I am pretty sure that if you have more than one website, most of them are WordPress-built.

WordPress is considered to be the most popular Content management system or CMS in the world, with more than 60% of the market share. As per WP Tavern, the CMS powers nearly 40% of all the websites. WordPress is used to build numerous websites; thus, it is searched about 3 million times every month. However, the chief factor for the immense success of WordPress all across the world is due to its plugin ecosystem, mostly added to the fact that it is an open source content management system. This means that it is completely free to download for people worldwide. Hence, when people look out for custom cms development services, most opt for WordPress as the suitable option. 

The WordPress plugin directory features about 60,000 free plugins available for download. The WooCommerce plugins power a quarter of the world’s top 1 million e-commerce sites. Since the major and key factor behind the success of WordPress is the plugins, there are several benefits that it brings to a website 

Have you ever wondered why many cms development companies use the custom WordPress Plugin? 

Well, let’s find out why!

Why Use a Custom WordPress Plugin?

WordPress has an extremely easy-to-use user interface that enables non-technical people to use WordPress for building and also maintaining websites easily. The universal prevalence of the cms has made it extremely familiar to more business professionals and therefore use it as an effective tool to engage the targeted audience on their website. Developmental platforms like WordPress have been opening the doors of creativity and leading web design and development innovations. However, business does require certain business-specific functionalities, and therefore, they choose to opt for a custom web application. It is without any doubt that the custom-built applications hold numerous added benefits but several other benefits come with custom WordPress plugin implementation.

Here are some chief reasons why considering custom WordPress plugins can be a great idea:

Highly Familiar

WordPress being a highly familiar platform helps reduce the learning prospect and makes it easier to get hold of the applications familiar with the WordPress admin panel.

Less Costly

Building custom web applications are way more expensive than building custom WordPress plugins. Additionally, WordPress offers several basic features like datastore and authentication compared to the custom cms development.

Easy maintenance

Custom WordPress plugins can be more easily maintained than custom web applications. Developers don’t need to learn any other additional languages or frameworks to include the extra features or help in fixing bugs.

A lot of times, you might feel that WordPress was not designed and built for e-commerce, no matter that the WordPress CMS has been the fastest growing custom cms for the last 12 years since the year 2010. However, it is still the most popular used cms with the easy language and maintenance methods with lower costs that also aid in low learning time. 

As a matter of fact, the benefits of WordPress plugins are not enough as to why the cms development companies are using WordPress for building sites for businesses. There are several reasons and ways how the implementation of WordPress plugins can improve the overall website of a company.

Different Ways How  a Custom WordPress Plugin can Improve a Website

Let’s check out the various ways the custom WordPress plugins can aid website improvement, enabling businesses to streamline their business functionalities and generate more revenues.

Enabling Third-Party Integrations

The custom WordPress plugins can be easily used for data manipulation. With WordPress, you can easily extract and integrate the external data from the API or various other sources and then combine it with your own gathered data that you have stored in WordPress. Later you can easily display it the way you want, which tends to be valuable for users. The custom WordPress plugins help accomplish these things easily and in a single codebase.

Simplifying Data Entry

The simplified data entry is one of the most popular reasons why more businesses opt for custom WordPress plugins. WordPress has default posts and pages, but businesses require business-specific data with various attributes. The custom plugins can aid the WordPress cms to support the newly gathered data types so that it becomes easy for the businesses to manipulate them. 

Providing Custom Price Quotes and Calculators

Are you familiar with the insurance calculators and price estimators that happen to be present on many websites? 

Have you encountered such sites?

Well, most of these tools are built through the custom WordPress plugins that can be configured in the WordPress admin instead of relying on just the continuous change in codes. 

Enabling Exemplary Reporting and Analytics

The custom cms development services offer internal reporting tools and analytics as external features. In contrast, custom WordPress plugins provide the in-built tools and generate the same tools and reporting analytics. Like most people, you might as well think that these plugins change the look of the websites for the visitors. However, several plugins help create the company dashboards, from internal sales data to analytics view associated with the data already existing in the cms. 

