Nishi Agrawal @nishiagrawal - Tumblr Blog

Start Your eCommerce Business in 7 easy steps

“Ecommerce isn’t the cherry on the cake, it’s the new cake”

-Jean Paul Ago, CEO L’Oreal

Have you ever had dreams of having your eCommerce business? Did you know that starting an eCommerce business is now easier than before? Are you looking to purchase a ready-made store-in-a-box, add a digital storefront to your existing brick-and-mortar architecture, or set yourself up for an existing market like Amazon, eBay? You can have your eCommerce shop up and running in a single day.

As per research, the eCommerce sales worldwide amounted to 4.28 trillion USD in 2020 and sales are expected to skyrocket to 5.4 trillion USD by 2022.

You can be a part of this!

To simplify your search and help you with foolproof tips to start your eCommerce business, we have compiled a to-do list and must-haves in this piece.

Let’s get started!

How To Start An eCommerce Business

We’ll discuss every point to help you begin your entrepreneurial journey. Keeping things simple, below are some points you need to follow. Let’s learn how easy things are.

Know Your eCommerce Space & Find Your Niche

The first step in learning how to start your online business is performing the necessary research. You have to consider the available options, themes, and business areas.

You need to know these:

What would your eCommerce business offer?

Will you be selling services or products?

Will your products be tangible or digital?

Will you offer direct products, subscriptions or packages?

What will be your startup costs?

With huge competition in the market, you need to perform competitor research and probably find a space where you can successfully establish your brand.

Choose a Legal Structure & Business Name

After you have solidified your plan of setting up an eCommerce business, the next step is to get a name for it. You’d want to choose a unique name that resonates with your brand.

Choose a domain name and a legal name such as sole proprietorship, LLP, general partnership or corporation.

Apply For An Employer Identification Number

Next, you need to apply for an Employer Identification Number for your online business. EIN is a 9 digit number that separates your business and personal finances. You should apply for the business tax ID online to receive the EIN.

Obtain License For Your Business

After applying for the EIN, you need to obtain the business licenses to operate legally within your city or state. Depending on where you plan to set up your eCommerce business, you need to acquire a local operating license as well.

Some business licenses may include:

Sales tax permits

Signage permits

Building and construction permits

Environment and safety permits

Trade license

Select An eCommerce Platform & Build Your Website

At this point, you have completed the required paperwork to register and legally start your online business. Your website is the landing page of your business. Your customers will see it first and will browse through your products and services.

You need to think about a domain name and an eCommerce platform to start with. Following are some of the most popular platforms to build online shopping sites:

Magento

If you want to customize every aspect of your eCommerce store, Magento is the answer to all your questions. Magento allows you to manipulate every element on your online shopping site. However, you need to have the required technical skills to customize your website.

Shopify

Shopify is a popular eCommerce business website development software that offers a user-friendly environment and a variety of add-ons. You can sell your products using the POS service. Also, it offers tons of themes and templates to meet your custom requirements.

Bigcommerce

Bigcommerce focuses on cutting down the store setup time while offering a smooth onboarding experience. This platform eliminates the requirement of technical knowledge so you can enjoy total control of the store setup. It also offers tons of templates, themes, and other smart solutions to build your eCommerce business website.

Prepare/Source Product Catalogs

After selecting your preferred eCommerce platform and building your website, you need to source the products and services you will be selling. It is up to you to create your products or source them from distributors. If you are selling your own products, you need to consider the inventory you want to start out with and the startup costs. You need a detailed SEO strategy to improve the customer experience.

Market Your eCommerce Business

Now that your website is up and running with product catalogs, you are ready to serve your customers. To hit those numbers, you need to plan a dynamic marketing strategy, given that the market trends are always changing.

Choose from social media ads to Google ads, campaigns, blog posts, word of mouth and more. You need to optimize your entire website for SEO and take advantage of any marketing tools included in your eCommerce platform. Apart from that, you need to track the specific marketing tactics which are working and which aren’t.

Are The Costs Burning Holes In Your Pockets?

Now that you are all set up to start your eCommerce business, you might be concerned about one important factor — COST!

Several costs will probably burn holes in your pockets. Your startup costs will depend on the type of eCommerce business you are starting, the platform you choose, logistics, inventory management, and several other never-ending factors.

Well, you cannot cut down the costs but can skip the hassle of doing everything on your own. It is always better to outsource your specific business requirements to an IT enterprise like DRC Systems.

The Bottom Line

Our UI UX specialists, eCommerce consultants and domain experts have years of experience in assisting several businesses open and scale their eCommerce portals across the globe. We can help you put that ‘Open For Business’ sign next to your name, design a unique logo that resonates with your brand to help you be a successful entrepreneur. Ready to be your own boss and start your online store? Contact us today!

Top 15 Web Development Trends To Implement In 2022

“Figuring out what the next big trend is, tells us what we should focus on.”

-Mark Zuckerberg

Trends and standards in web development change faster in the market. To stay on top of your game, you need to implement different trends and tactics that are disrupting the market.

To save your time and simplify your research, we have compiled a list of web development trends you need to be aware of. Here are the 15 hottest web development trends you need to check out in 2022.

Hottest Web Development Trends Your Business Needs

-Powered Bots

AI-powered chatbots have been a strong pillar in web development in the year 2021 and this trend will continue to make waves in 2022 as well. Highly anticipated conversation interfaces and voice assistants are en route. The convergence of ML and AI will create ultra-modern bots that can deliver ultimate customer experiences. As per a report, 15% of customer service interactions are handled by AI-powered chatbots.

Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)

Progressive web apps offer an app-like experience using the latest web capabilities. Keeping in mind the increasing number of mobile users, we can easily say that PWAs are the next big trend in the coming year. These apps offer an ultimate combo of mobile and web apps in a package. These apps are websites that work like mobile applications. On top of that, these apps are safe, linkable, independent, and responsive. Offering a web-like experience, these PWAs are the future of web development.

Single Page Apps (SPAs)

As the name suggests, Single Page Applications are web apps that load as a single page. Content in SPAs loads dynamically and offers an uninterrupted and smooth experience.

Users experience simplified navigation while visiting these pages. Apart from that, SPAs feature simplified development, faster loading times, easy debugging, caching local data, code reusability and more.

Push Notifications

Push Notifications work as quick channels that allow companies to convey customer-centric messages, discounts, offers and more. These notifications help you gain users’ attention which increases retention rates. The back-end and front-end developers can integrate these into shopping websites, portals and blogs for better traction.

WebAssembly (Wasm)

Wasm offers an interactive environment to develop powerful web applications by compiling high-level language. The code is compiled into bytecode that is used in any programming language.

Motion User Interface

Motion UI is another trend that is bound to make waves in 2022. Motion UI enables web developers to skip jQuery and JavaScript development to animate the content on the website. This feature supports website development with minimal design and enhanced interaction that offers maximum satisfaction to the customers.

3D Elements

When it comes to developing business websites, 3D elements play a pivotal role in customer acquisition and engagement. Apart from offering excellent visuals, 3D elements help improve customer engagement when there is not much difference between reality and digital space.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs)

AMPs (Accelerated Mobile Pages) are the HTML copies of the existing web pages. Mobile websites that use this trend load quickly and offer a smooth experience to the users. AMPs improve the mobile-friendliness of the websites. 2021 has seen a huge rise in the number of AMPs and this trend will gain popularity.

API-first Development

APIs expedite the connection between the emerging technologies. An API-first environment is completely user-focused and allows the developers to work in parallel. API-first development reduces the risk of failure and is becoming a major web development trend.

Mobile-Friendly Websites

Mobile-friendly websites are a growing trend in the modern marketplace. These websites work well across various devices having different screen sizes and resolutions. Modern web developers focus more on developing mobile-friendly websites as Google’s algorithm focuses more on the ‘mobile-first’ index and other guidelines.

Voice Search

Smart-Answering machines make use of speech recognition programs to generate relevant responses. This helps the voice search programs to deliver effective results.

Several websites and businesses are adopting this technology to improve the user experience. According to a survey, businesses that will implement voice search technology will experience an increase in their digital revenue by 30% in the coming years.

Cybersecurity

Data breaches are increasingly raiding digital platforms and are destabilizing several businesses. The demand for IT security will prevail as hackers keep threatening online business spaces. We expect more developers to specialize in IT security to detect breaches and tackle threats.

Blockchain

Blockchain facilitates successful online transactions without the intervention of any third party. This technology is transforming several business sectors by reducing the risk of cybercrimes and other online threats. Apart from that, Blockchain works on consensus algorithms which makes it impossible to breach. As the data is decentralized, it is less prone to human errors.

Automation

Testing

Automation Testing is getting popular amongst the testers. Automation Testing is becoming an important web development trend as it guarantees the quality of the product before delivery. This approach cuts down the development time and costs by 20%. Faster market acceptance and better quality is what Automation testing promises.

Serverless Architecture

Apart from reducing the development costs, this technology avoids system overloading and data loss. Although it is a new web development trend, Serverless Architecture is supported by some of the big players like Amazon Web Services. Serverless architecture replaces regular servers with cloud to effectively manage resource consumption. In the coming years, Serverless Architecture will change the way we use IoT apps.

Conclusion

While it is so easy to learn about these trends, it is a real pain to implement them as they change so fast. But why not give it a try?

Down the road, every web development trend is worth your attention. In a competitive market that runs a mile a minute, you cannot afford to lag behind your peers. DRC Systems is a web development company and we have been helping several businesses with stellar website development. Why are we the best? Contact us today and experience the difference yourself!

13 Reasons why you need to start using HubSpot right away

As your prospects visit your landing page, you need to align your content with their interests by implementing inbound marketing. Have you ever thought about how to offer the best experience to your customers? You require more leads and win sales, but how do you plan on achieving that?

In an evolving market that is overrun with inbound software, more businesses are favoring the HubSpot CRM platform. Selecting HubSpot for marketing increases your chances of getting traction.

If this introduction about HubSpot cloud-based CRM system has not piqued your interest, keep reading. We have compiled a list of reasons why you need to start using HubSpot right away.

Let’s dive into it.

