In 2017, we at Intellectsoft had a customer who asked to make an MVP (“minimum variable product”) on Flutter, a commercial cross-platform app development kit from Google.

The decision to invest in MVP is a common stage in software development, serving as a proof-of-concept and an early app version with the main features included. Our task was to create an MVP to show off to competitors, not accelerate the development process or cut expenses.

Flutter was new to the market, so the app development experienced inevitable challenges. In conversations with the client, we mentioned the rawness of the development language, problems with possible scaling, and lack of tech talents acquainted with this development platform. But the customer still wanted to try.

Unfortunately, all the predicted challenges came to light. The project was hard to scale and lacked the required resources due to low business priority.

For Intellectsoft, the takeaway from this case is straightforward: technology is not an end in itself. The well-built development strategy brings business benefits. And so, the choice between native and cross-platform tools depends on your business aims too.

5 Main Differences of Native vs. Cross-Platform App Development

1. Responsiveness. Since native code accesses the device’s internal resources directly, native apps generally demonstrate better performance.
2. Value-for-money. Cross-platform apps are made faster and cheaper.
3. App stability. In a long run, native apps demonstrate more stability and work well for long-term projects.
4. UI/UX design. Generally, native apps are more attractive and effective in terms of user interface and user experience.
5. Safety. Native app development deals with encrypted and obfuscated infrastructure, while cross-platform apps need extra measures to ensure security.

What Is Native App Development?

This type of app development deals with the platform’s native language and native APIs/frameworks to link to internal functions, meaning Java or Kotlin (with its JDK) for Android and Obj-C or Swift (on its SDK) for iOS.

Thanks to these specifics, native apps provide a better user experience, demonstrate higher performance, and can be personalized. Moreover, access to the devices’ features allows building complex yet stable and secure functionalities.

7 Advantages of Native Development

1. Smooth work. Native technologies connect with the device’s functionality, which makes processing fast and steady.
2. Compatibility. Thanks to seamless integration with hardware, native apps can take photos, track locations, and add events to the calendar.
3. Safety. The minimum of layers and technologies make native apps secure.
4. User experience. In terms of UX design, native apps can have sophisticated layouts, greater personalization, and engaging animations users like.
5. Easy-to-use SDK. For developers, native app building possesses numerous tools that make the process faster and cheaper. In this regard, software development kits are extremely helpful and streamline the development process with up-to-date and mostly ready for implementation parts of code and libraries. In case something is not clear, it’s easy to find and understand the technical guides and official documentation.
6. Optimization. Native apps don’t overload the battery with complex processing, and users can use them longer.
7. Maintenance. Updates like AI, IoT, and adding extra features and easy to implement on native apps.

3 Disadvantages of Native Development

1. Expensive to start. Although native apps possess value-for-money in a long run, the initial cost of their development is high. Each platform requires separate investment, and the development expenses are generally 30-40% higher than going for the cross-platform app development option that covers all the devices at once.
2. Time to market. Native development is complex and requires more attention on each stage, which delays the date when the app is ready to launch.
3. Different codebases. Android and iOS app development are completely different, and the developers need to duplicate each feature by using two separate codebases. Because of this, native app development requires two separate teams at times.

Best Cases of Native Apps

Thanks to its benefits and efficiency indicators, native app development is highly popular these days. You can find native apps among games, messaging platforms, and navigation tools.

Among the loudest examples of native apps, there are:

• Spotify
• Waze
• WhatsApp
• Pokemon Go
• Facebook (Mark Zuckerberg initially invested in a hybrid app, but soon recognized the mistake and build a native version for iOS)

What Is Cross-Platform Development?

You need a single database to build a cross-platform app running on several devices. Due to this advantage of repurposing, the development itself becomes faster and cheaper. The majority of code, meaning 70-95%, can be reused in another platform, which makes building for Android and iOS smooth.

In this regard, React Native, Flutter, Ionic, and Xamarin cover the most tasks for both operating systems. According to Statista, Flutter is the leading framework for cross-platform development, covering 42% of the market. Next is React Native, possessing 38%. The full picture is shown in the table below.

Source: Statista

4 Advantages of Cross-Platform Development

1. Repurposing of code. Cross-platform apps are easy to adapt to multiple devices thanks to 80% of code that can be reused.
2. Cost-effectiveness. Cross-platform development cuts costs and saves time on the development stage, compared to native development.
3. Fewer developers are needed. The development is not complex, so you won’t need to recruit separate teams to build Android and iOS apps.
4. Access to a broader audience. Cross-platform apps are the best option to showcase your app to more people and/or the new market.

4 Disadvantages of Cross-Platform App Development

1. Unstable performance. The general usability of the codebase comes at its cost. The lack of specification sometimes causes delays.
2. Simplified UX. Compared to native apps, some features and layouts are unavailable for cross-platform apps. In this situation, the elaboration on the cross-platform user interface is very important for getting satisfactory results in terms of user experience.
3. Relying on external libraries. As there is almost no support to SDKs, developers can face difficulties in integrating new features.
4. QA is a must. Without several rounds of testing, cross-platform apps are likely to disappoint users with numerous bugs, safety issues, and incompatibilities.

Best Cases of Cross-Platform Apps

Many famous brands go for cross-platform app development when there’s no need to concentrate on a single platform. Among the well-known examples, there are:

• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• VLC
• Adobe Reader
• OpenOffice

How to Choose between Native and Cross-Platform App Development?

After clarifying the key features and functionality behind each development type, the question of picking the most appropriate one is easier.

Factors to Consider Native Apps:

• Mobile-first service
• Plans to make money with an app
• Strong competitors in the niche
• Your business is big
• Your app is a game
• Your app will have complex features and needs access to the device’s hardware
• You care about top UX

Factors to Consider Cross-Platform Apps:

• Minimal budget for development
• Need to enter both Android and iOS
• Testing ideas
• Quick launch to market
• You are a startup
• You build an MVP with minimum features

The post Native vs. Cross-Platform App Development: How to Pick? appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

In 2021, the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) in their annual ranking of the world’s best outsourcing companies has named eleven tech companies based in Ukraine, considering customer reviews, certifications and awards, solutions approach, and the basic social responsibility projects of each.

Being listed in these and lots of other international rankings, Ukraine is now one of the most attractive yet prospective outsourcing destinations for the world’s largest and most renowned corporations. The level of proficiency and comprehensive list of tech skills obtained by its developers makes more and more companies switch to Ukraine software outsourcing.

The latest analysis by the State of European Tech has shown that Ukrainian tech raised around $571 million of investments in 2020, and due to the increasing demand in digital transformation, these numbers will only rise further.

In this article, we will uncover why IT outsourcing in Ukraine is so beneficial to businesses, what scopes the Ukraine developers are best for and how to find a reliable outsourcing vendor and hire the best software developers in Ukraine.

Let’s get it started!

The Emerging Popularity of Ukrainian Outsourcing: International Rankings

As we mentioned before, Ukraine has been recognized as one of the world’s best IT outsourcing centers.

By 2025, the overall number of Ukraine developers will reach 250,000, with an overall IT market value of $8,4 billion.

At present, the country had gained compelling positions in numerous international tech-related rankings, including:

• 20th position in the AT Kearney Global Services Location Index
• 2nd rank in the 2020 Global Innovation Index by Wipo
• 1st position for Science & Technology in the Good Country Index
• 1st position for Innovation Input to Output Performance in Global Innovation Index 2020 

These are only a few software development outsourcing Ukraine statistics that justify the tremendous popularity of its professional specialists on the global IT market.

Main Services to Consider for Outsourcing Software Development in Ukraine

Before we’ll dive into the pricing of outsourcing software development in Ukraine, it’s critical to investigate whether or not its developers can fully correspond to all the needs of your company, organization, or business.

