relations.
With excellent keynote speeches, workshops, expo, and networking events, we are proud to be part of such a event with Quantox C level crew - Vuk Popović/ Founder, Filip Karaičić/ CEO, Danijel Petrović/ COO and Marko Ristanović/ Resource Manager.
As a leading software development company with a diverse team of tech professionals, we are creating top-notch software solutions and offer all-around IT support.
Location: Piața Presei Libere 3-5, Bucharest
Booth#: 2
We are waiting to meet you in person in Bucharest and discuss the latest IT topics and possible ways of successful collaboration!
Quantox supports one of the oldest sports events in Serbia!
Just like in 2022, Quantox continues to support one of the oldest sports and recreational events that promotes healthy life and good habits for 46 years - the Fruška Gora Trail!
The oldest mountain and ultra-running marathon in Europe this year will be held on 22nd and 23rd of April.
What does the Fruška Gora Trail stand for?
Quality time in nature and nurturing health habits!
Through 14 tracks of different lengths and height differences, the Fruška Gora Trail offers the chance to to experience all the beauty of the Fruška Gora National Park, as a recreationalist or as a experienced professional trail runner.
https://www.fruskogorski-maraton.com/en/marathon-trails/
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When does Fruška Gora Trail start?
The official opening of the event is scheduled from 08:45 to 08:55 on the 22nd of April, and at 9:00 - the 46th Fruška Gora Trail will officially begin!
Sunday, April 23 from 11 am, is reserved for the youngest! Only children of preschool age accompanied by parents or other authorized adults can participate in the Path of Joy and Pleasure.
During a hiking tour or competitive race, all participants can feel the natural beauty of Fruška Gora - forests, streams, waterfalls, fresh air - but also, this is an opportunity to get to know the cultural and historical heritage. Along the marathon paths, you can see numerous Serbian medieval monasteries - Grgeteg (XV c.), Staro Hopovo (XVI c.), Novo Hopovo (XIV c.), Jazak (XVI c.), Bešenovo (VIII c.) Fruška Gora hamlets and tourist facilities.
Do not miss the unique opportunity to spend this weekend actively in nature!
After running kilometers and successfully completing the race - we are waiting for you to take a break in the Quantox Chill Out zone!
See you on the Fruška Gora!
QUANTOX IT League is the first sports competition of this type in Serbia!
A motivation to enable people in this industry to play sports and connect - resulted in a project which is unique and new in our country.
So far, 5 seasons of the Quantox IT League and 4 seasons of the Summer League have been played in over 800 matches and with a common goal - good fun, quality games, and an opportunity to meet and connect with colleagues from the industry.
With Luka Bulatović, the director of the IT League, we discussed the idea of gathering IT companies in one place through a sport and the advantages this kind of competition provides and promotes.
The Quantox IT league was formed 6 years ago. What was the initial motive behind the establishment of the corporate basketball league and has the main idea changed to this day?
Six years ago, we gathered at the basketball court where we played basketball once a week. Back then we were teammates on the court, and today, we are the organizers of the Quantox IT League. We moved from the court to the offices and thought about how to connect with other IT professionals and set a new standard that the IT world deserves.
We are aware of the fact that it is very difficult to find free time for physical activity, but when you have a team that motivates you - then basketball training and games become an immense pleasure.
To this day, the same idea remains and we are proud of the entire organizational team as well as all the companies that have trusted us and have been participating for years.
What is the main vision of the Quantox IT League and where do you see it in the coming years?
The idea for this project arose as a desire to present the entire competition in a different light. Our mission is to create an inspiring, creative, and positive environment that encourages unhindered freedom of expression through sports. The club's vision is for people from the IT sector to play sports and meet new colleagues from the profession and also raise their work to an even higher level through the Quantox IT League.
For now, the League gathers only basketball players, but we plan to expand this project to other popular sports. The biggest challenge is to attract more companies that will be part of the league, and we plan to do that with constant improvement of conditions and through introducing novelties.
More than 50 IT companies and about 1500 players have gone through the IT League. What are the key impressions of the competition?
We are proud of the numbers that show us that we worked hard all these years to reach the 6th season and 32 teams. During this competition, some of the teams improved their game thanks to the good organization within the team and a large number of training sessions.
The reasons for participating in the Quantox IT League differ, from recreation, socializing with colleagues, and strengthening team spirit. Furthermore, one of the main competitive motives is raising the trophy at the end of the competition. And yet, above all these, the most interesting part for the participants is the "third half", when they stay after the game and hang out.
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What do the companies that are part of the league see as the biggest benefit?
The Quantox IT League offers companies the opportunity for their people to spend quality time participating in a sport & recreational competition with their team. This way, they improve both their physical and mental health. This is one of the ways for colleagues to get closer to each other, get to know each other better, and spend quality time outside the office together, in a different environment. Further benefits are that, over time, members begin to understand each other better, develop better relationships and have more open communication.
What is the main drive of people who are part of the IT League?
Winning and losing are integral parts of every game. Every team has ups and downs. What drives them are the good results they achieve in matches. Another major motivator is the fans who are there to encourage and cheer for their favorites in the stands!
We believe that the conditions in our league are at the highest level in the country, but we can do even better. The real challenge is to overcome yourself, to do something new. Challenges are what actually drives us!
The IT League has recently gathered 32 basketball teams and organized an humanitarian All-Star event for the treatment of four-year-old Helena Živković from Čačak, who suffers from autism. Hardware and Software teams competed to help little Helena, and collected 126,900 dinars from ticket sales. This is just one of the many ways in which this kind of sports competition contributes to individuals and communities when needed.
The fifth season of the Summer IT League is beginning soon, and registrations start on the 17th of April.
See you there as we continue to strengthen the IT community through team spirit together!
How to connect artificial intelligence and shooting stars?
Well, you can find the answers to these questions from our Dušan Pavlović, Data Scientist in Quantox Technology, who will give a lecture PER DATA AD ASTRA on 23th of March at the Geekstone Meet-Up Event.
Dušan will demonstrate such a connection and talk about how computer vision, deep learning, and research on meteors - shooting stars - overlap.
One of the topics is how relatively easily you can apply your knowledge of neural networks to solve the problem of automatic detection of meteors in astronomic data made by radio detectors. This problem is one of the most complex ones in this field and our understanding of different problems in the Solar System depends on it.
As someone who studied astrophysics, being an author and the host of the science podcast "Radio Galaxy '' while engaged in the physics of meteors and meteorite astronomy for years, Dušan will show one of the examples of how to apply Data Science to scientific data!
The lecture will be held in Serbian and the entrance is free!
Thursday, March 23, 2023
6:00 - 8.00 PM
Science and Technology Park
Fruškogorska 1, Novi Sad
Save the date and welcome to the World of Data!
Register at the link
https://www.meetup.com/geekstone/events/292131441/?isFirstPublish=true
The traditional spring CS:GO tournament is upon us!
Serbian IT companies will gather from the 3rd to the 6th of April at the CS:GO Vol.4 charity tournament.
Motivated by the important topic and achieved results from the previous year,
we decided to stay with the same goal - in 2023 the IT community will be playing for Serbian maternity hospitals and better conditions for the youngest and their mothers!
Companies can register up to 3 teams and donate the financial funds to the common fund. As in previous years, the start for one million dinars is provided by Quantox.
After the closing of applications, by public voting and filling out an anonymous survey, we will together decide which maternity hospital we are helping this year!
We hope that the HIT CS:GO crew will expand this year with new companies and teams that will compete, have a great time and show that the greatest victory is humanity.
Register your team by the 31st of March.
Link for team registration and more information: https://hitturnir.com/
It's time to play even harder!
Transforming Retail with a Self-Service Digital Solution
At Quantox Technology, we don’t just build software—we solve problems. For the leader of sports retail in the region, Sport Vision, one of our recent projects, "Sneaker Point," showcases how we helped revolutionize their retail experience by addressing operational inefficiencies and creating a streamlined, self-service ordering process.
The result? A digital solution that saves time for both customers and store staff while delivering an enhanced shopping experience.
The Challenge: A Time-Consuming Ordering Process
Before partnering with Quantox, the client faced significant operational challenges in their stores:
- Overburdened Staff: Store employees spent excessive time checking inventory for customers, verifying available sizes, colors, and models in storage, and retrieving items manually.
- Inefficient Customer Experience: Customers often had to wait while staff members checked stock and brought the requested items to the shop floor.
- Limited Resources: A lack of human resources added further strain on the ordering process, reducing efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Our mission was to solve these pain points by creating a self-service solution that streamlined the entire process, improved user experience, and reduced the workload for store employees.
The Solution: Sneaker Point – A Self-Service Retail System
We developed Sneaker Point, a comprehensive digital product that empowers customers to take control of their shopping journey while enabling store staff to focus on more value-added tasks.
Key Features:
- Customer Self-Service:
- Customers can scan a product to view all available variations (sizes, colors, models).
- They select the desired option, and the system sends the order directly to the store’s storage.
- Automated Delivery:
- Items are retrieved from storage and delivered to the shop floor via automated escalators.
- The entire process is visible on screens throughout the store, so customers stay informed.
- Efficient BackOffice Management:
- Store administrators can monitor and manage orders, inventory, and customer interactions using an intuitive backend system.
This solution significantly reduced the time required to fulfill customer requests while delivering a seamless, transparent shopping experience.
Our Approach: A Fully Integrated Solution
At Quantox, we take pride in delivering all-round IT and software development support. For the Sneaker Point project, we provided a complete package, handling everything under one roof:
- Custom Digital Product Development:
- Designed and developed a scalable solution tailored to the client’s needs.
- Built using a robust tech stack, including Node.js for the backend, React.js for the frontend, and native Kotlin for Android apps.
- Third-Party Integration:
- Seamlessly integrated with the client’s ERP system for real-time inventory updates.
- Included payment system compatibility and potential for future extensions.
- Infrastructure and Deployment:
- Developed a reliable architecture using Redis for caching and PostgreSQL for database management.
- Ensured smooth deployment and operational scalability.
Our ability to deliver a cohesive solution—from design to deployment and integration—sets us apart as a partner in digital transformation.
Results: A Game-Changing Retail Solution
The Order Point system has transformed the way the client operates their stores. Key outcomes include:
- Enhanced Customer Experience:
- Customers now enjoy a self-service shopping process that is faster, more intuitive, and completely transparent.
- Reduced Staff Workload:
- Shop assistants spend less time managing inventory and more time focusing on customer engagement.
- Operational Efficiency:
- The automated system ensures a seamless flow from order placement to delivery, reducing wait times and eliminating inefficiencies.
Why Work With Us?
At Quantox, we specialize in transforming business challenges into innovative digital solutions. When you work with us, you gain access to:
- End-to-End Development: We provide all-around IT support, from initial product discovery to deployment and beyond.
- Custom Integration Expertise: Whether it’s ERP systems, payment gateways, or other third-party platforms, we handle all integrations seamlessly.
- Retail Industry Know-How: Our deep understanding of retail challenges allows us to deliver tailored solutions that drive measurable results.
Let us show you how we can create intelligent IT solutions that enhance your brand, streamline your operations, and elevate your customer experience.
Let’s Build the Future Together
Do you have an idea that could transform your business? Reach out to us today, and let’s create something extraordinary.
In today's digital age, where innovation is rampant and creativity knows no bounds, safeguarding intellectual property (IP) is paramount. With the rise of digital piracy and the ease of unauthorized duplication, protecting one's creative works has become an increasingly daunting challenge. However, with the emergence of groundbreaking platforms like Verifismart, developed by the Quantox team, individuals and businesses can now rest assured that their intellectual assets are fortified with robust cryptographic protection.
Revolutionizing IP Protection
Verifismart is a testament to the innovation and technological prowess, offering a transformative solution to the age-old problem of IP theft. Leveraging the power of blockchain technology, Verifismart empowers users to validate the authenticity and ownership of their creative works with unparalleled precision and security.
Cryptographic techniques for high-level security
At the heart of Verifismart lies the expertise of the Quantox team, whose proficiency in cutting-edge technologies has paved the way for its success. Through meticulous research and development, our team harnessed the capabilities of Solidity, NodeJS, Laravel, and React to craft a platform that sets new standards in IP protection.
