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Data has become an integral part of every company. The complexity of data processing is rising with the data amount, rate, and variety. The problem arises from the amount and complexity of measures required to bring information to a state easily accessed by business users. Data engineering teams also invest their time constructing and improving ETL pipelines. In this article, we will discuss the usage and process to design and implement the serverless ETL pipelines on AWS.

Technical developments have substantially changed the software development environment. Cloud platforms such as IaaS and PaaS have prompted businesses towards better feasibility. Likewise, serverless computing has facilitated code implementation into development.

Image Source: Cuelogic

Serverless Cloud Providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) operate the server and technology needed for data collection, computation, routing, event notification, and display for data applications. AWS offers a range of professionally controlled software, including planning, scaling, and management, utilizing a smart payment model to develop and maintain business software. As businesses create a serverless pipeline, Amazon S3 is typically the primary data store that they use. Since Amazon S3 is very versatile and accessible, it is ideally suited as a unified source for data.

Usage of ETL Pipeline

ETL (extract, transform, load) is a data aggregation related to the three measures used to integrate data from different sources. It is frequently used for the building of a data warehouse.

Serverless ETL has become the vision for teams who wish to concentrate on their core tasks instead of operating a massive data pipeline infrastructure.

Data is obtained and analyzed in the ETL pipeline's extraction portion from various networks, such as CSVs, online services, social networking sites, CRMs, and other business systems.

Image Source: Guru99

In the process transformation phase, the data is then modeled in a form that simplifies documentation. Data cleansing is also often part of this phase. The processed data is loaded into a single hub in the loading phase to make it convenient for all participants.

Related: ETL Pipeline and Data Pipeline – How to create an ETL Process

The ETL pipeline aims to identify, report, and maintain the correct data in a form that makes it simple to view and evaluate. An ETL tool would encourage developers to concentrate on logic/rules rather than create the means to apply the code. It eliminates the time that the developers use to develop the tools, which helps them concentrate on other essential jobs.

Building Serverless ETL Pipelines on AWS

A serverless architecture on AWS is based upon the following processes:

Data Ingestion

AWS provides a wide variety of data intake tools to help. You may use the Kinesis streaming media tools family to ingest data and use Kinesis analytics to evaluate the details while streaming and deciding on the data before it goes on in the data lake. Kinesis Analytics can evaluate the log data from the system and assess if the logs are out of the data range, and mark it for intervention before it fails. AWS also provides Database Migration Services (DMS). It offers businesses for on-prem devices that do not generally communicate to object storage or the analytics interface but instead speak to a file system. You may use an AWS Storage Gateway for the integration or an AWS Snowball for data collection and 'Lift & Shift' to the cloud.

Image Source: AllCloud

After that, you should set up AWS Direct Connect and start creating a direct network link between the on-prem setting in the AWS services, whether the cluster is existing on-prem, a data warehouse, or even a big storage unit. Data intake is essential to keeping the data feasible, and you need to select the best method with the right data form.

A Searchable Catalog

A searchable catalog is essential to build a data lake. Without it, you will just have a storage platform and not a data lake. You need it to get insights from your data. AWS Glue comes into play here as it is a stable, scalable data catalog created as data enters the Data Lake. It quickly crawls data to build a classified catalog. After processing the results, you have to be able to show them and gain insights. This can be achieved directly by Spark SQL analytical software. You get a range of resources utilizing the AWS framework, such as API Gateway, Cognito, AWS AppSync, to help you create those user interfaces over your data lake.

Also Read: Next Gen Application Microservices Architecture on Kubernetes

Data Security Management

Data confidentiality and governance management are fundamental factors, as an unsafe data lake is unusable. In the end, a data lake means taking a bunch of individual data silos, combining them, and providing more information from a full perspective. On AWS, you have a broad range of protection services such as Identity and Access Management, enabling you to safely manage access to AWS facilities and benefits. With IAM, you can build, control, and use permissions to allow and reject access to AWS services to AWS users and groups. AWS's Key Management Service (KMS) helps you to build, maintain, and track cryptographic keys through a wide variety of AWS services and applications.

Image Source: AWS

Amazon CloudWatch helps you continue tracking AWS services and programs such that configurations and adjustments can be conveniently measured, evaluated, and registered. You can use various resources to handle data in a very stable, scalable, and granular fusion.

Data Transformation

AWS helps you quickly access serverless analysis using AWS Step Functions and AWS Lambda to coordinate various ETL workflows utilizing multiple technologies. AWS Lambda helps you to execute applications without servers. One can run code with zero administration for almost any form of program or back-end operation using Lambda. You need to upload your code, and Lambda manages all the scaling. AWS Step Functions is a web service that helps organize distributed apps and microservices modules using visual workflows. Each component executes a particular role or activity that allows you to scale and modify applications quickly.

Image Source: AWS

AWS offers easy access to scalable computational and processing capabilities to quickly extend almost every large-scale framework, including data collection, fraud identification, clickstream analytics, serverless computing, and IoT processing.

Conclusion

You can use the AWS Glue ETL for two types of works: the Apache Spark and the Python shell. The Python shell work enables you to execute small tasks utilizing a fraction of the machine resources. The Apache Spark helps you conduct medium to broad functions that are more numerical and memory demanding using a distributed processing system. As serverless services become more efficient, we will see more companies using traditional architectures to be serverless. Anyone who is planning to build a new data platform should start with serverless. Let us know know in the comments section below if you have any query regarding designing and implementing the Serverless ETL Pipelines on AWS.

