Why and How to transform your traditional business into a tech-driven one

As Winston Churchill said, “we should never waste a good crisis.” The biggest positive of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it has pushed us to rethink our potential and ensure that we prepare ourselves for future challenges. The pandemic kept us indoors for almost a year. There was a sudden mushrooming of apps providing a range of services. Digitization practically saved us during the crisis. Some businesses lapped up the technology and others who were slow to respond perished.

Crisis or no crisis, it is certain that technology is fast advancing, and organizations that do not adapt risk becoming obsolete. If you’re looking to stay ahead of the curve, now is the time to ramp up technology in your business. This blog post will outline why and how to build a tech team that transforms your business.

Why is digital transformation a necessity?

With the advent of new digital technologies, customers increasingly expect businesses to offer digital solutions and services. At the same time, new digital competitors are emerging, offering innovative digital solutions that can quickly capture market share. To stay competitive, businesses must embrace digital transformation and adopt new technologies and solutions.

Some of the benefits are:

  • Changes the Customer Experience
  • offers data-driven insights
  • Encourages teamwork and improves employee satisfaction
  • Improve agility and innovation.
  • Encourages a digital culture
  • Improve skill set and knowledge
  • Process and operations are streamlined

The advantages are many, and the time to act is now!

How to achieve digital transition?

Some companies are starting to see a real impact from their tech transformations. In a McKinsey study, around 50% of surveyed companies reported a moderate to significant impact on realizing new revenue streams, almost 70% reported an impact on increasing existing revenue streams, and 76% reported an effect on reducing costs.

Tech transformations, nonetheless, remain notoriously difficult and complex. Commercially, businesses are seeking the most effective methods to integrate digital into their operations. Among these methods are:

Creating a new digital business model: Customers now expect a tailored and seamless experience from the businesses they patronize. Hence, rethinking a business model is the cornerstone of the digital transformation of your business.

Implement personalization without impacting privacy: Personalisation has become essential for businesses that want to create a lasting connection with their customers. By tailoring communications to individual consumers’ specific needs and interests, businesses can create a more personal, engaging customer experience that builds loyalty and strengthens relationships.

Having said that, the most crucial aspect of digital transformation is building the right tech team.

Digital transformation is about talent, not technology

Harvard Business Review maintains that contrary to general opinion, digital transformation is less about technology and more about people. You can buy almost any technology, but your capacity to adapt to an even more digital future depends on cultivating the next generation of talents, bridging the talent supply-demand gap, and future-proofing your and others’ potential.

Focus on employee onboarding: As businesses increasingly move towards a tech-driven model, it is essential to focus on employee onboarding and training. After all, the transition will be significantly easier if your employees are equipped to handle the new technology. 

Fortunately, there are several ways in which companies can accelerate digital innovation.

a. Prioritizing institutional knowledge for balance

In order to accelerate digital innovation, companies should prioritize institutional knowledge and find tech talent to integrate with legacy employees with domain expertise. New tech talent brings fresh ideas and perspectives that can help solve problems in new and unique ways. However, they may not have the same deep understanding of the company’s core business and processes that more experienced employees have. Bringing them together will build a tech team perfect for growth.

b. Go beyond the three ‘D’s of digital roles and skill sets

Beyond the designers, developers, and data scientists that everyone is vying for today, it may be clever to consider what new professions may arise as digital disruptors. Perhaps you’ll need an AI specialist in your Operations soon; if so, the time to start planning is now.

c.  A resilient future-proof workforce 

Once you’ve identified the skills and roles, build a tech team that will typically include internal people, external hires, partners, and freelancers. Empower your employees with continuous digital learning programmes, job mobility, and skill grafting to equip themselves and play their part in transforming your organization.

d. Balancing AI with tech talent

To fully keep up with the flood of AI-based applications and innovation opportunities, you must immediately create a balance between machines and people. This entails challenging decisions about reskilling, moulding talent, and ensuring your staff is the right size.

How can iView Labs assist you in building a tech-driven business?

iView Labs can serve as your potential tech partner to help transition your business into a tech-driven one. As the business world iView Labs understands the importance of being technology savvy and up to date with the latest tools and trends. iView Labs can also help you build a tech team within your company. iView Labs has a decade of experience helping SMEs transition into tech-driven businesses. We also assist CTOs in building remote development teams.
To learn more about iView Labs, kindly log on to our website www.iviewlabs.com and to get in touch with us with your queries and needs, write us an email at info@iviewlabs.com and sales@iviewlabs.com. Download the latest portfolio to see our work.

How and Where to find the most suitable tech talent for your business

A competent tech team plays a vital role in keeping the gears of any organization running smoothly. From system design to creating system architectures, code and workflows to troubleshooting issues with operating systems, networks, databases, hardware and software, tech talent or their lack can make or break a business. 

So the question most of us face as entrepreneurs is how do we as business tackle challenges related to talent shortages

In a maze of job portals, social media, and online forums, where do you start?

Read on for tips and tricks to help founders and entrepreneurs find suitable tech talent.

1. Understand the Position You Need to Fill

The first step towards finding the right talent is understanding your own need for talent. 

Long term vs short term Need, Specialised or Just getting the work done, Part time or full time, On Premise or Remote. Having a better clarity on the nature of the job and a working style for this role which is mutually beneficial for you and your business can really help to fill the position and get the necessary work done. 