By incorporating advanced cryptographic techniques such as hashing, encryption, and data signing and verification, Verifismart ensures the highest level of security for users' intellectual assets. This sophisticated approach safeguards against unauthorized access and instills confidence in users, knowing that their creative works are shielded from infringement.
A Test of Resilience
The journey towards creating Verifismart had its challenges. Designing a system that effectively cryptographically protects intellectual property demanded ingenuity and perseverance.
Through collaborative efforts, we devised a robust framework that integrates blockchain technology with user-friendly interfaces. The result? A platform that not only meets the client's needs but also anticipates the challenges of tomorrow.
Compromise between Security and IP?
No more.
With Verifismart, users no longer need to compromise on the security of their intellectual property. The platform offers a holistic solution that combines enhanced security measures with intuitive functionalities, providing users with the peace of mind they deserve.
With Verifismart, we have contributed to redefining the landscape of IP protection. We pushed the boundaries to safeguard the creative works with Verifismart and ensure a future where IP remains secure for generations to come.
In the fast-paced digital era, businesses constantly seek innovative solutions to enhance operations and provide a loyalty-rich customer experience. For golf cart sellers, the challenges lie not only in showcasing their products but also in creating a seamless buying process.
Bringing the right tools to the table
Our client, a forward-thinking entrepreneur in the golf cart industry, approached us with a unique challenge. While the frontend of their website was well-established, they needed a robust backend system to facilitate the promotion and sale of golf carts. The primary goal was to empower the owner with the tools necessary to effectively showcase and sell their inventory.
Two-step approach for full functionality
To meet the client's objectives, the Quantox team had a two-step approach. First, we focused on enabling the owner to effortlessly add golf carts to the platform, providing all the essential details that potential customers would find valuable. Second, we dedicated our efforts to creating a smooth and user-friendly buying functionality, ensuring a seamless experience for sellers and buyers.
Perfect, user-friendly buying flow
The central challenge in this project revolved around crafting a perfect and user-friendly buying flow. Streamlining the purchasing process is crucial to keeping customers engaged and satisfied. A golf cart can be a significant investment, and the buying experience is needed to reflect the high standards associated with such purchases.
Loyalty-Rich Customer Experience
Creating a loyalty-rich customer experience was at the forefront of our strategy. The website allowed the owner to promote golf carts effectively and facilitated smooth communication between sellers and buyers. This direct interaction fostered trust and encouraged repeat business, laying the foundation for a loyal customer base.
After implementing cutting-edge solutions, the result was a fully functional website. The owner can now effortlessly add golf carts for sale. The buying flow is intuitive, setting a new standard in the golf cart sales industry.
Embracing digital solutions and prioritizing a loyalty-rich customer experience can propel businesses into a new era of success. As the industry evolves, staying ahead with innovative solutions will be the key to sustained growth and customer satisfaction.
Golf Cart Sellers - A Redefined Platform for Loyalty-Rich Customer Experience
In the realm of technology, innovation often arises from a fusion of diverse fields. One such intriguing intersection occurred in the development of Hypknowledge, a revolutionary website designed to enhance our understanding of sleep habits and provide personalized advice for better sleep. Behind this visionary project lies a tale of meticulous problem-solving, the acquisition of newfound expertise, and the adept use of cutting-edge technologies.
Understanding the Sleep Science
At the core of this project was the need to comprehend the intricate details of sleep science. Sleep tracking involves a myriad of terminologies, formulas, and crucial calculations. Quantox team delved deep into the nuances of sleep science to ensure that every mathematical aspect related to sleep extension was accurate.
Implementation of HIPAA Standards
Creating the solution for our client was not merely about programming; it was about gaining a profound understanding of the health industry and its standards. One crucial aspect that came to the forefront was adhering to HIPAA standards. The team recognized the significance of safeguarding user data, especially when dealing with sensitive health information. Through this project, we not only learned the terminology and phrases associated with sleep science but also acquired a comprehensive understanding of the ethical and legal considerations in the health tech domain.
Bridging the Gap Between Data and Advice
The culmination of our efforts resulted in the creation of Hypknowledge. This unique platform empowers users to document their sleeping habits and receive tailored advice to improve their sleep quality. Leveraging Laravel and VueJS, the team seamlessly integrated technology into the fabric of sleep science, offering users a user-friendly and efficient interface to track and analyze their sleep patterns.
Security as a Priority
In the healthcare industry, data privacy is paramount. We took a proactive approach to ensure the security of user information. We incorporated HIPAA standards into the development process and created an app that not only delivers valuable insights into sleep patterns but also guarantees the confidentiality and privacy of users' data. This commitment to security reflects the team's dedication to providing a trustworthy platform for users to share their sleeping habits without compromising their privacy.
Hypknowledge is a project that reflects interdisciplinary collaboration, problem-solving, and a commitment to security and user privacy. The project unlocked the mysteries of sleep science and demonstrated how technology, when wielded with expertise and care, can positively impact customer`s well-being.
Hypknowledge - Trustworthy platform for Sleep Analysis
JDM Supply's innovative project redefines the realm of buying and selling automobiles. Unlike traditional buy/sell solutions, JDM Supply required a cutting-edge bidding algorithm that would not only enable users to bid for vehicles but also ensure complete anonymity throughout the entire process.
Innovating Secure Bidding
In close collaboration with the visionary team at JDM Supply, we set out to revolutionize the automotive trading landscape. The result is a groundbreaking bidding algorithm that introduces a new dimension of security and anonymity to the bidding process. Our objective was clear - to empower users to bid with confidence, knowing their identities would remain completely confidential.
Auction Algorithms in Action
To meet JDM Supply's unique requirements, we harnessed the power of auction algorithms, reshaping the way vehicles are bought and sold. The heart of this project lies in our ability to ensure secure, real-time, and fully anonymous bidding. Leveraging our expertise in Laravel, JavaScript, and WebSockets, we seamlessly integrated these technologies to create a solution that allows users to place bids without any concerns about privacy or security.
Elevating Anonymity and Real-time Bidding
Our team's proficiency in implementing auction algorithms is evident in the seamless experience provided by the platform. Every bid placed remains fully anonymous, shielding users from unwanted attention while allowing them to actively participate in auctions. Furthermore, we ensured that all bids are instantly displayed in real-time, enhancing the excitement of the bidding process.
At Quantox Technology, we take immense pride in our ability to not only meet but exceed the unique challenges presented by projects like JDM Supply - just one of many testaments to our commitment to pushing the boundaries of technology to provide solutions that transform industries.
JDM Supply - Bidding Transformed with Innovative Algorithms.
At Quantox Technology, we are thrilled to unveil one of our projects – CoreTerminal, a game-changing solution meticulously crafted to empower traders across multiple exchanges, revolutionizing how they approach the dynamic world of cryptocurrency trading.
Empowering Traders, Elevating Strategies
In close collaboration with our esteemed client, we embarked on a mission to reshape the landscape of cryptocurrency trading. Our vision gave birth to CoreTerminal, a comprehensive cryptocurrency trading solution designed to streamline trading activities and equip traders with unparalleled features and insights.
Crafting the Ultimate Trading Solution
With our client's goals in mind, we integrated an impressive array of advanced crypto trading tools within CoreTerminal. These include dynamic profit targets, Fibonacci levels, bracket orders, and average-in orders – all seamlessly woven together to provide traders with a winning edge in navigating complex and volatile markets.
A Symphony of Connectivity
Understanding the paramount importance of seamless connections in trading, we integrated API connectivity across multiple exchanges within CoreTerminal. This integration, backed by robust API keys storing system, ensures traders experience uninterrupted connectivity, enhancing their trading experience and providing an extra layer of security.
Navigating the Crypto Cosmos with CoreTerminal
CoreTerminal isn't just another trading tool – it's a transformative asset that simplifies the intricacies of cryptocurrency trading while empowering traders with insights and tools needed for success. Our client-centric approach to software development ensures that CoreTerminal offers a streamlined interface that makes advanced trading tools easily accessible, regardless of expertise.
Whether an experienced trader seeking to refine their strategies or a newcomer eager to explore the world of cryptocurrency trading, CoreTerminal caters to each one's unique needs. Every aspect of CoreTerminal reflects our dedication to innovation, making it an indispensable tool in their trading journey.
CoreTerminal - Empowering Your Trading Experience Today.
In today's rapidly evolving global landscape, businesses are constantly seeking innovative approaches to maximize efficiency, reduce costs, and stay ahead of the competition. One such strategy that has gained considerable traction is outsourcing.
By entrusting specific tasks or operations to external vendors or specialized service providers like Quantox Technology, organizations can focus on their core competencies while benefiting from cost savings, access to skilled talent, and enhanced flexibility. However, as the business environment continues to evolve, so does the outsourcing landscape.
In this article, we will explore the future of the outsourcing business model, examining emerging trends, shifting paradigms, and potential use cases.
The Statistics Behind Outsourcing Business Model
To begin, it is crucial to highlight some key insights from various research conducted throughout the past few years that shed light on the outsourcing landscape and its potential trajectory. While each source provides a unique perspective, they collectively indicate several common trends and themes.
According to a survey conducted by Deloitte, 70% of companies reported that they currently outsource or plan to outsource a portion of their operations. This demonstrates the enduring appeal and relevance of outsourcing as a strategic business approach.
Moreover, the research emphasizes the importance of global talent in outsourcing strategies. It highlights how organizations can leverage outsourcing to access a diverse range of skills and perspectives, resulting in enhanced innovation and problem-solving capabilities. This aligns with the notion that outsourcing enables companies to tap into a vast global talent pool, facilitating access to specialized expertise that may be scarce or costly to acquire internally.
Additionally, the Statista research provides insights into the future of IT outsourcing and the impact of emerging trends such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML). These technologies have the potential to revolutionize traditional outsourcing models by automating repetitive tasks, improving efficiency, and enhancing the quality of service delivery.
Evolving Strategies: Navigating the Future of Outsourcing
Looking ahead, the future of the outsourcing business model holds immense potential. As businesses strive to stay competitive and adapt to changing market dynamics, outsourcing will play a vital role in their strategies. Here are some key trends and developments that are shaping the future of outsourcing:
Specialized Skill Sets:
The demand for specialized skills will continue to grow, and organizations will increasingly rely on outsourcing to access these skills. Whether it's technologies like blockchain, cybersecurity, or data analytics, outsourcing provides a cost-effective way to leverage niche expertise.
As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, specialized skills are becoming increasingly important for businesses to stay competitive. According to a study by Statista, the demand for professionals with expertise in emerging technologies is on the rise.
For example, the growing significance of cybersecurity and data analytics is driving the demand for professionals in these fields. As the volume and complexity of cyber threats increase, organizations need to ensure their data and systems are secure. Outsourcing cybersecurity services to specialized providers with expertise in threat intelligence, incident response, and network security can help businesses mitigate risks effectively.
This is where Quantox Technology excels as a leading outsourcing partner. With a proven track record in blockchain development, cybersecurity solutions, and data analytics services, Quantox offers the ideal skill set to tackle the challenges of the future and give organizations access to a highly talented team proficient in threat intelligence, incident response, network security, statistical modeling, predictive analytics, and machine learning.
Data Security and Compliance:
With increasing concerns over data security and privacy, organizations will place greater emphasis on selecting outsourcing partners with robust security measures and compliance frameworks. Service providers will need to demonstrate their ability to handle sensitive data and adhere to relevant regulations.
Data security and compliance are critical considerations when outsourcing. Organizations must ensure that their outsourcing partners have comprehensive security measures in place to protect sensitive information. This includes implementing strong access controls, encryption, and secure data transmission protocols.
In addition to security measures, compliance with industry regulations and standards is essential. For instance, in healthcare, outsourcing providers need to adhere to regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to ensure the privacy and security of patient data. Organizations should thoroughly assess the outsourcing partner's compliance track record and certifications to ensure they meet the requirements.
According to a report by PwC, 88% of companies surveyed were concerned about third-party data privacy and cybersecurity risks. To address these concerns, organizations are implementing stringent due diligence processes when selecting outsourcing partners. This includes conducting comprehensive risk assessments, performing security audits, and establishing contractual agreements that define data security and compliance requirements.
Automation and Artificial Intelligence:
As mentioned earlier, the adoption of automation technologies such as RPA, AI, and ML will reshape the outsourcing landscape. These technologies will streamline processes, improve accuracy, and enable service providers to deliver enhanced client value.
