Intellectsoft Blog https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog Wed, 28 Sep 2022 13:46:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.0.2 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/cropped-favicon-1-32x32.png Intellectsoft Blog https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog 32 32 How Build-Operate-Transfer Model is Shifting IT Outsourcing https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/how-build-operate-transfer-model-is-shifting-it-outsourcing/ Wed, 28 Sep 2022 13:46:38 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=26004 Technologies are evolving at a breathtaking pace and the number of businesses that want to adopt those technologies, get digitized, and thrive through modern progress...

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Technologies are evolving at a breathtaking pace and the number of businesses that want to adopt those technologies, get digitized, and thrive through modern progress is rising.

The same evolution goes for service delivery as well. Multinational organizations, enterprises, and medium to small companies all want to gain a competitive advantage in the market and turn to software development outsourcing to adopt innovative software and improve efficiency as well as boost revenue.

software development

With the growing demand for services, more diverse and innovative service delivery models appear as well to leverage external expertise effectively. And one of those innovative models with its growing popularity is called build-operate-transfer model in IT.

Check out this extensive engagement models ebook that will help you understand the basics of collaborating with an outsourcing vendor.

In this article, you are going to find out the essentials of BOT in IT outsourcing industry. First of all, we will give the definition of this approach, describe how it works, what are the benefits of BOT, as well as possible challenges you might encounter. Let’s get started so you know more about the build-operate-transfer in IToutsourcing and can make better and well-informed business decisions!

What is a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Model?

Before we dig into all the details, let’s get started with the basic definition so you know clearly what is BOT.

Build-operate-transfer model is one of the business engagement models that imply building R&D centers in an overseas location. Usually, a trusted IT outsourcing provider takes over this process and will create a center that will function in their location.

To be more specific, an IT outsourcing provider who offers a BOT model will be fully responsible for developer recruitment, legal aspects, payroll and accounting, and other operational procedures. It’s also worth noting that the R&D office might eventually transition into the client’s premises.

Outsourcing is one of the best and most well-recognized solutions that can help businesses reduce costs and improve their efficiency. Vendors offer quality services through the BOT as well as other engagement models to achieve all this.

In addition, by leveraging the build operate and transfer model in IT, companies can gain a competitive advantage as they can benefit from the market-leading expertise while delivering complex software solutions as well as acquiring exceptional service delivery capabilities.

How Does Build-Operate-Transfer Model in IT Outsourcing Work

Build-operate-transfer in IT industry is a very straightforward model. It consists of three main stages.

Build-Operate-Transfer Model

1. Build stage

The first phase involves a deep analysis of the client’s tech requirements and business needs. It’s crucial to understand their main vision, the end goal, as well as their company culture. Based on that, the service provider will take care of choosing the location, employing competent specialists, and providing the team with all the necessary hardware and software.

2. Operate stage

This phase is aimed at attaining safe and consistent operations while standardizing all the internal procedures and improving the processes to meet the objectives. The professionalism of a vendor will enable the client company to become more flexible, scalable, and easily adaptable to market changes.

3. Transfer stage

The last phase of engagement implies that the mature and stable operational center will be legally transferred to the client. It can be fully or partially transferred to a client including all the IP, knowledge base, team members, and assets. One of two options will be discussed and agreed upon beforehand. The success of the BOT depends on the success of the overall transition which depends on the proven track record of the service provider.

Key Benefits of Build-Operate-Transfer Model in IT Industry

Let’s take a closer look at the real advantages that BOT in IT industry can bring to businesses all over the world.

Build-Operate-Transfer-Model-benefits

1. Reduced costs

First and most significant benefit of the BOT model is its reasonable pricing. The option of creating an R&D office with this model will be suitable for small companies that only want to grow as well as for big enterprises that want to cut down their expenses without losing the service quality. It can help you save up to 60% of expenses as salaries in overseas locations are significantly lower than in the North American market. We recommend you take a look at Eastern European service providers.

2. Minimized risks

Along with significantly reduced costs, the BOT can also minimize the potential project risks related to the services offered. The outsourcing company will take care of all the details as they are aware of the industry and they know all the local conditions of collaboration including the legal side of the process. The vendor will be already prepared to face all the challenges and overcome them without your involvement.

3. Flexibility

The build-operate-transfer model is considered a very flexible one. If a company needs that, the BOT will satisfy this need. Employees hired within the BOT model will be able to work on different tasks and switch between projects. Moreover, the collaboration between your in-house team and BOT team will be more productive and effective as outsourcing professionals are fully integrated into the project and will share the overall company culture.

4. Access to a wide talent pool

Due to a talent shortage of qualified professionals, businesses located in North America or Western Europe have faced a problem of having difficulties hiring in-house employees. The high demand for talent creates a lot of competition between employers of different sizes.

The BOT model will give you unique access to a wide talent pool so you can hire specialists with the required expertise without geographical limits. No matter what you choose — a nearshore or offshore outsourcing partner, you will have higher chances of successful recruitment of experts.

5. Facilitated scaling

The build-operate-transfer model gives an opportunity for a client to start a productive collaboration with team members right away. As the company infrastructure is completed and all team members are put to effective work, the client can focus more on scaling up their businesses while the outsourcing partner will take care of and eliminate all the possible bottlenecks. It gives more freedom to a company for business growth and development as well as plenty of room for rapid operational expansion.

6. Fast product release

Team members hired within a BOT model work on a project continuously. They are fully dedicated to the process meaning you can achieve the desired results and release your product on the market faster and more easily. Both parties are interested in a successful collaboration that’s why both of them are putting maximum effort into the quick and quality end result.

colleagues

Challenges & Solutions When Using Build-Operate-Transfer Model in IT Market

As you can see, the BOT model in IT industry has plenty of advantages. However, there are some potential risks that you might face as well. Let’s take a look and the possible drawbacks:

  • Offers might be rejected by candidates. If you haven’t played the offshore outsourcing game before, you have to be ready that candidates might potentially reject your job offer. Not all outsourcing providers will promote your company to be more appealing to candidates. In order to avoid that, you have to take care of employer branding as part of your collaboration strategy with offshore specialists.
  • Challenges with dedication. The BOT team will belong to the offshore outsourcing provider. Therefore, chances are you will face potential challenges with employee dedication. Developers who will work for you can be confused and not fully understand who manages them and to whom to report all their progress. To make everything easy and smooth for you, make sure you take over the management process and your vendor that assists you in setting up the R&D team won’t have access to the development itself.
  • Lack of operational management expertise. Choose an experienced provider who is knowledgeable in setting up an R&D office. Many IT service providers don’t know all the administrative operations details it implies. Choose a vendor with practical skills that will help you effectively.

Summing Up BOT Model for IT Outsourcing

To sum up everything that we said above, the BOT model IT outsourcing is the outstanding solution for companies who look for affordable ways to expand their teams, improve operational efficiency, and take their businesses to a whole new level.

More and more companies of different sizes opt for this specific model over other engagement models due to the big number of benefits the BOT offers. Despite some minor challenges it’s possible to face during the collaboration, this model is definitely worth considering for your upcoming projects.

software engineer

Consider Intellectsoft Your Trusted Software Development Partner

If you are looking for a reliable software development partner that can help you in your digitalization journey, consider collaboration with Intellectsoft. It is a trusted offshore IT outsourcing strategies company with more than 14 years of professional experience on the market.

Our team offers a wide range of expert services, starting from software development consulting, to building a custom end product while using the latest technological knowledge and advancements.

Take a closer look at our top client cases to see how effectively we cope with business challenges and what scalable and innovative solutions we offer.

We have extensive expertise to outsource software development services across various industries including construction, healthcare, fintech, hospitality, logistics, and more. Intellectsoft has gathered the most qualified software engineers and other IT professionals to deliver top-notch results and meet all your business needs and requirements.

Feel free to contact our representatives today to get all the information regarding the terms of collaboration, to describe your project, and see the NDA agreement as well as contract samples. We are ready to skyrocket your business and implement our best knowledge and practices to build software that will transform your company.

FAQ 

How does the BOT model benefit IT Outsourcing?

In outsourcing, the build-operate-transfer model has a very special place. This particular model has many advantages and that’s why it’s chosen by various companies across industries. The main benefit of this specific model is cost reduction. You will be able to expand your team and receive quality services while paying less. Another pretty important advantage is that this model minimizes all the risks related to the process of building an R&D office so you will always stay on the safe side. In addition, this approach is very flexible and scalable, and you will get access to a wide talent pool to choose from.

Is the Build Operate Transfer model in IT popular?

Yes, BOT is getting more and more popular every day due to the wide range of benefits it might offer to businesses. If you want to know more about this model in Intellectsoft then feel free to get in touch with our team and we will be happy to tell you more about the build-operate-transfer model as well as about other engagement models we use while collaborating with our international clients.

How to know if a BOT is suitable for me?

First of all, in order to evaluate this specific model and understand if it’s suitable for you, you have to clearly define your business needs and goals. It will help you see what purpose you have in the future and after that, you can think of ways that will help you achieve your plan. BOT is not the only existing model so if you are hesitating, contact us and we will give you some basic consulting to enable you to make a well-informed decision that will match your ultimate business development goals.

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Hiring Dedicated .NET Developers in 2023: Steps, Advantages and Pitfalls https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/hiring-dedicated-net-developers-steps-advantages-and-pitfalls/ Tue, 13 Sep 2022 07:29:52 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=25984 .NET development framework is one of the most popular and chosen by developers all over the world. It is a flexible platform used to develop...

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.NET development framework is one of the most popular and chosen by developers all over the world. It is a flexible platform used to develop a wide range of applications, websites, mobile apps, etc. of different complexity and scale. It can help businesses digitize their processes quickly and take them to a new level while boosting efficiency, and convenience, and reducing expenses.

To make it all happen you need an experienced workforce with relevant tech skills to do so. .NET development is a big challenge for businesses that can be overcome through outsourcing. Intellectsoft .NET outsourcing services will enable you to build your dream project and meet all your requirements.

dedicated team

We have in-house developers as well as enough resources to hire them from a large talent pool from any location in the world you want. The speed of the search process varies on the requirements regarding the specialist and their expertise, their seniority level, location, future responsibilities, etc. At Intellectsoft, it usually takes from 10 days up to 1 month. The hunting process is not a problem as the rising demand for accomplished professionals across the globe makes it so much easier.

Intellectsoft’s rigorous selection process makes it possible to hire only the most qualified and experienced .NET software developers for your needs and integrate them with your team. Our software architects and team leads take part in the recruitment process and conduct technical interviews to evaluate the technical skills of candidates.

If you are interested in hiring .NET developers and don’t know where to start, keep reading the article. Here, we are going to talk about how to hire dedicated .NET developers for your project, what are the core skills of a qualified professional, and what challenges you might face during the recruitment process. Let’s get started!

.NET Developer Global Market Overview

Currently, .NET is the most widely used platform on the market. It was released in 2002 by Microsoft. Why is it the main choice nowadays? Because it contains plenty of features and tools that enable companies to develop reliable applications and software using different programming languages.

That’s why more and more aspiring developers gain .NET experience and skills and more businesses search .NET developers for hire. There is a large number of professionals with relevant expertise all over the world. And rising demand for .NET developers generates an even more increasing number of specialists. Take a look at the following statistics to see the trend of the current .NET market.

Statistics .NET Developers

Necessary Skills of .NET Programmer

Skills of .NET Developers

1. ASP.NET MVC

ASP.NET MVC is the biggest industry trend that can be a developer’s competitive advantage. Knowing how it operates enables programmers to fully manage all application functions. ASP.NET MVC replaces other frameworks that help build any software in the most efficient and timely manner.

2. Exceptional coding skills

It goes without saying that a .NET developer must write quality code so the final product performs well. Specialists should easily determine how they can input the existing code to save time and what code to write from scratch. After the code is written, they have to be able to evaluate the code’s performance and improve it if needed.

3. Client-side technology knowledge 

As the primary task of a .NET developer is to develop innovative, user-friendly, scalable, and highly-functional web applications, they should understand well the essential client-side technologies such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Bootstrap. Similar knowledge will help any professional to boost their employability as well as to deliver top-notch results at work.

4. Programming languages

In order to perform well on a project, a developer must have exceptional knowledge of programming languages. The most important languages are C#, F#, and VB.NET. In addition, it’s also beneficial to be familiar with SQL Server, NoSQL, Oracle.

5. Soft skills

Highly professional full stack .NET developer is not only a person with exceptional technical expertise. The specialist should also possess some soft skills that are integral while collaborating with a client and being a part of a team. Among the most important soft skills, it’s possible to name time-management, problem-solving, and customer service skills.

colleagues working

In-House vs. Outsourced .NET Developers

If you are wondering whether you should outsource .NET developers or hire an in-house team then we will try to help you decide what option is better for your case. An in-house team is an excellent option because you will get developers who are highly involved in a project and share your company culture, and it’s easy to manage them as they are working on your premises.

The main drawback of hiring an in-house team is that it requires some serious financial investments. First of all, in-house developers have significantly higher salaries. In addition, the recruitment process of local specialists involves additional expenses for training, healthcare insurance, office space, vacations, etc. This option will be suitable for large companies and enterprises with enough budget and stable workload and plenty of software development plans for the future.