If you have a long-term need for an expert with specialization, it can be worth going through a rigorous recruitment process. But if you have a specific short term need for project-based work, it can be worth looking into hiring an agency or a Gig Worker. Small agencies and Gig workers can often help with out-of-the-ordinary situations:

  • Short-term projects or development “sprints.”
  • Projects requiring a limited number of hours
  • Cybersecurity emergency
  • Troubleshooting apps or software

 However, suppose you need specialists who understand your business and can provide consistent support for your tech development, processes, apps, and products. In that case, it’s far better to have a full-time tech team, whether that’s in-house staff or a hired consulting firm.

2. Know the Ideal Candidate 

When looking to find talent and build a tech team, it’s important to first understand what you’re looking for. Who is your ideal candidate? What kind of skills and experience are you hoping for? Knowing the particular skill sets and experience required for the position will help you rapidly sift out unqualified applications, allowing you to focus on those who are worth your time.

Once you have a clear idea of your ideal candidate, you can start to craft your candidate persona. Consider market demographics when doing this. For example, if you want to find tech talent, remember that almost half of all tech candidates are under 35. This information can help you adapt your candidate persona to find tech talent that matches your needs.

 3. Figure Out What Your Ideal Candidate Wants

It’s not just you who chooses your ideal candidate. Your ideal candidate should choose you too. The current workforce is spoiled for choices. They will choose the opportunity that best suits them. Hence, to find the right tech talent, you must know what they want.

According to surveys from LinkedIn and Glassdoor, these are some of the factors that IT job seekers identified as most important:

Benefits – 63%

Salary – 67%

Company Culture – 60%

Location – 59%

Work/Life Balance – 29%

Consider what makes your ideal candidates tick. Include that in your job description.

4. Look at the right places

Even with the perfect job description, you won’t get any leads if qualified tech professionals don’t see your posts. You need to know where to find the best tech talent. 

Job portals like Indeed and Monster may be good for getting resumes. But most of the qualified tech talent gets hired through strong personal networks. To find the crème de la crème, go to where you know the tech community spends its time. Like: 

  • Industry websites (GitHub, Stack Overflow, etc.) 
  • Online forums 
  • Local technology events 

People hanging out on these platforms are the ones serious about technology. Go hire them! 

5. Work with a tech talent company

Of course, building a tech team doesn’t necessarily mean making a permanent hire. It merely means finding tech talent to complete a task. Sometimes, the easiest way to fill employment gaps is by using the services of a tech staffing company. An IT staffing company saves you from a complicated hiring process.

One such trusted solution provider to find tech talent is iView.

With iView, you can build a tech team quickly without any research, job postings, or scouring hundreds of applications. iView presents flexible solutions where you can choose the number of tech people you need and their duration. Thus, you can easily scale up or scale down your workforce as needed. You can now be more flexible with your projects and save time and money hiring unnecessary full-time employees.

So, if you’re struggling to find tech talent to manage your projects, trust the experts at iView to build a tech team for you. We have rich experience and can help you get the qualified professionals you need to complete any IT project.

Footnote:

At iView Labs, we offer technical team talent on demand to supplement or add to businesses’ current capacity and meet your needs for technical development. In accordance with the talents required by the business, we match, build, manage, and operate their technical teams for a more sustainable functioning. This broadly fits with the core principle of the digitisation movement, in which technology should ease your life and allow free creative minds to reach new heights. Rest assured that our team will continue to put our best foot forward to deliver astounding results. Want us to become a part of your growth journey? Get in touch today.To know more about iView Labs, kindly log on to our website www.iviewlabs.com and to get in touch with us with your queries and needs, just write us an email at info@iviewlabs.com and sales@iviewlabs.com. Download the latest portfolio to see our work.

What is the Role of Technology in Healthcare?

Healthcare is a sector where there is great scope for technological innovation. Due to its essential nature, the healthcare industry is only going to grow, and the demand for technological solutions to refine healthcare systems and processes is only going to expand. In addition, new and exciting developments in fields like communications, data analysis, biotechnology, blockchain etc., can help hospitals and doctors provide the best and most efficient solutions to patients.

In this article, we’ll be discussing some of the emerging trends related to the role of technology in healthcare. 

Big Data Analysis

Due to the extensive increase in the need for medical facilities in recent days, integration of big data analysis in the healthcare industry has become very important. 

Due to extensive increase in need of medical facilities in recent days, integration of big data analysis in the healthcare industry has become crucial. Some of its applications are:

Efficient hospital staffing: By studying the past and present admission rates, hospitals can estimate the future admission rates. Based on this, they can take decisions as to how many staff to hire and which facilities they should be assigned to.

Error-proof medication: Data analysis systems can flag any errors or inconsistencies in the treatments or medicines assigned to the patient by studying patients’ medical history. This will be a failsafe against mistakes made by the hospital staff.

Preventive care: Again, by analysing patients’ medical history, systems can detect the early symptoms of any medical conditions so doctors can treat them before they reach the serious stage.