Integrating automation technologies in outsourcing operations is transforming how tasks are performed. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is being widely adopted to automate repetitive, rule-based tasks, reducing errors and increasing efficiency. According to a report by Grand View Research, the global RPA market is expected to reach $10.7 billion by 2027, driven by the need for cost optimization and process efficiency.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are also reshaping the outsourcing landscape by enabling intelligent automation and data-driven decision-making. AI-powered chatbots are increasingly used in customer service outsourcing to provide quick and accurate responses to customer queries. ML algorithms analyze large volumes of data and generate insights, improving forecasting, fraud detection, and personalized recommendations.
The benefits of automation technologies in outsourcing are significant. They lead to reduced manual effort, faster processing times, improved accuracy, and cost savings. Service providers that embrace automation can offer enhanced value to their clients by delivering services with greater speed, efficiency, and quality.
Enhanced Collaboration:
Effective communication and collaboration are crucial aspects of outsourcing partnerships, especially when working with remote teams or globally distributed service providers. At Quantox Technology, we recognize the significance of seamless collaboration, and our advanced communication tools and platforms facilitate efficient project management and knowledge sharing.
Cloud-based collaboration tools, such as project management software, document-sharing platforms, and video conferencing solutions, enable real-time communication and collaboration across different time zones and geographical locations. These tools enhance transparency, enable seamless coordination, and promote a shared understanding between the client and the outsourcing provider.
In a survey conducted by Deloitte, 60% of companies stated that effective collaboration and communication are the most critical factors in successful outsourcing relationships. As your trusted outsourcing partner, Quantox Technology is committed to bridging the gap between internal teams and external service providers, fostering strong working relationships, and ensuring the achievement of shared goals.
Sustainable and Ethical Outsourcing:
As businesses increasingly focus on corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and ethical practices, they will seek outsourcing partners who align with their values. This includes considerations such as fair labor practices, environmental consciousness, and social impact.
According to a survey by Nielsen, 66% of consumers are willing to pay more for products and services from companies that demonstrate a commitment to positive social and environmental impact.
Environmental consciousness is also a growing concern. Businesses are increasingly seeking outsourcing partners that embrace sustainable practices, such as reducing carbon footprint, implementing eco-friendly initiatives, and promoting recycling and waste reduction.
To ensure sustainable and ethical outsourcing, organizations should conduct thorough due diligence on potential service providers, assessing their corporate social responsibility policies, certifications, and track records.
Customer Experience Focus:
Customer experience has become a key differentiator for businesses across industries. Organizations are recognizing that outsourcing can be leveraged to enhance customer service, improve response times, and deliver personalized experiences.
Outsourcing partners can provide dedicated customer support teams trained to deliver exceptional service and efficiently handle customer queries. This includes support through various channels such as phone, email, chat, and social media, ensuring seamless omnichannel communication.
Moreover, service providers can leverage customer data and analytics to gain insights into customer preferences, behavior patterns, and pain points. This data-driven approach enables businesses to deliver personalized experiences, tailored recommendations, and proactive support.
According to a report by Salesforce, 84% of customers consider the experience provided by a company as important as its products and services. By outsourcing customer experience functions, organizations can leverage service providers' expertise and specialized skills to enhance customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy.
Embracing the Shift: Unlocking the Potential of Outsourcing with Quantox Technology
It’s undeniable that the future of the outsourcing business model looks promising, driven by evolving technologies, increasing globalization, and changing market dynamics. The reports and surveys indicate a continued upward trajectory for outsourcing, with a focus on IT staff augmentation, access to global talent, emerging technologies, and optimized operational efficiency.
Quantox Technology multiplies the benefits of outsourcing: cost savings, access to specialized skills, and increased flexibility.
By entrusting non-core activities to our expert team, your organization can focus on core competencies and strategic growth.
As the future unfolds, those who embrace the potential of outsourcing and adapt to emerging trends will be well-positioned to thrive in a highly competitive global marketplace.
Partner with Quantox Technology today and unlock the full potential of outsourcing to drive growth, innovation, and sustained success. Let’s Talk!
WHAT A GAME!
After 4 exciting days and a fair play fight - we have the champion of HIT CS:GO Vol.4!
Traditionally held in April, the HIT CS:GO tournament gathered the IT community again for the 4th time in a row.
The number of registered teams, companies and fund donations exceeded the previous years - over 40 teams from more than 35 companies competed in the famous Counter Strike: Global Offensive game!
In 2023, the tournament was dedicated to the youngest, with the goal to improve conditions in maternity hospitals and together we collected 2,291,900 RSD!
HIT 2023 WINNERS:
🥇 Quantox Technology
🥈 Vega IT
🥉 Levi9
We spoke to the winning Quantox team - Miloš Aksentijević, Marko Mitić, Luka Petrović, David Simonović, and Dušan Savanović - for the BTS of becoming a HIT CS:GO champion.
What are your impressions of the HIT Vol.4 tournament? How would you describe the atmosphere this year compared to previous years?
The whole team is united as much as coordinated!
Miloš Aksentijević / Ax.
The impressions are very positive, and the first place contributes a lot to that feeling. The idea is great and I would like it to expand so more teams and donations are coming from year to year.
Luka Petrović / hJk-.^
As in previous years - very positive impressions, a noble goal, and good banter.
Dušan Savanović / dukizen
The impressions are phenomenal! First of all, we love CS:GO, and especially the fact that this is the same team that has been playing and hanging out together for years. Also, the support from colleagues and the entire company truly surprised us and it was nice to see cheering in such a large number!
Who was the most challenging opponent during the competition?
The score shows!
Milos Aksentijević / Ax.
I couldn't decide on one team, so I'll say Levi9 and Vega IT.
Levi9 seemed to have people who are very good at shooting, maybe even better than Vega. However, Vega was a tactically more prepared team.
Marko Mitić / MiTke-_o
Levi9 and VegaIT definitely. We won Levi9 with a score 2:0, but both maps were very close, and VegaIT took one map from us. If I have to choose one opponent - it would be Levi9.
Dušan Savanović / dukizen
From my perspective, definitely Levi9. Although we met them in the semi-finals, it was clear that the game was played at a much higher level, and this was shown on the first map, Vertigo, where we played as many as three overtimes. The boys from Levi showed a really competitive spirit and we had a really good match.
We witnessed a very tense final of the tournament. Were there any decisive moments in the match and which tactics made the difference?
Maps & tactics - a winning combination!
Miloš Aksentijević / Ax.
Maybe there weren't so many decisive moments, but there were a lot of different tactics from our side. The idea was to occupy as much space as possible on the map, play more aggressively as CT, and make faster rotations.
Luka Petrović / hJk-.^
I wouldn't say that there were any decisive moments. On our map peak and on the third map we played superbly, and the tactic was not to give them space to play their game - to attack and occupy space.
David Simonović / Unik ACM
There was tension in the final - as in every game. The opposing team led in some moments, where various factors had an effect. Primarily, it was a drop in concentration, which had the greatest impact during the game, and further, there have been short breaks between the semi-final and final matches.
Did you expect to win?
Expectations are expectations - and the result is in the end!
Marko Mitić / MiTke-_o
Honestly, yes... we knew it wouldn't be easy, but we were sure that we could win the tournament.
Luka Petrović / hJk-.^
Yes, because when it was announced that HIT will be organized again this year, we started to prepare and gather 2-3 times a week and play.
Dušan Savanović / dukizen
I definitely didn't expect us to win and I can't say that my teammates would agree with me here. Not because of a lack of self-confidence, but because of the very fact that every year the tournament has attracted very good teams and players.
We believe that in addition to the tense fight, there were also plenty of laughs. Share some interesting anecdotes from the tournament :)
Enjoy the game!
Miloš Aksentijević / Ax.
There was a lot of laughter and cheering, which is probably the key to our success. At no point did I feel like we were losing and that we didn't have a solution, so this made us play a very calm game at the top level.
David Simonović / Unik ACM
The whole tournament passed in a relaxed rhythm without tension, and that is the purpose - to enjoy the game, and victory comes just as a bonus!
Dušan Savanović / dukizen
There was a lot of laughter, but I will point out one anecdote. Our teammate and colleague Mitke (Marko Mitić) is often overrun by planes when we play. It's not because he lives next to the airport - but because he plays the game on his laptop, which gets quite loud after a while.
So we persuaded him to put a “push to talk“ button to avoid those loud noises. During the finale, at one point, Mitke forgot to release that button, so we just heard Luka shout: MITKE AIRPLANE!
And we really had a good laugh!
Laughter is a cure. Good competition is healthy. Enjoy the game. Help the community.
We are proud that HIT lasts and unites.
See you next year!
Over the past few years, Data and Artificial Intelligence have become the most trending technology used across all industries. Yes, technology (singular) because Data and AI need to work in synergy to generate the best results.
By the time the term 'Data' was coined, there was already so much of it that IT professionals and computer scientists quickly realized that sorting out and parsing all the data and, at the same time, analyzing the same data would be impossible for humans. They knew that if anything could help, it would be AI algorithms that would be able to derive valuable real-time insights from that much data.
The merge of these two disciplines created a technological boom changing businesses left and right. But how exactly?
AI for Business
Unlike a decade ago, the internet is now filled with data providing important information about consumer habits, likes, dislikes, personal preferences, and activities. This type of data, when paired with AI technology, can help businesses:
- boost efficiency with various process automation solutions
- improve consistency and speed of service
- use customer insight and review to inform decision-makers
- discover new opportunities for new products and services
- it can detect fraud threats
- optimize supply chain operations
We could list the benefits of AI for business for days. However, many people would still need clarification, a concrete example, about how to get a taste of some of these benefits and how they can improve their business operations with AI.
Here at Quantox Technology, we believe in a practical approach and the power of learning. With more than 550 IT experts, our team has some of the best mentors in the industry, ready to convey the usage and possibilities of their products in the simplest way.
Quantox E-commerce AI Solution Use Case
The Quantox team was introduced to an e-commerce client that needed an AI solution to simplify one part of their working process. Our client had an online furniture store where they sold design furniture and artwork. So naturally, they've set up a webshop with thousands of furniture listings where you can filter your search based on your preferences. For example, you could filter furniture by type (beds, couches, sofas, tables), color, manufacturer, material, and many other specifications.
That meant every product needed a string of descriptive words in their specifications for their search filter to work. For example: If you wanted a black table, you would get a listing of any product that mentions the words "black" and "table." But if you wanted a "Sanne Protin black dining table," if labeled correctly, you would get only one result.
THE PROBLEM
However, the client's problem was not labeling products correctly, rather than the labeling process being money and time-consuming. At that time, their products were being labeled manually, meaning they needed to pay people to input labels individually.
OUR SOLUTION
To fix this problem, the Quantox Data & AI team proposed they create an automatic labeling system that will save them valuable resources. We created an AI system that takes an ad as an input and returns "labels" as an output, meaning product type, color, manufacturer, and material. In terms of business, the result was a significant decrease in the labeling cost and time to obtain the labels, which generally sped up the entire listing processing, had a considerable impact on their business, and positively affected their business efficiency.
Translating Human Problems to Data Problems
1. ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
So, we were building this system. It's a simple task for a human but could be difficult for a computer. To successfully transfer this business problem into a data problem, we must ask the right questions.
What would a human do if they had the task of labeling the products?
The trick is to answer these questions in as much detail as possible. For example, some would say, "well, a human would read the description," but the correct answer is, "the human would look at the listing." That means our internal conversation would look something like this:
Through questions, we slowly realize that humans would look at the image and type in what they see. For example, they see a black table, so they would type that it's a table and it's black. They could also read the description to see who the manufacturer is and what material was used.
2. DRAWING THE RIGHT CONCLUSIONS
The answers to our questions told us our system needs to be able to emulate human behavior. Mainly it needs to be able to "see" the images and recognize objects on them, but also recognize text, read it, and understand the meaning of it too in order to extract the vital information needed for labeling.
Well, what can "identify" objects in AI? Computer vision certainly can.
And how can a computer read and understand text just like a human? With Natural Language Processing, of course.
3. THE DATA AND AI MODELS
As always, we needed data to apply to our AI algorithm, so we took around 20 thousand pre-existing labels to train our AI models. The diagram below shows how data trained our models and how it was deployed, monitored, and maintained.