As you have already understood, WordPress has become so popular because of the high-end plugin ecosystem in less time. As a result, businesses are opting for the WordPress plugins that make their life a lot easier than building each functionality from scratch. As a matter of fact, due to its several custom plugin options, many companies build these and sell them to WordPress users.

In the past it’s likely that you encountered an unexpected software issue, sudden downtime, or issues of this sort just when you’re trying to finish some particular work. Additionally, you may have been irritated when using a platform that was not user-friendly, unintuitive, or was quite slow to load.                                                                                           

The objective of quality assurance testing is providing the best conceivable experience for the user. When it comes to the realm of QA, a system issue is not just about bug fixing. These tests resolve a range of problems that impact the experience of end-users. In this is included various factors like inappropriate fonts for web content, to illogical navigation and pages that load slowly. The ultimate way to lower the likelihood of defects while also elevating the experience of end-users is by opting for software quality assurance testing services throughout the development life cycle. Moreover, with the Agile method, all participants for instance the QA team, developers, designers, and also the end- users work in unison to make upgrades continually.

Software Testing And Quality Assurance Go Hand In Hand                                     

Regardless of the product type, applications, system software, driver software a bunch of tests are performed before it actually hits the market. You need to test your software products in a range of different environments, in terms of development, QA/testing and staging environments to ascertain that the end-users benefit from an advanced and seamless experience in a range of real-world situations.

While quality and testing are closely associated, you must realise that software testing and QA are not one and the same process. Skipping software quality assurance is not a good idea as it is the primary way to guarantee a robust solution that’s user friendly and as per regulatory requirements. Through simulated cyber-attacks on your products, you will be able to measure the security of your software and work to eliminate all weakness in case there is a cyber attack. 

 Usually the QA process goes like this:

Delineating requirements

Reaching estimations

Creating a plan

Producing documentation

Executing daily sprints

Defining how the system is supposed to function before it made

Testing

The QA team uses software audit solutions that deliver in-depth reports on bugs identified as well as comprehensive instructions on fixing the bugs. 

Quality Metrics in the QA Process

Though the QA procedure is typically bound by contracts, checklists and supervision, these days QA teams collaborate with software professionals. Quality assurance is not limited to carrying out tests but includes gaining comprehensive insights on the experience of end users, focusing on catering to their requirements.

From the start organisations need to set a calculable range of quality metrics and a technique to check whether the system addresses those benchmarks sufficiently. The POA that the QA team sets results in superior product quality and effectiveness. Basically, QA offers organisations comprehensive insights, informing you what your users will think of as a quality experience.

It’s important to have properly established QA metrics because the QA team needs to be able to glean insights from various tasks and learn the different aspects that would require changes and tweaking.  The programming or framework of the product should be calibrated to a high level to guarantee that the UX and external quality is fully optimised for your users.

QA metrics enable you to measure, analyse and demonstrate software quality in any meaningful way. Here are the major metrics for every stage of the software QA process.

User Acceptance Testing

This metric serves to detect breaches in the testing strategy, for instance problems that may have been overlooked during early functional requirements gathering. 

Test Design

At this point product functionality is evaluated to discover any problems on the end user side. Things like functionality issues or figuring out the obstacles that are likely to prevent downloading the solutions need to be checked.

Measuring Product Success

In case you’re monitoring the relevant metrics at every phase of the QA process, you gain a far higher possibility of ensuring that your project progresses smoothly and you provide an enhanced end-user experience. 

Bug Fixing

Bug-related metrics enable the QA team to detect the particular bugs in the particular modules that could severely impact the product and thus have to be resolved at the start.  

QA KPIs and metrics are boosting the software testing process enormously. 

Also, it’s clear that software quality assurance testing services are imperative to offer high-quality systems that end-users can use productively. The metrics are crucial in the software development and QA processes as they serve to ascertain the precision of the various tests carried out by QA teams and ascertain the quality of the product.  Thus, whether or not you opt for a development process on a tight schedule, it’s vital that you carry out in-depth quality assurance.

AR is making huge inroads especially in the sphere of skill development and training in various industry environments. Basically, everything that is impossible to accomplish through conventional training is carried out effortlessly using AR apparatus. Be it anatomical models or space related topics, AR is being used to render stimulating learning experiences.

Let’s begin by getting a clear idea of AR and its implementation.

