Digital Transformation Technologies In E-Commerce

If we talk about using technologies for business development, we must understand what these tools are and how they are useful. Here, we will focus on the main and most popular technologies for digitizing e-commerce.

• CRM, ERP, WMS, TMS, SAAS, and database tools. These systems help you manage specific areas of your business: customer relationships, resources, warehouse, transportation, and data. You can even use your software as an additional source of revenue by providing it to other companies.
• Advanced analytics. Your data is a very valuable asset. You can’t let it disappear aimlessly. Thanks to analytics tools, you can use it to track the efficiency of your processes, employees, and resource utilization. This way, you can find flaws in your company and fix them, improve them, and turn them into advantages.
• AI and machine learning solutions. Artificial intelligence is gaining popularity because it offers the opportunity to entrust decision-making to a machine that is constantly learning from your own data. The efficiency of learning and correct decision-making depends on the amount of data. The more information there is, the easier for the algorithm to make accurate and correct conclusions.
• Internet of Things. This technology uses devices placed where you need them: on a person, on the ground, on equipment, or on transportation. With it, you can obtain the necessary information, make predictions, and make decisions. For example, in medicine, this technology is used to track the condition of patients and make diagnoses. In finance, it monitors the condition of machines, and in the agricultural sector, it obtains information about weather and soil conditions.
• Robotics and Process Automation (RPA). Robots have long performed many repetitive, simple processes in place of humans. Their introduction into your enterprise’s work can increase its efficiency many times if not dozens of times. Of course, this transformation also implies the development of special software for robotics control.

Each technology is used for a specific purpose, so the choice of one or a set of specific solutions depends on the company’s needs. However, each technology can be effectively applied in absolutely any sphere. The only thing that is important is to set a clear objective.

Key Stages Of Digital Business Transformation In E-Commerce

If we talk about the stages of digital transformation in e-commerce, they will be clearer and more consistent. These are the specific steps that need to be taken to achieve the desired result. Let’s take a closer look at them:

1. Defining the area of transformation. First and foremost, you need to set a clear goal. What exactly do you want to transform? How deep is it? What task needs to be accomplished, and what goal needs to be achieved? Without specific answers to these questions, you won’t be able to achieve results, which means all the effort (and resources) will be wasted.
2. Budget determination. Once you’ve determined exactly what you need to digitalize, you can also think about the budget for digital. This can be difficult, so we recommend that you first familiarize yourself with possible solutions and their costs, and calculate the payback and profitability of their implementation. Specific cases in your niche can help.
3. Developing a digital transformation roadmap. Everything is simple here. We will have a digitalization roadmap if we depict all our planned steps graphically. However, with specific initial data, the digitalization map can be detailed.
4. Selecting and implementing digital solutions. You must decide which solutions and tools you will use for your transformation. Then, find a contractor to build them for you and implement the plan.
5. Training your staff on new technologies. Your staff will need to learn new processes and digital tools, which will take time and resources. Your task is to organize the transition process properly.
6. Moving away from outdated technology. Perhaps you already had some solutions or tools that have not shown effectiveness. Sometimes, they can be integrated with new solutions, but in general, it is better not to hold on to the old and move to modern platforms at the first opportunity.

SoloWay Tech is equipped to support your digital transformation journey, providing the tools and expertise needed to thrive in the competitive eCommerce market.

Why Choose Zartrex Tech As A Digital Transformation Partner?

SoloWay Tech is a Ukrainian software development company with expertise in numerous domains, from EdTech to e-commerce solutions development. Why you should choose e-commerce digital transformation at Zartrex Tech:

• Expertise. We have been working in the e-commerce industry since 2015 and have gathered a reliable team of over 25 specialists with extensive experience in this area.
• Relevance. We follow e-commerce industry trends, communicate with leading experts, and attend thematic conferences in different countries.
• Effectiveness. We delve into the business goals of the project. We work out the task comprehensively. We select the best options to achieve the result.
• Transparency. We provide access to our system for tracking work and generate monthly reports on each plan item.

Additionally, we prioritize the security of the products we develop. We adhere to widely accepted cybersecurity standards and policies to ensure your business’s unique needs are met. Let’s discuss your project!

The post How Does E-Commerce Digital Transformation Looks Like? appeared first on Soloway.

What is the Internet of Things?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system that connects devices in a computer network and allows them to collect, analyze, process, and transmit data to other objects through software, applications, or technical devices.

IoT devices function independently, although people can customize or provide data access. IoT systems operate in real time and typically consist of a network of smart devices and a cloud platform to which they are connected via WiFi, Bluetooth, or other forms of communication.

What happens when the temperature is too high or there is a burglar in the house? The system alerts the user or takes further action, such as turning on the air conditioning or calling the police.

We also recommend you read our article about digital transformation in education.

What does the Internet of Things consist of?

In addition to Big Data, analytics, connections, devices, and experiences are also important for the Internet of Things to work. For simplicity, this principle is represented as ABCDE:

• Analytics is a key link in the functioning of the IoT. It connects the devices themselves and the data from them and optimizes business processes.
• BigData is stored in the cloud. They allow you to automate existing processes or build new ones.
• Connection comprises the channels through which devices receive and transmit information.
• Devices are connected to the system. Depending on the task, they must have an appropriate message frequency to work correctly.
• Experience means analyzing and rethinking existing experience in solving customer problems using IoT.

The IoT landscape constantly evolves, with new technologies and standards emerging regularly. Keeping up with these changes and ensuring compatibility with new developments can be challenging for businesses. This rapid pace of innovation requires continuous learning and adaptability to stay ahead in the competitive market.

How does the Internet of Things affect digital transformation?

The Internet of Things is the basis for innovation throughout digital transformation, and innovation is the growth of the economy and the improvement of the comfort of life. The IoT is a giant step in developing the economy with the highest productivity, profitability, and safety. IoT covers: 

• Science, helping production with new developments
• Education, focusing on the production of relevant personnel
• Social sphere, timely responding to the needs of society as a whole and the individual citizen

All this is possible thanks to the fast, necessary, and timely information obtained through the Internet of Things technology.

For example, thanks to the Industrial Internet of Things, citizens’ productivity and quality of life is improved. Standard processes are maximally automated by implementing industrial IoT systems, and the chain of production participants is easier to build. This increases the flexibility of production, timely release of the product, and quick delivery to the consumer.

It should be noted the positive impact of the Internet of Things on the development of the social sphere. For example, in the future, it is possible to create Smart Healthcare when IoT will help to provide remote monitoring of medical equipment performance and control all medical systems necessary for a person’s illness.

Medicine will become more accessible for regions, and chronic patients will be monitored remotely. Patients will be able to control their indicators with the help of sensors in the Internet of Things system.

Currently, the Smart City concept is being actively discussed. This system is being developed to improve city management and solve urban problems. The Smart City comprises highly intelligent parts according to the categories of urban environment, safe city, digital city management, investment climate, and people’s well-being.

Challenges in IoT Digital Transformation

The challenges in implementing the Internet of Things can be divided into technological and human resources:

• Technological problems result from the fact that the existing systems of maintenance, supply repair, and resource planning in enterprises do not allow for the introduction of new data collection tools.
• Staffing challenges are related to personnel, where technicians cannot convert from manual information collection.