On the left side, you'll notice a very important box saying, "hold out a fraction aside." This means we took a small fraction of data from the 20 thousand label batch (about 10-20%), which is the data we did not show to our model. The reason is simple - we wanted to test our model on that data after it's trained. This way, we can see how our model performs on data it hasn't seen before.
In the middle, you can see that we have two separate models. One that works with images and one that works with text. Each model is tasked to learn different things, and finally, that information is combined to output the desired information.
The task is simple: "Build a system that says: This listing is selling a lamp, and the color of the lamp is beige-brown-yellow-ish."
We'll learn how this simple task can quickly become a bit more complicated for a computer.
The listings are given as "image+text" pairs, and we're free to choose from a wide arsenal of AI techniques as long as the solution delivers the desired information that is correct for the majority of the time. In the following sections, we describe some methods we opted for.
Our dataset contains around 20 thousand examples similar to this one, containing images of various furniture types: couches, sofas, tables, wardrobes, etc. In addition, the data includes information about where the object is on the image and the product being sold. We used 15,000 examples to train our AI algorithms (training data), while the other 5,000 we used as test data.
Here's an example of what a typical listing looked like.
Disclaimer: The product shown in the photo is for illustration purposes only and does not represent the actual product of our clients. It is used solely to explain and demonstrate the capabilities of our AI models.
QUANTOX COMPUTER VISION MODEL
Our computer vision model was supposed to extract information from the image. We expected it to localize a lamp and tell us that it is, in fact, a lamp. To do so, our algorithm needed to perform two tasks: object localization and image classification.
A bounding box consists of 4 numbers representing the coordinates of the box itself:
X_upper_left, Y_upper_left, X_lower_right, Y_lower_right.
Our model, in essence, is a model that tries to predict these four coordinates in an image and assign the label "lamp" to this listing. It does it in such a way that the predicted coordinates should mostly overlap with coordinates provided by humans. At the same time, the product label ("lamp" in this case) should match the human annotations in most cases.
GOAL: Maximize the overlap and assign the correct label.
Now that we know what the model should do let's see how it does it.
WHAT ARE CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORKS?
Each image was run through a convolutional neural network (CNN) tasked with learning the features of the image. Neural networks are made of neurons. Neurons group into layers. Layers hold numbers used to process our data (by multiplication and addition). Those numbers represent the knowledge of our network. Intelligence even, if you will.
The CNN model we created contains 53 convolutional layers. Each layer transforms the image by applying a convolution operation on the image. Convolution is actually a whole lot of additions and multiplication following the pixel grid of the image and some additional rules.
What that means is, at a high level, we plug an original image into the CNN, and it goes through each of these layers sequentially. The output of each layer is a slightly modified version of the original image. These modifications can highlight contours and shapes of interest in the original image or blur and make insignificant contours and shapes disappear.
We program the network to tweak the convolution operation and figure out what these shapes are on its own. Then, we let the network try multiple times until the results are satisfactory according to a predetermined criterion. This process of tweaking the layers (or, more technically, tweaking the parameters of the convolutions) is known as training the neural network.
When the image passes all 53 convolutional layers, we add another two layers, which we construct in such a way that we can read what the network thinks the bounding box is and what is the object residing in that bounding box. Finally, we read predictions from these final layers. They're tweaked similarly to convolutional layers during training. When this lamp was successfully detected, we cropped out the predicted bounding box, extracted the dominant colors, and gave it its first label - a "lamp."
QUANTOX NATURAL LANGUAGE MODEL
Now that we know how the computer vision part of the solution works, the question arises: "Why do we need text at all? Isn't computer vision all we need because we got the colors and the product?"
Well, not exactly. What if the lamp was labeled differently, for example, "torch"? In this example, it isn't, but there could be a lot of other instances where labels can be nothing more than misleading synonyms. We can't simply rely on one-word descriptions of the product coming from some people we don't even know who labeled these listings. They might have labeled it for a different purpose, who knows. That's why we're complementing the information we extracted from images with the data from text. We're shrinking the margin of error and trying to output results that align with the industry's terminology as much as we can.
Plus, the computer vision model can detect a lamp and might even detect some sort of cat on the bottom of the lamp. Of course, it's essentially wrong detection (because it's not a cat, but a llama), but the text helps us deal with these cases as well, and now we'll see how.
So, let's get technical. Now suppose that our computer vision model detected both a lamp and a cat.
Now we have two detections: a lamp and a cat. Certainly, a cat is not for sale, nor is it a real cat. It's a cat-shaped pedestal for the lamp, which is probably not even a cat but a llama. This is just to give you a sense of ways these models can be wrong. We need to filter the object detection algorithms' outputs by analyzing text. Remember that the listing description states:
"Created and designed by the famous 20th-century art deco designer Jean-Michelle Jarre, this nightlight can be a great addition to your living room or bedroom for only $99.99".
Our goal is to search for the words "lamp" and "cat" in this text and find a match. But we would fail if we want to match the exact string of words. There are no words "lamp" or "cat" in the description. But there is the word "nightlight." You'd agree that refers to the lamp. Of course, you would, but how do we build an AI system to figure that out?
That's the goal here. And the tool is, again, a neural network. Specifically, the neural network performing the task of "word embedding," unlike the former network performing the task of "object detection."
The neural network's inputs are text sequences, and the final output is a numerical representation of the input word. Literally, a sequence of numbers. How many numbers? We can decide that, but the common practice is higher degrees of 2, such as 256 or 512.
So yes, sequences of numbers, like the lottery, but with one crucial property. When two words of similar contexts, such as "nightlight" and "lamp," are represented numerically, they have similar representation, again by some predefined criteria. However, when words of vastly different contexts are represented numerically, these representations are different, such as "lamp" and "truck," for example.
So we create a neural network consisting of layers, except they're not convolutional. They're different types of layers, each connected and the final layer from where we can read predictions. Like most NNs, this one also has to predict something, and by tweaking this network, it learns which words frequently co-occur, effectively meaning that the network learns which words are contextually similar. Its knowledge is represented in its layers, which we then extract from the network and use as our "numerical representation of the words themselves."
When this is trained, we get a numerical representation of all the words from the listing description and all the words from the object detection model, namely, "lamp" and "cat." Now we measure the similarity between the word "lamp" and all the words from the description individually and then repeat the process for the word "cat." The similarity score is a cosine (remember trigonometry?) between the numerical representations of two words for which we calculate the similarity. This cosine similarity ranges between 0 and 1, 0 meaning not similar, and 1 meaning identical.
Now relying on the fact that the listing descriptions are highly likely to mention the product itself or at least some products' synonyms, we can expect that whatever the product is ("lamp" or "cat"), it will have a high similarity score with whatever the product is in the description.
- In this case, the words "lamp" and "nightlight" have, say, the highest similarity between all the combinations, so we say - "THE PRODUCT IS THE LAMP."
- The word "cat" will have minimal similarity with the words in the description because the description never mentions animals, cats, dogs, pets, or anything within that context, and context is learned in the neural network, so "cat" will end up omitted. That's how we know - "THE PRODUCT IS NOT THE CAT."
Now let's see the results.
THE RESULTS
When all this is said and done, and the models are trained and validated, it's time to put them to the test and see how they behave on the data they weren't trained on. Remember that the test data contains the "text + image" and the "location + object" parts. We hide the "location + object" part, obtain the predictions from it, and then compare them with the actual location and object.
When predicting a product, we achieved 91% accuracy on the training set of around 5k examples. As for colors, the number is at about 70% on the same dataset, but it is a pessimistic estimate based on sampling and employing the naked eye to method to say "this is right" and "this is wrong." The reason for that is that people see colors differently. In the case of our lamp, one person can say "beige," but the other person might say "light yellow." Suppose you convert the color names into an RGB system. In that case, they can differ vastly, so if we calculate the Euclidean distance between "beige" and "light yellow" in the RGB coordinate system, we can wrongly conclude that the model made a wrong prediction. In fact, both the model and the person labeling are right. We believe the actual number is much higher than 70% since the errors mostly come from the edge cases where you can argue it's the same color.
THE DEPLOYMENT
Once we've run all data through our models and our models were trained and tested, we deployed the model in production. This means that we need to save the models in some sort of model storage, which could be on some location on our server, on our client's server, or on a cloud storage service of choice. In this case, it was the client's server.
Specifically, we used Flask to create a Python API and Docker for deployment. When the API is called, it triggers a forward pass through the neural networks, which returns some predictions. The application then processes those predictions as described above and returns a response. Finally, the client integrates with our model by calling our API from their application, which gets them the desired information.
They can then process the information however they see fit, e.g., display them in some sort of drop-down menu on their front end or have radio buttons to help their users filter their search when buying furniture. Here's a diagram describing the solution's architecture at the highest level.
And that's it. We described the process of training a computer vision model, a natural language processing model, we touched neural networks a bit, shining a light on what it means to train the neural network, what are "As" and "Is" in "AI," and how the information obtained from these networks is used in practices to improve the user experience when shopping for furniture online! A lot of math and engineering for such a seemingly simple task, right? However, the work pays off when implemented correctly, especially in the eCommerce industry, where there's a great deal of data and many different types of applications for AI solutions.
Data, AI, and Quantox - a Perfect Recipe for eCommerce Growth!
Transforming your eCommerce business paradigm in 2023 can make your business stand out from the competition by increasing revenue, conversion rates, and the overall popularity of your brand. Integrating AI technology in your eCommerce business gets that much easier with Quantox Technology team of experts that have been providing Data and AI services and eCommerce solutions for years and have a proven track record of success. Our team will take the time to understand your unique needs and develop a customized solution that fits those needs. So, are you ready to unleash the potential of AI for your eCommerce? Let's Talk!
It’s the final curtain call for 2022 and, as 2023 is slowly approaching, it’s already clear that Data & AI (Artificial Intelligence) technologies will play a major role for many businesses in the future. Companies around the globe have already switched their business model and, in some cases, mindset to the digital world and are now looking for ways to bridge the gaps they found in their digital experience. The best solution is now also the talk of the town- Data & AI technology.
With such a wide range of uses in business, from streamlining job processes and aggregating business data, AI is ready to take the two-dimensional technology and surround the consumers with a three-dimensional physical environment.
We probably already interact with AI on a daily basis without even realizing it. However, it is not the same AI most of us imagined, culturally influenced by decades of science-fiction books and movies. Instead, today’s AI can be something most people, especially younger generations, consider a norm, like ”Alexa”.
The idea of AI is not new, but it certainly took a long time to develop. AI technology came into existence in 1956, and it would take decades of developing the technology and systems to get what we have today. Now, Data & AI go hand-by-hand and are even applicable, soon to become invaluable, to any business if they want to ensure success and steady growth. With the potential to simplify the mundane work process and achieve breathtaking results, AI technologies are becoming necessary if you want to gain a competitive edge in any industry. What was once a theory is now a tangible business toll perpetuated by tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and IBM.
So, if you are a business owner looking for a way to transform your business, this article will help you learn about the benefits of Data & AI in business.
What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?
In order to fully understand how AI technologies can help a business, it’s essential to know what they are. There are many definitions of ”Artificial Intelligence.” Still, the broad term is that ”AI is any computer software that engages in human-like activities like learning, planning and problem-solving”. A bit vague, huh? It’s like saying your colleague is a ”human”- it’s technically correct but doesn’t specify anything. We must go beyond the basic definition and scramble through the details to learn more about different types of AI and where artificial intelligence is used.
Machine Learning
One of the most used AI technologies in business must be machine learning. Machine learning uses algorithms that process large amounts of data in an extraordinary short amount of time. Plus, those algorithms have the ability to ”learn” over time. The more data the algorithm processes, the more its modeling improves.
For example, you own a factory with all sorts of different machinery, and you need each and every one of those to work like a clock. This is where AI comes in. A large amount of data about the functionality and production of your machinery goes into a central location where, thanks to AI technology, a human worker is presented with real-time information about the condition of your machinery.
Such quantities of data and patterns are impossible for a human to sift through, and that’s why AI technology plays an important part. Machine learning can process all the data more rapidly, recognize the patterns and anomalies, and finally notify the decision-makers if maintenance or a repair is needed.