While Covid-19 continues to hover like a dark cloud, most companies and individuals struggling to find a new normal in the pandemic-rich world have now got an effective medium to sustain their business needs. The containment measures like strict lockdowns ensured that people stay at home and spend more time in front of their screens as it has uplifted the internet as the primary source of entertainment and a shopping platform. This new normal molds traditional brand reach and visibility by pushing companies to adopt digital mediums and that has influenced an era of digital transformation which we are witnessing today.[lwptoc title="Digital Transformation - The Only Silver Lining Of Pandemic" skipHeadingLevel="h1,h4,h5,h6"]Under the shadow of the ongoing pandemic, consumers have shifted dramatically toward online mediums, and companies have also made reforms to meet consumer demands. Different survey reports confirm the sudden shift toward digital interaction between customers and companies. Indicators also reveal that Respondents are three times active now than the pre-crisis period as at least 80 percent of customer interactions are now digital.

Also Read: Shopify Plus v Magneto 2 v WooCommerce – Best ecommerce Platforms

Digital Transformation Statistics

• Below are a few statistics and reasons that reveal how pandemic changed the marketing world, and companies rely more on digital marketing.
• 40% of social media users polled said they were spending more time on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
• Indicators reveal an almost 70% increase in social media content generation during the COVID-19, a 60% increase in blog content, and a 50% increase in video content
• 80% who have a content marketing strategy, 70% made significant or moderate adjustments to their strategy because of the pandemic
• 70% of companies have shifted from face-to-face interactions to a digital medium
• 75% of Small businesses claim that they have improved their digital marketing areas like SEO, social media marketing, and data analytics
• 25% of consumers started watching more live streaming videos during the pandemic
• According to Forbes, OTT platforms in India experienced an 80% surge in subscribers amid the lockdown.

Based on the above-revealed stats and data, we can easily understand how people think and behave in recent times. These routine shifts and behavioral changes push businesses to explore more about consumers’ interests and improve their digital reach.

Most Heated Ecommerce Platforms During COVID-19

From the empty hallways of shopping malls to the busy servers of online shopping portals, COVID-19 has reshaped every place and process. As we discussed earlier Majority of consumers are now heading towards digital marketplaces to shop. An August 2020 survey from eCommerce ad agency Channel Advisor conducted by Dynata shows the following results.

US Top Retailers Ranked By Retail Ecommerce Sale In 2020

(All sales are in Billion Dollars)

• Amazon: 309.58
• Walmart: 46.2
• ebay: 38.8
• Apple: 27.51
• The Home Depot: 16.71
• Best Buy: 15.7
• Target: 13.82
• Wayfair: 11.66
• The Korger Co.: 11.28
• Costco Wholsale: 11.18

Effect of Pandemic on US’ Retail Ecommerce Sales (2018 – 2020)

As the pandemic has accelerated eCommerce dependency worldwide in a dramatic manner as online sales are conquering new peaks. In the 3rd quarter of the US retail forecast, the following results are found.(The following graph represents sales in billion dollars)

Influencer Content

People are bound to spend more time in their homes due to strict lockdowns, the closure of mainstream cinemas and amusement parks, and watching more influencer content. Since May 2020, digital consumers from the US and UK who followed influencers like Vloggers and Youtubers were most interested in influencer content that entertained or helped them do stuff with their daily lives amid the lockdown routines. The graph below portrays the post-impact shape of influencer content.(All portions represents percent share of total volume)

The Opportunity In This Era of Digital Transformation?

Although around 70% of businesses have already undertaken or implemented marketing transformation strategies to eliminate the product-consumer gap, consumers still feel businesses are still lacking in offering the mobile friendly platforms and accurate customer support.

Conclusion

The above statistics and data show upheavals in the global market, and we saw a rapid transition towards digital dependency during the pandemic. Examining the differences between what we saw in Pre-COVID trends vs. what we experienced in 2020 reveals a surprisingly unique set of observations. You can’t sell a car in a fish market and vice versa - the digital transformation is inevitable. To meet consumers’ demand differently and sell where people are looking to buy, it is now crucial for businesses to adapt to the recent changes and improve their digital channels.

Online shopping is rising so quickly that the global online shopping market size is expected to cross 4 trillion in 2021. These stats give attention to the debate on the best ecommerce platforms. While some people prefer Shopify Plus, some side with Magneto 2, and others enjoy their ecommerce experience on WooCommerce.

Are you also confused about selecting the best ecommerce platform among these? We are here to knock that confusion away by getting into the details of all these platforms in this article. Let's take a look at the market share of the best ecommerce platforms.

Best ecommerce Platforms Market Share in 2020

• Woocommerce: 32%
• Squarespace Commerce: 17%
• Shopify: 15%
• Magento: 4%
• Wix Stores: 4%
• Others: 28%

Now, let’s analyze each of these best e-commerce platforms individually:

Shopify Plus

Shopify provides cloud-based ecommerce platform to a large number of businesses. It is quite popular with small-scale businesses, but it also powers big ecommerce organizations.Shopify emerged as one of the most successful startups in 2006. There are currently over 500,000 stores on its platform, including Tesla Motors, Wikipedia, Mozilla, and Google.

Image Source: IceCubeDigital

Shopify stores are operated by the ecommerce business itself, unlike Wix, Squarespace, and Magneto. Although Shopify needs less maintenance than alternatives such as WooCommerce, it can still be a little more costly and constrained in certain situations. Shopify is a CMS, like WordPress, made to build online stores. It is very easy to use and can be handled effectively by a non-technical person. It lets your store go live in less than 20 minutes with a working e-commerce shop. The shop's personalization is as simple as possible. You can render any look for your website and bring in the vibe you want.