Wearable Medical Devices

Wearable medical devices like pacemakers, fitness trackers etc., are a burgeoning part of the healthcare market, and they are expected to form a 27 billion USD market by 2023. Examples of wearable devices are heart rate trackers, calorie trackers, oximeters and fitness trackers. These devices provide medical information about the patient in real-time and can provide advance warning of major health issues. 

Fitness trackers give the patient a sense of responsibility and give them control over their own health. Since they can directly see their activity level, they are encouraged to exercise more to reach some tangible goals. By adding rewards, alerts etc., these trackers “gamify” the fitness process and make it less of a chore for patients.

Virtual Reality Tech

Some doctors are using VR tech to provide relief to patients with chronic pain issues. Since pain is felt in the brain, distracting the brain with VR or other engaging tasks which require a high level of participation and interest from the patient can reduce their pain levels. 

Another application of VR tech is in reducing the anxiety levels of patients who are about to undergo surgery. By distracting the patients through virtual reality, doctors can take their thoughts away from the impending surgery, thereby reducing stress and anxiety levels and improving mental health and wellness.

Apart from helping patients, VR tech can help doctors hone their own skills. For example, doctors can rehearse complicated surgeries in virtual reality and get a better, immersive understanding of the internal arrangement of the human body, including even the smallest organs. 

Blockchain

Blockchain is a major milestone in the field of encryption technology and data security. Keeping the patients’ medical records secure and private is very important for healthcare facilities. This information must also be shared between hospitals when patients are transferred from one facility to another. Blockchain in the healthcare market is estimated to be worth almost 900 million dollars by 2023, showing that hospitals are starting to understand the value of this technology. 

Vendors like BurstIQ and Medicalchain are working to apply blockchain to the healthcare sector. They empower patients to have control over their medical records and are helping hospitals to store, organise and transmit patients’ medical information safely.

Telehealth

Telehealth and online medical consultations have come to the forefront of the healthcare sector due to the restrictions on in-person interactions imposed by the advent of the Covid-19. Even without the pandemic, telehealth comes as a boon to those patients living in remote or rural areas who can’t often travel to the doctor or patients with severe mobility issues (e.g. patients who use wheelchairs or patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases) who can’t easily leave their houses to visit the doctor. 

Another use case is for patients suffering from contagious illnesses. Despite all the precautions that are taken, there is still the possibility of them spreading the disease. Again, telehealth can be used to treat these patients remotely.

Conclusion

Technology will definitely play an ever-increasing role in healthcare in this new digital age. From empowering people to ensure their fitness, protecting patients’ privacy and medical data, and helping hospitals make more efficient decisions vis a vis staffing and treatment, technological innovations can help doctors and patients in more ways than one.

iView Labs believes in bringing a better version of the healthcare industry at your call, we have a versatile team of developers and consultants to assist you to meet all the innovations you are planning for your healthcare business.

If you are interested in learning more about how to avail of these services, visit www.iviewlabs.com or write to us at sales@iviewlabs.com in case you have any queries. You can download our latest portfolio to get to know us better.

How Estonia is Creating Waves in the Field of Healthcare / How Estonia is teaching the world a lesson in digital health

Estonia has come to be known as a digital-first nation providing its citizens with solutions such as i-voting and e-residency. Furthermore, it has been in the vanguard of digitizing healthcare too. With a population of just 1,328,046, this small EU member is spearheading the digital healthcare phenomenon.

 A favorable place to do business, Estonia welcomes people from all walks of life, due to its agile methods and openness to innovations. It has become the playground for several tech tycoons and healthcare investors. Today, Estonia ranks first in the Digital Health Index with an incredible e-health score of 81.9. It set high standards for Electronic Health Record systems (EHRs) and the rest of the world is anticipated to soon follow suit.

The emergence of Coronavirus was a pivotal phase in Estonia’s Electronic Health Record systems (EHRs) coming to the limelight. While most countries struggled to cope with the outbreak, Estonia’s digital health record systems made it easier for medical practitioners to devote more time to help combat the deadly virus.

Let’s take a closer look at how Estonia is embracing digital life and paving the way for a more comfortable and convenient healthcare system. 

A national database of digital medical records
Almost all of Estonia’s hospitals and doctors have digitized their patient data, allowing citizens to access their medical records with relative ease. There are close to 40 million health documents in the e-Health system. This straightforward procedure has sparked interest, with Denmark and Spain following suit. The EHR system benefits both patients and doctors because it saves time and allows for quick and precise diagnosis.

E-ambulance service at your fingertips

Another advantage of the EHR system in Estonia is the availability of e-ambulance services, which detect the position of the person seeking aid within 30 seconds, resulting in a faster turnaround time for treatment.  It also provides the medical personnel to view the medical records of the patient they are about to save. This enables on-the-spot treatment depending on the person’s previous medical history.

Hassle-free e-prescriptions

Another important digital solution that Estonia has mastered is e-prescription. A warning notice is issued when a doctor recommends a prescription that may interfere with the current medication a patient is taking. The doctor can then recommend a different treatment to avoid side effects or any other potentially dangerous medical scenario. The technology also generates e-prescriptions, allowing patients to obtain re-prescriptions based on the doctor’s recommendations without having to visit the hospital.

EHRs a reality or a pipe dream for India?

In the healthcare sector, India is still developing and needs to speed up the digitization process. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have become a crucial facet of healthcare, and the government is slowly but steadily looking into them to provide its residents with the best-in-class healthcare facilities.