Deep Learning
The development of an interconnected web of artificial intelligence ”nodes” is also known as deep learning. It is a specific type of machine learning relying on neural networks to engage in nonlinear reasoning. Sounds confusing, right? So let’s try to simplify it.
There’s been a lot of hype around self-driving cars, and understandably so. The idea that a vehicle could make the right decisions in traffic as a human would is revolutionary, but thanks to deep learning, today it’s a reality. Self-driving cars use deep learning algorithms to process data collected from their sensors. Information like the distance from other objects and their speed, predictions of where those objects will be in 10 seconds- all that data helps self-driving cars decide when to change lanes. Moreover, deep learning models can improve with every bit of data they process.
Data & AI in Business Today
While the idea of AI was still fresh and developing, many feared that AI could and would replace humans and their job positions. Still, rather than taking over the world, AI today serves as a supporting tool for all of us.
AI technology still has some difficulties completing common-sense tasks in the real world, but what it can do is process data- and fast! By analyzing data faster, AI can also present us with every possible solution for our problem and the consequences of each action. This can help businesses streamline the decision-making process.
For decades, data collection has been a central business practice but impossible for any individual and company to use efficiently. Why? There’s simply not enough time to interpret all data. However, with AI-enabled applications and other digital tools, businesses can collect real-time data from an established database and learn about their consumers’ problems and preferences. Once they know that, they can easily increase efficiency, personalize their product or service, make informed decisions, and reduce costs. All this will eventually lead to increased revenue.
Common Uses of AI in Business
While there’s more room for AI to grow, as it inevitably will, today, we use artificial intelligence technology in the following ways.
- Machine learning: is often used in systems with a large amount of data. AI helps contextualize that data so the company’s decision-makers can understand energy usage or maintenance demands.
- Customer Relationship Management: CRM systems are rapidly changing with AI technology into a self-updating and auto-correcting system that helps businesses stay on top of their relationship management.
- Internet and Data research: AI has become irreplaceable when it comes to providing internet users with customizable experiences. Now, businesses of all sizes and types can easily target their specific audience without relying on the users’ search box. Thanks to AI, the right information is finding its way to the user now.
- Digital Personal Assistant: businesses can leverage Data & AI in many different ways, not just by transforming their services and customer relations. Artificial intelligence can help reorganize a company’s operations and streamline the workflow. Everything from emails, calendars, and work processes can be done with the help of AI personal assistant bots. So, by leaving smaller tasks to AI, employees, managers, and decision-makers can dedicate themselves to developing strategies that will increase revenue and boost company success.
- Cyber-security: AI serves as a 24/7 ”extra set of eyes” that monitors data input patterns, finds anomalies and threats, recognizes cyber-attacks, and backtracks to their source. It can also prevent future threats.
How Can AI Improve Business Processes?
Do you want to start using artificial intelligence technology in your organization but still don’t know which processes you can and should automate with AI? The latest Data & AI reports show that many industries that implemented this technology are already experiencing major growth in revenue just by automating a portion of their business processes. Well, let’s learn more about the stronger points of AI technology to know how a business can use artificial intelligence to their advantage.
Five Things AI is Just Better At
AI technology is a long way from surpassing human intelligence and has its limits, but there are some things where AI technology is a better solution. Easy to adopt and implement in any business practice, AI is very good at interpreting visual, text, and speech formats.
Visual
Many industries use visual tracking in order to increase productivity and efficiency. This is only possible with AI and its vision-trained capabilities that range from storing and captioning documents to supporting IoT (Internet of Things) sensor arrays.
In short, you can train AI technology to process, identify and search images using computer vision and later use it for things like tracking clinical workflow, automating inspections for a manufacturing process, or even monitoring store conditions.
Speech
So we are back to Alexa or Siri as an ultimate proof of just how much users and consumers love to be engaged. Customer engagement, in this case, excelled thanks to the AI technology converting speech to text and vice versa. You can also use this AI benefit for company staff training.
Knowledge
By mapping information, providing recommendations, and supporting semantic search, AI can be used to improve user experience and offer your consumers information they’ll actually find helpful.
Search
The profile of your everyday user has changed, and newer generations of consumers will be hard to satisfy and engage. Accuracy and search engine speed are the key to success. Still, they can only be achieved by using AI to enhance your search functionality while enabling it to use images, videos, web pages, and more to give your consumers exactly what they need.
Language
We’ve come a long way from communicating to technology in 0’s and 1’s, and today we can even hold a real, full-sentence conversation with it. Thanks to Natural Language Processing (NLP), businesses can integrate bots to chat with consumers. This type of AI technology can translate languages and even recognize sentiment, letting you know whether your consumers are satisfied or not.
How to Manage Data & AI in Business?
With great data comes great responsibility- this is something every business owner should know. You can quickly improve products and services with AI by using the data and increasing its value, but only if you manage and secure your information and protect your business, employees, and customers.
If you own a business that uses AI technology, you should have a comprehensive data management strategy for:
- access
- authentication
- creation
- privacy
- processing
- security
- storage
Cyber-criminals target other businesses’ information by looking for emails, addresses, phone, and account numbers. It is a significant concern of every business, regardless of the size or industry. AI technology can tackle a great deal of tasks related to security of any organization by fine-combining through all patterns and finding any anomaly within milliseconds.
5 Steps to Take Before Implementing Data & AI in Business
Using AI technology for business may be the next best thing, but you should still take steps before transforming your business with AI-based tools.
Step #1 Ask Important Questions
Using the latest AI technology trends can be beneficial for a business only if the right trend is picked and implemented. With that being said, don’t dabble in trends that offer little to no benefits to your business or industry. Instead, ensure that the AI technology is the best tool you can use for your specific industry, business size, and model. Ask yourself if AI can be used to boost your business, but also how you or your users can misuse it.
Step #2 Stay Human-Oriented
Remember that humans created AI technology and, as such, it is prone to mistakes. Dispose of the idea that you’ll create a mistake-free environment by replacing a human employee with AI technology. Always keep this in mind as you review the results your AI provides.
Step #3 Stay Unbiased
Believe it or not, human bias can affect the AI algorithm in many ways, so carefully choose the data set you’ll use as you create a training model. Also, ensure that the creator hasn’t unintentionally programmed their own bias into your AI.
Step #4 Explain Your AI
Your users or stakeholders will want to know the logic behind your AI and how it reached a particular conclusion. Explaining your AI’s decision-making process will help you maintain trust between you and all other parties.
Step #5 Use Data & AI Responsibly
Since AI technology can be quite a powerful tool, it mustn’t fall into the wrong hands. Responsible AI refers to frameworks that ensure businesses act transparently and ethically with AI technology. So ensure you can follow all government regulations regarding using AI technology before you even create an AI business strategy.
The Future of Data & AI
While we can’t predict the future, it is clear that Data & AI technology will become an even more integrated part of the workforce. With the potential to replace many human jobs, this technology can also lead to the specialization of employee skills. Where AI will take over data analysis, people will be required to cultivate qualitative skills like creativity and problem-solving.
With further technology development, we’re bound to see new business applications, consumer uses, and new startups emerging. The Internet of Things and Data & AI make a powerful combination that can easily change the economy. With so many benefits of artificial intelligence, those companies that utilize this technology in the right way can make it to the top in no time, completely turning the tables for themselves and their competition.
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) has always been wrapped in a veil of mystery, looked upon in pure awe or fear. Regardless of how much we all want flying cars, we also vividly remember the plot of the Terminator movies. However, whether we think the future of AI will be bright or bleak, it’s already here, and it’s promising to be a 5-star rated one.
AI technology is already playing such a big part in our day-to-day life. So much so that, during the worst case of pandemic a world has seen in the last century, AI technology was what kept many businesses afloat, changing their services, products, and strategies forever. It also gave those companies a considerable boost in revenue and led to cost reductions, making AI technology and implementation one of the leading business strategies in 2023.
There are thousands of surveys, case studies, and reports on the future of AI in the business world. From global to local reports, predictions, and industry-specific details, AI technology has been the ”talk of the town”. After all, the data and numbers never lie, and AI has proven to give magical business growth percentages every business owner would want.
Most Important AI Business Statistics
- By 2027 the global AI market value is expected to reach more than $260 billion.
- AI could contribute more than $15 trillion by 2030 to the worldwide economy.
- As much as 37% of all businesses and companies have integrated AI into their processes.
- 9/10 of leading global firms investing in AI technologies.
- While AI will eliminate 85 million jobs by 2025, it will also create 97 million new ones.
- Today we have more than 3 billion voice assistants in use, but next year we’ll have 8 billion.
- By 2025, the AI industry will be earning around $126 billion annually.
- more than 67% of US citizens believe self-driving cars are safer.
- 25 countries worldwide are currently designing self-driving vehicles.
- The autonomous car industry could be worth more than $600 billion in the next five years.
Artificial Intelligence Business Usage
Companies worldwide use AI technology to automate some parts of the work or help their employees achieve better results. However, looking at AI across all industries, we notice that while some have everything to gain through AI, many sectors are still dipping their toes into AI and how it can be used to its fullest capacity.
- By 2030 AI will help boost the GDP of many local economies. China is expected to be the leading one with a gain of 26%.
- Startups that used AI received more than $7.4 billion in funding during the second quarter in 2019.
- According to Gartner’s 2020 report, more than 37% of businesses used AI technology in their workplace in 2019.
- There was $57.6 billion of spending on AI and cognitive systems in 2021 globally.
- From 2015 to 2019, the number of companies that implemented AI in business grew by 270%.
- 38% of healthcare providers use AI technology for diagnosis assistants.
- 52% of all telephone companies employ chatbots (AI technology).
- The public opinion about AI technology is turning positive, and now, more than 50% of consumers are agreeable with AI.
- More than two-thirds of consumers are agreeable with AI helping boost customer engagement.
- 26% of all consumers interact with AI on a daily basis.
- The Wearable AI market size is predicted to grow to $180 billion by 2025.
- One-third of commerce consumers prefer to interact with AI.
- More than 52% of consumers are doubtful about AI protecting their private information.
- 4/10 consumers trust that companies using AI are more careful about customer data.
- Netflix’s AI recommendation engine is worth $1 billion a year.
How Do Businesses Adopt Artificial Intelligence?
According to Forbes, 4 out of 5 companies are putting AI as top priority business strategy for their organizations. A staggering 83% of companies claim AI strategies they implemented are the reason behind their growth and success.. One of the most common ways companies use AI is through chatbots and automated emails, simplifying everyday business communication and saving time, and those are just some of the many benefits of AI implementation.
33% of organizations have started implementing AI technology in some capacity, while 25% have fully developed AI-enabled processes. As much as 21% of all companies already have a few strategies and concepts and are looking to scale, but only 14% have had concepts with limited success. A small percentage of organizations, 7%, don’t use AI but are interested and currently looking for a way AI can help increase their revenue and overall boost their organization’s success.
Analytics Insight reports that 80% of retail executives will adopt AI at some level by 2025. The majority of the executives say that in the next three years, their company will be using AI.
How To Leverage Data, Cloud, and Analytics in Business?
According to the PwC report, most companies that work with AI reported promising proof of concepts that are ready to scale. But some companies use AI in a more advanced way and are achieving incredible results like significant ROI.
What those companies are doing right is using data and AI not to solve only one problem but adopting AI for business transformation, enhancing decision-making, and modernizing systems and processes. According to the report, the holistic approach to AI implementation in business had the best results.
The holistic approach enables fast AI success, and leaders should be looking to invest in and manage data, AI, and the cloud as a whole. A Holy Trinity of AI, if you will, but taking on this approach will deliver more value at scale because it means data from inside and outside the organization is being analyzed constantly.
The Value of AI in Business
More than 44% of organization leaders think real AI value is realized in automation, increasing productivity. Next, as much as 41% of all leaders think AI solutions improve decision-making, while 40% of all executives believe AI helped them improve customer experience. Finally, products and services innovation values of AI were also one of the significant points for 40% of CEO and leaders.
Decision-Making with AI solutions
Business leaders know just how vital decision-making is, but how does AI help exactly? To make an informed decision, you’ll need a lot of information, do some fact-checking, calculate the risks, and do a prediction analysis. AI technology can simply analyze and process a lot more data than any human being.
