Net Solutions Blog

How to Identify a Bad Outsourcing Partner

Abhay — Thu, 03 May 2012 06:42:06 +0000

Engaging an outsourcing partner is a vital business decision and when applied correctly it can effectively reduce the direct costs of a company. You need to understand how to identify a bad outsourcing partner as this is a pitfall that many businesses that begin outsourcing for the first time often fall into.

There are two schools of thought that tend to be prevalent when outsourcing:

Quote and Hope. Here, a lot is left to chance. This is where smaller businesses typically tend to make buying decisions solely on price. The decision to outsource needs to be subject to appropriate administrative process and not be simply, as in the case of many decisions, primarily on financial basis.
Assessment and Evaluation. This model is far more effective and approaches choosing your outsourcing partner in a more structured way. There is even an element of recruitment to ensure that the partner has the right skills to deliver to your requirements.

So how do you identify a bad outsourcing partner? Simply, do your research!

Usually their website is the first experience you will have with a potential outsource partner and there are things here that you should take notice of. It is advised that you look for professional websites that are free from obvious errors. The content on the site should be original and well written and it should be more than just a brochure list of services. Also make sure the content talks lucidly about the services they offer rather than being keyword-heavy, focused more on their own marketing than describing their services properly.

Even if a professional website is primarily brochureware, it should still hold detail about the business, working practices, terms and conditions that would govern the relationship, as well as showing areas of experience, knowledge and expertise. For example, the site should have an area that focuses on their skills and services that allows you to match those with your requirements. Also look for specialties that match what you currently need. Of course, if you are considering outsourcing a wider range of tasks in future, a broad base of experience and expertise may be more appropriate and a better choice for you.

Some service providers will often show profiles of key personnel including their photographs with highlights of their achievements, experience, and other interesting information. This is a sign of a stable company that is confident of its team and capabilities.

Look for and evaluate ease of communication. A bad outsourcing partner is likely to have nothing other than a generic email address on their site. For a professional outsourcing service provider, look for a domain linked email address, telephone number, and also whether they offer additional methods of communication such as IM (Skype, etc.) details. See if they state how long they will take to respond to customer enquiries. If they do, do they stick to it or is it just marketing?

This is a growing age of work at home parents, students making some extra cash when they have time and also sites with even less honest intentions. If a physical address is not on the website, then it is wise to question the authenticity and/or professionalism of this service provider. Remember a clearly listed business address (not a home address or a post box) is a good signal of a company that has invested in its infrastructure and is likely to provide better, stable, and longer services.

Websites, when you look deeper, can provide clues in what is and what is not included. Seek evidence of clients. Are there any testimonials either on the service provider’s website, any third party portals, or elsewhere on the Internet? How about case studies? Case studies help as they go into more detail and you can see the type and size of clients that the service provider has worked with and what they have done for the client. This can be different from what is listed in the service pages and can actually give you a better idea of the depth of experience the service provider offers. Often people describe what they would like to do on their services list, not what they actually do.

Also check on the site if there any industry recognised certifications such as ISO/CMMI. Look for any other indicators like validations from recognised and well established business such as recommendations for high profile sites or even industry based awards. Remember it’s easier to get on curated lists than win awards or achieve recognition from industry leaders. Know the difference.

If all is looking promising still hold some caution, we recommend now is the time to send through a work brief and request more details and a quote. This can be very enlightening. Take note of the speed of reply, what expertise, qualifications are indicated and how well have they understood your requirements. Apart from the information you have back, you can also gather a lot form the reply and their use of language, standard of English, and how the information is presented as well as its accuracy. Remember, a fast quote may well indicate a lack of diligence and often comes with caveats in small print that could generate potential issues once the contract term commences.

We hope that the above list will arm you a little better in being cautious in choosing the right outsourcing partner for your business.

Please feel free to share your tips and other signals you look for in identifying the right outsourcing partner in comments below.

Why Mobile Friendly Sites are Important

Abhay — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:53:29 +0000

This is an important question and one that every website owner needs to consider as the internet continues to expand at a rapid rate our desire for instant accessibility continues to grow.

Smart phones are more intelligent with every iteration and the internet speeds are increasing all the time meaning that we now spend more time online that any other social activity. Getting online is an increasingly mobile activity and as new technologies like 4G promise ever faster browsing, having a mobile friendly site is not only a nice to have, it is really an essential aspect now.