The view that adopting technologies like Big Data or Data Science will be the panacea is wrong.

An organization needs to start by rethinking business processes and identifying digitalization tools requiring expertise. IoT-based predictive analytics may be the right solution. It can prevent excessive resource consumption and deviations in the technical condition of equipment and extend its lifecycle. All this reduces the risk of sudden production stoppages due to malfunctions and, therefore, eliminates direct financial losses.

Prognostics is the latest stage in the Industrial Internet of Things evolution. It implies that data collection is not just from equipment units. It is a local system with a distributed network where information from different sources comes into one storage. Then, it is processed and sent to the personnel servicing the devices.

How Zartrex Tech Can Help You with Digital Transformation?

Our Zartrex Tech team specializes in helping businesses navigate the complexities of digital transformation through IoT solutions. For the past 15 years, we have worked in the international IT market of the USA, Central and Eastern European countries, and Turkey, gaining extraordinary expertise. Our Zartrex Tech team understands all the ins and outs of digital transformation. With expertise in IoT platform development, data analytics, and cybersecurity, we provide end-to-end services to ensure a smooth and successful transition. 

Whether you need to integrate IoT devices with your existing systems, develop custom IoT applications, or secure your IoT infrastructure, Zartrex Tech has the experience and knowledge to support your digital transformation journey.

Cooperate with us and gain all the expertise we have gained over 15 years in the market. With Zartrex Tech, your digital transformation will be cost-effective and straightforward!

Conclusion

The Internet of Things is now becoming the main source of data, so the impact of this concept on the development of the economy, science, education, and social sphere is undeniable.

We can safely call the Internet of Things an engine of progress, an initiator of innovations in all spheres of life, a way to develop the economy and transparent public administration, make professional and timely decisions in public administration, and improve the quality of life of citizens.

The post How the Internet of Things Impacts Digital Transformation appeared first on Soloway.

This article will discuss how Big Data transforms the real estate industry.

What is Big Data?

Big Data is a term that refers to the tools and practices of processing huge amounts of structured and unstructured information of any type. The data is processed through special analytical platforms and machine learning algorithms.

We are talking about huge volumes of data that humans cannot efficiently process “manually”. Big Data is characterized by three properties: large volumes, variety (from Excel spreadsheets to photos and videos), and speed of arrival.

Regarding real estate, it’s not just structured listings extracted from listings, ads, and real estate websites. It is information from:

• Government websites
• Social media, where profiles of buyers, sellers, investors, etc. are examined
• Business directories
• Archives
• Databases
• Press, etc.
  

This data is not centralized, is stored in different places, and has little connection with each other. Only an automated system can quickly find important information among them, process it, structure it, and provide useful results.

We recommend reading our article Digital Transformation in the Real Estate Industry.

Big Data in real estate: how it works

Data is mainly taken from open sources on the web. The more facts, the better, so it is important to keep the information up to date. Much attention should also be paid to its storage and analysis. If we are talking about a real estate agency, the source of data can be a CRM system through which transactions with clients are made. If such a system has been operating for several years, it collects voluminous archives of data characterizing the state of the market.

Big Data can be processed using specialized platforms like Apache Hadoop, Cassandra, or Spark. Various machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence help to analyze them. 

Big Data analytics is used in different ways. For example, it can be used to find out which companies will soon need new premises. In this case, the platform should conduct a whole research on many companies:

• Analyze pages in social networks, determine the number of staff, information about the search for new employees, and the area of premises occupied by each company
• Monitor the vacancies of these companies on public platforms
• Analyze information about the opening of branches, regional expansion, etc.

All of this data will be collected, collated, and analyzed to identify the company most likely to require new space in the foreseeable future. This is just one possible use case for the technology. In fact, the possibilities for analytics are endless.

How Big Data is Transforming Real Estate?

Here are 6 examples of Big Data in real estate.

Intelligent selection and search

The forgotten days when searching for a house started with flipping through the pages of newspapers. They are replaced by an era when Big Data has made choosing a home much easier and smarter. Modern algorithms process your preferences, query history, and even the time you spend looking at certain offers to find the perfect house or apartment. These algorithms can even provide a personal consultant level of service that understands you perfectly.

Pricing and attractiveness for investment

Price remains one of the top criteria for real estate transactions. Big Data technologies open up new opportunities to analyze price trends, enabling sellers and buyers to find the most profitable deal moments. This data becomes the key to selecting properties with the highest profit potential for investors.

Predicting future trends

While the ability to predict the future seemed beyond the realm of possibility in the past, today, thanks to the processing and analysis of large amounts of data, forecasting is becoming a reality. Experts can predict the future popularity of neighborhoods, price dynamics, and major market trends with high accuracy.

Improving the quality of customer service

Customer service requirements constantly increase, and the real estate industry is no exception. Big Data enables real estate agencies to provide services tailored to individual client preferences, analyzing their online activity and paying attention even to comments on social networks. Thus, when a person asks for help choosing a home, the Big Data-bassed agent will already have all the necessary information to offer options that perfectly match wants and needs.

Improving operations in the real estate sector

The application of Big Data goes beyond simply finding the perfect home for a buyer, significantly improving the operational efficiency of the entire real estate industry. By analyzing massive amounts of information, from property management to marketing strategies and the sales process, it is possible to fine-tune every element of real estate agencies’ work. This reduces costs, increases business profits, and improves customer service.

Transaction security

Guaranteeing transaction security is particularly important in an environment where fraud can rob a buyer of funds and shelter. Using Big Data technologies, companies can conduct in-depth analyses of transaction history, seller and buyer feedback, and other critical data to identify potential risks long before a transaction is concluded. This provides an extra layer of protection for everyone involved in the process and builds trust in the real estate industry.

We recommend reading our article Blockchain for Real Estate: Use Cases and Examples.

Big Data in real estate: where to start?

Even though Big Data solutions are today’s hot topic, most real estate agencies still have manual labor prevailing over artificial intelligence. However, we believe the need to analyze existing data sets or at least collect them is already here.

Start with small steps:

• Analyze your real customers, information about which you have stored in custom real estate CRM
• Supplement this analysis with data from open sources (social networks, for example)
• Upload data from telemetry systems
• Create the most complete portrait of the customer, considering not only their gender, age, and geography but also their interests, places they visit, where they travel, etc.
• Having formed a portrait, you can easily personalize offers for a specific audience: parking for those who bragged about a new car on Instagram, an increase in living space for those who are expecting a child, or a year of utility payments as a gift when exchanging an old apartment for a new one for those who systematically receive receipts for a tidy sum, and so on.

If you need assistance in implementing Big Data in your real estate agency, we can help you.

How can the Zartrex Tech team help you apply Big Data in real estate?

To implement modern technologies in your real estate company and start a digital transformation, you need to get help from experts. Our Zartrex Tech team offers comprehensive solutions and selects the technology stack for your business. 

Our analysts conduct research, study the market, competitors, and your business characteristics, and select technologies. Based on the data, we create Big Data-based products that emphasize functionality, appearance, and usability. You get a ready-made solution for your business. We help you implement it and provide technical support. 

Contact us for a more detailed consultation. Digital change is the future, and it’s time to embrace new technologies and modernize your real estate company. 