HubSpot platform is the leader in inbound marketing, sales, customer service and other business operations. It is a cloud-based CRM system that handles your customer data and helps you with valuable insights for your business.

Here are 13 reasons why your organization needs to start using HubSpot right away!

Top 13 Reasons To Use HubSpot

The Best Inbound Platform

Right from revenue tracking to governing the marketing strategies and effort, HubSpot is the best platform. It is the best inbound marketing platform in the market. HubSpot aligns the marketing, sales, and service strategies to ensure that the organization attracts new prospects and customers while consistently delivering results to the existing clients.

Powerful Customer Ticketing System

The more customers your business has, the more customer support you would need. HubSpot’s customer ticketing system manages all your customer-side issues. The help-desk and ticketing software is easy to use and is free to access. With the ticketing system, you can track all your customer queries and the progress after resolving their issues.

Link Your Entire Sales Environment

With HubSpot, your sales team can access all the contact data stored in HubSpot’s CRM tool. Your sales reps can easily access the information they need to identify when a customer is ready to make a purchase. With all the customer-centric data, your sales team can up-sell and cross-sell even more opportunities.

This CRM tool enables your sales reps to offer a smooth customer journey down the sales funnel. The insights such as customer profiles, what pages they have viewed, help your team to push your prospects to the finish line. This leads to successful sales.

Customize Your Dashboards

HubSpot lets you customize your analytics dashboards for streamlined operations. You can create multiple dashboards so your team members can focus on the metrics and KPIs that are relevant to them.

Data Collection & Automatic Tracking

With HubSpot, you never have to worry about tracking anything manually. You can get tons of insights when visitors perform either of these:

Enter their information on your landing page

Visit your page regularly

Visit your page from their mobile devices

Access the information through your social media posts or marketing emails

Make a purchase

Refer their friends to your business page

All this data is automatically stored on the platform.

Marketing Software Integration

Apart from the CRM platform, HubSpot offers a plethora of tools including CMS, marketing, and customer support.

HubSpot also supports and synchronizes with other software including:

Google Calendar

Gmail

WordPress

Shopify

Salesforce

Slack

Zoho

PayPal

Drupal

Mailchimp

Import Your Existing Contacts

HubSpot’s Customer Relationship Management platform makes it easy for you to import all your contacts with a couple of clicks. You can also create customized properties that align with your business setup. This feature keeps your new database updated and automatically deletes the duplicate email addresses or aliases, data of your prospects, and company data.

Contact Segmentation

Tailoring the content to specific circumstances is the best way to communicate with your customers or prospects.

These are some elements that are beneficial for your business:

How you can address their pain points

Offer satisfactory solutions to their queries

Knowing why your products are better in the market

Using the same token, your existing customers can benefit from re-engagement, which allows you to offer follow-up content regarding the purchases they have already made.

With HubSpot Contact Segmentation, you can categorize all your contacts so you can personalize your communications for different contacts. This aligns with their preferred style of communication to let you reach out to them in a more convenient manner.

Create & Customize Your Workflows

The workflows tool of the CRM platform automates marketing, sales and customer service operations. You need to fill out one of the existing templates and can perform these processes:

Notify your sales reps to reach out to new leads

Welcome a new customer onboard

Schedule a meeting with a prospect

The platform automatically deploys the right tasks to the right user upon certain enrolment triggers.

Stay On Track

Project management is diverse and many a time, it requires staying updated with a lot of information. Your project managers should have the ability to stay focused on several things at the same time. This is quite a hassle. HubSpot’s CRM tool provides you with task management utilities that prioritize the tasks and operations in order. Your project managers can manage your project delivery dates, categorize the tasks and evaluate the entire project operation as a whole.

Collaborate Your Sales & Marketing

Marketing and sales are two different departments bounded by a symbiotic relationship. The HubSpot’s CRM makes it really easy for your marketers and sales reps to work together and get a complete view of your contacts’ data and history with your business.

Your employees can also provide feedback and leave notes for each other. People can also tag other members to ensure that they stay updated.

Level Up your Social Presence

With tons of time-saving tools, you can prioritize your social interactions and take your online presence to a whole new level. HubSpot allows you to publish your content directly from Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. It lets you quickly share the new content as soon as it is published.

HubSpot’s suite of social media ensures that you never let any important social interaction slip under your radar. The social dashboards let you engage with your followers, prospects and customers. With the social media tool, you can also measure the traction of your strategies and efforts. Supervise the individual social media posts, trigger email alerts when a prospect mentions your business, and a lot more.

Automate The Repetitive Tasks

Specific client communications demand attention from particular team members. A very similar case would be addressing complex problems. Other issues are repetitive and time-consuming. HubSpot generally logs all the customer interactions and handles the data entry as well. You can also pre-set HubSpot’s CRM to deploy automatic communications based on specific user behaviour.

Conclusion

As you have seen how HubSpot handles contact management, lead nurturing, marketing, sales, and other business operations. With the right HubSpot Partner Enterprise, you will have the upper edge in the market.

Our dedicated HubSpot developers have been assisting several businesses across the globe to make the most out of this powerful CRM platform. Contact us now and start using HubSpot right away!

PYTHON PROGRAMMING: TOP 12 APPLICATIONS OF PYTHON IN BUSINESS

The developer community knows that Python programming is becoming the mainstream. This programming language is one of the most popular ever and continues to disrupt many industries. Considering the plethora of use cases it has, makes it a highly preferred programming language amongst the developers.

It supports both functional and object-oriented programming approaches. From web development to deep learning and neural networking, its uses are on the rise. In this blog, we will walk you through 12 real-world use cases of Python where this language is making waves in 2021.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

Top 12 Real-World Use Cases Of Python Machine Learning Apps

Python, as compared to Java or C++, has a simpler syntax and is more preferred for developing machine learning applications and platforms. Python programming allows the developers to handle tremendously large amounts of data and makes it a better choice when developing machine learning applications.

Scipy and Numpy are the two libraries used for technical computing. Panda, a data manipulation tool, helps the developers with in-depth data analysis. Scikit is another tool that is used for building machine learning applications.

Artificial intelligence is probably the most interesting use case for Machine Learning and Python. This is because Python is powerful and stable enough to handle the computations that are required for developing Machine Learning models. With a suite of useful libraries, developers can write Machine Learning algorithms using the Python Language. The developers use Pandas, SciPy, TensorFlow, NumPy, Keras, and other libraries to develop ML applications.

Python programming also has several use cases in the AI space including data analytics, image recognition, text processing, advanced computing and many more. These are some evergreen areas that businesses can profit from.

OS Development

Python programming is paving the way for several operating systems. The Linux-based Ubiquity and Anaconda installers are coded in Python. Even Gentoo Linux leverages the Python package management system. Developers generally combine Python with the C language to develop different operating systems.

Web Scraping Applications

Python programming is pivotal for extracting tremendous amounts of data from websites and web pages. The data extracted is used in different operations including price comparison, R&D, job boards, marketing, market prediction, and many more. This data can be used in different industries to emphasize multiple verticals of the business.

These are some of the popular web scraping tools available:

MechanicalSoup

Scrapy

Python Requests

Selenium

Urllib

LXML

Web Development

Web development is an important pillar for most businesses and Python offers a plethora of development options. You can get access to Django, Bottle, Pyramid, and Flask for developing web frameworks and applications. Apart from that, you can also use powerful and advanced content management systems like Django CMS and Plone. These powerful frameworks are packed with modules and standard libraries that simplify the operations such as database interaction, content management and interfacing with protocols like XML, IMAP, POP, FTP and more.

Data Science & Solutions

Python plays a very important role in shaping data-driven companies such as Google, Spotify, DBS Bank, Netflix and a whole lot. The powerful search options in Netflix offers a unique experience with Python-driven data insights. Recommendations and suggestions are based on a recommendation system that is a powerful machine learning algorithm.

Scientific & Numeric Applications

Python plays a crucial role in numeric and scientific computing. It offers a supportive environment for applications that deal in scientific data processing and computation. Such applications include the finite element approach Abaqus FreeCAD (computer-aided designing).

Game Development

Python supports game development. Pygame is a developer-friendly library that enables developers to develop 2D and 3D games. Starting with Python is very easy and it allows the developers to leverage tons of libraries for quick prototyping.

Apart from game development, developers can also use Python for developing tools to simplify specific actions, design a dialog tree, environment designing, asset management, generate levels of detail (LODs) and support content in level. This powerful language can also export these actions in the game engine. Python supports the Unreal engine.

Language Development

Over several years, the module and design architecture of Python has paved the way for the development of new programming languages including Swift, Cobra, OCaml, CoffeeScript and many more. All these are powerful programming languages and share several similarities with Python such as syntax, indentation, and object model.

Internet Of Things

Internet of Things is another real-life use of Python for business. With Python programming, developers can turn any object into an electronic device with the help of Raspberry Pi. Using Raspberry Pi, developers can create embedded software that enables python programming on smaller objects that can work with powerful programming languages.

Raspberry Pi helps the developers to perform high-level computations and turn normal objects into electronics to design an environment of IoT. In larger industries, IoT is used to track inventory, movie and manage machines, track order processing, check the shipment status and fleet management.

Enterprise Applications

Enterprise applications are poles apart from regular web applications. Enterprise-grade applications are designed to serve the big needs of the entire organization. These apps can sometimes be very complex with database handling requirements and security needs. Python programming can handle multiple database requests at a time. Considering its versatile nature, Python is used for scalability, functionality and readability.

Developers can easily leverage the libraries to develop different enterprise-grade applications. Tryton and Odoo are some of the popular enterprise application development tools that work in tandem with Python. Enterprise applications are the most significant uses of Python for business in 2021.

Ed-Tech

Ed Tech is another industry powered by Python programming. Online courses, programs, quizzes, and interactive content are a few elements that are developed using Python. This programming language is beginner-friendly and offers tons of helpful features with a simple learning curve. The syntax of this powerful language is very similar to English and due to this, it finds yet another real-world case in the Ed Tech market. Python programming is used to develop education programs, interactive quizzes, and training courses.

Due to the high scalability and compatibility with Machine Learning, Python can offer tons of useful features to design events and decision-based gamification for modern learners.

