There are several methods of product IT consulting, by applying which the consultants will collect and analyze data on your company’s operation, and advice on the best ways to improve your business performance.
In today’s business world outsourcing have become a popular concept that enhances the performance of organizations by unburdening their resourses, reducing costs and at the same time achieving better results faster. Outsourcing has impacted all industries and organizations, small or large. IT industry is one of the industries benefiting from outsourcing due to the nature of IT jobs. Outsourcing IT services have gained a lot of attention of organizations, and for a good reason; however, unless the process of outsourcing is approached in the right way, undesirable outcomes will result. Outsourcing is only effective when the right path is taken, from selecting a firm to offer services (this is the cornerstone of outsourcing) to the execution of tasks, which highly depends on the company that has been chosen to provide services. This article looks at the key aspects of IT outsourcing and the effort it takes to get the desired results.
Defining your scope and schedule of the project
This is the first and most crucial step, laying out the objectives, schedule, and expectations. This is a guide to the entire outsourcing process; it gives direction to the outsourcing process. The very first thing to do in this step is clearly to define the objectives, highlighting what outcome is targeted; this could include increasing the security of a given system, building a new software or installing a better network system. The objectives should be detailed and not vaguely defined. The complete and accurate information should be generated as a part from the organization needing it for planning purposes. It will be required by the service provider for their planning, cost evaluation and effective tasks execution.
Evaluating the Options
There is a great number of options when it comes to outsourcing IT services; this is because the flexibility of IT services makes it possible for some services to be outsourced from any part of the world with ease and high level of efficiency. When evaluating the best alternative available, it is imperative that price is not used as the primary determinant of the most suitable candidate. The following factors should be taken into account in evaluating the best service provider.
- IT Specific Category. IT is a broad field that entails many different categorizations ranging from networking, software development, graphic design, databases and data science, and many more. This calls for an organization to narrow down to the specific service providers that offer the required services. A firm that offers all the services may not be as effective as the firms that specialize in providing specific services, as they are more specialized in that area. Hence, where the project is sensitive, it is ideal to choose a firm that specializes in the specific area.
- Experience and Competence. Experienced service provider is the best bet to getting excellent results. Check the service provider’s experience to find out if they are capable of providing the requested services and delivering the expected service quality.
- Reputation. The firm or company image is one of the key aspects of IT outsourcing; it helps in evaluating the options to identify the right service provider. A services provider with a good reputation and good customer feedback is an ideal option.
- Communication and Working Convenience. Communication is one of the major success ingredients in any task; it is ideal to choose a service provider who is accessible and easy to work with.
Getting into contract
The above factors should be considered during evaluation of the service providers, and when a suitable candidate is identified, it is crucial to check if the service provider is licensed and is compliant with the state laws. After identifying the right service provider, it is essential to draw a written contract for legal compliance and also to help solve discrepancies, if the things go wrong during the project.
Understanding initial stages of software design is very important not only for software company owners, but for the professionals who don’t have a background in software design, but still want to create a software design themselves. This means, those who are part of the software development, must know the basics and initial stages of software design before they begin.
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Nowadays the world is moving to automation. For the automation to work, software is being implemented in almost every part of modern day life. You will find several software systems which have been designed to solve different problems. Each time engineers identify a problem in the society, they will try to solve it using computers. Read more
As the years go by, the mankind continues to evolve, and the world modernizes itself and its cultures increasingly. In order to keep up with the swiftly shifting tides and to continue to appeal to and reach consumers and customers across the globe, businesses and companies need to adapt to changes in the technological environment. As such, it is no surprise that IT solution providers have become increasingly common. Read more
The modern world is a place where software and devices are part of our everyday lives. Software is everywhere — institutions, offices, factories, our homes, cities and virtual space. Advancement of technology and development of Internet of Things (IoT) is the main force behind the approach of doing things shifting from the traditional way to the modern digitalized way. Today’s software has advanced in functionality, is more reliable and secure, users, on the other hand, demand for software that is advanced and reliable to help them achieve their daily activities, whether at work or home. Even with the current state of technology, there is software that does not meet user expectations or does not offer the required security level, leaving room for security breaches. This article will look at some of the factors that affect security and reliability of software and factors that contribute to successful and reliable software.
Software reliability refers to the probability of software not failing or causing inconvenience for the user; it is closely related to functionality. Reliable software is unlikely to fail on a regular basis or prevent the user from executing an operation.
Below are different attributes of reliable software
Functionality
Software functionality refers to the overall performance of the software. User satisfaction is largely related to the functionality of the software; a software that is fast, stable, offers adequate security and access control, can be said to have excellent functionality. Functionality can be measured by how users rate the software in regards to their experience with the software.
Usability
Software Usability refers to the ease of software use. The user interface design highly affects the usability of software. A good interface is the one that provides the user with a well-defined navigation, well-organized components, is easy to use and minimizes the number of clicks to complete the task.
Efficiency
Efficiency refers to the software functionality based on functional requirements or specifications, generating the expected and accurate results without failure.
Maintainability
Software maintenance aims at making a software perform better and become more secure. Maintenance addresses software performance issues, bugs and security issues.
Security
The core security requirement of modern software is to secure the user data from unauthorized access and also maintain the user privacy. To overcome security challenges, software is built considering security as one of the main objectives.
Factors impacting to reliability and security of software
Design Architecture
Software design architecture refers to a set of principles which defines an application. It dictates an abstract framework for the software system regarding the pattern of structural organization. The success of a software begins at the design phase of software development when the functionality, security protocols, access control factors are designed. Software development has significantly evolved leading to more stable and reliable design patterns, which means more advanced design architectures have been invented to power the modern applications. Design patterns and design architecture affect 3 crucial aspects of a software reliability.
