Additive Manufacturing: The past and the prominence of 3D Printing
Additive Manufacturing is one of the most significant reforms in a fast-changing world of manufacturing and construction. Additive manufacturing has triggered newer processes, sustainable output, smart machines, and more unique means of operation, management, and increased efficiency. Additive manufacturing is a computer-operated and controlled system that creates three-dimensional objects by carefully sequentially depositing various material compositions in layers. A comprehensive digital layout is fed as design data, and the machine operates accordingly. Additive manufacturing is mainly used for making rapid prototypes and forging complex geometric objects. The other names for Additive Manufacturing are 3D printing, Additive Layer Manufacturing. The technology has gained worldwide prominence with the name of 3D printing. FAQ Commercialization of 3D printers 3D printing is not an archaic process, but rather, it came up in the ’80s. Here is a summary of the history of 3D printers in the last four decades: The 80’s witnessed the first commercial use of additive manufacturing with stereolithography from 3D Systems. The SLA-1 was the first commercially released AM machine. Acrylate resins were commercialized. The Somos stereolithography machine also entered the market in the same year. In the ’90s, Germany’s Electro-Optical Systems sells the first stereolithography system. Fused deposition modeling (FDM), solid ground curing (SGC), and laminated object manufacturing (LOM) were commercialized. Selective laser sintering (SLS) and Soliform stereolithography system were also commercialized. This year saw a bunch of new additives manufacturing systems such as ModelMaker, Solid Center, or EOSINT. An inkjet printing mechanism that deposited wax materials layer by layer was also introduced. The late 2000s saw a rapid growth of the 3D printing machine market. The 3D printing Industry witnessed massive investment 2000’s saw the emergence of new technologies. The world got its first commercially available multi-color 3D printer. The Electron Beam melting machine was one of the groundbreaking 3D printing machines introduced in the early 2000s. In March 2015, Exerial was introduced, a large machine with multiple stations to enable continuous production. Early 3D printers were not very light and convenient to handle. Only after the advent of the 21st century have they become more affordable, straightforward, easy to operate, and versatile enough to be used in a wide range of operations ranging from tools & component manufacture, electronics, metalwork, polymers, etc., product prototypes. Past three years, there has been a tendency to employ 3D printing and AM tech in the real estate industry. Current 3D Printing market trends The worldwide 3D printing products and services market valued at around 12.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. The industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of some 17 percent between 2020 and 2023. As more businesses begin to have their printers, printing software will grow faster than printing services. We can see how fast Additive manufacturing emerged within just three decades and how it is relevant across multiple industrial verticals today. Whether it is about building prototypes, constructing affordable housing, or producing components, AM and 3D printing have offered effective systems that triumph over traditional methods. This technology enables faster product development and market entry, smoother product customization, and seamless integration at lesser cost and time. Thus, additive manufacturing provides OEM manufacturers an excellent opportunity to unleash their products at a higher rate at much lesser expenses for great returns and better customer benefits while ensuring sustainability. Reference: 1. Wohlers, T. and Gornet, T., (2016). History of additive manufacturing, Wohlers Report 2016. 2. Global 3D printing products and services market size from 2020 to 2026, Statista
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Exploring the Potential of Artificial Intelligence in the Pharmaceutical Industry
As marketers and managers know, the challenges and excitement of pharmaceutical product launches are potentially as profitable for companies as they are beneficial for patients. Nonetheless, careful planning and resourcefulness are instrumental in developing a corporate roadmap for new products. Executing a launch well means that a new pharma product is more likely to become a market leader. Below, we discuss how to achieve success through a sophisticated approach involving influence mapping tools. Read on to discover more, including an overview of today’s leading software systems. Armed with this information, your pharmaceutical company can harness the power of Artificial Intelligence or AI in development projects, product launches and sales campaigns. Facing the challenges The different stages in the path from R&D to product launch frequently involve various teams and functions. Although the groups involved often share similar goals, they tend to operate in a degree of isolation. At each stage, experts address a relatively narrow set of challenges related to their immediate responsibilities. Though the best amongst them will endeavor to consider the broader situation wherever possible, there may sometimes be little incentive to do so. In some cases, short-term conflicts can arise. In contrast, the safe development of effective drugs, medicines and appliances is, of course, multidisciplinary. It involves research and collaboration, combining the efforts of multiple departments – sometimes in different countries. Apart from an in-depth knowledge of the disease area concerned, medical professionals within a company need to remain keenly aware of patient care and stakeholder expectations. Achieving this delicate balance requires thoughtfulness, accurate information, well-developed commercial insight and, of course, interpersonal