Final Words

Tons of libraries, high scalability and powerful architecture are some reasons why Python is growing at a supersonic speed. Apart from these elements, dynamic typing, built-in data structures, frameworks, powerful libraries, and huge community support are a few other pillars that make Python programming the developers’ choice for developing some of the best applications in the evolving marketplace.

Python can handle tons of data requests at a time and this feature makes it useful for all kinds of app development. From enterprise apps to AR VR gaming projects and IoT, Python programming is the key to unlocking potential business horizons and is making huge waves in 2021. At DRC Systems, we are on a mission to fast-track your idea in the digital era using Python. Contact us right away to know how our dedicated Python developers and domain specialists can digitally transform your business.

Top 7 Tips To Fast Track Your Android App Development

In a competitive market, a faster time-to-market your Android application can make a huge difference. A mobile app that takes forever to build and deploy can burn even before it goes live.

Developing a mobile app is a costly affair. Bringing ideas to reality takes time, effort, not to mention the overheads and other costs. One approach to keep the costs at bay is to decrease the application development time. The more time you spend on developing your app, the more it will cost.

Whilst Android app development for your business is a great choice, but it lacks speed. Business owners are constantly vying to meet the deadlines and take their applications to the market before the competitors pitch their app ideas. In this battle for faster time-to-market, quality is sidelined and this results in a product that does not meet the specific requirements of your clients.

Let’s unveil the secrets of mobile app development.

Speed is an issue in Android app development. In this blog, we have compiled a set of handy tips that will help your Android developers with on-demand app development without compromising the quality and performance.

Android App Development Tips 2021 Going Agile

Instead of launching a full-fledged application, launching a Minimum Viable Product with just the basic features is a commonly accepted practice in the quick Android app development process. This MVP helps your developers to collect the data and analyse the flaws of your application. You can use the build-measure-learn approach to get insights and customer feedback. This practice eliminates the risk factor of your application and makes it more appealing and successful.

Another best practice in Android development is using SPRINTS to hammer down the entire app into smaller and doable cycles. Every sprint is complete in itself and contains entire development steps. Speeding up your Android app development and going agile is the need of the hour.

Recruit Experienced Developers

Two elements to keep in mind during hiring Android developers, experience and flexibility. The more experienced developers are, the more they know about issues in the development process. If the developer is flexible enough to learn and adjust to new technologies and changes in the market, it will boost up your app development process. You should hire Android experts or someone who is experienced enough to think out of the box and offer a solution.

Use Hybrid App Development

Cross-platform apps allow you to use a single codebase for several applications that run on all the platforms. Hybrid app development is quicker than native app development. At a later stage, one can always opt for native mobile app development for more fluid, robust applications for improved performance.

Low Fidelity Wireframes

Low fidelity wireframes are essential in app development. Using these wireframes makes things easy for Android developers and UI UX designers. Low fidelity wireframes give them an idea and basic layout of the app development.

Using The Latest Tools

Too much to do in too little time. A small time frame is an issue most Android developers face. Right from designing to prototyping, coding, testing, and performance evaluation of the mobile app, there are endless operations with no shortcuts. Apart from Android Studio, there are powerful tools available to help your developers cut down the mobile app development costs.

Here’s our countdown of must-have android development tools that can speed up the Android app development process:

Genymotion

Genymotion is an Android emulator that can simulate the sensors of a device. This platform supports all the existing Android versions and eliminates the configuration requirements.

Hierarchy Viewer

Hierarchy Viewer is another great Android app development tool for debugging and testing purposes that analyzes the flaws of your app. This tool speeds up your mobile app development process. It helps your developers remove the unwanted elements in your Android apps.

LeakCanary

LeakCanary detects memory leaks in an Android application. This tool allows your Android developers to detect memory leaks and rectify them.

Vysor

This tool helps Android developers share their screens between their Android devices and workstations. Using this tool, developers can share the app features with the clients in real-time and receive instant feedback to streamline the development process.

Butterknife

Butterknife is a powerful time-saver for all businesses looking for faster time-to-market. This tool improves the coding rate and readability of your codes.

Automation Testing

Automation testing is a sure-shot quality approach to get secure and fully-tested apps compared to manual testing. This type of approach tests an Android application against a full suite of testing methodologies and tools simultaneously instead of one-by-one, as in manual testing. Automation testing improves test coverage, cuts down testing time, and guarantees a flawless product that is ready for the market.

Outsource Your Specific Requirements

The Android app marketplace is constantly evolving and new apps are introduced every day. In-house mobile app development is not a dime a dozen for every business. To remain competitive and relevant, you should outsource your app development to a proficient tech enterprise like DRC Systems.

Domain experts in Android development can put your entire product together and maintain it more effectively. As a result, this gives you better returns on development costs. Domain experts can better handle the load and development operations.

An Android app development enterprise has flexible engagement models that do not burn holes in your pockets. Choose from multiple models and arrive at a business solution that works in your favour.

Wrapping Up

An open-source Android app not only offers you plenty of customisation options but also great usability and lower costs than most of their proprietary counterparts. Being an IT enterprise, DRC Systems is an Android app development company that digitally transforms your business and helps you steer your product engineering to success.

Our team of Android developers helps you validate and convert your idea into a fully functional Android application. At DRC Systems, our dedicated Android developers carry 6+ years of experience in delivering enterprise-grade solutions to businesses worldwide. To learn how we can help you disrupt the largest mobile market with innovative apps, contact us right away!

Top 15 UI/UX Design Trends That Are Making Waves In 2021

The pandemic has changed the way we pay our bills, perform banking transactions, and shop online. It has changed the digital landscapes of several companies and continues to shake up the verticals of technology and user interface design.

As the world is moving a mile a minute, it is becoming more important to offer unique experiences to customers, vendors, stakeholders and clients. Virtual and remote working culture dawned with a roller coaster of 2020 and this has seen a drastic change in the UI/UX design trends throughout the year.

UI/UX continues to offer ultimate experiences and 2021 is no different. It is quite important to stay informed about these constantly changing design trends. Let’s have a look at the top 15 UI UX design trends of 2021 and beyond.

15 UI UX Design Trends That are Disrupting The Market

Unique Illustrations & Animations

Hand-drawn or digital, 2D and 3D forms of custom illustrations with huge asymmetry help platforms stand out from the generic lot. These unique illustrations and animations create a friendly and inviting environment that ensures the best user experience. Illustrations come to life with complex motion design and animation.

This combo makes it even easier to grab users’ attention and explain what the brand has in store for them. An appealing illustration can give mobile apps and websites a unique personality.

Scroll-Triggered Animation and Storytelling

A unique typography can build a strong visual hierarchy. It is an extremely important element of UI/UX design and plays a vital role in creating excellent user experiences.

Text styling is one of the most important elements of UI UX design and will continue to hold its ground for years to come. While the content and style capture the users’ attention, the narrative element engages them with a brand. This makes them feel as if they are part of the story.

Artificial Intelligence

The capability of Artificial Intelligence to collect huge chunks of data will help in developing more personalised products that are custom-tailored to every individual’s requirements. There are several powerful software that can leverage AI to develop artificial human image files. AI can be utilised to create digital photos or artificial identities on demand without having to worry about infringement claims or copyright issues. The best example of AI is Google Smart Reply and Smart Compose tools in Gmail.

Augmented Reality

Google’s ARCore and Apple’s AEKit AR development platforms can smoothly blend physical and digital worlds. Augmented Reality UI can have multiple approaches.

Real-world objects that have tethered interaction.

Switch to screen space where the user has to position the camera in a certain way.

Apple Glasses, AR gadgets and smart helmets let the users think through the context and improve the experience.

Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality is continuously owning a huge share of 2021 and the VR headsets are bringing even more excitement to the gaming audience. VR is paving its way into modern education, shopping and will change the food delivery industry in a post-pandemic world.

Abstract Geometry

Abstract lines with shapes, angles, and art is a popular style that is becoming more popular because of its free-flowing counterpart expressed through different colors and combinations of different elements.

Intricate yet powerful, abstract and geometry is pleasant to eyes, refreshing and attractive as well. This art design takes 1D drawings and enhances them with colors to create an expressive look that improves the user experience. The collocation of fun and engagement is reflected in this trendy design. Abstract Geometry is a powerful UI UX design trend in 2021.

Glass Morphism

The glassy shades and translucent elements provide a well-defined hierarchy on any interface. These elements mimic depth that helps the users to differentiate between the front and back of the screen. The new macOS Big Sur has implemented this style and gained quite a hype.

Voice User Interface (VUI)

Voice User Interfaces are taking over and have become one of the most important elements of UI design. These are creating a new way to interact with our phones and other smart devices through voice commands.

The best examples of VUIs are Siri, Google Assistant and Alexa. Smart answering machines and VUIs are a result of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. Voice User Interface is a big shot in 2021 and bags a place in the UI UX design trends.

3D Imagery

3D imagery is another UI UX design trend in 2021 as it’s getting easier for UI/UX designers to build 3D elements. 3D imagery creates pleasing designs from the realistic photographs that we see on our screens every day. Many companies often add stunning 2D and 3D images to create depths that bring out more details than normal photographs.

Dark Mode

The Dark Mode was never out of style. The look is modern, stylish and plays an important role in the user experience. Dark Mode is better in the readability of text, saves device battery, reduces screen glare and stress on the eyes. Dark mode is the new light in 2021.

Neomorphism

Combining flat design and skeuomorphism, Neomorphism is a visual style that deals with a combination of different colours, shapes, shadows, and gradients to improve the graphic intensity of the user interface elements. This trend is beautiful and futuristic in terms of design and has a huge impact in 2021.

Advanced Micro-Interactions

Micro Interactions exist in every software and we do it every time we navigate through an app. The Like feature of LinkedIn, Retweet feature of Twitter are perfect examples of micro-interaction. Touchless controls and gestures open doors to opportunities for a more intuitive experience. We will see more of these interactions in 2021 and beyond.

Bold Typography

Bold typography makes a return in the landing pages and microsites. Standing out from the surroundings, it demands to be read which results in action-oriented selling or marketing when blended with powerful CTAs. Popular websites and businesses are adopting this UI UX design trend.