There are various obstacles to overcome on the way to making EHR a reality in India. Here are a few: 

  1. An expensive affair
    Hardware, software, employee training, network fees, and maintenance can all seem a bit pricey in the beginning.
  2. Data leaks
    Indians are still hesitant to share their personal information because they believe that data leakage is a major worry.
  3. Data migration
    Converting data from paper to digital records is a difficult undertaking.
  4. Training of medical personnel
    Doctors will need to devote additional time to learning and adapting to the new system.
  5. Lack of technical guidance
    Another issue that private and small health facilities confront is a lack of in-house technical assistance to ensure that EHR systems work smoothly.

What can India learn? 

For the health record of any individual to be of clinical value, it needs to cover the various staged of life along with every clinical encounter that the person underwent throughout these stages.  It hence becomes critical for the records to be available, in a chronological order to provide a summary of the various healthcare events throughout the life of the patient. 

India is still in the early stages of implementing EHR systems. India can successfully integrate EHR systems in the future if it focuses on the following factors:

The PPP Way:  A higher level of public-private partnership is required to address infrastructure shortcomings in the healthcare delivery system. The commercial sector must be aware of public health issues, as these will have an impact on healthcare’s overall success. The private sector has the ability to bring in massive quantities of money to build world-class healthcare facilities for the general public. Simultaneously, the public sector can provide the necessary subsidies and accessibility. To attain universal health coverage and offer high-quality care at a reasonable cost, PPP employs a high volume, low margin strategy.

Personnel Training: Transitioning from legacy systems to newer ways of keeping records could be challenging in the beginning. Doctors and healthcare personnel must be properly trained in order to be able to leverage the advantages of this system. It may appear time-consuming at first, but in the long term, it will save time and provide a more open and simple manner of dealing with health issues.

Uniformity: In order to ensure health records across systems, organizations and institutions can seamlessly sync with each other, certain homogeneity is required in the way the records are stored. Guidelines have already been established by the Ministry of Health and Family Affairs, keeping in view the suitability and applicability in India. Institutions across the country need to ensure that they comply to these standards to be able to contribute towards the larger objective. 

Security: Maintaining high level of data security to ensure sensitive data of patients is protected is a must. Drawing parallels, there was a lot of resistance to online payments in the beginning, but once the security and privacy concerns are addressed, people have readily accepted digital as a preferred mode of payment. E-HRs will be a similar story. 

The pandemic served as a wake-up call for several countries including India. We are compelled to steer away from the conventional healthcare models to more unconventional ones. E-HR is the next power move promising to uplift the health conditions and healthcare experience of the general populace. From luxury, it needs to become a basic necessity. And to make it a reality, India as a country, needs to learn from many other countries and move at an exponential speed to emerge as a forerunner in the digital healthcare map.

To know more about iView Labs, kindly log on to our website www.iviewlabs.com and to get in touch with us with your queries and needs just write us an email on info@iviewlabs.com and sales@iviewlabs.comDownload the latest portfolio to see our work.

Hear from Our Clients About Their Experience of Working with Us

We started our journey in the digital space back in 2012. Our aim was to make a difference — in the lives of our clients, employees, and partners. We do it through our future-focused solutions and reliable services. Every day, we outgrow ourselves by doing things that are difficult and can put our potential to test.

As a team, we love to challenge the status quo if that means helping our clients achieve their goals. We relentlessly pursue growth and love pushing the boundaries of innovation to create something we can be proud of.

At iView Labs, we take customer service very seriously. We go above and beyond to fulfill our client’s vision; be it about creating the next Amazon or executing on a fresh idea that has the potential to beat Amazon.

We say we do everything it takes to make our clients happy. But you don’t have to take our word for it. Here are a few testimonials right from our clients:

“I appreciate their commitment and understanding of the project.”

– Mario Sipek (Project Manager, MachineDesk)

“They were easy to work with, very forthcoming, and demonstrated great skills on this project.”

– Jimmy Nordh (CEO & CTO, Jinoteco AB)

“This company is very professional and they made themselves available working even beyond work.”

– Giuseppe Carullo

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For us, our client’s satisfaction is the greatest reward. Seeing them succeed is all we want. And thus, to ensure they remain on top of their competition, we train ourselves from time to time and stay updated with the latest trends in the industry.

Everyone including the developers to team leads periodically goes through rigorous training to remain ahead of the curve. Our commitment to our clients is well beyond the time we spend on a project — we make it our duty to ensure our clients have an edge over their competitors.

If you have an amazing idea or a project you need help with, let’s collaborate. With our years of experience and industry expertise, we can deliver bespoke software applications that are robust, reliable, and visually engaging. Our clients range from emerging start-ups to giant enterprises and medium-sized businesses. 

Share with us your requirements and we will be happy to help.

To know more about iView Labs, kindly log on to our website www.iviewlabs.com and to get in touch with us with your queries and needs just write us an email on info@iviewlabs.com and sales@iviewlabs.comDownload the latest portfolio to see our work.

How can agile leadership smoothen Digital transformation?

