Business Digital Insights

Interesting fact: there are approximately 8,462 project management methodologies to choose from. Every project manager understands that selecting the right methodology is crucial to getting the job right.

So, how to understand which one is right for your project?

There are many various ways to deliver projects. Generally speaking, these ways are our project management models – applying different principles, themes, frameworks, processes and standards to help provide structure to the way we deliver projects.

Agile is one of the more recognizable project management methodologies. This methodology is best suited for projects that are iterative and incremental. It’s a type of process where demands and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self-organizing and cross-functional teams and their customers.

Agile is a methodology that has methodologies within itself, such as Scrum and Kanban. Scrum methodology is one of the most popular and simple frameworks to put the principles of Agile into practice.

Let’s talk about the Scrum and how it works

Scrum is a subset of Agile. It is a framework for agile development that helps teams work together with the customers. Much like a sports team training for the big game, Scrum encourages teams to learn through experiences, self-organize while working on a problem, and reflect on their wins and losses to continuously improve. Its goal is to develop, deliver, and sustain complex products through collaboration, accountability, and iterative progress. According to this, it is not surprising that Scrum is the most widely-used one among the teams.

Scrum team roles

• Product owner: The product owner represents stakeholders, which are typically customers.
• Development team: Group of professionals that consists of three to nine individuals who have the business, design, analytical and development skills to carry out the actual work, solve problems and produce deliverable products.
• Project manager: Manager who ensures the understanding and execution of Scrum is followed. The manager’s responsibilities include coaching and motivating the team, removing impediments during the development, and ensuring that the team has the best possible conditions to meet its goals and produce deliverable products.

Phases of Scrum Model

Now, let’s take a look at the main steps of the development process that Scrum consists of.

Step 1. Product Backlog Creation

A product backlog is a list that contains features to be implemented during the development process. It’s ordered by priority and every item is called a User story. A user story is an informal, general explanation of a software feature written from the perspective of the end user or customer. It helps development teams capture simplified, high-level descriptions of a user’s requirements written from that end user’s perspective. The examples below show how these stories can look like:

• As an internet banking customer, I want to see a rolling balance for my everyday accounts, so that I can keep track of my spending after each transaction is applied

• As a manager, I want to be able to understand my colleagues’ progress, so I can better report our success and failures.
• As a customer, I want to receive an SMS when the item arrives, so that I can go pick it up right away.
• As Max, I want to organize my work, so I can feel more in control.

This structure is not required, but it is helpful for defining done.“Why can’t we just write features or tasks instead?”

Step 2. Sprint Planning and Sprint Backlog Creation

The sprint duration is very important so that the user stories are as small as possible. The typical average sprint duration lasts about 2 weeks. If the sprint duration is small, then the advantage is that more customer feedback can be received and most of the errors and bugs can be addressed earlier. If the sprint duration is long, then it allows the developer to work thoroughly.

The next stage is to do the sprint backlog creation. It consists of user stories that will be completed during the current sprint. The scrum team must select the important user stories and make them into smaller tasks. They need to plan on how to get the task completed. The Scrum team should be capable of finishing all these stories on time. Also, one important thing is to prioritize the necessary tasks.

For example, the goal for Sprint: “A website visitor can order a product”. We discuss with the team and product owner how to implement this. Roughly, customers have to go through three steps to order something: 1) select a product, 2) enter address and billing information, 3) perform the payment. We discover several exception paths. After the discussion about what technology we will use for this goal and how the team will implement this functionality, we start creating the Sprint Backlog.

Below are some of the items that can end up on the Sprint Backlog:

• When an order is placed, send an email to the sales department;
• Allow customers to pay for their order by credit card;
• Encrypt user information in order (e.g. email, address);

Step 3: Working On Sprint and Scrum Meetings

The actual user stories are moved as small tasks in the sprint backlog, where the actual work starts. This is where the implementation of a software application, such as website development, begins.

To begin with, a task board is made with a lot of cards is used. The cards specify the details about the tasks such as assignee, work details, due date or the time duration, etc. The cards can be arranged according to their importance. When work on a task has been started, the corresponding sticker is moved from the “To do” field to the “In progress” one. When work is completed, the sticker can be moved to the “Testing” field, and after the task is successfully tested, the sticker goes to the “Done” field.

For this activity, we use specialized software JIRA and Trello for this task.

In this step the scrum meetings are important as it is done to track the progress status and who is doing what status. The burndown chart is the output of this meeting, as it provides the details about how many tasks are completed and if there are any issues or problems in completing the tasks in the “Work In Progress” columns.

It is also important to notice one more Scrum feature is Daily Scrum meetings. These meetings’ main purpose is to get full information about the current project status and make sure that all team members are on the same stage. During Scrum meetings, every single team member should tell what he has done for the day, which tasks will be the next, and what problems team members faced during the work.

Day by day Scrum meetings help increase the flexibility of the development process. They also allow understanding of what changes should be made.

Step 4. Testing, Product Increment and Sprint Review

The result of every sprint in Scrum is a potentially shippable product increment that can be presented to the customer. After each iteration, the development team creates a new version of a software product and adds new features with increased value. In the end part of every sprint, there is Sprint Review where the overall results can be demonstrated and analyzed. According to this info, the stakeholders can make a decision about further project changes and plan the next sprint.

Step 5. Retrospective and Next Sprint Planning

Retrospective’s main goal is to consider the results and the ways how to improve the development process on the next step. The team should talk about the lessons learned and the pitfalls that were during the development part. An important feature is to improve the work of the Scrum team as a whole. The team should conclude what went well during the working process and what can be done better during future iteration. When the ways of improvement are defined, the team can start and concentrate on the next sprint planning.

Project Closure

The project closure phase represents the final phase of the project management. Around this time, the final product is ready for delivery. Here, the main focus of the project manager and the team should be on product release and product delivery. In this stage, all the activities related to the project are wrapped up.

Once the product is handed to the customers, the documentation is finalized and the project is closed.

Conclusion

The main differential features of Scrum are flexibility and constant progress. It’s provided mostly by regular communication and close cooperation between the stakeholders at each step.

When the sprint is done, the customer can assess the working product functionality at the current iteration and make decisions about how the project should evolve during the next sprints.

Use Case: Web Development

Problem Statement: Important changes need to be implemented on an existing company website.

Scrum team roles:

1. Product Owner: Team Lead
2. Development Team: Developers
3. Scrum Master: Project Manager

Basic Flow of Events:

1. The website needs to be updated.

Using Scrum:

1. Product Owner creates a backlog, i.e. the prioritized changes to make.
2. The development team and the QA team is created.
3. Sprint of 7 days is decided.
4. Project manager is assigned to set up the meetings and help with issues.
5. Tasks are assigned to the team
6. A daily 15-minute Scrum is set up for holding team meetings
7. The website is updated each day with the work done
8. QA notifies issues on the same day
9. Each week, the Sprint Review meeting is held with the CEO for an update on progress

Scrum is best suited for projects that consist of teams of less than seven people who need a flexible approach to deliver a product or service.

As the practice shows, no idea, even the most brilliant one, when embodied in a digital product or service, will become successful without quality assurance. It, in turn, always includes two non-intersecting procedures that occur before software is launched: the first of them is aimed at obtaining a clear understanding of whether development is moving in the right direction, and the second of them clarifies whether the solution being created meets end user needs. So, how are they called and performed? Let’s find it out right now.

What Is Verification Testing?

In a nutshell, it is a procedure aimed at checking whether the solution being created meets its predefined specifications and generally accepted design and development standards. Software verification testing is performed throughout the entire creation process and involves the use of various automation testing tools and verification methods, such as modular, integrational, and system testing.

What Is Validation Testing?

Unlike the previous type of testing, this one involves planning real-world scenarios that allow the development team to make sure that the solution being created meets its audience’s needs (for this, you can apply, for example, the alpha- and beta-testing validation methods). After that, the solution has to be compared with its specifications. If any discrepancies are found, they need to be eliminated before this solution is released to the public. Actually, that’s why validation testing is repeated until the team achieves full compliance.

Purpose of Verification and Validation

The main goals of verification and validation testing are to fully satisfy the needs of the software solution owner and the audience as well. As soon as these procedures are successfully completed, the project can be launched.

Difference Between Verification vs Validation Testing

So, what about the verification and validation difference? Generally speaking, while verification is aimed at checking the compliance of a product or service with its list of requirements agreed upon between the development team and the owner, validation allows teams to make sure that this service or product will be positively accepted by its end users. 

In this regard, the first procedure starts from the very beginning of the development process and lasts until the final testing stage and the second – only after the product/service is completed. This also imposes certain differences on the test data used: during verification in software testing, QA engineers use sample data (in this regard, automation methods are often applied), and during the software validation – real data (usually, manual methods do a great job here).

How Are Verification and Validation Testing Performed?