Ink Trap Fonts

An Ink Trap Font is a feature of certain typefaces that are designed for small size printing. In an ink trap font, the corners are removed from the letterforms. When printed, the ink naturally spreads into the removed area and creates crisp edges.

UX Writing & Microcopy

UX writing and microcopies can go a long way in building a friendly experience. Specific UX content and conversational microcopies can build brands from scratch and offer the best UX to audiences. Content continues to own the throne in 2021.

Creating A Great Last Impression

An updated design gives your customers a feel of personalization and freshness which is extremely important in the constantly changing market. As an IT enterprise, DRC Systems houses a team of UI UX designers proficient enough to handle your specific requirements.

Our domain knowledge and years of expertise, give us the advantage to offer the best User Experience to our clients and their customers. From blending in the colours to designing a customised template and offering the best User Experience, we deliver great results. Connect with DRC Systems today for a peerless experience.

Blockchain & Machine Learning: The Pinnacle Of Integration

The digital world is seeing a boom in Machine Learning and Blockchain and, not to mention the increase in the application of blockchain technology with the rise of Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Like any advanced technology, Blockchain and Machine Learning come with a big bag of pros including automation, advanced data mining and more.

Blockchain technology has its own set of pros and Machine Language offers its own. But how good is a combination of both these technologies? Do we get the best? How can Machine Learning be used with Blockchain Technology?

Let’s find out!

But, before we dive into the abyss of data and learn more about the pinnacle of integration, let’s understand the basics of Blockchain Technology.

Blockchain Technology

The main idea behind blockchain technology is the decentralization of data storage so it cannot be utilized or modified by an unverified party. It can only be updated using a transaction sheet where once a transaction is noted, it cannot be modified. The next transaction needs to be verified by a trusted party before entering the sheet. The new set of records is checked and supervised by the decentralized architecture of nodes.

These are a few popular applications of the Blockchain Technology

Secure data trading

Cross border money transfer

Real-time IoT operating system

Supply chain and logistic monitoring

Cryptocurrency exchange

Personal identity security

While Blockchain is making its presence felt with cryptocurrencies and trading, Machine Learning is transforming how the existing data is retrieved and used to identify the patterns to gain valuable insights.

Let’s check out how Machine Learning can be used with Blockchain technology.

Applications Of Blockchain & Machine Learning Integrated Systems

Trading

Reinforced Learning is a subdomain of Machine Learning that is common within simulation programs. It operates by training programs called ‘Agents’. These agents build optimized strategies to gain rewards in an interactive environment. Trading Bitcoin and Ethereum have become a common activity amongst large financial institutions and retail investors. This approach is directly derived from Direct Reinforcement Learning. DRL helps the researchers in creating a price forecasting model that adapts to a specific time interval.

Product Development

The modern product development environment follows blockchain-based procedures to enhance the security, production, transparency, production, and compliance checks. Integrating the Machine Learning algorithms helps in developing flexible plans at specific periods for maintenance of the machinery. Machine Learning can automate quality check operations.

Smarter Cities

The integrated systems of Machine Learning and Blockchain technology play a vital role in improving the standard of living. For example, let’s take the case of IoT. Smart homes can be monitored by machine learning algorithms and this is a smooth way of controlling the security and retrieving the live feed of surveillance. Smart monitoring builds smarter homes and this improves the standard of living of the people. This is how machine learning with blockchain is improving the quality of livelihood.

Surveillance System

Security is everyone’s concern because of the increasing rates of cybercrime. An integrated system of Machine Learning and Blockchain technology can be deployed for surveillance where Machine Learning can be used to analyze the data while Blockchain technology can be used to manage the continuous feed of live data.

Network & Communications

To achieve decentralized, efficient, intelligent, and secure network operations, integration of Machine Learning and Blockchain technology can bring expected results. Blockchain can facilitate training data, Machine Learning model sharing, security, privacy, decentralized intelligence and can offer a high level of trusted decision-making of ML. On the other hand, ML can assist the development of blockchain in communications and networking systems including scalability, intelligent smart contracts and security.

Fair Mining

The traditional blockchain system rewards the miners for the operation of the system through tokens by ensuring fairness. Smart blockchain technology ensures that the system participants can retrieve rewards through a sheet that is automatically executed according to the contract codes. The condition-triggered automatic transfer mechanism is used to distribute the rewards to the participants. This transfer nurtures fair mining participation.

Manufacturing

In a blockchain, the records are stored and distributed across the nodes in the network which is secure and efficient. It results in getting a fairer, transparent, and secure manufacturing process. Predictive algorithms of Machine Learning can help in creating flexible plans that also monitor quality control and product testing to detect faulty products in the early stage of manufacturing.

Supply Chain & Logistics

Maintaining a supply chain is an endless task for all enterprises and as the business grows, the synchronization between the supply chain components becomes weaker. Blockchain technology can be used in complicated record-keeping, tracking of products for a better-automated alternative to centralized databases. An integrated system of blockchain and machine learning would improve the transparency and efficiency of the supply chain.

Fleet Management

Blockchain allows only the members of the group to access the chain of information. Only the verified participants including the fleet managers, operators, vendors, partners, and anyone in the supply chain can access the blockchain content. Blockchain bolsters everything right from compliance to payment and vehicle maintenance to route scheduling. The integrated system of blockchain, AI and ML handles the road and freight brokerages with added security to shipping and delivery. Such an intelligent system can create a digitized road map of routes and trigger an instant transfer of funds upon a successful delivery.

Finance

The combo of machine learning data capabilities with blockchain-powered smart contracts becomes feasible in the fintech market. While ML can look for anomalies, the smart contracts of Blockchain technology can automate the operations. Such an infrastructure makes the financial transactions completely secure, transparent and efficient. According to a report, most organizations benefit from the cost savings by participating in the consortia blockchain networks. By combining ML and blockchain to streamline business operations, financial services can offer greater value to the customers while increasing their returns to a maximum.

In A Nutshell

The combination of AI and ML along with Blockchain offers a tactical advantage. While Blockchain technology offers a trustworthy foundation for AI, Machine Learning supports the landing conditions of Blockchain.

Machine Learning has a huge takeaway in the world of blockchain, NFTs and cryptocurrencies. Apart from forecasting the price of cryptocurrencies and high-frequency trading, Machine Learning takes the functionality to a whole new level. As more of these techniques make their way to implementation and production environments to get commercialized, the world of Blockchain would open up more for machine Learning and businesses that deal with the advanced ML tactics in the coming years.

Artificial Intelligence in software testing: The next big game changer

Artificial Intelligence in software testing is changing the way testers automate the testing operations and this is a game-changer. Artificial intelligence helps by minimizing the operations and automating several processes that require human supervision. AI continues to stay on top of its game with the latest development in the evolving tech market. Tons of businesses are using Artificial Intelligence in software testing and it has become a crucial practice that offers excellent customer satisfaction.Be it a website or an application, having a regular AI-driven testing approach can secure the software breakdowns. Therefore most businesses scrutinize the products, solutions, and services to be aware of the risks and performance flaws.

AI In Software Testing

The digital ecosystem demands flawless applications and this makes software testing a very important part of the business. The quality of application matters the most in such a scenario and this factor distinguishes the business from others. According to one of the ‘Big Four’, Artificial Intelligence helps to analyze the critical algorithms, emphasizes testing controls in place and helps to address the inherent challenges. Businesses big or small must implement Artificial Intelligence in software testing.

In some parts of the market, the practice of AI for software testing is in the nascent stage and the amount of autonomy required to reduce the manual efforts is very less. Organizations are realizing that automating the manual test processes with the right tools and technical know-how is a sensitive requirement that can improve the testing cycle and increase the ROI.

Artificial Intelligence in software testing aims to improve the efficiency of testing. AI and Machine Learning implement reasoning and problem solving to automate and improve software testing. On top of that, AI plays a very important role in reducing the duration of manual testing. This enables the teams to focus on more complex and important operations. Artificial Intelligence practitioners are recognizing the potential of the technology in bridging the gap between human and machine-driven testing capabilities. As a result, many enterprises are recognizing the importance of AI in software testing and are developing intelligent AI-powered software testing tools.

Since 2014, there have been multiple spikes in the number of vendors offering AI-driven test automation solutions. The majority of these businesses are start-up companies that focus on system-level testing of mobile applications and generating the much-needed buzz in the marketplace.

Although there are some aspects of Artificial Intelligence for Software Testing that are not receiving any attention, in a couple of decades, we have seen AI emerge as a new discipline centered at the intersection of three ideas.

Self-healing Tests

In self-healing tests, any changes in the property are automatically sensed and the internal scripts are self-healed during a runtime. Regarding the UI, these self-healing tests have become a reality. There are more developments in the self-healing space and there is a huge room for innovation in the coming years.

Smart Automation Execution

The Artificial intelligence engine promotes the code and its features using smart algorithms that decide if the code can be processed properly. Furthermore, to decrease the chance of application breakdowns or failures, Artificial Intelligence can easily suggest the use of specific methods from the code repository. To automate the quality gates, the automated code repositories are maintained for different projects based on their success ratio.

Autonomous Testing

AI has been a game-changing practice regarding autonomous software testing. It can detect errors and speed up the development of product test cases. In the past, identifying the bugs with multiple iterations was a long and costly operation. Automation testing has improved the overall test coverage of the entire software development process. Now it takes less time to fix the technical glitches, remove the bugs, and also offers faster market acceptance. This saves time and cuts down the costs.

The Current Scenario

The current state of practice uses autonomous and intelligent elements referred to as ‘test bots’. These test bots automate modeling, test generation failure detection, and application discovery. A perfect combo of machine learning techniques is used to implement these test bots. These techniques include decision-tree learning, neural networking, and reinforcement learning.

Machine learning enables the test bots to become robust and act under conditions of uncertainty. Best examples of AI-Driven testing approaches surfaced over the last decade include:

Differential Testing

This testing approach compares application version overbuilds, classifies the differences, and learns from the feedback on classification.

Visual Testing

This approach is image-based and deals with screen comparisons to test the look and feel of the application.