Conclusion

At this point, Big Data technologies are already actively transforming the real estate industry, giving marketers the tools to better analyze and understand customer needs. We’ve looked at how Big Data technologies improve the process of selecting and buying real estate, making informed pricing decisions, predicting future trends, improving operations and customer service, and enhancing transaction security.

Going forward, we can expect to see even more integrated applications of Big Data in all aspects of real estate. Innovations such as artificial intelligence and machine learning will be key in making data processing more accurate and personalized. This will pave the way for creating personalized offers, improving service quality, and enhancing security and transparency in the industry.

However, it’s worth remembering that the success of Big Data adoption in real estate relies on more than just technological solutions. It also requires companies to have a deep understanding of customer needs and a willingness to learn and adapt continuously. Those who can most effectively use Big Data’s potential will undoubtedly become leaders in the next-generation real estate market.

The post How Big Data Is Transforming Real Estate  appeared first on Soloway.

The Evolution of Crypto Wallets

Bitcoin appeared 15 years ago, and the blockchain has gone through 4 periods of iterations. Crypto wallets have also gone through 3 periods of evolution. They have evolved from single-asset wallets and single-chain wallets to multi-chain and multi-asset wallets and from single money transfers to all-in-one wallets.

Here is a more detailed evolution:

1. 2009-2012. With the advent of Bitcoin and blockchain technology, wallets began their initial development phase.
2. 2012-2020. The rise of hackers and Ethereum brought about a surge in smart contract wallets. This period saw a significant increase in transaction activities, the popularity of DeFi liquidity mining, and the number of crypto wallet users surpassing 50 million. Crypto wallets experienced a phase of rapid expansion.
3. 2021 to Present. The emergence of NFTs, DAOs, public blockchains, and Web 3.0 applications has transformed the industry. Crypto wallets have become the go-to solution for storing assets and conducting transactions. Cross-chain transaction support has become a crucial factor for users when selecting a wallet. Nowadays, the focus of crypto wallets is on enhancing interactive features and improving user experience.

Crypto wallets can be divided into decentralized and centralized wallets, depending on whether they hold private keys. Decentralized wallets can be divided into cold wallets and hot wallets, depending on whether they can be connected to the Internet. According to different storage media, cold wallets can be divided into hardware wallets, paper wallets, etc. Hot wallets can be divided into cell phone wallets, web wallets, etc., according to their operating environment.

We also recommend you read our article Blockchain for Real Estate: Use Cases and Examples.

Crypto wallet market statistics

We want to emphasize 3 crucial facts regarding the current crypto wallet industry.

Users grow: the market share is rising simultaneously

The significant rise of digital assets has driven the market demand for secure storage of digital assets as well as on-chain activities. The digital wallet industry has ushered in a growth opportunity with a large number of developers as well as an influx of funds.

Triple-A says the average cryptocurrency ownership rate is 6.8% in 2024, with more than 560 million people using crypto assets globally. According to Polaris Market Research, the number of crypto wallet owners reached 84.02 million in 2022, up from 76.32 million in 2021. 

From the perspective of future development, crypto wallets will not only serve as the entrance to the crypto world but also take on extended functions such as digital asset management and social interaction. Their importance is self-evident.

Gradually changing from customer-centric mode to revenue-centric mode

The business model of a crypto wallet has been evolving with its development. When crypto wallets, as tools for storing users’ private keys, focused on accumulating users and developing their fund deposit function, their profitability was limited, and they could not generate good income.

Cryptocurrency wallets break the traditional business model and launch value-added services (financial products, PoS mining, trading, asset aggregation, market information, etc.) to generate revenue and profit. They also start advertising and other traffic-earning methods to increase revenue.

Investment institutions favor crypto wallets as Web3 infrastructure

Crypto wallets are one of the main ways institutions invest in crypto. In the first half of 2022, the total financing in the crypto wallet industry amounted to $400 million, far more than in other fields. Data shows that the amount of investment received by crypto wallets has continued to grow over the past years, with global crypto wallet financing climbing from $200 million to $900 million between 2018 and 2021.

The Wallet Development Process

Here is a step-by-step cryptocurrency wallet development process.

Discovery phase

The journey of developing a cryptocurrency wallet starts with a solid idea. The cryptocurrency industry is still evolving, presenting numerous opportunities derived from personal experiences and challenges. At this step, we achieve 2 important points:

• Identify a problem and solution. As people interact with various cryptocurrency platforms, they encounter issues that might spark new product ideas. Conduct competitive research to see if solutions already exist. If they do, analyze how you can improve upon them and make your product more appealing.
• Validate your idea. Suppose you want to develop a wallet that not only handles transactions but also tracks the entire portfolio, including staked coins. Such specific functionalities can differentiate your product. We also gather feedback from potential users to understand their pain points and preferences. We then use this information to define the features your wallet should have.

At this step, we also choose a suitable development language for developing a blockchain wallet. Currently, the most popular development languages are C++, Java, Python, JavaScript, and so on. Among them, C++ and Java languages support the most blockchain wallet types, so it is recommended to use these two languages for development.

Smart contract development

Smart contracts are the backbone of a secure and efficient digital wallet. Our process includes:

• Designing robust smart contract architectures tailored to your wallet’s requirements
• Writing secure and efficient code using industry best practices
• Implementing and testing smart contracts on various blockchain networks
• Conducting thorough audits to ensure security and compliance
• Deploying smart contracts on the mainnet after rigorous testing

Golang and Solidity (at a minimum) will be used to develop smart contracts. This is if your crypto wallet will connect with DeFi apps.

UX/UI/CX design

User experience is paramount in wallet development. Our design phase focuses on:

• Crafting intuitive and visually appealing user interfaces
• Ensuring seamless user experiences across all devices
• Conducting user testing and feedback sessions to refine designs
• Implementing user-centric features to enhance customer satisfaction
• Creating interactive prototypes to visualize the user journey

UX is now a primary focus in the crypto market for any project. The easier it is to use your Web3 project, the higher your chances for success. This is why you must work with experienced Web3 designers with several projects behind their shoulders. We at Zartrex Tech have such experts.

Backend and frontend development

Building a development environment is the next step in developing a blockchain wallet. The development environment includes development tools and a blockchain node environment. Currently, the more popular development tools are Visual Studio Code, Eclipse, and so on. The blockchain node environment can use open-source blockchain node software such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Writing wallet code is the core of developing a blockchain wallet. Before writing wallet code, choose a suitable wallet development framework based on the development language and blockchain protocol. Commonly used development frameworks include the Bitcoin wallet development framework Bitcoinj, the Ethereum wallet development framework Web3j, and so on.

Testing & Deployment

After completing the wallet code writing, testing, and deployment are next in developing a blockchain wallet. In the testing process, different transaction scenarios must be simulated to ensure the stability and security of the wallet function. In the deployment process, we deploy the wallet code to the production environment and configure the server environment.

Release, support, and upgrade

Finally, we prepare for the public release and ongoing maintenance of your wallet:

• Upload your app to the App Store and Google Play.
• Transition from test blockchains to live networks.
• Stress test your servers to handle user influx.
• Release the app to a limited audience initially to gather performance data.
• Be ready to address feature requests and improvements.

We also advise our clients to continuously monitor and refine their wallets based on user feedback. Ongoing updates and maintenance are necessary to ensure a smooth user experience.