Image Source: WebsiteBuilderExpert

Shopify Plus is a "Pro" edition of Shopify, a publicly-traded Canadian-based business e-commerce website that originated to support small retailers. With its ability to automate complicated technologies and still maintain product lists of up to 100 variants through many platforms, Shopify Plus is one of the strongest ecommerce applications for business enterprises. Shopify Plus provides more technological assistance, onboarding and automation resources for facilitating the process of products.

Shopify Plus gives you the following benefits:

• A Secure and Fully Hosted Platform
• Unlimited Bandwidth
• Shopify Plus Customisation
• Time-Saving
• Better Scalability

Although Shopify provides the basic tools that retailers need to start and develop in e-commerce, Shopify Plus is the answer to consumers who have grown significantly larger than their expectations and want to expand without spending large amounts of time, money, and energy.

Magneto 2

Magento is an ecommerce platform made for medium to large online stores. It provides one of the most durable feature sets, making it perfect for aspiring online stores. Magento is among the most scalable website designing tools in the world. However, it needs a lot of developer expertise and substantial investment. If anyone has no programming background, he should not opt for Magento as it is not recommended for beginners. It's best for businesses that have good budgets.

Image Source: AlanStorm

The Magento UI is considered by developers to be very practical since there is a simple, easy configuration and the Navigation Menu includes clients, items, promotions, sales, and reports. Magento Open Source includes the following features:

• Mobile-optimized shopping
• Instant purchase
• Global selling
• Site search
• Extended Functionality via App marketplace
• Integrated checkout, payment, and shipping
• Customization options available
• Catalog management

Image Source: MagePlaza

Magento provides ecommerce store owners with protection and security, which is a core priority for online stores. Being one of the most used ecommerce platforms, Magento has a broad customer base that helps enterprises get quick support.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the most common tool of building an eCommerce store with a 32% market share placing it at #1 in the e-commerce market share list of 2020.

Automattic bought WooCommerce in May 2015 for $30 million, according to the reported deal.

Automattic is the company behind WordPress.com as well. WooCommerce is the perfect ecommerce platform for small companies who already own a WordPress site. It is also ideal for those who want a comprehensive web store but are on a budget. It also has tons of third-party themes and plugins, making it versatile to meet most requirements.

Image Source: WordPress

The free version includes the following features:

• Mobile-optimized shopping
• Inventory management
• Search engine optimization
• Shipping options and calculator
• Catalog management
• Product reviews
• Coupons and discounts
• Geo-location support

Even though the UI of WooCommerce is very simple, you need to have the basic HTML or CSS experience to run and maintain your online store on this platform. It also includes SSL support. However, it requires you to obtain your own certificate.

Image Source: NextCart

Being an open-source solution, it gives you a lot of features on its free version. However, you may enjoy its advanced features like product comparisons, pop-up notifications for the latest orders placed, multiple payment methods, products displayed before purchasing, quick browsing, etc.

Which one is the best ecommerce platform among Shopify Plus, Magneto 2, and WooCommerce?

Regardless of your businesses' size, you can get numerous benefits by selecting the right e-commerce solution. Moving to a different platform will result in high costs and require many efforts, hard work, and time. So, it is wise to choose the right e-commerce platform for your business in the very beginning. Many considerations play a role in assessing which eCommerce platform to use. It depends on your technological expertise, budget, the scale of your business, and appropriate features required. That being said, you may pick the desired e-commerce platform as follows:

• You should choose Shopify Plus if you have little technical knowledge and are merely searching for the best way to start your shop with unlimited bandwidth.
• Go for Magento 2 if your budget is not restricted and you are looking for a strong place to launch your large store.
• If you want to learn to do your stuff yourself and want an option that can expand your business without compromising its potential, you should opt for WooCommerce.

Conclusion

A specific ecommerce platform could take one business to the top and may restrict another one. So, choosing the best ecommerce platform for your store depends upon your requirements, budget, user interface, and many other factors. Carefully analyze your needs and then proceed with testing an ecommerce solution. After testing, opt for the one that you feel is the best for your specific business needs.

Outsourcing in today’s time is the most effective way to cut costs and spare resources (Both Human and Material) to invest in core business areas. Due to these benefits, many companies choose to outsource tech services and solutions including software development services.[lwptoc title="Outsourcing Challenges and Solutions" skipHeadingLevel="h1,h4,h5,h6"]While there is a bright light that comes with outsourcing, it does not come without a dark side. This article will discuss the outsourcing challenges that companies face and how to overcome these challenges effectively.

Also Read: When to Hire an Agency for your Software Development?

Authority & Control

Who will possess the authority and responsibility to make important decisions and choices about the project to raise tension between a business and an outsourcing firm? Employees of a business tend to behave like they have total control over the project and its parameters and the complete authority to make important decisions. They may not accept and support the change in the project management lifecycle. On the other hand, the outsourcing team can think and act contrary.

Solution

The best way to overcome this problem is to declare in the outsourcing agreement to what extent the outsourcing company and business’s employees can exercise control over the project.Limits should be declared about what sort of decisions a service provider can make regarding the outsourced project. Terms and conditions of the service agreement should be made clear to the employees of both the business consulting outsourcing firm and the outsourcing vendor.

Exaggerated Expectations

Most of the time business makes a mistake of expecting too much from an outsourcing firm. It may think or act like everything will be handled by the outsourcing service provider, and it has nothing left to take care of. Such overwhelming and false expectations can lead to project failure and disappointment for the business and becomes one of a business damaging outsourcing challenges.