Down The Road

So what can the testers do to build a future of software testing with Artificial Intelligence? The very first step is to determine if you are interested in designing an AI-driven system or being an end-user of such tools. Artificial Intelligence is altering the very fabric of software testing. We might not know the exact future of AI-driven software testing but we can prepare for it by stabilising and scaling automation testing to mature our processes.

Whether you are just starting on automation testing or are looking for a team of dedicated automation testers, DRC Systems offers end-to-end automation testing support to help you hyper-scale your software testing. Contact us today!

Top 7 Ways By Which Augmented Reality (AR) Is Transforming The Food & Beverage Industry

At first glance, AR VR may seem an insignificant section of video games or commercial images but it has played a pivotal role in revolutionizing the food industry. Augmented Reality (AR) apps are more immersive than ever before and have caught the eye of foodies, as they search food varieties online. With an increase in online searches for food and a surge of food discovery platforms, it has become inevitable for foodpreneurs and food industries to train their employees and engage with their customers through tech in an augmented world.

With the rise and acceptability of social distancing for personal safety due to pandemics, Augmented Reality (AR) apps are changing how we see and interact with things both tangible and virtual, around us.

AR is shaping today for a better future and immensely aiding business continuity in the post-pandemic situations. The Food industry is leveraging its applications to streamline its complex business processes. For the past couple of years, AR has grown significantly in the foodservice industry and is creating a positive impact. Not only better marketing and great customer experiences, but this technology is streamlining numerous backend operations as well.

Top 7 ways by which Augmented Reality is transforming the F&B industry

Powerful AR Marketing, Means More Business

Augmented Reality goes beyond our physical world and creates seamless opportunities for the brand to showcase its food products in a completely new avatar.

Food giant Nestle has an AR app (a 3D animated game) that has a collaboration with the Hollywood movie ‘Rio’. Customers can scan the same on the packaging of its products. Scanning turns their cereal boxes into 3D game consoles.

Another company, Kraft, launched an AR application that can show the users different recipes they can prepare using different Kraft products.

Online delivery is on the surge, post-pandemic, and AR assists customers to visualise the product before making a final purchase decision.

AR For Restaurants

People first eat through their eyes (visual), then by the nose (smell) and then through their mouth (taste) – it’s a universal human nature. Bright, clean and beautiful looking food served, increases the appetites of people and AR is playing a catalyst role in further increasing people’s food appetite.

Augmented Reality (AR) apps are improving both the front-end and the back-end processes for the restaurants. AR improves customers’ experience and enables them to visualise food items even before ordering them. This element takes the entire dining experience to a next level.

In the post-COVID world, AR technology could be the best alternative for menu cards. The labels and tags on the food items are helping the consumers and food lovers have better journeys. Through AR apps it is easier to train restaurant’s staff and explain the different concepts quickly. Be it experimenting with the new dishes or hospitality training, Augmented Reality is streamlining complex business operations.

Menu Item Visualization

The foodservice industry is leveraging Augmented Reality technology by offering consumers a special menu that goes live when scanned with smartphones. Restaurants and hotels use AR apps to present their dishes and promote their food menu by offering excellent 3D visuals and food tours. The giant pizza restaurant chain, Domino’s Pizza, allows its customers to customize their pizza in 3D before delivery.

Enhanced Customer Experience

Using AR technology, restaurants and F&B businesses are offering more information and visuals to their products and offer the best customer experience to their consumers. Modern Augmented Reality apps can also provide nutritional facts about the food and help consumers make better decisions about their diet.

Enhanced Product Packaging

Restaurants use Augmented Reality apps to buy food and drinks to supplement their packaging by offering virtual information on the top of physical labels and tags. Absolut, the well-known brand offers an AR app for smartphones that takes consumers back in time on a 3D tour to Aushus where the beverage is prepared. The ‘Absolut Truth AR’ app allows the user to freely explore the entire process of Vodka preparation right from the wheat fields to their bottles. The Australian wine brand 19 Crimes uses an AR app to enhance their wine bottles and provide more information about the pictures of the 18th century British prisoners on the bottle tags and labels.

AR Technology Eliminates Errors

The F&B industry is the most complex where you need to execute sensitive processes. With Augmented Reality, food processing, inspection, and other operations can be carried out comfortably along with the automation of checklists.

AR technology in the F&B industry is helping businesses bring down the errors to zero. This is achieved by real-time error correction. Whether it is food packaging and processing, managing the assembly line or the entire manufacturing process, integrating AR apps in the business is helping the enterprises scale their processes and eliminate most errors.

Staff Training & Upskilling

Augmented Reality technology can deliver exciting and immersive training experiences for new employees. From operating the equipment to equipment maintenance, and streamlining the assembly lines, AR apps increase the employee retention rate by 80% and the early adopters of Augmented Reality are experiencing a huge jump from the estimated 20% employee retention rate previously.

Apart from that, AR apps also increase employee interest levels and offer better training. AR technology can be applied to any step of the food manufacturing operations. Employees can walk through a detailed step-by-step breakdown of the daily tasks and checklists to supervise and inspect the manufacturing equipment. Augmented Reality has changed employee training for early adopters in the food industry.

According to research in 2017, AR apps can simplify the process of serving food in a way that analyzes and prepares an accurate estimate of food size.

Conclusion

Augmented Reality (AR) adaptation is on the rise in people’s daily life and benefits are well documented in the food industry. From AR apps for virtual 3D food menus to food delivery applications, Augmented Reality is shaping the foodservice industry.

AR apps are helping restaurants cut down their costs in the training and onboarding processes of their employees. This way, the F&B industry is offering better experiences to the new members. Do not lag in the F&B industry and get in touch with your next partner, DRC Systems. Contact us today to learn how we can digitally transform your food business through Augmented Reality!

Why Performance Testing For Web & Mobile Apps?

When was the last time you got stuck on a website due to a heavy traffic load? Does it not seem like a common issue while filing your taxes or checking your examination results online?

Website performance issues and crashes have been disrupting the online space. According to The Guardian, Victoria’s Pfizer vaccination program was bombarded with tons of requests. This resulted in website crashes and millions were unable to reach the call center.

Tons of instances emphasize the need for Performance Testing. Performance Testing helps to check the behavior of an application or a website in several situations. A system can work perfectly fine with a particular number of users and requests but might crash during peak traffic and millions of requests. There are different types of performance tests that help simulate various possible environments and scenarios that can understand the behavior of the users and applications.

With the increasing competition in the digital space and the ever-changing marketplace, Performance Testing is crucial for enterprises. These tests ensure the speed, performance, stability, and dependability of the application.

Performance Testing does not always detect and display the defects of an application or a website. The main objective of conducting performance testing is to ensure that the application platform performs as expected irrespective of the traffic load, bandwidth availability, and network surge.

So conducting these tests is critical for ensuring the stability of the website. An effective performance testing strategy is necessary for highlighting the performance issues and is done by following the industry-defined benchmarks to ensure that the application behaves stably. Automation of performance tests also adds value to the application testing process. There are several things you might miss out on if you do not conduct Performance Testing. Let’s take a closer look at what you would be missing out on.

Why Conduct Performance Testing?

Engage Your Customers With Improved Website Speed

A lousy website never draws a good audience. Performance testing enables the teams to analyze the performance and speed of the website. With the basic bandwidth and connectivity access, your users will have access to faster loading websites. Faster loading websites keep them engaged.

Faster Websites Generate More Revenue

For businesses directly connected with the customers, faster websites generate more revenue. Applications such as banking, online grocery, eCommerce, and other portals provide a secure gateway to the customers. Due to popularity, there is better traction and increased visits. Increased visits may increase the chances of increased loads and website crashes. Performance testing can analyze the performance and stability of such applications.

Frees The App From All Glitches

Performance Testing ensures that the application performs the way it is built. Different types of Performance Testing approaches detect performance flaws, issues, and stability of the application and resolve the risks that handicap the application in a real-world scenario.

Increase The Robustness of The App

Businesses need to ensure that their applications remain sturdy even during the most critical times. Issues like network surges, cyber-attacks, online threats, performance flaws, and other problems are just a few to mention. Performance testing with different tools improves the sturdiness of the application to strive in the marketplace.

Improves Scalability

With the ever-evolving market, enterprises go for dynamic applications that are scalable and upgradable in real-time. Performance testing detects the possible vulnerabilities in an app and identifies the pain points to increase the scalability. Analyzing the data and statistics from the test executions help the QA teams identify the possible issues.

Identifies The DB & API Related Issues

Different types of Performance Tests such as load testing, spike testing, and a few more enable the team to evaluate the behavior of the application. These tests also check if the server responds to the user with data within a stipulated time gap. These tests further help to examine the behavior and performance of the API under heavy loads.

In the above point, we highlighted load testing, spike testing. Let’s check out the types of Performance Tests.

Performance Testing Types

Load Testing

This is the simplest form of performance testing that evaluates the performance of a system under a specific load. This type of testing measures the critical transactions and load on the database and application server of the business.

Stress Testing

Stress Testing finds the highest capacity of the system and determines how the system works when the current load goes up beyond the expected limit.

Soak Testing

Also called endurance testing, Soak testing determines the system parameters under the continuous expected load. The main point behind conducting this test is to discover the system performance under sustained load conditions.

Capacity Testing

Capacity testing is more targeted at testing whether the application or the software can handle the amount of traffic and requests that it was built to handle. Using this test, developers can check the number of users the system can handle without breaking down.

Spike Testing

This test is performed when there is an abrupt increase in the number of users by a very large amount. The main point behind conducting this test is to find out whether the system can sustain load spikes.

Conclusion

Investing in Performance Testing is extremely important for the success of businesses and organizations. To ensure the best speed, high performance, and seamless experience, it is necessary to set clear objectives while selecting the software testing tools, technologies, and environment to conduct performance testing.

Performance Testing expertise at DRC Systems spans a wide spectrum of solutions including client-side performance testing, server-side performance testing, performance testing for mobile apps, and performance testing for web apps. We offer end-to-end performance testing solutions and help you launch highly stable and powerful applications in the market.

Do not lag behind your peers and competitors in the market. Get Performance testing solutions to stabilize your applications and give your users a flaw-free experience.

