Revolutionary technological advancements have taken the entire world by a storm. Amongst several other sectors, it is the business arena reaping the benefits of tech innovations the most. From integrated business functioning to cloud computing, there has been a revolution in the business world. And the consequences have been quite impressive. Businesses have become more productive than they were a few years before.

The latest addition to this list of extraordinary tech innovations is termed as Internet of Things or IOT. By establishing strong connections between numerous devices over the virtual platform, IoT apparently makes it easier to carry out crucial business functions.

From connecting security cameras and sensors to production machines and vehicles, IoT integrates every operation within your existing business framework. What you achieve as the result is a superbly connected and highly functional enterprise.

If market predictions are anything to go by, then you can expect to have nearly 14-billion connected things and devices by the end 2022. It is this prediction that arouses a crucial thought in our minds. Is the ‘Internet of Things’ or IoT worth the popularity and buzz it’s enjoying. Or is it just another simple tech discovery?

Discovery or innovation

Most of us don’t possess a crystal clear idea about integrated business functioning. We often fail to comprehend the true connotation of ‘connected devices.’ Developing an idea about these two critical business aspects will help you dive deep into this discussion.

According to the technical definition of ‘Internet of Things’, it is the technology that connects various devices within your enterprise, thus resulting in smooth business operation. And the most intriguing fact is that IoT proves to be beneficial for business owners as well as consumers.

Here’s how.

Benefits for businesses

Connected devices offer you access to crucial business data. And by now, we all know the significance of data analytics. As a passionate entrepreneur, you will have the opportunity to delve deep into new insights provided by these data sets, thus opening up new avenues for unique business models, new insights, as well as revenue streams.

Business owners will also have the chance to create new products and services capable of complementing their existing business technology. Some of the other advantages include:

1. Business-customer interactions: IOT plays a highly significant part in revolutionizing business-customer interactions. Customers and businesses no longer meet just at the sales point but engage in a productive relationship over a long period. As long as the consumer places reliance on your services and uses your products, this relationship continues.
2. Using connected devices personally: Using IOT devices personally, will also bring about numerous benefits. Consumers will enjoy a highly comfortable, secured, and entertaining life with connected devices. Cost savings, proper resource allocation, and efficiency gains are some of the exclusive benefits ensured by IoT.

Final thoughts

IoT takes the machine-to-machine or M2M concept even further. While M2M solely focuses on device connections, IOT takes it further by connecting things, users, and enterprises along with it. With such features, we can reliably tout IOT as the next big thing in the tech arena.

With mobile innovations gaining unparalleled popularity and importance, mobile app development has become highly essential for present-day businesses. If you own a business and still don’t have an app, then you are clearly missing out on unique opportunities of revenue generation.

Look around and you will find most of the customers choosing to perform every task on the go. From booking cabs to booking movie tickets, there’s nothing they don’t wish to perform on the move.

Now that inevitably creates the demand for highly functional mobile applications. By offering a robust and scalable business app to your customers, you will take the first step towards gaining a competitive edge in the market.

So, here we arrive at the main question. Is it right to invest in mobile app development? Here are some reasons that will prove it is.     

• Marketing on the go   

Having your business app on their mobile devices will help your customers build proximity to your brand. Your app will give them liberty to access your products or services anywhere and everywhere.

That will increase their reliance on your services and products, thus reinforcing your brand even more. It will truly emerge as the best marketing strategy for your dream venture.

•       User-friendly

A business app encompasses numerous crucial elements. While taking up mobile app development project, make sure your app grants access to your company’s customer service and support team.

As the result, your target customers will find solutions to even the most critical problems, when they need it the most. Your brand will emerge as a customer-friendly company, thus adding to its popularity

• Real-time data capture

With the help of mobile apps, you will have the golden opportunity of performing advanced data analytics. Highly scalable business applications will help you offer opt-ins to your customers. That will help you improve customer experiences, by creating better services and products.

• Boosts interest and enthusiasm

With an application in their Smartphones, customers will always be on the lookout for latest products and services. Irrespective of their location, they will have the chance to make quality purchases. And that will play a pivotal role in increasing their interest and enthusiasm about your brand. They will also check out your mobile app regularly if you provide them with lucrative offers.

• Diverse and extensive clientele

There is no denying the unmatched significance of customers in ensuring unparalleled business popularity. Therefore, you will always strive hard towards reaching out to diverse and extensive clientele.

By investing in mobile app development, you will make sure your app caters to the needs of a diverse clientele.

•   Tapping into social media

Look around and you will find almost half of the population spending hours on social media. Getting your brand on social networks and platforms will prove to be the most effective way of popularizing it. By investing in mobile app development, you will build proximity to your target consumers as they will have the opportunity to share, review, and discuss your products.