Needless to say, it’s no use hiring developers that are experienced in creating the software for the hospitality industry for your eCommerce business. Furthermore, bad hires like choosing the wrong software vendors can result not only in time or progress loss but also can cost millions of dollars for contracting authority!

So, what basic projects can Ukraine developers be hired for?

Custom Software Development

First of all, the strong side of IT outsourcing in Ukraine is developing powerful software solutions for nearly any business from any industry. Do you need the proof? Then, you might check out the famous startups like Petcube, Grammarly, DepositPhotos, and more – originally created in Ukraine, these software solutions are now widely known all over the world.

Whatever project you’re planning to launch, with Ukrainian software developers you’ll surely get the stablest, feature-rich yet effective applications you’ve paid for.

Internet of Things

Any type of IoT device always implies the usage of personal data, which traditionally needs comprehensive protection to minimize the possible threats. Unlike the other outsourcing vendors, Ukraine developers are more competitive in the global outsourcing market because of their extensive experience in working with the personal data of EU, UK, and North American citizens.

Along with governmental personal data regulations of Ukraine (ISO), each company tracks the regulations of the client’s country, ranging from GDPR (EU), PIPEDA (Canada), and HIPAA (USA). At the same time, clients can also initiate the additional data protection requirements: how it’s collected, stored, accessed, and transferred.

One of the well-known IoT projects of Ukraine developers is Ajax System, an IoT security ecosystem that provides wireless security equipment for private and business use.

AI Technology

In 2020, Ukraine has become one of the leading countries by the number of Artificial Intelligence providers in Europe. According to Clutch, at present, there are over 150 organizations targeted on Artificial Intelligence development, which precedes the number of AI companies in most technologically advanced EU countries like Poland, Estonia, Belarus, Germany, and more.

So far, there are over 30,000 software developers in Ukraine specializing in AI & ML development. The Ukrainian software developers have a strong knowledge of Scala, Hadoop and Python technologies, which are considered to be an integral part of Data Science and Machine Learning.

Mobile App Development

If you’re looking for good, experienced app developers, outsourcing software developers in Ukraine may be the right option for you. These programmers perform exceptionally well in creating solid, feature-rich yet functional mobile apps according to all the requirements and your business needs.

Besides, these services are delivered at comparatively low prices: with the average hourly rate starting from $20 to $60, the cost of making an app with the basic features starts from $5,000. In contrast, the same in the USA will cost you from $10,000 – 20,000 and around $18,000 – 20,000 in Great Britain and Western Europe.

Additionally, Ukrainian software developers feature the best ratio of quality and price, provide flexibility in communication and cooperation, and offer innovative solutions that exactly fit your business needs and goals.

Blockchain

At present, blockchain is a comparatively new and innovative technology that requires building solid and functional solutions and is now used in a wide range of fields: financial industry, supply chains, government, healthcare, retail, and more.

However, if choosing a non-experienced vendor for the project in any scope, companies can fail in blockchain technology implementation and get a serious loss of the investments and even the critical data as well.

Hiring blockchain software developers in Ukraine can enhance the security of any type of data, as they have:

• the in-depth knowledge of the major blockchain services
• vast experiences in working with different platforms, such as Bitcoin, Etherum, HyperLedger Fabric (for private corporate networks), and EOS (introduced by Smart Contracts)
• blockchain development language skills, including Go, Rust, Python, C++, and Solidity

With this technology implemented, your business will get more transparency and enhanced traceability for your data, reduce costs and eliminate transaction speed.

Rates for Outsourcing Software Development in Ukraine

Being one of the leading IT outsourcing centers in Eastern Europe, hiring Ukrainian software developers can be a winning strategy for a variety of businesses from different industry scopes. The most popular industries they are involved in include insurance, healthcare, hospitality, finance, eCommerce, construction, and more.

Another great plus of the Ukraine developer is the solid software knowledge, fluent English proficiency, and reasonable price for the IT services. For instance, the average offshore development rates for this region range from $30 to $60 per hour.

However, the overall software development outsourcing Ukraine rates may vary according to the work experience of a certain candidate:

• Hourly rate for Junior Software Engineer: $19 – $25
• Hourly rate for Middle Software Engineer: $26 – $38
• Hourly rate for Senior Software Engineer: $39 – $60

Compared to the rates of countries based in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, you’ll get top-of-the-line innovative software solutions at an affordable price.

Additionally, Ukraine is a home country for over 200,000 professionals, and their number increases with more than 36,000 graduates within this scope annually. These factors make it one of the most attractive options for starting outsourcing software development in Ukraine.

Main Reasons to Hire Ukrainian Software Developers

After you know the overall information about IT outsourcing in Ukraine, let’s now discuss why you should consider hiring Ukrainian developers.

#1 Largest IT outsourcing Market in CEE

Ukraine is the 2nd largest tech hub in Central Eastern Europe, with over 200,000 programmers located in the 5 biggest cities: Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Dnipro, and Odessa. Furthermore, compared to Poland, it offers more attractive outsourcing rates at the same or even higher quality.

Additionally, it takes 11th position in the rating of top software development outsourcing countries in the world. According to recent research, over 90% of IT services in Ukraine are outsourced, while the remaining 10% develop their own programming products.

#2 Solid Educational Background of Developers

There are around 450 technical universities and colleges with advanced programming courses, and over 36,000 new graduates annually enroll in the IT market. Most of them start practicing their programming skills after the 2nd or 3rd course of their bachelor’s degree, which makes it even more beneficial to be hired after graduation.

Furthermore, nearly all the Ukrainian developers can fluently speak English at the Intermediate (more than 37%), Upper-intermediate (over 35%), or even Advanced levels (around 13%).

This ensures smooth communication yet more productive cooperation between the certain organization and outsourced team of Ukrainian software developers.

These are only a few qualities that significantly stimulate the demand for outsourcing talented Ukrainian developers.

#3 Plenty of IT Service Outsourcing Companies

Most IT outsourcing companies in Ukraine offer Flexible cooperation models within only 1-2 hours away from most European countries. At present, there are over 1,600 companies that provide the core web technologies for software development, including JavaScript, Java, C#, Python, PHP, C++, TypeScript, and more.

Most of these tech companies are founded by entrepreneurs with a global mindset, such organizations are mostly focused on delivering the best results to their contractors and facilitating their success as well.

#4 Impressive Value/Cost Rates

By offering the most beneficial yet attractive prices for the services, Ukraine has already become one of the best IT outsourcing hubs in Europe. It features lower average rates for the services provided and has much more programming specialists within any industry. So, it’s more than possible to hire:

• Junior-level programmer for $570 for 1 month
• Middle-level Ukraine developer for $1800 per month
• Senior-level specialist for around $3000 for one month of work

And, we can reassure you, the software products developed have not only the same quality as those created in other CEE countries. Ofter, Ukrainian software developers provide even better technological solutions for specific cases than can be offered in most international leading IT hubs!

#5 Convenient Location and Time Zone

The geographic proximity makes Ukraine one of the most attractive locations for both nearshoring and offshoring. Placed in just 2-3 hours of flight time from most of the European countries, it allows sharing 7 of 9 business hours with the majority of them.

Additionally, there are always direct flights from Ukraine to the most popular European tech hubs including Berlin, Amsterdam, London, and more. And, the flight ticket can be purchased for as little as $15 – 19.

#6 More Working Hours Per Week

An average full-time developer works around 33 hours per week, in the UK these numbers can barely reach 36 hours, which is not too far from the US workers (37.5 hours per week).

In Ukraine, the majority of developers in tech-related outsourcing companies spend between 40 to 60 hours at work per week. Furthermore, your company can benefit from the public holidays too: there are only 11 paid public holidays in Ukraine, which is 2-7 days less compared to most EU countries.