skills. Making informed decisions Remaining competitive requires the linking of clinical results to patient outcomes. For instance, when customer service and support representatives or teams liaise with healthcare providers, they may well uncover unmet patient needs. A cross-functional approach between commercial, clinical and regulatory elements should also research treatment outcomes, hear input from patient’s representatives and communicate with public and investor relations. Maximizing return on investment Remaining competitive requires the linking of clinical results to patient outcomes. For instance, when customer service and support representatives or teams liaise with healthcare providers, they may well uncover unmet patient needs. Similarly, valuable insights might emerge regarding patient’s acceptance of products, revealing untapped market potential and enabling additional clinical programmed to boost ROI. Using software to align teams Nowadays, a choice of feature-rich software packages has made the latest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) available to the world of pharmaceuticals. Now, it is possible to manage information, answer queries and display reports with ease. Such packages typically boast intuitive and user-driven interfaces to acquire and preserve essential details. Also, powerful algorithms search for connections, log the results and analyzeimplicit knowledge such as key stakeholders and their links. Group knowledge becomes implicit by asking brand teams to share data about accounts via influence maps. Later, colleagues and members of other groups can leverage this information in a productive, cross-team approach. Across the pharma manufacturing sector, cross-functional teams can now benefit from granular and accurate account stakeholder maps, updated in real-time. Significantly, team alignment and influence maps allow pharmaceutical companies to get the most from their team’s relationships with each corporate function and – crucially – with stakeholders. Examples of problems and quirks included: Making influence maps work for you An AI based engines will identify Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) based on the accumulated data. Pharmaceutical companies have used the influence of highly experienced researchers and physicians to seek out more takers of new drugs and clinical trials. Artificial Intelligence can add more value by quantifying their influence and giving back an elaborate measurement to run a better campaign. Pharma companies can implement Machine Learning for allocating right experts for campaign needs via influencer marketing. For this, AI can be fed number of topics, publications, research produced by such experts and understand their audience. So, there you have it. If you are a business decision-maker or policymaker, you now have an exciting opportunity. Deployed to good effect, the latest influence mapping techniques and AI look set to fuel organic business growth in forward-thinking pharma companies.
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5 Reasons You Should Consider the Cloud for Your Business
Cloud computing and storage are breakthrough inventions of the IT spectrum. Cloud services and the database has saved plenty of businesses from the hassles of installing database infrastructure hardware and related costs. As a part of the Internet-of-Things, the Cloud can be incorporated and merged with almost any technology. The main value cloud negates the installation of additional ware to store information. One can store zillions of data directly into a cloud database in one click. Cloud is a critical factor in the emergence of virtual workspaces and is gaining more foothold and prominence after the Covid-19 pandemic. Cloud computing can offer businesses many benefits. Most companies use cloud computing to set up virtual offices that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Cloud computing can make communication and coordination between employees seamless. The technology behind the Cloud is constantly improving, with innovations being introduced each year. With that said, if your business still hasn’t adopted the technology, consider the following reasons why you should. The Cloud can help save on expenses Businesses often hesitate to adapt to new technologies because of cost concerns. But the thing about cloud hosting is that you don’t need to spend too much on hardware if you want to adopt it. Space, power, air-conditioning, maintenance, and insurance costs aren’t things that you have to worry about because your provider’s servers will handle most of the heavy lifting for you. More importantly, most cloud services have very flexible plans, allowing you to only pay for services that you absolutely need. Scalability is a built-in feature Scaling up your business costs money. Without the Cloud, you’ll need to purchase hardware, floor space, and spend more on power if you want to scale up your servers. However, Cloud brings scalability to the game. Typically, if you receive a boost in website traffic, you’ll need to purchase new servers. But if you’re working with a cloud service provider, you might only need to update your plan. Alternatively, you can also subscribe to a pay-as-you-go payment scheme, wherein you only pay for resources that you need. Going down this route means that you won’t need to pay for a package permanently and will only need to pay your provider based on your exact needs. Flexibility and scalability are two things to expect when working with the Cloud. Cloud-based services are blazing fast To stay relevant, a cloud service provider adapts to the latest tech. Service providers always make sure that performance is optimized. Because of this, expect providers to take advantage of the latest CPUs, SSDs, and hardware. With so much tech at their disposal, working with any cloud service provider is guaranteed to be a lightning-fast experience. Accessing your files and working on the Cloud should be a seamless, lag- free