Q&A of Software Development

A common question we receive is why Digital Skynet chose .NET when there are other more popular platforms. As we mentioned, this framework has all of the tools for all stages of software development life cycle. It’s perfect for enterprise software because it easily supports scalability and growth due to object-oriented programming approach.

The reliability is another major benefit of .NET. Ever since its release in 2002, it has improved in terms of both usability and security. The later one is guaranteed by many safeguards such as code access security (CAS), and validation and verification. It also has excellent cross-language support across C#, C++, Python, Ruby and many more.

After observing my friends and colleagues who are eCommerce sellers selling on Amazon, eBay, AliBaba and also some of them have their online website on Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce – I came to the conclusion after having a detailed discussion on their online business that – for automating their whole ecommerce operations, things like orders, product details, product quantity, reorder point, purchasing, suppliers details, shipping, warehouses, and buyer’s information needs to be focused on.

If you don't understand how to automate your business processes, an e-commerce company can take all your time and energy. Ecommerce automation is the core of any profitable ecommerce store. If you've ever attempted managing 1000+ SKUs in multiple marketplaces, you’d understand what I'm talking about.

Intelligent automation software for e-commerce can assist you to automate your company online. This software can synchronize sales across marketplaces such as Amazon, Google Shopping, eBay, and more. Most omnichannel selling procedures are automated and function perfectly well.

Here are some great example of ecommerce automation:

Example 1:

Automated shipping service will allow you to select the weight, delivery specifications, sizes, and even other shipping process criteria automatically. Let's say you're an online seller of men's apparel.

You received a 'Denim's' order, now that you automate the logistics service, the price for these kinds of products will remain the same because nearly all the' Denim' weight is the SAME, it is only when the consumer asks for a different size that the difference occurs and the difference is marginal. The warehouse employees will be able to concentrate more on handling orders instead of juggling between carriers when you go for automation.

Example 2:

With an automated ecommerce system, you can avoid or minimize the risk of going ‘OUT OF STOCK ’. As a retailer, you may have to come across situations where all your online products got sold, and you went out of stock.

However, with an ecommerce automation software, you’ll be able pre-notified whenever a product reaches it Re-order level (a point after which you need to replenish your inventory) and if automation rules are set, then the software itself will raise the purchase order and email it to the supplier automatically. Hence you’d never run low on your inventory level.

In addition to saving time and money, ecommerce automation tools are strategic for their implementation. They really give the possibility of enabling sellers to concentrate their limited time and money on distinguishing tasks like product development, choice, and marketing.

Renting Multi-vendor Marketplace business is a quick buck idea, which is rapidly growing at pace. This software allows both the admin as well as the marketplace owners the ability to earn a profit. With the help of a rental software, a vendor can rent their most preferred products or the ones they don’t want to utilize anymore. On the other side, marketplace admin can keep a commission fee for providing services, thereby helping both the parties to earn a profit.

If you are thinking to launch an online rental marketplace, then you can create it with the following two options:

1. Develop a rental marketplace from scratch
2. Start with ready to launch solutions- If you are looking to enter the market at pace then, ready to launch solutions is a reliable option, as you can set up your rental marketplace quickly and cost-effectively.

Some of the popular online rental marketplace solutions are listed below, which allows the users to launch their rental marketplace swiftly:

Yo!Rent

Yo!Rent is a well-established and robust multi vendor eCommerce rental platform that enables its users to run their site off as their server. This software also provides full customization according to their requirements with intriguing rent and sell features. Yo!Rent is a content management system, which allows its users to create a marketplace along with the authority to publish, edit, and delete their content to rent out or sell items. In addition to this, the software also performs with multiple payment gateways and multi-layer security for the distribution of payments to vendors. This feature provides a visual dashboard that manages order and understands business expansion. Yo!Rent software is explicitly designed for a wide range of eCommerce Rental Business platforms right from startups and small webshops to significant and multi store online marketplaces. This tool creates white label solutions through subscription-based web applications.