Now, let's look at the four most popular approaches used for validation and verification in software testing:

• Peer reviews, which involve providing a software solution to focus group representatives for a certain period of time in order to obtain feedback on their experience of interacting with it;
• Assessments, which are left by focus group representatives after checking the solution for functionality and identifying errors and inconsistencies in it;
• Walkthrough, which implies a preliminary explanation to focus group representatives of how exactly to interact with the software solution, after which the latter leave their feedback on how well everything was clear and whether they think some areas need to be optimized;
• Desktop-checking, which includes reviewing the software code by specialists (in particular, software engineers).

Tips for Successful Verification and Validation

To ensure these two procedures go smoothly, follow these guidelines:

1. Define the tasks and goals you are pursuing through these procedures and what the results should be upon their completion;
2. Choose the specific tools and approaches you are going to use – they should cover all possible scenarios of user interaction with your software solution, as well as generally accepted software development standards;
3. Create a testing plan, where you will specify deadlines, available resources, and evaluation criteria (along with the acceptable minimum compliance);
4. Proceed directly to testing in order to identify bugs and inconsistencies that will need to be fixed before the project is released;
5. Involve representatives of the potential target audience and stakeholders in the testing procedure to get the most objective assessment of the quality of your team's work;
6. Don't forget to document and monitor the testing results from one bug fixing to another to understand the dynamics of improvements.

Popular Test Automation Tools For Verification and Validation

Although automated testing is considered a standard approach for verification testing only, sometimes, it also brings benefits when implementing validation testing. In this regard, we have compiled a small selection of popular tools that you can use for quality control in software:

• Selenium, an open-source web solution that supports a lot of programming languages, such as Java, Python, C#, and so on, as well as integrates with different frameworks;
• Appium, an open-source service for automated testing of mobile apps on iOS, Android, and Windows (both native, cross-platform, and hybrid ones);
• Robot Framework, an automation framework aiming at implementing acceptance testing and acceptance test-driven development;
• Jenkins, an automation server used for continuous integration and continuous delivery that streamlines the build, test, and deployment stages;
• TestNG, a popular testing framework that is actively used for testing Java-based software solutions;
• Cucumber, an environment for running automated acceptance tests written in Java, Ruby, etc.;
• JMeter, a perfect solution for performance testing of web apps.

Conclusion

We hope that we have helped you understand the difference between validation and verification testing, and now, you can also assess their importance in creating high-quality and competitive software solutions. You can also check out our blog to learn more about software development and design.

Venture companies face a large volume of tasks and the need to make decisions quickly daily, which is due to the specifics of such companies. Some tasks require a quick response with only employees. For others, it is necessary to select a tool from the technology field that can significantly improve the company's efficiency and avoid possible risks. Conventionally, they can be divided into websites and mobile applications, which equally solve the tasks set by the company. There can be many such problems because there is the factor of unpredictability, which a company must take into account when organizing the workflow of the whole team.

As a technology service provider, we have experience working with venture capital companies and know their challenges. We have compiled a list of the main ones that can be solved with a mobile app:

• Lack of information 

Venture capital funds often need more information about potential projects, industries, and trends. Finding potential projects is a responsible task that takes a lot of time. And knowing industries and trends will help a company stay one step ahead of its competitors and run its business more efficiently. Therefore, developing a mobile application can help collect and process a large amount of data quickly and efficiently, allowing the fund to make informed investment decisions. 

• Slow decision-making process

The decision-making process in venture capital funds can be slow and time-consuming. That is due to the slow pace of information gathering, analysis, and drawing conclusions based on the data. Venture capital funds have a tremendous amount of internal information. Analyzing it manually requires a considerable amount of time and people, which slows down the overall pace of the company. In this case, developing a mobile application will help automate the process of collecting and processing information, speeding up the decision-making process and helping reduce the time and money spent on this work. 

• Ineffective portfolio management

Venture capital firms have a lot of investments, and managing a portfolio can be a daunting task. You need to consider the total number of projects, their dynamics, and all changes to react quickly if necessary. Automating these processes will make it easier for a company to manage its business and take on new projects. In this case, you need an application that will track and analyze the effectiveness of each project in the portfolio and track its dynamics to help the company manage it more efficiently.

• Limited access to investors

Venture capital funds may need more access to potential investors and partners. Each new project requires significant investments. Therefore, venture capital funds must attract reliable funding sources. But this process also requires time and labor to analyze and select investors interested in a long-term cooperation. The app's development will help funds reach more potential investors, and partners will expand their circle of contacts.

The latest trends in mobile apps for investors and venture capitalists

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Ventures are directly related to investing in promising startups and, accordingly, in cutting-edge technology. To keep up with the times, tech-savvy investors are integrating mobile apps into the workflow of VCs. 

Typically, these applications include functionality to manage and track portfolio financials, manage business contacts and communications, analyze data, and predict investment success. Moreover, they can provide access to experts and industry leaders for advice and mentorship, which can help accelerate the development of startups and increase their chances of future success.

Here are examples of mobile apps used by VCs mostly:

• Mobile applications for productivity & collaboration

Business is only complete with communication with colleagues and partners. Many applications help to establish and maintain communication between all participants in business processes. They improve communication within the team, help receive timely information, and also help to strengthen business relationships with partners and clients. And that can increase efficiency and lead to new opportunities for venture-backed businesses. They can also help companies solve problems such as a lack of information about potential projects and investment news. 

The main objectives of such applications are to simplify the workflow as much as possible, to significantly reduce the number of emails for more critical issues, to automate the processes of searching and analyzing potential startups, and to create an environment for interaction between investors and entrepreneurs.

Usually, such applications include essential functions such as messaging, video conferencing systems, and social networks for professional communication.

• Networking mobile applications

These apps typically serve as a platform to connect entrepreneurs, investors, and other stakeholders in the startup ecosystem. The main problem they solve is expanding the circle of investors and partners for the long term.

The main tasks of such applications are to provide users with a platform to communicate with others involved in the investment process, facilitate funding opportunities, and support the growth of innovative companies.

Talking about the specific functionality of such applications, we can include the basic set, such as profile and networking creation, according to users' business needs, event management by investment interests, content sharing, tracking investment portfolio progress with analytics and metrics, and protecting confidential user information.

• CRM & Automation mobile applications

This type of application is designed to optimize and automate sales, marketing, and customer service processes. They are of great help to companies when there is a problem with the automation of internal processes, such as investment portfolio management or information collection and processing. 

The main tasks of such applications are to optimize and automate sales, marketing, and customer service processes, improve efficiency and productivity, and provide information for data-driven decision-making.

From the general functionality, we can highlight the following: the ability to manage leads and information about them, automation of such tasks as sending emails and scheduling meetings, automation of marketing tasks, automation of customer service tasks (case management, chatbot support), the ability to track sales performance, the ability to integrate with other tools and platforms that are used by venture capital companies.

• Contacts Management mobile applications

These applications help users organize and manage their contacts, including customers, investors, partners, and other stakeholders. They will help companies that have certain problems with collecting and processing information about potential investors, as well as do not have an established automated process for working with partners.

The main tasks here are to help users organize and manage their contacts more effectively, improve communication and collaboration, and build stronger relationships with their network of stakeholders.

The functionality of such applications includes the ability to create and store contact information; segment their contacts based on various criteria; import and export contact lists from other tools and platforms; track communication with each contact, including emails, phone calls, and meetings; set reminders and receive notifications about follow-up tasks and collaborate with other team members in contact management.

• Company Research mobile applications

Venture research applications are designed to help users research and analyze potential investment opportunities. In other words, to help find new investment sources and opportunities for promising projects. If a company needs to invest in current projects or has the plan to expand investment capital in the future, an app to find such potential opportunities will be an urgent need.

The main tasks are to help users make informed investment decisions by providing access to detailed information and insights into potential investment opportunities.

The functionality of such applications covers the following list: the ability to access a database of companies that meet their investment criteria; select companies by various measures, such as stage of funding, revenue, and market size; conduct market research on specific industries and trends to help inform their investment decisions; and analyze the competitive landscape for each company; manage their investment portfolio, including tracking performance, monitoring news and events, and analyzing trends; users also can collaborate with other team members when researching companies, such as sharing notes and opinions.

Summary

Each venture capital firm is unique and has different goals, so venture capital software reflects the additional functionality built into it from the beginning. The key takeaway is that mobile apps and their customized functionality help automate the collection of investment market information, attracting funding sources through new partners, creating financial reports, and displaying them conveniently for the company. 

As the investing world becomes increasingly digital, apps can help venture capitalists do their day-to-day work optimally. There is also a high demand for mobile apps and other digital tools to minimize repetitive tasks, increase productivity and streamline the deal-making process.

All this is the basis for the company's effective functioning, and the data collected by the program is the basis for making investment decisions.

Nowadays, AI technology is significantly changing the different industries and the healthcare industry isn’t an exception. One of the additions – chatbots – has the potential to save time and money.

But should the healthcare industry use a bot service, it is a question many medical workers ask. However, we can define healthcare as a service that happens when patients visit the doctors, we will strictly limit our potential productivity gains. Chatbots can help healthcare providers with customer service and interact with healthcare consumers through text conversationally. So it is one of the most effective solutions to increase patient satisfaction.