A new report developed by Macquarie Group, reveals new data on the technology industry and mobile advertising in particular. Important findings bode particularly positive in 2012 for this industry, especially regarding the mobile search business. The study highlights the qualitative leap this year has been experienced in this respect, and that this area of growth has increased by 270%.

The proliferation of smartphones with the arrival of the tablets has been a strong boost to this industry and eCommerce generally. So much so that in late 2012, it is expected that tablets and smartphones will represent between 16% and 22% of all paid search.

Tablets use has increased significantly and now account for half of all clicks to share information. In addition, conversion rates are comparable to those with desktop computers already and this section of the mobile world is set to grow much more.

“After years of false predictions, it seems that 2012 will truly be the year of mobile,” said David Karnstedt, CEO of Efficient Frontier, who also added that “we are seeing tremendous demand for our customer base search and advertising phone technology and marketing and data in this report show that growth is due in large part by the adoption of the tablet it is incredible.”

“With continued innovation in mobile technologies and tablets, coupled with other factors that make things easier for the user, the returns on investment in mobile devices continue to increase as consumers increase their use for research and shopping.”

The average consumer is using multiple devices during the checkout process. This fragmentation will increase and advertisers will need to ensure the consumer gets a good experience always. Consequently, it is necessary to consider some important aspects. Among them, there is a strong need to emphasize mobile friendly sites. With the increased use of smartphones, brands have to offer a friendly presence for all devices.

Recognition and intelligent investment are essential for the modern website. A purchase that starts with a mobile device often ends in the desktop computer. As a result, the ROI of mobile devices can be seen as worse than it really is. The smart advertiser should allocate advertising budgets to the various devices after considering the allocation of each. Step one is get your site mobile friendly and not miss out on the biggest boom in the online world.

Making Agile Work Across Distributed Teams

Abhay V — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 08:47:06 +0000

Recently we came across an interesting presentation by Agile Guru Mike Cohn, founding member of mountaingoatsoftware.com. Presented at the Danish Agile User Group conference, this presentation presents his ideas on how to make Agile work across distributed teams, and the challenges encountered in achieving the same. While the presentation covers at length issues like scaling, managing dependencies and coordination in distributed agile, some of the three key points of the presentation are:

1. Proactively Manage Dependencies: One way this can be achieved is by sharing team members across different teams. It helps if at least some team members are aware of what is going on in other teams at all times. Another way is to create ‘integration teams’ – a virtual team composed of team members from different teams who control the integration of different parts of the project.

2. Decide how to distribute: This can be achieved in two ways: each team across different locations has all needed skills or teams are deliberately distributes in such a way those Individuals in different locations work as one team. There are advantages and disadvantages to both ways of distributing a team.

3. Create coherence: Some tips on how this can be achieved.

Acknowledge big cultural differences
Acknowledge small cultural differences
Strengthen functional and team subcultures
Build trust by emphasizing early progress

4. Change how you communicate

Encourage contact between teams: teams get together in person for at least some time by seeding contact visits, or travelling team members.
Add back some documentation: cannot rely as much on talking
Encourage lateral communication between team members

For us at Net Solutions, a company practicing agile development with distributed teams, most of these ideas sound very familiar. In fact, we have been actively putting some of these ideas in practice since 2008. For example, we have been managing dependencies between different phases of a project lifecycle by creating virtual teams consisting of team members from different functional areas, each of whom is skilled in a particular area of the project lifecycle. We have strengthened our functional team subcultures by having functional area managers for different functional areas. We encourage stakeholder meetings especially at the beginning of project. Also, our business analysis team creates FRDs and wireframes which ensure that different team members remain on the same page.

Reading all these ideas in Mark Cohn’s presentation has reaffirms our belief that Distributed Agile practices are indispensible for a company working with distributed teams.

For more on this very interesting presentation, please click here.

What is Cloud computing?

Abhay V — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 07:42:58 +0000

Cloud Computing is a concept which appears to be relatively new these days. But the fact is that this concept of cloud computing has existed since the age of computers and networks was still quite young. People have actually long been experiencing the benefits of cloud computing by booking airline tickets online and using Web-based email, such as Hotmail or Yahoo! But with its “so-called” recent arrival and adaption there are different definitions that are being framed for it. And in our process of carving out its true definition we recently came across an interesting article on the website InfoWorld.