Pricing:- $1,999 Lifetime License(12 months of technical support)

Arcadier

Arcadier is a SaaS technology-based e-commerce platform that enables its users to build a multi vendor rental marketplace with an exclusive feature. The software comprises of published APIs (like Shopify) and built-in CSS and JavaScript input to allow tweaks into the existing templates. Arcadier is customizable, user-friendly, developer-free, and sets up within minutes. Arcadia even comprises of the off-the-shelf DIY platform, which comes with robust inbuilt features and integrations. It authorizes its users to buy, sell, trade, or rent any goods, space, or services. The software works with a collaborative approach encompassing an ecosystem of partners, including design studios, marketing and SEO agencies, PR firms, payment providers, and many more. Additionally, Arcadia offers a support network for its marketplace owners and administrators.

Pricing:- $34 per month (Free Trial)

Sharetribe

Sharetribe is a SaaS-based platform explicitly crafted for entrepreneurs that desire to build an online rental marketplace. The software enables its users with full customer support and automatic multistore management feature from a single location. Sharetribe even offers excellent email marketing and SEO management features. Startups and entrepreneurs can build and monitor customer accounts as the tool provides outstanding order management functionalities, that will help the customers to keep track of the orders. Sharetribe’s e-commerce software is a simple, user-friendly, and customizable tool that satisfies every requirement of the user.

Pricing:- $79 per month (Free Trial)

#ExlCart

Exlcart is an open-source platform offering an online rental marketplace that provides an option to customize its source code according to its client's requirements. This tool can manage unlimited vendors on a single platform and authorizes them to upload an unlimited number of products to rent out. ExlCart comprises of various in-built themes which can be utilized to represent brands specific to renting services. Additionally, users can even share their products on Facebook, Twitter, and Google plus to increase their traffic. ExlCart enables vendors to utilize multi-level categories to upload products, which helps the customers to find the products easily. In ExlCart, admin and vendors can manage all transaction records. Moreover, if required, they can even utilize them for future references. 

Pricing:- Exact information not available

Well, you should choose an inventory management software according to your business. While selecting an inventory management software, there are few points to consider:     

• It should be fully customizable   
• Must have multiple integrations with different marketplaces and sales channel   
• Real-time data syncing   
• Automates all inventory activities   
• 24* 7 client support     

Generally, the price of the SaaS-based product varies from as low as $25/month to $3000/month. If you're a startup and still don't receive large quantities of order then a cheaper software would be all right.  

Before you choose to buy an inventory software, you'll have to decide how much you're prepared to spend on it and how much you're expecting to get in return for your money. How much value do you benefit from automated inventory management system? Try putting on it a price tag.  

Here are some well-known inventory management software with their base prices and offerings:
  

* TradeGecko starts at $ 79 per month featuring unlimited orders, unlimited currencies, ecommerce, accounting integration and mobile apps.  

*Orderhive starts from $45/month which includes 200 online orders, Unlimited ecommerce integrations, Premium accounting integrations and Unlimited SKU's.  

* Zoho Inventory starts at $29 per month for 100 online orders/unlimited offline orders, 2 warehouses, 10 ecommerce integrations and 10 automated workflows.  

If you choose an insufficient solution, after you figure it out and understand something needs to alter, you will most probably have to spend even MORE on the correct solution. First time, it's much better to just make the right choice so you don't have to spend time and money on the incorrect one.  

Within a year or potentially within six months of purchasing and fully implementing inventory management software, you as a seller/retailer should have saved enough to cover your purchase costs entirely.   

You can cut storage expenses with inventory software, save a lot of man-hours on menial duties, eliminate the need for too many warehouse employees, and enjoy other money-saving advantages.
 

There is no dearth of software companies around the globe but finding the right technology solution partner can be a challenging task. So, herein, saving your research time and energy, I'm sharing a consolidated list of top software development outsourcing companies for startup size firms. These companies are bagged by skillful people, easy public policies and service-based economies, making them favorable for mobile and web development.

Moreover, they cater to a plethora of clients, including fintech, hospitality, retail, automobile, and so on.