According to surveys and researches published by IBM, up to 80% of routine questions could be answered by a chatbot. And it isn’t a surprise that the big part of these questions are asked by the patients and a simple chatbot can help with that.

For being in a win-win situation in healthcare, the providers should think about how to give patients, prospective patients, and other site visitors a way to answer questions, find the important information, and even book appointments as soon as possible without calling in. It’s easier and more convenient for people. It’s more efficient and successful for providers. And it can save a tremendous amount of money and time. That’s the dream, right? In the healthcare sector, the patient’s experience and satisfaction continue to be the top priority.

Chatbots in healthcare can offer the best health care service.

So the real question for clinics, hospitals and other private practices looking to improve the patient experience: Is it worth it?

Will chatbots really help and make a difference for your staff and patients?

At the end of the article you will find the answers to all your questions, so let’s have a look at how healthcare chatbots actually work, their benefits, and potential use cases.

We can divide chatbots into three categories:

Rules-based: Rule-based chatbots can also be named decision-tree bots. This type of chatbot uses a series of defined rules. These rules are the basis for the types of problems the chatbot is familiar with and can deliver solutions for. Usually, there are very simple or complicated rules. They can’t, however, answer any questions outside of the defined rules. These chatbots do not learn through interactions. They only perform and work with the scenarios you train them for. They follow pre-defined, if-this-then-that “playbooks” that automatically respond to a list of pre-populated queries and questions. These chatbots might answer common questions with simple and canned responses. They might also lead people to dead-ends like “I’m having trouble understanding” due to their limited technical capacity.

Adaptive: Using machine learning (ML), adaptive chatbots can learn patterns the more requests they receive.

AI-powered: An AI-powered chatbot is a smarter version that uses natural language processing (NLP) and ML to better understand the intent of the human and provide a more natural, near-human-level communication. An AI chatbot can quickly determine intent and context, move through more complex and nuanced conversations, and deliver the look and feel of chatting with an actual human being.

Chatbots are created to mimic human conversation. Using chatbots, patients can ask health-related questions, check on their appointments, or explore treatment options without calling in.

Why chatbots are perfectly suitable for healthcare

The chatbot is useful for any type of business. But for the healthcare field, they are especially valuable, because chatbots can provide the required information and actions to patients.

24/7 Service

Anytime chatbots can provide patients service and support. According to this, patients can get immediate engagement and answers.

Follow-up medical care

Quality and results are the most important goals for the patient experience. In many cases, it is difficult for doctors to provide quality care once a patient leaves the hospital. Chatbots could be a good solution for this challenge, and they can give follow-up care by prompting patients to record their symptoms or track their progress.

At-home care

Chatbots can be used anywhere, especially at home. The patient can use the range of actions that include not only looking up symptoms and scheduling appointments, it could also use chatbots for the patients after they are discharged from the hospital. The chatbot could help patients take their medications in time and connect with their doctors.

Keep patient update

This is a new way to address any patient. This will keep the patient and family to remain updated till the last moment. Do you need to go to the appointment? The chatbot will remind you via text message or email. Will the surgery for which you need to be prepared? A chatbot can help patients prepare for any size of surgery or operation beforehand.

Better Patient Experiences

In the end, chatbots no doubt can enhance patient satisfaction. They help improve patient satisfaction scores by providing the convenience of care and reducing wait time. The providers have the opportunity to offer services to the patients and make it convenient for patients to receive medical attention. Chatbots can also facilitate surveys and other patient feedback mechanisms to record and track sentiment.

Use cases in the healthcare industry

• Let’s imagine the patient needs urgent help and information on what to do? The chatbot could quickly quiz users on the health problem they’re facing and recommend a sequence of actions until the ambulance arrives.

• It can be used as a mass email by local or national health organizations. Nowadays, it is especially relevant to people to get to know important details about vaccinations or epidemics.

• It can help patients track their moods or feelings that can be discussed with the psychiatrist or therapist at the next appointment. It could offer tips, notifications and advice between therapy sessions. Furthermore, it even can act more like a personal assistant. It can remind patients to take their medication, help them stay motivated to stick to their schedules and provide other relevant medical information.

• The hospitals and clinics can use the chatbot to allow patients to learn more about their health by asking questions, check symptoms or conditions, and find relevant specialists if they need them.

• The E-commerce industry that sells medical equipment or supplies could build a bot to recommend products to undecided customers. It is one of the ways to increase the visitors on the websites, directing the users to buy the products from it.

• A doctor could set up a chatbot to let users schedule their next appointment easily.

• The bot can be built to help users find in-network providers near them based on city or zip code.

• A medical spa can increase lead generation and user satisfaction using the bot. It is a great idea to ask what users expressly request. Based on the feedback from the users, and add only those services and products which your users have expressly requested. Finally, it could help the best matches schedule a consultation.

Final Thoughts

The chatbots can significantly replace the great part of live chatting with medical personnel. The main advantage that chatbot can provide is improvement in the patient experience. These chatbots are created to be conversational, so they are more responsive and personal than search engines. Chatbots can pull more specific and relevant information for patients rather than search engines. But they can not completely replace a human medical professional’s expertise, but they can reduce the time and money and make it easier for hospital staff to perform their jobs.

Developing a web or mobile app gives a business great opportunities and provides benefits in the form of additional dividends and audience loyalty. Having a clear understanding of the end goals, it is essential to define the main functionality of the future application to achieve the business goals and effectively perform setting tasks.

How to identify core functionalities for your web/mobile application?

Before developing an application, businesses must understand what features should be included in the finished product. The efficiency of the application itself and the speed of achieving the set KPIs depend on this. What may work for one company does not resonate with the business goals of other companies. In this list, we cover what you should consider when compiling a feature list:

1. Define your business goals 

What goals do you want to achieve with the app? Make a clear list of the problems your app will solve, what target audience will use it, and what preliminary results you expect.

2. Research the market and competitors

Analyze the market in your niche to understand what functionality your competitors already offer. Research and analyze their applications to understand what advantages they offer and disadvantages their products have. That will help you determine relevant features for your app to stand out in the market.

3. Make a preliminary list of features

Before development, list those features that will help you achieve your goals. Divide them into core and optional features. In the core features, list the ones without which your app won't be able to function efficiently and solve the users' problem. In the optional ones, list the ones which are not essential to the basic functionality but can add value and competitive advantage.

4. Prioritize features

Determine which features in the application are most important to achieve your initial goal. Prioritize and determine which features can be added later in later app versions. That will help you focus on developing the more essential components. 

5. Conduct user research

The research will help you understand the needs and preferences of your target audience. Conduct surveys, interviews, focus groups, or analysis of user behavior in your niche. Use this data to refine and tailor your feature list to your users' needs.

6. Create user scenarios

Develop different user scenarios to better understand how users will interact with your app and what features they need to achieve their goals. For example, define how users will sign in, log in, perform specific tasks, make purchases, or interact with other users.

Top-9 Core functionalities for every web/mobile application

Multi-Device Synchronization

It is a process in which different devices work together and exchange information so that the data and settings on all devices are the same or consistent.

When devices synchronize, they usually use the Internet to exchange data. For example, you might sync your smartphone with your laptop to update contacts, calendars, and photos on both devices. When you make changes on one device, those changes are automatically transferred to other devices so that all appliances have up-to-date information. 

This makes working on multiple devices as easy as possible, gives you a significant advantage in the app market, and guarantees more users.‍

A User-Friendly and Responsive Interface

In addition to a functional set, it is vital to think about a pleasant design and clear navigation for the user's enjoyable and convenient use of the application. In this way, interaction with the application is easy and effortless. 

The user-friendly interface has clear and easily accessible buttons and menus, well-organized information, and clear instructions. This allows you to perform the necessary tasks without unnecessary complications.

The responsive interface ensures that the system responds quickly to user actions. When you press a button or perform an action, the responsive interface responds instantly and without delay. Or when you scroll through a web page or type on the keyboard, the responsive interface displays changes instantly and smoothly, with no visible delays.

The success of an application is directly related to its loading speed and the attractiveness of the interface. This is what users look for when choosing a user-friendly app.

A Search Option

This feature allows you to find the information you want in the app or on a website. When you enter keywords or phrases related to what the user is looking for, the app scans its database or content to find relevant results.

The search option saves time and effort by helping to search for specific items or information the user is looking for instead of having to browse everything manually. This option is handy on significant marketplaces to search for a particular item.

Push notifications

Push notifications typically appear on the screen of any user's device in the form of small messages or icons, including text, images, or sounds. They are designed to get your attention and notify you of updates or social media activity.

They are convenient and essential because they help you stay informed and ensure you get all the important information. However, if the user receives too many notifications, they can become intrusive or distracting. Therefore, it is crucial to provide the ability to customize their settings, which the user will set independently according to their preferences.

Offline Capabilities

With offline access, users can browse the app's content even when the device is not connected to Wi-Fi or a mobile network. For example, you can view and edit documents, listen to music, or watch videos without the Internet.