Application Speed
The speed of executing tasks highly depends on the software design. Modern software is designed to be lightweight and swift, built with a small “memory footprint” to enhance the performance of the software even on devices that have a low processing power. Today’s software aids processing of time-sensitive tasks such as serving thousands of clients for the shortest period possible or getting a patient’s medical details on time. Software users, whether using web software, mobile apps or desktop apps, want a software that does not take too long to execute commands and tasks.
Software Performance and Stability
Most of the modern software are built with the objective of supporting multiple concurrent users. This calls for well-thought design architecture that is capable of handling concurrent users without failing or causing inconvenience. Some design architectures designed in the earlier days were not oriented to support concurrent users, and this resulted in performance issues. This eventually led to the development of design patterns that are oriented towards developing high-performance software, which supports multiple concurrent users. The stability of software, even when used by many users at the same time, results in more reliable performance of software that does not fail due to traffic or access by many users.
Software Security
The security of a software system starts at the design phase of the software and ends with the end user. Software design architecture significantly impacts the software security. Software security is supposed to be at the core of the modern software. End users are increasingly demanding for more secure software systems; this is because the data being processed in today’s software systems contain sensitive user data, the privacy of which is critical. An effective software would not be successful unless it is secure, thus security and reliability of software are both inseparable and crucial.
User Interface (UI) and User Experience
Modern software is designed to automate complex tasks, but users are in constant look of software that both does these complex tasks and has a user-friendly interface. The user interface determines the reliability and usability of software in a great measure. UI design patterns have been invented to present the user with a consistent experience across devices and software as well. Design philosophies like material design by Google provide designers with design principles that help them create apps that have a consistent experience with mobile, web and desktops applications. Software made in the earlier days lacked the consistent look and experience, hence users had to learn to use the same software when the working environment or the device changed. Design principles aim at enhancing the development of user-friendly software that also minimizes the time the user spends to complete a task.
Security and reliability of software in the present-day world are core factors considered in the digital world. Effectiveness of software is coupled with security to ensure that the privacy of user data is prioritized. Software used in sensitive areas like banking, health and government needs to be reliable and secure to prevent unauthorized access and provide software efficiency. As the technology advances, security issues are better addressed together with reliability to efficiently automate our daily activities.
At the present day, technology is the backbone of virtually everything we do. From simple personal tasks to complex industrial processes, we are relying on software to get fast, accurate and reliable results. In this digital era applications are helping us manage business, socialize, communicate, automate business processes, increase productivity, enhance security and much more, and this makes technology an integral part of our lives. With the advancement of technology, the software development process has evolved as well. The world is demanding for applications that are efficient, fast, reliable and easy to use; this means that developers must focus more on strategic planning in software development so as to achieve the best results possible. Planning is a crucial phase in the development process, as it determines the level of success and reliability of an application.
Strategic planning in software development involves setting objectives, focusing on the architecture and design, deciding on the development timeline and concentrating resources and efforts. A strategic plan helps developers layout a framework that enables them to work toward achieving the goals in the most effective and efficient way. Below are some of the roles and values of strategic planning in software development.
A Well Thought Architecture
An application and its efficiency is only as good as its architecture. Developing fast, efficient and reliable applications starts with the software architecture; it is what determines its performance when in use. Strategic planning helps the developer focus on the various software architectural elements that make an app more reliable; these include security, speed, efficient memory footprint, and stability. Developing an app without a solid plan means the app might have security issues, frequent crashes and be slow during operation, whereas strategic planning helps eliminate this issues.
Improved Quality
Focus on strategic planning in app development helps the developer build excellent quality. An accurate plan helps the developer start the development with the end in mind and this way the objectives are accomplished. Every application is developed to solve a particular problem. App development with a strategic plan will solve the problem in the most efficient way, and the users will be satisfied with the results. The quality will determine its success in the market.
Timely App Development (Time Management)
Statistics show that most applications are not completed in time and this leads to inconveniences or at times renders the software useless. An app that was meant for a specific event like national elections has to be complete for testing and implementation before the elections begin. Unless the software is complete before the event, the development process will be a waste of time and resources. Planning helps the developer layout a development schedule. The schedule outlines the tasks to be completed in each phase, and by following this program, it is possible to develop and complete the project in time.
Cost Reduction
Software development is a costly process that requires both resources and time. A strategic plan helps the developer come up with a plan that describes the guidelines and specifications of how the app will be developed. With a good design and architecture, it is possible to develop the software with the allocated resources. Without a good plan developers may work for weeks or months just to realize they are heading in the wrong direction, and this leads to waste of resources, while a good plan can help reduce these costs.
The answer to the question why it’s essential to create high-quality software is logical and understandable for all parties of the development process.
Obviously, any customer wants to get a high-quality software product that meets all the established requirements, is possibly cheaper and delivered at the allocated time, so as to prevent future maintenance costs, problem search, errors, etc. On the other hand, software developers are seeking to perform their work on time and with maximum quality, in order to reduce their costs for the warranty period. Therefore, both parties of the software development process pursue at least two identical objectives: to deliver the software product on time and to achieve the highest possible quality of software. Read more
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Mobile World Congress is the world’s biggest and best mobile industry event comprising of a massive exhibition, an award-winning conference, amazing networking opportunities, partner programmes, the Glomo Awards, 4YFN and much, much more. A B2B event for anyone and everyone in mobile and those in adjacent industries who want to discover how mobile technology can benefit their industries.
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