Native VS Hybrid App Development: A Quick Overview

Native app development or Hybrid app development approach? Which one should you go for? If you are drifting in the dilemma then you will find this article insightful. From the business point of view, you will learn about the advantages of both app development frameworks and which one leads to a better customer experience for your users.

Here we will consider different factors that determine the winning attributes of Native & Hybrid App Development. We will talk about CX, development time, time to market, UX and more.

Let’s get started…

Native VS Hybrid: Battle Of The Frameworks

CX Can Make Or Break The Success Of Your App

Before exploring the world of Native and Hybrid apps, there is an important thing you should keep in mind – the booming mobile market.

Your mobile device is always with you, every minute of the day. Responsiveness and faster notifications are just a few expectations of most mobile users. Even your customers and clients expect the best user experience.

Even the Hybrid app developers know that a Native app outperforms a Hybrid app. If you are going for the Hybrid route, you are offering a bumpy experience to your users.

Do you want to surprise your users by building a native application that integrates into the platform of their choice (either Android or iOS)? Or do you want to offer the freedom and implement the MVP approach and quickly develop a hybrid application across various platforms?

Potentially easier to build, the hybrid approach will likely result in a lesser ideal user experience.

Quick Overview

Native apps are built within a natural ecosystem and follow the technical guidelines of that environment. Native apps offer such a user experience that the users are more likely to learn how to navigate and use the app faster. Seamless UX is one of the several parameters that define the credibility of Native apps.

The native apps have the advantage of accessing and utilizing the built-in capabilities of the device. These functionalities include GPS, address book, camera, Bluetooth and other features.

Hybrid apps are websites zipped into a native wrapper. Hybrid applications look and feel almost like Native apps but outside the frame, they are powered by the website of a company. A Hybrid app is built using JavaScript or HTML5 and is wrapped in a native container that loads most of the information on the page.

Faster Time To Market Or Do It Right

Whenever companies decide to go for a mobile application, they are either catching up with their competitors or have identified an untapped business opportunity.

In any case, the businesses look for a faster time-to-market and the term ASAP often means several compromises. Both Native and Hybrid apps can get the job done but, there are a few considerations straight away.

If a company can wait for six months before the app is launched, the Native app development works the best. On the other hand, if the desired time-to-market is less than six months, Hybrid app development is a better alternative. Developers can build Hybrid apps in one source code and release them on two different platforms. This decreases the development time.

Performance

Hybrid apps may win the fights but even the hardcore cross-platform app developers admit that Native apps win the war when it comes to performance. A native Android app or iOS app is faster and more reliable according to its design.

Users may navigate to a Native mobile app, contents, structure, and visual elements that load instantly. This gives them a seamless experience.

On the other hand, a Hybrid Android app has a wrapper with most of the data being loaded from the server to the user’s device.

When we talk about performance, two key issues play a vital role:

Number of server requests (number of users sending requests to the same server at the same time)

Load balance requests (number of requests from mobile devices pinging the servers)

Users also agree that Native apps are seamless when it comes to performance.

UX: A Critical Differentiator

Modern app development is more about infusing the element of user experience in the development process. The controls, visuals, gestures, functions and options of the application should be seamlessly integrated with the style guide of the operating system.

UX is such an important element for mobile app users that a slight inconvenience will cause 90% of the users to switch to your competitor’s mobile apps which is quite frustrating.

Data, market analysis, current design trends, customer behaviour and other parameters are considered when choosing between Hybrid or Native app development frameworks.

When launching a Hybrid app, the application is platform-agnostic. On top of that, you do not have to maintain two different codebases. Hybrid apps are easy to build and take less time to get accepted by the market.

Defining a strategy for app development is extremely important for your enterprise. What is your strategy for app development? Do you want to implement the agile approach (launch the software in short and frequent intervals) for the Native app development or, do you prefer the waterfall model (turn-around time of months) for your Hybrid app development?

Wrapping Things Up

Both the Native app development and the Hybrid app development have their advantages, but at the end of the day, the Native approach weighs more on the beam balance when seen from a company’s bottom line.

By looking at the key differences between the two development frameworks, we can conclude that despite the heavy investment in the initial stage, most companies will choose the Native development approach instead of the Hybrid app development.

This is a perpetual discussion and can go on as far as data is relevant. Faster time to market, single code base, cross-compatible web technologies, easy updates, available resources and lower budget costs make the Hybrid apps the most loved software.

On the other hand, the biggest contraflow of Hybrid apps is that a company will spend more time, resources and budgets on fixing and tweaking the application because of the user complaints and customizations regarding the UI elements and other factors that drive performance.

The original investment will be higher and the company will save tons of money, resources and development time in the long run while offering great UX at the same time. Feeling indecisive about which mobile app development approach is the best for you? Drift no more. Contact DRC Systems today for a detailed discussion.

Wireframe: The Beginners Guide

What Is A Wireframe?

For the noobs out there, let’s start with the obvious question: What is a Wireframe? Similar to a blueprint or layout of an architectural design, a wireframe is a two-dimensional skeletal outline of an application or a website.

This design provides a clear overview of the page structure, information architecture, user flow, layout, functionality, and other parameters such as the behaviour of the page elements. It usually represents the initial concept of the product, wherein the colour combination, graphics, and other page elements are kept to a minimum.

UI designers can manually or digitally build a wireframe depending upon how much detail is needed. It is the most common practice used by UX designers and web experts. This process helps all the stakeholders to gather and place all the necessary information and page elements before the developers build the interface with the code.

That’s all about Wireframe. Wondering when it takes place and its purpose? In this article, we will walk you through everything you should know about Wireframe.

When Does Wireframe Take Place?

The wireframing process takes place during the initial phase of project development. During this phase, UI designers gather as much information as they can to understand the scope of the project. They collaborate on ideas and identify the specific business requirements.

Gathering valuable insights from the clients, designers reach the next checkpoint of preparing a prototype or a mock up which is a more detailed iteration.

This takes us to why it is needed. Now, let’s understand the purpose of Wireframe.

Purpose Of Wireframe

Keeps The Content User-Focused

Wireframes facilitate feedback from the clients and users and instigate conversations with stakeholders. A wireframe generates ideas between the designers so that they can collaborate effectively. Apart from that, it also helps in conducting user testing in the early stages of product development. This allows the UI designers to work on the feedback and identify the pain points that help establish and develop the concept.

Using the popular pseudo-Latin text ‘Lorem Ipsum’, designers can prompt the users with questions like ‘what do you expect here?’

These insights help the UI designers to understand the basic requirements of the users and create easy-to-use products.

Defines Features Of The Website

When communicating your ideas to clients, they might not have the technical lexicon to understand the terms like hero image, breadcrumbs or call to action. A wireframe helps you to communicate specific page elements to your clients.

On top of that, it also helps in defining the exact amount of space required for each feature. It connects the website architecture to the visual design and clarifies the functionality of the webpage.

Wireframes align the required features and help in visualizing how they will work together. These features may prompt you to decide which ones to remove or add some new ones when needed.

Saves Time & Money

Best part? Wireframes are inexpensive and are easy to create. Manually, you can create a wireframe on a piece of paper without spending a single penny. With certain tools, you can build wireframes in a short time.

By exposing the page layout, pain points and flaws can be identified and rectified without any significant expenditure of time and money. Removing the anomalies in the very beginning is very easy.

Contents Of A Wireframe

The contents of a wireframe depend on different types of wireframes. Elements of a wireframe typically include the following

Headers

Share buttons

Search boxes

Logos

Navigation maps

Pseudo-Latin text ‘Lorem Ipsum’

Pixel-specific layouts

Relevant written text

Different types of wireframes have different contents and elements.

Created in greyscale, the UI designers often use lighter shades of grey to represent the lighter colors and darker shades to represent the borders or outlines.

You might have come across the term ‘high fidelity wireframe’ in the above point. What is a high-fidelity wireframe? How many types of wireframes are there?

Let there be light!

Types Of Wireframes

There are three main types of wireframes and the only difference between them is the amount of detail they contain. Let’s take a closer look at these three types of wireframes.

Low-Fidelity Wireframes

These are the visual representations of the webpage and serve as the starting point of the design. Low-fidelity wireframes are rough and created without any sense of scale, grid, pixel accuracy and contain only a few elements.

A low-fidelity wireframe includes simple images, shapes, blocks and filter text for headers or labels.

Such a wireframe helps in deciding on the navigation layout and mapping the user flow. Built quickly, these are the best option when you are about to have a F2F meeting with your client and want to come up with a last-minute design.

Mid-Fidelity Wireframes

A mid-fidelity wireframe is the most commonly used of all. It includes more accurate representations of layouts and page elements. While these lack distractions such as typography and imagery, you can always see more details with specific components.

In mid-fidelity wireframes, different text weights are used to separate the body of the content from headings. Designers use different shades of black and white to highlight the visuals of components.

High-Fidelity Wireframes

High-fidelity wireframes include pixel-specific layouts and relevant written content with actual featured images. The added details make these wireframes ideal for documenting menu systems, interactive maps and engaging components. These are often saved for different stages of the product development life cycle.

Conclusion

So here is everything you need to know about Wireframing. Wireframe enables you to transform the idea of your client into a good starting point. Move forward with the confidence in your designs that your clients will love.

Apart from that, Wireframes help you save tons of money and development in the long run. Not investing in Wireframe design services might incur huge losses to your business. To learn how UI/UX, wireframe, and our product can help you gain traction in the market, contact DRC Systems today.

Top 10 Landing Page Design Tips For Better Conversions

Are you looking for landing page tips and UI design tactics to generate more leads and boost conversions? With a well-designed landing page that focuses on a single goal, you can remove all the distractions and extra navigation to get your visitors to take action.

But, do you know what makes a good landing page UI design? If you are looking for answers, this blog piece will help you. Here are the best landing page tips to increase conversions in a competitive marketplace.

Why Do You Need A Landing Page

A landing page is a standalone page on your website that focuses on a specific action. This page is different from the home page of your website. A landing page attracts visitors who are interested in your offer and convinces them to take the desired action.

Basic Landing Page Elements

Most landing pages have the basic page elements:

Alluring Headline

Subheadings

Copy

Images & Video content

CTAs

Aside from the basics, there is an ocean of landing page best practices that can turn tides in your favor. Implement these landing page tips and turn your landing page into a lead generation machine.