Outsourced developers offer the same level of performance for a reduced price. As software engineers are located overseas, you don’t have to worry about paying extra and it can be very beneficial for small companies or startups that want to save their budget without losing the quality.

Moreover, outsourcing is the better option in case you are looking for a temporary collaboration with developers. However, be ready to face some challenges while outsourcing. The main bottlenecks are different time zones, some cultural differences, and potential language barriers.

Key Steps to Hire .NET Developer

Here are some easy yet effective steps that will help you find .NET developers and build a loyal and trustful relationship with them.

Hiring .NET Developers Tips

1. Write an informative job opening

The first and most important thing is to write an informative and detailed job opening. Define who is your perfect team member and what responsibilities they will take on. Structurize all the information and based on it come up with a brief yet extensive advertisement that potential candidates will see.

2. Know where to find them

There is no shortage of .NET developers, however, it’s not so easy to hire a good specialist really easily. Therefore, you need to know where to look for them and be really fast. You should turn to recruitment agencies or look for developers on job boards.

3. Prioritize the selection process

Once you start receiving candidates’ profiles, you have to review each of them thoroughly so as not to miss the real gem. Take your time, read CVs carefully, compare with other candidates and choose your top picks to invite them for an interview.

4. Prepare the right interview questions

Many managers make a big mistake by not preparing the list of interview questions beforehand. It’s paramount to be well-prepared before the interview if your main goal is to hire the best specialist. Create not just a list of questions about the previous experience, but also develop the tech task to evaluate their professional competencies.

5. Soft and hard skills matter

The importance of soft skills is gravely underestimated right now. However, it’s crucial to evaluate the soft skills of a candidate the same way you evaluate their technical knowledge. Define what soft skills would matter for your business and for your company culture and rely on them while looking for a best-matching candidate.

6. Consider hiring remote developers

As we have already mentioned above, outsourcing software development services can be a very convenient and budget-friendly option for companies across industries. Therefore, you should seriously consider hiring remote .NET developers.

coding process

Challenges to Avoid While Hiring .NET Developers

  • Not paying attention to cultural fit. Cultural fit really matters. You should hire not just an amazing professional who can perform well but also a team player who shares your company’s vision and can be a great match.
  • Choosing the lowest salary rates. It’s very tempting to choose the developer with the lowest salary requirements. However, it’s important to understand that salary is the reflection of professionalism and experience. Make wise investments.
  • Limited your access to talents. Even though you would prefer to hire local developers, don’t limit your search. Be open to opportunities and don’t underestimate the potential of global search and outsourcing.
  • Failing to conduct a proper tech interview. This mistake is very straightforward. Take your time to prepare the relevant technical interview and review it carefully while evaluating it without any bias.
  • Hiring from freelancing platforms. This is not the best space to look for qualified professionals. Most likely you will encounter a person with mediocre skills and a lack of experience. Better delegate this task to a professional agency.

Where to Hire .NET Developers

As you can see from the .NET global overview and statistics, there is no lack of specialists. There are approximately 6 million on the roles of .NET developer all over the world and basically, you can hire them in any country you want. If your team has enough budget and resources to hire in-house developers, you can search your local market. However, if you want to minimize expenses while maintaining the service quality, you should consider outsourcing .NET services or hiring a dedicated development team who will relocate to your premises but you will pay according to the prices offered by an outsourcing vendor.

Let’s take a glimpse at the average salaries of ASP NET developers in different countries. For example, in the United States, specialists get up to $105,000 per year depending on their seniority, skills, and years of experience. This is the highest salary in the world. In Canada and Australia, the salary goes up to $88,000, and in Western Europe — $80,000. In the UK, the level of salaries is the lowest, up to $72,000.  

Take into account that offshore .NET developers cost less than developers from North America. The price range varies between $50K to $30K per year depending on their seniority level and your specific requirements for a candidate you want to hire. If you want to hire matching specialists, you can look for Easter European destinations. Countries like Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, etc. are trusted by many international companies for .NET developers outsourcing.

If you want to know more about hiring offshore software developers in Eastern Europe — read our guide with valuable tips and a list of companies to consider.

developers .NET

Intellectsoft is a Trusted .NET Software Development Partner

Intellectsoft is a trusted outsourcing company with a market presence of more than 14 years. We are recognized by many review platforms like Clutch, TheManifest, Inc. 5000, and so many more for the level of professional enterprise software development services we offer and for the feedback our multiple clients gave us after collaborating with Intellectsoft.

Our core expertise includes experience working across industries such as fintech, healthcare, construction, hospitality, logistics, and more. We have gathered a team of qualified outsourced developers with outstanding programming skills who share our corporate culture and bring their own contribution while helping businesses digitize and grow exponentially through technology implementation.

Speaking of .NET specialists, we offer our clients access to our employees with the relevant experience or an opportunity to find the best-matching candidate among the large talent pool with the assistance of our skilled recruitment department. We are here to help you in your digitalization journey and are ready to offer all of our skills.

Feel free to contact us and get all the information regarding hiring .NET programmers or discussing your software idea with our representatives. Our team will gladly assist you with defining your project scope, and length, counting expenses for our services and so much more.

Don’t hesitate to take a look at our top client cases to see our capabilities and exceptional results that enabled our partners to grow their businesses and benefit from collaboration with Intellectsoft.

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7 Tips for Effective Composition and Management of a Remote Development Team https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/7-tips-for-effective-composition-and-management-of-a-remote-development-team/ Wed, 07 Sep 2022 11:34:08 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=25939 Remote work became a new reality for most employees and companies right now. Along with the rising demand for software developers, not only do companies...

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Remote Team statistics

Remote work became a new reality for most employees and companies right now. Along with the rising demand for software developers, not only do companies let their employees work from home but also hire full remote software engineering teams to work on implementing the latest technologies.

It’s worth noting that the industries with the highest number of remote workers are healthcare (15%), technology (10%), and financial services (9%). However, other industries also consider hiring remote developers to help them digitize their businesses.

As you can see from the latest statistics, the popularity of remote work keeps growing and has a positive impact on businesses.

Nevertheless, some owners still feel skeptical about hiring remote employees especially when it comes to software engineers. Most of their concerns are related to managing a remote development team. As we have offered remote software development services for 14 years already, we decided to share our unique experience to make your decision-making process easier and management more effective.

In this article, you will find an extensive overview of managing remote software developers. You will get priceless tips from our experts to make the most of your collaboration with a software development vendor, achieve higher productivity, and meet your long-term goals.

effective team

7 Tips For Effective Management Of a Remote Software Development Team

Now, let’s dig deeper into the basic rules of remote software development team management. 

Importance of Team Structure Composition

Managing a remote software development team is a very complex process that requires a lot of responsibility and organized approach. You have to structurize your requirements and goals in the first place.

However, in order to have a successful partnership with remote employees, you should also start by structuring your future software development team. To make it happen, it’s paramount to define the scale of your project.

Document all your project details and provide the broad description of an end product. It will help you and your outsourcing vendor to define the team size and select the specialists with the most relevant knowledge and skills.

Through this, you will be able to have a smooth workflow without interrupting to search for extra developers, or paying extra for the employees that are not bringing any value to the process.

Have Your Remote Team’s Time Zones in Mind

time zone map

Another very important tip if you want to have an effective remote software development team. As you probably know, most outsourcing companies are located overseas and because of their remote locations, those companies offer very budget-friendly options while delivering fantastic service quality. Most typically, outsourcing companies are located in Asia or in Easter Europe.

Although Asian service providers offer a little bit more cheap services, the main drawbacks of collaborating with them are a huge time difference, bad knowledge of English, and significant cultural differences. Speaking of Easter European outsourcing companies, they have a similar mentality and have more convenient locations. No matter what option you choose you should have time differences in mind.

According to the latest research, 59%  of remote workers claimed that their company operates in two to five different time zones.

Therefore, to make your collaboration as smooth and effective as possible, you should schedule meetings, distribute tasks, and manage the performance taking into account the time zone of your team. In order to make the most of your partnership, you should adjust the working hours of your team accordingly to share as much work time together as possible.

Create Ground Work Rules for the Team

Given remote geographical locations, time limits, and other challenges that you might encounter during your collaboration with software developers, your main focus should be aimed at documenting all the project ground rules that will be the guide for you and your employees.

It will be the core document that will contain everything from the main business goal, to the project description, and other employee requirements and work rules that they should follow while partnering with you. This is your chance to share your company culture and values, and demonstrate what employees have to take into account.

Project guidelines for productivity and effectiveness are a pillar of an organized team that will be so easy to manage. Transparency and clear communication of your rules are essential when working with remote teams.

Create a Comfortable Environment for Remote Communication

Partnering with a remote team has a few keys to success. The main one is clear and timely communication. To manage remote developers you have to invest your effort into the following aspects.

Schedule regular meetings

Communication cannot be effective and beneficial for your project’s success unless it’s regular and consistent. You have to define your needs to communicate with your remote team and schedule video and phone calls regularly throughout the month to stay up to date with all the progress.

Establish personal connections with developers

To break the ice and build loyal and trustful relationships within a team, it’s also important to establish personal connections. Try to always find some time and space for small talk to make sure that not only the tasks are done but all your employees are happy and satisfied with the project.

Face-to-face meetings (virtual and in person)

Having individual calls with each separate employee in your team is extremely important for ensuring work quality and building trustful relationships. It will be highly recommended to plan in-person visits to your remote office to add a more personal touch to collaboration as well as track progress.

Reward employees

To maintain a positive team spirit and keep employees motivated and success-driven it’s important to incorporate a reward system. It can be anything from corporate gifts, and cash bonuses, to mere praise and encouragement for a well-done job.

manager working

Track Performance of Your Remote Development Team

It goes without saying that it’s required to track the overall performance of a team as well as the progress of each individual team member to make sure everyone stays productive and all the job is done on time. To make it happen, the previous communication tips will come in handy.

In addition, you should consider using management tools to make the process of tracking task status very easy and transparent. It’s your main job to evaluate the contribution and value of each team member so don’t underestimate this aspect.

Among the most widely used tools, it’s possible to name Jira and Asana. They are very user-friendly and even if you don’t have prior experience using them, it won’t be a problem to learn its sleek interface features and use them with comfort.

Hire Self-Managed People

A self-managed professional is a person who doesn’t require constant supervision and direction from an authority team member. They have an exceptional ability to work autonomously and provide excellent results while taking full control of their actions and outcomes. They are reliable, independent, and self-motivated.

The best way to hire top-performance and well-organized people who can self-manage their workflow is to conduct interviews in person. Yes, it will take some extra time and resources to fly to another country but it will enable you to meet and select the best candidates. You will be the one accountable for the future success of the remote collaboration.

As an option, you can make soft skills and personal aptitude tests as part of your recruitment process. It will take only a few extra minutes from a candidate, but it will help you evaluate their personal skills and ability to perform well while working remotely (individually or within a team).

Build Workflows for the Remote Development Team

The last but definitely not the least tip in this remote team management recommendation is to build workflows for your overseas employees. Probably you understand that people who gather in another continent cannot start doing an impeccable job right away after signing a contract.

To boost the working process you have to come up with your procedures for a remote team. You can use your own approach or rely on a classic Agile method that will help you set up and build effective workflows for new team members.

team collaboration

6 Mistakes In Remote Team Management And Possible Solutions

Knowing the tips for managing a remote development team is not enough for a successful collaboration with partners. In addition, it’s also crucial to acknowledge what outsourcing mistakes businesses can make while managing remote workers. So here are some pitfalls to avoid and to learn from.

1. Inability to clearly communicate expectations

While forming a team, it’s the biggest mistake not to invest time in defining and clearly communicating your goals and expectations. It’s crucial to share your future product vision and mission as well as to prepare the relevant documents that will serve as a guide to your remote employees.

2. Team micromanagement

Some managers don’t invest enough time supervising remote workflows, and some make the opposite mistake of micromanaging the team. Even though you cannot see your team doesn’t mean they require constant supervision on your part. This will create unnecessary stress and tension. The recommendation for an effective remote development team is to define the main KPIs, use management tools wisely, and focus on more important business tasks.

3. Ignoring time-zone differences

If you opt for a remote team of developers you should understand that most likely you will have to collaborate with people all over the world. Some managers neglect this aspect and don’t adjust their workflows to a new overseas team. It’s crucial to take into account time-zone differences and schedule video meetings and overall communication accordingly. Schedule emails for the working hours of your developers so they don’t get lost and you get answers more quickly.

4. Keeping your communication solely digital

When collaborating with software engineers remotely, many business owners think that holding a meeting online once per week and exchanging emails is enough for having a fruitful collaboration. However, that’s not true. Your remote team is still a team and you have to nurture your relationship. Create team-building opportunities and try to visit your team as much as possible during  your partnership to build trustful relationships and boost team spirit.

5. Inconsistent feedback

Another very significant mistake that managers make is giving inconsistent feedback. Taking into account different locations, you should prioritize regular meetings where you will give clear and constructive feedback to make sure all efforts are aligned with business goals and desired quality of services is maintained.

6. Not using management tools

Some employers neglect the importance of using quality remote work tools. They are essential for assigning tasks, tracking progress, managing task completion, etc. Management tools significantly boost performance and productivity.