Introduction

Nowadays more and more businesses are embracing digital transformation (DX) to keep up with the competition. It is projected that spending on digital transformation will reach 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022 alone. And by 2025, global digital transformation spending is forecast to reach 2.8 trillion U.S. dollars. Spending heavily on digital transformation will take you nowhere if you don’t have the right leadership at the core.

In this blog, we will share five common challenges your teams may face while embracing Digital Transformation and how agile leadership can smoothen the transition. Let’s start with Agile Leadership.

Agile Leadership: A Buzzword or Life Saver?

Every business needs “agile” leaders to thrive in today’s rapidly disrupting economy. While the word agile is borrowed from the world of software development, an agile leader should be flexible, quick to adapt, and fast in decision making.

Agile Leaders:

  • Move quickly
  • Are resilient and creative
  • Don’t hesitate to challenge the status quo
  • Embrace change by driving value
  • Listen, learn, and adapt
  • Are open to change
  • Collaborate
  • Learn continuously
  • Are curious
  • Are flexible

5 Common Digital Transformation Challenges (& How Agile Leadership Can Help)

Employee Pushback

The Challenge:

One of the biggest challenges to digital transformation that almost every company faces is employee adoption. As humans, we love having routines and would do almost everything we can to stay in our comfort zone. Thus, when a company introduces new technologies, employees may feel insecure and hesitant to switch due to the skill gap and fear of change.

Agile Leadership Advantage:

Agile leaders can make the transition seamless by clearly communicating each employee’s roles and responsibilities and how they fit in the bigger picture of digital transformation. It’s also important to address the threat of replaceability your employees may be facing. Assure them that they will be provided with enough training and ample opportunities to learn, grow, and prosper with digital adoption. 

Lack of a Well-defined Strategy

The Challenge:

Most companies fail as they lack clarity and often have a misinformed transformation strategy. This leaves employees clueless as to what needs to be achieved and how to go about it. In order to succeed, you must understand the purpose behind the transformation and have a clear roadmap.

Agile Leadership Advantage:

Agile leaders can save you from haphazard decisions taken without analyzing customer needs, and technology trends. They will first define the problem and work their way backwards. This means defining the end goal and splitting the transformation process into phases — each having measurable targets.

Swapping Old Legacy Business Models & Systems

The Challenge:

Change is difficult. Businesses may find it hard to replace the systems and processes they were relying on to date. For one, it’s a lot of work, and switching to new systems can bring a lot of uncertainty. Adding more to that, the cost of transformation is huge – and can discourage small to medium-sized businesses even before they get started.

Agile Leadership Advantage:

Agile leaders are flexible with their approach and can envision the big picture. In comparison, they are more likely to adapt to new changes than people who have a fixed mindset. Good leaders can inspire their employees to take on innovative projects that can challenge the status quo and contribute to the company’s growth. 

Cybersecurity Risk

The Challenge:

Data breaches and security threats can put off companies from taking up digital transformation. The fear of cybercrime is real as it can cost a company thousands of dollars. They may even lose their user’s trust, which is hard to regain, and the damage caused to the brand can be irreparable.

Agile Leadership Advantage:

Strong and agile leadership will allow you to be proactive and take the necessary precautions to prevent any potential cyberattacks. You can start by training your employees and making them aware of potential security risks. Carry out regular risk assessments and ensure you have a sound risk management strategy to mitigate any attacks.

Adapting to Ever-evolving Customer Needs

The Challenge:

We’re in an experience-driven economy. Users care about their experience more than anything else. And to provide a delightful user experience, you need to understand your users, their needs and then work your way backward in transforming their journey.

With competition getting fiercer, customers have started expecting more personalized experiences. And thus, as a company, if you’re seeking to evolve, you will have to adapt to your customer needs. Most companies fail at digital transformation because they think of it as a one-time project. However, it is an ongoing process that evolves with the user’s expectations.

Agile Leadership Advantage:

Agile leaders can help you stay ahead by constantly seeking feedback from customers and employees. They will ensure you’re heading in the right direction by aligning your strategy and goals with your customers’ expectations. Adapting to your customers may mean focusing only on the communication channels that matter or embracing an omnichannel approach towards communication.

Final Words

Digital Transformation is all about enriching your customers’ journey at every possible touchpoint. The transition may be challenging, but having an agile leadership by your side will make the shift almost seamless. 

If you’re seeking to embrace digital transformation but are not sure how to go about it, let us help. Whether you’re seeking to boost your company’s productivity or enhance customer experience, our experts can steer your journey in the right direction. With our time-tested methodologies and proven processes, we will ensure you succeed with your digital transformation goals.

Share with us your vision of digital transformation, and our consultants will be happy to help.

To know more about iView Labs, kindly log on to our website www.iviewlabs.com and to get in touch with us with your queries and needs just write us an email on info@iviewlabs.com and sales@iviewlabs.comDownload the latest portfolio to see our work.

Low Code Platforms and its Pros & Cons

Introduction

Low-code platforms like Bubble have empowered millions of businesses to create production-ready web applications in no time. Using such platforms, even individuals with zero coding skills can create amazing web applications that are future-focused and scalable.

Even giant enterprises and web professionals have started reaping the rewards of low-code platforms to automate and expedite the development process. In this blog, we will understand what low-code platforms are, their pros and cons, and how you can use them to speed up your development process.

Let’s get going.