Defining Augmented Reality

Putting it simply, Augmented Reality essentially describes digitally augmenting actual reality, where real-world settings are overlaid with digital information and content, offering highly critical and beneficial interactions. When the actual reality is blended with the digital content, AR enables you to incorporate digital layers upgrading the user experience in a range of environments.

Owing to AR, an object in real-life is imbued with an interactive and multi-faceted manifestation on the screen that responds to the changes in the user’s environment, offering them enhanced information from their digital interactions.

Major Sectors That Are Leveraging AR-Based

Medical training through immersive technology

The use of Augmented Reality (AR) software development to create innovations in healthcare training is increasingly expanding. In the healthcare sphere, AR-powered staff training has already been integrated into the benefits and treatment effectiveness that patients receive from hospital and other medical setups. Everyone involved including diagnostic center employees, doctors, medics, therapists can take advantage of AR-based applications to gain a highly insightful view of the human anatomy and actual patients’ organs and body parts that are affected. Through AR they can train with visual guides to tackle a range of ailments and medical procedures.

The most important aspect about these AR-based medical training is that it allows healthcare workers such as doctors and caregivers to boost their skills, offering them scaled-up versions of medical phenomena to train them in ways to efficiently deal with them. Through this extensive medical training taking into account various facets of the medical practice will elevate the care quality and ability to safeguard an increasing number of patient’s lives.

Training of manufacturing employees through AR

In the demanding manufacturing sector where the accuracy-driven input and joining of different parts play a critical role in ensuring that the finished product is as expected, Augmented Reality (AR) software development is proving to offer considerable benefits. Consider automobile manufacturing plants where a range of technicians on the factory floor assemble different components together to form an automobile. Fixing all these components and parts together with complete precision is critically important.  

Currently, at a large number of automobile manufacturing plants it has become standard practice to use AR technology.  AR smart glasses created under Augmented Reality (AR) software development offer users a multifaceted responsive view of the car components, motors, and local environment offering workers a clear visual guide on the components that they need to assemble together and weld in place until the finished product is created perfectly.

The outcome is no inaccuracies in the manufacturing process.

Field service training with AR

For many electronic appliance and consumer durable producers machine maintenance and servicing at intervals is a critical aspect of their business services. Field service technicians are trained to resolve a large amount of troubleshooting activities, methods to identify issues, and gaining expert manpower as well as maintenance equipment.

At present, field service staff get training in detection of problems and troubleshooting exercises with the help of AR apparatus offering them remote guidance. While the field worker is carrying out their task, the AR goggles offer an augmented view of the device or gadget to support them in real time.  

Armed with 3D views and an interactive background, technicians can explore the various components of the machine and tools and work quickly and precisely to complete the tasks. Using dynamic solutions through Augmented Reality (AR) software development, technicians gain a highly comprehensive understanding of the issue at hand and are aware of various ways in which to fix the problem effectively.

AR application in education

The fact that smart devices have penetrated most of the global market and are highly affordable today has made AR apps commonplace in the classroom, benefitting both students and teachers. AR e-learning apps are built to ensure ease-of-use and high engagement.

AR software development products have considerably enhanced the learning experience by integrating the actual reality with digital inputs in real time. AR allows learners to carry out risky experiments through a safe platform, visualize multifaceted things, and work with normally inaccessible machinery.

As learners can directly control enhanced components of their digital environment it can lead to enhanced understanding among them. With AR based applications learners are more likely to have long term retention of the concepts and study materials as they have been able to directly engage with learning concepts in an enjoyable and immersive way.

The uses cases for Augmented Reality (AR) software development solutions are vast. AR technology is being leveraged in a range of enterprise training environments in a number of industry sectors.  It is safe to say that AR is transforming training.

Well, this blog explains in detail the importance of structured content authoring along with the important features that you need to focus on while investing in the software.

The content authoring tool helps in the e-learning process by incorporating various media collections in order to create engaging, and interactive content and then sort and organise the content in the standard course structure for which it was developed. Therefore, the content authoring tool is an integral part of the education software and aids in creating a well-organised and proper course for e-learning. These authoring tools of e-learning are mostly used by organisations that impart training and developers. In fact, the authoring tools for content are designed and created for specific learning styles, file formats, e-learning standards and workflow of production.