experience. The Cloud is highly secure Many organizations are concerned that the Cloud isn’t secure. If files are accessible from anywhere in the world, what is the guarantee that they’re being appropriately protected? The truth is cloud service providers place a significant emphasis on security. Cloud hosts carefully monitor their safety, and in most cases, they are more secure than traditional, in-house systems. Data is often encrypted, and things like two-factor authentication can make data theft more difficult for would-be hackers. Collaborating on projects will be easier The Cloud allows members of a company to coordinate over vast distances instantly. This is one of the main reasons why companies invest in cloud-based services. The benefit of working on a worksheet together with someone from across the world is well worth the cost. Grant contractors and other third party’s access to relevant files or records with the click of a button can lead to a ton of productivity. Working with the Cloud can provide your business with various benefits at an affordable cost. Take note of the advantages mentioned in the article and consider investing in the Cloud.
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What is a hybrid cloud?
Cloud computing, or the on-demand availability of computer system resources, has recently taken the world by storm, with cloud providers like AL iCloud, AWS, IBM, Google, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle creating Software-as-a-Service, Marketing-as-a-Service, Analytics-as-a-Service, and now Infrastructure-as-a-Service, amongst others, to capture the seemingly insatiable customer demand for services. Whether a business should go with a private cloud, a public cloud, an omni cloud, or a hybrid cloud aren’t quickly answered without understanding a company’s current set-up and its potential future IT demands. The hybrid cloud creates a single IT infrastructure that runs its applications, systems, and workloads. It joins a company’s on-premises private cloud services with a third-party, public cloud, which gives an organization the ability to select optimal cloud providers for each application, container, or workload and move freely between the two clouds as circumstances and situations change. Some popular third-party vendors like AWS, IBM, Microsoft, Alibaba, and Google, provide their cloud services over the public Internet. Unavailable to the public, private clouds are hosted on-premises and provide businesses with many benefits of a public cloud, i.e., self-service usage, scalability, elasticity, and robust security measures. The fundamental difference between a private and a public cloud is the level of responsibility needed to run them. The IT department of the company hosting the private cloud takes care of all the private cloud’s staffing, cost, accountability, and maintenance expenses. Public clouds, however, are provided over the Internet by a third-party vendor, who charges by consumption, either by CPU, storage, bandwidth, software usage, or a combination of them. Public clouds numb down the cost and hassle of buying, operating, and maintaining on-prem hardware infrastructure and application. The cloud service provider supports and manages the system. Deployment is fast on a public cloud, scalability is almost infinite, the cost is easily controlled, and the system can be highly secure. The hybrid cloud lets an organization choose between multiple cloud providers depending on which company specializes in a particular area. For example, an organization looking for a robust AI platform might go for Google Cloud because Tensor Flow is a powerful Google AI tool that would seamlessly add to Google’s cloud offerings. Companies looking to utilize Excel, Word, Visual Basic, or Microsoft Teams might choose Azure because it’s owned by Microsoft and would probably be the most cost-effective option. Because every implementation is unique and so many variables go into building a cloud solution, organizations should shop around and piece together their solution keeping in mind the advantages and disadvantages of each cloud provider. Traditional hybrid cloud architecture used to come as unsophisticated pre-packaged options, but today’s hybrid cloud architecture is highly focused on supporting the portability of workloads across all cloud environments. Containers and microservice architecture are simplifying the deployment of workloads across multiple cloud options. This approach utilizes a single application composed of many loosely coupled, independently deployable, and reusable more minor services. These applications are being deployed in lightweight containers, including executable units containing both the application code and the virtualized operating system dependencies needed to run everything. Today, the line between public and private clouds is blurring. Public clouds are now going private, and private clouds are going public, but a coalescence is coming. Many cloud vendors now offer on-premises public cloud services that run on a customer’s site. Private clouds can now be found at off-premises data centers, virtual private clouds (VPCs), virtual private networks (VPNs), or even rented from third-party providers. At the same time, a container orchestration platform automates application deployment across multiple cloud establishments. The hybrid cloud has many benefits. At a time when the work-from-home revolution is growing, hybrid clouds can help support a remote workforce. Organizations can reduce IT costs as well as improve scalability, increase collaboration, and enhance innovation. Hybrid clouds provide better business continuity while increasing agility. Counter-intuitively hybrid clouds can improve security and risk management. When jumping into the cloud, an organization is partnering with companies whose very existence is threatened if their security fails. For companies looking to take the next step in their digital transformation, a look to the hybrid cloud is in order.