What Are Low-code Platforms?

To put it simply, low-code platforms enable users to build interactive web applications without writing a single line of code. How, you ask? Low-code platforms like Bubble come with a drag-and-drop interface that allows users to visually build applications without getting into the intricacies of coding.

You can build and deploy applications that can be scaled easily as and when needed. Low-code platforms are cloud-based — that means you don’t have to worry about setting up the back-end, and you will be able to access them from anywhere.

Marketshare

Low code is fast becoming the preferred method of software development in IT, according to the Gartner’s 2020 Magic Quadrant for Low Code Application Platforms: “By 2024, 75% of large enterprises will be using at least four low-code development tools for both IT application development and citizen development initiatives.”

That’s not all. The low code market is expected to increase from its $10.3 billion market value back in 2019 to $187 billion by 2030 as more companies see the benefits of adopting the platform for their business needs. That’s a CAGR of 31.1%.

Having said that, it is safe to say that low-code development is here to stay for a long time and holds great potential.

Pros & Cons of Low-code Platforms

Benefits of low-code platforms are immense. However, they also have a few limitations. Let’s look at both pros and cons of low-code platforms.

Pros:

Shallow Learning Curve, Lower Cost & Deployment Time:

Learning low-code development is fairly easy and self-explanatory. Anyone with little technical knowledge can learn it in limited time and with minimal effort. What’s more, low-code development is cheaper and will cost you less number of development hours as compared to traditional development.

Lower Maintenance

Low-code development platforms are usually monitored and managed by the service provider itself. This means, you won’t have to spend anything on maintenance of the platform. That’s not all. The app you build with low-code platforms will also require little to no maintenance as most of the components used in developing it will be standardized and ready-made.

Increased Productivity

Because low-code development enables organizations to develop more apps in less time, what used to take months can now be developed in just a few weeks…even days. This fosters innovation and boosts productivity.

Improved Agility

Apps developed by using low-code platforms make organizations more agile in the long run. That’s not all, visual design can accelerate the speed of development. This means less coding and automated testing.

Cons

Limited Customization Options

With the modular components of low-code platforms, you can only go so far in customizing your app. Thus, you may have to change your business processes to keep up with the low-code platform.

Lack of 3rd-party Integrations

With low-code, you won’t be able to integrate your other business tools to your application. Thus, scaling up wouldn’t be that easy. You will have to compromise some of the integrations if you’re seeking to develop a low-code application.

You Get Stuck with One Platform

Most of the low-code development platforms will tie with their cloud-based offerings. Thus, you won’t be able to switch platforms frequently. Moreover, hiring software engineers working with that platform can be tricky.

API Development

With low-code development, you won’t be able to develop a proper API. This means if you are seeking to develop an enterprise-class application with intricate features, you must consider other development methods instead of low-code development.

Top 3 low-code Platforms

While there are a lot of low-code development platforms, here are top 3 platforms that stand out from the crowd for their capabilities.

#1 – Bubble

With a thriving community of over 1.3 million users, Bubble is a powerful low-code platform that can help you build production-ready web applications. You can create everything from interactive, multi-user applications for both desktop and mobile browsers. The apps you build can be hosted on Bubble itself – this means you won’t have to worry about managing server and paying recurring hosting charges. Last but not the least, Bubble has a huge ecosystem of extensions that can help you extend the platform as per your needs.

#2 – OutSystems

OutSystems is one of the most promising low-code platforms that can help you create amazing apps swiftly and without much technical know-how. It comes with amazing features like a WYSIWYG editor, drag-and-drop features to build your apps visually, process and workflow mapping, an app marketplace to choose pre-built apps and templates from, and more. While it may take you some time to get accustomed with the system – but once you know how it works, building apps with it can be super fun.

#3 – Appian

Certainly one of the leading low-code development platforms, Appian comes with all the features you’d expect – coupled with a few useful ones. It offers a drag-and-drop visual interface, seamless third-party app integrations and many more. You can also use pre-built apps for creating your own app with minimal changes.

Final Words

Low-code platforms are leading the digital front by bringing in amazing features, unparalleled time-to-value, agility, and scalability. Furthermore, you don’t need to have any technical skills to build applications on low-code platforms.

In case you need help in deciding which low-code platform will be ideal for you, or want us to develop applications for you, let us know. We have been working with low-code development platforms and can help you turn your amazing idea into a clickable reality with minimal time and efforts.

To know more about iView Labs, kindly log on to our website www.iviewlabs.com and to get in touch with us with your queries and needs just write us an email on info@iviewlabs.com and sales@iviewlabs.comDownload the latest portfolio to see our work.

An A to Z Guide on Creating Your Own NFT Marketplace

Introduction

It’s high time for NFTs. They are on the verge of being ubiquitous. The sales of NFTs crossed $2.4B in the first 6 months of 2021. That’s not all. The trading volume of NFTs has been soaring across the internet. A popular NFT marketplace — OpenSea reported an 800% increase in trading volume.

With more people joining the club every day, these numbers are bound to increase over time. This means, if you’re seeking to create your own NFT marketplace, there couldn’t be any better time than now. In this blog, we will share everything you need to know to start your own marketplace.

What is a non-fungible token (NFT)?