In-House vs. Remote Software Development Team: Pros & Cons

If you still hesitate and don’t know which format, remote or in-house, will be suitable for your business then take a look at this table that will help you to see clearly all pros & cons of each option for your dedicated software development team.

remote vs in-house team

Basically, a remote form of collaboration will be perfect for growing companies without software development expertise that wants to have a cost-effective partnership to successfully digitize their business.

Not all companies can afford to have an in-house team as it involves a wide range of extra expenses starting from hiring and training, ending with expenses on hardware, office space, payments for vacation, and insurance. The in-house format is suitable for businesses with enough resources and who need to constantly work on their product to improve and scale up.

If a company can take into account our best practices on how to effectively manage a remote custom software development team it’s possible to make the most of this collaboration and achieve top-notch results.

developers

Intellectsoft Is a Trusted Software Development Partner

If you have a software project in mind and are looking for a trusted and reliable software development partner then consider collaboration with Intellectsoft.

For more than 14 years already, we operate in an outsourcing software development market and offer top-notch services to our clients all over the world. We have successfully finished more than 300 projects in various industries.

Our domain expertise includes experience with fintech, healthcare, hospitality, and construction. Our best software engineers possess various technical as well as soft skills and knowledge to become a perfect match for projects of different complexity and length.

We can offer you unique access to a remote company team software development that will be at your disposal and will help you to achieve desired results.

Intellectsoft has vast professional expertise. Our team offers a wide range of services to meet all your business needs and implement your ideas into reality.

In addition, check out our most prominent client cases to see what solutions we have built for international companies across industries.

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Web Application Architecture: The Ultimate Guide https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/web-application-architecture/ https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/web-application-architecture/#respond Fri, 02 Sep 2022 07:00:01 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=15873 A brief, general guide to web application architecture.

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Web Application Architecture statistics

The web application market is an environment that is continuously evolving, incorporating new technologies and increasing safety standards.

In this regard, the proper attention to the foundational design of a web app contributes to maintaining the required robustness, responsiveness, and security of this software. In a web app, this is what solid web app architecture is responsible for.

The definition of web app architecture is broad and depends on the focus of building web applications.

A web application architecture is a model of interaction between web application components. The kind of architecture for web application strictly depends on the way application logic will be allocated among client and server sides.

Technically, it’s the skeleton of a web app, including its elements, databases, systems, servers, interfaces, and all the communication happening between them. In more abstract terms, it indicates the logic behind responses to client and server requests.

When it comes to business benefits, web application architecture is related to the process of creating web applications and planning for their needs in terms of speed, scalability, and security.

This article will provide an overview of modern web application architecture, including its key components, types, and models so that you can invest in this type of architecture with confidence. Let’s get started!

Importance of the Web App Architecture

Web Application Architecture benefits

Improved customer satisfaction: Investing in web application software architecture, or a solid blueprint of its functioning, is needed from the standpoint of user experience.

Being an important part of developing any web app, it makes sure your design is efficient and scalable, which means it will work well under a variety of conditions and avoid downtime. Otherwise, a business app will irritate users with numerous bugs and turn them away from cooperating with it.

Greater business results: The right web application architecture can save your company time and money over the long term, making sure that your website operates at its optimal capacity and runs smoothly without any problems.

In particular, web application system architecture allows web developers to create websites that scale well as traffic increases; it also provides features such as offline access (e.g., Google Docs) that are increasingly expected by today’s consumers.

Better app performance: A solid web app architecture introduces a great degree of flexibility, meaning its adaptiveness to dynamic market fluctuations and customer demands.

The vision on the overall structure makes it easier for developers to work on an app in several modules and introduce new features without interrupting the web app’s work.

Enhanced app security: By envisioning a web app as a system of several blocks, modern web application architecture protects each of its structural elements separately.

This way, overall security increases, making the software stand all the common safety threats like malicious attacks. Thanks to the solid structure, adding new elements won’t ruin the achieved security level.

web app architecture scheme

How Does It Work?

The exact way how web application architecture operates differs between projects, as many of its aspects aren’t dictated by technology but by your project’s needs and business objectives. In other words, web app elements can be adjusted or changed entirely without affecting the overall success of your web app.

At the same time, the typical process of communicating with web app architecture is the following:

  1. You as a client type an URL in the relevant browser field.
  2. The browser sends the request to the Domain Name Server to recognize the IP address.
  3. If successful, the browser sends a request to the server to respond.
  4. The server directs the request to the data storage to locate the page, request data display.
  5. If successful, the initially requested data appears in your browser.

In this web application architecture diagram, you can see 3 main sides of the process:

  • Client-side, or the frontend for user interaction
  • Database server, or an extra component for sending client’s data to the server
  • Server-side, or the backend storing business logic, processing requests, and sending responses

web app architecture request response cycle

Web Application Architecture Diagram

What is a web application architecture diagram? Simply put, it’s a framework that is aimed at simplifying the interaction between components. It’s a client-server application that contains various user interfaces, insights, databases, and so on. Now, let’s take a closer look at the basics of this diagram.

Web Application Architecture Diagram

1. DNS

The abbreviation DNS stands for the domain name system. It’s a key element that searches IP addresses and domain names. In this way, a certain server receives a request sent by an end user.

2. Load balancer

It directs incoming requests to one of the multiple servers, which means it sends an answer to an end user. Generally, web app services exist as various copies mirroring one another to enable all servers to process requests in the same manner. Also, the load balancer is an element that distributes tasks in order to prevent them from overcharging.

3. Web app servers

This component is basically an app deployment descriptor. What does it mean? It means that it processes the user’s requests and sends JSON//XML docs back to an initial browser. To make it happen, it refers to the backend infrastructure including the database, job queue, cache server, etc.

4. Database

The meaning of this component is pretty much straightforward. It offers a big variety of instruments to perform, delete, organize, and update computations. Mainly, web app servers interact with job servers without any intermediary.

5. Caching service

The component grants easy and quick data storage and search. When the user receives the info from the server, search results will be cached. As a result, future requests will be returned much faster.

These are the scenarios when caching is efficient:

  •  Slow or repeated computation
  • When a user receives similar results for a specific request

6. Job queue (optional)

This one has two components in it which are a job queue and servers that process those jobs. Many web servers operate a big number of jobs of minor importance. A job that has to be fulfilled goes in the queue and will be operated according to the schedule.

7. Full-text search service (optional)

There are plenty of web apps that support search by text feature. After this, an application sends the relevant results to an end user. The whole process is called a full-text search and it can find the requested data by a keyword among all the documents available in a system.

8. Services

Services will be built in a form of a separate application once the web app attains a specific level. Those won’t be super visible among the rest of the web app components, however, web apps and services will interact with them as well.

9. Data warehouse

It’s a way of storing and exchanging data online through the Internet. This element is usually used for storing different types of files like images, videos, etc. The data is sent to a firehouse for its processing, after that the additional data will be sent to cloud storage, and finally, it all goes to a data warehouse.

10. CDN

The abbreviation CDN stands for the content delivery system. This system sends HTML/CSS/JavaScript files and images. Basically, it delivers content taken from the end server around the globe so users can load sources.

Web Application Architecture Components

Web Application Architecture

The applications differ in complexity and functionality, and the number of layers and components changes accordingly. It may happen that an app is so simple that it works as a monolith storing all the web application design architecture in one place.

Nevertheless, a typical web app will consist of multiple components (or tiers) that interact with each other. Usually, the two major groups for web application architecture are user interface and structural web components.

User Interface Components

This group of components composes a visual interface and has no ties to the architecture itself. Being a part of the interface layout design, the set of UI components includes activity logs, dashboards with analytics, and notifications.

Structural Web Components

Client components: The frontend part that appears in the browser and serves as the field to interact with a web application. The client components are developed with HTML, CSS, and Javascript and don’t need an operating system or device connectivity to operate. Simply put, these components are the web app representation.

Server components: The backend part of the web application architecture that is built using Java, Python, .Net, NodeJS, PHP, and Ruby on Rails to create app logic. Also, server components compose the database, meaning a control center for data storage.

web application deployment diagram

A 3-Tier Architecture Overview

The majority of web apps are created through the separation of their principal function into layers/tiers. Respectively, this enables you to quickly and effortlessly replace or upgrade those layers independently. It is called a multi- or a 3-tier architecture.

In a 3-tier architecture there are three layers/tiers:

  • Presentation (client) layer
  • Application (business) layer
  • Data access layer

It’s possible to say that this architecture is the safest and most secure one. It can be explained by the fact that the client doesn’t access the data directly. Application servers can be deployed on multiple machine providers which enable higher scalability, increased performance, and better efficiency.

Each tier can be scaled independently, therefore, this architecture can be scaled horizontally. In addition, it also significantly improves the overall data integrity as data will go through the app server which is the one that decides exactly how and by whom data will be accessed. This amazing perk is an easy and cost-effective solution in case of new company management.

Layers of Modern Web Application Architecture

Now, let’s take a closer look at each of the three web application architecture layers.

When we are talking about the presentation layer we imply the front end of an app. This layer includes such elements as static content and dynamic interface that are visible to end users.  The environment of this layer is any browser. Among the technologies that are used in this case, we can name HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. The potential frameworks to choose from include Angular, React, and Vue.

Speaking of the business layer which is also referred to as the application layer, is a part of the app backend. The web app’s backend determines business logic and responses to browser requests that are sent to the presentation layer. It consists of the core application logic and outlines all internal flow for data and requests. The most convenient environment in this case is servers, serverless cloud platforms, or PaaS. Among the programming languages that are used in this case, we can name PHP, Java, Python, Ruby, or JavaScript. The potential backend frameworks to choose from include Django, Express, Spring, and Laravel.

And the last but not least layer is the data access layer. The data access layer is closely linked with the business layer as it gets needed information from the servers. In its turn, the data service layer separates business logic from the client side while processing requests.

It is an app backend part that contains databases and  DBM ( database management systems) that collect, manage and store data. The environment can be the same as the application layer. Among the Database management systems, we can name MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and so on.

All the layers work independently and communicate with each other through the relevant components.

Models of Web Applications

Enterprise web application architecture models differ based on two criteria: the number of servers and the number of databases. To pick the best one, you should carefully revise your aims and constraints and find the most appropriate one for the current stage of business development.

One Web Server, One Database Model

  • The simplest: You have only one server and one database for all the requests and responses.
  • Relatively unreliable: If the single server goes down, your app will shut down immediately.
  • Relevant for testing: These days, one web server, one database model is too old for real apps. However, it’s a great way to test your web app idea and overview the fundamental design of your web app as an MVP.

Multiple Web Servers, One Database Model

  • Stateless architecture: There is no single web server for data storage. When a client inputs information, the relevant server writes it to the sole database managed outside.
  • Relatively reliable: As there are more than two servers in the model, a backup server is always available.
  • One database availability: Dangerous in terms of possible website crash.

Multiple Web Servers, Multiple Databases Model

  • The most efficient: No single point of failure, as there are several web servers and databases.
  • Flexibility: You have at least two options for database storage, so you can choose to keep identical data in all of them or distribute information.
  • Some information can be lost: In the case of a crash, you won’t lose your entire web app. Nevertheless, some data will be lost. To prevent this scenario from happening, it’s better to install load balancers.

Types of Web Application Architecture

Progressive Web Apps

A web application architecture type is a particular pattern under which the components interact with each other. In other words, it shows the way app logic lets the client side and server side communicate.

To make the right choice here, it’s also relevant to check your business requirements, along with technical information about features, functionalities, and the desired app logic.

Single Page Application Architecture

This web application architecture is designed to show relevant content only. To make this happen, it first loads the relevant web page and then dynamically updates the representation of its content with the requested information only.

In other words, it doesn’t refer to the server for loading new pages but sends requests for the needed parts of the webpage only.

Single Page Applications contribute to smoother performance and a more intuitive user experience.

Pros of single-page app architecture:

  • Faster performance
  • Improved flexibility of UX

Cons of single-page app architecture:

  • Increased testing time
  • Possible loss of unsaved progress
  • Slower first-load speed

Microservice Architecture

Being the frequent alternative to an unreliable monolithic web application architecture, microservices disperse the functionality to deliver small and lightweight services separately.

In particular, they are loosely coupled and use APIs for communication if a sophisticated business problem arises. This peculiarity eases the developer’s life since it’s possible for individual service components to be built in different programming languages.

Thanks to its flexibility and stability, microservice architecture has gained popularity these days, with businesses like Amazon, eBay, and Netflix adopting it for their complex needs.

Pros of microservice architecture:

  • Easier scaling up
  • Better fault tolerance
  • Simple-to-understand code base
  • Independent module deployment

Cons of microservice architecture:

  • Difficulties with testing and debugging
  • Complex deployment

Web Application Architecture office

Serverless Architecture

In web application development, this architecture type, you outsource both server and infrastructure management to a third-party cloud service provider. This way, a web app logic execution won’t intervene in the infrastructure running.

Choosing a serverless architecture is good for companies that want to delegate server and hardware management to a reliable tech partner and concentrate on front-end development tasks instead.

Also, this web application architecture type allows working on small functions in apps. The service providers that assist in server management are Amazon and Microsoft, among others.

Pros of serverless architecture:

  • Absence of server management
  • Highly scalable
  • Minimized latency
  • Speed and flexibility

Cons of serverless architecture:

  • Security concerns
  • High complexity

Progressive Web Apps

Being among the most promising web app trends since 2019, progressive web apps offer a convenient and effective user experience available from any browser and device through a shared URL.