Of course, that might not be too notable at first, but such a slight working hour difference can enhance up to several months in certain cases of project completion.

How to Find the Reliable Outsourcing Vendor in Ukraine

For sure, when it comes to IT outsourcing, Ukrainian software developers are one of the most beneficial options to choose. At the same time, it’s still critical to learn the most important aspects to consider when choosing the software developing company for hire.

This can prevent the loss of time, efforts, and investments for your organization, and ensures you won’t need to start the outsourcing organization research from scratch.

So, what are the core things to pay attention to when choosing the right IT outsourcing vendor in Ukraine?

• Uncover the local IT industry landscape and the top vendors you can hire Ukraine developers from
• Ask for the portfolio and existing case studies of your potential candidate, explore the major scopes/industries and companies the IT company cooperated earlier with. Remember, you should look not for the company that features the best technological solutions, you should find the one that can provide the exact software products your business or company needs
• Analyze the awards, certificates, and compliances to define whether or not this software vendor can be trusted. As a rule, the outsourcing companies have certifications from the leading tech providers within the same scope (if you’re looking for cloud solutions development, you should probably look for AWS or Google Cloud partnership). Other great certifications to look for are ISO 27001:2013, ISO 9001:2015, PCI DSS, GDPR, HIPAA, and more.
• Define the strong sides of your potential IT outsourcing vendor and why it’s better than other competitors. You should also pay attention to the price/value rate to avoid low-quality outcomes. Additionally, browse the official website, corporate blogs, and social media of the outsourcing company to get a more concrete idea of what types of projects they have already done and what was the quality of their final results.
• Contact the software vendor and estimate whether or not they’re open for communication. For instance, the modern outsourcing companies in Ukraine like Intellecsoft invite for an expert consultation regarding the project or problem you have to get the overall idea about it and whether or not they can help you with the exact services you need.

Of course, that’s only a general list of what should be checked when choosing the best IT outsourcing vendors in Ukraine. Nevertheless, with having all these aspects checked, you can be more than certain about getting the best software solutions for your business.

Conclusion

To sum up, onboarding software developers in Ukraine is one of the most beneficial ways for companies and businesses to obtain innovative technological solutions and approaches at a reasonable price.

The outsourcing companies in Ukraine cover nearly all the scopes within any industry and are able to effectively perform different tasks and provide cost-effective strategies that can not only be identical to the ones offered by local developers but also provide more valuable benefits for your business.

And, you can be sure that with the experienced dedicated development team every new project for your business will surely help it to improve and develop beyond the competition.

At Intellectsoft, our best IT experts empower various companies and their workforces with the latest solutions and innovative approaches. Are you interested in outsourcing software development Ukraine?

Talk to our experts and uncover basic insights regarding any topic of your interest and how your business can benefit from it today!

The post Outsourcing Software Development to Ukraine – A Complete Guide appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Check this rating of the 10 best software companies in Miami and make an informed decision for picking your new tech partner.

The Full List of Top Software Companies in Miami:

1. CINQ Technologies
2. Mercury Development
3. Intellectsoft
4. Koombea
5. SOLTECH
6. Zoondia
7. Concepta
8. Solo Media Group
9. Ardan Labs
10. Ateliware

Below, you can find the descriptions for each of these first-class software development companies in Miami.

#1 CINQ Technologies

The Leader among Software Companies in Miami

CINQ Technologies is among the most innovative nearshore custom software development companies in Miami. The vendor offers a wide set of solutions for accelerating digital business growth. In particular, the team capabilities include design, Agile development, data agility, and digital growth.

The Extended List of Services from CINQ Technologies:

• Co-creation of the best project strategy to connect clients’ needs with business aims
• Design-thinking methods
• User-experience best practices
• Agile methods
• Tech expertise in mobile and web development, front-end and back-end, AI, blockchain, IoT, and cloud
• Existing data evaluation
• Data analytics
• Customer and market trends research

The trait that helps CINQ Technologies stand out among other software companies in Miami: Nearshore specialization. CINQ Technologies guarantees timezone proximity and cultural similarities.

#2 Mercury Development

An Awarded Representative of IT Companies in Miami

Mercury Development specializes in end-to-end development services, meaning the ability to deliver projects from ideation to deployment and support. The main verticals include staff augmentation, healthcare, fitness and wellness, automotive, sales, and entertainment. What’s more, this IT company in Miami adopts cutting-edge technologies, including Bluetooth Low Energy, iBeacon, SDK, Smart TV, wearable devices, and Apple TV.

The Extended List of Services from Mercury Development:

• Mobile development
• Web development
• Desktop development
• Staff augmentation
• IoT/emerging tech

The trait that helps Mercury Development stand out among other software companies in Miami: The portfolio. The list of clients includes Kensington, HSBC Global Technology, SAP, HP Invent — and even Google!

#3 Intellectsoft

The Only Member in the List of Software Companies in Florida Offering Consultancy and Development Services

Intellectsoft is a digital transformation consultancy and software development vendor assisting Fortune 500 companies, startups, and mid-sized companies alike. Its list of clients includes Guinness, EY, Jaguar, Eurostar, Harley-Davidson, and Cirrus Insight. The key technologies are IoT, blockchain, and customer services applicable to numerous industries — including construction, healthcare, insurance, FinTech, logistics, travel, hospitality, retail, and eCommerce.

The Extended List of Services from Intellectsoft:

• Dedicated teams
• Product strategy
• Product engineering
• Architecture
• UX/UI design
• App developers
• QA and testing
• Cyber security
• Web development
• Custom software development
• Outsourcing software development service

The trait that helps Intellectsoft stand out among other software companies in Miami: Global representation. Intellectsoft has offices in Miami, New York, Kyiv (Ukraine), London (UK), and Oslo (Norway).

#4 Koombea

App Development for Innovative Companies

Koombea deserved its place among top software companies in Miami thanks to its ability to apply the Agile development method to sophisticated mobile and web app ideas. Thanks to its end-to-end application development capabilities turned, Koombea has become a reliable tech partner for Flight Logger, Payix, LINC, Luna, and Do It Center. The main industries it serves are EdTech, FinTech, MedTech, HiTech, retail, and IoT.

The Extended List of Services from Koombea:

• Product discovery, ideation, and design
• MVP development
• Custom app development
• Shopify and WooCommerce custom designs
• Project management
• Quality Assurance
• DevOps
• Machine Learning
• IT staff augmentation
• Web development

The trait that helps Koombea stand out among other software companies in Miami: Web and mobile app services specialization. Also, the company has 4 offices in the USA and an office in Colombia.

#5  SOLTECH

Atlanta’s Premiere Custom Software Development Company

SOLTECH assists in building software applications. The quality of its services makes it overcome the competition with other IT companies in Miami. The list of SOLTECH’s software partners includes SalesForce, Microsoft, Fullstory, and Jitterbit. Because of this, the company delivers high-tech and efficient solutions for its clients.

The Extended List of Services from SOLTECH:

• Technical recruiting
• Staff augmentation
• Software design
• Mobile app development
• Web development
• SalesForce implementation
• User experience design
• Support and project rescue

The trait that helps SOLTECH stand out among other software companies in Miami: Vast experience. SOLTECH is for 22 years in business. It has collected over 500 clients, over 1,200 projects, and over 1,500 consultants placed.

#6 Zoondia

An IT Company in Miami Specialized in Custom Software Development

Zoondia translates ideas into software, breathing life to brands. For this aim, the vendor offers assistance in digital transformation and digital marketing alike, using Microsoft, JAVA, open-source, Frontend, databases, IoT, Big Data, and cloud. The list of clients includes SAP, Emirates, shiftMD, 3M, Samsung, and the Government of Dubai.

