Category: Blog

As technology evolves and becomes more advanced, it also becomes more demanding in terms of the skills required to craft a truly outstanding tech solution. That’s why many businesses end up outsourcing some element of their IT processes. After all, it makes sense to hire dedicated experts in the field for specialist tasks. This holds true for a startup contracting a web designer or a multinational enterprise outsourcing all of its IT operations.

Outsourcing often saves money compared to sourcing, onboarding, and managing all the relevant in-house talent, and allows companies to upscale or downscale their IT staff as needed. Most people think of outsourcing in offshore terms–a US company contracting a partner in India or China, for example. But there’s a better way.

Nearshore outsourcing refers to contracting a company in a neighboring or nearby country. It is especially popular with software development and other IT projects. As well as lower costs, the advantages of nearshore outsourcing include:

• Time zone alignment – Outsourcing to distant countries can cause logistical issues, especially if your partner is sleeping while you are working! This isn’t a situation you want when you need urgent IT support or productive meetings. With nearshore outsourcing, you work with a partner in a closeby time zone.
• Seamless communication – Language and cultural differences can also cause problems in a business relationship. Apart from linguistic misunderstandings, workers in a distant country may not understand what your users want from a product or what references are appropriate. It’s better to go with a nearshore country that has a high level of English fluency and cultural commonalities with the US.

The Latin American region contains countries such as Argentina and Brazil that can offer senior-level developers with high levels of English competency, strong IT skills, and impressive degrees and certifications. These are popular choices for nearshore outsourcing, and some nearshore software development companies also offer US-based management staff for even more convenient collaboration.

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In the modern digital economy, nearshore outsourcing offers businesses in the US access to highly skilled IT workers at competitive prices by contracting agencies in Latin American countries. This market will continue to grow in 2023, boosted by infrastructure developments in the region and the increasing popularity to work from home. A recent article outlines ten trends tipped to define the market over the course of this year.

1. “Nearshoring” Makes Headlines – As geopolitical events give countries in the Global North reasons to reconsider their dependence on Asia, the term ‘’nearshoring’’ has seen more media coverage, referring to manufacturing as well as IT services.
2. Next-Gen Technology – Investment in new technologies remains a priority of CTOs, and nearshore developers are building teams of experts with desired skills in emerging tech, especially AI/machine learning.
3. Flex Hiring – Low-code/no-code tools will make it possible for teams of generalists to handle the bulk of software development, with skilled specialists being brought on for flexible, highly specific work.
4. Saturation Starts in Smaller Nearshore Hubs – Some mid-tier cities that were popular for offering nearshore resources are seeing wages (and living costs) rise. Remote workers just starting their careers may consider new locations to reside.
5. ESG Compliance – Social responsibility is becoming more important for investors and clients, so expect environmental, social, and governance issues to be a bigger factor in partnerships.
6. Gradual Digital Transformation – The drive to adopt new technologies may slow down somewhat given the economic downturn, but companies who push ahead will still gain valuable advantages.
7. Worker Retention – Labor market conditions have made it harder to retain software workers. Higher wages, benefits, and incentives should be employed to keep top talent on board.
8. Mexico’s New Government – Mexico’s national elections are due in 2023, and businesses interested in the region should watch the government’s potential successors for their effect on business.
9. The “Pink Tide” – This refers to the new wave of left-leaning politicians that took Colombia, Brazil, and Chile. This year will prove whether these governments will establish a good relationship with foreign investors.
10. Rise of the Caribbean – The Caribbean is developing as a region to the point where countries can offer not only call centers to North America, but also more sophisticated services.

It’s clear that nearshore IT services will continue to offer value to US businesses in 2023, with developments in Latin America staying the focus of the market.

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Blockchain is more than just a hot trend in the IT industry. The distributed digital ledger technology is here to stay, finding use cases far beyond cryptocurrency and NFTs. Fintech platforms, cross-border payment systems, supply chain management, logistics, and other industries are all using blockchain thanks to its advantages in providing secure and decentralized data management.

As more and more companies consider using blockchain as the primary tech stack for their next software product, be that a mobile app, website, or web3 application, the question often comes up–should you do it in-house or outsource blockchain app development?

Here’s a rundown of the pros and cons of both approaches.

In-House Blockchain Development

This involves assembling your own team from scratch that can handle all the development work as part of your company.