It is often the case that you cannot connect to the Internet or have no network, for example, when traveling in regions with poor coverage or when saving data traffic. Therefore, this feature will be a great advantage for those users who want to use the application offline.

Analytics Tools

Analytics tools in a web or mobile app can track various user actions, such as app launches, page views, button clicks, interaction with interface elements, and other events.

Using this data, you can make informed decisions, make changes, optimize your app, and improve its functionality to meet user needs and increase the effectiveness of your app.

Security

Security refers to the measures and mechanisms built into the application to protect data and keep users safe. This process includes data encryption, protection against unauthorized access, and user information storage in secure locations.

This is a basic but important feature that will not only keep each user's data secure and protected but will also increase trust and loyalty to your app.

Online Payments

Online payments allow you to purchase in online stores, pay bills for services, send money to others, and much more. It is convenient because the user can make payments at any time and from any place with Internet access. To do this, it is necessary to connect an electronic payment system through which the payment will take place. 

Due to the growing number of online stores, stores, and food delivery companies - the need to implement this function is increasing.

Integrations

Integration refers to the creation of links and interactions between different software components. This allows them to exchange data, transfer information, and use each other's functionality. 

For example, suppose you have a hotel booking site. In that case, you can integrate it with maps and geolocation systems to offer users the nearest available hotels and show them on a map. Integrating various features and services into web and mobile apps makes the user experience easier and better. 

Integrations help create more useful and powerful apps, extend functionality, and enable easy data exchange with other systems or services.

Summary

Mobile and web apps allow users to access information, interact with others, shop, automate workflows, simplify daily activities, and more through a user-friendly interface and unique features. 

Which features you choose depends on your business, its needs, and the app's purpose. Everything is tailored individually. Combining all of the above features can be the perfect modern app to meet the needs of your customers. But if, for some reason, one of the items doesn't work for you, use something that will definitely increase the efficiency of your product.

The modern financial world dictates its own rules. By including the critical success factors in this area, one can distinguish effective management of relations with the client. Reliable CRM solutions guarantee this goal because they contribute to optimizing many processes, thereby increasing productivity and taking customer interaction to a new level. In this article, we would like to share with you the best CRM systems that have been created, taking into account the characteristics and needs of modern financial companies.

What Is CRM for Financial Services?

CRM for financial services is software designed to manage customer contacts and improve comprehensive business performance. The main goals of financial CRM software are to automate processes, provide detailed analysis of client data to understand customer requirements better, reduce financial costs, and increase the effectiveness of strategic planning. Thus, all of the above in the complex helps to boost profits and strengthen the company's and brand's positions in the market.

How to Choose a CRM for Financial Services

Let's not argue that choosing CRM software for banking industry is difficult. However, we are ready to help you with this task by providing detailed tips.

First, you should clearly define the specific goals and the needs you intend to achieve/satisfy using CRM in financial services. Do you need only a system to manage customer relationships, optimize marketing campaigns, or increase sales? Or do you want it all together? Once you decide on your own goals, you can automatically narrow down the range of potential options. 

Regarding security, you have to be sure that the CRM system fully complies with modern data protection standards and is designed considering all reliable encryption mechanisms. This not only reduces the risk of data duplication but also maximizes the efficiency of your work processes.

It is also worth checking the CRM provider's support and training. Reliable support and the opportunity to receive professional training guarantee rapid business growth without downtimes and human-made errors. That’s why you should research reviews about your chosen service provider to see how comprehensive their support is.

In the end, the cost of the CRM system should not be devalued. Conduct a comparative analysis of various CRM systems, taking into account both initial costs and, accordingly, future costs, including further maintenance and updating.

Therefore, the main recommendation is to choose a system that offers the best balance between its cost and the quality of possible results for your company in finance.

Top 5 CRM solutions for Financial Services Businesses

It's time to share the top-5 CRM solutions for financial services known for their versatility, reliability, and power to manage customer relationships. However, note that each CRM for fintech from our list has its own features, which you should pay attention to while choosing the best option for your business.

Salesforce CRM

Salesforce is one of the leading CRM solutions, and its development team is confident in bringing its expertise to the financial services industry. This system includes tools that have been designed to meet the needs of many private equity firms, as well as the needs of companies working in related fields (banking, mortgage insurance). Within its core is a vast database to better understand customers' needs, habits, and behavior patterns. Other distinctive feature of this software solution is the ability to create custom modules adapted to the individual tasks and goals of a specific business (however, it is important to understand that the cost of deploying and supporting such a customized system will increase significantly). Moreover, it is equipped with AI-based analytics, helping consultants obtain even more valuable customer insights in no time. Among its other benefits are the ability to consolidate disparate data and optimize lead management, as well as almost unlimited scalability and flexibility.

Its disadvantages include that its work fully depends on the stability of the Internet connection and that its price may be too high for growing businesses. In addition, this CRM has a lot of modules, and the initial setup of the system often requires the participation of a narrow-focused specialist.

Envestnet Tamarac CRM

This fintech CRM focuses on helping independent financial advisers provide more personalized investment expertise to individual clients. Envestnet Tamarac CRM offers intelligent real-time reporting to help track customer progress toward their financial goals. The presence of optimized business adaptation processes for new customers is worth noting, as it allows you to quickly and easily create new accounts through Salesforce. This system is built entirely on the Microsoft Dynamics platform with a familiar Microsoft Outlook interface. Also, in the mobile version, consultants can enter the system «as a client», which enables them to see the dashboard exactly as their client would see it.

The cons of this solution include poor collaboration functionality because, as we mentioned above, it was designed initially for individual consultants.

Wealthbox CRM

This platform is flexible enough to be suitable for a wide range of users – from financial consultants to custodians and large firms combining the functions of broker and dealer. CRM data management, multi-channel client communication, and integration with social networking platforms like Twitter. With it, you can customize «under yourself» business processes or rely on business process templates using conditional logic to automate routine tasks. Also, it provides the ability to use Kanban dashboards to track potential financial transactions and keep abreast of how to work with potential clients. Wealthbox CRM is popular because of its low entry threshold.

However, along with all these benefits, this solution has several drawbacks, too. For instance, some users are dissatisfied with the poor householding functionality. In addition, Wealthbox may not be suitable for people who need to sync with Outlook calendar.

Zoho CRM

Zoho financial CRM software helps collect and organize all customer data, including basic CRM-related information, financial documents, financial policy information, and insurance records. This fintech CRM software offers tools for working with so-called «assets under management» to track all your transactions with financial institutions and other companies (here, we mean AUM tools where AUM is Assets Under Management). With built-in support modules (case modules), you can match your customers' needs with more financial data to provide efficient support. It is worth mentioning «Zia» – the Zoho assistant based on artificial intelligence, which adds a thoughtful layer of forecasts and suggestions for customers and helps you know when and how best to contact them.

At the same time, some Zoho users complain about limited customization features, poor reporting capabilities, and inconvenient dashboards.

NexJ CRM

NexJ is an intelligent financial services CRM with highly specialized modules for financial and banking consultants (specifically, they can use the private equity management module). This CRM system focuses on the specifics of the regional market with experience in more than 60 countries, and all this is thanks to the active use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics. These technologies, properly implemented in this solution, allow consultants to concretize their financial recommendations. 

In general, NexJ looks and feels like a highly professional system, but some users note that they feel confused when they have to leave their requests on its pricing. 

Conclusion

The range of financial services available today requires the integration of automated software solutions that are practical, flexible, and more affordable than traditional consultants, whose services were only affordable for some.

CRM for financial services, private capital management, debt resolution, and pension planning are sophisticated tools that go beyond conventional databases. They are designed to foster trust and build long-term relationships with your clients. As all financial services are future-oriented, financial CRM systems help you provide brighter and more profitable prospects for your customers, your company, and, of course, your personal and professional success as a consultant. Thus, the financial CRM system allows you to achieve the best financial results for your customers and provide them with the best service.

There are about 8.93 million mobile apps worldwide, with new ones popping up daily, but not each of them has a good mobile interface design. At the same time, those who have it, win the hearts of customers and earn millions of dollars. So, how can you achieve this goal? Let’s find it out right now.

What Is Mobile App Design?

Mobile app design is the visual identity of an app tailored to the user's behavior. It has two components: UI and UX. UI (user interface) is how the application looks, and what colors, fonts, icons, buttons, or other elements it contains. UX is how an app works, responds to user actions, and helps fulfill people’s needs.

Interface design for a mobile application calls for consideration of the specifics of mobile platforms, such as screen size, data input methods, battery level, and internet connection speed. You should bear in mind that design can have a big impact on the success and popularity of the product, its usability, and its attraction to users.

Key Principles of Mobile App Design

Creating the interface of mobile applications is a truly complex and multi-layered process. It can vary dramatically depending on what project the app is created for, who the target audience is, and what functionality its owner is looking for. However, there are a few fundamentals to keep in mind when designing.

Here are top basic mobile design principles:

1. Prioritize the user’s needs 
2. Focus on visual design
3. Make the app interface convenient
4. Make the content easy to read
5. Add some interaction
6. Optimize the interface for different mobile devices

User Interface (UI) Design Principles

Let’s define the most important user interface design principles.