The Extended List of Services from Zoondia:

• Big Data analytics
• Digital marketing
• Quality Assurance
• UI/UX design

The trait that helps Zoondia stand out among other software companies in Miami: Access to the Asian workforce. Zoondia’s head office is in India, and it has representatives in Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar.

#7 Concepta

Orlando Mobile App and Web Development Company

Concepta specializes in making app development simple. The tech company is capable of building apps that will drive the next disruption in various industries, turning business capabilities into autonomous services, mastering automation of different complexity, and getting a complete X-ray of businesses. Due to this, Concepta is known as a forward-thinking vendor by brand-conscious clients.

The Extended List of Services from Concepta:

• Mobile app development
• Web and API development
• Process and workflow automation
• Business Intelligence and reports

The trait that helps Cocepta stand out among other software development companies in Florida: Assistance package for startups. Concepta can deliver experienced leadership, proven startup success practices, and even find an on-demand CTO.

#8 Solo Media Group

Helping Creative Teams Bring Ideas to Life

The key capability of Solo Media Group is web development. Within this specialization, the digital team can bring sophisticated business ideas to life, ensuring clean code and amazing UI/UX. Creativity is the main value for Solo Media Group. That’s why they tend to cooperate with creatives, design teams, and established brands interested in ‘pixel-perfect’ projects.

The Extended List of Services from Solo Media Group:

• Increasing efficiency of processes and standards
• Access to skilled design and development talents
• Guaranteed work continuation

The trait that helps Solo Media Group stand out among other top software companies in Florida: Design capabilities. Even the website from Solo Media Group demonstrates outstanding UI/UX!

#9 Ardan Labs

Go (Golang) Consulting, Development, and Training

Ardan Labs helps companies in building something new, updating existing solutions, and team training. It specializes in high-performance software development, staffing, and training. As for development services, Ardan Labs assists in migration to Go, distributed systems, DevOps, mobile and web apps, and IoT development.

The Extended List of Services from Ardan Labs:

• Corporate training
• Building, maintaining, and deploying production quality software
• Staffing
• DevOps

The special trait that helps Ardan Labs stand out among other software companies in Florida: Training services. Ardan Labs offers various packages and specifications in this regard, including team, instructor-led, and customized training, along with online self-paced learning with on-demand videos.

#10 Ateliware

A Brazil-based Software Development Company

The vendor assists businesses to transform, foster innovation, and unlock growth. Ateliware works with the web, desktop, and mobile app development (including both hybrid and native) and has already helped Amazon, Santander, Skeat, and Pipefy. All in all, the company’s passion is building digital products with purpose.

The Extended List of Services from Ateliware:

• Product discovery
• Product concept
• Building apps (front-end and back-end development, system integrations)
• Launch

The special trait that helps Ardan Labs stand out among other IT companies in Florida: Custom services. Unlike other IT companies in Miami, Ateliware positions itself as a software atelier that develops bespoke digital products and handmade solutions.

Bottom line

All the companies in this list offer exceptional services, be that ready-made or custom software development. Miami is a great place for finding tech talents, and we wish you fruitful cooperation with digital teams from this rating!

The post Top 10 Software Development Companies in Miami  appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Before, we were confident that it was possible to outsource everything except the product team. But after a time we began to wonder, why can’t product teams be remote too?

This article will discuss whether remote product management and development are realistic and consider both the pros and cons of each.

Common Reasons for Outsourcing

Every month at Intellectsoft, we speak with dozens of companies that are considering remote development. Most often, they fall into one of several categories:

1. Small to medium businesses that digitize a business model with proven offline results. In this case, the company has a working knowledge of how an online business should work. They simply bring existing business processes online.
2. Companies that scale up existing business processes. This case includes all those who have built successful MVPs but are now thinking about scaling their success by adding more functionality to reach a larger audience.
3. Companies that are working on a one-time addition to existing functionality. In such cases, it makes no sense to hire someone from the outside due to the irregular nature of the development work.
4. Businesses that plan to develop a solution from scratch. Usually, these include companies that need a specific business solution and then long-term support. They do not intend to periodically change the product, conduct dozens of AB tests, and so on. Just building, deploying, and using is their purpose.

Recently, due to COVID-19, more and more companies are doing what was previously considered impossible. They are transitioning product and marketing development to remote.

Why Product Management Is Moving to Remote

Both well-developed businesses and young startups have been resorting to outsourcing for product management. Some of the most common reasons for this include:

• Lack of qualified human resources. Often, teams don’t have enough in-house resources to test new products or research a new segment of users and do it right. This is where remote teams come in handy.
• They need new products or features urgently, and deadlines are on fire. Imagine you’re a face mask production and the pandemic strikes. Now you want to quickly scale production and customer acquisition channels but don’t have enough workforce to do so. That’s when you don’t have time to hire and onboard new staff and need someone who can ship things right away.
• Need solid product expertise for good money. A company has no experience working with developers and product managers. They cannot spend a year and a half on acquiring expertise, hiring personnel, and developing it. In this case, it is better to turn to those who have sufficient expertise.
• The current team is failing and product development needs to be accelerated. If a company is willing to try a product-led growth model, the product manager has to be a seasoned professional. The current team may not be the best fit for the product-led growth philosophy or meet the new requirements for development speed.

The Critical Role of the Product Manager

The position of a product manager has only been around for a short time. There are plenty of definitions of what a PM is. But for all of them, there is one that we can stick to. The product manager is the person responsible for creating and bringing a new product to market.

Suppose you look through hundreds of PM vacancies and conduct an in-depth analysis. Soon, it becomes clear that a product manager is a specialist who works at the intersection of business, marketing, and programming.

At every stage, they control the work on a new product, interact with investors and users, and develop their brainchild after the technical implementation.

As mentioned earlier, the main task is to develop new products in line with trends and the needs of users. Beyond this, there are plenty of other responsibilities and fields of expertise for a PM:

• Collecting information
• Deriving product requirements
• Creating a work plan and distributing roles among staff
• Promoting and selling the product

Product manager’s top skills:

• market research and market analysis to determine the basic needs of customers
• implementation of product lines and testing new ideas
• conducting competitive analysis, comparing similar products through numerous characteristics
• development of marketing communications
• liaising with the sales director to create a sales strategy
• working with clients and the sales department to assess the results of implementation
• formation of long-term and short-term sales forecasts, providing analytics to management
• introducing new products to the market, analyzing profitability (ROI)
• creating a marketing strategy with the marketers
• pricing based on market research, production costs, and expected demand
• scheduling and defining operational requirements

This is a crucial role for any project. So why would a big company’s CEO outsource a product manager or an entire product team?

Reasons for Outsourcing the Product Manager and Product Team

Well, there are a couple of reasons to do so. First, you get world-class experts working on your product. These professionals usually take jobs for a limited period of time tied directly to KPIs or a set of other mission-critical objectives like:

• The number of conversions and sign-ups compared to the current performance.
• Marginality. The actual sales are compared with the planned figures.
• Active users. Evaluate how many people are using the product daily.
• Customer Retention Rate (CRR). The retention rate of new users, which in most cases is even more critical than the acquisition.
• ROI. An indicator of the return on income tied to the cost of advertising. It shows whether the investment has paid off or not.

Delivering these KPIs means that the remote project manager and their development team are responsible for more than just releasing new functionality. They are entirely responsible for achieving specific business goals.

Leading product development experts often command high salaries. Thus, hiring them as full-time in-house staff can be incredibly expensive.

Additionally, product design and prototyping equipment can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, not including the costs of maintenance and repair. Outsourced product development is often much less expensive than in-house design.

And in the end, you are not responsible for your outsourced product team. This is very useful if you are testing a product MVP based on market hypotheses. You can quickly terminate cooperation if the test was unsuccessful and the product-market fit was not found. Most outsourced product teams agree on that with their clients in advance.