Get prepared

With these interesting benefits, mobile app development is certainly not a dud. Rather, it will prove to be one of the best investments of your life.

India’s leading industry body of IT and BPO companies NASSCOM showcased GoodWorkLabs, the industry leader in mobile app technology and design. An interview of GoodWorkLabs CEO Vishwas Mudagal was published on the Face to Face section of Nasscom’s website. Take a look at the GoodWorkLabs’ interview here. We would like to thank NASSCOM for all the support it has provided in our journey so far and we look forward to working with them towards a greater partnership.

Of late, Internet of Things or IOT is capturing the entire buzz in the virtual arena. Whether it’s about IOT’s role in revolutionizing the tech landscape or about its contribution to the service arena, this particular innovation is getting people to talk and how!

IOT or Internet of Things emerges as one of the latest tech innovations in the digital landscape. With enterprises investing in collaborative business technologies, this particular innovation has gained immense popularity.

Take a quick look at the following article, as it discusses the 12 most incredible facts about Internet of Things.

•       Huge popularity

From big business establishments to SMEs, everyone seems to embrace the IOT technology with open arms. With market giants considering IOT as an integral part of their business operations, this particular innovation seems to have a bright future. According to reliable stats, almost 96% of entrepreneurs or senior business leaders are planning to use this technology in the next three years.

•     Unlocking exceptional opportunities

Internet of Things will not alienate your business operations. Rather, it will integrate into your existing business processes, thus unlocking new opportunities for better performance. And that’s what even senior business executives believe.

Almost 30% of C-level executives believe that IOT is capable of generating huge revenues.

•       Huge ROIs

As a passionate business owner, you will surely wish to have huge returns on investments. And what better than an integrated business technology can make that happen for you. IOT has successfully ensured huge ROIs for 94% of entrepreneurs. That’s enough to believe in its power and significance.

•    Revolutionizing customer service

By connecting critical business operations, IOT will enhance the efficiency of your customer service and support. Business owners will earn better opportunities of customer management.

•       Reduced downtime

Internet of Things will ensure speedy operations within your enterprise. With IOT, you will experience a 35% cut-down on downtime and 25% on asset maintenance.

•      Saving operational costs

Internet of Things not only connects devices but also establishes connections between vehicles. According to market reports, you will have the chance to save approximately $970 on vehicle costs per fleet.

•      A great impact

With almost 38% of enterprises placing trust on IOT, it will inevitably have great impacts on the business world, in the next 3 years.

•   Upgrading the infrastructures

There is no denying that IOT has established itself as one of the latest tech innovations. If market predictions are anything to rely on, then almost $41 trillion will be the expenditure for improving IOT infrastructures over the next 20 years.

•     Increasing GDP

A technology possessing the power to enhance a country’s GDP will be of paramount importance for the nation. Statistics and market predictions state, IOT will contribute close to $10 to $15 trillion to global GDP.

•   Boosting data traffic

Embrace IOT and witness data traffic increase by 22 times, within the year 2020.

1. 11.  Possibilities in the past

IOT had some great possibilities in the past too. Although the concept gained popularity now, the first inception was way back in 2014, when there were just 0.06% of devices and things to be connected.

1. 12.  Foreseeing the future    

Internet of things seems to have a bright future. By 2020, connected sensors will be responsible for generating large amounts of data.

With these 12 interesting facts on Internet of Things, there’s no reason to be apprehensive about its importance.

As the latest offering by Apple, the Apple Watch is creating quite some buzz in the tech arena. That brings us to unraveling the reasons behind its unsurpassed popularity. Since its emergence, this piece of innovation has created two major divisions amongst its followers. The first group has all the techies, and the second group belongs to the fashionistas.

Such groupings give birth to a major debate about the Apple Watch. The question we come across is whether it’s a tech innovation or just another fashionable item.

Simply put, does the Apple Watch give rise to the age-old ‘Fashion vs. Technology’ controversy?

Let’s find out.

The technological aspects

With some of the exceptional tech features, the Apple watch is no less than a revolution. Once you get hold of it, you can bid goodbye to your Smartphones or other devices. Some of the unique features of this device include:

•      Wellness Tracker

The Apple Watch comes with a fitness tracker. If that sounds great, then the greatest is yet to be revealed. With this wearable on your wrist, you will not only know about your weekly fitness targets but also develop an idea of what you need to do to maintain it.

Quite intriguingly, the Apple Watch not only notifies you about the minutes you exercised but also about the minutes you stopped. Now, that’s a huge help for fitness freaks.