Why choose Zartrex Tech as a cryptocurrency wallet development company?

SoloWay Tech is a Ukrainian software development company with expertise in numerous domains, from EdTech to blockchain solutions development. Why you should choose crypto wallet development at Zartrex Tech: 

• Expertise. We have been working in the blockchain industry since 2018 and have gathered a reliable team of over 20 specialists with extensive experience in this area.
• Relevance. We follow industry trends, communicate with leading experts, and attend thematic conferences in different countries.
• Effectiveness. We delve into the business goals of the project. We work out the task comprehensively. We select the best options to achieve the result.
• Transparency. We provide access to our system for tracking work and generate monthly reports on each plan item.

The post A Step-by-Step Guide to Crypto Wallet App Development and Integration appeared first on Soloway.

What is custom real estate software development and why do you need one?

You may think it is strange not to consider the possibilities of zero-code and no-code tools to develop a platform for the real estate business. If your idea is to choose a website or app builder for your business needs, you are going down the wrong path. After all, such solutions work well only in the simplest tasks (for example, for creating landings or simple online stores). For more serious tasks, the possibilities of template solutions are too limited. Of course, you can always resort to the development of a custom plugin or e-commerce API for such a resource to solve certain unique problems. But constantly building up the platform’s functionality in this way generates a lot of vulnerabilities and makes it hardly supportable.

When it comes to solutions that need rich and unique functionality (which is typical for the real estate niche), it is appropriate to consider custom development from scratch. This way, you can adequately implement all the features you need (much better than in any builder) and achieve the highest level of personalization and usability. This is almost impossible when using out-of-the-box solutions and CMS.

Custom real estate software development will provide a strong foundation for further scaling. After all, developers will initially develop an architecture that can be easily improved, optimized, and expanded. So, you will protect yourself from the scenario in which your out-of-the-box platform will lose relevance at a certain stage of business development. After all, it will be impossible to implement new services while maintaining performance, stability, and cybersecurity.

In the long run, custom real estate software development allows you to provide users with the best experience and service, saving your business money. After all, over time, you won’t have to abandon your old resource and create a new one from scratch.

Types of custom real estate software

The real estate industry generally distinguishes four main types of digital platforms. Technically, such services can be created as web solutions or mobile applications. They are usually adapted to any device (desktop, mobile, etc.).

Real estate listing platforms

This solution connects tenants and landlords in a single online space. It provides users with information about the characteristics, prices, and location of properties and contains reviews, photos, and videos.

Some sites offer more complex functionality, such as VR and 3D tours, tools for communication and presentation of properties, etc. It’s worth noting that to launch such a platform from scratch, you need the help of developers with deep expertise in the real estate domain. We have such experts in our Zartrex Tech team. We even know how to apply blockchain in your real estate project to get the maximum benefit from this.

Real estate aggregators

Such platforms collect offers for sale or rent from external real estate platforms such as agencies, listings, brokers, owners, etc. Thus, users get a wide catalog of available offers and can filter and sort them by various parameters, such as area, price, location, features, and condition of the building.

At the same time, real estate aggregators are not engaged in conducting transactions but only provide contact information about sellers or landlords. They are often monetized through commercial promotion of objects at the top of the search and advertising of related services.

Real estate management platforms

Owners, managers, tenants, and other stakeholders use these property management solutions. They allow for various tasks: occupancy control, rental automation, maintenance, accounting, bill payment, etc.

Such platforms not only improve management and service efficiency but also ensure transaction security, privacy, and document compliance. More advanced systems can also integrate with smart home IoT devices, allowing users to monitor the status of the property in real time.

Real estate marketplaces

These marketplaces allow sellers, buyers, tenants, and investors to find, compare, and transact in real estate. Unlike listings and aggregators, they often include transaction functionality and allow you to close transactions online. In addition, they often provide various value-added services: online real estate appraisal, selection of loan programs and insurance packages, contracting, online consultations with specialists, market analysis, and investment opportunities.

Such platforms facilitate and accelerate the buying, selling, renting, or investing in real estate, ensuring transparency and security of all transactions.

Necessary features of any custom real estate software

Today, any web platform development for the real estate niche must meet basic quality standards and have some usability features:

• Clear navigation based on a well-designed layout
• Adaptability to any device
• Integration with social networks
• Reliable user data protection

Regarding specific features of real estate platforms, the following 6 features can help you succeed.

Multiple Listing Service systems

MLS systems simplify the transaction process between real estate brokers by helping listing brokers collaborate with agents dealing directly with buyers. From a practical standpoint, the MLS is a private database. So if you don’t provide any real estate rental/sales services but need access to it, you’ll need to put in some extra effort.

Search with filters

The real estate market is flooded with dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of new properties every day (depending on the size of the region you’re working in). Finding the best option for users can be daunting if you don’t have the right supporting tools.

Specifically, you can narrow your search using filters built into your search bar. This path will allow your users to focus on one or two dozen options instead of browsing through hundreds of suggestions.

You can also optimize search in your platform by integrating an interactive map with real estate tags. Google Maps, for example, can help you with this. With this kind of integration, you can limit your users’ search to the region they are most interested in.

Images for each real estate asset

Obviously, even the most skillful work of a copywriter can’t make any offer truly appealing to a client if it doesn’t include detailed, high-quality images. That’s why any custom real estate platform development involves creating components, defining the media loading requirements, and displaying them properly in the interface.

Video and virtual tours

Virtual tours can free your clients from visiting the property in person. In addition, you can accelerate deal closure and improve success rates. This feature is usually realized with the help of 3D technologies or high-resolution panoramic photography. A promising direction is the use of VR for the presentation of objects. Rendering will allow clients to see even those projects that do not yet exist in stone.

Messaging tool

When creating a custom real estate platform, it will be advisable to implement messaging capabilities directly on the platform without extraneous messengers. This will allow easy, instant, and secure communication between owners/landlords and buyers/tenants.

Blog

Finally, to promote your platform effectively in search engines, creating a blog with articles on relevant topics makes sense. This way, you can increase your conversion rate through organic search. SEO perspectives should be carefully considered already in the design phase; otherwise, the web platform will probably contain pages that are either impossible or very difficult to promote in search engines.

However, a blog is not created just for search engines. With the right approach to content, it can become a source of valuable expert information for your customers. This way, your brand will gain additional weight and reputation that will work to close deals.

SoloWay Tech – your reliable custom software development partner

You are on the right page if you are looking for a partner for custom real estate platform development. Over the years, our Zartrex Tech team has implemented more than a dozen solutions in the real estate industry. Our experts are well-versed in real estate digital transformation.

We always carefully analyze our client’s business goals and study the market. We strive to create not just competitive solutions but products that cover the maximum share of the client’s daily work processes. As a result, our partners have the opportunity to take their business to the next level just a few months after the release of a new solution without the need to increase staff.

By choosing us, you can be sure your project will be realized using the most up-to-date technologies. It will fully meet the current market requirements, no matter how fierce the competition.

On top of that, we always pay special attention to the safety of the products we create. Meeting your unique business needs also requires adherence to generally accepted cybersecurity standards and policies, and we ensure that. Feel free to contact us right now!

The post Guide: What is Custom Real Estate Software Development?  appeared first on Soloway.