Solution#1

To tackle this challenge, the best possible way is to make things clear in the very beginning about what will be the role and responsibility of the outsourcing service provider throughout the project life and what results should be expected from the outsourcing vendor. It is mandatory to make the company seeking outsourcing services aware of the plausible risks and the potential costs linked with outsourcing.

Also Read: IT Outsourcing Trends for Growing Companies in 2021

Companies may have fantasized that selecting an outsourcing service provider and triggering a project development life cycle can be done quickly, according to the plan and expectations. Also, they may underestimate the time required by the outsourcing team to complete the project.

Solution#2

Companies should spend sufficient time in selecting an outsourcing firm. They should select a vendor that they think can fully align with their expectations and meet their requirements.To make the process professional, a business should take the qualitative and quantitative approach while outsourcing a vendor and get a time estimate for project completion and a transparent timeline of the project lifecycle from the outsourcing service provider before the project begins.This would eliminate any exaggerated expectations or false hopes on the part of the business regarding the delivery of the project.

Cultural Differences

Offshore outsourcing can bring diverse talent onboard, but the cultural and communication barrier can bring a wave of problems. When companies assign their projects to offshore vendors or teams, they have to tackle corporate differences and regional differences.Corporate differences occur because outsourcing involves two different organizations. Regional differences occur because the business and the outsourcing service provider are stationed in different regions, countries, continents, or even time zones.These corporate and regional cultural differences can cast shadows on different areas of your project management. It can interfere with the communication barrier, time clashes, & misunderstandings and distract the team members resulting in poor performance and decreased productivity.

Solution

To overcome this issue, a business that will outsource a project, especially for the first time, should arrange a workshop to train its employees about the corporate and regional cultures, educating them about the demographic variations & their impact on the practices and norms of the outsourcing firm.On the other hand, a similar workshop related to the awareness about the clients’ organizational and regional differences and norms can be arranged by an outsourcing service provider for its employees.

Linguistic & Communication Barrier

Another challenge that companies face while outsourcing their projects to intercontinental or intracontinental vendors is linguistic differences and communication barriers. People might have their regional dialects that you might not be able to interpret properly. Another challenge that results due to the communication barrier is unsaid suppositions.Many businesses have experienced this problem while outsourcing. While working and interacting in the same building or office space, employees discuss stuff and picture what others think and state. On the other hand, when the developers are working offshore, there are many ways to order, or a request can be mishandled or communicated wrongly.

Solution

The communication barrier can be reduced by using HD cameras, fast internet for proper streaming, and online chat rooms or groups for instant messaging and video conferencing.For effective collaboration, remote working platforms such as Basecamp can be used. For overcoming linguistic differences, businesses in English-speaking countries can outsource to countries or regions where professionals can easily understand and speak English.

Loss of Sensitive Data or Information

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, people’s move to work remotely has contributed to a notable rise in cybercrime costs expected to top $1trn for the year 2020.

As Companies are increasingly faced with the dangerous consequences of cybercrime and data breach, outsourcing comes with a potential risk of compromising sensitive data and intellectual properties such as business plans and confidential documents, etc.Doesn’t matter how large and developed your organization is; if it’s a startup or an enterprise, having complete security of your data and IP is crucial. While working with a remote team of developers, you might be required to share a lot of important data, including your core business details, operational structure, and other high-profile information. Apart from the important details, you might be sharing your database, resources, and other important tools while outsourcing.Suppose your outsourcing contract lacks explicit statements such as the seriousness of your IP protection and information or resources. In that case, you may be standing on the edge of losing all of your sensitive data.

Solution

This problem can be tackle by signing a legal contract like a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with the outsourcing vendor. The risk of a data breach gets diluted when the outsourcing vendor implements strict security measures.The outsourcing company should maintain a checklist to ensure if the service provider is implementing technical measures like

• Protocols for Resources & Data access
• Strict control and security check to prohibit unauthorized entry into premises
• Administrative control and regulations over employees’ conduct

Conclusion

As discussed, outsourcing challenges typically involve loss of control, communication barrier, exaggerated expectations, lack of organizational trust, and data breach, challenges making it difficult for businesses to adopt it.If you and your leadership fail to interact actively with your outsourcing service provider, the vendor becomes a surrogate for your business. But these outsourcing challenges are overcome easily if handled professionally, making outsourcing beneficial for the organization in terms of cost, service levels, and access to talent.

In the global market, it has become a new normal to integrate technology in the existing business model to achieve technical superiority and improve operational capabilities. To do so, all kinds of Businesses outsource to meet their technological needs and expect their outsourcing partners to improve their business processes and maximize revenue. Outsourcing your software development requirements can help you focus on business development and management while IT experts handle your software development needs.It can easily be interpreted that the global outsourcing market occupies a share of around $77 billion. 65% of the businesses that have already outsourced successfully are aligned in a queue to outsource more of their IT and software services to attain a competitive edge in this modern era of technology.Although, everyone agrees that outsourcing your software development is a budget-friendly practice. But we cannot neglect the fact that outsourcing comes amidst some challenges as few business owners fail to choose the right development partner. They end up choosing a partner having insufficient know-how about the customer’s business needs and product objectives.[lwptoc title="Factors to Consider While Outsourcing Your Software Development" skipHeadingLevel="h1,h4,h5,h6"]With time, the number of IT outsourcing service providers is increasing at an accelerated rate. Everyone offers different project plans and offers when it comes to project management. The options are almost infinite in such a diverse ecosystem, making it much more crucial for a business to choose the right outsourcing service provider.