•     Book your cab

You don’t require your Smartphone when you have the Apple Watch with you. Just a few taps, and you can request your Uber right at the time you need it.

•    Paying for services

One of the prime benefits offered by Smartphones is the online payment facility. And that’s what you get with your Apple Watch too. Meet your friends for coffee, go on a shopping spree, and dine with your special someone. Your Apple Watch will help you make the payments instantly.

•     Staying connected to the world

Whether it’s posting a comment or ‘liking’ something on Facebook and Twitter, things have become much easier with the Apple Watch. The device will also keep you updated on what’s trending in social media.

With that brief overview of the technical aspects, it’s time we move onto discussing the style and fashion part.

        I.            Spectacular appearance

With a splendid and stunning aluminum case, the Apple Watch will inevitably be any fashionistas dream. No matter what you wear to work, your Apple Watch will completely complement every outfit.

      II.            Personalized aluminum case

Since the device comes with highly durable and personalized aluminum case, you will have the opportunity to team it up with any of your looks. Other than that, the aluminum case is changeable according to user preference.

The rebuttal

Although the Apple Watch brings smiles on the faces of every fashionista, it is essentially a tech tool. And with all that features and functionalities, you simply can’t tout it as just another style statement. Rather, it would be perfect to refer to it as one of the most ‘stylish tech accessories’. Your Apple Watch combines technology and fashion, thus uniting its two groups of followers.

How often have you thought of a fully automated life? How often have the biggest sci-fi movies kept you on the edge of your seats? How often have you wished your regular devices to run all the errands for you?

Too many questions, right? However, finding appropriate answers to these queries will help you participate in this discussion.

Today we look at the latest tech innovation known as IoT or ‘Internet of Things.’ And it happens to play a significant role in transforming business operations as well as human lives.

Let’s delve deep into the nuances and get knowledgeable on how IOT is revolutionizing our lives.

What is IOT?

Beginning with a proper definition will be the best thing to do. Internet of Things or IOT is a highly significant development in the virtual arena, which successfully connects devices, things, and objects over the internet. While discussing its features, you will come across two crucial aspects.

• M2M technology: IOT is established on the basic principles of M2M, which ensures vertical interactions between objects and devices. Internet of Things takes this concept forward and connects objects with users, enterprises, and other things.
• Information Transformation and analysis: IOT promotes the idea of information transformation via the virtual platform. Information change takes place from devices to servers leading to perfect analysis.

Identifying the changes

By connecting users, devices, things, and people virtually, Internet of Things will revolutionize both businesses and daily operations. Most importantly, IOT plays a highly significant role in transforming our regular lives.

The technology has the power to boost the performance of devices; we use regularly. You might wake up one morning to find your thermostat, wristwatch, and Smartphone functioning in a unique manner.

Revolutionizing lives and industries across verticals  

As one of the high-end and powerful tech innovation, IOT leaves no stone unturned in transfiguring operations across industry verticals. Some of the prime industrial sectors reaping the benefits of this technology are:

I.            Transport sector: The transport industry is integrating IOT into their existing operations. Car manufacturers will use Internet of Things and build self-driving vehicles. That will bring about some crucial changes in the transportation sector.

II.            Social media: IOT or Internet of Things enables robust connections amongst users and brands via social media platforms. The technology facilitates better collaboration and communication amongst users and their chosen brands.

III.            Business arena: By connecting numerous objects and devices within your enterprise, IOT will also ensure lucid business functioning.

Role in data analytics

Since we are talking about business data, it will be imperative to mention data analytics. One of the prime features of IOT is its contribution in big data analytics. By combining various data sets in a unified data environment, IOT will facilitate the successful conversion of data into intelligence, and further into critical business insights.

Concluding note

Let’s turn to statistics before we conclude. According to reliable market stats, IOT or Internet of Things will reach an estimated value of $1.9 trillion USD, by the end of 2020. Such predictions are enough to establish its importance. With such widespread popularity, it won’t take much longer for IOT to achieve unsurpassed success.

Seldom do we find web developers giving enough attention and importance to emotional reactions while designing landing pages. Some of them might be even unaware of this concept. However, every passionate website designer and developer understands the significance of landing pages. If you wish to have a lowdown on what it does for your digital marketing endeavors, turn to these statistics. According to reliable stats, nearly 48% of web marketers create new landing pages for every single marketing campaign.

That speaks quite a lot about the significance of landing pages in web marketing. But, what has emotions to do with your landing page? Breeze through the article to find out more.

Introducing emotions    

Human emotions play an instrumental part in the creation of landing pages. And there are two crucial emotions in this context. The first one is ‘immediate emotions’ and the second type is known as ‘anticipated emotions.’ Let’s begin with immediate feelings.