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Securing the Hybrid or Remote Workforce With SASE
Since the transition to hybrid and remote work models began in earnest in 2020, cybercriminals have ramped up their efforts to exploit weaknesses and new vulnerabilities associated with these distributed environments. Surveys and studies have shown that remote workers are often taking shortcuts that circumvent security policies. More than ever, personal devices that may not be configured to meet security requirements are being connected to company resources. Home offices are essentially beyond the control of employers; thus, physical access controls are virtually non-existent. These are a few of the issues companies are struggling with as they strive to provide secure and dependable remote access to their staffers and monitor their work-related activities. Although it was developed before the 2020 workforce transition, the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) concept seems tailor-made for today’s iteration of the wide-area network. What is SASE? The cloud-based SASE service model combines wide area network (WAN) capabilities with security tools including Firewall as a Service (FDAs), Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB), and zero trust access controls that will address and resolve many issues associated with hybrid and remote workforce environments. SASE facilitates secure connections to resources regardless of where they are in relation to those who need access to them. User access controls are based on identity, location, access timeframes, and user device risk assessments. By using what is known as worldwide points of presence, SASE reduces or eliminates latency across what can be a global network. Zero trust is a critical component of SASE. Traditionally, everything and every user within a secured network is afforded at least some level of trust. For example, a user can move about a network accessing resources based on permissions assigned to their account once logged in. However, zero trust emphasizes on “never trust, always verify” principle. Rather than a user signing in once and having the ability to move laterally around the network during that session, both the user and device being used in a zero-trust environment would be required to authenticate each time they attempted to access designated “micro-perimeters” within the network. These micro-perimeters could be encasing applications or services, data, or other assets. Zero trust controls grant access to a micro-perimeter by verifying user identities, devices, request types, locations, activity history, and timestamps. Should a bad actor manage to gain access to a network protected by zero trust controls, they would likely find it impossible to move about and access critical resources. SASE is highly scalable and flexible. Among others, available security features of SASE may also include data loss prevention, sandboxing, DNS security, and web filtering. Because it is cloud-based, SASE can reduce costs associated with procuring, managing, and maintaining technology resources. Remote work with SASE The SASE components discussed thus far serve as examples of how they can benefit organizations whether they are utilizing hybrid, remote, or more traditional work models. There are, however, some SASE advantages that relate more directly to securing and managing remote employees. SASE facilitates better control over which remote staffers can access applications and websites. It provides more visibility into their access and usage of company resources, thus allowing management to better track those working without direct supervision and ensure that they adhere to policies. The access controls offered by SASE help to lock down home offices by blocking access via unauthorized devices. They prevent the exfiltration of sensitive data and ensure that the absence of organizational control over the physical security of the home office environment does not result in company assets falling into the hands of unauthorized individuals. Additionally, remote workers will connect to company resources via a zero-trust network, thus preventing those resources from being exposed to Internet-based threats. In closing Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting remote employees. New threat vectors seem to emerge daily. Remote location and hybrid work models have now become the standard. The recent Covid-19 pandemic is driving an entirely new model of working. SASE not only addresses the threats via its suite of security controls, but it also provides employers with greater insight into and control over the activities of their remote staffers. SASE dramatically reduces the vulnerabilities associated with maintaining a non-traditional WAN that includes numerous sites in the form of home offices where management lacks control over physical access. While the transition to SASE takes time, especially for an organization currently maintaining its own IT infrastructure, the long-term benefits make it worth the effort, and they may include cost savings as well.