Simplicity

An eye-catching and straightforward user interface is ideal. There shouldn't be too many interface elements that can confuse a user. Nobody wants to explore a new interface once an application is downloaded – instead, people just want to get what they need or have fun.  All they seek is simple products that “just work”, that’s why, you have to prioritize the main parts for design and remove the unnecessary ones.

There is a simple rule of thumb: one main action per screen. Each screen you design in your application should support a single, genuinely important action for the user. This makes it easier to learn and use. One hundred clear screens are better than a single cluttered one.

Consistency 

The interface has to be intuitive and easy to navigate. You can add a great feature or content, but if people can't find it, it doesn't matter. Mobile navigation should be consistent. To ensure navigation doesn’t require any explanation, you should use the right visual metaphors, and check that each navigation item leads to the appropriate place.

Feedback and Response Time

Feedback informs users whether they are doing the proper action or not. It can be audible (the ding of a new message notification), tactile (the vibrating signal for a new email or call while your phone is set to "silent"), or just visual. Feedback should be provided after each operation to show if it was successful. 

Feedback can be useful in responding to problems in four areas:

1. Locating: Where are you?
2. Current Situation: What's happening? Is it still going on?
3. Prospects: What comes next?
4. Effects: What did you get?

Quick, insightful, and observable feedback is essential to let people know their actions were noticed. The link between the activity and its effect should be clear so that users understand what happened, and what to expect next. Feedback is supposed to optimize and complement the user's experience rather than complicate it.

User Experience (UX) Design Principles

Now, we propose to list the key UX design principles.

Usability

Usability measures how easy and convenient it is for the user to interact with the interface of an application. It depends on the ease of navigation, structure, content quality, text layout, mobile app design, and a bunch of technical features. This aspect affects users' time on an app, conversion rates, and customer loyalty. 

Here are five components of usability:

1. Learnability: how easy is it for people to perform basic tasks the first time?
2. Productivity: how quickly can people complete tasks?
3. Memorability: when people come back to an application after a time out, how easily can they recover their skills?
4. Error recovery: how many errors do users make, how serious are they, and how easily can people fix them?
5. Enjoyment: How engaging is it to use the app? Does it help people accomplish their tasks? 

User-Centric Design

User-centered design is an approach that consistently identifies user needs and translates them into a product. The core value is to focus on what people are used to, on what is “easy” for them and meets their basic needs.

Figure out what users want from your mobile application. On a food delivery app, people want to see available propositions, and discounts, place an order, track a delivery, and that’s it. They don’t want to read the history of a local family restaurant and its owners - this information may be kept in subsections. 

Accessibility 

If you want people to use your app, make it easy to reach. First, make sure it’s available on all mobile platforms and devices. Secondly, remember about inclusivity while designing for mobile devices. Partially blind or colorblind people may also use your product. So, you should help them effortlessly use it by adding voice interaction, and alternative text for images and employing color-blind oriented templates. Additionally, let customers change the text size in the app to suit their visual requirements.

Best Practices in Mobile App Design

Creating an interface that is both attractive and user-friendly is a challenge and an art. To achieve a delicate balance between aesthetics and functionality, designers need to utilize best practices. 

User Interface and Navigation 

Navigation in a mobile application must be intuitive. Each button or link has to state its purpose clearly. All icons must be recognizable and standardized. 

Mobile UX design's best practice for icons is to tag them with text. Tagged icons ensure that the purpose is conveyed quickly and easily.  You can see this in the most popular apps like YouTube, Spotify, and TikTok. 

Content Organization and Data Entry

When directing user attention across the application interface, use visual hierarchy. Distinguish important elements from less significant ones by varying size and spacing. Features that stand out attract attention, and clustering related items makes them easier to understand. For better readability and differentiation between titles, subheadings, and body content, designers should use the proper font sizes and styles. 

As for good examples of great content organization, we’d like to pay attention to Airbnb, an illustration of minimalism and simplicity. People love it for its aesthetic graphic design, balanced font sizes and colors, and the absence of flashy elements or bright banners. Airbnb has also made booking real estate clear: users understand what they are paying for.

Input fields and forms are the basic parts of mobile apps and are also crucial in mobile design principles. Improving the total user experience requires making these elements efficient and usable. Make a user type as little as possible by utilizing default values and input masks. Give consumers immediate feedback on validation so they can fix mistakes quickly. To help users fill out forms correctly, provide them with informative error warnings and visual clues.

Usability and Accessibility 

If you choose the right color palette, you can greatly improve the user experience. Remember about color blindness and test how your app looks to users with different types of color perception. Use contrasting colors for text and background to make content easy to read for anyone and anywhere. Add some extra explanations if needed. 

For example, the choice of clothing color in an online store should have a text explanation to be understood by people with a violation of color perception. Also, consider how the interface will look on small screens.

Performance and Responsiveness 

Take into account a diverse range of screen sizes and resolutions. Your design should be adaptive to ensure perfect display on any device. To check adaptability, test your design on a tablet, smartphone, and computer: this way you can adjust the display of elements in the interface and understand what and where to improve. Make sure the elements are not overlapping and are scaled correctly.

Platform Conformance

Research iOS and Android operating system guidelines. A guideline is a set of rules that determine how mobile apps are designed within an operating system. The iOS and Android systems have recognizable elements that users expect to see, so the guidelines help to create optimal UX and UI. Also, it will speed up the development process and reduce bugs.

Tools for Designing for Mobile Devices

As for the most popular tools designers use to implement solutions for mobile devices, we can consider the next four.

Figma 

Figma is an application for all kinds of graphical works: from creating website layouts to developing mobile interfaces and prototyping. Its biggest advantage is an opportunity to work directly in a browser, allowing access to projects from any computer or platform. You don’t have to buy multiple licenses or install the software. Another plus of the application is the collaboration feature that allows simultaneous changes to the project design by several users without the need to upload files locally.

Adobe XD

XD is designed from scratch to meet the requirements of modern UX/UI design with many features not available in other graphic applications. It solves the main problem that competitors can't cope with: it provides interaction with non-static elements and allows you to implement thoughtful dynamics on the page. Adobe XD is ideal for vector UI design, wireframe modeling, implementing engagement with interactive elements, and prototyping.

Sketch

Sketch is a simple vector tool. Designers and front-end developers use it to create UX/UI components. Sketch is simple and easy to learn, has an intuitive interface, and offers cross-platform design tools. It has a preview feature to see how the project will look on different devices. It has many good plugins and resources, plus some useful functions for working in the cloud.

InVision

InVision is a versatile design tool that focuses on maximizing UX for apps. It can be used to create automatically customized interactive prototypes for different devices. InVision Studio has tools for working with vector drawing, interactive design, and built-in animation. The application can be installed on macOS and Windows.

Mobile Application Design Process

UI UX mobile app design is a complex process that requires a thorough approach to ensure it is visually appealing and compatible with various devices and operating systems. You also need to make sure it’s handy for both experienced users and newcomers and meets modern trends in app design. So, what are the stages of mobile design?

1. Gathering data and design requirements. Research is a crucial part of the design effort, guiding the development of a product concept that accurately defines the market niche, functionality, monetization, and usage scenarios. 
2. Planning the architecture and navigation of the application. UX specialists create architecture based on application usage scenarios, ensuring navigation and consistency. This design stage is crucial for the end-user, as it directly affects the app's navigation and overall user experience.
3. Development of prototypes. Mockups are created for prototyping a mobile application, allowing for easy modification and identification of best solutions. This process involves discussing the architecture with the team and client, and later involving a team of developers to evaluate the technical design.
4. Testing the prototype. Interactive prototypes allow testing the app design to ensure it is suitable for the target audience, allowing for detailed feedback and understanding of user behavior patterns. This stage of development helps identify non-obvious patterns and improves the product's overall functionality.‍
5. Final refinements and development. Next, the agreed prototype is handed over to designers to make the product more attractive, refine the styling, and improve small user interactions, taking into account the final UI of a product. The final design is passed to developers who do the technical part.

Get Some Inspiration with Our Case Studies

Below, we invite you to check out some of our projects where we have successfully implemented all the ideas described above:

• Booking beauty appointment platform
• Takeout food delivery app
• Social network
• Advertising placement system
• Vehicle rental mobile app
• Smart city mobile app

Conclusion

Creating an aesthetically pleasing design is not enough. You also need to make it user-friendly and inclusive, bearing in mind mobile device demands.  Your target audience will be captivated and delighted by the appealing, highly engaging, and intuitive mobile applications if you carefully adhere to mobile app design principles and never stop learning from real-world examples of great mobile applications.

IT outsourcing has established itself as a usual part of operation for many companies worldwide. It delivers multiple benefits. These are optimization, cost-effectiveness, scalability, and, of course, access to special-purpose knowledge and skills. At the same time, choosing a service provider is far from easy, even if you resort to the help of outsourcing management software. That’s why we decided to shortlist the best IT outsourcing countries and cover the possible pros and cons of each option.