Top 10 Landing Page TipsHave Specific Goals & Be Clear About Your Objectives

Every landing page focuses on a single business goal. When you design a landing page, you have to be very clear about your particular goal. The main message of your landing page should be loud and clear to reach the visitors. Whether it is selling a product, offering a service, or asking the visitors to subscribe to a particular service, your message should be clear and in synchronization with the primary goal of your landing page.

Know Your Audience

You should take the subjectivity of your marketing strategies into account when designing a landing page. You need to know your audiences, approach them successfully and influence them. Your landing page should be relevant for the visitors you want to convert. Your landing page has to be relevant for your visitors. Learning about your audience gives you the upper hand in building a landing page that offers the best experience.

Have An Alluring Headline

The headline for your landing page is most crucial and effective for your business. The majority of the audiences go through only your headline and most of them do not even read the rest of the landing page. Use a catchy headline to grab the attention of your visitors and your landing page will do the rest.

Include Relevant Images & Videos

Text content is quite boring at times, that’s why you should include images and video content. Be it a product image, or how things work at your organisation, relevant images and videos offer the best user experience. This element attracts the attention of the visitors and increases the conversions too. More than 50% of users look for videos related to a product before they visit a store. Relevant embedded video content increases the conversion rates.

Mobile Friendliness

Modern shoppers do not use desktops to browse websites. This goes for your clients as well. Our smartphones, tablets and iPads help us in surfing the web for products and online shopping. Your landing page must be mobile-friendly. Mobile friendly web designs offer flexibility to your visitors.

Optimise Your Landing Page For Offhand Reading

Optimising your landing page for offhand or unattentive reading is one of the vital elements. According to research, the landing pages that are designed for offhand reading have more chances of increased page sessions. Modern Internet users just skim through specific keywords. You can make an impact and use bullet points, short paragraphs and strong sentences in the active voice to engage your visitors.

Personalization

Using real-life images can help your audiences create a personal connection with your brand. You should avoid the use of stock photos, image files and use real-life pictures of the business. Real pictures look genuine and are more appealing. Apart from using real-life pictures, you can also curate relevant videos of how your products or services will help your audience.

Focus On A Single Goal

The entire purpose of a landing page focuses on a single goal. Too many options breathe confusion and this leaves your visitors indecisive. You need to ensure that the message of your landing page is focused and clear.

Keep It Clutter-Free

While designing a landing page for your business, you need to keep it clutter and distraction-free. Users will click away without opting for your offer if you include a navigation menu on your landing page. You need to narrow down the options and distractions on your landing page and offer only a few relevant elements that work in your favor.

Pick The Right Color Combination

Do you know that the color combination you select may affect your landing page and conversion rates? Color psychology is powerful and you need to have specific hues that blend in just perfectly. By using the right color combination, you can evoke those emotional triggers in your audience and make them take the necessary action.

Wrapping Things Up

Implement these landing page design tips and UI/UX design and improve your landing page in the competitive market. While there are never-ending landing page tips, here are the most important of all. As a business owner, you need a partner who can help you improve your conversions. Contact DRC Systems today and get the best landing page solutions.

Top 11 Reasons To Implement AR VR In Your eCommerce Business

The pandemic is forcing the online retail business to evolve and get better. Customers and shoppers are limited to their homes as Internet shopping has become the new norm. Extended Augmented Reality innovations are assisting the customers with the best online shopping experiences.

With the social distancing standards rising, shoppers are getting more hesitant to visit offline stores. Social distancing is influencing retailers and business owners in every industry. Individuals now have more leisure time and can invest this shopping energy on the web. In short, more and more customers are interested in online shopping.

With the implementation of AR innovation, shoppers can utilise their smart devices to experience an item that resembles the ones they see in their homes.

11 Ways By Which AR VR Improves Your Return On Investment

In-Store Route

Retailers need to include less actual contact in the current conditions. After a long emergency, shoppers are ready to embrace the modern shopping experience. By effectively utilising the AR innovation to work in the in-store route, you can assist your customers and lessen the time spent in the store. Getting their hands on a particular product offers the best experience.

Improved Customer Experience

AR innovation helps the customers remain on the website for longer hours. When customers begin experiencing items by utilising the innovation, they get overwhelmed to buy the items. Modern shoppers foster closer connections with online products. This close connection with the products improves customer commitment and transformation of the stage.

Reduction In Pre-Purchase Anxiety

Big retail players dealing in expensive products like furniture and jewelry have never seen such success in eCommerce as the retailers of the less expensive goods. 3D images, on the other hand, are used in augmented reality apps. These offer the best shopping experience to modern customers and eliminate the anxiety that keeps them from hitting the ‘Buy Now’ button.

Improved Shopping Confidence

Customers are facing a confidence crisis to make good online buying decisions. An interactive 3D environment cuts through the clutter and shows the modern shoppers what they exactly need. As a result, this boosts their confidence and matches their specific requirements.

Streamlining The Offline-Online Continuum

Brands that maintain both offline and online presence often struggle to create a unified customer experience across different channels. 3D products make the entire process easy by enabling an online shopping experience that offers an in-store shopping experience.

Brand Awareness & Loyalty

If your eCommerce platform is in the B2C space, you will face huge competition. While advanced SEO is a must to grab the clients’ attention, visitors return to your eStore only if you have something unique to offer. AR plays its part very well and offers more to the users. As a result, the users enjoy a fantastic virtual trial experience before they buy the products.

Improved Conversion Rates & Increased Client Engagement

AR/VR innovation helps the users stay on the website for longer. An AR-powered website or application enables the customers to try the product before buying it. This boosts client engagement and increases the conversion rates of your business.

Smart Navigation Through AR-Based App

AR innovation helps modern customers by offering navigation assistance inside the stores. This helps them avoid getting lost while traversing the bottomless aisles to different product departments. Smart navigation offers an excellent shopping experience to the customers.

Unlimited Product Trials

AR-based applications can offer a step-wise guide and an easy-to-navigate manual that has built-in features for the customers. Customized apps help retailers eliminate any potential risks linked with the product by giving the details first-hand to the customers. Unlimited product trials reduce the buying time.

AR Gamification To Increase Customer Engagement

Gamification is not a new element but does wonders when clubbed with AR and shopping. AR games can enable mobile applications to incentivize and reward the customers with coupons, special discounts, and vouchers for their brand after they finish the entire game.

Pros Of AR/VR To Increase Your eCommerce Business ROI

Accelerates The Buying Decision

Manual product trials can be tiring and time-consuming as well. But with virtual product trials and 3D innovation, all the customers can find out the products that best fit their specific requirements.

Grows Brand Awareness

AR and VR innovation helps expand the brand awareness of a company to a new audience. Customized mobile apps with immersive AR features to aid the provision of a unique customer experience. Furthermore, AR innovation fosters close interaction between the product and the customers. Quick product trial results in quick feedback from the customers which improves brand awareness.

Eliminates Language barriers

With a legion of languages in different parts of the world, users from different cultures may face trouble buying at places that involve verbal communication with people. Through AR VR innovation, customers can integrate foreign languages and start buying.

Improves ROI

Augmented reality is a modern technology that keeps adjusting to the dynamics of the ever-changing market. An eCommerce retailer with AR/VR-based applications will grab more attention and bag more profits in comparison to apps with no such innovation in place.

Improved Shopping Experience

Irrespective of the online or offline shopping experience, as a retailer, you should provide intuitive buying methods to customers so they can return to your store. AR/VR applications are helping retailers to grab big chunks of customers with an immersive in-store experience like virtual mirrors, unlimited product trials, quick returns, experience large product catalogs, and more.

All In All

AR VR is prevalent across different industries and markets. Technologies like IoT, AR/VR, Blockchain, and 5G will offer refined use cases. AR/VR mobile applications are imperative assets for sustenance and growth in the retail sector.

To begin your journey with AR/VR, you need to get in touch with a customised AR VR app development company. We at DRC Systems have been steering the boats of our clients. With a pool of talented professionals, we develop futuristic apps that can help you offer your customers a great shopping experience and improve your return on investment.

Get in touch with us today and ace the eCommerce market!

#ar #vr #ecommerce #Business

How to Make Your Hubspot Investment Work- Short Term & Long Term

We are seeing millions of specialists and workers transition to remote working, a paradigm shift that took place almost overnight. Product launches, events, trade shows, and more have been canceled, and the in-person meetings are on indefinite hold. Online marketers and salespersons are working from home during these ill hours but are facing new challenges.

We conduct regular check-ins for our clients who use HubSpot. In these check-ins, we take care of these aspects:

If our client is paying for a particular feature but not fully utilizing it.

If our client is unaware of a feature that could help.

We analyze everything and determine how we can help our clients adjust their HubSpot tier to optimize their use of the tools and features they pay for. Down the road, our goal is to help our clients achieve better ROI.

For marketers who run marketing campaigns, support sales teams to sell remotely, or automate tasks, now is the perfect time to audit your digital tools. We are a HubSpot Solutions Partner and have been helping several businesses across the globe optimize their investment in this platform. If you are using HubSpot, follow these steps for complete check-ins. Here is how you can make your HubSpot investment work.

Short Term Goals

Check Out Which Features You Are Paying For

Each HubSpot package includes dozens of features, and your subscription may have tools you might not know. Nothing is worse than learning that your client is paying for a third-party integration feature even though their HubSpot package includes a better alternative to that particular feature.

Log into your HubSpot account, click on your profile photo in the upper hand corner and then click on Account and Billing to check which tier you are using.

Head to HubSpot’s pricing page and check the list of features included in your tier.

Document The Particular Features Our Client Is Using

Before we dive into all the things you could do with HubSpot, we document the particular features our clients are currently using. When conducting an account audit, you should emphasize customer experience. We make sure that our client understands the automated workflows that are already running. We do not want our clients’ contacts to get email-spammed.

We Help Our Clients Leverage HubSpot Better

The entire act of diving deep into your HubSpot account sparks a thousand ideas about how you can help your clients better use the platform to automate your workflows and effectively collaborate with your teams. Here is how we prioritize our next steps:

We fix the issues and take care of the flaws such as incorrect user permissions, expired contact data, outdated logos, and more.