Defining immediate emotions

As the term suggest, immediate emotions refer to instant customer reactions, resulting from several issues affecting their page-viewing experience negatively. The issues can be anything from accessibility, usability, as well as readability. Just about anything that adversely affects your page-visiting experience.

When you encounter glitches while scrolling down a landing page, your immediate reactions can be anything between confusion, frustration, and distrust. On the contrary, a unique product or feature will impress and excite you to the tee.

Measuring emotions

With this brief introduction on immediate feelings, we arrive at discussing the ways of measuring it. Some of the instances available for this particular task are:

I.          CartoDB: With this software solution, you will develop an idea of the location data. The location mapping software will help you identify product appeal and usability.

II.          Acorns: It involves an entirely new and innovative concept. As an online spare-change investment platform, Acorns will offer you a glimpse of user reactions.

III.          Reuters TV: An engaging video streaming app that offers nothing but the correct news. Reuters TV has a direct approach, thus helping users create emotional responses instantaneously.

Identifying anticipated emotions

These are past reactions and emotions offering a glimpse of your customers’ future behavior. Brand owners and entrepreneurs can utilize anticipated emotions to foster reliability, trust, and integrity amongst your potential customers. If your consumers successfully imagine positive outcomes from your brands, then it will not take much time to establish brand familiarity.

Some of the companies such as Grovemade, Madeindays, and Narrative have successfully generated anticipated emotions.

The landing pages of these websites help customers develop imaginations about the credibility as well as usability of the product, thus driving product growth, innovation, and development.

Determine your focus

Your potential customers are nothing but human beings with distinguished taste and preferences. Therefore, you will have to focus on reactions and emotions they nurture about your product. Working on these emotions and leveraging them while creating landing pages will prove to be dually beneficial for you.

As an entrepreneur, you will attract innumerable visitors to your landing page, thus resulting in uncountable leads. These crucial leads will get converted in no time, thus generating massive sales for your dream venture.

User Experience happens to be one of the buzz words in digital marketing. All your marketing efforts will fall flat on their faces if they fail to offer unsurpassed User Experience. Turn to statistical data, and you will find that nearly 79% of users will leave your website, and search for another if you are unable to offer the desired experience.

The statistical insight is enough to explain the paramount importance of User Experience. And it becomes a crucial success factor for self-service websites.

Every self-service site has a single-point agenda. And that is to help and guide users find an appropriate answer to their queries. The approach should be to help customers find ways of helping themselves. That will prove to be highly beneficial for customers and business alike.

Knowing self-service

The idea behind self-service bears resemblance with the term itself. When users require assistance while updating account information, it is then that these self-service sites come in action.

User-friendly self-service websites offer direct answers to critical questions. On the other end, poorly-developed sites will lead to confusion and disturbance amongst users. User Experience can solve the issue to a great extent.

And that is quite evident from the instance of the GDS or UK Government Digital Services group. Take a look.

The introduction of UX in self-service

The year 2013 witnessed a great revolution for self-service sites, as the GDS team brought User Experience into the picture. Quite like them, other self-service websites need to understand that customers seek useful assistance, and not chunks of unnecessary information. So, how does UX promote self-service?

      I.          Begin with serving users

Try answering this question first. Do your users need to know about the nuances of your business to receive the assistance they want? Perhaps no, you will just need to provide them the information they want, and they will take it from there.

Emphasize on user interests, needs, and requirements. Steer clear of educating them, since that doesn’t matter.

    II.          Say ‘S’ for simple

Every user is different from the other. You simply cannot expect them to talk or write in similar fashions. Quite inevitably, they will phrase their sentences in unique ways. As the UX designer, you will have to bear the brunt of hard work.

What you need to do is perform usability tests, assess user personas, and language studies to identify their sentence phrasing patterns. You will get a hang of the phrases and words that users frequently refer to while looking for your product.

   III.          The need for iteration

Even if your self-service site enjoys unsurpassed popularity amongst users, you must never stop iterating it. Perform the iterations based on user feedbacks. Use data analytics or other tracking tools to find out what users wish for.

These constant audits will help you improve your site, thus ensuring great User Experience.

Final thoughts

Other than the UX tips mentioned above, there’s a lot more you can do for improving your self-service website. Getting the correct approaches in place is half the battle won. Proper implementation of UX strategies and plans is what you will be left to do.

If you are tired of holding your smartphone all the time, the Apple Watch will offer a welcome break. Just wear it on your arms and stay connected to the rest of the world, without reaching for your iPhone every time an email hits the inbox. With close to 50% share in the 2015 Smart Watch sales, there is no ignoring the popularity of this device.