What Is the Future of Product Team Outsourcing?

At Intellectsoft, we see a roughly 25% increase in clients wanting to include product managers and analysts as part of their outsourced teams.

Agile development methodology allows for one product specialist to work on 1-3 projects simultaneously, alternating the planning, prototyping, development, and analysis phases among themselves.

The only requirement for organizing a high-performing team of this level is the willingness of stakeholders to adhere to the process and agreed priorities. Remote product teams are capable of quick pivots, but only within extended sprints.

We anticipate that product management and analyst outsourcing will become more mainstream over the next three years in the wake of traditional marketing and development outsourcing.

As skilled specialist shortages and prices grow, availability and affordable prices will become critical factors in attracting these teams to an increasing number of players in the market.

The post Product Team On-Demand: Forget Everything You Know About Software Outsourcing  appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Among the concrete measures taken, these firms tend to hire, contract, redeploy, release, and build skills within the current workforce.

In any scenario, investing in software development enlargement will be a costly incentive. For reducing the expenses, it’s relevant to refer to outsourcing and get external executives for a lower cost.

In the given circumstances, ODC (offshore development center) serves as an upgraded solution to traditional outsourcing and promises better operational management, cost-effectiveness, and IT expertise.

Check our guide on getting all the details relevant to the task of establishing an offshore software development center for your business.

What Is a Dedicated Offshore Development Center

Simply put, ODC (offshore development center) is a separate development office, or a corporate branch, situated in another country.

The greatest thing is access to the vast pool of talents you can hire for an affordable price and without the need to manage operational and support tasks on your own. As one of the best offshoring models, it works for any industry and corporate size — and helps you strengthen the weak positions in your business smartly and reasonably.

With a stable link to the headquarters, offshore software development services hold the brand identity and all the standards and principles of your company.

Because of this, it’s hard to differentiate the result your offshore partner and your in-house team deliver. And all this comes at a reasonable cost, as you’ll get the developers more than twice cheaper than building an extra development office on your own.

Offshore Development Center Models

There are 3 main models under which offshore software development can work:

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)

In this scenario, you get a team that takes the whole responsibility for the project delivered. It works well if you need to establish long-term cooperation where the exact appearance of tasks changes on the go.

Build Operate Transfer (BOT)

This model means hiring a remote team to deliver project tasks and set up processes from scratch. BOT reveals its best for startups and mid-size companies that request keeping intellectual rights over the product made by the offshore software development center.

Mixed Scenario

In this model, you can hire extra IT specialists who will complete the tasks not envisioned at the beginning of your cooperation. The more dynamic your project is, the more relevant this scenario is.

Moreover, an offshore development center can operate on a contractor or customer basis. For the contractor model, you send your requirements to the team, and it completes them as the set of technical and managerial tasks.

In the customer ODC model, the remote team concentrates on coding, while the main office handles the rest of the tasks. Picking the exact model depends on the scope of tasks you have.

The Difference Between Offshore Development Centers and Outsourcing

Firms frequently choose between simple outsourcing and offshore software development services. In the first case, you hire third-party executors in any location to deliver your project, while the offshore development center is the self-managed team situated in another country.

Here are 4 main differences between these two models:

1. The level of dedication. Software engineers who are interested in product excellence tend to choose offshore software development to work. In contrast to developers working on an outsourcing basis, they get a deeper understanding of the corporate service and manage to commit more to the things they do.
2. Costs for scaling. Outsourcing is normally a cheaper option, but offshore development centers are cost-effective to expand your business smartly. The price is higher, but the return on investment justifies this slight overpayment. For more information on fundamental outsourcing pricing models available, check this blog post.
3. Control over the team. If you hire a sole developer, outsourcing gives you a sufficient level of control over the executor. But offshore development centers provide you with more effective tools for successful team management.
4. Access to tech talents. You can dedicate time and collect experience to differentiate a good developer from a bad one while relying on the outsourcing model. In the offshore software development center, you’ll have a service provider with already established connections to the best IT specialists in the country. You don’t need to search for them on your own.

The Typical Structure of Offshore Development Centers

• Software engineers
• QA engineers
• Back-end developers
• Front-end developers
• Web designers
• UI/UX designers
• Technical writers
• Project Manager / Team Lead
• Account Manager

What’s important: offshore IT services won’t need operational officers. All the accounting and HR management is taken on the shoulders of your service provider.

That’s why you can free your head from the micromanagement hassle and concentrate on strategic tasks and vision elaboration.

6 Key Offshore Development Center Benefits for Your Project

• Cost-saving. The solution is always more affordable than enlarging your in-house team. At the bare minimum, you get tech talents from the country with lower hourly rates.
• Same branding. Offshore development services need your corporate policy and standards to ensure the result is compliant with your core brand.
• Domain expertise. The tech talents hired will possess the narrow expertise needed for the particular tasks your in-house team lacks. And so, you’ll get the cost-effective corporate branch that will strengthen your company.
• High flexibility. Offshore software development operates under a flexible pricing model, meaning you’ll pay for the services needed and easily hire new team members once your project starts scaling.
• Cost-effective infrastructure. You’ll get an offshore office with all the facilities and equipment needed. Moreover, operational management is included in the offshore development center service by default.
• Technical support. The offshore software development center guarantees constant technical assistance during the whole project delivery. Being interested in an excellent result, the team is always reachable and collects all the knowledge needed to manage the problems fast and accurately.

The Checklist of Setting Up Successful Offshore Development Centers

1. Clarify your needs

Select the exact location you want to enter to clarify for yourself the cultural specifics of your target audience and the technical skills needed for your product. The exact project requirements can be vague, as the service provider will negotiate the project scope and get the executives required only.

2. Do your research to find a good vendor

Unfortunately, not each firm can offer the full scope of services needed for offshore software development. That’s why it’s important to get a provider who possesses expertise in this exact service to save you time and nerves in the long run. While picking the vendor, consider the portfolio, testimonials, and English proficiency, among other subjective factors.

3. Make sure the provider knows the local market

The key to success in establishing an offshore development center is getting local tech talents in the area you’re interested in. This way, you’ll get a team with a deep understanding of your target audience in terms of its cultural and social specifics.

4. Make costs flexible

You’ll pay only for services needed in the offshore development center model and get the bill with detailed descriptions and transparent pricing.

4. Get legal support

For signing the contract, you’ll need your lawyers. Get the ones who know the national laws and can introduce the best terms in your agreement with the service provider.

5. Recruit and establish an office

Either together with your service provider or on your own, get the office space where your team will work. Also, elaborate and negotiate the candidate profile, the team size, and the equipment needed.

6. Interview the candidates

Make sure you can see the people you hire in your own eyes and agree on each team member who will work for you. This is important since the team is an integral part of your company.

7. Agree on the operational management

Decide on accounting, HR payroll, salaries, and other important terms on which your offshore development center will function. Your service provider will manage everything in the future, but you need to negotiate an accurate environment.

For more useful tips, check our recent blog post on how to build effective collaboration with an outsourcing vendor.

When Does It Make Sense to Invest in Offshore Software Development

Not each business needs offshore IT services. At the same time, their advantages are suitable for any industry and business size — that’s why establishing your own offshore development center may become necessary anytime.

Condition #1. You Need Engineers with Narrow Expertise

Getting a new in-house team member is tough once you know whom you need. This way, getting talented developers offshore is a fast and accurate solution. Once you refer to the service provider, you articulate the tech stack and the technology needed, and your tech partner finds the exact specialists that can deliver the result.

Condition #2. You Need to Scale Fast

The offshore development center service solves the problem of hiring several talented specialists at once for further business expansion. This way, you can get developers native to the new market you’re about to enter.