The application of progressive web apps is wide, including industries like entertainment, finance, and eCommerce. Their key benefits include lightweight, cost-effectiveness, cross-device nature, ability to attract web traffic, and a fully functioning app experience.

Pros of progressive web app architecture:

  • Browser availability
  • Mobile-first approach
  • Increased traffic
  • Effective offline performance

Cons of progressive web app architecture:

  • Restricted browser support
  • Narrow utilization of native APIs

Web Application Architecture: Best Practices and Tips

Here, we’ve gathered the top 5 recommendations for business owners to consider while working on web app architecture for their projects and building cooperation with tech partners.

Web Application Architecture team

1. Think of a proper web application architecture at the earliest stages

Without a comprehensive structure, your application will turn into a labyrinth of messy elements and components that are too hard to handle.

2. Don’t copy somebody’s success

The top mistake is to pick a web application architecture of a successful company and simply replicate it. In reality, a successful architecture is one that corresponds with your business goals and ideas, not theirs.

3. Pay attention to your technical limitations

It’s not always possible to get the best and most successful elements in your web application architecture. However, with the proper attention to quality attributes and realistic business expectations, you will get the maximum from all the components you have.

4. Eliminate the problems right away

Don’t wait for the web app release to fix the problems in its architecture. The earlier you address the issues, the more reliable core features it will have.

5. Create a checklist of successful web app features

To make sure your web app has achieved its goal, it’s good practice to note your expectations from it at the very beginning and discuss their possibility and measurable KPIs with your tech partner.

The possible checklist may include these features:

  • Overall system flexibility
  • Components can be reused
  • Well-written code
  • Ability to scale
  • System stability
  • Easy bug detection
  • Sticking to security standards
  • Fields to work with user feedback
  • No crashes
  • Easy-to-use
  • Responds fast
  • Can be deployed automatically

Consider Intellectsoft Your Trusted Web App Development Partner

So, the success of web development services is always closely connected to its architecture. In this regard, we recommend each business owner and their software development team dedicate attention to picking the best architecture design for the project.

In the future, the time spent on this stage will lead to thousands of dollars and lots of time and nerves saved on fixing errors in the core app functionality.

If you need high-level assistance in building a secure and modern web application architecture, we’re here to help! Contact the Intellectsoft team, and we’ll build together the software solution that perfectly fits your exact business needs.

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Digital Transformation in Healthcare Overview https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/digital-transformation-in-healthcare/ https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/digital-transformation-in-healthcare/#respond Tue, 30 Aug 2022 07:05:59 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=19320 Digital transformation has a huge impact on the performance of nearly all industries, and healthcare is not an exception. Nowadays, it’s integral for the healthcare...

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Digital Transformation in Healthcare statistics

Digital transformation has a huge impact on the performance of nearly all industries, and healthcare is not an exception. Nowadays, it’s integral for the healthcare industry to provide better patient care digitally no matter where they are. Generally speaking, digital transformation in the healthcare market is all about adopting innovative technologies that are aimed at improving work efficiency in hospitals as well as taking patient care to a whole new level.

In fact, more and more different opportunities appear today in the branch of digital transformation in the healthcare industry and in diagnostics.

Why digital healthcare is important, what benefits it can bring for the health industry and its consumers, and what future digital trends should we expect there? In this article, we’ll get it covered.

But before we proceed, let’s define what exactly digitalization in the medical field means.

Digital transformation in healthcare is a completely new way of delivering care while ameliorating the internal hospital processes and, most importantly, meeting all needs of patients through embracing and implementing advanced technologies. It’s the active use of technologies to bring value to people and healthcare organizations to maximize benefits.

The research by Deloitte demonstrated that around 92% of healthcare units expect to achieve better performance from the patient-centric business development model.

healthcare industry market development prognosis

Therefore, the digital healthcare transformation has forced radical changes in medical services. So, let’s now review the healthcare business transformation and take a closer look at real examples of digital transformation in healthcare.

Use Cases of Digital Healthcare Solutions

So, digital transformation in healthcare makes a detailed overview of how the medical units diagnose, monitor, and manage patient health. Its main goal is to implement innovative healthcare IT solutions to optimize the major workflow processes and compliances, and improve patient service while reducing costs.

For this purpose, let’s now take a look at how digital healthcare is already used in medicine.

1. Automation

Nothing is more powerful than automation for the healthcare industry. It’s worth noting that its implementation is very beneficial for drug manufacturers and especially for production safety. Technologies enable very accurate and detailed examination of materials. Automation algorithms can come in handy for microbiological studies where they can boost the efficiency of studies, analyze and assess specimens while improving the outcome of the laboratory research.

And it goes without saying that its advantages for healthcare services are immense. Automation enables employees to minimize paperwork while reducing human error and maximizing work productivity across departments.

For doctors, it means having more time at work they can spend on communicating with patients and providing even better and more personalized care. Also, automation enables us to take care of larger groups of patients with similar needs and save time on an individualized approach. Those patients can also receive automated appointment reminders that will minimize no-shows at hospitals.

2. Connected Ambulance

A connected ambulance serves as an assistant to healthcare providers as it collects and transfers all vital patient data that can be gathered through wearables, sensors, and HD cameras, and sends it to the hospital while the patient is being transported to the required department.

Even before the patient arrives at the hospital, doctors will already have all the required data that will help them provide the needed procedures faster and more effectively without losing priceless time. In some particular cases, doctors can also guide paramedics through certain procedures with the help of connected ambulance technology.

3. On-Demand Healthcare Solutions

During the past decade, society has become more mobile, which makes more and more organizations keep abreast of cutting-edge technologies, especially those from the healthcare field. Instead of tethering themselves to one company, professionals become more eager to work for multiple medical facilities at a time.

For this purpose, the Nomad Health company has launched a platform that links doctors directly with the healthcare units for short-term work.

It enables physicians to provide the so-called “on-demand” medical services to the patients, and only if it matches their expertise, experience, and working schedule. Thus, doctors become more flexible in offering medical services, and can effectively adapt to the patient’s evolving needs.

Digital Transformation in Healthcare

4. Telemedicine & Virtual Visits

One of the most notable changes in healthcare is the growth of virtual doctor visits. It enables meeting the specialists at the most comfortable time and from nearly anywhere, which is much more time and cost-efficient rather than an in-person hospital visit.

Based on the research, around 83% of surveyed patients are ready to use telemedicine, which has become even more popular after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020.

This digital transformation strategy has been already used in the Brigham Health hospital network (Massachusetts, USA), where the patients can use virtual visits on a regular basis.

They can schedule appointments, communicate with doctors via video chats using phones or PCs, receive detailed prescriptions in their emails, and more.

Due to the Brigham Health recent survey, more than 74% of patients feel the virtual visits positively impacted their interaction with their doctors and healthcare institutions as well.

5. Patient Portals

Another great trend in the transformation healthcare solutions feature is creating specific healthcare platforms where the patients can:

  • Review their health records
  • Check prescriptions
  • Schedule appointments with the specialists
  • Ask for a consultation or get additional information from their doctors
  • Receive the laboratory results
  • Share their health data with the healthcare provider

And that’s only a few options available on the healthcare platforms for patients. At the same time, this system enables quicker and more convenient access to electronic health records and significantly reduces the burden for the medical staff.

A great example of patient portal technology use is the FollowMyHealth system. It covers the most essential features we’ve already introduced above and also can be used by the doctors of general medicine and those of more specific healthcare areas.

However, this digital innovation in healthcare is still in its early stages of use. According to the patient surveys, over 40% of participants say that these systems are still too confusing, and their interface features are difficult to interpret and use.

6. Health Wearables

At present, people have become more conscious about their health: they’re not visiting a doctor when they get sick, instead, they’re always looking for effective yet convenient ways to track their health metrics.

Basically, that was the main reason why we’ve seen a tremendous increase in the sales of wearable medical devices. The digital transformation in healthcare enables tracking the various health metrics and providing accurate health data in real-time. Some of the common types of health devices include:

  • Heart rate trackers
  • Exercise & fit (duration, type of activity, distance, calories burnt, etc)
  • Sweat meters (for tracking blood sugar – an essential routine of diabetics)
  • Oximeters (for monitoring the oxygen carried in the blood – used for the patients with COPD, asthma, severe cases of COVID-19, and other respiratory illnesses)

One of the most popular wearables introduced on the device market is Apple Watch. The smartwatch was first released on September 9, 2014, and so far can track heart rate and exercise, reminders about drinking water or washing hands, used for recording body temperature, weight, and periods. This data, in turn, can be later used by doctors for analyzing health metrics, diagnosis, and more.

7. Disease History Analysis

Nowadays there are more and more tools that analyze a patient’s disease history in order to give doctors recommendations about treatment outcomes. An example of such a solution is the company BostonGene. The BostonGene’s algorithm conducts a profound analysis of a patient’s previous conditions and offers a personalized treatment plan that would potentially deem the best results.

Benefits Of Digital Transformation in Healthcare

In fact, medical digital transformation provides plenty of benefits for all the patients involved, as well as the medical institutions they’re been used by.

With these innovations used, physicians and hospitals can speed up their workflow, get more accurate patient data and health metrics, and build up a more effective treatment in a shorter time. All these factors can significantly impact the outcome, of course, for the better.

After you know the most popular and up-to-date technologies and trends implemented nowadays, it’s time to briefly review what benefits they can bring to the healthcare enterprises and their patients correspondingly.

benefits of digital healthcare transformation

Advantages of Digital Transformation for Healthcare Organizations

So, what profits can medical institutions get from healthcare digital strategy transformation?

  • Optimized workflow – digital healthcare can eliminate the paperwork, reduce the time needed for the patient examination and enable easier, more convenient access to accurate patient health data.
  • Better interaction with clients – provides effective online communication with patients via chats and video calls.
  • Reduces the costs – the processes automation allows to provide more cost-effective services and cuts off the spendings required in traditional healthcare services.
  • Create a secure database for the electronic medical records – the EMH platform enables accessing the encrypted patient health data, as well as its on-demand sharing with other specialists and laboratories.
  • Advanced communication with medical staff – used for more accurate patient diagnosis, faster data exchange, and other internal communication.

Advantages of Digital Transformation for Patients

And what patients can get with digital solutions in healthcare implementation?

  • Better, more personalized healthcare services – the use of digital healthcare enables more accurate health diagnoses and more effective treatment as well.
  • Easier access to personal health records – patients can track and manage personal health data and receive a detailed analysis of their health metrics online.
  • More convenient appointment scheduling – enables choosing the most convenient date for visit and planning the time ahead.
  • Better communication with doctors online – get professional health services online via chatting or video calls, receive detailed prescriptions and treatment strategy via email or on their personal portal page.
  • Tracking the important health metrics in real-time – with the use of digital healthcare wearables.

As you can see, there are plenty of benefits digital healthcare solutions can bring to both healthcare providers and their clients. The only question is when the industry will be able to make the most of healthcare digital transformation services.

Finally, since information technology in hospitals  is only starting to evolve, in upcoming decades we’ll probably see even more tech adoptions into healthcare.

Stoppers for Digital Transformation in Healthcare

Despite the pretty rapid digital transformation in medicine, there are still some stoppers that hold the process back at the moment. The industry still cannot fully embrace the new technologies so let’s take a closer look at the reason why digitization happens more slowly in healthcare.

First of all, it’s important to understand that adoption of technologies is always related to cybersecurity issues. In order to ensure the complete safety of patient data and prevent any data leakage, it’s crucial to have cybersecurity specialists. Today, there is a significant shortage of professionals in healthcare with similar qualifications. This specialized workforce shortage can lead to increased risks and system vulnerabilities.

In addition to the lack of people who are going to implement digital innovation on the quality level, you should also understand that the majority of healthcare providers still rely on their legacy systems which are also related to a wide range of security concerns. Many institutions are not willing to update those systems and it’s very hard to maintain them even though they perform all the critical functions. Therefore, they postpone the technology transformation and slow down the process of software adoption.

Another major challenge that hinders organizations on their digital transformation journey is related to industry-specific regulations including HIPAA. While implementing the new technology, healthcare institutions have to ensure privacy and meet all the security requirements. It can make the process more time- and budget-consuming as it also requires staff training.

Therefore, while knowing those bottlenecks in the healthcare industry, it’s going to be easier to significantly ameliorate the digitization efforts of all healthcare organizations.

Digital Healthcare Transformation

Key Points of Digital Transformation Acceleration in Healthcare

  • Healthcare providers consider innovative technologies as a way to fully transform patient service. Most medical organizations and businesses started implementing technologies to achieve a better patient experience. They are choosing the consumer-centric approach and reorganizing all processes from the patients’ perspective. The main goal of this approach is to offer digitized services for better patient experiences,  build trustful and long-lasting relationships and increase loyalty.
  • Transforming the healthcare industry is a long path, medical providers chase milestones to generate value. Digitization is a time-consuming process that can take years. Many organizations are still in the middle of this journey to using advanced healthcare systems. Usually, the process takes even more than healthcare providers expected initially as the notion of digital transformation is expanding consistently over time. Therefore, to evaluate the success and notice the changes in performance, industry experts generate milestones to assess the value created by digital initiatives.
  • Finding a workforce for digitization and defining KPIs are the biggest challenges to deal with. It’s worth noting that the talent shortage of professionals who maintain digital transformation is the main barrier in their journey. That’s why hiring qualified experts is the main investment priority for the next few years. Along with this, setting achievable and realistic KPIs for those experts is another challenge to face and overcome.
  • Healthcare leaders are instrumental in digitization success. Many healthcare system representatives consider leadership and effective management are accelerating the adoption of technologies. It’s a core factor that will define the success of the digital transformation journey in healthcare.