Key Industries That Outsource IT Processes in 2024

Nowadays, a business that drives innovations or simply wants to grow faster opts for external IT services. They help to reach the goals set faster. In this context, outsourcing software development for startups is worthy to highlight since proficient IT services facilitate bringing innovative ideas into reality. Overall, in 2024, IT services were widely requested by the entities operating in the following sectors:

• Fintech – fintech software outsourcing helps to elaborate on effective solutions for users’ payments and transaction monitoring. Professional IT services enable many existing entities and startups to be well-informed about the latest developments. 
• Healthcare – bolstering the remote interaction between hospitals and patients benefits the industry a lot. For example, healthcare software outsourcing can contribute to remote patient monitoring, predictive analysis, diagnostics, nanomedicine, and so on.
• Telecommunications – the primary point for applying IT advancements is to boost the speed of connection, ensure the network's resilience, facilitate data processing and storage, as well as implement effective billing.
• Cybersecurity – third-party experts can respond to emerging threats and help to smoothly address the existing ones. Advanced IT algorithms they implement help to detect fraudulent transactions and prevent customers from losing their money.
• Education – advanced IT algorithms are now widespread across many universities worldwide. The latter can arrange steady and effective remote interaction with their students. 

Checklist on How to Choose a Country to Outsource Software Development 

Having plenty of IT outsourcing services offers to choose from is surely good. Where competition is intense, the quality is always good. At the same, the prices are balanced under such conditions. On the other side, choosing among multiple offers is a bit time-consuming. The below criteria will help you to sort all the available options out faster:

• Quality is a primary aspect to take into account. Cheaper never means better. In fact, it may turn out that low-quality products may take even more funds, especially, when it comes to corrections. However, the complexity of the task should be kept in focus as well. For more complicated assignments, the quality of outputs has to be superb.
• Tech education – the specialist you would like to assign should have sufficient tech background and skills. Emphasize whether a provider draws attention to the ongoing training. In addition, true IT experts should be ready to address the specifics of your projects effectively as well. Therefore, take time to discuss this aspect in advance.
• Cultural aspects – this nuance is often underestimated, however, it plays a great role. There are jurisdictions that are closer to the Western standards. However, some states are more keen on preserving their local specifics. Make sure you understand it well while being on the shore.
• Timezone – the perfect option in this case is nearshore software outsourcing. When your state is adjacent to the neighboring one where you decide to hire developers, it is always possible to arrange a closer collaboration. If you consider developers from the other part of the globe, make sure you have at least 3-4 hours of overlap.
• English proficiency – price and quality can mean nothing if there is a significant language barrier. While choosing your service provider, ensure developers have sufficient English level. Upper-Intermediate will work well for projects that do not require your constant supervision. However, more complicated ventures, especially innovative ones, will definitely require a more advanced level. 

10 Best Countries to Outsource Software Development

There is a list of 10 top technology countries where you will be able to find the best IT experts:

1. Ukraine

This country is a worthy place to hire developers. The reason is simple. It ensures price-quality balance without sacrificing the latter by any means. The state has a truly impressive pool of skillful workforce. Even more, lots of local talents are spread across the globe. 

The rates are much lower than in the vast majority of the European jurisdictions. Such prices are determined by the affordable costs of living in Ukraine. At the same time, the local talents improve their level of education regularly. Also, they fully immerse themselves in the Western approaches. That's why the quality of their products is bolstered steadily. These endeavors make Ukraine probably the best option for software development outsourcing in Eastern Europe. 

Although there is a huge time gap with the USA and Canada, local developers are also flexible at this point. Many of them are often ready to tighten their work to another time zone. The level of English is well here, both written and spoken.

If you need to hire someone who can elaborate on innovative tech solutions, you can find the right professional here as well – Ukrainians are capable of thinking outside the box. 

Ukraine fosters advancements and investments in this industry. There is even a separate Ministry of Digital Transformation in charge of ensuring a favorable landscape. Ukrainian specialists are also aware of and apply Western and European standards, including GDPR.

Hourly rates: $20-55

2. Poland

This is the EU location that ensures optimal price-quality balance. The rates are slightly higher compared to Ukraine since living in Poland is much more expensive. 

In this country, the greater emphasis has been placed not on state regulation but on market self-regulation. Here, you can find probably the largest software outsourcing companies in Europe. The scope of available services is comprehensive. English proficiency is very decent here, both written and spoken. This country also facilitates tech education. 

Poland is a definitely great option for bringing large IT projects to life, where a level of complexity is above the average. On the contrary, this country is not too keen on promoting innovations. It adopts those that come from other European or North American states. However, the culture and approaches to doing business in Poland are Western overall.

Hourly rates: $35-55

3. Bulgaria

This is another European country that is a good destination for IT outsourcing. Bulgaria has gained a reputation as a reliable IT hub with a highly skilled workforce. In this jurisdiction, a special emphasis is placed on robust IT education and ongoing training. 

The local professionals provide a comprehensive set of IT services. Bulgarian IT professionals can ensure the quality of the products at a good level. The prices of their services are even a bit higher than in Poland. 

The level of English is sufficient for communicating with foreign partners. Bulgarian IT specialists have a mindset focused on Western standards and problem-solving. The local timezone greatly overlaps with the USA and Canada, for instance.

Hourly rates: $40-90

4. Switzerland 

This country is famous for its professionalism. Local specialists excel in most spheres, including IT. Due the standards of living are more than high here, this determines the high costs of outsourcing software development, including high salaries for developers.

Switzerland has an extremely favorable legal and regulatory landscape. It greatly fosters innovations and high-performance standards.  Switzerland may also be characterized as a calm place with political stability and democracy.

The English level is extremely high, both written and spoken. Ensuring worldwide collaboration is easy here since the time zones with the USA and Canada greatly overlap.

Hourly rates: $100+

5. China 

Dealing with Chinese developers is both an opportunity and a challenge. On the one hand, this country ensures a high level of tech education and training. At some points, this education is considered to be among the best ones in the world. Following the Confucian lifestyle, local people are very hardworking and dedicated. Hiring Chinese developers is a good option from the point of pricing. 

On the other side, there are too severe cultural differences. This makes it difficult to deal with the Chinese developers at many points. Another drawback is the time difference. Arranging real-time collaboration with local specialists can be challenging. Finally, the level of English is a bit below the average level. This is probably the main obstacle on the way to the sufficient integration of Western standards in the Chinese IT industry.

Hourly rates: $35-75 

6. Philippines

This is probably one of the fastest-growing IT outsourcing markets. The IT sector is one of the most developed in this country. However, the rates for the IT services are reasonable. That is mostly because of the affordable living costs that characterize this jurisdiction. The scope of services is diverse here.

Speaking about the collaboration, it is generally easy to implement. English is the official language in the Philippines. Local IT specialists have excellent knowledge of IT terminology common to the Western world. This country also had a long history of dealing with the USA. This enabled it to absorb American business standards immersively. Finally, time zone differences are slight. 

Hourly rates: $20-60

7. Colombia

If you are interested in outsourcing to low cost countries, Columbia may be the right choice. In general, this is a growing market. The rates are below the average ones in the market. But it happens that the quality of services can be decent. 

At many points, it implements and shares the standards common for the North American states. It is also convenient to work with locals since the time zones of the USA and Canada are very close. Still, the level of English should be better for more effective communication.

Hourly rates: $30-50

8. Mexico 

Mexico is not a widely known option, but it is still a good destination for IT outsourcing. First of all, it has lots of skilled professionals who are dedicated and flexible. The level of IT education in this country is high. Even more, close proximity to the USA makes it possible to share common business standards. Mexicans are keen on agile software development. The level of English among the Mexican developers is Upper Intermediate and higher. 

The prices for IT outsourcing services vary depending on the complexity of the project. However, the local rates are a bit below the average in the global market. 

In terms of cooperation, there are some cultural aspects to consider. Mexicans prefer close face-to-face communication. Given that this country is in the same time zone approximately as the USA and Canada, establishing communication has no difficulties.

Hourly rates: $30-100

9.  India

This is one of the top tech countries which remains a global leader in this context. It has a vast pool of skillful tech professionals. Moreover, this state ensures balanced, even say, low prices for the IT assignments done. The level of English is high. In fact, India is among the states with the highest ratio of people speaking English. 

Having a population of around 1.5 billion people, it is possible to bring to life large projects here (even more, this means that in India, you can find the cheapest developers in the world). As for the prospects, this country invests a lot in tech education. Overall, the Indian business framework is mature given its historical bounds with the West. 

Speaking about the drawbacks, a variable quality should be mentioned in this first turn. Cost optimization in this case can be made by sacrificing the quality of the final product. Another downside is the time difference. It may greatly impact real-time interaction in certain cases. Unfortunately, there may be only several hours of overlap with the USA and Canada.

Hourly rates: $15-50.

10. USA

This is probably one of the best countries for software engineers. It is open and encourages innovations and advancements in all terms. The level of technical expertise among developers here is very well. 