Factors to Consider While Outsourcing Your Software Development

As a business owner, you can evaluate all aspects of a project but must spare time to ponder over the following points, which can help you choose the best among numerous outsourcing partners.

Analyze Your Requirements

This is the first aspect to consider every time before searching for an outsourcing service provider. The definition of best varies from person to person. To choose the best, you have to understand your needs and expectations.As a business, it’s your liability to run a smart decision-making process by identifying your business needs, evaluating the problems, and analyzing possible solutions. There is no one absolute solution for choosing an outsourcing partner as it varies with the nature and size of your project, such as the requirements, plausible solutions, etc.

Technical Expertise and Exposure

Another crucial step is to gather information about the service provider, their skills, professionalism, capabilities of their employees, portfolio, communication skills, attitude towards the problems and challenges, seriousness regarding the deadlines, and passion for putting their two cents in an area of the technological revolution.It's always better to hold a meeting with a developer team who will work on your project. Choose a team that follows agile development methodology as it’s more effective in the project development life cycle.While communicating with the developer’s team and upper hierarchy, try to know about their working attitude and seriousness towards a project. Refrain from choosing a vendor who doesn’t have exposure to the latest technologies.

Market Reputation

Everyone wants to work with a reputable service provider. As a visionary business entity, you always search for a professional software development vendor to make a deal with. You need to know before making a contract the scalability of their solutions.Try to know about their adaptability to unseen business challenges. These are some of the most important aspects. But no one will tell you about their weaknesses, and the only way you can get first-hand info about these hidden aspects is by checking their market reputation.Look at their client and project portfolio or get client reviews on their website or social media pages. To move the extra mile, you can have their clients onboard ask for their experience and opinion. Ponder over all these aspects and decide whether you want to hire that vendor or not.

Budget & Size

Budget and Size are very important factors when it comes to outsourcing your software development. If we talk about the size of the project, keep in mind that not all companies undertake any size of projects. Some companies only opt for lengthy and complex projects.There are numerous small to medium-scale companies that undertake projects of any size and complexity. Before approaching an outsourcing partner, evaluate the project plan, whether it is small, medium, or large-scaled, then shortlist the possible vendors as per your feasibility.Analyzing the budget is equally important as sometimes we expect too much as compared to our budget. Before approaching a technology service provider, we need to analyze the budget for the project and how much Return on Investment (RoI) we can retrieve from it.Never compromise on the quality for the sake of cost-cutting. Some vendors include hidden charges in a final amount apart from the project cost. Try to neglect such vendors.

Software Project Development and Management Methodology

Adaptability is the key to survival. In today’s rapidly evolving business ecosystem, businesses need to continuously adapt to the changes and shifts in market dynamics. To stay competitive in the market, you have to opt for the agile development methodology. Agile and Sprint development models are highly effective when it comes to communication and collaboration.

Also Read: IT Staff Augmentation – Best Model for Outsourcing Software Development

Outsourcing vendors who offer flexible delivery plans are agile enough to adapt to rapidly changing technologies. Always choose the outsourcing partner who follows the agile development model and is not reluctant to adapt to the evolving expectations of the client and still deliver as per the predefined schedule.

Financial Stability of Service Provider

It is highly recommended to check the financial stability of a vendor. The client should deeply examine hierarchy and technical details etc. Unimportant factors can cast a huge impact on your project and business relations with the vendor in the future. For instance, you have signed an agreement with your outsource partner, and in the middle of the project, the vendor got bankrupt and abandoned you.Imagine the catastrophic scenario and consequences you have to deal with. Being financially stable means the vendor can sustain itself in the market for a prolonged duration having long-term achievement plans rather than having a volatile monetary goal. While opting for a vendor, one must examine how much time they are in the field or if they are an entrepreneur with zero experience and uncertain financial stability. Get first-hand info about the investors and their assets.

Trust and Security

The trust factor can’t be measured in the beginning as trust develops while working with a partner. You need to provide all your intellectual data and sensitive business information to the vendor, which can be misused if not handled by professional means.While outsourcing your software development, one of the major concerns of a business owner is data and intellectual property security. So, before choosing any vendor, make sure they will go beyond their comfort zone to protect privacy and sensitive data. It is crucial to choose a partner who runs regular security check routines and audits of its network.Check whether they possess the necessary equipment or methodology to protect your sensitive data and prevent leakage of confidential information. Due to such risk factors of privacy and data mishandling, make sure to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before you share any of these high-profile data with your outsourcing partner. It will safeguard your sensitive data and information from any alleged fraud or damage.

After-Sale Services

Even the most renowned software solutions and top-of-the-line software service providers guarantee 99.99%. Unfortunately, there is no ideal solution available with 100% perfection. Even if it is simple software, you can’t neglect the probability of a future error.Ensure that your vendor offers after-sale service and access to their technical support team for future assistance. This support must include recovery, maintenance, upgrades & error fixation.

Technical Documentation

Any type of software development outsourcing requires dealing with a lot of technical information and documentation. To keep the development process moving without any hurdle, maintain a technical document regarding it.The technical document or report should possess all the technical specifications, timelines, plans, and cost measures. It will help you get an estimate of your budget, time, and effort allocation.

Free Trial

If you are still confused and couldn’t decide on a vendor, you also have an option for a free consultation or a trial. You can choose any option to ensure quality, outcomes, and durability. Ensure that the solution solves your problems, has mandatory features and functions. A free consultation is a semi-stimulation feel free to ask any question and clear all the doubts so you can get a clear picture of how it will add value to your business model.