Why Content Authoring Tool is Crucial?  

Are you unsure of how to utilise the content authoring tool?

Well, the chief purpose of a content authoring solution is to provide readily created apps that will simplify course creation and make it accessible to innumerable users at large. These tools for authoring content range from simple ones like Google Docs and Sheets to advanced ones like video editing. In fact, you can also easily navigate by providing a reliable system which generally takes more time and a bit complicated for the general users. The authoring tools which aid in developing and designing interactive content also facilitates the author or the creator to create compelling and good e-content for various courses.

The chief reasons why you need a content authoring tool are as follows:

Content can be customised in order to provide a personalised learning experience.

Authoring tools enable collaborate with many authors easily thereby facilitating team works effectively.

The authoring tools gather feedback and therefore contribute in constant improvement in the course through proper data analysis.

The tools enable the course creators and authors to address the different learning needs, make the necessary updates of the e-learning content and also meet the rising learning demands with fewer efforts and in a little time-span.

Advantages of Using Content Authoring Tools for E-Learning?

The content authority tools which are an integral part of education software development Solutions tend to work differently as some are made for the non-technical course creators and hence are made of just the templates and drag and drop. The output of which includes quizzes, surveys and documents of the word. On the contrary, the other authoring tools for content are built to develop more complicated content for e-learning such as gamification, 3D and 4D formats, etc. However, no matter what the interface type is, the sole purpose is to enable the content for e-learning courses much easily and rapidly as possible. The greatest advantage of the e-learning concept is that it helps in making the work much easier compared to the paper content and also offers the opportunity to learn anytime from any given place that suits the best. The content authoring tools, therefore, aids in creating the related content in an user-friendly method.

So, in case you are unsure of the benefits that investing in the content authoring solution would bring for you then read the major advantages listed.

The chief advantages of the content authoring tool for developing various types of interactive content for e-learning and other training programs are as follows:

Increases and enhances the engagement and active participation of the learners and trainees.

Helps in the retention of knowledge by connecting with SMEs proficiently.

It enables deployment of the multiple platform-friendly online training resource with responsive design-oriented features.

The content authoring tools aid in easy updates and revision of the e-learning course designs.

Trainers and authors using the authoring tools for content can easily speed up the e-learning development process.

Top Features to Incorporate in Content Authority Tool of Education Software Development Solution

A well structured content developed for any purpose helps in the effective learning process which is the result of the proper utilisation of the feature-rich content authoring tool integrated with an e-learning software solution.  While initially creating training e-content was a bit overwhelming but with the rising technological advanacements in the sphere of e-learning such as the authoring tools for e-learning , creating the materials for courses an trainings have become significantly easier. However, at the same time, you need to be well aware of what you are choosing as the wrong choice might end you up in problem than it could have solved.

So, here are some of the Key Features that an E-learning Content Authoring Tool Should have and you should try to incorporate the below-mentioned list in your authoring tool for creating effective e-learning or training content.

Easy User Interface

Any kind of software should have an easy user interface and this is one of the most important feature to include for a content authoring tool. This is because you need to create a lot of content with the content authoring tool in a short period and you can’t figure out the complex user interface while trying to complete the content design fast.

Features for Drafting and Reviewing Content

It is extremely important for any kind of easy-to-use authoring tool to to provide a separate workspace for both authors and contributors to create  and review or edit content respectively.

Advanced Search Function

Advanced search functionality is crucial and tools should be offering the ability to search the required and specific content across an organisation thereby helping in lowering the wasted time for creating double content.

API-driven Integration approach

Tools should have the option of integrating other software for better output and results. Authoring Tools should have different integrating enterprise tools for word selection, content style and tone and automated tagging.

Opening up the structured content authoring tools and systems for both technical and non-technical users are are rising. Enabling the authoring tool features integrated with the education software development Solution would help in the overall result and impact of e-learning.

AI and a range of machine learning models are being used to develop highly resilient and sophisticated software platforms. These models are also essential when it comes to tracking and analysing the data feeds within the software. The major advantage of using AI technology is its potential to offer insightful ways of fixing an issue. Programmers can depend on them to tweak parts of the code so as to arrive at the desired result.