Cloud computing is named so because the data and applications exist on a “cloud” of Web servers. Cloud computing is a technology that uses the internet and central remote servers to maintain data and applications. Cloud computing allows consumers and businesses to use applications without installation and access their personal files at any computer with internet access. This technology allows for much more efficient computing by centralizing storage, memory, processing and bandwidth. Many people have been confusing cloud computing with ‘Utility Computing’ or ‘Grid Computing’ and so are many companies who in their proclamation of providing “Cloud Computing” actually provide the service of Utility Computing.

In a grid computing system, networked computers are able to access and use the resources of every other computer on the network whereas in cloud computing systems that usually only applies to the back end. Utility computing is a business model where one company pays another company for access to computer applications or data storage. In this way, utility computing is relatively straightforward. Cloud computing, in contrast, is much less direct. While all the services are still being rented, the company knows far less about the source of the services. Users still pay for what they use, but the company providing the services utilizes a much more complex system of infrastructure and software, usually involving grid networks that support multiple tasks at once. Thus cloud computing is actually more powerful, since it does not rely on any one source. By spreading out the task load, cloud computing can be a fast and effective means of computing, often with simplified troubleshooting and less maintenance overall.

Few of the advantages of Cloud Computing Technology are:

Automatic upgrades: The greatest advantage of using Cloud computing technology is that the company would not have to spend time and resources to upgrade and integrate their technology with the greatest and the latest version.
Easy Web-services integration: Cloud computing technology is much easier and quicker to integrate with a company’s applications (both traditional software and cloud computing infrastructure-based), whether third-party or homegrown.
No hardware or software to install: The beauty of cloud computing technology is its simplicity and in the fact that it requires significantly fewer capital expenditures to get up and running. Interesting.
Faster and lower-risk deployment: With Cloud Computing technology applications get live in a matter of weeks or at maximum just few months even with extensive customization or integration.
Support for deep customizations: The cloud computing infrastructure not only allows deep customization and application configuration but also preserves all those customizations even during upgrades.

By eliminating the problems of traditional application development, cloud computing technology frees you to focus on developing business applications that deliver true value to your business (or your customers).

Net Solutions can build custom applications which are architected to take full advantage of any cloud infrastructure, and help address complex application models like SAAS.

We have experience in cloud platforms like Salesforce.com’s Force.com, Google App Engine, and Amazon Cloud Services. We help enterprises build and deploy scalable apps on these platforms with significantly reduced time to market and infrastructure cost.

Our project teams have skills with new technologies like Python and new architectures like non-relational data model and multi-tenancy, to take full advantage of the cloud platform and services.

m-Commerce – Bridging the gap b/w technology & user adoption

Mohit — Wed, 04 May 2011 07:18:21 +0000

Shopping on mobile or m-commerce is projected to reach $9 B by 2011. Even more users now prefer to shop online using their mobile device like cell phones, PDAs etc. as compared to personal computers or laptops. Due to the convergence of technologies like RFID, NFC (Near Field Communication), location-based services with solutions such as mobile wallets, mobile vouchering, the ambit of mobile commerce is further expanding & about to go mainstream. This however does not imply that the adoption of mobile commerce solutions is uniform across the globe at the moment. There are valid concerns but hopefully there will be significant improvements in 2011 that will take us much closer to a broader mainstream adoption by users and retailers.

A survey reveals that half of retailers think that m-commerce is important in achieving strategic business goals. Last year about the same time our mobile app development team participated in another survey that included mobile development agencies from various parts of the world. The survey captured the understanding of service providers about the (mobile) platforms’ business potential, criteria for selecting a platform with their benefits and limitations.

Clearly, from developers’ POV the emphasis was the most on app stores and the iOS4 where most were talking in terms of apps only with limited sight on a solutions’ based approach for mobile markets. The mobile landscape has changed quite a bit since then – Android tripped iOS4 for the top spot, a host of acquisitions in the mobile space, new OS version releases on different platforms for advanced mobile technology support and more. And with respect to mobile commerce now we are talking more in terms of mobile wallets and mobile vouchering or platforms like MobiCart that help you build and manage your m-commerce store as a native or web app.

Briefly put, mobile technologies and service providers have been quick enough to match up with these trends however; a good mobile user experience is still a huge challenge where only a few have succeeded – eBay and Amazon. In terms of user adoption, there hasn’t been much to talk about. As NFC-enabled mobile devices are rolled out this year including iPhone5 the mobile commerce landscape is all set to brighten up.