A non-fungible token (NFT) is like a digital asset representing art, music, videos, game items, etc. They can be traded via cryptocurrency and are built with the same software as other cryptos. What makes an NFT stand out is its uniqueness. Each NFT is unique and irreplaceable. However, you can still trade/sell them on various NFT marketplaces.

Here are a few properties of NFTs:

  • They are indivisible. You cannot divide an NFT or sell a part of it.
  • While it is possible to view an image or artwork for free, there can be only one individual owner at any given point in time. The ownership of any NFT can be easily verified and there’s no way anyone can modify/copy/paste ownership records.
  • NFTs can be scarce as they are launched in limited quantities and cannot be owned by multiple users simultaneously.

Now that you have a brief idea about NFTs, let’s understand more about their marketplaces and how they work.

How does an NFT Marketplace work?

NFT marketplaces work similarly to any other marketplace. Creators can upload their art on the blockchain, and collectors can view and trade it via cryptocurrency. You can create a marketplace for a very specific niche or for multiple industries catering to diversified audiences. 

As far as the revenue goes, most marketplaces collect a commission from all the trades happening there. However, there are many other ways you can generate revenue via a marketplace. For instance, you can levy a subscription fee to sellers/creators or have a fixed cost for registering. You can also consider allocating space for ads either to sellers or advertisers.

Now that we have a brief idea about how marketplaces work and how you can generate revenue from it, let’s look through essential features every NFT marketplace must-have.

Necessary Features of an NFT Marketplace Website

1. Storefront

While this goes without saying, there couldn’t be a marketplace without a storefront. That’s where you can display the products, categories, and feature popular creators on the marketplace.

You should prioritize the information to be displayed on the storefront as it is one of the most important aspects of your NFT marketplace. It should be easy to navigate, intuitive, and must deliver a consistent user experience.

2. Advanced Search & Seamless Navigation

Search and navigation are critical components of your marketplace. You must ensure your marketplace is easy to navigate and the users can find what they are looking for in no more than 4-5 clicks.

To simplify navigation, you can consider adding a mega-menu with explicitly defined categories, sub-categories, and products. For search, you can consider adding advanced filters that allow users to search via product attributes.

3. Seller Profiles/Store

Creating a seller profile will greatly improve the overall shopping experience. Buyers who are looking to buy NFTs only from a specific seller can do so via visiting their profiles. And on the other hand, sellers also get to display their best work in an organized manner.

You can add the seller’s selling history, total NFTs, customer feedback to their profile page. This will also help buyers decide whether to trust a seller or not. For instance, if a seller has less than three stars from five, a buyer will be cautious while dealing with them.

4. Creating Listings

Creating NFT listings will be another basic feature every marketplace should have. This is where sellers can upload their work and list them for auction/sale. They can add descriptions, images, and other relevant details that are necessary.

NFT creators may or may not be tech-savvy. Thus, it is important to keep things as simple as possible here. You don’t want to confuse them with too many options. Keep what’s required and verify the information on each listing before it goes live.

5. Buying & Bidding

While some creators sell their artwork at a fixed price, others prefer to put their work at auction. So it is important that your marketplace offers both options to creators. Auctions should have an expiry date while other listings get automatically removed once the art is sold.

As far as the bidding goes, you must ensure the process is swift and smooth. The information about the latest bid should be updated in real-time so there are no conflicts whatsoever. Having a seamless buying cycle will ensure a good shopping experience for buyers.

6. Wallet

Both the parties, buyers and sellers must have their wallets on the marketplace. They can store, send, and receive cryptocurrencies in exchange for NFTs. Buyers can load crypto to their wallets and sellers can cash it out once received.

There are several wallet systems available in the market. Make sure the one you choose is safe and reliable. The last thing you want is failed transactions and unhappy users. If you can, test different wallet systems before fixating to one.

Conclusion

Apart from the above-mentioned ones, there are several other features an NFT marketplace should have. For instance, the ability to rate a trade post-completion, verify an NFT, and many more. While creating your own marketplace, think of the features that will be usable to your audience. A feature-rich marketplace is bound to thrive even amidst today’s rapidly disrupting economy.

If you’re seeking to develop your own NFT marketplace but don’t know where to start, let us help. We can help you create a high-performing marketplace that consistently delivers a good user experience. Give us a shout, and let our trained professionals help.

To know more about iView Labs, kindly log on to our website www.iviewlabs.com and to get in touch with us with your queries and needs just write us an email on info@iviewlabs.com and sales@iviewlabs.comDownload the latest portfolio to see our work.

NestJS VS. Fastify _ Which One to Use & When

Introduction

Today, Node.js is among the top 10 JavaScript frameworks, primarily because it’s light, scalable and open-source. With the ever-increasing popularity of Node.js, several other frameworks have emerged to help developers build high-performing, reliable, and scalable server-side apps quickly and easily. Two of the most prominent Node.js frameworks are NestJS and Fastify. 

While both frameworks are equally competitive, there are a few things that set them apart. In this blog, we will look at the key differences between the two so you can decide which one’s ideal for you. If that sounds exciting, let’s get going.

NestJS VS Fastify: Top 5 Differences

NestJS and Fastify are fundamentally Node.js frameworks designed to ease out the development process. Let’s look at the top 5 key differences between them.