The Way AI and ML Are Revolutionizing Software Development

During AI software development, AI capacities prove to be crucial at increasing efficiency in software development functions. Developers are embracing these innovations as they realise the host of benefits they bring. AI and ML are pivotal in enabling young developers in learning the ropes and overall in empowering developers to detect and resolve bugs in their software. Besides, unlike developers, it’s not as if AI tools can make mistakes or get sidetracked while working on huge volumes of data. It’s no wonder then that developers all over the world are embracing AI tools to facilitate software development. 

 ML algorithms can help developers gain insights on user habits and then provide content accordingly by tweaking buttons, font size,screen size, as well as many other on-page components. This sort of customised and dynamic responses can take user experience to the next level and it also enables developers to implement suitable code modifications by analysing user interaction data in real-time.

Innovations in this category also offer programmers cloud IDEs, smooth deployment of software and intelligent development platforms.

Enable Programmers and Testers to Identify and Fix Bugs

Owing to artificial intelligence, programmers are able to write stronger code, identify bugs and resolve them in real time. Unlike in the past, today’s developers no longer faced bug-filled EXE files at the end of the day. Developers also benefit from the ease of leveraging particular ML algorithms to test the soundness of their software code. The objective of this endeavour is enhancing the sophistication of the verified program. Other than programmers, software testers are able to exploit AI capabilities to detect bugs in software solutions.

Because of increased advancements in AI, programmers and testers find it valuable to use AI-based tools that are equipped to automatically detect software flaws and fix the program.

Facilitating Deployment Activities

AI innovations also guarantee a drastic boost in the effectiveness of software deployment processes. When it comes to AI software development, deployment control takes into account the development stage where programmers enhance programs or applications to advanced levels. In scenarios where programmers are unable to implement this process efficiently, it is very likely that the software platform or application could fail. Through AI capabilities, software professionals get the chance to release updated versions of a program or application and not have to stress out about the possibility of deployment failure. Machine-learning algorithms can also be used to detect issues connected to deployment activities.

Intelligent Programming

When writing code, programmers may experience challenges such as code duplication or omission of certain parts of the code. Using AI software development solutions powered by machine-learning algorithms, they will no longer make mistakes when coding. These tools can help to identify simple coding mistakes. They also provide a programmer with a code editor that formats parts of the code based on the programming or methodology or language in use.

During the programming phase developers are likely to face issues like code errors, duplication and so on. With ML powered development tools programmers will be able to code without making errors as they can easily find out errors in the program before moving forward. These AI software development tools assist programmers with code prompts on the basis of the previously developed code written by users. Code Completion features in turn, allow businesses to speed up the product’s development.

Accurate Planning and Cost Estimation

Cost estimation and planning are vital aspects of the software development process. AI is being used to put forward a streamlined software development plan. For this you could factor in the initial condition of the company, outline the goal, and offer a list of prospective outcomes. Through this model, the AI software development solutions will work out different results and obstacles that not only enhance decision-making but also help businesses to carry out the requisite modifications as fast as possible.

Accurate planning can impact the software development process, as it allows businesses to handle their financial assets and create development roadmaps. You can use AI and ML-powered tools to ensure precise planning for efficient software development.

Seeing as AI is revolutionising the software development life cycle, have you started looking for an AI software development provider?

The pandemic, on the other hand, made it a need rather than a choice. Many schools, colleges, universities, and educational institutions have made it standard practice in the last two years to screen candidates and select the most qualified. In this regard, education software development companies have been creating stellar software to address their needs. 

Entrance tests are critical in establishing their intelligence, talents, areas of interest, and many other things, in addition to filtering the best applicants from the remainder. In the following paragraphs, we will be listing essential tips to help you conduct these examinations in an effective manner. 

How do online exams fare better as compared to their offline counterparts? 

For a variety of reasons, the former can be better handled than the latter. Some of them are listed below.

Secure: Online admission examinations have a reduced risk of paper leakage than offline entrance exams.

Fast results: One of the primary drawbacks of offline exams is the length of time it takes to receive a result. The process of taking an online exam is quick and precise.