This article will tell you how to realize that you need a Tech audit and how to start with it. In the end, we will share a checklist that will allow you to avoid missing important points.

Reasons for conducting a technology audit

Technical audit of application code quality includes analysis of the existing code base and development of recommendations for its improvement. Software tech audit is conducted:

• When a contractor changes, the new contractor should understand the application’s state. For this purpose, different types of audits, including code quality audits, are necessary.
• To analyze the quality of the application when a third-party contractor implements it. Software code audit will allow you to be convinced of the quality of the implemented solutions.
• If there are questions about the work of the current project team, such as many bugs, delayed deadlines, “eternal” refactoring, and so on. Software code audit will help to understand what problems there are in the application and prioritize their correction. If necessary, you can analyze the causes of bugs, but our experience suggests that it is better to separate code audit and investigation of bug causes. 
• To evaluate the application’s readiness for scaling. Auditing is often performed when you want to assess whether or not an application is ready for scaling and other ambitious development plans.
• When the team’s work is satisfactory, but you want to get an outside expert’s opinion about the code quality. Suppose you have a young team of 2-4 specialists still gaining technical experience. They have been developing the application for a certain period but want someone to audit it and tell them whether the chosen technical solutions are optimal, what risks there are, and how they can be avoided.
• To self-assess code quality to identify key points of project growth and specific steps for realizing them. Suppose you have an internal project with a small team or just one developer. Other specialists are busy with their own projects and cannot audit yours. In this case, a set of audit artifacts (checklist, regulations) will help your team look at the code with a fresh eye. 

A technical code audit does not perform an in-depth code security audit or examine processes to ensure quality, speed, reliability, and more. It does not search for bugs and determine their criticality but only highlights problem areas and risks in the project code. Therefore, depending on the customer’s goals, a technical code audit can be supplemented with the audit of processes, project quality, and software security.

Where to start a technical code audit for your software

Here are 3 steps to prepare for a tech audit of your application.

Tech code audit: describe the project context

First, describe the project context. This includes: 

• Business purpose of the project
• Key functions
• Systems to be integrated
• The composition of the team
• Description of the development process

The project manager and team members can describe the context. Here is how your description can look like:

• Business goal. Provide realtors with a convenient way to work on the object through a mobile interface with CRM-system functions.
• Key functions. Viewing a list of properties to go around, taking a property to work on, specifying property information with photo attachment, etc.
• System for integration. Custom CRM.
• Team members. 2 Flutter developers, QA specialist, analyst, designer, and project manager.
• Description of the development process. Development is iterative. Developers can develop 1 to 3 major features simultaneously. As a rule, 1-2 major features are included in the release. 

Done? Great, move on.

Tech code audit: define the goal of the software code audit

Second, the purpose of the software code audit must be defined. It is necessary to talk to the stakeholders, gather their expectations for the code audit, and identify and formulate the main goal. If the need for the application code audit is misunderstood, time and money will be wasted.

Tech code audit: formulate the questions that drive the goal

Let’s say there is a problem on the project – long time-to-market. We formulate a goal – to increase the delivery of business features by 3 times in one sprint. Then, we analyze the problem and put forward hypotheses about possible causes. We formulate the reasons in the form of questions to be answered by the tech audit.

Questions that you can ask:

• Does the current architecture of the application allow parallel development by two or more teams?
• How much does the architectural approach to designing features allow for easy extension? 
• Is the labor cost of infrastructure tasks minimized when creating a new feature?

These tools will help answer the questions above:

• Dependency plugin. It allows you to build a visual representation of dependencies between modules. Based on these, you can understand the cohesiveness of the modules. It will be difficult for several teams to work if it is high. They will depend on each other’s results.
• Library version dependencies plugins. The tool shows root dependencies and paths to them, as well as the relevance of library versions. It explains what is needed in the project and what is not and allows you to identify problems related to updating library versions.
• Plugins for working with tables. They allow you to visualize tables in the database, determine how correctly the database is designed, and identify its redundancy.
• Tools to analyze performance, memory consumption, charge, network data transfer, etc. They help in analyzing the specific problems encountered while using the app.

These are 3 fundamental steps to take before conducting a tech audit for your software.

Checklist for technical code audit of your application

We at Zartrex Tech have developed a checklist for technical code audits. Below is a small piece. This information will help you reduce the app code audit time and avoid missing important points.

Architecture:

• Are the chosen architecture and/or architectural solutions suitable for the project? How faithfully are they implemented?
• Is a Clean Architecture approach being used?
• Is there a division into modules if necessary?
• Does the application have a logical package structure?

Layout:

• If this is a relatively new application, is the UI built on Compose or SwiftUI?
• Does the project have a flexible structure for working with styles of UI components?
• Is resource handling properly organized in the layout?
• Is there localization support?
• Are UI components reused between screens?

Engineering culture:

• Are the code style and other code writing rules fixed for the project? Are team members adhering to them?
• Is a static code analyzer used regularly? Is it built into CI/CD?

Relational database (DB):

• Are there migrations in place?
• Do tests validate database migrations?
• Are indexes and transactions utilized?

As part of the audit, we also evaluate how code is written, determine how CI/CD is configured, and how code review is conducted. We evaluate these points not within the framework of process auditing but during the technical code audit because they directly affect the code quality.

The post Tech Audit: Who Needs It And How To Do It Properly appeared first on Soloway.

Interested in learning more about what an MVP is? We invite you to learn how to build a minimum viable product in 2024. Enrich your knowledge to increase the chances of success of your career or business and minimize the risks.

What is an MVP?

Launching a new product to the market is a challenge for any entrepreneur since he or she could invest a large part of his or her savings and a lot of time in developing a product that finally fails when it is launched to the market.

To avoid this problem, startups and many other ventures launch a minimally viable product under a calculated risk. This is nothing more than a first functional version of your idea, but it is key to understand first-hand its viability.

MVP is a prototype made with minimal effort to collect as much data as possible from the customers themselves. Thanks to it, it is possible to validate the hypothesis for which it has been designed. That is, it helps to know if it responds to the needs of potential customers.

Benefits of creating an MVP for startups

Developing a minimum viable product offers several advantages to startups:

• It decreases risks. Designing a minimum viable product allows startups to have enough room for maneuver to perfect their service and adapt it to customer demands. In this way, entrepreneurs ensure that the product will satisfy the market need, apply those features that users demand, and reduce the degree of uncertainty about its reception by consumers.
• It reduces costs. Developing a minimum viable product saves time and money, as less time is spent on developing key aspects or functionalities of the service since only the essential functionalities are integrated, which helps devote more effort to future development phases. This allows the product to be presented to the market quickly so customers can test it.
• It helps to improve the product with the feedback received. Developing an MVP helps startups get feedback on whether their product fits the market and also on how they can improve it before its final launch. There is a practical example. Entrepreneurs Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia decided to rent out their apartment. They posted the ad on a website and soon had three customers. The information revealed by these users allowed these entrepreneurs to focus on product development and create Air Bed and Breakfast, now known as Airbnb.
• It indicates whether pivoting is necessary. Of the 30,000 products launched each year, 95% fail, according to a Harvard Business Review professor, Clayton Christensen. According to CB Insights, the figure is supported by the fact that the products developed do not meet any market demands.