The USA not only follows the strictest standards for software development. It also upgrades them and introduces new ones. The USA gave to this world plenty of advanced technologies, AI is the latest one. Also, it is worth highlighting UX design outsourcing, as the USA has the biggest talent pool of designers in the world. Therefore, this country can be considered the right place to implement complex ideas.

Still, the prices for the services are pretty high. However, depending on the complexity of the tasks you want to assign, it may be worthwhile to outsource them exactly in the USA.

Hourly rates: $40-80

Final Words

Summing up the above, the complexity of the project determines the choice of the service provider. Of course, for the high profitability of a project, it is reasonable to save as much as possible. Still, this should be made without sacrificing the quality by any means. Attempting to save a lot may have a reverse effect – you may have to pay more than intended initially. Correcting a poor-quality product is always a far more expensive endeavor. 

If you want to find the perfect ratio between the quality of services provided and their cost, you can consider our company. We will implement your ideas in the most cost-efficient way without compromising its viability and competitiveness, just contact us.

If your website has existed for a long time, this is a reason to think about redesigning it. The fact is that web development trends are constantly changing, and the things that attracted users around five years ago may seem high and dry today. 

In particular, several years ago, the independent web resource GoodFirms conducted a survey among designers to find the reasons why users leave their websites. It turns out that about 40% of respondents were sure that this was due to the outdated design. Do you need to look for more explanations as to why you need a redesign? If you don’t, this article is for you. 

What Is a Website Redesign?

Website redesign is a modernization that involves changes in the design, content, and functionality of a specific web resource. There may be not only a change in color scheme but also in the website’s structure, which also implies a certain optimization of the HTML code.

Redesign can be done every two years, or less often, every three or four years. However, when the appearance of your website remains the same for five years or more, your users are likely to begin to believe that your business is idle and, therefore, will likely choose a more successful competitor.

Why Is a Site Redesign Important?

Let's imagine that when you launched your website first, it generally satisfied its visitors. However, after a few years, its traffic began to gradually decline, although the quality of your service and/or goods did not decrease. Most likely, the problem is that your website’s design is outdated. Although this may seem to be the only reason why you need a redesign, there are several other reasons that also lead to it:

• You are going to migrate your website to a new engine;
• Despite regularly taking SEO measures, your website is not ranking well in search engines;
• You are planning to expand your audience reach and scale your business;
• Your company has rebranded, and now, this should apply to your website as well;
• You are entering a new market;
• Your product range or the concept of its promotion has completely changed.

Why You Need a Website Redesign Project Plan

In general, there are many goals that you can achieve through a redesign. The benefits of website redesign include improving the user experience, rebranding, increasing reputation, optimizing traffic indicators, conversions, etc., involving the website in marketing campaigns, and so on. 

At the same time, whatever goal you pursue, its achievement must be consistent, and each step must be justified from the point of view of business and available resources. Otherwise, you will act chaotically, and the result of these actions will most likely not live up to your desires. To prevent this from happening, you actually need a project plan for website redesign.

How to Redesign a Website: Applying Key Principles for Success

Now, it's time to find out what five sequential phases the correct redesign strategy includes. 

Setting Clear Objectives

Any well-thought-out project plan for website redesign implies matching goals and needs to redesign tasks to be completed.

Understanding the Need for Redesign

At the very beginning, you will need to correctly identify the reasons for the redesign. For example, this could be an outdated design, a not-mobile-friendly user experience, the functionality update and complicated website structure related to it, etc. You need to describe all these reasons as precisely as possible to make it easier for your team of designers (and possibly developers) to decide on the scope of work.

Defining Your Goals

Once the reasons are clear, you can define SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals. Special cases of such goals may be increasing traffic, achieving better conversion rates, improving user experience, etc.

Research and Preparation

At this stage, you will have to complete more complex tasks that will lay a solid foundation for your team's further work. They will also help you understand how competitive your website is at the moment and which aspects of it have the highest priority.  

Analyzing the Current Website

Your website is probably already connected to some analytics system where you can evaluate the dynamics of its traffic, conversion rates, abandoned carts, and so on. Thus, you have to collect this data, evaluate its changes for better or worse over the last year, and compare these changes with seasonal and local trends in your niche to get the most objective assessment of your website.

Competitor Analysis

You will also have to analyze the websites of your main competitors to understand in what they are good at and what needs optimization. Through this analysis, you will be able to prioritize the tasks that your technical team will have to deal with.

Target Audience Identification

Refine your audience data – this is especially important if you're looking to enter new markets or scale your online business. However, even if your goals are less ambitious, you'll still need to refresh information about your potential customers – their demographics, pain points, goals, needs, etc.

Content Audit

Finally, you should conduct a global content audit – for this, you'll probably need the help of SEO experts. Specifically, if your website's main problem is low search engine rankings, it's likely due to poor-quality content that will need to be optimized or replaced with a new one.

Planning and Strategy Development

Actually, you are left with the last steps before you hand over your website rebuild project to your technical team.

Site Structure and Navigation

Based on the key indicators of your website displayed in the analytics, you will be able to determine which of your website’s navigation elements and structure components need to be changed.

Visual Design Considerations

If your current website seems visually outdated, you will need to identify relevant examples from your competitors and indicate which graphical aspects of their websites you like the most.

Technical Requirements

If you find that your website's performance is suffering or, for example, the website itself is not fully displayed on some mobile devices, optimizing these aspects will require the participation of web developers.

SEO and Content Strategy

If the problem is the poor quality of the content (lack of necessary keywords in the texts, low-quality images, outdated data, etc.), you will need to involve SEO specialists in the project as well.

The Design and Development Process

Now, it’s the practical part of your website redesign roadmap, which requires the involvement of technical specialists and the designers themselves.

Wireframing and Prototyping

Now that the project is in the hands of the designers, they can start creating wireframes according to your requirements for the updated version of the website. As your requirements become more detailed, they will build prototypes based on these wireframes.

Design Mockups

An intermediate stage between the development of wireframes and prototypes can be the creation of mockups. Essentially, these are medium-fidelity sketches of your project that, like wireframes, schematically demonstrate the main components of the website but already have a pre-defined color palette and some graphic objects. Typically, this intermediate stage is necessary for websites with a complex and/or non-trivial structure.

Development and Coding

If your site requires migration to a new CMS or you have discovered problems in the previous stages that can only be solved through changes in its program code, you will have to involve developers to eliminate these bottlenecks.

Testing and Quality Assurance

And, of course, don’t forget to staff your project team with quality assurance specialists who will check if the updated version of your website works correctly before it goes public.

Launch and Post-Launch Strategy

Finally, you can begin preparing for the website relaunch.

Preparing for Launch

If your updated website looks the way you like and all the inconsistencies have been ironed out, it makes sense to check its effectiveness on the representatives of its target audience. This way, you may get additional insights about optimization that can still be implemented before your website’s launch.

Launching the Website

Now, developers can upload a new version of the website to the hosting. It may require you to choose a new hosting provider or a new tariff plan from the old one – this makes sense if you plan to expand the reach of your audience.

Post-Launch Activities

This stage will last exactly until the next redesign. In particular, you will have to monitor the analytics of your update to see whether the new key indicators meet your original business requirements. You will also need to constantly work on your website's SEO by regularly uploading new, relevant content.

Conclusion

We hope that in this article, we have helped you understand how to website revamp, and now, you can begin this procedure as consciously as possible. If you are looking for specialists ready to take on not only the planning task but also the implementation of your redesign project, feel free to contact us, and our team will bring your most ambitious goals to life within your budget and timeline.

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If you are working on a digital solution, one of its integral stages will be UX/UI design. While trivial projects usually have “beaten” paths for creating navigation and visuals, any deviation from the standard can lead to dissatisfaction among end users and increase the entry threshold for them. In this regard, no matter how sophisticated the logic of your project is, it is important to understand the usability principles maintained by human psychology to ensure its excellent user experience.

Theories of Perception in UX/UI Design

Generally speaking, there are several popular theories of perception in UX/UI design:

• Gestalt psychology aimed at gaining an understanding of how people associate individual objects with things that are meaningful to them. The main gestalt principles include figure-ground (according to which some objects, depending on their visual appeal, are perceived as key navigation elements, while others serve as background), similarity (according to which elements with identical visual characteristics are perceived as interconnected), proximity (according to which closely placed objects are also perceived as related to each other), and closure (which states that incomplete objects, if sufficiently detailed, can be perceived by users as complete).
• Affordance theory, claiming that to ensure intuitiveness, users should receive some cues from the interface from the very beginning on how to deal with a particular element – one way to do this is to use skeuomorphism;
• Hick's Law, which states that the time it takes a particular user to make a decision is logarithmic to the number of available options (which means that to maximize intuitiveness, the user's choice should always be limited);
• Fitts' Law, stating that the time it takes a user to reach a desired part of the interface depends on its size and distance (which means that to ensure a great user experience, you need to place interactive elements closer to the user's starting point);
• Signal Detection Theory, claiming that users can subconsciously distinguish between meaningful cues (calls to action) and background noise, meaning that they should be visually separated.