Cost-effective: The costs of online exams are significantly lower than those of offline exams.

Any location– Candidates who live in rural locations or who lack the financial means to travel to a testing centre can benefit greatly.

Both subjective and objective tests– Online tests work well with multiple-choice questions, but they also work well with subjective questions.

Surveillance– Auto surveillance and webcam monitoring are significantly more effective than having a human invigilator present because the former can track candidates’ general activity during the exam procedure.

Simplicity: For many candidates, conducting online oral exams or viva voce is preferable to conducting them offline. All of their responses can be recorded at the same time and analyzed later.

Tips for conducting online exams

The following tips can help you use e-learning software solutions developed by education software development companies for conducting exams. 

Identifying the needs of e-learning software solutions

You must first determine the admission exam software’s key requirements. It should ideally be customized according to the program or course you’re offering. Following that, you must locate a reputable school management system vendor who can give your institution appropriate online exam software.

Defining exam rules, exam patterns, and grading 

After finding a reputed education software development company, the next step for you is to define the exam rules, patterns, and exam needs. 

Setting payment and online registration process

The next stage is to implement an online registration process that will allow candidates to register and pay online. They can download the hall tickets after the payment has been confirmed.

Online remote proctoring

Faculty will be able to monitor candidates and their screen activity while the exam is in session using the online proctoring software. Malpractices and proxies will be a thing of the past. Do not forget to ask the education software development company for this feature. 

Auto-calculation of marks

For faculty members, calculating marks in offline tests can be a difficult and time-consuming process. However, online exam software created by education software development companies generates marks with high precision.

Define cut-off and weightage for each session

Online examinations allow you to set weights and cutoff percentiles for each component, allowing you to accept or reject candidates based on their qualifications.

Displaying online results

The online entrance exam program developed by education software development companies generates results fast and precisely, reducing the possibility of human error

For evaluating a large number of applicants, online entrance tests are cost-effective, adaptable, and scalable. Subjective, objective and psychometric tests can all be conducted with them. Each assessment type can be customized to look into different aspects of a candidate’s abilities, talents, academic knowledge, and skillsets.

So, what are you waiting for? Connect with a leading education software development company like Ivan Infotech now to develop exam software now.

What’s clear is that with the tech innovations in the markets today, store owners and retailers can have their complete operations run with a handy smartphone or tablet. With a mobile device alongside cloud-based retail software, store owners now have the capacity to sell no matter where, within their store, outside their store (for instance, events, trade shows, or pop-up shops), and even offer a 24/7 online order option.  

Accordingly, what you would need to do ‘sell everywhere’ is figure out the ideal retail POS software for your retail business. Let’s check out some major features to search for in a POS so you can effortlessly begin sales on multiple channels without any added effort.

Smooth Management of Customer Data

An increasing amount of retail consumers are making purchases spanning multiple channels. Retail software solutions like the modern cloud POS technology must also be equipped to help you gather and tackle customer information spanning multiple sales channels. Your POS provider should build a solution that enables you to tackle all customer sales & returns in a single location, gather comprehensive customer contact information, and access customers’ transaction history.

Inventory Management in Real-time

Sales carried out via different sales channels such as online, brick-and-mortar, and social media necessitate retailers to maintain a precise count of inventory on each of the channels.

Nonetheless, several legacy retail software solutions are equipped to manage inventory and sales for just a single channel. Multi-channel POS systems, with modern cloud technology, have the capacity to enable you to tackle inventory anywhere your products are stocked or sold. You kill two birds with one stone- your inventory tracking becomes effortless and orders fulfillment spanning various channels also becomes seamless and quick.

Unified Reporting and Sales Metrics

Modern POS systems offer valuable data that retailers can leverage to make insight-based decisions regarding their business. With a retail software development service, you gain a solution that allows you to view analytics spanning all your business channels, both consolidated and separately, as required. This gives you insights into what is working and what is not. Your business will thus become highly flexible and evolve swiftly to shifts in the retail landscape.