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Cloud Enablement for Enterprise Applications
By Nikhil Shintre Table of Content Models for Cloud Enablement Comparing the Enablement Models How to Choose Between the Models Over the last decade or so, cloud has evolved as a preferred IT deployment model. Popularity of cloud can be gauged from the fact that majority of the enterprise IT providers are now having some kind of cloud offering, and most of the startup launched in this period are cloud native. As cloud adoption becomes common practice and the benefits are well established, a larger number of enterprises move their current application stacks to cloud. As part of this shift, they also expect the Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to enable and optimize their software for cloud. However, for the ISVs this require much deeper considerations like commercial models for cloud enablement, acceptance by the existing customers and the impact on acquisition / onboarding of new customers. Models for Cloud Enablement From our experience, we see three possible models for cloud enablement – Cloud enablement in customer setup, Cloud enablement with the setup managed by ISV, and a full fledge multi-tenant SaaS setup managed by ISV. From the ISV perspective, this is easiest to implement by adopting certain services like scaling, storage and monitoring in the software. However, since each customer could have their own cloud preference, it is advisable not to commit too much to a specific cloud service. In this model ISV handles complete deployment, monitoring and maintenance. This gives ISV flexibility to choose the cloud provider and plan the cloud enablement and optimization. This requires major restructuring of the application to ensure software level separation of tenant specific data and user access. Since this is software level separation, it needs to be carefully maintained during the development. Comparing the Enablement Models Each of the above three models has its pros and cons in terms of effort for cloud enablement, maintenance of the setup, and licensing / pricing. These aspects can be compared as below. In Customer Cloud Single Tenant SaaS Multi-Tenant SaaS Enablement efforts Minimal Minimal Sizeable Cost of Infrastructure Directly paid by customer Can be charged to customer at actuals Must be bundled in subscription price Licensing Model Can continue with existing mechanism Can continue with existing mechanism Need to implement subscription model License Upgrade / Downgrade Very difficult to implement Can enable upgrade / downgrade Easy to upgrade / downgrade Upgrade to New Versions Customer decides on upgrade schedule Flexibility to delay for specific cases All customers get upgraded at once Upgrade Frequency Must be less Can be moderate Frequent upgrades possible Onboarding Efforts Same as existing Reduced efforts Minimal efforts Availability monitoring By customer By ISV By ISV How to Choose Between the Models Each of the three models serve a particular situation, but it is difficult to define specific rules around it. Instead, as a general guideline following aspects can be considered – As a final word, the cloud enablement model must ensure smooth transition for existing customers, and ease of acquiring / onboarding new customers. So it is important to involve the product management, engineering and the customer support functions in any decision. References-https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-sql/database/saas-tenancy-app-design-patternshttps://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/architecting-successful-saas-understanding-cloud-based-software-as-a-service-models/https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/best-practices/enterprise-multitenancy
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Popular Approaches to Software Outsourcing Models
A survey conducted by Deloitte in 2020 reports an increase from 20% to 50% in the number of firms resorting to outsourcing, a significant chunk of which fall into R&D. It is evident that software outsourcing is an integral norm among the tech and manufacturing industry. Outsourcing can be a valuable tool to boost ongoing innovation, accelerate product releases, and sustainable business success with the right and systematic approach. However, with a hasty and unorganized process, outsourcing can be a business mess up, which is pretty tricky & hefty to manage. A big concern for companies looking to outsource is getting the right expertise to get the job done. There is a talent shortage globally, and since every company looks forward to profitable business returns, finding the right talent is crucial. In fact, the CIO Agenda Reports published in 2017 by Gartner identifies talent as the “single biggest issue standing in the way of CIOs achieving their objectives.” In fact, the CIO Agenda Reports published in 2017 by Gartner identifies talent as the “single biggest issue standing in the way of CIOs achieving their objectives.” Now it is worth starting with the basics and understanding them. Here we are talking about the Service Models. A company can choose from different software outsourcing models for software development, product testing, or maintenance of a software product. They are as follows: Staff Augmentation Staff augmentation is a commonly used and often applied software outsourcing model. The client-side evaluates the existing workforce and decides which skills are required and a lack of skilled professionals. The