Bridging the gap:

Improved user experience Mobile apps/websites have always been limited in terms of functionality made available to the end-user; done of course to preserve the user experience on small screen devices. This however is slowly changing like with retina display support in iPhone4 which makes the presentation of products attractive, a huge improvement in mobile UX.
Better inventory support For m-commerce solutions, the back-end inventory support has been quite limited when compared with e-commerce (on Web). Amazon and eBay have set the standards on this one. We too have developed mobile solutions to manage inventories for m-commerce applications by providing a CMS allowing the stores to sell thousands of products. It doesn’t end there; the solutions also address order intake and order management functions too.
Multiple payment gateways for mobile The credit card companies are not far behind. They are working with the development teams to launch API’s for mobile commerce and also by funding the start-ups to promote multiple payment gateways. Not only does this helps in easing the app integration process for the developers but also makes it easier for the end-users to do their transactions.
Mobile technology adoption Also, it remains to be seen how mobile technologies are adopted not just by the end clients but also by businesses around the world. At the moment, US leads the mobile shopping pack with UK and rest of EU closely following. India & China house the largest pool of mobile subscribers in the world and with vast improvements in the mobile technology and the app market we might see a metamorphosis of this nascent market into driving force in m-commerce initiatives.

Next month, Net Solutions are exhibiting at Internet World in London from May 10-12. Among other topics, the event also focuses on e-commerce and m-commerce with an elaborate schedule that includes – mobile zone, mini-series and plenary sessions – by industry leaders is an indication that mobile commerce is increasingly forming an integral part of digital/mobile strategies by large and small businesses. Net Solutions’ executive team will be there too at stand E6072 sharing insights about the mobile apps landscape and how we can complement your business goals & bring you closer to your target audience with our expertise in mobile solutions development.

Surely, there is more required to bridge this gap and would like to understand from you how mobile app service providers or mobile network operators and the end-consumer can help in evolvement of m-commerce further. What’s your take?

About Net Solutions We are an award-winning mobile application development company based in India. We’ve been there since the start of mobile apps evolution and have featured on Wall Street Journal in the past for the same. Having worked on a mix of mobile apps – easy to outright complex, our portfolio includes some impressive names from around the world. Send us a note if you have an enquiry or join us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Net Solutions at the InternetWorld in London from May 10th to 12th at Stand E6072

Vinay — Mon, 02 May 2011 11:11:32 +0000

Net Solutions is exhibiting at the InternetWorld, Earl’s Court, London from 10th of May, 2011 to 12th of May, 2011. Our team would be available during these days for a meeting to discuss how we could assist companies in the UK and Europe with their web and mobile development needs.

Net Solutions will be showcasing mobile (iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry) application development as well as our design and build services for web apps. The theme for the show is “apps for everything – we create apps for everything, including web, mobile and desktop.

If you would like to meet us, please drop us a note and we’ll get back to you with a convenient date and time to meet up. Even if you can’t make it to the InternetWorld, but are in London at the time, please feel free to let us know and we’ll try to fix up an appointment outside the event.

We are on Facebook, Linkedin and also on Twitter. Follow us to know the latest updates.

Thanks, and look forward to seeing you at the event!

After-effects of Web 2.0 Expo

Vinay — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 09:57:11 +0000

What a week we had at San Francisco!

Still reeling from the after-effects of the Web 2.0 Expo, we have just come back to India with a great euphoria in our hearts and minds. The Expo was brilliant, and not just in meeting clients, but also for the great sessions conducted by some of the most brilliant business strategists and tech-wizards that we have seen.

We had a great time at our booth too there. Our booth attracted hundreds of prospective clients, and many of our existing customers came visiting. We are really glad to have met you and talk business with you. Here are some of the snaps we took at the Expo:

Maninder & Sameer

Steve & Maninder

We had great fun there. And we cannot wait to go back to the Web 2.0 Expo again. Who knows, maybe the next time, the world has progressed enough for it to be a Web 3.0 Expo!

On that exciting thought, have a Happy Easters and a great summer!!!

Apple iPad 2 up for grabs at the Web 2.0 Expo at Booth #828!

Vinay — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 12:52:08 +0000

We’re all geared up now for the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco the next week. Only the last minute preparations going on those need to be wrapped up.

We have canvassed our exhibition at the Expo a lot, and we have heard back from so many of you saying that you want to meet us! Good to hear back, and we look forward to meeting you at San Francisco as well! We are meeting up with many of our existing clients and partners located in the Bay Area, and we look forward to meeting you as well. It should be a good opportunity for us to know more about each other’s business and work.

Our tag line is “apps for everything”, and that is what we do – create apps for everything. We are also in the line of creating products and providing solutions for our clients and partners, and we are exhibiting these at the Web 2.0 Expo as well this time.

So if you are around in SF at that time, drop in at Booth #828 and we would love to chat with you and talk about business and other matters as well. And while you are at it, you could drop in your business card, and stand a chance to win a free iPad 2.

Yes, you heard it right! As a small, but enjoyable part of our extensive campaign, we are looking to give all the visitors at our booth a chance to win a free iPad 2. We believe in spreading the love, and what better way than this!

Come, meet us, and you could walk away with an Apple iPad 2 in your kitty. Life surely does not get more tempting than this.

Meet us at Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco, March 28-31 booth #828

Vinay — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:18:16 +0000

When we heard that there is a Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco in March, we were really excited, because that is what we are experts in – Web 2.0 solutions. And now that we are so close to this exciting event, I’d like to take you through a small tour of all the preparations and formulations that we’ve been working on over the past few weeks for this event so that you know what to expect from us there and maybe even suggest a few things that we could do to better our experience there. Boy, are we super-excited!

First up was the booth designing and backdrop preparations. We talked to many companies who are into this business of setting up booths with all their fancy equipment, and finalized on something we thought was very Web 2.0ish. No sneak peeks at the design yet though! You’ll have to come meet us as Booth #828 to find out.

Next up, we worked on getting an email newsletter out to our contacts this week. Apart from the above, we also are going through a whirlpool of other seemingly myriad, but actually Herculean tasks that we need to complete in order to be fully geared up for our Expo visit.

In the mean, I’m sure you would love to know what we would be showcasing at the Expo. We have been into a lot of web designing and development over the last 10 years that we have been in business, and have now entered the more product development side of things. We have done wonders with Web 2.0 solutions that we have provided and are putting these up for you to have a look at along with our desktop application work that we have done. We also are showcasing our mobile (iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry) application development work that we have done.

Your opinions, suggestions, thoughts and criticisms are all welcome, as we continue to grow as an organization. 10 years is a long time in the IT world, but we feel like it has passed us by in a blink of an eye.

So, that’s about it from us for now. I’ll keep you posted on what we do further to improve our experience there in San Francisco, California. We’ll also be Tweeting a lot. Hope to meet you at the Web 2.0 Expo.

Mobile bandwidth – Important aspect in developing mobile websites and apps

Mohit — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 10:19:53 +0000

Perhaps the effectiveness of a mobile website is largely dependent on the mobile connection that is used to access a mobile-optimized website. As some parts of the world are already experiencing 4G there are many who are still grappling with 2G and 3G connections. With content heavy websites frequently incorporating videos and rich media, the mobile experience still has to go a long way to come close to being “usable”.

For those new to mobile standards, here’s a brief history on mobile telephony. It started with 0G (mobile radio telephone) available as a commercial service that was part of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) with their own telephone numbers followed by 1G and 2G – an onset of wireless telephone technology and mobile communications. While 1G used analog radio signals, 2G was characterized by digital radio signals. In the current context, 3G means higher speed connections that allow for video calls and watching online television while 4G includes new technical features and higher bandwidth. Depending on coverage, 4G will have connection speeds close to Wi-Fi and while the latter is limited by range, 4G is designed to replace high range mobile networks.

Allot Communications reported significant growth (about 68% increase) in mobile bandwidth usage during the first six months of 2010. Again, video streaming applications accounted for a bulk of bandwidth usage. “The findings also clearly demonstrate the close ties between mobile broadband and social networking. Whether it’s YouTube, Twitter or Facebook, social networking via mobile devices is becoming a ‘must have’ for subscribers and we expect that this is just the beginning.” said Rami Hadar, CEO of Allot Communications. Some more findings from the report:

YouTube now solely accounts for 13% of mobile data bandwidth.
P2P and HTTP downloads together represent a significant 31% of mobile bandwidth, with an aggregate growth rate of 80%.
VoIP and IM grew by 84%. Skype remains the undisputed VoIP market leader, accounting for 83% of mobile VoIP bandwidth.

It is clear from the pace at which mobile data bandwidth continues to grow, that this market has yet to reach its full potential. As new mobile internet devices, applications, services and more continue to be developed, it seems certain that the challenges faced today by mobile broadband operators are just the beginning.

Net Solutions offers an extensive mobile application development program for iPhone, Android and Blackberry platforms in addition to the design and development of mobile-optimized websites.