This shows that launching a minimum viable product is key to success. Suppose the reception from users is not positive. In that case, testing the prototype gives entrepreneurs the perspective to decide whether to change the company’s business model or fine-tune the product to impact the market.

MVP development challenges

While MVP development has several advantages, it faces a few challenges. These are the difficulties that teams encounter when creating the minimum variable product:

• Identifying key features
• Aligning team expectations
• Communicating with users
• Maintaining simplicity of design
• Adjusting to market changes

An experienced team like Zartrex Tech can help you to deal with these challenges effortlessly and professionally.

How do you create a minimum viable product (MVP)?

It is necessary to follow 3 steps to develop a minimum viable product (MVP):

• Define the problem. The first step is defining the problem or challenge the product developed will solve. This problem or challenge will allow you to identify the target audience and its motivations for choosing the product. In this phase, performing a SWOT analysis (an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) to refine the value proposition is also relevant.
• Designing the customer experience. After answering the need or demand covered by the product, it is important to delimit the path users take through the product and divide it into milestones. For example, in the case of Spotify, users must first find the group or artist they are looking for. They then select the music and play it. Identifying the most obvious steps helps improve the customer journey.
• Gather the essential features. Once the entrepreneur has defined the value proposition, the problem it solves, and the business model, he or she must narrow down among those features that are essential for the launch. Once this is done, it is necessary to prioritize the essential ones. They are the ones that will be the most interesting to customers and the ones that will solve the problem identified first. In this process, it is important to have a reliable team like Zartrex Tech to keep the focus on the main features since customer feedback can divert attention to other features that are not so important.

Finally, to code a minimum viable product, it is advisable to keep in mind that it must meet 4 criteria:

• Functionality. It integrates the basic functions to solve a need.
• Reliability. The developed solution must be secure.
• Usability. It is useful for those who try it.
• Empathetic Design. It must attract the attention of users.

Creating a minimum viable product is essential for startups wanting to ensure their entrepreneurial ecosystem growth.

MVP development with Zartrex Tech: our cooperation process overview

The diverse Zartrex Tech team includes over 50 in-house experts: developers, UI/UX designers, QA engineers, copywriters, on-site illustrators, and project managers. So, every corner of your MVP project will be covered. We work the following way:

1. Problem analysis. We deeply analyze your situation to understand your business, requests, and market position.
2. Solution creation. We form a team to design optimal project solutions, starting with prototyping and UI/UX design.
3. MVP development. Upon approval, we use Agile methodology to launch your project as an MVP.
4. Product integration. We release the product, aiding integration into your tech infrastructure, with 100% intellectual property ownership.
5. Support and updates. Post-release, we provide ongoing support to ensure your product runs optimally.

If you are looking for a reliable MVP development partner, investigate our case studies.

Five famous MVP examples

Some of the most successful tech companies out there had an MVP. Yes, Uber didn’t expand that way out of anywhere. Facebook didn’t fortuitously become the largest social network on the planet. Let’s take a look at these examples.

We said that an MVP is the minimum investment to know if someone will pay for what you’re selling. You can think of it as the minimum “thing” you need. Whatever the minimum amount it takes to see if someone will pay money for it, it’s your MVP.

Facebook

It’s hard to imagine that Facebook was once a website solely connecting students at Harvard University. Facebook’s MVP was called Thefacebook. It was a simple platform that connected students in the same classes by allowing them to post messages in shared forums.

By introducing Facebook to a very narrow segment of the market, Mark Zuckerberg validated his idea and gained a critical mass that triggered the adoption of the social network. We all know how the story ends.

Uber

When Uber launched, it was called UberCab. It only worked on iPhone or by SMS and was only available in San Francisco. It was 2009. Uber’s MVP was enough to prove that the idea of a cheap ridesharing service had a market. The learning and validated data from the first app helped Uber scale the business quickly to where it is today. In January 2024, Uber was worth nearly $130 billion and is active in nearly 90 countries worldwide.

Airbnb

Airbnb wasn’t always a $85 billion company or called that. It was Airbed & Breakfast. In late 2007, its founders, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, who had recently moved to San Francisco, had a problem to solve. They needed help paying rent. They created an MVP to test whether strangers would be willing to pay to stay in their homes. Their MVP had no robust website or options to select various dates, locations, or prices. They focused on people traveling to San Francisco for tech conferences.

Dropbox

Instead of building a complete solution that would require overcoming extreme technical hurdles and months of development, Drew Houston, one of Dropbox’s co-founders, created a simple three-minute video demonstration of their technology. It was aimed at high-tech users. The video explained how easy it is to use the file-sharing platform. The video led to 75,000 people waiting for a beta invitation. 

In Dropbox’s case, Houston used a video as a minimum viable product to validate his hypothesis that people wanted file-sharing software that “just works like magic.” The flocks of people who signed up successfully validated his hypothesis.

Rappi

Rappi is one of fewer than 20 Latin American startups that have achieved Unicorn status, meaning they have a valuation above $1 billion. Simón Borrero, its CEO and co-founder, had a web design company. There, they developed Grability, a shopping app that simulated the movement of a product to the shopper’s basket. And well, now they are a company that operates in several countries.

Conclusion: how do you measure success after building an MVP? 

A successful minimum viable product will tell you what features are the best, what needs to be changed, or if your product has market potential. If your MVP is not successful, that does not mean failure. You have tremendous flexibility at the beginning of your product development, so you can continue to adjust until you get the ideal response. Think of an MVP as bait: you won’t be able to attract any customers without something essential at the end of your hook.

You’ll get feedback and observation over time, even with multiple MVPs. Remember, a successful MVP is no guarantee of long-term success. You are minimizing risk and building confidence in your process to create something that customers will value. You can restart the process with new data and new assumptions several times. 

Finally, let’s say goodbye with some practical tips that can help you to succeed with your minimum viable product:

• Focus on your product’s minimum essential feature. This will determine the scope of your MVP strategy.
• Develop your MVP as quickly as possible. To do this, you can turn to us at Zartrex Tech, as we have tremendous expertise in MVP development.
• Find a balance between feasibility and aesthetics. If you aim for a functional product, try to make it useful and easy to use without neglecting its appearance.

Remember that it is unnecessary to search for perfection constantly. Improvements to your product or service will come in time. It’s just a matter of keeping trying based on user feedback and statistics.

If you want to start working on your MVP today and get it in 3 months, contact us right now. We will get back to you shortly.

The post How to Build a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in 2024 appeared first on Soloway.

This article discusses what is real estate digital transformation, 6 technologies that drive digital transformation in the real estate industry, and the prospects of real estate digitalization.

Why does the real estate market need digital solutions?

Today, every business domain can only do with digital solutions, especially such a complex and systematic business as real estate. The use of IT technologies allows to optimize processes, reduces time and financial costs of the company, and increases its capabilities and competitiveness. Also, the digitalization of the industry makes it possible to avoid errors related to the human factor.

It is essential to understand that not all companies can create customized IT solutions for themselves for the following reasons:

• Lack of a strong development team
• Lack of budget for development
• Lack of expertise in the non-core business processes

Therefore, the question is not why the real estate market needs digital solutions but what a real estate company should do. We mean create its own IT department or use ready-made industry solutions that exist on the market.