Fulfillment Options and Marketing Integrations

Having ideal POS features also serves you to helps you drive your sales. The current innovative systems provide integrations for digital marketing configured to cater to the shifting needs of modern customers, which can result in amplified sales for your store. For instance, retailers can take advantage of their POS to put forward their products on Google and grab the eyeballs of shoppers in the vicinity who are on the lookout for the products their business sells. Additionally, it’s vital to search for a POS system that provides flexible pickup and delivery options, such as, local delivery, shipping, buy online, pick-up in-store, etc.

So, it’s high time for you to get retail software solutions like a feature-rich retail POS system to help your store not only run but also thrive successfully.

What precisely is a hybrid shopping experience?

Hybrid shopping takes into account the elements that are a blend of both in-person and eCommerce shopping options, where there is a seamless connection between both the physical and virtual worlds.

Several businesses currently allow shoppers to order items online and have them collected at one of their stores in the customers’ vicinity. This is made possible thanks to custom e-commerce solutions that handle multi-channel operations. Additionally, several companies are enabling consumers to return products that were purchased online to physical counterpart stores and get back their cash or refund. In more recent times, the pandemic brought forward the possibility of curbside pickup, and brick-and-mortar stores have begun offering the option of mobile self-checkout.

Hybrid journeys such as these are propelled by integrated e-commerce software solution and a robust strategy that helps businesses with marketing campaigns, brand messaging, product data spanning various channels as well as shopper data. Thanks to e-commerce software development businesses gain robust platforms and are able to offer shoppers a highly frictionless and smooth journey.

In-store staff is able to access customers’ account data or it can also be extracted through various devices, whereas customers can look up data of their preferred products like availability in-store, pricing, comparisons, etc.

To put it simply, shoppers are given a free rein on how and when they want to shop. This possibility of convenience is the primary cause that dictates shopper behavior today.

Why do you need a hybrid shopping strategy?

Customers of varying ages – counting Baby Boomers (62%) and Gen Z (58%), continue to have a preference for purchasing from a brick-and-mortar store. Moreover, 45% of in-store shoppers carry out online research before purchasing.

Hybrid shopping is favored over conventional and online shopping primarily because of the level of convenience offered. Your prospective customers do not actively search for a particular shopping experience, rather they seek the most ideal overall shopping journey depending on their needs at varying times. They have come to expect shopping journeys that are straightforward, friction-free and that can accommodate their timeline and preferences. It could be that you have not yet opted for hybrid customer experiences as you don’t want to ‘rock the boat’ but continue with what feels familiar. Here’s why you should change that fact.

With custom e-commerce development you gain state-of-the-art solutions to help you offer higher personalization, lower friction, and optimized convenience that lead to high customer satisfaction. This, in turn, elicits a positive response and boosts brand loyalty, often translating to positive reviews, less churn, and higher revenue.

So, before you decide to invest in the latest e-commerce software solutions, figure out how the technology solution will boost your overall strategy. Invest sufficient time in assessing various options before you decide on a firm that offers the solutions that align with your needs. Overall user-friendliness, level of customer support, and product training availability are further considerations to keep in mind when assessing provider options. Now, are you all set to take your business up a notch with hybrid shopping experiences?

Educational institutions generate and handle a huge amount of digital records. Students generate a huge amount of data at each point of interaction with the college interface. No, we are not only talking about grades, transcripts, or teacher’s remarks. A student can generate a digital record each time he/she logs on to the college learning management system. 

He or she can also create digital records each time they use the college Wifi. Similarly, information is generated each time a student swipes his card to access the library/ classroom/ dormitory/ or to purchase a food item in the cafeteria. However, most students do not realize the amount of information that they share with the college. Therefore in most cases, they are not cautious with data security. 

But, to college, the data shared by students is a precious mine of information. Left unguarded, your rival college can steal this data to get more students. But you can avoid all the risks with  ERP-based education technology solutions. You can get the following benefits by using ERP-based higher education software solutions.

• You can use the data generated by your students to offer scholarships to those who need
• By analyzing the academic performance of all students, you can offer special training to those who need
• The data can also be used to enhance the security measures of different facilities like libraries, dormitories, and cafeterias. 