Conclusion

Outsourcing is the most efficient way to increase productivity while focusing on more core business aspects while allowing professionals to efficiently manage your project or a process. It’s all about choosing the right partner for the right project.By analyzing the factors to consider while outsourcing your software development and integrating them in your decision matrix or feasibility study, you will get fruitful outcomes by extracting the most out of the software outsourcing services.

When we explain the term digital transformation, it means different for every company, and it can be difficult to cast an absolute definition. However, in a general context, digital transformation is defined as integrating digital technology into all areas of a business, causing a fundamental change in the operational structure of a business and how they add value to consumers' lives. Apart from that, it's a cultural evolution that bounds businesses to challenge the status quo and try new things. It demands a transition from traditional business models to the relatively updated principles and methodologies that promise efficiency and growth.

Organizations' expenditure on the digital transformation (DX) of businesses model notably increased despite the challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as stated by the 2020 International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Digital Transformation Spending Guide. IDC predicts that worldwide spending on DX technologies and services will surge by 10.4 percent in 2020 to $1.3 trillion. Although it was less than 17.9 percent growth in 2019, it remains one of the notable spendings in a pandemic-driven period, rich with comical reductions in overall technology spending.

A business may opt for digital transformation for multiple reasons; among them, the most primary reason is survival. Survival is one's adaptability to change. In the wake of COVID-19, Consumer behavior has quickly changed in different ways since the rise of the pandemic triggered the crash of automated systems in areas like supply chain management when collided with sudden shifts in demand and supply. A business’s ability to adapt instantaneously to supply-demand shock, volatile market conditions, and rapidly shifting customers' behavior has become a survival need.

Impact Of COVID-19 Pandemic On Digital Transformation

The world has observed the pandemic rapidly mold both the “what” and the “how” of businesses’ DX agendas. For instance, the employees' perception of digital technology has switched from “nice to have” to “the only way they can work,” making DX a solution to modern-day problems.Some primary concerns of CIOs and CEOs related to Digital transformation amid COVID-19 include.

• Improving the reach of customer support via tools like chatbots
• Automation tools to manage crisis and unwanted situations
• Forced elimination of redundant or conflicting processes/systems

Digital transformation is appearing as a monster that feeds on conventional systems or work models. A reason why facilities have developed a healthy relationship with digital technology leaving their traditional working habits behind.

How To Prepare for Digital Transformation

For digital transformation to successfully overrun and transcend the conventional business processes, it is crucial to understand what can go wrong. Below are the five steps to take before starting DX.

Move Gradually

For digital transformation to be fruitful, the collaboration among employees and different departments of a facility is vital. In every organization, around 70 to 80 percent of employees do not know what colleagues are doing. For digital transformation projects to succeed, this habit has to be left behind. Invest time to make sure that all involved understand what everyone else is dealing with.

User-Friendly Technology

Technology is the heart of any digital transformation project, whether it's a new project management software to use internally or certain digital products developed to attract new customers. In both cases, the reality is crystal clear, and if it is difficult to use, people will hesitate to use it. This is specifically important from an HRM viewpoint. When most of the workforce are digital natives, in-house technology must be intuitive, or this talent will easily be distracted and switch to somewhere else.

Answering The WHY Question

Transparency is one of the most important aspects of digital transformation. Every key stakeholder involved needs to understand the reasons behind such a huge transformation. This is normal human nature, and you cannot convince people to change without explaining why they need to be changed.

Solution Breakdown

This idea is coined in the book Switch by Chip and Dan Heath. The idea explains the most effective way to approach a lengthy project like digital transformation. It is easier to overcome a big problem or a project by slicing it down into smaller phases. Once you have broken it into steps, design the roadmap by allocating the priority of every step.

Methods of Digital Transformation

Once you have destined your objectives and build the foundational basis of your digital transformation strategy, you must evaluate your organization’s capacity to select the suitable method for your digital transformation journey.

Strategic Partners

In Greek mythology, to rise again, Phoenix must have to burn first. This is how limitations become opportunities. According to Alan Talbot, chief information officer of Air Malta, knowing limitations is an important prerequisite while beginning the project. Air Malta identified the key technical areas where they lack technical and digital supremacy than consulted integration partners, Mule Soft and Ricston. Locally-stationed Ricston physically attended and worked at the Air Malta headquarters throughout the project to fully filter out the organization’s strengths and weaknesses. The reason behind augmenting the internal staff with outside experts is that their presence on board added significance to the project, so the outsourcing could enjoy the exposure of issues and practices an airline is likely to encounter.

Innovation Space

Another unique method to explore new technologies is to stimulate your digital strategy or segments in a digital workshop or a lab. This enables businesses to propagate ideas and test theories without disturbing the organization’s daily routine and actual operations. Renowned Car manufacturer Porsche has stationed the Porsche Digital Lab to test AI and the internet of things to enhance both the automated driving experience in their vehicles and the working environment for their staff. Similarly, Japanese electronics company Fujitsu has developed several Digital Transformation Centres worldwide to serve as innovation labs where their curious customers can visit to experience new digital technology.

Change Teams

Another possible way to accomplish your digital transformation objective is to station a dedicated change team within the facility. You can choose to outsource consultants or identify innovators from within the organization. These change workers work together to accelerate the digital transformation drive and visit each team or department to drive progress. Another notable aspect of involving this practice is that these change agents are people who consider this practice as their full-time job rather than someone trying to spare time from their busy schedule.