Forthcoming Digital Trends in Healthcare Industry

Currently, medical centers, and huge medical enterprises need to review their business strategies and include the new opportunities and innovative solutions provided by digital transformation in healthcare. So, let’s now briefly review the latest trends that IT for hospitals offers:

  • Telemedicine. This amazing solution is going to become more and more popular. Patients prefer to connect with doctors online without wasting time commuting to the hospital. Effective online consultations will soon be available to anyone.
  • On-demand healthcare. Patients want healthcare to be fully convenient to them and to fit into their schedule. More often, people obtain all the needed information online. They look for doctors, choose hospitals, and make appointments.
  • Big data in healthcare. It enables healthcare to manage and analyze data more effectively than ever before. In addition, it can also be used to escape preventable illnesses, reduce treatment costs, as well as possibly forecast epidemics.
  • Artificial intelligence. AI can significantly change the process of treatment and diagnostics while reducing human errors. Moreover, it can also help organizations manage electronic health records (ERPs) and get deeper insights to provide better care and make well-informed healthcare decisions.
  • Remote workforce utilization. Enables hiring more talents regardless of the distance while also expanding the competition within the health industry.
  • Healthcare unit collaborations. Effective for sharing the usage statistics, and critical health cases, as well as the experience exchange.
  • Unified data exchange platforms. Useful for interaction with multiple organizations in the healthcare industry, including laboratories, hospitals, and insurance providers.
  • Healthcare chatbots. Critical for improving the interaction with clients, providing critical information in real time, and optimizing the internal workflow (automated appointment scheduling, essential data updates, and more. Additionally, the patients can get instant feedback about the most common questions asked, which reduces the workload of medical staff.
  • Digital health environments for new startups. Important for accelerating the health digital projects with the advanced use of advanced technical training and business coaching.

These are only a few of the major trends in digital healthcare for the next decade. However, implementing these solutions to medical enterprises can significantly enhance the entire industry’s performance!

doctor her patient

Final Thoughts

To sum up, digital healthcare technologies are still in their early stages of development but have already shown their perspectives and proven their efficiency.

With the automated transformations healthcare implements, it becomes possible to enhance the performance of healthcare units, improve the productivity of the medical staff and deliver advanced services to the final consumers – its patients.

The use of innovative solutions and digital technologies in healthcare opens up new opportunities for enhancing this industry in the upcoming years, and shaping a modern, more effective, and automated health service system.

Our team, at Intellectsoft, knows how essential it is to follow and implement the latest digital healthcare trends for the medical units. Thus, we try our best to deliver the most powerful tech solutions based on the best frameworks that exactly fit the needs and goals of any organization and its workforce.

For more than 14 years, we deliver quality digital transformation for entreprise across different industries as well as in the healthcare sector and insurance digital transformation. Are you looking for the best team to bring your new healthcare project into reality?

Talk to our experts now and uncover how your organization can start benefiting from the digital transformation in healthcare today.

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Hiring Ukrainian Developers in 2022: What are the Risks? https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/how-to-hire-software-developers-in-ukraine/ https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/how-to-hire-software-developers-in-ukraine/#respond Tue, 23 Aug 2022 08:00:32 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=17494 Everything you need to know about the Ukraine IT outsourcing market.

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When it comes to IT outsourcing, Ukraine is one of the top destinations. It holds the third spot across the lists of countries with the highest number of certified IT experts, many of whom have niche skills and expertise in projects with a wide array of advanced technologies.

Unfortunately, the notorious events in Ukraine that started in February 2022 after the beginning of the full-scale war between Ukraine and Russia made their own effect on the IT outsourcing market.

In the last decade or so, Ukraine has been quickly growing in popularity as a software development outsourcing destination among the world’s leading companies compared to other countries. As its software outsourcing market keeps expanding, more and more IT-focused organizations, technology startups, and fully-fledged Research & Development (R&D) centers of global companies emerge in Ukraine.

Stats Hiring Ukrainian Developers in 2022

During the past 6 months, the situation in the country destabilized the market a little bit but versatile Ukrainian professionals adapted quickly to the new reality and wouldn’t let the circumstances undermine our international image as the top outsourcing destination in the world.

In this article, you will find the freshest information that will show how the market of IT outsourcing services has changed in Ukraine after the Russian invasion. You will be able to get familiar with the latest salary updates for software developers as well as will get first-hand priceless tips on how to hire Ukrainian software engineers and what are the possible risks. Let’s get started!

Ukrainian Software Development Talent Pool

Software development in Ukraine is growing and enhancing year by year. On the territory of Ukraine, there are approximately 5000 IT companies.  The number of dedicated Ukrainian software developers in 2022 has reached 240k. It’s worth saying that this number grows 25-30% annually.

The country is becoming a popular destination for software development outsourcing due to its beneficial and promising technical environment, effective education, and devoted employees.

100 out of Fortune 500 corporations already have offshore development teams in Ukraine.

20% of the world’s IT leaders choose Ukraine over other popular outsourcing destinations in Europe (Poland, Hungary, Romania, etc.).

The following aspects influence the decision to work with the Ukrainian IT market:

  • Qualified and experienced professionals
  • Lower salary rates
  • High-quality of delivered products and solutions
  • Convenient time zone
  • Easy communication

It is no surprise that companies like Google, Samsung, ABBYY, NetCracker, eBay, Skype, etc. employ engineers to work on their projects.

Risks of Outsourcing to Ukraine in 2022  

Needless to say, the great advantages of hiring dedicated developers in Ukraine carry some risks as well. Ukraine is one of the biggest destinations for IT outsourcing, but there are still some overarching risks that should be considered when recruiting Ukrainian developers, especially after the Russian armed invasion.

  • Work disruption

Taking into account the situation in the country, there is a possible risk of disrupted telecommunications and energy supply networks. In addition, access to the Internet might also be occasionally interrupted.

Nevertheless, these risks are mitigated by IT companies. Most companies have relocated their specials overseas or to safe regions, but the probability that something might go off track is always present, and not only in Ukraine.

developers colleagues

  • Possible violation of deadlines

Again, the war in Ukraine undermined the emotional condition of many employees. It goes without saying that there are certain project deadlines and clients expect everything to be done on time but sometimes there could be possible delays as personal factors always play a significant role.

However, companies including Intellectsoft implemented our best business continuity plans to keep the processes smooth and deliver results in a timely manner.

  • Team composition alterations 

Generally, the team composition is discussed at the beginning of the collaboration between an offshore vendor and a client. During the discovery phase, an outsourcing partner defines the number of people who will work in the software development team in Ukraine including developers, designers, and project managers.

These are people who are going to work on a project to build the requested software. And many business owners are concerned about the potential mobilization of specialists.

It’s crucial to mention that this outcome is unlikely. Only if the employee has their own desire to stop working, your team can be possibly recomposed to substitute the missing specialist with the required qualifications.

Even though Intellectsoft experiences a lot of pressure because of the war between Ukraine and Russia, we still make it our priority to follow our mission and put effort into digitizing businesses and implementing their solution ideas into reality.

We do all possible to support in all possible ways our software developers and other employees as their well-being is the basis of an effective business. As we have mentioned before, we have ensured a safe working environment for our colleagues.

During the past months, we were able to deliver all the planned tasks and our clients stay happy with the results we deliver and don’t plan to stop our partnership.

To make it possible, we invested a lot of resources to improve the emotional well-being of employees through psychological training. Everyone can work in a remote way from any place in the world so everyone stays productive and comfortable.

Intellectsoft also makes everything possible to make our own contribution and we regularly support the Armed Forces of Ukraine to stimulate victory.

Why Is Ukraine Good In Software Development?

Outsourcing software development in Ukraine is a major IT trend thanks to its highly skilled developers with outstanding ingenuity and problem-solving skills, cost-effectiveness, and a favorable geographical position. The main cities of Ukraine boast well-established tech centers, seasoned developers, and a constant influx of new talent, all thanks to its excellent level of technical education.

10 Reasons to Hire Developers in Ukraine

In this section, let’s explore the many reasons why Ukraine has become an attractive country for IT outsourcing and why world-famous companies recruit Ukrainian developers for their important projects:

Benefits Hiring Ukrainian Developers in 2022

1. Extensive talent pool

A vast talent pool is a major reason why software development outsourcing is booming in Ukraine. After the U.S. and India, Ukraine has the highest number of IT employees.

In 2021, there were approximately 200,000 tech employees in the Ukrainian IT market and in 2022 this number has grown to 240,000.

What’s more, the software developers pool in Ukraine is expected to cross the 200,000 mark in the coming years. According to SkillValue, Ukraine holds the eighth spot on the list of the world’s top countries with highly skilled programmers, with an average score index of 91.26%.

2. Skill diversity

Apart from general college or university education, Ukrainian software developers pay much attention to self-education and always keep up with the latest industry trends. You can find here specialists who use the following languages in coding:

  • JavaScript
  • Java
  • C#
  • Python
  • PHP
  • C++
  • TypeScript
  • Swift
  • Kotlin
  • Ruby

These languages are among the most popular ones.

Software companies that offer their services to outsource usually have experience working for companies that come from various industries, including eCommerce, Healthcare, FinTech, Retail, Hospitality, Game development, etc. They have all the necessary resources to complete projects of any complexity level and provide suitable solutions.

3. Reasonable rates

Ukraine is one of the most cost-effective IT outsourcing countries in the world across different software development categories. Compared to neighboring countries like Poland, Belarus, and the Czech Republic, Ukraine offers more affordable outsourcing rates and a more diverse tech talent pool.

If you want to hire a highly skilled software developer while saving a significant amount in development costs, Ukraine is a great choice. Ukrainian developers charge between $25-$50 whereas developers with the same skill sets in North America or Western Europe will cost a project at least $100 per hour.

4. Convenient time zone

Ukraine’s time zone is one to two hours ahead of most European countries. This makes Ukraine a convenient destination for nearshoring as well as offshoring. European clients can work and communicate comfortably with Ukrainian developers due to insignificant time differences.

If the client company is located in the U.S., Canada, or Australia, they can still get in touch with the developers without any impact on their own working schedule. Simply put, Ukraine’s location allows for better monitoring and easy project communication and control as compared to other outsourcing destinations like India, the Philippines, or Vietnam.

5. English proficiency

English is not widely used in Ukraine, but many people are fluent in it, and the number only keeps increasing. Approximately 80 percent of software developers in Ukraine have an Intermediate or higher level of English.

Also, it is worth mentioning that the vast majority of software development companies in Ukraine offer free in-house English lessons that help their employees improve their English skills and vocabulary on a regular basis. So, the level of English of Ukrainian developers lifts the language barrier and enables them to work on any international project.

6. Education

Every year, over 36,000 students graduate from local universities in Ukraine with IT-related degrees. They are obsessed with technical innovations and technologies including Ruby, Python, C++, C#, PHP, and JavaScript.

Additionally, the World Economic Forum has listed Ukraine among the top 10 countries worldwide for producing around 130,000 graduates annually in engineering and tech-related fields. In Ukraine, students are offered various educational opportunities to join the tech community. In collaboration with local IT companies, regional IT markets frequently launch educational programs at universities and colleges.

7. Culture fit

It seems that every nation can find a common language with the Ukrainian developers as they are tolerant, all-rounded, and have excellent communication skills.

As Ukraine is situated in the central part of Europe, it combines western and eastern values that give the way for easy communication.

8. R&D centers 

Nowadays there are over 100 R&D (Research and Development)  Centers in Ukraine and their number keeps growing.

Ukraine is one of the largest R&D partners in the USA. The main areas of expertise are connected with Big Data, AI, eCommerce, Cloud computing, telecommunications, etc.

9. Fertile environment for startups

Taking into account the above-mentioned info, Ukraine has a comfortable environment for a startup ecosystem. 500 new entrepreneurs appear each month that offer challenging ideas and projects, complex tasks, and a chance to contribute to product development.

Startups attract talented engineers who can use their knowledge and ideas, receive investments, and close profitable deals.

The list of the top Ukrainian startups includes the following companies: Grammarly, Petcube, Clickky, Kwambio, Augmented Pixels, SolarGaps, GitLab, TripMyDream, Cardiomo, etc.

10. Quality

Quality is another advantage you get when you work with local IT services.

Offshore teams consist of experienced, skilled, and educated employees who do their best to suit customers’ requirements and deliver products or solutions of the greatest quality. No wonder Ukraine ranks among the top countries for international outsourcing.

developer

Ukrainian Software Development Hubs

Leading IT companies in Ukraine are located in big cities. The biggest IT hubs are Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Dnipro, and Odesa. They host not only big, medium and small outsourcing companies but also startups, R&D centers, and other IT-related organizations.