Pros of in-house development

• You have complete control of your team and project, as they work directly under you, often in the same building
• You have hired and onboarded each team member, and can quickly and easily communicate requirements and personally guide them
• Allows your company to be more independent

Cons of in-house development

• Headhunting, interviewing, onboarding, and retaining staff–as well as office space and equipment–can cost considerably more than outsourcing
• Your technical expertise is limited to the team you can afford to keep in-house and convince to work at your company
• High developer turnover rate makes it hard to retain talent

Outsourcing Blockchain Development

This involves contracting a third-party vendor, usually a specialist blockchain development services company based in another country, to handle the development process for you.

Pros of outsourcing

• Lower cost compared to hiring, training, and retaining an in-house team
• Can easily and quickly upscale or downscale team as needed
• Specialists have greater practical expertise with blockchain
• Experienced team with established processes and tools
• Access to global talent pool

Cons of outsourcing

• Less direct control over the project
• Language and time zone differences can cause communication issues

Final Thoughts

Generally speaking, the advantages of outsourcing mean that it is usually the preferred approach. There are ways that you can mitigate the risks of outsourcing, for example, by contracting a partner that offers project monitoring tools, or by choosing a nearshore development company that speaks English and is aligned with your time zone.

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As an ever-increasing share of commerce, collaboration, socializing, and entertainment takes place online, companies are racing to develop powerful and attractive software products that can increase customer acquisition and retention via multiple platforms. This includes customer-targeted mobile apps, websites, video games, and multimedia as well as business productivity tools, e.g., a custom CRM.

Given the rapid rate of advancement in the IT landscape, competition is fierce when it comes to offering the most innovative features, the fastest performance, and the latest tech trends. The same goes for the competition for talent, as the demand for developers, QA engineers, UX designers, and other specialists has driven salaries up and contributed to a shortage of qualified IT workers in the US. In the current environment, North American companies of any size struggle to assemble a complete team with all the specialists necessary to develop a quality software product. Instead, they turn to nearshore outsourcing.

While outsourcing simply refers to contracting a business process to any company in a foreign country, nearshore outsourcing targets only countries that are nearby. In the US, this usually means the adjacent Latin American, or LatAm, region. Popular nearshore hubs in the area include countries like Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. These countries are preferred because they work within broadly the same time zone as the US and can boast highly skilled IT professionals with good English proficiency at affordable rates.

Why Choose A Nearshore Development Company?

A nearshore development company is a business that specializes in providing software development services, either by handling a complete project from end to end or by supplementing a client’s existing IT infrastructure with the desired specialists. There are many advantages to choosing nearshore over in-house development or traditional outsourcing locations such as China or India. Typical reasons to select a nearshore software development company include:

• Seamless Staff Augmentation – Nearshore developers will have experience working on a variety of different projects as part of a remote team. This means that they can easily be slotted into an existing team to expedite product delivery or fill a skill or workload peak gap.
• Specialist Skills – Your project may require an expert in a particular technology, such as blockchain, AI, virtual reality, cybersecurity, or user interface design. A nearshore development company will have a talent pool that covers all the required bases for any kind of software project, so they can assemble or complete a team with the relevant specialists.
• Culture and Language Alignment – Communication is key to any collaborative endeavor. LatAm as a nearshore region shares many cultural similarities with the US, and nearshore developers will provide staff fluent in English.
• Proximity and Time Zone Alignment – The outsourcing process largely leverages remote work, but time zones are a factor–it can be frustrating to wait eight hours for a response while your partner company sleeps! By choosing nearshore, you can communicate with your team in real time during normal business hours. The geographical proximity also makes flights for in-person visits relatively short and affordable.
• Resource Optimization – Outsourcing a software project to a nearshore company frees up your own resources to focus on your business, marketing, and other important processes without getting bogged down in development work. Even if you have your own IT department, they are likely occupied with routine tasks that would slow down the project. Choosing nearshore can save time and money in the long run by letting you maximize the value of your company resources.

Getting Started With Nearshore Outsourcing

If you’re considering nearshore outsourcing, we recommend the following the steps below to make sure you find the best nearshore development partner for your needs:

1. Assess Your Needs – The process starts with outlining the requirements of your desired software product or the type of work you need and evaluating the capabilities of your existing IT team (if applicable). Then reach out to nearshore development companies that advertise the type of skills you need with your specifications and ask how they would handle the project.
2. Research Potential Partners – At this point, some companies will have made a good impression, but it’s up to you to do due diligence and research their case studies, reviews, and testimonials. These are usually available on the company site but you can follow up by contacting their previous clients.
3. Establish Project Management Methods – Once you’ve settled on a partner, it’s important to establish how the collaboration will proceed. Reputable companies will offer a project dashboard to monitor progress, but you may want to supplement this with your preferred task management platform (e.g. Jira, or Trello). Delineate responsibilities in the team and a schedule for meetings and progress milestones.