Cognitive Load: Its Effects on UI Design

Now let's move from theory to practice and consider individual insights extracted from the above theories of psychology in UX. 

In particular, the first insight is the minimization of cognitive load, that is, the efforts of the human brain that must be applied to perform a specific target action. Thus, the importance of reducing the amount of information or tasks provided to the user becomes clear – otherwise, there is a high probability that the user will begin to act erroneously. 

In practice, such brevity can be achieved by correctly grouping interrelated elements and removing elements whose functionality duplicates each other.

Emotional Response & UX Design

Another valuable insight from UX design and psychology is to establish an emotional connection with the end user through your interface. This is a global task that begins with user behavior analysis and identifying their desires, pain points, and intentions and ends with transforming the obtained information into design elements that resonate with them. 

Ultimately, you will have to walk in the shoes of the average consumer of your software solution to ensure the proper level of empathy with your emotional design. In terms of practical implementation of the emotional response, such user empathy can be achieved through the integration of “user experience stories” that can be presented by a service provider to users as they get acquainted with the digital solution, as well as the use of the right color palette, forms, audio, pop-ups, and text.

The Role of Memory in User Interaction

Since, according to cognitive psychology in design, the average person can concentrate on one object for up to 20-30 minutes, it is important to take this aspect into account if your software solution involves long-term interaction with it. 

Specifically, you can reduce the load on your users' memory by implementing elements and scenarios that work and occur in a way that is familiar to them. Otherwise, if something does not function as expected, it can lead to users’ confusion and erroneous actions. 

Understanding User Behavior Through Heuristics

Heuristics are specific UI design principles that can predict user psychology. Here are some of them:

• Visibility of system status, which implies the importance of informing end users about what is happening with your software solution at the moment through progress bars, loading animations, or status messages;
• Match between the system and the real world, which emphasizes the importance of correspondence between the system's behavior and the knowledge and experience that users received before they became familiar with your software solution;
• User control and freedom, which implies the need to provide end users with the ability to freely navigate your software solution and manage negative scenarios;
• Consistency and standards, which determine the significance of logical connections between elements, terminology, and layouts;
• Error prevention, which consists of preventing erroneous actions by end users by providing them with unambiguous and understandable instructions;
• Recognition over recall, which states that to ensure better intuitiveness, users should “recognize” familiar patterns from the real world in elements and scenarios of your interface.

Thus, you have to perform a heuristic evaluation to check whether your solution is good in terms of usability. Also, note that in reality, there are many more psychology UI design heuristics, but the above list will be sufficient for a basic understanding of what is meant by the term excellent user experience.

The Impact of Attention on User Experience

Many designers, in order to encourage the user to perform a particular action, abuse pop-up notifications and other features to attract attention, thereby increasing the cognitive load, the inadmissibility of which we have already discussed earlier. 

Instead, you can use such approaches as the correct building of a visual hierarchy, optimization of the color palette, breaking down complex processes into several simple ones, etc. And, of course, do not forget to appeal to the memory of users, which already contains some experience of interaction with other digital solutions and can automate some processes of dealing with them due to the familiarity of the mental models implemented.

User Motivation & Reward Systems in UX/UI Design

Finally, from the point of view of UX psychology, many UX/UI designs benefit from gamification, which motivates users to move toward the target action. In general, gamification is aimed at boosting user engagement and creating an exciting user experience that they don’t want to interrupt. Its main elements are rewards and recognition.

At the same time, it is crucial to note that some reward systems are too confusing for the average user and, thus, create unnecessary cognitive load instead of motivation. Moreover, gamification is not considered a universal approach that could be used in any project. Therefore, you have to always start with the appropriateness and the affordance of implementing this concept clearly and simply for the consumer.

Conclusion

We hope that with the help of this article, you were able to understand the importance of UX design psychology and how it is implemented in UI/UX principles like heuristics, emotional response, lowering cognitive load, user motivation, and others. If you are interested in creating a digital solution that fully meets all these psychological principles, feel free to contact us.

In today's world of IT technologies, cooperation with Ukrainian developers is becoming more and more relevant and promising. Ukraine is ranked as one of the world's top IT service providers and continues to hold that position.

Ukrainian IT market overview

Today, the Ukrainian IT market has positive growth dynamics, as Ukraine is a more favorable center of cooperation than other countries. Why is this so? It is due to our specialists' high level of education, scientific potential, the country's proximity to the European market, and favorable tax conditions. The close geographical location to Europe also ensures faster and more efficient communication between clients and developers. All this makes it possible to double Ukraine's export revenues in the next 4 years.

Currently, more than 200,000 Ukrainian developers work in the international market. That demonstrates the high level of qualification and professionalism of IT specialists who successfully work on projects of any scale and complexity.

In 2021-2022, the IT industry grew by 36%, from $5 billion to $6.8 billion in exports. Over the past three years, these figures have almost doubled, and the growth trend is quite stable. Despite the war and issues many IT companies face nowadays, the IT sector is still a driving force in the Ukrainian economy and continues to develop. 

The majority of IT companies today work remotely. But this does not prevent participants in the development process from creating digital products, being in touch with the client, and providing timely updates on the work done. During the full-scale invasion of the aggressor country, all Ukrainian companies have adapted to the new reality and are ready for force-majeure situations at any level. 

Our company did not disrupt any project over the past year and delivered all developed products to each customer. Moreover, our practical work resulted in the support of foreign customers who want to cooperate only with Ukrainian companies on convenient terms.

Development tasks that Ukrainian developers solve

Ukrainian developers today are among the most in-demand in the world. Through continuous development and training, top-notch IT specialists contribute to developing international products and participate in their launch and maintenance. They successfully solve many development tasks and problems, including:

1. Complex technical projects

‍Ukrainian developers have high technical expertise and can implement projects of any complexity. They use the most advanced technologies and programming languages, such as Java, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, etc.

2. Mobile application development

A significant amount of experience is available among Ukrainian developers in developing mobile applications for iOS and Android platforms using React Native, Ionic, and other technologies. They know how to create intuitive, user-friendly interfaces that satisfy users' needs. They also specialize in developing cross-platform applications that run on multiple operating systems, which can significantly speed up the development process and reduce project costs. 

3. E-commerce platform development 

Ukrainian developers also have considerable experience in developing online stores and e-commerce platforms. They are familiar with major CMS systems such as Magento, Shopify, and WooCommerce.

4. Software development 

It is well known that Ukrainian developers create high-quality software. They know how to write code that will work quickly, efficiently, and reliably. They also have experience in various areas, such as web development, mobile development, artificial intelligence, and more. Ukrainian developers often use modern technologies and development methods such as Agile, Scrum, and DevOps to ensure high quality and fast development time.

5. Integration and maintenance

Besides developing new software, Ukrainian developers integrate it with existing systems and maintain them. They are ready to solve problems during the operation and ensure the smooth operation of the applications.

6. Cybersecurity

Ukrainian developers actively work in cybersecurity, providing reliable protection of information and data. They know how to protect applications from threats like hacker attacks, viruses, and other malware. And also use modern technologies and methods such as data protection, encryption, and authentication to keep software secure.

Advantages of cooperation with Ukrainian developers

Cooperation with Ukrainian developers today is one of the most advantageous options for companies looking for reliable and experienced IT specialists. Ukraine is one of the world's leaders in the IT services market, thanks to its talented and highly qualified developers capable of fulfilling tasks of any complexity.

• One of the main advantages of working with Ukrainian developers is the high quality of their work. Ukrainian developers have an extensive experience in various fields of IT. They follow the latest trends and use the most advanced technologies. Due to this, they can realize tasks of any complexity, including creating complex websites, mobile applications, software development, and much more.

• In addition, Ukrainian developers are known for their speed and efficiency. They strive to complete their projects on time without compromising the quality of their work. Ukrainian IT companies are also ready to provide flexible working conditions, including working in different time zones, which makes cooperation with them even more convenient and effective.

• One more advantage of cooperation with Ukrainian developers is their price competitiveness. Ukraine offers more favorable conditions for cooperation than other countries while maintaining a high quality of work and professionalism. That allows companies to save on costs without losing quality.

• ‍Flexible cooperation conditions are another advantage of Ukrainian developers. Many of them work remotely, which makes their services more flexible and accessible to clients from all over the world. That reduces the cost of organizing work with remote teams and the time required to find the right specialists. In addition, even remote communication with Ukrainian developers allows you to respond quickly to changes in the project and solve any problems that may arise. Also, communication with Ukrainian developers is in English, which facilitates interaction with customers from around the world.

Summary

Ukraine is one of Europe's largest exporters of IT services, with an excellent knowledge base, great motivation, and great opportunities. Despite the Russian invasion, Ukrainian IT companies continue to provide quality services, support the economy, and maintain a high rate of development and continuous growth.

Cooperation with the Ukrainian company is not only a guarantee of quality work but also support for Ukrainian businesses and Ukraine as a whole. Numerous IT companies survived difficult times and are gaining momentum in their activities due to the trust of international customers and the continuous work of the development team.