You might ask why such a title has been provided to this article. Well, it is largely to do with Apple’s latest offering, the Apple Watch 5.0. You will love it as much as you hate it, all at the same time!

There is simply no denying the fact that this offering from Apple is undoubtedly one of the high-end tech revolutions today. And the makers surely had user experience in mind while designing it. Even then, Apple Watch 5.0 seems to be a not so pleasant experience for many. Here’s why.

Nightmarish feelings

One of the prime reasons is perhaps, the constant updates on your health goals and workout performances. The device seems to be the perfect option for fitness freaks. Say, for instance, fitness bands and meters provide you with an idea of your weekly or daily workout performances. The Apple Watch takes the entire experience to an entirely new height by adding a few more things:

• With this unique tech device, you will get to know about how many kilometers you ran, or about the number of minutes you exercised.
• If you wish to know about a number of calories burnt by you, it will also be available.
• What takes it ahead of everything else is its power of measuring your stationary time. With Apple Watch 5.0, you will come to know about the number of times you stood.

Why is it so stressful?

There is no running away from truth. And Apple Watch is nothing but truth personified. You are always getting true, real-time updates on your health objectives. And that can be quite stressful at times. Every individual needs to work for a living. And there are numerous job sectors that considerably differ from each other.

An editor needs to sit at the desk, and she can do nothing about it. On the flip side, a player needs to work out on his body, and that’s nothing but a part of his job.

So, the constant monitoring of health goals might prove to be quite depressing for individuals without a proactive life. Getting to view depressing calorie burning counts will be nothing short of a nightmare.

The brighter side   

Apple Watch 5.0 also happens to be a dream for many. With unique apps for shopping, booking cab rides, paying for coffee and social media games, this smart device spices up your daily life to a great extent.

The device also seems to offer the right amount of excitement and enthusiasm to fashionistas. Although its aluminum case is not sleek, and the face is large, you will have the liberty of putting your customized, designer, or personalized case on its face. Now that will make the device no less than a stunning accessory to your beautiful apparels.

With Smartphones taking center stage in the tech sphere, mobile app development is at its best. Today individuals have precious little to worry about performing day-to-day operations. From ordering food to booking cab rides, everything is possible on the go. Users cannot deny that the mobile app development spree has entirely revolutionized human communications and interactions.

Let’s turn to stats, shall we, for a lowdown on mobile usage trends. According to market predictions, 2016 will witness a dramatic surge in the number of Smartphone users. The figures are expected to surpass 2.15 billion by this year.

On that introductory note, it won’t be quite tough to deduce the future possibilities of mobile app development. Follow the article, as we take you through the top 3 trends shaping mobile app development in the year 2016.

      I.          JavaScript

Although it was just a website scripting tool in its earlier days, JavaScript has come a long way since then. With React Native emerging in the mobile realm, this particular trend has been further exemplified. Facebook users made complete use of this framework while developing native mobile applications for iOS platforms as well as Androids.

So, how is React Native different from several other Java frameworks?

Quite unlike its other contemporaries, React Native has a unique approach to mobile app development. It promotes and popularizes cross-platform application development, where you can code an application and run it anywhere. Some of the crucial aspects concerning React Native are:

• Radically different approach towards app development
• React Native negates and shuns some of the traditional coding methodologies.
• React also uses the JSX syntax extension of its own
• It also contains a virtual DOM which helps in the identification of specific parts of User Interface

With such features and maturation, React Native will influence mobile app development to a great extent.

    II.          Progressive Web

New developments in the app development technology will offer a fresh alternative to stringent native app development approaches. Google organizes all these technologies, thus arranging them under the head of Progressive Web.

So, what does progressive web mean?

The uniqueness of progressive apps lies in their capabilities to utilize modern web technologies, thus delivering app-like user experiences. As a new-age approach, Progressive web is revolutionizing quite a few ecommerce platforms. The most popular instance is Flipkart, which utilizes the power of ‘Progressive Web’ to handle network connectivity issues.

   III.          Citizen Developers

The concept behind this particular technology bears similarity with the term itself. During 2015, the lack of proper app development talent created a void in the mobile app development domain. As an inevitable effect, the need for DIY, Rapid Application Development, or low-code technologies gained traction.

The idea was to transform mobile app development into a layman’s job, thus reducing reliance on skilled professionals.

Even quite a few Citizen Developers offerings hit the market in 2015.

Final thoughts

Whether you are a highly skilled app development coder or one of the passionate entrepreneurs, these three trends will continue to feature in your mobile app development endeavors.

Those looking for new app development challenges are sure to have a great year ahead.