Condition #3. You Need to Delegate the Project

Hiring an offshore development center is the best way to guarantee the excellent delivery of the project you’ve been working on and concentrate on more important business tasks.

Working as a unified team highly interested in your corporate good, they will invest all their effort and tech expertise in the job done.

Condition #4. Project Security is Your Key Concern

Since offshore development centers operate as the corporate branch, the executives share the security standards applied in your firm. You will sign an NDA with the team and put it in a physically secure office after hiring.

Best Locations to Set Up Offshore Development Centers

Ukraine

Ukraine is considered as the top choice for setting up an offshore development center, as the experience of Grammarly, Samsung, and BigCommerce shows.

With professional education and numerous IT companies to get relevant experience, Ukrainian tech talents are highly valued in the world. Many of them join in-house teams in the companies situated in the USA and Europe, while the rest prefer to stay in the country and work in an offshore development center.

India

This Asian country is known for cheaper pricing and numerous centers already established. These factors make this location attractive for companies like Google, Adobe, and IBM. However, getting a reliable vendor is tough in India since the average service quality level is lower than in Ukraine. Moreover, the latter country doesn’t possess that striking cultural differences and that big timezone gap.

China

As the second popular Asian country for outsourcing services, China is steadily getting more clients requesting offshore development services. You can consider this option seriously too, especially if you’re aiming at expanding to the local market.

Romania

This Eastern European country is the choice for companies like Nokia, Microsoft, and Intel. Romanian vendors have a reliable reputation, so you can request their services too.

Find a Reliable Partner for Offshore Development Services: Ask Intellectsoft for Help

Since software development outsourcing is a risky incentive, your offshore development center should have a reliable service provider. Generally, the lack of trust, cultural miscommunication, and insufficient control are the main obstacles to fruitful cooperation with a chosen vendor. That’s why the step of getting a true tech partner is so crucial.

If you’re searching for a company capable of offering reduced operational expenses, possesses a pool of tech talents, can introduce flexibility in pricing and scalability, and guarantees true devotion to your project, we can help.

We, at Intellectsoft, assist companies of different sizes and working in different industries with our outsourcing services. Check our option to request a dedicated development team and talk to our experts to find out more about the offshore dedicated center solution. Let us be your true tech partner who will help your business to start benefiting in the long run!

The post The Basic Principles of Setting a Dedicated Offshore Development Center appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC).

It is an organization for accomplished small and mid-sized business owners, respected industry leaders, and executives with deep and diverse experience in leadership, management, customer engagement, technology & growth. In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive.

Vlad Vahromovs was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors.

It’s worth noting that Vlad spent over 15 years in the IT industry, business operations specifically. He is a knowledgeable entrepreneur, goal-oriented business manager with extensive experience in sales & marketing planning, management consulting, organizational design, and corporate strategy development.

For the past 4 years, Vlad has worked in Intellectsoft and executed a wide range of complex strategic and operational activities. As Intellectsoft’s CEO, he keeps shaping the overall company’s strategy, mission, and vision for our ultimate corporate success. He makes everything possible so we become the leading software development service provider.

“We are honored to welcome Vlad Vahromovs into the community,” said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Business Council. “Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world.”

As an accepted member of the Council, Vlad has access to a variety of exclusive opportunities designed to help him reach peak professional influence. He will connect and collaborate with other respected local leaders in a private forum and at members-only events. Vlad will also be invited to work with a professional editorial team to share his expert insights in original business articles on Forbes.com and to contribute to published Q&A panels alongside other experts.

“I am honored and excited to become a member of such an authoritative and reputable organization like Forbes Business Council. I look forward to getting the most of my membership and cementing my leadership role in the software development and business community across various industries.”

Finally, Vlad Vahromovs will benefit from exclusive access to vetted business service partners, membership-branded marketing collateral, and the high-touch support of the Forbes Councils member concierge team.

The post Intellectsoft’s CEO Vlad Vahromovs Accepted Into Forbes Business Council appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

For example, as Deloitte Insights reports, the digital supply chain enhances the traditional model but brings in new challenges in the case of improper implementation. In this context, a proper product discovery process is the solution that minimizes such risks.

Product discovery is the process aimed at establishing a sustainable link and bringing true confidence in the products you make especially while collaborating with an outsourcing software development team.

In this post, we’ll describe what this activity is and provide a step-by-step guide for you to implement it in your company.

What Is Product Discovery?

In essence, the process of product discovery stays at the heart of any customer-centric approach.

In practice, it’s a flexible period during which you and your outsourcing team concentrate on finding the right thing to do without considering how to build it at the moment.

Through a given number of iterations, this way to discover new products unlocks the link between your product and its right audience.

In addition, this time is needed to bring more confidence into the concept and not lose its sense during actual development stages.

There are two main dimensions to define discoveries in products:

1. Problem space. Providing the set of problems linked to research and alignment.
2. Solution space. The outstaffing team searches for the solution through creation, ideation, validation, and refinement to comprehend the users’ problem accurately.

Among these two types of activities, your partner team should dedicate the most time to the problem space, or the process of prioritizing, defining, and detailing the complete set of problems your users experience.

This is needed to provide the substantial groundwork for understanding the real scope and intensity of their “pain.” In simple terms, it’s all about the disciplined methodological seeking for getting the deepest understanding of the users’ problems.

How Long Should the Discovery of Products Last?

There is no given amount of time needed to do the thing right. In reality, the stage of discovering new products frequently goes in parallel with the product delivery activities, connected with actually building the product.

In this case, product discovery activities happen every time something goes wrong with the product understanding.

To give you a concrete recommendation here, you should participate in the process as long as needed to become confident about making the right product.

What Is a Discovery Workshop?

The discovery workshop is the preparation stage for creating a new product. Basically, this is the meeting where defining and planning activities happen between a company and its outsourcing partner. The common process involves:

• determining the validity of the idea,
• setting the full scope of the project,
• describing the core functionalities,
• making considerations on preventing issues,
• defining success indicators,
• planning the production.

As you can see, most of the things done refer to the product discovery process. That’s why each meeting here can be a discovery workshop.

Generally, the discovery workshop meeting involves a value-producing team, budget holders, and holders of mission-critical assets. In practice, these roles can be played by different specialists in your company.

Who Should Be Present during the Product Discovery Workshop

There are three main groups needed at any meeting under the discovery workshop category:

• Team members who are directly involved in the product discovery (core lead);
• Fellow product teams who can occasionally participate and bring in some fresh ideas on the given process stage (collaborators);
• Visionaries who check the conclusions made align with the corporate mission (supporters).

The exact team roles in your company of these people can be different, but the presence of all these three groups is crucial for elaborating the complete picture.

For example, you can invite a Customer Support and COO during the problem space stage, but find the exact solution together with the CEO and development team. It depends on your product scope, team size, and how well you know your target audience.

6 Key Steps to Define Discoveries of Products

As we’ve mentioned above, there is the problem space and the solution space for the discovery of products. In this section, we’ll describe in detail which 6 activities happen there.

1. Alignment (Product Space)

In the alignment stage, the role of a Product Manager becomes critical. This team member is responsible for clearly articulating the importance of product discovery, expected outcomes, and when and why certain team members are needed.

Otherwise, the overall product discovery process makes no sense from the very beginning.

Persistence and trust are the most challenging things at this stage. It’s crucial to distinguish the corporate aims, personal ambitions of each team member, and the real-life problems of your audience.

It’s the task of the Product Manager to reach not total agreement but compromise on the commitment to investigate the real customer pain.

2. Research (Product Space)

Once the product discovery team is set up and all the roles are clarified, the research of user problems starts. Your team members should ask as many Why-questions about the challenges your users face as possible at this stage.

Here, the presence of customer support is highly valuable as these employees talk to your clients every day and have tons of observations about their pain. Think of other contact points with your customers, and invite those workers too.