For example, suppose you want to optimize pricing. In that case, AI can analyze historical data on margins, supplier costs, product sales, and customer satisfaction and then estimate possible solutions and scenarios. It can show you how your competitors may change their prices, make an analysis with the predictions of future economic events and enable better decision-making. And with the combination of edge computing AI can make that analysis and give you solutions at lightning speed.
More than 74% of leaders said AI is used to make technology decisions within their organization, and 62% said it is used for operations and maintenance. In comparison, 61% of leaders claim AI is used to boost customer experience.
How Can Companies Implement AI?
Start From The Back
Don’t start with data if you’re considering adopting a new AI model for your business. Instead, go backward and think about the outcome you want, then look for the data to back up your goals. Next, you need to consider other decision-makers using this model in the same way, where the model will fit in the decision-making process, cloud integration, monitoring, scaling, improvement, and finally, a retirement plan for the model. Make sure to learn more about the latest Data & AI trends and how they can help you navigate the change to a new business model.
Leave the Data to AI
Many companies have tons of messy, unstructured data, whether it’s documents, images, or videos. Just tell your AI what kind of data you need to achieve the desired result, and it will sort through all the mess before placing only the most vital data in front of the company’s decision-makers.
Focus First, Scale Later
Having a holistic approach to AI business implementation doesn’t mean you have to do everything simultaneously. Instead, start from the essential functions you want to simplify or automate within your organization, then scale up to other and more complex tasks.
AI Simulations in 2023
If there’s one thing all survey respondents (as much as 96%) agree on is their plan to use AI simulations in 2023. A compelling feature, AI simulation can provide detailed, real-time insight into a company’s real-time performance.
Just imagine creating a simulation of all suppliers, customers, competitors, weather, economics, and whatever variable you need and be able to predict supply chain pricing flow, both dynamics and disruptions. Now, you can plan a navigation strategy by knowing what will happen.
57% of leaders from the survey plan to use AI simulations for market conditions forecast, while 54% will use AI simulations to support financial, sales, and marketing planning.
AI simulations can also help hire and train employees, with almost two-fifths of surveyed companies already doing so. In addition, AI-powered simulations give room for better virtual recruiting, finding candidates worldwide, and managing and monitoring remote workers.
AI Labor Market Solutions
Labor market challenges are present in any industry, but 98% of companies believe AI can help overcome these challenges. In addition, many companies put great hopes in AI by automating their processes or reducing their hiring needs.
However, AI has its own labor market challenge: a lack of AI talent and a high cost of the existing AI talent. However, holistic AI companies know that AI initiatives increase revenue and are not paying much attention to the lack of AI talent. They know it’s money well-spent. As a result, those companies are 1.5 times more likely to leverage third-party vendors like managed services providers with a complete AI workforce.
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Although AI technology is not new, it’s beginning to have a significant impact as businesses realize the potential and the possibilities new Data & AI trends offer. With AI today, companies can transform and create new opportunities in almost every industry.
“If you want to think of a new thing, the new thing that is going to be most attractive is going to be something that you can do with scaled AI,” said Whit Andrews, vice president, and an analyst at Gartner Research. However, not many know that behind the magic of scaled AI is a significant amount of data being processed and labeled. Therefore, it’s imperative that companies realize their data needs to be in order before they see what scaled AI is capable of.
Now, in 2022, we’ve seen AI trends emerging, promising scalability to any business, regardless of size, type or industry and those trends are going to be even more popular in 2023. So what are those AI technology trends, and how can they impact companies and their digital transformation efforts? Let’s find out!
#1 Large Language Models
Language Models are AI models that rely on machine learning to, in simple terms, learn how to speak our language. These models determine how sentences, phrases, or even paragraphs are related by processing a considerable amount of text and building a model. That model understands how we, as humans, use language and copies our semantic techniques to output a more human-like interaction.
AI language models have come a long way from being fine-tuned by us. Today, your AI can learn and solve a new problem in only a few training examples. In the business world, this means that the cost of artificial intelligence is now reduced, and it’s easier and more affordable to automate many business processes.
#2 Natural Language Processing
Not only is AI able to copy our way of communicating, but it’s also able to understand what we are saying. NLP or natural language processing is the “ability for a computer to understand the meaning of text or speech.” Do the names Siri, Alexa, and Cortana sound familiar? That’s precisely what NLP does- it creates technologies that can understand what people say and then make appropriate actions and give the right responses. Now just think about all the ways one company’s internal NLP-based AI can assist all employees and scale business operations.
Not only is AI able to copy our way of communicating, but it’s also able to understand what we are
#3 Generative Artificial Intelligence
We can consider Generative AI to be a whole different branch of AI, like that one cousin we all have that’s exceptionally good at arts. As the name says, Generative AI generates content like images, converts text to images, makes music, and writes the text. It is a strategic AI technology for 2022 and 2023 , according to Gartner. And while making music and generating images doesn’t sound like important work for any business, think about the application Generative AI can have in marketing. To be able to generate human-like grammatically correct text relevant to the topic and give it a compelling visual with only AI can easily change the flow of the digital marketing industry.
#4 Reinforcement Learning
Do you need a way to successfully use AI in robotics, games, data science, and finance? Then you need artificial intelligence focused on decision-making and reward-based training. Reinforcement learning is the keyword here since this branch of AI learns from the environment and then adjusts its behavior to maximize rewards. In other words- it goes by the ‘trial and error’ principle, learns from its mistakes, and does better the next time. Just like humans do!
Only AI won’t fall into the trap of making the same mistake again. If Reinforcement AI comes across a situation it has already “learned,” it will always pick the best outcome and the one that achieves its goals. It’s easy to understand why business owners are most excited about this AI trend seeing the possibilities it can have in boosting any business.
#5 Multimodal Learning
Multimodal learning helps the system learn more about our world, extracting the data needed from images, text, speech, sound, and video. Things we, as humans, instinctively know because of a little thing called commonsense.
“Common sense is the dark matter of artificial intelligence,” said Oren Etzioni, CEO of the Allen Institute for AI, when talking about AI having zero common sense. And until now, AI didn’t know how to grow its own common sense in the same way we humans – through a combination of visual, linguistic, and sensory cues.
Enter Multimodal AI systems. Finally, artificial intelligence can address the lack of commonsense knowledge with these types of systems. For example, the concept of apple for AI includes vision-related information- color, shape, size, and sometimes even texture. But Multimodal AI systems will be able to know that green apples are also more bitter than red apples, that apples can be used to make apple pie, and the reason why apples are considered a sign of appreciation. So, in short, Multimodal AI systems can ”see the bigger picture”.In business, multimodal AI systems can serve as a good tool in digital marketing by recognizing the images and generating automatic descriptions or detecting false news by verifying, understanding, and cross-referencing one text with billions of others.
#6 AI Virtual Reality
The dawn of the virtual world is rising, and it’s all thanks to AI technology. The creation of an online environment is no longer a science-fiction thing but is almost guaranteed in the near future. At the core of virtual and augmented reality are different branches of AI technology trying to solve problems like creating realistic holograms to shape the virtual world. There are many benefits to Data & AI for a business, and Virtual Reality trend is probably the most exciting way to explore most of those benefits.
“Only recently, with the emerging machine intelligence innovations, have we had access to the powerful tools and capabilities to make use of the advances in computer technology,” said Yifan Peng, a researcher at Stanford Computational Imaging Lab.
It goes without saying that pairing AI technology with some of the most popular software development trends like AR and VR can open a whole new world of possibilities for companies. The ways businesses connect and interact with their users can change completely, and those businesses that try it first now will also be first on top.
#7 Computer Vision Technology
A recent Gartner poll showed that companies worldwide are expected to spend more than $670,000 over the next two years just to get their hands on machine vision technology.
This type of AI enables machines to interpret pictures and videos, with algorithms capable of identifying and categorizing items. It’s primarily used in self-driving vehicles, healthcare, manufacturing, farming, and agriculture.
Automated Artificial Intelligence tools will be a way for many businesses to overcome the skill shortage and cut costs. Unfortunately, data scientists are few and far between, and not every company can afford to hire one. So, to generate value from their data, many businesses will use AI-powered tools to analyze data streams, generate ML models and find actionable insights. This will help companies increase revenues, enhance operations and optimize their costs.
How Data & AI Will Shape Business Growth In 2023
As we near the end of 2022, we can say that this year was where companies learned about the power of AI and how to leverage data & AI to spur business growth. Many reports show that implementing Data & AI in certain industries, even if you automate a portion of your daily business processes, can result in a staggering revenue increase. The development of digital services was the primary strategy for surviving the pandemic, but now business’ digital transformation is playing offense with AI-powered solutions.
Many companies have already made investments in AI innovations that are developing and refining at an incredible speed, already creating trends and changing industries. Read on and see how Data & AI shaped business growth in 2022 and will continue in 2023.
- HOLISTIC PLATFORMS REIGN
Most businesses have collected data to solve a specific problem in the past. However, 2021 and 2022 marked the years of consolidations through acquisitions and mergers, which will continue in 2023. Therefore, if enterprises use point solutions, it can lead to conflicting information across all departments.
Machine learning and AI are the way to create holistic DEA (Digital Experience Analytics) solutions that will analyze a large amount of customer data and give a more comprehensive picture of user experience, thus impact organizational efficiency.
- DATA DEMOCRATIZATION
With a shift to a data-driven decision-making mindset in most companies, the data collected needed to be accessible to more people. So, in 2022, data was democratized within an organization, with leaders and departments able to access data, increasing transparency.
The focus on data will lead to a greater need for AI-powered tools, with a particular emphasis on the quality of data and data tracking.
- PRIVACY CHANGES
Many businesses have already adopted Responsible AI solutions, but not all. With the new government rules and regulations regarding data collection and privacy, companies will have to balance being compliant and giving their users control over their data.
In 2022 companies had to find a way to accommodate the regulations and their customers’ desire to be able to control how their data is being used while still having a hyper-personal digital platform experience. Responsible AI solutions are, at the moment, a perfect tool that allows for both and further helps companies make fairness and transparency become consistent practices.
- DATA & AI IT TALENT
Businesses that want to implement automation to increase productivity need to know that automation can be overwhelming. Leaders should start small in order to scale efforts successfully but to do that, they need great data IT talent.
Due to a talent shortage and Data specialists, having an in-house data scientist is no easy feat. The solutions come in the shape of companies that offer services of creating AI solutions tailored for each business.
- SAFER ROADS
There’s a theory that AI is replacing humans and, one day, we will perish because of it, but no one is talking about the dark side of human beings and how AI can help us make this world safer from….well, us. For example, safer from an individual’s uncontrollable desire to operate a vehicle while under the influence. Or perhaps safer from the misfortune of having a drowsy truck driver falling asleep at the wheel because the economic situation caused him to take on more working hours.
These are all possible scenarios happening daily worldwide, often ending up terribly and counting many fatalities. But AI technology can help us, humans, stop taking unnecessary risks by taking a ride with us and keeping us safe.
AI-enabled cameras and sensors built into commercial or personal vehicles can prevent a person from drunk driving by measuring moisture content on the drivers’ hands via sensors located on the wheel. AI can also save drivers from carbon-monoxide poisoning by gaining data through an air quality monitoring system and executing an automated window opening. Such AI-powered systems are needed in order to make professions like trucking safer and more appealing, which would be a great way of solving the current driver shortage.
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The rise of mobile apps began when businesses realized they could use mobile apps to boost their revenue by reaching their consumers easier. Now more and more companies are jumping on the bandwagon of leveraging mobile apps for business and earning a great deal of profit through the mobile medium. Whether they’re developing in-house applications or hiring a mobile app development company, they all want the possibilities and opportunities which come with having a business mobile app.
Knowing why investing in a mobile app is a smart business move in 2022 is the first step to success. Still, once we go deeper into mobile app development, we uncover other important factors that can lead to either success or downfall. One of those factors is knowing which mobile app development tool to use that will fit the budget and the app's specifications perfectly.
What is App Development Tools, and How Do They Work?
If a mobile app is a painting and the developer is a painter, then mobile application development tools are the brushes. There are many of them, and their usage comes down to the app's requirements but also the developer's personal preferences.
Mobile app development tools are the software used by the developer to build innovative, secure, and scalable applications. These tools will give all the resources to the developer in order for them to build an app that integrates with the device's hardware as well as any other business feature that can lead to high-quality results.
The Best App Development Tools You Can Use in 2022.