Overview:

NestJS: 

NestJS was first released in 2017 by Kamil Myśliwiec, who is a Google Expert in Web Technologies and Angular. As a framework, NestJS is heavily inspired by AngularJS. As it is a platform-independent framework, you can create and reuse some of the core elements in different applications. Furthermore, there are no limits to what you can build with the framework. You can develop everything from a minimal web application to a highly intricate enterprise solution.

Fastify:

Fastify was developed by Matteo Collina and Tomas Della Vedova back in 2017. They introduced it at a Node.js Interactive held in Vancouver. Here’s a framework that’s primarily focused on speed and performance (more about that later). It is easy to learn and developer-friendly. In 2019, Fastify joined the OpenJS foundation as an incubating project, and since then, the framework has evolved in leaps and bounds.

Marketshare:

NestJS:

Since the day it launched, NestJS has been consistently growing in numbers. Today, it has over 41.1k GitHub stars and gets downloaded over 764,859 times every week. It is also widely popular among the developer community for it has a shallow learning curve and good performance benchmarks. On StackShare, a popular community-driven SaaS platform that ranks software tools and technologies, NestJS has more followers and votes than Fastify. Last but not least, if we talk about the web, again, NestJS beats Fastify in numbers – for total web traffic and global site rank.

Fastify: 

Fastify, despite being an equally competent Node.js framework, is less popular as compared to NestJS. With over 20.7k stars on GitHub and 234,034 downloads a week, it is known for its speed and performance. Fastify has got its own set of loyal followers on StackShare – which are quite less than NestJS. Keeping the numbers aside, Fastify delivers exceptional performance and can increase your throughput up to 100%.

Core Features:

NestJS:

  • Versatile: You can use NestJS to build any and every type of server-side application irrespective of its intricacy.
  • Highly Scalable: With NestJS, you can start small by building a simple application and scale your way up to an enterprise-class server-side app.
  • Well-documented: Getting started with NestJS becomes super-easy with the huge library of resources available for free on the official website of the framework.
  • TypeScript: Because NestJS uses the latest version of TypeScript, it can change to the JS whilst simplifying context switching.

Fastify:

  • Performance: Being one of the fastest web frameworks, Fastify can serve up to 30,000 requests/second.
  • Extensible: You can seamlessly use Fastify via its hooks, decorators, and plugins. This makes the development process hassle-free.
  • Easy to Learn: Fastify is easy to learn and implement. It is expressive in nature. This means if you know Node.js, you can easily get your hands on Fastify.
  • Giant Ecosystem: Fastify has a huge ecosystem of core and community plugins that are freely accessible and can be used per your needs.

Community & Support:

NestJS:

With hundreds of contributors and thousands of users globally, you can be assured that you will get enough help and support in case you run into any troubles. That’s not all. NestJS also has a thriving community on various other developer forums like Spectrum, npm, Dev.to, and Discord. Additionally, you can also network with other NestJS nerds at various conferences held by community members from across the globe.

Fastify:

Fastify is also backed up by a huge pool of people who maintain and manage the framework. They roll out frequent updates to add new features to the framework and safeguard it from potential vulnerabilities. You can find Fastify forums on Dev.to, GitHub, and Stackoverflow. In case you’re looking for professional help, you can also hire a Fastify developer via platforms like arc or upstack. In case you’re looking for a reliable agency – give us a line, and we will be happy to help.

Popular Usecases:

NestJS: 

NestJS is used by some of the most popular companies like Adidas, Decathlon, Capgemini, Autodesk, etc. You can use it to build robust and reliable server-side applications that are both high-performing and secure.

Fastify:

Several popular companies, including Hotstar, Genesys, Habit, Radity, Microsoft, and NearForm use Fastify for different purposes. It is fast, reliable, and can efficiently handle intricate processes. With a giant ecosystem of 45 core and 155 community plugins, you simply cannot go wrong with Fastify.

Conclusion:

Both NestJS and Fastify are reliable and high-performing Node.js frameworks. Picking one over the other can be really intimidating. Rather than asking which one’s more popular – it’s better to go with the one that’s most optimized for the job. You may consider looking through their documentation and the source code before making a decision. 

If you’re still unsure which one would be right for you, let us help. Having worked with Node.js and similar frameworks for quite a while now, we can not only help you pick the right framework but also develop a robust and reliable application that stands true to the time. To get started, simply give us a line, and our team will be happy to help.

To know more about iView Labs, kindly log on to our website www.iviewlabs.com and to get in touch with us with your queries and needs just write us an email on info@iviewlabs.com and sales@iviewlabs.comDownload the latest portfolio to see our work.

Usage of Blockchain in Pharmaceuticals

The pivotal cause to develop the Blockchain solution in the medicines and pharmaceuticals industry was to tackle the movement of pharmaceuticals and drugs in the entire value chain of the industry. Right from ensuring the raw materials procured by the suppliers to the end product reaching the hands of the customer; ie. driving the supply chain from the factory to the dealers and subsequent retail to hospitals and finally to the end customers ensure the safety and authenticity of the drugs. This breakthrough digital process of validating the ledger to the community can save lives of more than 1m people who die due to drug counterfeiting and low-quality drugs due to errors of expiry and ineffectiveness of raw materials.

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