Let’s take a closer look at every city that contributes to the progress of the IT industry in Ukraine:

  • Kyiv. The capital and most populous city of Ukraine, Kyiv has the biggest number of IT experts (40 percent) in the country. Kyiv, together with Lviv, is home to almost half of Ukrainian developers. It is said that 43 out of the 50 biggest Ukrainian IT companies have their development centers in Kyiv. Kyiv is one of Ukraine’s fastest-growing cities and has the highest level of business activity among Ukrainian cities. Major global companies have their offices and R&D centers situated in Kyiv
  • Kharkiv. Kharkiv is the second largest city in Ukraine and has a long-established engineering tradition, which includes building software systems. The country’s important business hub has a well-developed IT outsourcing industry with over 25,000 IT professionals and almost 450 active tech enterprises.
  • Lviv. A big and beautiful city located near the borders of Europe’s developed countries, Lviv is one of the most popular cities among Ukrainian software developers and IT outsourcing companies. Of 800,000 people living in this city, over 20,000 work in the IT industry. There are around three hundred and seventeen IT companies in Lviv that offer software development services to clients located in Western Europe, the U.S., UK, and many other countries. Also, a lot of conferences focused on the IT field take place in this city.
  • Dnipro. Another big IT hub in Ukraine is Dnipro. It is home to nearly 12,000 IT experts and over a hundred and seventy software development companies. The city boasts a highly educated and experienced IT talent pool.
  • Odesa. The southern city of Ukraine offers great opportunities to tech-savvy people who also want to work in close proximity to the sea. What is surprising is that Odesa offers higher salaries to software developers than other Ukrainian cities, making it a quite popular destination for IT talent. It is estimated that the number of IT professionals in Odessa has grown from 6,000 to 10,000 in recent years.

10 Steps to Hire Developers from Ukraine 

Following are the 10 steps that should be performed to hire top Ukrainian software developers. If you have a big project or plan to scale, it is better to delegate the hiring duties entirely to a trustworthy outsourcing partner.

1. Select a company

Make a primary analysis, and then narrow down your list to 2-3 options. Select a company based on client reviews and what your partners/associates have to say. Top managers usually have many connections and can easily acquire an informative overview of a range of potential IT partners.

2. Inquire about the chosen vendor

Before the commencement of communication, it is important to find out as much as possible about your vendor. This includes inquiring about the vendor’s how many years the vendor has been operating in the industry, pricing, procedure for candidate selection, skills, etc. If several vendors fit your initial requirements, find out the information regarding their services and prices and compare them.

coding process

3. Provide enough project/job details

Try to provide as many details as possible regarding your project or position you need to fill. The more details, the better the outcome.

4. Set up a dedicated team structure

If you have an approximate team structure for your project, discuss it with your partner. In reality, you may need more or fewer developers for your project.

5. Familiarize with your recruiter

Once the negotiation stage ends and you sign a contract with the chosen company, you get a recruiter for your project. To know that you and your recruiter are on the same page and can develop a long-term work relationship, you need to communicate your requirements/preferences to them to get an effective result.

6. Check your email frequently

Knowing that the Ukrainian IT market is growing fast, most of the candidates have numerous job offers to choose from. So, once you have contacted the recruiter, you need to check your emails regularly. The candidates’ resumes or any questions asked by the recruiter may need to be reviewed/answered as quickly as possible so that the candidate is not hired by any other organization before you make a decision.

7. Interview candidates

Enlisting an IT recruiting company has its own benefits. If you work with an IT outsourcing provider, you will have a recruiter assigned to your project. In any case, a recruiter arranges a fitting schedule for you and your candidates to conduct an interview. You can then determine the duration of the interviewing process, completion criteria, etc.

8. Provide feedback

Needless to say, both the recruiter and candidate expect to receive feedback from you. If anything goes wrong, the recruiter should know what needs to be adjusted.

9. Recruit developers

Before you make a decision, double-check whether a candidate fits the position but don’t take too long as the candidate may accept the offer from another employer.

10. Get started

Once you hire the right candidate for your project, it is time to introduce him to the rest of the team. Like the in-house staff, do the briefing, share the responsibilities, and introduce the working toolkit.

Average Salaries for Software Developers in Ukraine

The average salaries of software developers in Ukraine range from two thousand dollars for junior positions to more than five thousand dollars for senior-level positions. The salary depends on the level of expertise, technologies, demand, and location. Let’s take a look at average monthly/yearly salaries.

Salaries Ukrainian Developers in 2022

Consider Intellectsoft Your Trusted Software Development Partner

There is a very high chance that hiring a Ukrainian from a reliable outsourcing partner may be the most effective and impactful move your business has made in years.

Intellectsoft is a trusted programming service that has operated in the market for more than 14 years already. Our main goal is to help companies across various industries digitize their operations and achieve exponential business growth through technology implementation.

Our company has a big number of professional engineers who have extensive experience and possess a wide range of technical skills to fit your needs and build a software solution that will transform your business’s future.

We have collaborated and successfully delivered more than 300 projects for our clients throughout the globe. Intellectsoft works in such industries as healthcare, fintech, construction, hospitality, and others.

Our team has been working on both short- and long-term projects of different complexity. Of course, we have encountered a few challenges as well such as time zone differences, but with our dedication and professionalism, we are able to make everything possible to ensure smooth communication with a client and ensure high-level efficiency.

We have an extensive talent pool that includes engineers with unique niche skills, and regardless of project size and scope, you can stay cost-efficient.

Each employee brings their qualifications and best practices to the table to deliver the most quality services and support the solution even after its launch. You can hire app developers with specific skills that match your goals.

Take a look at our portfolio to see what solutions we have created for different companies across industries. In addition, get familiar with an exhaustive list of services offered by Intellectsoft.

If you are interested in a long-lasting partnership and want to give life to your software idea, feel free to get in touch with our experts to discuss your idea and start implementing it into reality with Intellectsoft.

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ERP System in Healthcare: Benefits, Components & Implementation Process https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/what-is-erp-and-how-enterprise-resource-planning-works/ Mon, 15 Aug 2022 12:50:14 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=21375 Optimized and automated operations are the essences of successful business practice. This rule is easily applied to the healthcare industry as well. Implementing the latest...

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Healthcare statistics

Optimized and automated operations are the essences of successful business practice. This rule is easily applied to the healthcare industry as well. Implementing the latest software solutions is crucial for any medical institution or business as it boosts efficiency and solves a wide range of challenges this industry faces daily.

Among the most common challenges healthcare providers face are the difficulty in finding patient and doctor management tools that will enable them to reduce paperwork, improve efficacy, and enhance patient care while reducing the overall budget expenses.

More and more organizations have started adopting medical ERP software with exceptional functionality that fits perfectly in every hospital.

It is one way to enhance any healthcare organization’s efficiency. For hospitals of different sizes, the enterprise resource planning system helps to overcome operational challenges, provide better efficiency of the services, and correspond to the needs of the modern market.

In this post, we’ll provide a detailed overview of healthcare ERP solutions, including their types, benefits, and implementation peculiarities.

What Is ERP and What Is It Used For?

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a modular software solution that centralizes the organization’s information, optimizes connections, and facilitates data sharing between enterprise departments. With its help, a company can establish end-to-end connectivity of all the running business operations, including the relations with vendors and customers.

The ERP system brings together multiple modules and facilitates cooperation between various departments of the company. This way, distinct business units can constantly communicate, interact, and share data while dealing with daily operations.

Even more, the ERP system stores all the relevant information and enables automation of collecting and using corporate data for the business’s benefit. In this regard, ERP systems harmonize the decentralized workflow which usually adds some hurdles to process management.

6 Ways ERP Software Benefits Healthcare Business

ERP system for healthcare is a multifunctional software tool that adds value to hospitals in a number of ways, including cost savings, improved efficiency, enhanced collaboration, and optimized patient management.

ERP-Software-for-Healthcare-benefits

The exact list of advantages of medical ERP includes:

1. Improved patient care

The first core benefit of ERP systems in hospitals is enhanced patient care. As the system minimizes paperwork for doctors, and reduces their time spent on finding the patient data, they significantly improve the patient service quality as doctors can focus on patients more than on redundant administrative tasks.

2. Better finance management

ERP systems are perfect for managing hospital finances as well. It will make it so much easier to process and control all patients’ payments as well as hospital operating expenses. It also minimizes administrative errors to avoid any unnecessary costs.

3. Virtual data storage

Enterprise healthcare systems allow organizations to store effectively all their strategic data related to their patients and business operations. The system can enable full privacy and confidentiality so you can be certain no data leakage is possible. In addition, it’s very convenient for employees as it allows easy data access for anyone as all data will be stored in one system.

4. Enabled strategic planning

Enterprise healthcare software will be very useful for owners and hospital managers to make well-informed strategic decisions. It’s easy to analyze all core success indicators of the hospital to improve the overall results in the future.

5. Simple integration

It’s worth noting that some hospitals still use very outdated systems that are super challenging to maintain. A medical ERP solution is a nice way to streamline all the operations. This software enables the integration of all the departments including HR, finances, and inventory to improve the efficiency of work in the hospital.

6. Business intelligence

Medical ERP system is an important tool for those who run hospital operations. It’s an integrated solution that provides better business intelligence and enables generating more financial value for an organization by assessing the hospital’s performance and detecting areas for potential improvements.

All in all, ERP increases productivity and efficiency; introduces interconnection between various departments, suppliers, vendors, and provides storage for data-driven insights.

As for the possible limitations of healthcare ERP software, companies should be ready to address these three factors:

  • Prices: You’ll need to cover the expenses of ERP consultants, server providers, in-house IT specialists, and software implementation.
  • Maintenance: As technologies develop, the system should be constantly updated and enhanced in order to maintain the level of compatibility of the company.
  • Training and Education: You should show your employees how to use the system and notify departments about new tools and functions added.

male surgeon using digital tablet operation room

Types of ERP Systems in the Healthcare Industry

Over the years of deployment, ERP systems have developed and grown in their number. Nowadays, they can be classified according to the implementation process and a number of functions.

Nowadays, there are three types of ERP classified by implementation:

  • On-premise (for large healthcare institutions)
  • Cloud ERP (for small healthcare institutions)
  • Hybrid (for developing healthcare institutions)

1. On-Premise ERP System

On-premise software requires in-house installation and maintenance, meaning its availability on the organization’s computers and the presence of an internal IT team.

There is no need for an Internet connection to get access to the information stored on-premises. Servers are owned by the organization, and an IT team takes care of the software and constantly updates it. Large businesses can consider this type of ERP software implementation, as having a license for the program means having control over every module and aspect.

2. Cloud-Based ERP System

Companies can purchase cloud ERP from third-party vendors on a monthly or annual basis. It grants access to the data anytime and anywhere via an Internet connection. 

There is no need to employ IT specialists, as cloud ERP will be maintained by the vendor. That’s why it’s important to find a reliable tech partner. Generally, this software type is cheaper than the on-premise one and suits the needs of small businesses more.

3. Hybrid ERP Systems

Hybrid ERP is a combination of on-premise ERP and cloud-based ERP. It perfectly suits the needs of companies that occupy a specialized niche.

The cost of hybrid enterprise resource planning maintenance depends on its sophistication. Usually, businesses turn to a hybrid ERP system when they need to integrate cloud-based modules into existing on-premise software as they grow. So, data is split into two parts — on-premises and on-cloud.

If you don’t know what type of healthcare ERP system would suit you most, you have to define your needs first. If you are a small developing organization in the field of healthcare that strives to optimize the internal processes, then a cloud-based option will be a more reasonable choice for you.

Speaking of healthcare giants that want to digitize their businesses and innovate — on-premise ERP software will be more suitable. It will be more costly and time-consuming but at the same time, it will enable exceptional personalization and system customization based on their specific business goals.

The hybrid option can be a good match for many organizations as it’s a combination of both and incorporates all the best practices of both on-premise and cloud-based systems.

team young specialist doctors standing corridor hospital

Healthcare ERP Solution Components

ERP systems combine a number of modules and sub-modules that are interconnected and distinguished by serving a particular hospital area. Each module contains several sub-modules or tools that manage different tasks and projects. Combined together, modules cover all organizational operations, both internal and external.

Usually, each ERP task is collaborative, meaning that employees from different departments can be added to manage and complete the request on time.

Usually, ERP systems consist of Human Resources, Sales, Finance, Logistics, and Inventory modules. Other modules can be added to the system if your organization has specific needs and wants to automate certain operations.

  • Electronic health record: An ERP system can be easily integrated with an EHR that can significantly boost your operational efficiency. It will allow you to control the supply chain of your hospital as well as analyze and predict the needs of patients and suppliers.
  • Human Resources: This module handles employee management tasks such as enrollment, offboarding, timesheets, and benefits administration. HR components can automate payments calculation, thus reducing human error and time spent on monotonous tasks.
  • Patient Relationships Management: CRM module stores and stacks generated patient data. It will help you easily store, access, and manage all relevant patient information including health records and payments.
  • Business Intelligence: This module helps to solve issues related to hospital data collection, analysis, and report delivery.
  • Inventory Management System: This ERP element keeps track of all the inventory of the hospital and automatically updates your system for the employees to know whether some medicines or other materials are out of stock.
  • Financial Management: This component analyzes and keeps track of the financial data of the company. It helps to control the enterprise’s budget, spent costs and received payments

Any other components can be added to the system per your requirements. The main issue here is to have a team of employees who are capable of creating and integrating new functions.