Basically, even a room made in a hotel can share a lot about your guests’ pains once invited to a discovery workshop meeting.

In methodological teams, you can pick among behavioral, qualitative, quantitative, and attitudinal research techniques. Combine them in a way that suits your product discovery aims the most.

In the end, the more people, questions, and methods you involve, the closer you come to the truth.

3. Ideation (Solution Space)

The ideation stage opens the solution space in your product discovery. It’s crucial to maintain the broad picture achieved at the problem space now not to fall into serving corporate ambitions.

Here, your ability to arrange effective brainstorming sessions is crucial. Frequently, they turn into regular department meetings where the loudest team member speaks a lot, nobody argues with the CEO, and most of the crowd is too lazy to talk.

As a Product Manager, you need to create a comfortable environment for people to share their ideas freely. They shouldn’t criticize each other and wait for your final decision.

Of course, you can try clustering identical ideas and voting, but turn this meeting into a creativity-and-smartness competition. Brainstorming means elaborating the articulated ideas together, not fighting to become the winner of a game.

4. Creation (Solution Space)

Building a prototype is a pragmatic way of turning your ideas into real-life situations. At this stage, focus on simulating the experience and consider it as the method of idea validation that happens out of your conference room.

All the convergence and divergence activities are important here, meaning the constant involvement of the development team in making the necessary steps timely and elaborating the product steadily.

5. Validation (Solution Space)

After making a working prototype, the idea elaborated requires validation from the standpoint of resource allocation. Simply put, it should prove to be good enough to dedicate the time, money, and workforce needed for its implementation.

Also, you should discover that product change since the initial planning is not dramatic. It’s high time to come back to the fundamental questions asked during the problem space stages to establish the sustainable link between the idea elaborated and the observed customer pains.

The final aim of validation is strengthening the confidence in the need for making the right thing chosen.

6. Refinement (Solution Space)

Finally, the results you obtained after the discovery work done need refinement. It means polishing the concept and making it easy to execute by all the team members involved in making the product.

That’s the final stage of collecting everything you’ve found on the way of product discovery and putting it together in a shiny product.

Does My Business Really Need Product Discovery?

In reality, all product teams discover their products to a certain extent — the problem is not knowing how the process works and not digging deep enough to touch the users’ hearts actually. Our experts would be happy to teach you!

We, at Intellectsoft, provide a set of software development solutions to companies worldwide. Also, we empower corporate workforces with innovative approaches. Let us help your Product Manager guide your team with our product discovery platform!

Talk to our experts to get the consultation on the product discovery peculiarities and arrange the date of your discovery workshop.

If you want to check our work, you can find the results of our workshops in the recent blog posts on digital health strategy and about the webinar for proactive retailers. Let’s discover your great products together no matter what industry you are in!

The post How Product Discovery Can Make You Proud of Your Products appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

The fitness industry has also undergone tremendous technological changes, primarily related to the creation and popularization of various fitness apps, with the help of which users can easily track their progress and see all the changes in real-time.

But today fitness applications can not only track your progress but also create specialized diets that will ideally suit your health condition and personal training goals.

Let’s take a look at the statistics regarding the fitness development market and its future trends.

According to a study conducted in early 2019, it was predicted that the fitness apps market will reach $14.7 billion by 2026, with a CAGR of about 23%.

But according to Statista, in 2020 alone, fitness app revenue totaled nearly $18 billion and continues to grow at a rapid pace. It is expected that every year this domain will grow more and more and show better results.

Growth rates are projected at 5% annually by 2023. Everything can change dramatically, given the constant research and development in this field, as well as in the healthcare sector.

The Importance of a Fitness App Nowadays

Because of the fact that today’s world has become very fast and competitive, most people do not have enough time to exercise or lead a healthy lifestyle.

The hard work that people do every day, from early morning to late at night, causes severe stress, weakness, and various illnesses.

However, thanks to advances in technology, we have many fitness applications available that can not only help you keep fit, but also measure your vitals.

Businesses might create a fitness app in order to make users’ life healthier by tracking the diet, water intake, and exercise regimen.

Some programs can even track your heart rate, which is vital for people with heart problems. If even these benefits could not convince you of the need for a fitness app, then below are some of the other benefits of a fitness app.

Nutrition Tracking

People who are watching their weight, or people who are looking to gain or lose weight can use the fitness app.

By specifying information about the type and amount of foods they consume each day, the fitness app can easily calculate the calories, carbohydrates, proteins, and fat content of the meal. Such apps also allow keeping an electronic food diary.

This helps to avoid eating foods that are harmful to one’s health. Scientists have shown that keeping a food diary can help people consume food more consciously.

Progress Tracking

Thanks to the fitness app, users can easily monitor their workouts and health with just a couple of clicks. Programs like these allow people to fill in data related to their health indicators and track changes over some time.

For example, they can easily compare the blood counts at the start of their fitness journey and after a few months. That will allow them to understand whether the body condition has improved or not.

Tracking Number of Steps Taken

Every year, fitness apps only increase the number of functions. One of the available features is a pedometer. Now people can track the number of steps taken every day, as well as get all the supporting details, about the walking distance and the number of calories burned.

Opportunity to Exercise With a Coach

In some fitness apps, it is possible to use the services of a personal trainer at very affordable prices. You don’t need to go anywhere to work out with a coach as all you have to do is just download the program.

Remote consultations with a trainer through the application help users form a balanced lifestyle and training regimen.

Continuous Support of Motivation

Most fitness apps are designed so they can constantly motivate users to exercise because, without motivation, all efforts are in vain.

A system of diverse achievements and regular notifications that spur people to physical activities also motivates them to take decisive action in sports.

Also, spending only a few minutes a day recording health data helps users keep track of their health. It is also a good motivation for people who have problems with excessive weight.

Types of Fitness Apps

Today, there are 3 popular types of fitness applications. All of them differ only in the method of processing and storing information:

• Workout and exercise apps
• Nutrition apps
• Activity tracking apps

There are cases when a fitness app is a combination of two or even all three types of programs. But basically, every program falls into one of these categories.

Workout and Exercise Apps

Workout apps are the most extensive category on our list. As you might have figured out, this type of app is workout-oriented.

The main purpose of this type of fitness app is to show users what exercises to do and how to perform them correctly. Despite the vastness of this category, it would be advisable to divide it into several groups:

• Personal trainer apps
• Logbook apps
• Workout fitness apps that pair with devices

Personal Trainer Apps

The main task of such programs is to develop a set of exercises for users. They offer a set of exercises that can be tailored for each person individually only by choosing the difficulty level and the set of exercises that they like best.

Such applications also show how to correctly perform certain exercises, because improper execution can lead to serious injuries or not result in the desired effect.

People no longer need to go to the gym and pay for the services of a trainer. Personal trainer apps have everything needed for comfortable sports in any condition.

Logbook Apps

In most cases, similar programs are fairly minimalistic. They do not have huge functionality but only work as a list or journal that stores information about training.

Apps like these are useful for tracking exercise progress or health condition changes. But in them, users can also find a library of exercises and workout programs for various purposes.

Workout Fitness App Compatible with Wearable Devices

These apps are indispensable for people who cannot imagine their own sports activities without a wearable device.

If you use a fitness bracelet or smartwatch during workouts, you can connect it to the program and all the data that these devices collect will be immediately displayed in the application on your smartphone.

Moreover, such programs can sync with intelligent sports equipment.

Nutrition Apps

Nutrition apps measure various health indicators such as weight, calories burned, water balance, etc. in order to help people stick to a healthy diet. Additional functions may include monitoring your daily coffee consumption and body fat content.

Such programs are geared towards setting and achieving goals. If it is difficult for a person to eat healthily, the application will help create a shopping list and draw up recipes.