Sketching the business mobile app idea is a great way to simplify mobile app development. Having all features, goals, and designs ''on paper'' allows developers to clarify their tasks and goals while building your app and which app development platform they need to build for. Once you have sketched your idea, the developer can go on and choose the best app development tool and platform to make that idea come to life.
Many great mobile app dev tools can help them with this job:
Open-Source
- Framework 7- offers both iOS and Android support, and it can help create an app that has an iOS feel for Android. In addition, it's easy to understand for those who already have excellent knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The most notable features are Material Design UI, custom DOM library, native scrolling, and XHR caching and preloading.
- Ionic- based on the Sass CSS language and cross-platform. It can be used to build advanced apps because it can be integrated with AngularJS. Ionic has a library of mobile-optimized HTML, CSS, and JS CSS components and tools and works with predefined components.
Cross-platform & Hybrid
- BuildFire- high-performance, DIY mobile app builder that supports iOS and Android phones and tablets. It has over 45 pre-built plugins, features, a direct integration to Segment, Smooch, and others, and pre-existing templates. With BuildFire, you can launch your mobile app in 30 minutes. In addition, the building of the app is free, while launching costs only $20 per month.
- Mobile Angular UI- allows you to build HTML5 mobile apps with Bootstrap and Angular JS. It also provides overlays, sideboards, switches, scrollable areas, and bottom navbars for an easy mobile to desktop transition.
- Xojo- app development tool for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, x86 Linux, iOS, Raspberry Pi, and the web. It allows developers to create native apps while providing Xojo Cloud for easy maintenance-free web app hosting.
- Corona Labs- supports all platforms, and while being specially made for building 2D graphic games and educational apps, it can be used for developing other 2D apps.
- Jotform Apps- has over 300 app templates that are very easy to customize and manage. With this drag-and-drop builder, you can add anything you want- forms, external links, widgets, and images. It is the best app builder for small businesses, HR departments, restaurants, and healthcare providers.
- Unity- it is one of the most popular game development platforms you can use to build high-quality 3D and 2D games. You can even use Unity to build AR and VR apps, the industry’s latest development trends, in no time and deploy them across multiple platforms.
- Xamarin- is a Microsoft-owned software company with a C# codebase you can use to develop iOS, Android, and Windows apps. It allows code sharing on multiple platforms and has a cloud service that you can use to test the app on an unlimited number of mobile devices.
- Appcelerator- uses JavaScript to create native code. It also offers over 5,000 APIs for Android, iOS, Windows, Blackberry, and HTML5. Appcelerator is not the easiest tool to learn but has loads of features.
- React Native- open-source framework from Facebook with a ''learn once, write everywhere' mantra using JavaScript as its main code. It allows quick prototyping and high initial velocity while being easy to learn and implement with any feature you can think of.
The best mobile app development tools for Android are Android Studio, Eclipse, ItelliJIDEA, and Corona Labs.
No-coding needed mobile app development tools are BuildFire and EachScape.
The best Windows mobile app development tools are Xamarin and Corona Labs.
Disadvantages of Using an App Builder Tools
By using an app builder tool, developers can build a solid working mobile application in a short amount of time. Presenting a business app before your competition may have its perks. Still, rather than that, you'll want to submit a mobile business app that works perfectly and offers a great user experience to your consumers.
Here's why using an app builder tool can sometimes put you at a disadvantage:
- Limited Design
When you use an app builder, you limit your mobile app in terms of design. There are only that many templates you can use to create your app, and most of them are alike, which little to no editing possibilities. If your business mobile app needs to be unique, an app builder will not give you the design you need to stand out.
- No structure or code editing
Because most app builders use made-ready templates and features, it's hard to change or add a new feature to the app builder. So if your app needs a unique, never-seen-before feature, the app builder will not allow you to create it or code it. Furthermore, you may have access to a smaller pool of templates and features if you choose the basic subscription plan.
- Additional Charges
Do you need a feature for your mobile app but don't have access to it? You probably missed out on paying the ''premium'' or ''pro'' subscription plan. The more you spend, the more the app builder will give you. Not to mention, subscription fees are not a pay-once expense but an ongoing expense that may as well amount to quite a lot.
Hire Quantox to Build Your Application - Stay Competitive, Save Time and Money
Quantox has been successfully working in the software development field for many years, during which we have accumulated the knowledge of what it takes to create exceptional web and mobile applications for small businesses and large enterprises. As your partner, we will work on the project focusing on your business' needs, as our expert developers turn your idea into an effective mobile solution that will save you time and money and help you dominate your market. Do you need a mobile application for your business? Let's Talk!
DISCLAIMER:
All products and company names are trademarks™ or registered ® trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them. In addition, any product names, logos, brands, and other trademarks or images featured or referred to within the article are the property of their respective trademark holders.
These trademark holders are not affiliated with Quantox Technology, our products, or our websites. They do not sponsor or endorse Quantox Technology or any of our products.
Why Investing in An App Is A Smart Business Move in 2022?
As consumer behavior keeps changing, now more than ever, businesses need to adapt their strategies to ''find'' their target audience. Unlike before, consumers are no longer interested in hanging around business centers in large cities or searching for their products ''by foot''. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the matter, and many businesses with physical locations became unreachable due to frequent lock-downs. So, where can companies find their customers? The answer, of course, is- online.
The nature and the potential of mobile phones are slowly reshaping how business is being done. As a result, the leading companies in the industry have taken on a mobile-first approach to creating effective business strategies. One of the critical points of such a strategy is the mobile app strategy. Still, many other companies have yet to embrace mobile apps, relying on mobile web to help them increase traffic.
On the other hand, mobile apps have shown to be an invaluable asset that helps grow customer relationships and increase customer retention. So, while not being an all-around solution to business success, mobile apps have much to offer.
Why Invest in Business App Development?
How Can an App Help You Reach More Customers?
If a business wants to stay afloat in today's world, they need to find a way to reach as many of its consumers as it can. To reach those consumers, they need to think like them and put themselves in the client's shoes. Only once they do they realize that most of their target audience doesn't have time to sit in front of the computer and browse the whole day. Their consumers are busy and have but a bit of time to search for things of their interest. However, what almost all consumers around the world have in common, regardless of the industry, is the presence of a mobile phone.
Mobile phone and mobile app usage grew to the point where search engines like Google decided to use mobile-first indexing when ranking websites. In simple terms, those websites that are optimized for mobile search are ranked better. Doing business with a mobile-first approach is catering to the consumers' needs, which means a superior customer experience.
The Benefits of an App for Customer Engagement
When it comes to customer engagement, businesses have a tough job at their hands. The latest app development trends allow businesses to reach out to more customers, but how do businesses make their consumers stick around?
Today's business environment is hyper-competitive and is exceptionally inventive when it comes to making the buying process as streamlined as possible. In other words, customers are willing to buy products, goods, or services as long as it's not too much of a hassle and doesn't take much of their time.
That's where mobile apps come in, making almost two-step buying processes, automating routine tasks, and giving new possibilities to consumers and businesses every day.
Catering to Customer Preferences
The irony of mobile usage is that the more we develop mobile phones, the less the users are inclined to use them for calling other people. Instead, today they prefer to manage their life with just a few clicks. Take Domino's Pizza, for example- their new delivery mobile app in the UK increases their e-commerce sales by 24.4%, with more than half of the orders coming through the app. With more than 10 million downloads, their mobile app proved they understand how their customers think.
Push and Pull Notifications
''Out of sight, out of mind'' is the adage, but that's why push and in-app notifications are here for. Such notifications, provided they contain relevant and valuable content, can bring a customer back to the app they forgot they even have on their phones. Moreover, notifications that can catch a consumer's attention can also make them respond to any marketing offer, thus leading to more sales.
Location-based Content
A good business marketer knows you can never cater to your consumers' needs too much. That's why the best marketers leverage geofencing technology to send location-specific, timely, data-driven, and contextual content to their users. This type of beacon can be used to send location-based offers, promote loyalty programs, and even offer mobile-based payments in the area to your consumers.
Rewards and Loyalty Programs
Consumers love rewards, and the better the program and incentive, the more loyal consumers are to the brand. In addition, the mobile app allows businesses to present loyalty programs to their consumers more efficiently and transparently. Through an app, consumers can easily access the points they've collected, how to add them up and where they can use them.
The Power of Analytics
The biggest leverage mobile apps bring to the table is knowing your consumers inside out. Valuable data collected through apps can help companies understand the customer better. For example, they can fine-comb their browsing history to find what consumers need, what problems they need solving, and what their technological preferences are. Later on, businesses can use information from data and create special offers for their consumers which will target their needs and requirements perfectly.
The Different Types of Apps You Can Develop for Your Business
There are three main types of mobile apps businesses can choose from and see which one is more suitable for their brand:
Progressive Web Application
PWA is a software app that will install on your system. It's a sort of web app but looks similar to mobile apps. The main difference between mobile and web apps is that web apps need internet connectivity to run. PWA can work both online and offline, and that's where the similarity to mobile apps comes from.
Examples: BookMyShow, Pinterest...
Native Mobile App
Native Mobile apps need to be downloaded from Google Play Store (Android) and App Store(iOS). These types of applications are developed specifically for a specific type of device. For example, photos can be uploaded directly from a device to the mobile Instagram application, but the same is not possible on the Instagram Web app.
Examples: Instagram, Twitter, Google Maps, Skype, etc.
Hybrid Mobile App
If you want to build a mobile app that combines the features of Native app development and PWA in one platform, hybrid apps are the best route to take.
Examples: Facebook, Amazon, etc.
Mobile Apps vs. Web Apps - Which is the Better Option?
Whether a business should build a mobile app or a web app depends on its specifications. Companies need to think about the features they believe are most important, the company's goals, and the app's main function. A web app is the best way to go for businesses that need an interactive resource for additional information. Native mobile apps are better suited for those who need access to the device's camera or GPS. So, to create a perfect app, you need to know all about app development platforms and which one you’ll be using to build your app. Choosing the right app development platform may expedite the app development process.
Here are the pros and cons of mobile and web apps to help you determine which one is the better option.
Mobile Apps
Pros: Mobile apps are faster than web apps and have great functionality because they have access to system resources. They are also safe and secure, needing approval from the app store. In addition, they can work offline and are easier to build by using great app development tools and SDKs.
Cons: They are more expensive to develop because they are platform-specific. That means a version needs to be built for every platform, meaning programmers and developers need to make a new code for each version. This also means maintenance and updates are costly, and some native apps may have difficulties being approved by the app store.
Web Apps
Pros: Unlike mobile apps, you don't have to write the code twice to make web apps. They tend to be built using JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5. There's also no standard software development kit, and developers have access to templates. So the development process is easier and quicker.
Cons: Web apps are much slower than mobile apps and have fewer features. On top of it, they don't work offline. And because they don't need to be approved by an app store, their quality and security are not that great.
What to Consider When Planning Your Business App?
Several vital aspects in a mobile app planning stage need to be planned out to perfection for the app to reach its full potential. Take a look at the most important things to consider when planning your business app.
Define a concept
Your business app needs to help people, i.e., your consumers, solve a real problem. What are the benefits of your app? Is it going to make their lives easier? To get you started, here are some questions you can use at this stage:
- What is the app's purpose?
- What do we want to achieve with the app?
- How will it engage consumers?
- What are its core features?
- Are my client's going to see the app as useful?
Understand your Consumers
Learn as much as you can about your consumers and their needs, goals, and technological preferences. Consider the following:
- Who are my users?
- What type of problems are they faced with?
- How are they solving a problem I am trying to solve with an app?
- Which platforms do they use?
- Which devices do they use?
You can also connect with your users by asking questions on forums or working with a focus group.
Do the Market Research
It's always good to check on what your competitors are doing. Take a look at the apps similar to the one you are trying to make and ask yourself:
- What are these apps like?
- Do they solve the user problems?
- How do they engage users?
- How do they communicate with users?
Establish App Goals
Mobile app development includes planning to prevent feature creep and help with important business or technicals you'll need to make. But regardless of the goals, you set for your business app, the most important thing is to know them early and work towards them from phase 1.
Determine the Value
Your app has to have a unique value for your clients to consider downloading and using the app. Whether it's access to some features or a low-cost service, you can satisfy your consumers' needs and your business with an app.