Core Features of an ERP System

  • Centralized database: This feature is needed to comprise the data flow from all the hospital departments and store it in one place.
  • Modular: The system consists of a number of interconnected modules.
  • Flexible: The system can be upgraded according to the healthcare organization’s needs by replacing functions or tools or adding new modules.
  • Automated: The main ERP purpose is to automate manual processes and omit duplication of the information for healthcare administrative employees.
  • Time and cost-effective: As the system automates operations, it saves time spent on a product or facility delivery as well as reduces costs.
  • Real-time analytics: An ERP system will help you easily analyze your organization’s performance and financial condition so that your team can make all possible business amendments. ERP reports usually include visual representations of your performance to identify bottlenecks and solve issues.

doctor work

ERP Implementation Process

An ERP implementation process is a complex and all-inclusive process of planning, system deployment, data migration, and user training. These are the main stages needed for your healthcare institution to successfully transfer to a new ERP system while maintaining your best practices.

There are two possible methods of implementing ERP software for your healthcare organization. The first one consists of transitioning to a new system at once meaning all the data will be switched to ERP software and all employees will start using it simultaneously. The process will take less time but you have to be ready for the potential technical issues depending on the amount of data stored.

The second method means that you will transfer data in clusters by function or priority, and your team will be switched to a new system gradually step by step. It goes without saying that the second option takes more time but it will potentially cause fewer technical problems while transitioning.

Probably you are also wondering how long the implementation process of an ERP system takes on average. The answer is the overall ERP implementation should never be rushed. This is a very serious step for your business and many internal processes will depend on the success of the implementation so you have to stay patient.

Generally, it will take from 3-9 months but it varies from one case to another and you should take into account all your business peculiarities that will shape the final date. The factors that define the length of the process include the healthcare business size, complexity, locations, languages, and currencies involved, etc. So now, let’s take a closer look at the main implementation algorithm.

Algorithm

We recommend following this process to get the most from an enterprise resource planning implementation:

  1. Define your desired results by understanding your business aims and current processes.
  2. Do not automatically reuse old workflows to make sure you’re bringing in the changes needed.
  3. Map all your business processes to create a clear business case.
  4. Select the right solution and partner who is capable of running the implementation process to the end.
  5. Create a long-term ERP plan that drives your business forward.
  6. Ensure executive-level support so that every department is involved in the process and creates a perfect architecture for your business.
  7. Assemble the right project team with key players assigned during every implementation stage.
  8. Focus on getting the right data for a smooth and accurate migration process.
  9. Standardize the process and minimize development to the basic functional suit to which you can add further enhancements in the future.
  10. Plan training to educate the employees and teach them how to use ERP.

healthcare and technologies

Mistakes & Best Practices

Now, let’s take a look at the best practices for Implementing the healthcare ERP system as well as the mistakes you should avoid to make this process as smooth as possible.

1. Plan thoroughly

Some healthcare companies underestimate the importance of planning before even considering developing an ERP system. It’s very important not to rush with any decisions and actions, and to plan all the processes from the very beginning to the system launch. You need to create the foundation for all future processes. Yes, it will take time, but once you start the development process, everything will happen faster and more smoothly with the minimum risks of failure.

2. Invest in support and training

After your collaboration with external vendors, don’t forget to invest your resources in training. After the system deployment, you still have to ensure its technical support, fix potential issues, and be able to provide system updates. It’s going to be the biggest mistake not to allocate a budget for tech support and proper employee training as well. All staff including doctors and representatives of other administrative departments have to be confident and comfortable using a newly adopted software for their better efficiency.

3. Arrange data migration

Some organizations don’t plan data migration accordingly or simply migrate all old data to a new ERP system and it might create some bottlenecks in the future. Pay attention that some information can be outdated and unnecessary and there is no point in transferring it to a new system. It’s your unique chance to clean up your system a bit and leave only relevant data that will come in handy.

4. Communicate effectively

The last but not least mistake that healthcare business owners make is they don’t communicate enough through all the stages of the ERP solution implementation. It’s paramount for the whole team to communicate with the software company to make sure that everything is done according to your initial business requirements and needs. The development process of this software is very costly and time-consuming, therefore, it’s your main priority to make sure that everyone is aligned and nothing goes off track.

Consider Intellectsoft Your Healthcare ERP Software Development Partner

ERP solutions facilitate operational processes for healthcare businesses of any size. Being highly flexible, the ERP software is tailored to your needs and expanded as required.

We recommend companies use enterprise resource planning technology as a tool to reduce the time spent on daily operations, increase revenue, and enhance relationships with customers and vendors.

We, at Intellectsoft, empower companies and their workforce with cutting-edge transformative solutions and data-driven insights. Among our enterprise software development services, you can pick the set of modules and technologies needed for your business needs.

Are you and your organization ready to shift mindsets and get the most out of innovations? Talk to our experts to request an ERP software solution from us!

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Software Team Extension Outsourcing https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/dedicated-development-team-reimagined-and-improved/ https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/dedicated-development-team-reimagined-and-improved/#respond Tue, 09 Aug 2022 14:00:24 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=5038 Everything you need to know about the most effective hiring model of today.

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Team extension statistics

As outsourcing services are getting more and more sought-for, you have probably stumbled on the words “team extension model” online while looking for software engineers to help you with a project.

The team extension is an outsourcing model that involves expanding your in-house development team with advanced technical skills for the short- or long-term based on your business needs.

This model enables companies to minimize costs related to recruitment and project management of specialists while receiving the best results possible.

Instead of choosing from a limited number of specialists in your region, you can collaborate with an outsourcing partner from Europe, for example, and get access to a vast talent pool and hire the best experts for reinforcing your team.

Therefore, it’s possible to say that team extension is a more efficient model to hire the right software team extension with niche skills quickly — and there is more to it.

This post will guide you through all the essentials, helping you get a clear understanding of the service, including:

  • How team extension works
  • How it differs from the classic dedicated team service
  • Advantages and pitfalls of the team extension services
  • How to choose a trusted partner
  • And so much more

Now, let’s discern this new way to hire the right IT team extension specialists.

team work

How Does Team Extension Work

Generally speaking, the process of outsourcing IT team extension is pretty simple and straightforward. This type of service is offered by established outsourcing companies all over the world. As you probably know, the top destination for outsourcing software development are several countries in Eastern Europe such as Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, and so on.

As a rule, those companies operate in the IT market for many years or even decades, therefore, they have unique access to a wide talent pool of software engineers with a diverse range of skills, knowledge of programming languages, and other competencies. It gives them a competitive advantage over other agencies and they can search for and compose a team according to your requirements pretty quickly.

Offshore team extension is not only about offering quality services but building long-lasting and trustful relationships with a client and becoming a part of their team to assist them in solving their business problems.

Team Extension vs. Dedicated Development Team

Team extension and dedicated development team are two pretty similar models that exist in outsourcing. However, not all business owners understand what the main difference between them is and how to make the right choice that will be suitable for the company.

Whereas an extended team is a part of your in-house team, a dedicated development team functions as an individual entity and is located on the premises of your outsourcing partner.

The goal of the team extension model is to fill in the skills gaps in the existing team or complement it with some unique technical qualifications missing. At the same time, a dedicated team is built from scratch and consists of all the specialists needed to work on your project from the first steps to product launch.

Team extension model vs dedicated team

To sum it all up, the team extension model will be suitable for those businesses that are ready to invest in a long-term partnership with an outsourcing vendor and will be ready to expand the in-house team with external professionals. This collaboration will allow them to achieve exceptional results and will be suitable for big long-term development projects.

Speaking of dedicated teams, this model can be a good choice in case you are not ready to host a new team on your premises and want to get the job done from a distance. In addition, it will be suitable for projects of shorter duration and of less complexity.

Team Extension Benefits

Team extension has four important advantages that we will dive into below.

Flexibility in Proximity

Team extension aims to provide a client with the right developers regardless of wherever the developers and the client are, and negotiate a mode of cooperation: nearshore (in close proximity to the client), onshore (on the client’s premises), or offshore (remotely).

Here, team extension should aim to negotiate the most flexible conditions, with a developer (or developers) flying to work as an onshore dedicated team whenever needed — or work onshore or nearshore while keeping the possibility to work remotely.

Niche Skills

When it comes to software solutions and digital products, many companies want to have an edge over the competition and cater to the demands of modern customers. In most cases, this is achieved through the implementation of the latest technologies.

Whether it is a project with augmented reality, blockchain, or the Internet of Things, team extension helps to find a loyal software developers team that consists of qualified engineers who have the combination of hard and soft skills required for complex projects.

High Scaling Velocity

As companies that offer team extension have at least five years of expertise in software development team extension management, they employ a great number of software developers on a full-time basis. They also have access to a pool of developers — a region in the world that has a very high number of software engineers with a wide range of skills.

Eastern Europe is a good example, balancing cost-effectiveness and code quality. The scale of this talent market and its regulatory framework allows the companies operating in the region to provide highly flexible team extension.

Team extension’s high flexibility also extends to the hiring process, which can be tailored to the client’s requirements, allowing them to tackle the challenges of the ever-changing business environment.

High Loyalty

Fostering a company culture that both makes existing developers stay and always attracts new talents is paramount to team extension. Equally important are career planning and professional management.

As a result, team extension offers an incomparably low attrition level in a team of software developers, allowing them to tackle long-term projects that go on for over a year.

coding process

Pitfalls Of Team Extension & Possible Solutions

Despite the valuable benefits that extensive IT services offer, this approach is not perfect. There are a few challenges that business owners have to be aware of in order to know how to effectively overcome them. Down below you will find the most common pitfalls to be prepared for and know what to expect in case of potential collaboration with a vendor.

Searching for a short-term solution

The biggest mistake that companies make while choosing team extension services is to perceive it as a short-term solution to temporarily close the gap in the team. This approach won’t make this partnership successful.

The main way to avoid disappointments and poor results are to build long-lasting relationships and integrate an extended team into your in-house team on a long-term basis. Only this will help you to achieve their peak performance, complete alignment with business objectives, and top-notch results.

Prioritizing costs over value

Despite the fact that outsourcing is a perfect way to reduce software development costs, each engagement model is based on its own pricing. Usually, companies might put the cost over the value that would be potentially offered by a team.

Instead of focusing on expenses, try to shift your attention to the value that an extended team will bring to the table along with their tech skills and competencies.

Setting unclear expectations

Extending a software development team means you will have to put some extra effort into making your partnership. No matter how professional your extended team will be, they need you to set clear goals, expectations, and deliverables and explain your core business objectives so they can deliver the best possible results.

Take your time and define what exactly you expect from each of your new team members, and develop detailed documentation that will serve them as support while working on your project.

Treating your extended team differently

Extended team members are a valuable part of your company. However, not all business owners remember the fact that they are part of a team and they have to be treated the same.

In order to ensure their peak performance, it’s important to make sure they have the same working conditions as other team members, they are involved in some extra office activities like corporate parties. Your attitude will define the level of their engagement and by motivating them you will ensure quality results for your business in the future.

Not embracing cultural differences

If you decide to extend a software development team it’s paramount to remember that your new software developers have a different cultural background which you should also take into account.

However, rather than paying the low cost for and inviting specialists from Asia who have a different mentality and language barrier, you can pay a bit higher price but invite professionals from Eastern Europe who have a more similar mindset and with no exceptions speak English fluently. It will enable you to minimize a cultural gap and find understanding with your team more easily.

extended team

Team Extension Structure

Team structure depends on your business needs and objectives, although you should determine the exact reasons why you hire each specialist in your team. In most cases, the effective inclusion of an extended team works when you have urgent, complex tasks and limited resources for hiring new in-house professionals to complete them. In this wide definition, hundreds of smaller reasons and nuances can be your case, such as:

  • You need to develop MVP really quickly,
  • Your in-house team doesn’t have free resources to manage critical project tasks,
  • There’s a need to address the growing scope of the project ASAP,
  • You have ambiguous goals you cannot achieve with your current team.

The key principle for hiring an extended team is to turn it into an integral part of your current project team. In practical terms, that means smart empowerment and supplementation.

If you can identify all the problems and gaps, try finding each specialist on a freelance platform. However, it’s always easier to hire an online vendor who will do all the necessary audit, hiring, and management work over your dedicated team.

If you need the checklist to start, here’s the typical structure of a dedicated team that we advise our clients:

  • Front-end engineer,
  • Back-end engineer,
  • QA,
  • UX/UI designer,
  • DevOps engineer,
  • BA,
  • PM.

Is This Dedicated Team Model More Cost-Effective?

As team extension offers immense flexibility, the client has a lot of space to be efficient with their budget. Opportunities include hiring an engineer with niche skills to work as part of an existing developers team solely for a short-term task (or solving a particular problem).

Ultimately, there might not be a great difference in budget costs between the usual dedicated team approach and team extension for most projects. Still, that is not what the service aims to achieve in the first place.

The key difference between team extension and the classic team extension services lies in higher efficiency at key stages, and the focus on loyalty.

Who Would Hire a Dedicated Team with Team Extension?