task of sourcing expert professionals depends upon an outsourcing firm. Besides that, the outsourcing group must monitor proper allocation, staff leave balances, paid time offs, and the number of hours they spend working for a client project. The outsourcing team might be required to provide workspace, but that depends on the client-vendor agreement.The client-side controls aspects like project management, task allocation, distribution, team building, work assignments, hiring-firing, promotion of employees. The client-side can discharge anyone in case their performance is not up to the mark. Dedicated Team The dedicated team is somewhat different from staff augmentation. In the dedicated team model, the outsourcing partner provides an end-to-end team on a long-term basis. Since a dedicated team involves a group of professionals solely built to address a project pipeline, the responsibility rests upon the vendor partner to monitor people management, task allocation, attrition, micromanagement, etc. The outsourcing vendor must ensure the task status is on the right track and enact quality standards and efficient managers to take care of the same. The provider’s job is to chalk out the best process for the team and then ensure it is followed. The provider is in sync with the ongoing project, reports status, and suggests project management. Although the provider gets responsibility for internal projects and product decisions, the client usually wants to keep control and maintain surveillance over the entire product roadmap at a high level.Dedicated team model has some perks such as a predictable and defined budget, fully committed team members who have a thorough understanding of client requirements. A dedicated team is valuable, especially when the project scope is not strictly defined and requirements change based on circumstances. In such cases, the client always gets a team ready to act no matter what. Project-Based Outsourcing The third model, project-based outsourcing, is five folds away from the dedicated team approach. The client is most concerned about the result, not the methodology and means that go under it.The model emphasizes the end goal and the final product to be delivered, which the outsourcing provider must reach within a stipulated timeline. The client needs are defined, the time frame is established, and the rest depends on the partner to meet all the requirements. Project-based outsourcing is about the “what and when” factor rather than the “how and why” factor. With the widespread implementation of agile methodology in software development, the borders between dedicated teams and projects have overlapped. Choosing the suitable outsourcing model That first and foremost rule of software development outsourcing is – understanding what your actual needs are. If you are not clear about what you want, then your endeavor might fail. Once you have a clear end picture, you can go ahead, take the right direction, and implement it. In a nutshell, here are the conditions which should prompt you to go for either of the three outsourcing approaches: There are many factors to consider if we are looking for the best fit while avoiding the cons. Everything in the world has both pros and cons. All the three models of software outsourcing described above are just stages of increased responsibilities upon the service provider. The more you push the project towards the provider, the more capital you need to dish out. The staff augmentation model is mainly in need of your own doing, where you manage a team, allocate tasks, micro-manage, hire staff, fire teams, you dictate almost everything. If you wish to halt the project, staff augmentation is best suited for that. But the attrition and the project failures will be on you. You build something on your terms in staff augmentation.It is not the case in a dedicated model. You transfer a considerable amount of work to the provider. You need not worry about every aspect of the model but keep a hovering eye over what’s going on. The project’s finer details are on the provider, but your call is the last call on what you want. You can dictate sudden modifications in the mid-term owing to a dedicated model agreement, but the provider decides how to approach the issue and make it happen. If the project fails, the blame falls on both of you to consider this model quite seriously.The project-based approach completely takes off the burden of development and puts it on the provider. You lose control over the whole process; you can no longer influence the people management, you have no control over transparency,
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Points to keep in mind when Outsourcing Software Development