1. Code Brew

If you're looking for quality software development solutions, then Code Brew fits the bill. It aims to provide top-notch quality services at the most affordable rates. Code brew comprises of diligent and enthusiastic app developers who act as building bricks of the company. They have their offices in India, US, and Dubai.

2. ValueCoders

Value Coder has been into offshore software company for 13 years now. Their skill and expertise into software development and proven methodologies make them an ideal partner. They are proactive, professional, and cost-effective. If you're looking to scale beyond local capabilities, then look no further than ValueCoders.

3. OpenXcell

OpenXcell is a team of talented, passionate, and skilled software enthusiasts, technology enthusiasts, and creative designers. Established in 2008, it is a CMMI level 3 software development company pioneering in web and mobile app development, real-time systems, bot development, and IOTs. They are focused on delivering high-performance and scalable software products to different industries. Catering to a plethora of diverse clientele, they're maintaining successful software products, eCommerce portals, marketplaces, social networks, real-time business analytics, and composite sync and integrations. Openxcell has its development center in India.

4. Intellectsoft

It is a full-cycle software development company providing services to over 800 clients in more than 30 countries globally. It includes development, adjustment, and integration of complex enterprise-level solutions, advanced mobile and web apps. Not just startups, it also serves fortune 500 companies. You can connect with them Application Development, IT consulting, QA and testing, customer support, mobile app development, Web App development, and so on. Intellectsoft is headquartered in the US and the UK.

If you want to find more such leading outsourcing companies, click here.

Hotels require a powerful Hotel Management Software solution to enhance their guest experiences. There are several Hotel management systems available. They come in different versions like; on-premise, cloud-based, free, open source, paid, etc.

The image below shows key standard features that can help hotels to carry out their day-to-day activities efficiently.

Although the hotel industry has made considerable strides in terms of offering the best of services, embracing and investing in innovative digital technologies will offer added advantages to the hotel business. The prime reason for this is the change in the requirements of the guests. Today, there is a demand for distinct and personalized experiences. New technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, etc., will allow the hoteliers to understand their guests better.

Reports indicate that Today, millennials account for nearly 30 percent of all hotel guests. Utilizing new technologies will surely open doors to increased business revenue, unlock new profits, reduce time, and improve quality.

Many of the Hotel Management Software comes with a user-friendly dashboard, offering enhanced security and protection to their customer data. With an excellent backup facility, several systems support real-time information management too. Also, several software systems come with multi-currency support along with tax settings. Many of them come with training and 24 X 7 support.

In the current world where social media presence is one of the best ways for a business to stand out to reach a wider audience. It has become a necessity for any brand that wants to become an industry leader to connect with its potential and current customers. Some of the best social media management tools I have used are:

1. Hootsuite – One of the best social media management tool I have ever used. It provides me to manage all the social media profiles from one dashboard saving my lot of time. Moreover, I can manage 3 social media profiles for free.

2. Sendible – It streamlines the process of managing social media accounts from panning and collaboration to engagement and analytics. It provides a 30 days free trial and its plan starts from $29/month or $24/month if billed annually which stands out to be the best for Solopreneurs.

3. Agoraplus – It is a simple tool with which you can easily schedule your content, get reports and engage followers. It provides a 28 days free trial and its plan starts from $99/month or $89/month if billed annually which stands out to be the best for small business.

4. Sprout Social – It enables brands for all points of connection with their social audience. It provides a 30 days free trial and its plan starts from $99/month which stands out to be the best tool for professionals.

Out of thousands of app development platforms available online, I am definitely going to provide you the list of top-rated free and open source app development software solutions as per my understanding. But, before that, you should be clear on what type of app you want to create and for what purpose. Many times, I have witnessed the challenges app developers face like their apps do not get noticed by their audience, problems with developing cross-platform applications, building applications with advanced UI/UX features and so on. Whatever app you are going to create, i.e., a hybrid, native, mobile, web-based and in that too, Ionic, Angular, React Native, Xamarin or other, your focus should always be on creating a self-explanatory application.