In the real estate domain, technologies already exist for most aspects: design, construction control, commercial, management reporting, sales, and commissioning. Seamless systems, such as property management systems, also emerge that provide integrated solutions.

What IT solutions are available in the real estate market?

Today, there are more than 500 real estate solutions for various areas: construction, sales, marketing, document management, procurement and tracking of construction materials, design automation, and operation of commissioned facilities. There are 2 main directions in which digital startups are developing: helping specialists by automating processes that are usually performed manually and replacing specialists with technologies.

Today, real estate companies compete with each other on the speed of introducing digital solutions. Of course, it is still possible to meet real estate companies who conduct their sales in Excel. Still, we can confidently state that in the coming year, most real estate businesses will start using IT technologies in one way or another. Many owners of real estate companies are in such a hurry to implement digital solutions that they do so without prior preparation.

What factors inhibit the real estate market digitalization?

Currently, there are no significant inhibiting factors for real estate market digitalization. Digital transformation can only be hindered by the lack of confidence of specific entrepreneurs in innovations or the lack of money to optimize processes. There are also cases when departments in the company sabotage the implementation of custom real estate CRM.

Six technologies that drive digital transformation in the real estate industry

Here are six technologies that are actively participating in real estate digital transformation.

Internet of Things (IoT)

IoT allows you to make your home smart and improve your utilities. It is a technology that is built on a system of sensors. It collects a lot of information and sends it to a control center. For example, the system can collect meter readings and monitor the amount of water or smoke detectors in the room. The services get an alert when there are unusual changes.

This is one example of how the Internet of Things can improve the home’s service level. On the other hand, the customer gets smart control of many systems, from locks to specific household items – a kettle or a washing machine. Thanks to a smart system built on IoT, the user can optimize their home and control the costs of heat, light, and other resources. Most importantly, he does not worry when traveling whether the iron is turned off or whether he forgot to shut off the gas.

Big Data

Strategic real estate decisions can only be made based on Big Data. It allows you to forecast, analyze, compare, and consider situations from all angles. 

Big Data helps to identify the most profitable assets for investment, select partners and technologies, and allocate resources. Statistics and analytics also make it possible to anticipate future events. For example, if construction is planned in a seismically active region, the system will offer several solutions, calculate risks, and help select a business development model.

Smart sensors can simplify the process of building maintenance. Utility staff can receive information not only about a critical condition, such as a burst pipe but also about a possible accident. This is where predictive analytics can help. Working with Big Data opens up new horizons for the real estate business.

Building Information Modeling

BIM technologies provide the ability to model buildings. It is one of the most widespread technologies in the real estate digitalization process. It facilitates the creation of accurate documentation and reduces the risk of errors. Thanks to Big Data, this technology is complemented, making it possible to consider all risks, optimize costs, and calculate the time and cost of work.

The system helps to design building structures, engineering structures, and various infrastructure facilities and to work out communication systems with high precision. What used to take months or even years to complete now takes days. 

Digital modeling allows you to develop interior elements, and thanks to convenient visualization, it is easier for companies to sell their services. Imagine that you are not just telling a client about his apartment but showing it. Even at the foundation stage, the user can “walk around” the virtual apartment, arrange the furniture, and “touch” the walls. Synergy with other technologies only enhances this effect.

VR/AR

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies are needed to make Building Information Modeling even more accurate. If before the user could only look at his apartment or office on a tablet or phone, now he can be in it and really touch the interior. 

In addition, at the design approval stage, the inspector can review details, point out mistakes, and reduce risks and problems later on. Builders can see what should turn out and how to realize the plan. The architect will work out every detail. And all this can be seen before the foundation is laid and money and time are spent.

Peripheral devices

Until a few years ago, it was believed that the future of the entire digital industry was cloud technology. However, time has shown the disadvantages of cloud technologies. Their centralized architecture can be too slow and create cybersecurity risks. 

So, we are seeing a trend toward solutions where computations are performed not in a distant cloud but close to data sources. This can be useful for creating an autonomous control system for a smart home or for organizing workflow on a construction site where there are problems with network access.

Mobile applications for users

To increase sales and enhance marketing, companies are implementing custom mobile applications. This is a communication tool between the management company and the client. With the help of a smartphone, a resident or tenant can ask for help, ask questions, and point out a problem. The management company will be able to provide prompt and high-quality services. 

A mobile application is also useful at the construction stage. The investor can see how the work is progressing, monitor the process, and make adjustments. Buyers use a mobile application to choose the layout of an apartment, look at prices, and choose a floor. In the app, you can get advice and even formalize the transaction. This is a powerful tool for interaction with investors and clients.

What are the prospects for real estate digitalization?

We are seeing the parallel development of many incredible technologies of the future. This list includes ML for fraud detection, high-speed 5G networks, and AR/VR. Each such technology can change the entire industry beyond recognition in a year or two. 

Imagine a construction management system based on the Internet of Things and 5G, with which you can monitor all the work details and make changes to the parameters of the construction site on the fly. Imagine smart home projects that can diagnose their utilities and signal possible malfunctions before problems arise.

Currently, many players in the market provide quality service for the real estate businesses. Platforms offer convenient tools for project launch and implementation, marketing, quality analytics, and pricing. A rising trend in today’s market is no-code platforms that allow entrepreneurs to implement necessary technologies without interacting with the code.

In the real estate market, more and more companies are actively implementing IT technologies and showing interest in digital startups. At the moment, there is no clear leader in this field. But the sooner you understand the need to digitalize your real estate business, the sooner you will earn more money.

Real estate digital transformation possibilities are limitless. Applying the right technology to solve typical industry problems can yield unexpected results.

Conclusion

To start a digital transformation in real estate, you need to get help from experts. Our Zartrex Tech team can select the best technology stack and develop comprehensive solutions like CRM.

Our analysts conduct research, study the market, competitors, and your business characteristics, and select technologies. Based on the data, we develop a solution emphasizing functionality, appearance, and usability. As a result, you get a ready-made solution for your real estate business. Feel free to contact us right now!

The post Digital Transformation in the Real Estate Industry appeared first on Soloway.

This article discusses types of educational software, how much educational software development costs, and must-have features for educational software.

Why you need to create an educational app: 5 trends in education in 2024

Here are the top 5 trends in education in 2024:

1. Hybrid learning. It combines offline learning with online formats. This trend came to public education institutions after the pandemic. Most teachers continue to use online techniques to educate students and schoolchildren and predict that the proportion of online learning (as well as the quality of its technical equipment) will increase.
2. Microlearning. It involves formats in which information is presented in a concentrated and structured way. We mean short learning blocks with a specific purpose. This trend is relevant for people with higher education, who need not acquire knowledge from scratch but to pump up their existing skills for career growth.
3. Combining practice with study. Learning theory while practicing is effective because people immediately have an opportunity to hone the skills they have learned. This trend is especially relevant for the IT field because finding a job in IT is not enough. You must develop and constantly grow as a specialist to remain in demand (we confirm – it’s true).
4. Education in social networks. The essence of this trend is that people learn by consuming content that seems entertaining. We absorb new information faster if it touches us emotionally. Learning with Reels, Stories, guides, and checklists is great. All of these things users want to share, retain, and learn. For high school and college students, social media learning is a distraction and broadening their range of interests.
5. Autonomous learning. This trend is tied to the active position of the student. In the process of learning, the student takes responsibility for the result. Autonomous learning is not suitable for children. After all, it is easier for a child to learn when someone controls them. But for adults who know how to manage their time and can self-organize, autonomous learning gives more freedom and opportunities than learning under someone else’s supervision. 