Involve Everyone

Many organizations push a load of digital strategy and transformation to senior management, making the CEO the pilot of a transformation project. Expecting such a huge change to be delivered by only one or a few people is a false practice. Success is based on creating an environment free from the traditional mindset. Drivers of this change need to mold the cultural mindset as everyone has a part to play, from the clerk to the upper hierarchy.

Conclusion

A solid digital strategy is something no business can confront the Future without. But keep in mind, the main drivers of digital transformation are technology, people, and process. Digital transformation is not just about pitching technology at the problem as it depends on people and processes as well. Without collaboration and adaptation in the three main drivers of change, one cannot get any fruitful transformation and end up ruining the whole project. The experts believe that digital transformation solely depends on organizations remembering these three key points.

1. Always be realistic. Adapt what is achievable at the moment and don’t try to implement it all at once.
2. Mindset and approach is the prerequisite of technology.
3. Cultural change is mandatory for digital transformation to provide promising results. As it's more about people rather than a standalone technology.

The companies that are embarking on success are gradually moving towards the digital transformation initiatives and accepting that failure is a part of the learning curve, rather than wasting time seeing how digital transformation will work for their competitors. Let us know in the comments section below about your opinions and how you are planning to opt for digital business transformation.

Data Science is proving to be a revolutionary field, considering how the business sector uses modern data technologies for problem-solving and efficient growth. Companies will continue to adopt modern data strategies to remain competitive and innovative. The two key compelling characteristics of this transformation are increasing data process automation and instantaneous analytical solutions.In this article, we'll discuss how Data Science is reshaping different business sectors globally.[lwptoc title="How is Data Science Important for Different Business Sectors" skipHeadingLevel="h1,h4,h5,h6"]

How is Data Science important for a Business Sector?

Businesses witness a massive amount of data each day, and data science technology lets organizations make accurate choices, strengthen client commitments, and perform numerous other activities. Data science aims to create a groundbreaking product and boost its popularity on the market.

Image Source: Medium

Each phase of data science carries a particular significance in operational business ventures, ranging from collection, cleaning, visualization, storage to data-driven decisions.

Also Read: 10 Must-Know Python Libraries For Data Science

Running a successful business without data science is quite risky these days and may lead to downfall; hence, businesses should instill and enforce the modern processes and methods that will result in quantifiable outcomes.

Efficient Business Management

Businesses these days have tons of data that helps them to acquire information via proper data analysis. Data scientists are in charge of transforming raw data into meaningful data, and they help assess businesses' health. This serves to outline the company's success and product wellbeing.Data science tools uncover the latent dynamics within the data and help to interpret and predict outcomes meaningfully. This allows the organization to take crucial steps to quantify, analyze, and monitor its performance. It may also enable administrators to evaluate and recognize possible company applicants.

The OSEMN Framework | Image Source: Towards Data Science

By incorporating data science, companies may promote their employees by performance analysis, progress rate, and other significant indicators. Data Science defines primary indicators important to market success assessment. Businesses can handle themselves more effectively through data science. Through workforce analysis, companies may determine what fits well for workers.

Decision Making

The decision-makers of every company should have complete information about their business data. This may often be troublesome because about 80 percent of all data remain unorganized, and analytical analysis techniques are needed to obtain such data insight. By generating figures and numbers from data science, the company can build statistical models to simulate various possibilities.

Also Read: Data Science Vs Data Analytics Vs Machine Learning: Know the Difference

Data Science techniques and methodologies can investigate a product's background statistics and information, compare it to its rivals, evaluate the demand, and ultimately recommend when and how the goods or services can be better marketed. It will make an organization consider how the product helps and question current market practices when necessary.

Image Source: Data Pine

Through this, businesses can figure out the approach they need to produce the best potential outcomes and recommend the best-case logical scenarios to boost their efficiency. By collecting and reviewing success measures over time, your business becomes more insightful and useful in making choices based on repeated patterns.Decision-makers in all fields can benefit from data science's wonders and make calculated decisions and more transparent future forecasts.

Data Science in the Finance Sector

Data Science helps in all financial sectors, including predictive forecasting, client service, cloud-based software administration, risk management, data protection, and marketing. Forecasting is essential in finance, and it has now become a game of coding.The majority of data scientists have specialized experience and training in statistics, mathematics, and computer science. Their expertise ranges even to data visualization, data analysis, and information management. They have extensive experience in infrastructure architecture, cloud computing, and data management.

Risk Management in Data Science | Image Source: KDNuggets

Data Scientists are well acquainted with Artificial Intelligence and machine learning; they develop and evaluate algorithms that detect everything from ill intentions to how public sectors invest and spend their capital.

Data Science in Healthcare Sector

Approximately 1.2 billion medical records are generated annually in the USA. Also, enormous sums of health-related data are made available by the widespread application of smart technology. This unlocks new doors for better healthcare.Healthcare stores details about clinical reports, genetic records, healthcare administration files, internet research, and billing information. Data scientists and machine learning specialists' main goal is to capture and organize vast quantities of data and analyze and better comprehend it.

Image Source: Frontiers

Data Science also allows for predictive analysis. The researchers compile data from individuals, identify associations, examine case notes, connect signs, behaviors, and familiar history, and then forecast. Besides, biomedical parameters, including therapeutic variables and genome composition, indicate and classify disease evolution. It helps boost the quality of life by the effective prediction of diseases.Every other healthcare system uses numerous methods to enhance the collection of patients' data. The technology to incorporate data science changes the healthcare sector and brings it to the next level. As the data amount increases, the application of data science into medical fields will be expanded, contributing ultimately to technical developments.