App Development Process - The challenges of developing an application
Irrespective of the app concept, design, and marketing plan, mobile app development has many other challenges related to the app development itself. So even with the best laid-out plans, developers need to overcome many hurdles to create a high-quality mobile app. This is something businesses need to know and keep in mind for them to set realistic goals and timelines.
- Standing Out From the Crowd: Creating an app that will stand out is tough these days with so many great apps available on app stores. However, businesses that strive toward creating world-class mobile apps need to develop an app that includes functional features, intuitive design, and graphics to boost the user experience.
- Responsive: A great business mobile app needs to work like a clock on all platforms. This means that developers need to adopt responsive design throughout the whole app development process.
- Battery performance and consumption: No matter how great the app is, users will choose not to use it if it costs them valuable battery percentages. Large battery consumption and low performance can cause other issues in the mobile application testing phase.
- Choosing the right technology: Whether it's a native, hybrid, or cross-platform application, a great mobile app needs to be adaptable and versatile, bespoke to its user with a design that will keep them engaged.
- Security: To prevent the disintegration of both software and hardware, the mobile app needs to be free from malware issues.
- Hiring the right developer: Businesses can choose to hire in-house developers, freelancers, or app development agencies. However, the first two come with a few drawbacks. Building an in-house development team can take several months and can be costly while freelancing developers are hard to keep track of, especially if they are working in a different time zone. Also, there’s more focus on the building of the app itself, while the design, something users appreciate the most, may suffer. Many businesses rely on a mobile app development company to handle their projects. App development agencies usually provide end-to-end services, meaning they will be running your project from idea to launch while also managing each task in-between. Businesses can even get advice and help with their digital strategies from an app development company. However, businesses should only work with app development agencies that are willing to sign a service agreement to protect their intellectual property and determine the app's ownership. For that reason, it's essential to know how to hire the right app development company that you can trust.
How Quantox Can Help Your Business with App Services?
With more than 15 years of experience working in mobile app development, Quantox Technology proved its expertise in developing apps never seen before on the market. Our team includes mobile app developers but also sales and marketing specialists with the knowledge of managing the mobile app development process from the initial idea to final market placement. With 13 offices in 7 countries and more than 500 dedicated professionals, we've joined forces to create next-generation digital products. Do you need a business mobile application? Let's Talk!
DISCLAIMER:
All products and company names are trademarks™ or registered ® trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them. In addition, any product names, logos, brands, and other trademarks or images featured or referred to within the article are the property of their respective trademark holders.
These trademark holders are not affiliated with Quantox Technology, our products, or our websites. They do not sponsor or endorse Quantox Technology or any of our products.
In 2022 mobile applications are on the rise, and many business owners are slowly discovering the benefits of having a mobile app. Still, the mobile app development process can be pretty complex and even more complicated for those with no prior app development knowledge.
So, in order to fully leverage the power of mobile apps for business, business owners should first learn more about the app development platforms that will help them build an app bespoke to their business profile and goals. Mobile app development platforms will allow you to build your application fast, explore all the benefits of having one, and finally make you understand why investing in an app is a smart business move in 2022.
But first-What is an app development platform? What are the benefits of app development platforms? Read more and find out all the answers.
What Is An App Development Platform?
When it comes to building a mobile app, there’s no getting around MADPs- mobile application development platforms. These platforms are actually software that allows businesses to build, test, and sometimes even deploy mobile apps. It is a collection of app development tools, services, and technologies that enables business owners to design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain their mobile apps across different platforms, networks, and devices. That’s why MADPs are also referred to as cross-platform mobile app development.
Mobile application development is complex because an app has to be compatible with all devices and mobile platforms to gain success. So, designing one app sometimes includes creating many codebases to ensure that compatibility. However, developers have to maintain only one codebase with a mobile application development platform, making MADPs a great high-tech-low-cost solution for many businesses.
The Benefits Of Using A Mobile App Platform
According to the newest research, as much as 42% of developers worldwide are using some type of cross-platform or framework to develop applications. The reason is apparent- it makes their job so much easier by having to write just one code instead of a code for each device, platform, or network.
However, business owners should know that app development platforms have other benefits that directly impact their brand's relationship with its user.
Here are the main benefits of app development platforms for businesses:
- Helps Your Brand Stay Consistent
Keeping your business application consistent across all platforms will make your consumers' life more manageable. Instead of being greeted with a new user interface every time they switch devices, they'll be welcomed to an environment they're already familiar with. Mobile app development platforms can help you stay consistent with the UI and UX of your business application.
- You can Market Faster
Since there's no need for developers to create a different application for each platform, they can quickly build and publish your business app and market them on app stores simultaneously. In terms of business, this means you can reach all your potential customers and consumers at once, be they Android, iOS, or Windows users.
- Easy Implementation
One of the features most application development platforms have is the ability to convert any type of code into a different one. That means that a developer can write the code in HTML and later convert it to other platforms. In terms of business, this lowers the cost of building a mobile application. Instead of hiring a full-stack developer, you only need a developer proficient in one programming language.
- MADP Makes Maintenance Easier
The mobile industry is forever evolving and constantly updating, so bugs are inevitable in making the mobile application run perfectly. However, multiple codes mean bugs and fixes become a hassle, and managing a business application for all devices and platforms becomes very difficult.
Mobile application development platforms allow you to fix bugs on just one codebase and make instant improvements for all devices. You also won't have to run as many tests, and the deployment will be quick and easy, making the support part streamlined and hassle-free.
What Is The Best Mobile App Development Platform?
The three types of mobile app development platforms- Native, Hybrid, and Mobile Web- can all be used to build a successful business mobile app that will attract consumers and increase revenue. However, knowing which one to use is a different matter entirely. Depending on the type of business, products, target audience, and budget, business owners should carefully select the platform with the most potential to ensure success.
Native Mobile Apps
Native mobile apps are built for a specific mobile platform, like Android and iOS. The developers building native mobile applications usually use Objective-C or Swift for iOS and Java for Android to build the app's code.
When To Use It:
- If you are making an operating system-specific business app, building native apps will utilize the device's hardware like GPS, Bluetooth, or Camera better.
- Gaming apps are also better when made native because those apps will have the best performance, thus providing the best user experience.
When Not To Use It:
- If you're developing a cross-platform app, bear in mind that you'll have trouble finding one developer who knows many different programming languages. Even if you do, expect their rates to be higher than most and considerably affect your budget.
- Furthermore, native apps require APIs to control the content, so you'll need to have a technician on board skilled at developing APIs. Be warned that developing API is troublesome and costly.
- You'll probably want to stay away from building native mobile apps if you're on a tight budget but want to build a cross-platform mobile app. Native mobile development and maintenance are both very costly.
- If you are developing a blog mobile app or news site, you won't get much out of a native mobile app. The native mobile app leverages the device's capabilities like camera features or gesture to increase user experience. If the only thing your mobile app is offering is information and content, there's no need for you to create a native app.
Hybrid Mobile Apps
One part native, one part web- hybrid apps are web content in the form of a local repository. The code is usually written in web languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
When To Use It:
- If you are creating a cross-platform business mobile app, hybrid apps may be your best choice. This is because they can be ported to multiple platforms and save considerable time and money while doing so.
- When your mobile app development budget is on the low side, it's good to build a hybrid app because it doesn't require resources with specific programming requirements. By using third-party libraries, the native code can be wrapped over the existing layer making development affordable while still getting the benefits of reaching more users.
- If your app requires it, the hybrid will give you many opportunities for monetization for in-app purchases and advertising.
- Hybrid mobile apps are easy to build now there are so many great tools with cloud IDE, CLI, debugger, and remote online building tool all in one.
When Not To Use It:
- If your business app requires you to alter the platform's hardware features, hybrid may not be the best solution for you. Changing the code may result in getting rid of some features to make your app work, and you'll never be sure if those changes will only cause more bugs or not.
- Do you want a fast mobile app? Well, then, you should reconsider making a hybrid mobile app. Unfortunately, hybrid mobile app rendering may include some additional time lag so the data is not processed as fast as it is in native data, which gives hybrid apps only moderate performance.
Mobile Web Apps
Mobile web apps are not really applications but more like a website with functions similar to a native app. They run through the web browser, but they are designed for a mobile app by single-time coding.
When To Use It:
- Only one code is needed to make a Mobile Web Application before you deploy it to multiple platforms at the same time. They are an excellent choice for multi-platform usage.
- Also, if your mobile application offers more content than functions, like, for example, a news app, a mobile web app would be the best pick for you.
- And because your web apps are not bound by app stores, there are no rules when it comes to mobile web app development. This gives your app the benefit of introducing web app updates quickly, with your users seeing them within the app instantly.
When Not to Use Them
- Suppose you are developing a business app that requires high-quality graphics or low latency for something like online gaming, online trading, and VOIP services. In that case, you're not going to get the level of performance you need with a mobile web app. That's because the mobile web depends on the internet speed.
- The drawback of mobile web apps is that they should be developed across different devices and fit the content to any resolution. In addition, the added coding increases the overall mobile app dev expenses.
- Finally, mobile web apps can offer only a subscription-based monetization model and have little to no monetary benefits.
As you can see there’s no one perfect application development platform and by using the correct one you’ll be able to build an app that not only caters to the users, but also fits your business goal, model, and budgeting. So, before you dive deeper into mobile app platforms, make sure to determine the target audience of the app and what you want to achieve with your business mobile app. Furthermore, make sure you check out all the top trends in app development like 5G and VR because they may impact which type of mobile app you need to build.
What Are The Drawbacks Of Using An App Development Platform?
As the title says, while there’s ‘’the Good’’, there’s also ‘’The Bad’’ and ‘’The Ugly’’ of the mobile app development platforms. The drawbacks are something business owners must learn about in order to avoid spending more money than necessary, but also ensure a hassle-free mobile applications dev process.
There are several drawbacks to using MADPs and creating a cross-platform app:
- Low Functionality and Performance
Since cross-platforms are not built for just one specific platform, you may not be able to leverage the functionalities of all smartphones to their fullest potential. For example, developers could be having a hard time trying to make use of the different devices' cameras and microphones.
Also, native apps use at least half less CPU power than any corresponding cross-platform app. The same goes for memory usage- native apps are far less demanding on the hardware. And on top of it all, these types of applications require an additional layer of rendering which often impacts the speed and overall performance of the app.
Moreover, when you build an app with a cross-platform framework, the more complex apps are at a higher risk of issues running on one of the platforms. Cross-platform frameworks also have delayed access to the latest Android and iOS updates. In order to bypass the bugs and errors, you need to have high-quality code at the base of the development and proper testing.
- Limited Customization Options
Cross-platforms aren't as flexible in UX components as native mobile apps. In other words, cross-platform apps are limited in terms of layout, and this can badly impact the user experience.
- Inefficient code
The main advantage of MADPs can also become its major flaw- almost every developer can use them to create a mobile application for a business. However, this risks developing inefficient code, which, when translated for other platforms, just doesn't perform well.
For business owners having a mobile business app that doesn't work could mean losing money instead of earning. In addition, having an in-house app development team can cost thousands, and freelancing developers are sometimes hard to reach and manage.
Knowing how to hire the right app development company you can trust can be your saving grace. App development companies can offer much more than having a developer build your app through MADP. With such a company, your mobile app idea can be developed to the fullest because most of these companies offer more than just their developers. Besides building an efficient code, they also provide market analysis, marketing strategies, and target audience research. They can help you determine your mobile app's goals and milestones while coming up with a user-friendly interface, impeccable design, and ensuring your application includes all necessary features.
Why You Should Hire Quantox to Make Your App Idea A Reality?
To its clients, Quantox provides more than just mobile business applications. We give our clients a choice to take advantage of all the benefits of having an app that will improve their brand's performance. By taking on a cumbersome development process, writing immaculate code, and creating efficient mobile applications, our clients are free to focus on product innovations. In addition, our expert developers always focus on end-user experience and conversion, which allows us to take your idea to a whole new level. Let's Talk about your new business application!
DISCLAIMER:
All products and company names are trademarks™ or registered ® trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them. In addition, any product names, logos, brands, and other trademarks or images featured or referred to within the article are the property of their respective trademark holders.
These trademark holders are not affiliated with Quantox Technology, our products, or our websites. They do not sponsor or endorse Quantox Technology or any of our products.