These trends suggest that educational software for school or higher education will be the best educational assistant for people for many, many years to come. Well, or until knowledge is downloaded directly into the brain. Until then, you can be sure that an educational application will be a necessary and useful service for people.

Types of educational software

There are many popular educational applications. Surely, if you have not used Duolingo or Coursera, you have at least heard of them. Now, let’s discuss several types of educational software.

MOOC aggregators

MOOC aggregator is a platform like Amazon, but only in education. Different authors sell their educational products on one platform. The courses look homogeneous because each MOOC aggregator has technical and content requirements. Course authors take into account the recommendations, so everything looks homogeneous. 

An excellent example of a MOOC aggregator is edX. It is a to-go educational app. Students can find lectures on any topic from psychology to programming. The duration of one lesson sometimes exceeds two hours, but this does not stop people. They buy and take courses if they feel the value of the material. 

Distinctive features of MOOC aggregator edX are:

• Intuitive navigation. Everything in the interface is organized clearly. Users` expectations for interaction with the application are met.
• Large elements. The mobile application can be operated with one hand. All active elements are bright and large (so it is easier to get a finger on them).
• Simple scenarios. The user can reach the goal in a few taps. For example, users can find the lecture where they stopped without going to the general catalog. 

These features allow users to interact with the edX app on the go, sometimes without even looking at the screen. And it makes education accessible wherever a person is.

Educational apps for learning foreign languages

This is the most popular category of educational software. We are sure you plan to learn another language from scratch or refresh your knowledge at least once. We are confident you can easily name at least 3 mobile apps for this purpose. 

Learn words, tighten grammar, practice pronunciation and oral speech – all this can be done with a smartphone. Often, educational apps are created for one of these purposes. For example, Quizlet helps you learn words and works as a supplement to various textbooks.

But even more popular are universal applications that combine all language learning formats. These projects are Duolingo, Babbel, Mondly, and others. These are a kind of superapps from the world of linguistics.

Educational apps for colleges and universities

Applications for educational institutions are still few. But such applications are very useful for people. 

You may remember how problematic it used to be to get to the schedule at the university. You had to rewrite the schedule and take pictures. Someday, it could be lost. Then, you had to go to a website that was not user-friendly and spent too much time there. As for canceled classes, you could know about that only when you have already arrived.

Now, applications help universities to instantly deliver information to students and students to manage their time rationally. But there are more possibilities for such applications. Their functionality can be expanded without limits – applications can be used to conduct remote classes, save lectures, and chat with a supervisor.

A great educational was announced by the Ukrainian government – “Mriya”. The primary mission of the “Mriya” educational system is to meticulously evaluate academic standards, appraise the performance of educators, and scrutinize the unique requirements of students. This state-of-the-art system harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to wholeheartedly enhance the educational journey by tailoring its approach to cater to the distinct needs of every student. You can investigate “Mriya” educational system in more detail in our article Digital Transformation in Education: Trends & Challenges.

What to choose: in-house educational software development or outsourcing?

Many educational apps are in-house projects, like Duolingo. A team analyzed the targeted audience, developed an app, and devised a promotion strategy. And then, they grew an internal IT team: they hired developers, hired managers for these developers, and developed training and incentive systems for all of them.

But growing an in-house team is like starting a second business. And for everything to work, you must immerse yourself in it as deeply as in the first. Not every company can cope with such a volume of tasks. But you can make it easier for yourself and outsource the educational software development to people who create apps professionally. 

Outsourcing educational app development will help you: 

• Focus on course preparation. You delegate the technical tasks and will watch developers put your project on its feet.
• Utilize best-practice. A team specializing in app development can recommend the best solutions for your project.
• Save on forming your IT team. You don’t need to spend money on your IT team development. Moreover, outsourced developers will help you to become a savvy customer.

Custom educational app development is always the work of two parties: those who make the curriculum and those who make a user-friendly app. In terms of methodology, the course should be simple, clear, and fluffless. The rest is up to the developers.

7 must-have features for educational software

Here are 7 must-have features your educational app should have:

• Watching educational videos. It is the basis of many educational projects. Broadcasting should be made as convenient as possible. Users should be able to enable subtitles, speed up or slow down video playback, leave timecodes, and adjust volume separately in the app. The user will be sad if these features are missing (and we are all very used to them on YouTube).
• Tests. Knowledge control is important, too. If people are regularly tested on the material learned, they will see that the course works. They will want to continue learning and buy new lessons. But the main thing is not to do like in school. The task of self-testing is to help a person find gaps and fill them. Adding a link to the material will be convenient so the user can quickly return to that understudied.
• Additional materials and links. Add to the application the ability to attach links to additional materials, guides, checklists, research, and summaries of the lessons. It will make the courses even more useful and increase their value.
• Chat with a teacher. The ability to get clarification or specify something from a live person makes educational applications universal and in demand. On one hand, these features are used sparingly. On the other hand, if a person has such a need, you can help. This will reduce learning anxiety and increase loyalty to you. 
• Gamification. It always makes the process of learning more attractive to people. If we play a game, we don’t notice the time we spend playing it. So, learning can be gamified, too. 
• Block mode of teaching (BMT). It is convenient because the user can see the mark of passing some stage of learning. The block is passed, and the user doesn’t worry about it. This helps the person to focus on learning new information.
• Progress level. It is cool to show what progress a person has made in learning. We mean how much he has passed, what he has learned, what skills he has mastered, and how much remains to be learned. Achievements along the way can motivate the student to move on.

If you are looking for a reliable development team to create your educational project – contact us right now. We will do everything you need. If you are just pondering the idea, we can consult you regarding all the pitfalls and opportunities.

How can Zartrex Tech help you develop an educational app?

Our Zartrex Tech team has been in the development market for over 15 years. For this time, we’ve created over 1000 projects. Our advantages:

• We will help you make what you want as convenient as possible. We will advise you on how to realize your idea so that it improves the lives of your target audience.
• We’ll tell you where you can save money. We know what helps to simplify development while maintaining quality. If we see that some solution can be applied to your project, we offer it to you.
• Our experience will work for your product. We will put all our skills, knowledge, abilities, and vision into the project for your business.

The last educational project we worked on was an educational app Optima School. It is the first and largest online education school in Ukraine, offering its students the opportunity to receive modern European education. We developed a business strategy and app, then conducted QA and released the app. Still, we provide deployment & support services for Optima School. Look for a reliable IT partner? Contact us to discuss your future educational app!

Conclusion

We at Zartrex Tech try to make the development process transparent, understandable, and predictable for our clients. To do this, we: 

• Discovery phase. We investigate your idea and guide you on the timing and cost of the application before the start of development.
• Keep strict reporting. You will always know what we are doing on the project and its progress.
• We work in iterations. We use Agile methodologies and manage development time with the help of the Gantt chart.

People try to learn throughout their lives: acquire new hard and soft skills, develop creatively, and try something new and unfamiliar. Most importantly, people are already motivated to learn. And your future educational software can help them!

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