The key industries that look for this new dedicated team approach are healthcare (among them a lot of pharmaceutical companies) and hospitality and tourism. The first needs reliable partners to deliver near-faultless software for patients and internal usage, as well as implement new technologies.

Meanwhile, hospitality and tourism companies need to continuously deliver highly streamlined software solutions. For example, today’s guests expect mobile to be part of the hotel experience and expect a hotel’s level of comfort extends to its mobile app.

At the other side of the reception desk are the employees, who need effective digital tools to deliver the services efficiently. Interestingly, a lot of startups also seek team extension services, to succeed with large-scale projects.

software developer

How to Choose a Trusted Team Extension Partner

Since the task of hiring a dedicated team becomes harder with the extra requirements for a team extension, switching to higher speed and effectiveness requires proper knowledge. We recommend referring to an expert who has access to all the valuable resources on the market and can assist you in finding true specialists for your task.

There are 4 basic principles for hiring a dedicated team with team extension. In short, you should check that the new team members are an ideal project fit and possess deep expertise in their field. For you, there are requirements for total control over the situation and a clear definition of the project goals.

Ensure that the people hired fit your project perfectly

Since team extension works on a project with the maximum speed and effectiveness, careful preparation for its inclusion is critical. Before hiring, ensure the chosen specialists can dedicate their full attention to your tasks, without switching between several projects.

Moreover, we recommend meeting each new team member in person. Since you’ll be working side by side for several hot months, mutually pleasant integration is a must.

Check the professionalism of a dedicated team

During the project implementation, you’ll face many times how things go wrong. But you can reduce the level of uncertainty and pressure by finding the right people who possess deep expertise. They can address all these challenges and bring your overall project’s effectiveness to a new level.

Establish direct control over a dedicated team under team extension

Never transfer the reins of power to your team situated in another office! The team extension model presupposes that you are a full owner of the project still. Thus, be ready to manage the constant flow of technical improvements, edits needing your attention, and various types of strategic and tactical decision-making.

Moreover, your responsibilities will include possessing control over the development process, effective team communication, and performance evaluation. In short, the team’s increased effectiveness doesn’t mean you’ll have less work — and you should embrace that responsibility.

Clearly define project goals and criteria

To measure the speed and effectiveness of a dedicated team under team expansion, you need a clear vision of your project and where it leads. Moreover, determine the roles of each team member to avoid ambiguity and their low effectiveness. In practical terms, that means setting milestones for the project and creating the assessment plan for each new project member. Don’t hesitate to use the SMART approach to goal-setting and direct discussion with your extended team members.

For the best result, look for software development companies that have been working in IT for well over five years. Many of them offer the team extension model. The service offering might slightly differ from company to company, but the main promise should be the same.

In general, team extension has the perfect structure to fit a startup with several ambitious projects, an established business that manages long-term projects with complex tasks, and a digital agency that aims at expanding. And it doesn’t work that well when you have limited funds, small project scope, or high quality is not your priority. In these cases, you won’t be able to maintain the extended team management and enjoy the advantages of its speed and effectiveness.

If you are looking for some extra workforce for your business to implement your ideas and develop innovative software to boost your growth, find out more on our Team Extension page to get familiar with the full list of services and benefits you might get while collaborating with Intellectsoft.

If you are ready to hire and lead a team of developers, do not hesitate to get in touch with us. Our software engineers have been helping startups, SMBs, and Fortune 500 companies for over 10 years.

extended team office

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14 Best Reading Apps for Book Lovers: Get Millions of Free Books https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/best-apps-for-book-lovers/ https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/best-apps-for-book-lovers/#respond Tue, 26 Jul 2022 08:01:04 +0000 https://www.intellectsoft.net/blog/?p=20151 Not everyone loves the hustle and bustle of party life—some of us prefer simpler things like reading books and playing board games after dinners with...

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Not everyone loves the hustle and bustle of party life—some of us prefer simpler things like reading books and playing board games after dinners with family. There is great news for big fans of reading as there has been a resurgence of awesome reading apps.

Want to cope with all the books striving for your attention or find interesting ones quicker? Read our guide to find the perfect app for a book lover such as yourself.

How to choose among different apps for book lovers

Apps for book lovers serve different needs. So, before diving into their variety and choosing your best bookmate, ask yourself a question: “What do I expect from an app?” What matters are your wishes, the platform, and the frequency of usage. If you know your preferences, this guide will be of use.

Here’s a list of the top 14 apps for book lovers, ranged by your possible interests:

  • Goodreads, #1 among the best apps for book lovers,
  • Libby by OverDrive, the connection with your library to read the best free books for iPhone offline,
  • Wattpad, the communication platform between writers and readers,
  • Inkitt, our recommendation among the best book apps for Android,
  • Litsy, the great combination of social media and reading in the range of the best Android book apps,
  • Shelfie, the representative of the best iPhone apps for book lovers for managing notes,
  • Blinkist, the easiest way to master non-fiction and one of the best iPhone apps for book lovers,
  • Audible, the top choice among the best book apps for listeners,
  • Epic!, the representative of the best book apps for youth,
  • ComiXology, the top choice among the best apps for book lovers if you’re a fan of comics,
  • Scribd, a top subscription-based choice among apps for book lovers (Android and iOS),
  • Serial Reader, a bite-size reading among Android apps for book lovers,
  • The Paris Review, the top lit-crit choice and one of the best iOS apps for book lovers,
  • Amazon Kindle eBooks, the leader among best Kindle apps for book lovers.

Free reading apps

1. Goodreads

The leader in the list of free book apps for book lovers.

Available platforms: iOS, Android, browser.

Top choice for everybody interested in books.

Interesting feature: mobile barcode scanner that allows adding paper books to your digital “to read” list.

Goodreads is the first platform in many rankings of best free reading apps for book lovers. Why so? It has plenty of information for various purposes: recommendations for you, recommendations from your friends, different collections (like Best Books 2019), a list of quotes, and a field for reviews. Also, it unites authors and readers, with 90 million users in general and more than a billion books.

2. Libby by OverDrive

The compilation of the best free books for iPhone from your public library.

Available platforms: iOS, Android, Amazon.

Top choice for true old-fashioned bookworms who miss their public libraries.

Interesting feature: Enter your library card information to feel the complete process of borrowing a book.

If you miss your favorite public library, you’re welcome to look through epub versions of its books in Libby! This app from OverDrive awesomely digitalizes the process of borrowing books, so it takes just a couple of seconds. If you use Libby in connection with Amazon, you can also enjoy the collection of audiobooks from your public library.

3. Wattpad

One of the best iPhone apps for book lovers and storytellers.

Available platforms: iOS, Android, web.

Top choice for amateur writers.

Interesting feature: You can join a niche to connect with your special interest club.

Wattpad is much more than just an app; it’s the entire community. On this platform, you can share your talent in writing and make friends with other people interested in reading and storytelling. It’s one of the best iPhone apps for book lovers.

4. Inkitt

One of the best Android apps to read books (iOS-friendly).

Available platforms: Android, iOS.

Top choice for people who love reading and writing.

Interesting feature: Has a huge library of free books in different genres.

Inkitt is an app from a publishing house that allows accessing numerous books online for free and keeps them in your offline digital library. Besides, it encourages the self-promotion of new authors. The great design and usability make Inkitt one of the best Android book apps.

5. Litsy

A social media for book lovers.

Available platforms: Android, iOS.

Top choice for extroverts who love reading and sharing their thoughts about books.

Interesting feature: You can create groups with other users enjoying this top Android app for book lovers. Also, it supports hashtags.

Litsy is an app where each feature is developed to help you socialize. You can see the “reading moments” of your friends, favorite authors, and popular influencers. This in-app community makes you feel connected with other people while reading. And of course, you can share your thoughts about books with them instantly!

6. Shelfie

The digital version of your bookshelf.

Available platforms: iOS, macOS.

Top choice for people who want to arrange and categorize their bookshelf.

Interesting feature: Simply point your camera at a book — and let this representative of top iPhone apps for book lovers work its magic!

If you’re the type of person who always buys books in each bookstore, this app is just for you! In Shelfie, you can browse books and arrange your already bought samples and reading notes in one place. The app syncs your library with other devices, so you can instantly access it anytime and stop yourself from buying something that wasn’t on your list.

[Contact us to arrange Android app development and iOS app development together]

Book reading apps with monthly subscriptions

Let’s find out the top 7 reading applications with monthly subscriptions.

1. Blinkist

One of the best iOS novel reading apps for book lovers.

Available platforms: iOS, Android.

Subscription price: $7.49/month or $89.99/year with a 7-day free trial.

Top choice for iOS users who want to turn reading into a daily habit and lovers of non-fiction.

Interesting feature: Listening and reading mode — you’re free to choose the most comfortable format for you.

Blinkist is the top choice for people who’ve just started to read during this quarantine. Also, it’s an awesome pick for those wanting to increase their professional skills on the go. The collection of books features more than 5,000 bestsellers. In short, Blinkist is fully packed with revolutionary ideas that can change your life.

2. Audible

One of the best book apps with audio content.

Available platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Amazon Kindle, Fire TV.

Subscription price: $14.95/month with a 30-day free trial to download one audiobook.

Top choice for fans of audiobooks.

Interesting feature: You can hear how an author reads his/her book. Alternatively, Amazon invites a Hollywood star for this.

Audible is the top recommendation for audiobooks. No wonder: the size of its library and the compatibility of its service are incredible. Audible is a frequent host in lists of best book apps thanks to its Audible Originals, the creative series product of the Amazon team. Besides, the app is compatible with plenty of formats — smartphones, smart home devices, Amazon products, tablets, computers, and mp3.

3. Epic!

The top choice for comics lovers.

Available platforms: iOS, Android.

Subscription price: $9.99/month and Free for educators.

Top choice for young readers.

Interesting feature: Quizzes at the end of each book for better learning and entertainment.

Epic! positions itself as the top digital library for readers younger than 12 years old. It has everything to become one of the best apps for book lovers in this category: the age-based library range, books for learning languages, and materials in audio and video format. It’s a great choice for parents who want to get their children into reading!

4. ComiXology

The top choice for comics lovers.

Available platforms: iOS, Android.

Subscription price: $5.99/month with a 30-day trial.

Top choice for manga lovers and fans of comics from Marvel and DC.

Interesting feature: For greater readability, the developers have included the abilities to zoom and focus on the interesting parts of the comics in the app.

ComiXology has a library of over 100,000 comics, which is a true gift for the fans of this genre. Specifically, you can find graphic novels, digital comics, and manga in this one of the best iOS apps for book lovers.

5. Scribd

The top reading platform that offers useful apps for book lovers (Android, iOS, cloud, etc.).

Available platforms: Android, iOS, web.

Subscription price: $9.99/month with a 30-day free trial.

Top choice for bookaholics who use various devices and read in various formats.

Interesting feature: The huge library that contains not only books but also magazines, documents, sheet music, and audiobooks.

Scribd is a comprehensive book app that will expand your reading far beyond the limits of books. If you’re interested in expert opinions, piano playing, and discovering news—this offering is for you. The massive library combines the best features of Audible and Kindle Unlimited. And the result is one of the leading apps for book lovers, Android- and iOS-friendly.

6. Serial Reader

15-minute reading in one of the best reading apps for Android.

Available platforms: iOS, Android.

Subscription price: Free with more sync opportunities for $2.99/month.

Top choice for Android users who want to turn reading into a daily habit.

Interesting feature: You can sync your reading progress with your Goodreads account.

Serial Reader is one of the best book apps for Android. It offers the same service as Blinkist but adopts it to classic literature instead. The digital library contains only 850 books but all of them are divided into easy-to-digest 20-minutes-max bites. With this download, you can fill the gaps in your school education hassle-free.

7. The Paris Review

The digital version of a top lit-crit magazine.

Available platform: iOS.

Subscription price: $30/year.

Top choice for people who are interested in literature criticism.

Interesting feature: Browse the magazine archives.

The Paris Review, one of the leading lit-crit magazines, has a digital version you must see! In its collection, you can browse any issue and look at your favorite book from a professional point of view. If you want to understand books better, subscribe to this app and you won’t regret it.

1-time payment book apps

And finally, let us introduce a 1-time payment reading solution.

Amazon Kindle eBooks

The representative of the best Android book reading apps for book lovers.

Available platforms: Android, iOS, Windows, Blackberry.

Subscription price: Free from your Amazon account, but the price for books is different.

Top choice for people who shop books on Amazon.

Interesting feature: Page Flip — the navigation feature for working with bookmarks and viewing your book from a bird’s eye.

Amazon Kindle eBooks is the ebook app that is a perfect match for your Amazon profile — especially if it’s connected with Kindle Unlimited and Amazon Prime Reading. The app has many features for convenient reading: you can highlight text, search for meaning and translation of words in dictionaries, and change the font and size of the page. According to the rankings of Lifehack and Android Authority, Amazon Kindle eBooks is the top pick among the best Android apps for book lovers.

Summing It Up

We at Intellectsoft empower companies and their workforce with cutting-edge transformative solutions and data-driven insights. Are you and your organization ready to shift the mindsets and get the most out of innovations?

Our team always stays up to date with emerging technologies and market news. Talk to our experts and find out more about the topic and how your business or project can start benefiting from it today! You can also learn more about our mobile app development services.

[Create high-end software solutions for your company with Intellectsoft]

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