IT software outsourcing and CAD software outsourcing are some of the largest industries in the 21st century. Software development outsourcing takes place for various reasons, ranging from requiring specialized software/professionals to creating a digital product or addressing a given task. A survey report indicates 57% of US start-ups have already outsourced their software development process. Regardless of cases, outsourcing IT & CAD software projects is a positive decision that accelerates and accomplishes a software development need. But there is some caution to this. Anything listed on the internet as software development service is not necessarily a perfect solution to your projects. There are various factors to look into, which makes finding a software development service an uphill task. To make it easier for you, let us have a walk of some of the best and widely advised practices to adhere to when outsourcing software development projects. Conduct background check The first step is to evaluate your requirements and look for various software development service providers. Prepare a list of candidates. It helps in assessing market costs for such services and allows you to fix a reference point. Once you have a fair idea, go ahead and shortlist the outsourcing firms that fit best to product requirements. Carry out extensive research on the shortlisted companies and sort your preferred ones out. You should assess them based on their proficiencies, average turnaround time, and client reviews/testaments. Remember, you are entering into a relationship with a 3rd party vendor, and you cannot leap of faith. It is essential to be wary of anything that concerns your project and requirements. Starting a business partnership is easy but getting out of it can be messy if things go downhill. Sort out your expenses in the correct order There is a factor called Value for the product. The cheapest of things out there doesn’t necessarily mean they are your best bet. Even with a fixed budget, it is recommended to look for quality and not just the cheapest outsourcing vendor available. It would be best if you struck a balance between your expectations and your expenses. Once this is figured out, the next step is to figure out the payment process and payments intervals. Businesses often come across situations that trigger payment hassles, so such possibilities must be considered and discussed beforehand. There is also a high chance of crossing the stipulated budget when outsourcing a project due to unforeseen necessities or unexpected circumstances. Therefore, it is best to leave some space in your budget for such circumstances. After all, better to be safe than sorry. Choose the most suitable pricing model The next step after arranging finances is looking into different types of pricing models. In this case, the pricing model is about the payment structure agreed with the vendor partner. Here are some commonly used pricing models: To find the best model that works for your project, sit down, and chalk up a plan of action with the 3rd party vendor partner. Ensure tight security of your project and product It is an important side many up-and-coming project owners might overlook. There are a few crucial security steps you should take to safeguard your product while dealing with third-party vendors: Please enquire about the security measures and protocols the vendor partner has set up and how they plan to work with your data. Generally, a good NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) should sort this out. An NDA will clearly state the clauses regarding what is allowed and not allowed with the information once the vendor partner has possession. Set Benchmarks Although in the software development process, various working models have been put to the test. The agile methodology is popular among all. The reason for such a working principle is that a project without a definite aim and timeline can end up in a catastrophe. Some companies have witnessed such malfunctions since they put all their hopes upon the vendor team. It is vital to fix certain milestones and mini goals, to keep a step-by-step approach on the total lifecycle of the project. It also prevents the project from becoming a cluster, and you can monitor, and track completed and pending tasks. Proper documentation Record keeping has been an essential aspect from biblical days. Proper documentation acts as a footprint of how your project has evolved through the whole process. The reasons why you should have adequate documentation is because: Establish communication outlets and time schedules One of the most significant issues while working with 3rd party vendor team is the lack of clarity regarding instructions and misunderstanding when developing custom applications. Such issues lead to delays and sometimes render incomplete or botched software. To address this matter, the first thing to do is set up a suitable communication medium right at the beginning of the project. The project scope and deliverables must be clearly explained and understood by both sides. During the operation, both teams should cooperate, and there must be periodic meetings on progress, issues, actionable, etc. A steady flow of information makes it easier for both parties to stay updated. If you are dealing with a foreign-based vendor partner from a different time zone, make sure the time constraints are considered, and there is no language barrier. Set realistic goals Finally, you must consider human factors. Dealing with humans requires flexibility. It is impractical to give a gigantic project to a vendor partner and set a short time frame expecting delivery by the deadline. You will end up with patched-up software that malfunctions. Remember to allocate time and resources for unexpected occurrences. Again, better to be safe than sorry. An application may look impressive, but if it fails to perform as intended, your investment can be considered waste. When engaging with a 3rd party service, the emphasis should be on the desired functions, features, and smooth, easy user interface over aesthetics. Once your product performs as it should be, you can focus on its appearance and finishing look. This paragraph here no
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EMOTION AI – A BOON FOR THE FUTURE!