We optimize your account by updating the campaign content that is not performing well. We also update the old content and clean up every hub.

Finally, we take care of implementing the tools and features into the business model of our clients. We do this to streamline their workflows and lessen the work while delivering the best customer experience.

Long Term Goals

Get To Know HubSpot

HubSpot is a superb platform for giving your customers the information they need to understand how the platform works. Get yourself familiarized with the tools and features you have at your disposal. This platform offers certifications and free online training, workbooks, quizzes, videos, and more to test and improve your knowledge. Getting your staff HubSpot certified is one way to ensure that they can get the most out of your investment.

Here is what they get

Inbound Marketing

Email marketing

Growth-Driven Designs

HubSpot Marketing Software

Social Media

Marketing Strategy Preparation

Assign At Least One Member To HubSpot

Marketing automation is dynamic and occurs on the customer-facing side. Several hours of manual work are involved in marketing automation. Depending on your specific business requirements, having a staff or at least a small team of HubSpot experts can help you steer your project in the right direction. Specific marketing efforts and strategy planning demand experienced minds. Without experienced staff, using HubSpot is a complete waste of your budget.

Have A Discussion With Your Marketing, Sales & Customer Support Teams

HubSpot spans Marketing, Sales, and Customer Support teams and allows each department to support the work of the other two. Sales and marketing teams work together to score leads based on their online activity. Constant communication works best with customer support and creates automated emails to onboard the new customers and answer the FAQs.

Conduct Regular Portal Audits

Your HubSpot portal accumulates contacts, old campaigns, forms, workflows, and more. You need to periodically archive these old campaigns, delete the old data that is no longer in use. It is easier to find better things in a clean portal. Regular portal audits enable you to clean your HubSpot portals and find better and relevant data.

Track Your HubSpot Revenue

With HubSpot, you get to have multi-touch revenue attribution that helps you decide which particular marketing activities are the most successful. You can identify the specific touchpoints for your leads and create sales opportunities. Not only that, you can strategize your marketing efforts if you start tracking your HubSpot revenue. Focus on those touchpoints that are performing well.

Have A Strategy

Several companies and businesses do not create an overall marketing strategy. Sometimes the marketing tactics are confused with marketing strategies. Blogging, Google ads, and SEO are just marketing tactics that do not provide an overall strategic direction.

Use the SMART technique (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound) to create a marketing strategy. Your marketing strategy won’t be successful without this approach. After all, HubSpot is just a marketing platform that cannot create a marketing strategy for you.

Conclusion

At DRC Systems, we use HubSpot for both B2B and B2C clients across the globe. We streamline the work of our clients and optimize their HubSpot Investment. It helps them with effective lead generation, campaign management, and complete content audit. In short, you can move ahead with the right set of tools.

The right partner can help you supplement your marketing efforts and strategy implementation. If you don’t know where to start or where to go next with your HubSpot journey, DRC Systems would love to steer your boat.

If you need to optimize your investment for both long and short-term business goals, we are happy to help!

#HubSpot #investments

Myth Busted: I Don’t Have Time

Two years ago, when I was working on an article, I received a call from an old friend. We talked for about 10 minutes. In those 10 minutes, he told me about his experience at work and how he was in a quicksand-like environment. He was underpaid and sounded frustrated.

I asked, “Why don’t you look for a new job? New job might offer a new environment.”

Upon hearing this, he said, “No man. I have no good skills!

I am busy the whole week and don’t have time to learn something new.”

I was shocked to learn that he was ready to give up.

After that, we talked about how he does not want to up-skill himself to change his underpaying job. An hour later trying to pump some positivity into that thick skull of his, he felt inspired.

It is never about time but about priorities. You cannot have time for it is not an object. Everyone has time, you have time, I have time. We all get 24 hours to eat, work, sleep, and check out our social media feeds and news.

Why do we do that???

It is only because these are our priorities.

It happens to us all. Many times, we prioritise a few things but procrastination wins. But here are a few aspects that will definitely help you manage your time and kill that procrastination.

Set Smart Doable Goals

We all have the habit of setting big goals and we work hard for them. But do we pursue them? I advise you to have smart, small, and doable goals. In a nutshell, make sure that your goals are SMART.

S: Small

M: Measurable

A: Achievable

R: Relentless

T: Timely

Prioritise Your Tasks

You need to prioritise your tasks based on the level of importance and urgency. You can determine which are the most important and take that call accordingly.

Important & urgent: Do these tasks right away

Important but not urgent: Decide when you finish these tasks

Not urgent & not important: Set these tasks aside and finish them later

Define Deadlines & Complete The Tasks

Setting the time constraints sometimes gets us all hyped-up but gradually, the excitement goes down. Setting deadlines for finishing tasks can help you focus and be efficient. Taking baby steps towards achieving your goals is what you should do.

Making that small extra effort to decide on how much time you need to finish each task can help you recognise obstacles before they even appear. In this way, you can make plans to deal with them.

Take breaks Between Two Tasks

When trying to finish multiple tasks without a break, it is hard to stay focused and motivated. Allow some downtime and take a few short breaks to relax.

Do not let that stress build-up.

Clear your head and refresh yourself.

Consider listening to some music like I do or take a short nap. Do not be that infamous Jack who works all day and doesn’t take time off.

Organise Yourself & Prepare For The Worst

Organising yourself is more like maintaining discipline in your life. It can be fruitful for you and can help you achieve your goals. I suggest you utilise your calendar for long-term time management. Write down the deadlines of important tasks that are a part of completing the entire project. Think about the best ways to dedicate time to specific tasks that are more important.

Plan For The Future & Work On It

Make sure you start your day with a clear idea of what you need to do. Focus on the important and urgent things and try to finish them the same day. Make it a habit to prepare a short to-do list for the next day before you hit the hay. Doing this every day will help you plan and organise yourself for the next day.

We all have plenty of time. But we feel too lazy to do things that matter a lot. Procrastination is opportunity’s nemesis and you should maintain strict discipline.

So the next time you tell someone ‘I don’t have time’, think if you are just procrastinating tasks & just ignoring an opportunity to learn something new.

#time #time management #myths

Why Use LinkedIn To Improve Your Online Presence?

LinkedIn is one of my favourite places to learn something new and grow my network. I browse LinkedIn for over 22 hours a week. It is the largest business-oriented networking platform that is more bent towards professionals. It houses over 500 million members from over 200 countries. A professionally written profile allows you to create an online professional brand that opens doors to new opportunities and connections that you have never seen on any other social media.

LinkedIn is beneficial for intellectuals who are looking for better ways to increase online exposure. In this article, I’ll give you some tips to gain exposure and increase your followers. Stay tuned!

How Can LinkedIn Help You?

So WHY use LinkedIn to get more exposure? What makes this platform different from the other social media platforms? These are my favourite reasons why I believe LinkedIn helps to increase online exposure.

Gain Exposure To Hiring Managers & Recruiters From Different Places

Above 90% of recruiters and hiring-managers use LinkedIn to search and recruit talents. This platform allows you to have a personal online brand that makes you visible to the key decision-makers and recruiters. You never know who can hire you. Love travelling? Several companies sponsor visas and help you with paid relocation if you fit the bill. LinkedIn is the best platform to showcase your skills and get connected to hiring managers from different places.

Grow Your Network & Get Endorsements

LinkedIn is a networking platform and you can have a max of 30,000 1st degree connections. Due to this limit, I’d like you to add only the meaningful connections that bring in some value. You do not want to get stuck with influencers who are looking for followers. Let your connections recommend you and endorse you for the skillset you showcase in your profile. This is extremely powerful in making connections. Build credibility through the endorsements and testimonials your contacts leave on your profile.

Grow Your Email List

For an emerging entrepreneur like you, email is the best way to reach out to your customers. A click on an email is more frequent than in a LinkedIn message. You are in charge of your mailing list and you decide what messages you want to send to your loyal subscribers.

When the users sign up for your newsletter, they already trust you. They are more interested in learning what you have to offer and say in the email. LinkedIn allows you to send 50 messages at a time and you can get a targeted group of users to sign up for your newsletter.

Post Quality Content Regularly

Whether you are a LinkedIn user as a growth marketer, writer, professional, or a company, people would love to feel a connection with you. Forming a bond with like-minded users takes more than just maintaining a professional image. Why be ultra-professional when you can share some funny memes, informative videos, lectures and engage your followers with even more engaging content?

Posting quality content on this platform increases your followers which can be further increased with informative video content. People love video content, product launches, events, and informative video content.

Join Specific Groups

If you are an entrepreneur, I’d strongly recommend you to visit and join specific groups you might be interested in. Joining the groups has its rewards. Groups are the silos of subscribers and prospects. It is not advisable to follow the cold-market approach but you can hit that ‘send an invite’ button and connect with your potential customers. Build a rapport and get quality leads with time. That’s the beauty of it. I personally love creative writers’ groups wherein I can connect with writers from across the planet. Knowledge sharing is a big thing and this is what makes people follow you.

Powerful Hashtags At Your Disposal

Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn offers more sorting options to find like-minded users or prospects that might be willing to try out your product or services. Learn from the influencers and social media marketers. Connect with them, get to know how they work and learn their tactics to increase the followers. Most of the intellectuals are common content marketers who know which particular hashtag to use.

Creating content that is relevant to the particular hashtag makes it even more credible. Users who regularly post content and engage their followers get 33k likes and 2k shares on their posts. Sounds nice? With the proper use of hashtags and relevant content, you can achieve that too!

There is something that I’d recommend you avoid doing. You should refrain from sharing the same content in too many groups. There is a high chance that your audiences are also in other groups you are in, and it is a shame if they meet you in the same groups with the same story.

By applying the above tricks and tips, you can create an excellent LinkedIn marketing strategy that will increase your online exposure whether you are a job seeker, business owner or an emerging entrepreneur. LinkedIn is an untapped ocean of connections and users who would love to do business with you. If you are new to all this, get yourself registered and start your entrepreneurship journey today!

#linkedin #online marketing

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Nishi Agrawal