Now let’s have a look at the data security risks faced by institutions

Data security risks

While talking about data security issues, we often talk about banks, insurance companies, government, hotels, etc. But we fail to consider the data security risks faced by educational institutes. However, educational institutes have become prime targets of cybercriminals in recent years. Cybercriminals often hack into the data bank stored by institutes to gain access to information like biometrics, birth certificates, financial information, etc. Over the last two years, more than 2000 public schools in the US became victims of ransomware attacks. You obviously do not want your institute to be the next victim. The good news is there is a way to avoid such attacks and keep your institute protected with ERP-based education technology solutions.

Listed below are the data security benefits offered by ERP-based education technology solutions. 

Data encryption

Under this system, the ERP-based higher education software solutions encrypt the data stored in a format that is unreadable. So, even if the hackers can access the data, they won’t be able to decipher it.

Cloud-based backup

The ERP-based education technology solutions store their information in the cloud. So, even if there is an issue with the primary server, the data stored in the cloud can be easily retrieved. 

User authentication

The information stored in ERP-based education technology solutions can be accessed only by authorized personnel. The best-in-class authentication tools prevent unwanted access of the data by unauthorized persons. 

Antivirus software

The top-class antivirus software is deployed to protect the data stored in ERP-based education technology solutions. Thus, attacks by malware, virus, or ransomware can be effectively prevented. 

Thus, ERP-based education technology solutions can secure the data stored by your institutions in the data server and protect it from unauthorized access. To know more, connect with technicians and developers at Ivan Infotech.

What is the process of product design?

Designing a product is a difficult and time-consuming process. It’s critical for a company to have a well-organized process with clearly defined phases for planning and integrating. This is accomplished by establishing a Product Design Process.

A product design process may be described as a series of processes taken by a product team to generate a design solution. It’s a sequence of duties that follow a product from conception to completion in terms of UX design services. From the initial concept through the finished product, which is ready for commercial distribution to the intended market.

Intangible or tangible, there is no uniform design approach that can be provided. It’s about customizing the approach to meet your project’s unique requirements and objectives. The following steps should be included in every product design process, regardless of size or complexity:

User Research

Several components of research are implied, such as market research to determine the presence of competitors, trend definition, and an appraisal of the product’s potential lifetime, among other things. Most of the time, marketers and business analysts handle this work. This study’s findings can be used to create profiles of individual customers. This will help your team visualize the ultimate product of incorporated UI design services. Gender, age, marital status, income level, place of residence (geography), employment, job position, normal issues, wants, concerns and desires are all factors in a well-composed image.

Sketching

The preparation of sketches is essential for any large-scale project with a considerable budget. A solution must be agreed upon with the client before any time is committed to looking for it. Sketches allow you to narrow down the core concept’s direction when picking a composition, layout, editing, concept refining, etc.

Prototyping

The task of creating a prototype is just as vital as the task of designing something new. Rather than getting a gorgeous finished look, you’ll get something that looks like a “skeleton” of what the final product would look like. Despite this, UI design services provide an effective tool for showcasing a product’s functionality, as well as several ways users can engage with it. By creating a prototype now, you’ll be able to prevent having to go back and fix things later. Customers and performers will appreciate the savings in terms of time, money, and stress.

Assembling Specifications

The process of elaborating the aforementioned requirement specification is actually the creation of a list of specifications. It provides for a thorough examination of all completed product requirements as well as potential solutions with UX design services. These specifications should also include a final delineation of duties, timeframes, and budget. These records will be necessary during the product development process.

Creating Samples

Pre-production samples will help you determine whether or not the product’s basic idea is viable and appealing to real users, and whether or not it’s worth shifting the activity vector to other important places. In the event of a physical product, it also enables the understanding of how much the various manufacturing departments/manufacturing contractor are ready to produce the developed goods with the requisite speed and quality.

Such software examples are known as MVPs — a form of wireframe program that only contains the most important features.

Sample Testing

You can quickly uncover product faults or requirements inconsistencies by testing samples. That’s even before you start the generally expensive step of putting it into practice. Samples of UX design services can be manufactured and tested as many times as necessary to meet all requirements and receive enough favorable feedback from clients.

Because the field of product design is always changing, PDP has become a stable method. To ensure the efficacy of this strategy, we will keep it up to date by incorporating new technologies and approaches that enhance the overall process performance.