By Pruthviraj Jadhav Abstract Artificial Intelligence is the talk of the tech town. The capabilities that AI can exhibit are breaking all sorts of boundaries. There are intelligent AI projects that can create a realistic image, and then there are ones that bring images to life. Some can mimic voices. The surveillance-based AI can predict the possible turn of events at a working space and even analyze the employees based on their recorded footage. (To learn more about smart surveillance, visit www.inetra.ai) This blog talks about a generation of AI that can identify human behavior and are special ones. We are talking about the Expressions Social and Emotion AI, a recent inductee in the computing literature. The Emotion AI incorporates the AI domains adept in automatic analysis and synthesis of human behavior, primarily focused on human-human and human-machine interactions. A report on “opportunities and implications of AI” by the UK Government Office for Science states, “tasks that are difficult to automate will require social intelligence.” The Oxford Martin Program on the Impacts of Future Technology states, “the next wave of computerization will work on overcoming the engineering bottlenecks pertaining to creative and social intelligence” What is Emotion AI? Detection and evaluation of human emotions with the help of artificial intelligence from sources like video (facial movements, physiological signals), audio (voice emotion AI), text (natural language and sentiments) is Emotion AI. While humans can understand and read emotions more readily than machines, machines can quickly analyze large amounts of data and recognize its relation to stress or anger from voice. Machines can learn from the finite details on human faces that occur too quickly to understand. The Brunswick Lens Model Let’s have a look at Fig. 1 shown below. The person on the left is characterized by an inner state µS that is externalized through observable distal cues. The person on the right perceives these as proximal cues; stimulate the attribution of an inner state µP (the perceptual judgment) to the person on the left. From a technological perspective, the following actions are possible – The Brunswick Lens model is used to compute the human-human and human-machine interactions and their emotional aspects. It is a conceptual model with two states − the inner and outer state. The outer state is easily visible for the observer but not much conclusive. The inner state is not easily understandable but leaves some physical traits (behavior, language, and physiological changes) used to perceive the inner state (not always the correct one). For example, a happy person might shed tears of joy, but another person will consider the former in grief.? These physical traits can be converted into data suitable for computer processing and thus, find their place in AI. In addition to the above, the Brunswik Lens covers another aspect of Emotion AI: the capability to synthesize observable traits that activate the same attribution processes that occur when a human’s traits are displayed when perceived by a human observer. For example, suppose an artificial face displays a fake smile. In that case, humans tend to believe that the machine is happy, even though emotional expression is impossible with artificial entities since they cannot experience it. However, people can understand the difference between humans and machines at a higher level but not at a deeper level where some processes occur outside their consciousness. In other words, a human’s reaction to machines is like how they react to other humans. Therefore, human-human interaction is a prime source of investigation for the development of human-computer interaction. How does Emotion AI work? Emotion AI isn’t limited to voice. It uses the following analysis – Social Media giant ‘Facebook’ introduced the reactions feature to gain insights and data regarding user’s responses to various images. Emotion AI needs user-generated data such as videos or phone calls to evaluate & compare reactions to certain stimuli. Later, such large quantities of data can be morphed into human Emotion and behavioral recognizing patterns using machine learning. It can leverage more in detail emotional reactions users have with the help of the high computational capability of machines. Oliver API Oliver is an Application Programming Interface, also known as Oliver API, a set of programming frameworks to introduce Emotion AI in computer applications. Oliver API permits real-time and batch audio processing and has a wide array of various emotional and behavioral metrics. It can support large applications and comes with easy documentation. SDK is supported in various languages (javascript, python, java) and examples to help programmers understand its operation quickly. The Oliver API Emotion AI can evaluate different modalities through which humans express emotions, such as voice tone, choice of words, engagement, accent. This data can be processed to produce responses and reactions to mimic empathy. The sole aim of Emotion AI is to provide users a human-like interaction. Industry predictions – Applications – Medical diagnosis – In certain diseases which need an understanding of emotions like depression and dementia, voice analysis software can be beneficial.Education – Emotion AI-adapted education software with capabilities to understand a kid’s emotions and frustration levels will help change the complexity of tasks accordingly.Employee safety – Since employee safety solutions and their demands are on the rise, Emotion AI can aid in analyzing stress and anxiety levels.Health care – Emotion AI-enabled bot will help remind older patients about their medications and monitor their everyday well-being.Car safety – With the help of computer vision, the driver’s emotional state can be analyzed to generate alerts for safety and protection.The autonomous car, fraud detection, retail marketing, and many more. Conclusion – Emotions are a giveaway of who we are at any given moment. It impacts all facets of our intelligence and behavior at the individual and group levels. Emotion AI helps in understanding people and offers a new perspective to redefine traditional processes and products. In the coming future, it will boost up businesses and be a beneficial tool in medical, automobile, safety, and marketing domains. Thus, decoding emotions – the fundamental quality
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Common pain points with outsourcing software development
Software development outsourcing has been a common practice for quite some time. This business model has been adopted worldwide for many plus points, for example, tailored budgets, time savings, adding expertise, etc. But anything with pros has its cons as well. You might have read about news headlines saying outsourcing is fading away; it is an old business model or how outsourcing can have negative consequences and outcomes. Delegating IT services to 3rd party vendors is a universal cure for so many businesses. