We are talking here about the development cost of an enterprise mobile application, that which will serve the enterprise itself as part of its operations, and the impact on this development cost of design and software architecture choices therein; including interactions with the technology environment, functionality, testing and deployment, maintenance and updates.

The question is not simple and to seize its complexity, we can make the comparison with a process as complex but more familiar to us; how well to estimate the construction costs of your new house?

You got it; there will be impact choices in terms of plans, materials, land, floors, etc.

Then to estimate accurately the development cost of an enterprise mobile application, we are going to try to confine the main factors at play and especially, to highlight critical choices you’ll have to face.

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You think: come on you! Right? Ok, read on. We live in North America and still think that we have the lead on technology. This creates a safe feeling for our tech jobs. We have exported the manufacturing jobs in Asia because manufacturing became just too expensive and the manpower grew unwilling to work for low wages. We probably also hoped that by creating wealth in a very populated area of the world, we would create a big new customer base.

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We need multi-level cybersecurity in 2019 including double authentication to better protect ourselves from threats, attacks, hacks and frauds of all kinds that have happened over the Internet these last years and which all of the major Web Services,  Applications and Social Networks have suffered from: Twitter, Spotify, LinkedIn, Windows, Apple, Android, Facebook, Gmail, Netflix, Reddit, The Guardian, The New York Times, CNN, etc.

It’s huge… way too much!

So, just to make sure everybody gets a fair chance at starting 2019 on the right foot; here are key excerpts from a few ZDNet articles suggesting 5 basic privacy and security measures and utilities to be installed on your 3 environments (mobile, computer and browser). And a few bonuses…

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Microsoft talks a lot about Intelligence, Big Data, AI and Machine Learning and it is moving ahead at a pace on all fronts by enhancing its new Office 365 + Dynamics 365 Integrated Productivity Suite with some of these tools; it is worth asking how you should align your Software Development to make the best of this new offer?

Microsoft promises to add to its Integrated Productivity Suite such tools as Power BI, Cortana Intelligence Suite, MyAnalytics, Tap for Word, QuickStarter for PowerPoint, etc.; one has to admit that it’s a pretty powerful combination of business tools for any enterprise, no matter the size. But is your IT Department ready to benefit from it?

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Your Software Development is based upon and targets enhanced Productivity perfectly integrated with your business process? Well then, the new Microsoft offering should please you.

Clearly, Microsoft intends on positioning itself in the VSBs (Very Small Business) and SMBs market segments by deploying, far beyond Office automation, a new business offering around Integrated Productivity encapsulating both Collaboration and Business Development (CRM & BD,  Clientele Service and Sales and…).

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It’s an evidence, no enterprise wants to discover a security breach in its IT systems and applications and make the news with its data all over the Internet. Cybersecurity is an obligation for all enterprises to which they must comply; and today, enterprise security goes way beyond IT systems and applications.

In the last few posts, we discussed the many advantages of Cloud Services of which cybersecurity is key; like data protection (encryption on the wire, sometimes in the DB, protection from hackers, backup, etc.). So, what about IT systems and applications in particular, and your enterprise in general?

Protect but don’t affect

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The goals that a company approaches the Cloud with may vary of one thousand one manners, such as its effect on Agility, UX, Cost, Scalability, and Reliability; and they will determine how it will implement its Cloud process and now, strongly suggest implementing a service-oriented Application Development.

The very first decision you should make is whether or not, you’ll go for a Private Cloud or a Public Cloud. More precisely, here is an overview of both characteristics to take into account for your applications and services configuration.
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Although it’s been one of the most talked-about buzzword of the last few years, surprisingly, there are still a lot of misconceptions regarding the benefits of moving to, being on and operating on the Cloud. Nevertheless, there are still many good reasons to go on the Cloud for Startups and SMBs. So maybe it’s time to take a second good look at it and give it a second thought… if you haven’t yet.

The basic premises remain the same:

• forget about hardware, we’ll provide it
• forget about licensing, we’ll provide it
• you only pay for what you use

So why not give the Cloud a first shot or, some may say, to give your company a second chance!

6 good reasons to go on the Cloud for Startups and SMBs

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We strongly believe that Custom Development can and should adapt to IT Legacy systems.

As an IT Consulting firm offering Custom Development Services, we have developed over the years the knack for analysing and recognizing the minutiae of IT legacy systems and designing different communications protocol to exchange data with them.

Of course, if you ask IT how to go about addressing new challenges, they will probably go with the systems and technologies in place. It’s a question of comfort and risk management because it is not usually appreciated to add other systems and applications to the existing IT environment.

But the thing is, that’s not always the best course of action.

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Do we have to remind the positive impact on both productivity and profitability of Custom Software Development and digital technologies? Not really. Nevertheless, it might be interesting to understand its nature, how this impact comes into play, at which levels.

A 2015 study from Deloitte & MIT Sloan shows that digitally mature enterprises are very much focused on globally integrating digital technologies such as Integrated Systems, Social Media, Mobility, Analytics and Cloud to transform their business process while enterprises digitally less mature are concentrating on solving specific problems with specific technologies.

The key words here being « globally integrating » ; it’s by integrating globally digital technologies that enterprises transform their business process and their way of doing business, therefore, there must be a global integration strategy of digital technologies and Custom Software Development into play.

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Lean Software Development is the extension of the Lean principles to IT Products and Services Development and Management; more specifically, it aims at eliminating any type of work that adds no value to an IT product or service.^[1]

Lean Six Sigma is a methodology that relies on a collaborative team effort to improve performance by systematically removing waste,^[1] on eight types of operation: Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Over production, Over processing, Defects, and Skills (abbreviated as ‘TIMWOODS’).

One shouldn’t underestimate, in a more and more predominant eBusiness and eCommerce environment, the crucial role IT has come to play in businesses’ primary activities of delivering value to customers.  IT often provides products and services that enable customers to find, order, and pay. IT also provides enhanced productivity and allows both suppliers and employees to better communicate, collaborate and produce / execute.

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100 times go back to your work, again, again and again… and so it goes also for your Application Development Project and your Application Development Business Case.

The fact is among all enterprises, budgets are getting scarce and their distribution is getting rare as well. When it comes to application development project, we clearly see where it starts but not necessarily where it will end and not always in a good manner for that matter; which leaves bad memories and a bitter taste in the mouth of too many C-levels.

Although the initial motivation to start an application development project seems legitimate in the eyes of CMOs, CIOs or CTOs; their Application Development Business Case not always adequately supports it. The general idea is always to increase revenues but maybe we can add some rigor to it since you’ll have to sell your project on the inside and validate your Application Development Business Case.

Your challenge consists mostly in answering a few questions and validate your initial assumptions. So, here’s a basic pathway and a few useful arguments.

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So the combination Big Data plus IoT will enable predicting and personalizing in real-time Clients Relationships, do risks analysis, redesign products by extrapolating the impact of some functionalities, offer custom heath care, reduce maintenance costs, up date your website in real-time, identify new opportunities, etc.

Or so they say!  Why?  How?

Big Data is basically the analysis of astronomical quantity of data so to extrapolate patterns and therefore predict behaviours, be it consumers or machines, consumer behaviour and satisfaction or performance and durability, etc.

So if you put together,  Big Data plus IoT, you now have access to the physical world of connected objects, and to data from M2M (Machine to Machine) relationships but also M2P / P2M (Person to Machine).

The more Big Data plus IoT will accumulate data over the longer period of time, the more its predictions will be right and sound…

And this formidable combination of Big Data plus IoT is already running at full speed as we speak, changing our lives even though we are not aware of it. Having doubts?  Well, read this carefully:

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To Start, usually I used Coda but for 3 or 4 months I have left it over. It’s not so fast and it doesn’t adapt to new html or other standards. I’d like to have something fast, stable but with sacrificing features. Atom which is created by GitHub looks like interesting. With all the community plugins , it’s not the case anymore; I LOVE IT!

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If one technology or concept has driven attention at Fintech 2016, it’s certainly the Blockchain Technology, upon which the Bitcoin crypto-currency is based. This technology was the topic of the Wednesday’s lunch which was immediately followed by a discussion with a panel of high-level international experts.

Fintech Montreal 2016 was presented last Tuesday and Wednesday, on the 20th and 21st of September, at the Palais des Congrès and as expected the Who’s Who in the world of finance in Québec was attending. The program was well structured including of course, a « Startups » moment, just as every event worth attending does. God knows, Fintechs are worth the detour since they rock the Finance & Banks processes big time, invading a field which used to be exclusive to some, proposing simple, fluid and mobile enhanced solutions, in short, much more efficient; just think of the new “Mobile Money” paradigm and Mobile Banking!

In short, according to all these experts, the Blockchain Technology will revolutionize the field of Banks and Finance in the next few years and this revolution, although still pretty much invisible to the majority, has already started.

Why and how?  Let’s see!

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