Data Science in Telecommunications

A business may make data-based decisions by convenient data analysis rather than speculation through a telecom data analysis tool. The task of data analytics in telecommunications is to offer each firm a single view of its data throughout its departments. As data is streamed from various data sources around the organization, the company will utilize any team feedback to find the best answer for any problem.Telecom companies are prone to fraud. But the sooner telecom companies evaluate large quantities of data, the quicker they can detect unusual call patterns associated with potential fraud.

Artificial Intelligence-based technologies such as automated anomaly detection enable the fast identification of "real party" so that the company can dodge and catch the fraudulent parties.To support the customer support staff more effectively in addressing customer inquiries, the supplier of telephone services uses data collection to review and manage thousands of records, images, documentation, client data, and surveys. They will save a lot of time and resources while addressing consumer complaints through the call.Data science is now an essential part of the telecommunications industry. As data tools become more readily accessible, data science, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence are increasing in this field.

Ending Note

Data Science will bring tremendous benefits to your business in numerous areas, including decision-making, recruitment, training, marketing, and many more. Every business should adopt modern data science technologies to remain competitive and holding a spot in the market. Data analytics contribute to educated decisions that allow your company to spend intelligently and strategically.Share in the comments section below about your opinion and experience about how Data Science is reshaping different business sectors.

Staff augmentation has emerged as a popular strategy for organizations seeking to augment their workforce with specialized skills and expertise without the long-term commitment and overhead costs associated with permanent hiring. Finding the right outsourcing partner is crucial to ensuring the success of your projects and achieving your business goals. In this article, we will explore the top qualities to look for when selecting a staff augmentation partner and delve deeper into each aspect to help you make an informed decision.

1. Extensive Talent Pool:

One of the key qualities to consider in a staff augmentation partner is the size and quality of their talent pool. A reputable partner should have access to a diverse pool of highly skilled professionals who possess the specific expertise you require. This pool should consist of professionals with a proven track record in their respective fields. When evaluating potential partners, inquire about the breadth and depth of their talent pool to ensure that they can quickly identify and deploy top talent that aligns with your project requirements. By leveraging their extensive talent pool, the partner can save you time and effort in the recruitment process, allowing you to focus on your core business activities.

2. Expertise and Specialization:

Look for a staff augmentation partner that specializes in your industry or the specific skill sets you need. It is essential to ensure that the partner has a deep understanding of your business domain, including its unique challenges and requirements. This industry-specific knowledge enables the partner to provide resources who possess not only the required technical skills but also the contextual understanding necessary to drive your projects forward effectively. A partner with domain expertise will be better equipped to provide the right resources who can seamlessly integrate into your existing team and contribute to your projects from day one.

3. Flexibility and Scalability:

Your staff augmentation partner should offer flexibility and scalability to adapt to your changing needs. As your projects evolve, you may require additional resources or need to adjust the team size. It is crucial to choose a partner who can provide resources on-demand, whether you require a single professional or an entire team. A flexible partner can quickly respond to your resource needs, ensuring that you have the right people in place when you need them. Furthermore, the partner should have the capacity to scale the team based on project requirements, allowing for optimal resource allocation and cost-effectiveness.

4. Robust Screening and Selection Process:

A reliable staff augmentation partner should have a rigorous screening and selection process in place. This process ensures that the partner thoroughly assesses the skills, qualifications, and experience of potential candidates to ensure they match your requirements. A partner with a robust selection process will go beyond evaluating resumes and conduct technical assessments, interviews, and reference checks to verify the competency and reliability of their talent pool. By partnering with a provider that maintains high standards in their selection process, you can have confidence in the quality of the resources they provide.

5. Effective Communication and Collaboration:

Strong communication and collaboration are essential for successful staff augmentation. Your partner should have clear and efficient communication channels in place to facilitate seamless interactions between your existing team and the augmented resources. Regular updates, progress reports, and proactive issue resolution should be part of their communication framework. A collaborative partner will ensure effective knowledge transfer and integration of the augmented resources into your team, minimizing any disruptions and promoting a cohesive work environment.

6. Commitment to Quality and Client Satisfaction:

A reputable staff augmentation partner should prioritize quality and client satisfaction. They should have a proven track record of delivering high-quality services and meeting client expectations. When considering potential partners, ask for testimonials, case studies, and client references that demonstrate their ability to deliver successful outcomes. This information will provide insights into their commitment to excellence and their track record of achieving client satisfaction. A partner that emphasizes quality will ensure that you receive top-notch talent and achieve your project goals

7. Proven Track Record:

Consider the experience and track record of a staff augmentation partner before making a decision. Look for partners who have successfully executed similar projects in the past and have a strong reputation in the industry. They should be able to provide success stories and examples of their contributions to clients' achievements. A partner with a solid track record demonstrates their ability to navigate complex projects, adapt to evolving requirements, and deliver results. Such experience and expertise instill confidence in their capability to meet your expectations and drive project success.

Conclusion:

Finding the right staff augmentation partner is a critical decision that can significantly impact the success of your projects and the overall growth of your organization. By prioritizing qualities such as an extensive talent pool, expertise, flexibility, robust screening process, effective communication, commitment to quality, and a proven track record, you can ensure that you choose a partner who meets your specific needs and adds value to your business. Remember, selecting the right staff augmentation partner is an investment that can fuel your success in the ever-evolving business landscape. By partnering with a reputable provider such as shopdev you can access the right talent, enhance your project outcomes, and gain a competitive edge in your industry.