Choosing A Region For Nearshore Outsourcing

Latin America is a popular region for development outsourcing, but you also want to check where potential outsourcing partners are based. Look for positive indicators such as higher education institutions with a focus on digital courses, cultural/economic links to the United States, intellectual property (IP) protection (which are of concern in some places of Asia and Eastern Europe), and government support of the tech/outsourcing sector before making your decision.

Onshore-Nearshore Outsourcing – The Best of Both Worlds

One attractive option for contracting a development team is the hybrid Onshore-Nearshore outsourcing model. In this setup, the majority of the development team works from the nearshore hub but select team members, e.g., project managers, are based in the US for close collaboration with the client or to leverage native-level knowledge of the US market.

AccelOne offers Onshore-Nearshore development services based on this model, with proven success in a variety of industries and platforms. To discuss how our expert developers can help your business achieve its software goals, contact us online or call 800.863.6814.

Machine learning (ML) is a hot trend in the field of mobile app development. By incorporating algorithms that learn from usage, apps can offer higher levels of personalization, security, and utility. Here are three reasons why AI could give your app the edge it needs in the competitive mobile market.

Smarter Apps
ML powers some of the most convenient features behind extremely popular apps, such as Google Maps, which uses its AI routines to ‘’figure out’’ the optimal route between two points, taking into account traffic, construction, accidents, bus schedules, and other real-time information. The ML model sources and analyzes data from many other users to achieve this feat, with a similar method being leveraged by Uber and other apps that deal with transportation or logistics. Machine learning based on large, ever-evolving datasets lies behind such feats as predictive texts, AI-generated images and texts recently made famous by ChatGPT and Stable Diffusion, and natural language-based ‘‘conversations’’’ with virtual chatbots. If you want your app to work intelligently for its users, AI is a must.

Greater Personalization
An app with ML learns from its use and can analyze this data to provide recommendations (products, content, etc.) that the user is likely to engage with. This increases user satisfaction and retention. Additionally, this information can also be used for more effective targeted advertising (make sure that they give opt-in consent for this). This aspect of machine learning is great for apps that offer multimedia content, or e-commerce apps that sell goods or services.

Predicting User Behavior
As well as simple personalization, an app with AI can make intelligent suggestions based on user data. For example, a financial app can offer tips on how to save money based on spending habits. This is also useful for security purposes, as it can recognize abnormal behavior and potentially flag it as a security risk or request additional authentication.

If you are considering a new mobile app project, then it is well worth considering how integrating AI can benefit your product. A mobile app development services company can advise on the potential benefits and expenses of this approach.

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Smartphones are used by over half the world’s population, representing a market of billions of people that are looking for the most convenient way to do their shopping, banking, chatting, studying, work, dating, and more via apps. It’s no surprise, then, that businesses across all industries are investing in mobile app development. But how much should this investment be, exactly?

Mobile application development is a complex and layered process. Organizations will often contract a dedicated mobile app development services company to handle the project of creating, deploying, and maintaining an app. The experience and standards of the chosen company will influence the price, but we can make some generalizations.

• The average cost of developing a mobile app ranges from $30,000 to $150,000.
• Apps with more features and demanding requirements cost more and may necessitate a team with certain technical specialists. Very complex projects can even pass the $300,000 mark.
• The location of the app development company can affect the price–consider nearshore outsourcing to lower costs but keep time zone alignment.
• Post-development costs, such as app store hosting fees, SEO optimization, and updates, should be planned for.

One popular way to save on app development costs is to start with developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). This is a prototype version with the essential functions that can be used to get feedback from users early on. This is cheaper than having to do whole development stages over because of something discovered in testing near the end of the project.

If you’re considering whether to invest in mobile application development, follow these steps to help determine your app’s viability:

1. Planning – Decide on your objectives and think of a value proposition. What will your app offer users that competitors don’t?
2. Target Market – Who is the app for? When, where, and why will they use it?
3. Product Outline – List the minimum requirements for your app, and sort priority features from what is just ‘‘nice to have”.

Finally, it’s time to shop around for a development team that can demonstrate they have the skills required to create the best version of your app within your budget.

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For many people, the smartphone has become the control center for their entire lives–searching for information, shopping, coordinating social and leisure activities, consuming media, and a whole range of other activities are primarily done via the mobile computer in our pocket. According to Statista research, mobile accounts for about 60% of web traffic worldwide, a percentage that has been steadily growing in recent years.

The increasing importance of smartphones has driven more businesses to prioritize mobile app development as part of their digital transformation strategy. The rise of mobile banking, on-demand apps, e-commerce apps, and other services means that customers expect this convenience and that industries cannot afford to neglect mobile software. Without a quality app that stands out from the crowd, you risk being completely overlooked in favor of a competitor that can offer a faster, slicker, or more fully-featured product. Mobile apps for business can boost customer retention and acquisition, but they can also be powerful productivity tools for your workforce.

So how do you develop a quality mobile app? Here’s a step-by-step guide with some tips to bear in mind when starting out.

Strategy

Every great app starts with a good idea. Or even several ideas, but it’s important early on to clearly define the scope and requirements of your app. Who is it for? What problems will it solve for the users? How will its features do this better than already existing apps? The answer to this will be different depending on whether you want a customer-facing app for download on the App Store or Google Play, or an enterprise app intended to be used by your employees.

At this point, it would be useful to think about how emerging technology could be integrated to offer an appealing feature for your app–think about how augmented reality appeared in furniture e-commerce apps to help users visualize the way furniture would look in their apartments.

When listing desired features, it’s helpful to sort out the essential requirements from the “nice-to-haves.” This will help you shape the focus of your app and let the developers know what to prioritize.

Choosing A Development Team

Few companies have the IT personnel and resources to develop a new mobile app in-house. Instead, most businesses contract third-party mobile app development companies to create the app for them. Hiring a custom software development company saves you from having to recruit, train, and pay the relevant IT specialists yourself.

The mobile app development company can quickly assemble a team of experienced specialists–mobile developers, UI designers, QA engineers, and others–that are used to working together on similar projects and are familiar with the latest methodologies and technologies. You still end up with an app that is designed according to your specifications and can stand out from the competition with unique features.

Budgeting & Planning

Time and money are important to any business, and at this stage, you’re going to want to discuss the timeline and costs with the app development company and get an estimate. There are many factors to take into account here. For example, an app that targets both iOS and Android platforms will take some more time to create than one that only needs to be optimized for one. The more features an app has, the longer it will take to make, which is why it is important to decide which ones should be prioritized and which ones might need to be cut to save on costs.

After discussions with the developers, you should have a budget estimate and a timeline that includes important milestones, a reporting schedule, and a delineation of responsibilities. Once you have that, you are ready to proceed with development.

Development

At this stage, the development team will proceed with building your application according to their methodology. For example, the popular Agile method involves short and frequent cycles of feature iterations, reporting, and testing. Broadly speaking, the software development life cycle looks something like this:

1. Analysis
2. Design
3. Implementation/coding
4. Testing
5. Deployment

Throughout this process, you should monitor progress via a project dashboard and meetings with the project leader on your partner’s team. Pay attention to feedback from user testing and take action if it looks like the project needs a change in scope or direction.

Marketing

While the app is in development, it’s important to consider how you will market it to your intended user base. You can create landing pages, send out email blasts, and promote your app on social media to build up hype and excitement. Beta testers can be recruited to provide useful feedback before the app is released to a wider audience, but also be a way to test out certain markets.

For customer-facing apps, you should also take into account app store optimization (ASO) to boost your app’s position on search results. Even if the app is meant to be used by your company’s employees, take care to onboard them and communicate how it will be used to improve their productivity and experience at work.

Support and Maintenance

The work doesn’t stop once the app is launched. Users will inevitably encounter some bugs or issues that were not discovered during tests, and their feedback can offer valuable insights into how to further improve your app. The app should be regularly updated to enhance the user experience, add features, or improve security.

Even without adding new features, the release of new OS versions from Apple or Google will necessitate updates, so it is important to partner with a development company that offers long-term support and maintenance for your app.

Final Thoughts

By following these steps, you can easily create a mobile app for your business in a way that lets you focus on your goals while collaborating with technical experts on the development side. All that is necessary is to partner with a competent and reliable mobile app development company.

At AccelOne, our experienced Onshore-Nearshore software development team has a proven track record of delivering successful mobile apps for a variety of industries. To learn more about how we can help you create the perfect app for your business, contact us online or call 800.863.6814.