Activity Tracking Apps

This type of app is suitable even for people who are not involved in sports but want to be sure they move a lot. In similar apps, there are features for calculating the steps taken and calories.

But, probably interesting functions of such programs are sleep tracking and sleep quality assessment. You can also use a smart alarm to make your waking up easy and quick.

Must-Have Features for Fitness Apps

Before moving to tips on how to create a fitness app it is important to think over the functions that would be included in it, as well as the design in which it will be made.

Let’s take a look at a few features that are important for all of the above categories of fitness programs. Implementing them will help you attract more users.

User Personalization

This function is responsible for collecting personal information about each user as age, weight, height, gender, and training goals. The info is used later to create or tailor the best nutrition or exercise program for the user’s body.

With the introduction of this function, you will be able to improve the interface of your fitness app several times, as well as increase your profit.

The user will feel that the program meets their needs and helps to achieve their fitness goals, and therefore will constantly return to it and recommend it to friends.

Synchronization with Various Devices

In order to develop a fitness app, you should pay particular attention to synchronization. Your app needs to quickly and easily sync with other programs and wearable devices.

That will help users track their metrics and progress more easily. You can also work out the possibility of using your app not only on smartphones but also on a computer.

That allows users to view various workouts from a desktop. Such advanced functionality will attract thousands of users to your application, and will greatly increase the income and reputation of the company.

Information for a Specific Period

With this feature, the user can view data about their physical activity or other health indicators over a specific time, such as a week, month, or year. With this feature, people can easily track their progress and set long-term goals.

Some programs also use a system for automatically sending reports to the mail so that the user does not forget to review them.

Goal Setting

This is probably one of the most essential functions of fitness applications because most users use such programs to achieve their own athletic goals. Your program should be able to set goals related to sports and nutrition.

The user can select a task, set a goal by entering a date and an action to be taken to complete it. Here you can also add statistics on the execution of tasks for a certain period.

How to Create a Fitness App

There are a few things you need to be aware of if you want to develop a fitness app. To avoid unnecessary costs, problems, and delays in creating a program, as well as to create a high-quality program, you need to follow certain instructions.

We’ve prepared a list of steps you can follow to create a fitness program.

Explore the Fitness Apps Market

To begin with, you need to conduct a detailed study of the fitness software market. Since there are so many different sports-related apps now, the chances that the program may not be profitable are high enough.

To avoid this, you must analyze in detail which applications are popular, problems that bother people most. It is also worth reviewing the apps of your potential competitors and finding their flaws that could be adjusted in your app.

Choose The Fitness App Type You Need

After conducting market analysis, you need to determine what main types of applications exist on the market today as well as their pros and cons. We have already written in more detail about all types of fitness apps in this article.

With the help of this information, you can determine exactly what kind of app you want. It will also make it easier to choose the features that can be implemented in your program, while you create a fitness app.

Define Key Features

Each fitness program has different functions and offers unique opportunities for its users. However, there is a set of functions that you must introduce during the workout app development process.

In the previous chapters, we talked about the features that are required for fitness app development.

Choose the Monetization Model

Some people are engaged in workout app development only because it gives them pleasure and they do not seek to make a profit. But in most cases, you want to make a lot of money and recoup all the investment you have put into workout app development.

There are various ways to monetize your application. To generate income from a fitness app, you can use one of these types of monetization:

• Paid app downloads
• In-app purchases
• Advertisements
• Paid personalized training or nutrition plans

Choose the Right Fitness App Development Team

To create a fitness app you need to find skilled developers. You can choose between hiring an in-house team, working with freelance developers, and using the services of a software development outsourcing vendor.

The last option is recommended as it usually guarantees the best results. It is better to choose a company that has vast experience in the fitness niche and a lot of positive reviews from previous clients.

By choosing a company for collaboration, you can create a fitness app with high performance and solve all the problems that may appear during a fitness application development process.

Conclusion

Sports app development, like the development of any other app, is a rather complicated process. However, if you conduct thorough market research and create a program that fully satisfies users’ needs, your fitness app idea can turn into a profitable business.

If you are looking for a reliable outsourcing software development company to develop a fitness app, don’t hesitate to contact Intellectsoft.

We have extensive experience in this field and will be able to create a solution that will successfully serve your end-users and meet your business goals.

Contact us today and let us create a competitive fitness application for you!

The post How to Create a Great Fitness Application? appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Tim works as a Head of Technology at Intellectsoft Blockchain Lab and is a Senior Full-Stack Software Engineer with over 8 years of programming experience in creating backend, frontend, decentralized applications, as well as native mobile applications. 

The Stevie Awards are the most prestigious world’s premier business awards and it’s a huge honor to get on their list as it indicates our professionalism and dedication to what we do.

These awards honor the achievements and contributions of organizations and working professionals across the globe. 

Stevie Award judges represent the world’s renowned and respected entrepreneurs, business executives, and educators. It’s worth noting that many of the judges invited are Stevie Award winners. 

Once the rating is done and the winners are announced, all judges’ comments are available for the entrants.

The judges selecting the winners in this nomination have been impressed by Tim’s extensive expertise, technical background, and professional achievements. 

Tim contributed significantly to the success of our clients worldwide. Together with his team, he developed a mobile banking solution powered by blockchain technology; iOS and Android apps for a sports loyalty program; Uber-like concierge services platform, and many more. 

Tim possesses outstanding leadership skills and impressive tech expertise. His tech stack developer portfolio includes Ruby, Javascript, Swift, Objective-C, PHP, Solidity languages along with AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, Kafka, ELK infrastructures. 

Driven by a passion for technology and innovation, he achieved great results that not only his colleagues at Intellectsoft can treasure.  

During the last two years, Tim turned his knowledge and expertise into valuable assets making him a renowned speaker and contributor at international conferences worldwide.

He was invited to participate in numerous webinars and is the author of various articles on technology-related topics and the software development industry. 

Tim combines unique characteristics of being an exceptional team leader, passionate about his work and people, acknowledged industry experts, and just an amazing and reliable colleague. 

Thanks to Tim’s expertise, active participation, and input into the development of the Blockchain domain within the company, Intellectoft was recognized as a Top Blockchain Company by Clutch. 

Tim is a true leader with a passion for technologies who always helps Intellectsoft achieve success by playing a critical role in the product development process, and we are proud to have him as an instrumental part of our team. 

The post Tim Kozak Is Nominated as “Product Developer of the Year” by The American Business Awards  appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Intellectsoft has a great privilege to get on the list of the 250 fastest-growing companies in the New York Metro Area in 2021. This prize ranks companies across various industries by their overall revenue growth over the three-year period.

Intellectsoft is a digital transformation consultancy and software engineering company that provides cutting-edge solutions for global organizations and technology startups with 5 offices worldwide including our office based in New York. Therefore, our team was eligible for this regional award.

It’s worth noting that our company has managed to achieve 37% growth over the last few years and is now recognized by such a reputable resource as Inc. 5000. Our team put a lot of effort into delivering value and quality services to our clients throughout the world while creating a top-notch reputation as a reliable software development company.

Intellectsoft is already 14 years in operation and collaborates with small companies and large enterprises on creating high-end software solutions to improve operational efficiency, enhance customer satisfaction, drive more revenue, and take businesses to the next level through digitalization.

Our team has successfully delivered amazing solutions for Fortune500 companies, and such renowned giants as EY, Jaguar, Harley Davidson, Nestle, Eurostar, Lang Rover, Guinness, and others.

Intellectsoft’s professionalism and industry expertise has been recognized by Clutch, TheManifest, Digital.com, and ITfirms.

The post Intellectsoft Hits a Reputable Award by Inc. 5000: 250 Fastest-Growing Private Companies appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.