So, if you are ready, then here goes the list of the best open source app development software solutions that are always free-to-use:

1. Buildfire.js - It is a powerful and easy-to-use app builder for iOS and Android apps. It is fully customizable and 100% free app maker.

2. Apache Cordova – Cordova allows you to use HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript to develop cross-platform apps.

3. PhoneGap – It is best to make outstanding hybrid apps using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

4. IonicFramework – It is one of the most reliable mobile UI toolkits to develop high-quality cross-platform apps.

5. Framework7 – It is a full-featured framework to create mobile, desktop, and web apps and an indispensable prototyping tool as well.

6. NativeScript –This open source framework is best to build truly native mobile apps using JavaScript, TypeScript, Vue.js, and Angular.js.

7. Flutter – Google’s UI toolkit – Flutter is now available to build more beautiful native apps for mobile, web and desktop. Flutter 1.9 is live now!

8. Jasonette – The new name is ‘Jasonelle’ that utilizes JSON, Javascript languages to build Android/iOS native apps.

Check out the comparison chart given-below to select the best app development software of your choice:

If you want complete detail of these software programs, check it out here – the best free and open source app development software solutions.

Final Words: Just focus on building an agile app with clean architecture. Let it go through a complete A/B testing process, promote it slightly on the web and most importantly, follow the guidelines of the app stores before submitting your app over there. If it would be incompetent, it will be rejected instantly, even before your audience notices it.

I hope this answer will be satisfactory. Good Luck with your app venture!

If you are looking for best AI software, then make sure you consider following points in mind:

More user-friendly

Open-source software

Available for Windows, Linux, Mac platforms

Free software

Contains libraries in python that makes it handy to develop machine learning and artificial intelligent systems

To learn Python for free, huge resources should be available on the internet

Thanks for asking this question. Let me tell you my own story. Based on my account, you will be able to decide what is the cost of building a website in Magento.   

I did eCommerce lifestyle startup " Yuvastyle.com " in 2012 and was competing against eCommerce giants like Myntra, Fashionara, Flipkart ( Amazon was not in India ). We developed our eCommerce website in Magento considering the following points :      

1. Cost of development is low as website use the ready-made community version of Magento. We can host it and get started.   
2. Magento developer availability was good.   
3. Magento developer community and forum participation was excellent.   
4. Extension store of Magento had hundreds of ready-use plugins.   
5. Being a software service company we did some projects in Magento for our customers.      

  eCommerce website was only 10% of our business but took 40-50% of our time.   

Everything looked good until we started scaling our business to around 50 orders a day. Following are problems we faced with Magento :      

1. Magento website will go damn slow with an increase in concurrent users. Sometimes, it will go down.   
2. With slowness, we blamed our AWS infrastructure and started scaling our servers from small to medium to large to xlarge. I was paying $8K to $10K per month to AWS to keep my Magento website up and running.   
3. We hired some expert Magento consultants ( expensive once ) considering that current developers are not able to find the problems. Experts advised us to use caching for faster delivery. We started using Redis/Memcache, which increase AWS billing again.   
4. We reached out to Magento to resolve scalability issue, and they pitched us Magento Enterprise, which was $14K per year. We analyzed the proposal and found that only difference between community and enterprise was support and few additional features which were not required by us.   
5. I focused on the website ( I am a programmer too ) and found some problems with extension and code optimization. We removed the extension ( lost some required features ) and took more time to optimize the current website. Optimization made website scalable for some more time.      

In 2014, we stopped Yuvastyle as we were burning money and were not able to make any profits. We analyzed our failure, and using Magento was one of the reason. It was a wrong decision to use Magento, either I would have used Shopify, Bigcommerce, and focused on business. Magento cost us a lot of time and money which we could have used to solve other core business problem. eCommerce website was only 10% of our business but took 40-50% of our time.   

Conclusion :   

Cost of developing a Magento website is not high, but the cost of maintaining and scaling is exorbitant. Please don't go for it. It's my recommendation.