For many of us, our smartphones have become the control center for our entire lives. Recognizing this trend, companies are racing to develop and deliver innovations and new features to stay ahead of their rivals in the competitive mobile software market. Here are some of the latest advancements in mobile app development that are currently making waves in the industry:

1. Mobile Wallets – Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, and other mobile wallets are gaining in popularity, especially since the pandemic boosted contactless transactions and connected wearable devices hit the market.
2. Beacon Technology – This is what allows businesses to send notifications to customers in certain locations, e.g., advertising sales near a store.
3. Predictive Analytics – Advanced analytics supported by AI can use data to predict customer behavior and personalize their mobile experience.
4. Super Apps – These multi-purpose apps combine several functions–for example, payments, multimedia, and social networking– into one hub that can provide everything users need.
5. P2P Mobile Apps – Also called peer-to-peer apps, these allow users to make transactions with each other, connected with digital wallets, online banking, or cryptocurrency wallets.
6. Instant Apps – Android Studio now allows developers to create instant apps that users can try directly from the store page without having to install them on their devices.
7. AI and Machine Learning – The capabilities of mobile apps are greatly boosted by AI, including image editing, data processing, navigation, and more.
8. 5G Connectivity – The next generation of wireless tech is 100x faster than 4G. Developers can leverage this to create apps that seamlessly deliver detailed AR experiences or other complex multimedia.
9. Wearables – Fitness trackers, smartwatches, and the like have been around for a few years, but are expected to become more capable in 2023, with more versatile apps of their own.
10. Blockchain – Blockchain technology is no longer only used for cryptocurrency, but is becoming popular for data management, identity verification, digital collectibles, and much more.

Mobile app development projects in 2023 should consider leveraging these innovations to stay ahead of the curve this year. An established software development company can help you integrate them into your next killer app!

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Web application development is constantly evolving as companies seek to improve their online services and optimize the user experience. Ultimately, offering a better web app can give your brand an edge over the competition, so it’s worth paying attention to the current state of the market as well as emerging trends. Here are some useful facts to bear in mind when considering web app development.

1. Search Engine Ranking Is Affected By Source Code – That’s right, web indexes such as Google’s actually read the source code of your site, which means that SEO practices should be baked directly into the code. Many developers are not SEO specialists and should be reminded of this fact or partnered with an SEO expert.
2. Most Web Users Are On Mobile Devices – Recent research indicates that about two thirds of users access the web via their smartphones, so it’s important to optimize your website for mobile viewing and touch controls.
3. The Average Website Lasts 3 Years – Technology marches on, and companies need to continuously update their web presence to keep up with the times. This can mean integrating new technologies or simply updating the UI to modern design tastes. The typical site lasts about 3 years before it needs a major overhaul.
4. The First Impression Is Everything – In the fast-paced digital world, a user will judge your brand after just a few seconds on your site. That’s why user experience (UX) experts are a necessary part of your dev team, as they can help optimize it to be compelling to use from the get-go.
5. Users Only Scan The Site – A recent study found that only 16% of web users actually read the text on a website. Most users simply skim it quickly. To account for this, websites should highlight important information and separate text into easily scannable chunks.
6. Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) Are Changing The Market – PWAs are a recent innovation in web development that combines the best features of websites and mobile apps. They load quickly, work well on any device, and have offline functionality.

Taking these facts into account when planning your web app project to offer your target user base the best possible experience.

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The popular conception of malware still conjures up images of laptops and office computer screens locking up or being blitzed by popups, but the fact is that the modern digital world is focused on mobile, and hackers are well aware of this. Our smartphones carry highly sensitive personal information, from relationships to finances to our precise location, all of which can be targeted by the many malicious apps in circulation. The same is true for businesses, which must make their digital products and internal systems secure.

Security risks are also present during the development of an app. For example, insecure data storage and transfer between the stakeholders could result in leaks, or a cybercriminal could hack into the project if its security protocols are not configured properly. Social engineering techniques such as ‘’phishing’’ could also target responsible individuals to trick them into revealing their credentials. Here are some tips on how to address these issues while developing your app:

1. In-app security measures – The app itself should be secured by modern methods such as biometric and two-factor authentication. If a traditional password is an option, the app should only accept a strong password of mixed numbers and letters. It should also have offline capability to defend against Wi-Fi vulnerabilities and encryption to protect data in transit and storage.
2. Security during coding – The integrity of the code is crucial to app security. The code should be manually and automatically scanned to identify potential vulnerabilities. Security patches and updates should not be delayed. These checks should start early in the development cycle to catch flaws as soon as possible. Low-code or no-code platforms often come with robust security standards and are a good option for creating mobile apps.
3. Testing – It is advised to partner with specialist mobile app developers that can test app security and usability throughout the development cycle. During initial talks with the developers, ask for their testing methods and schedule.

For individuals and organizations alike, the consequences of leaking sensitive data can be devastating. The above tips will help you develop an app that poses the minimum risk to users and your company.

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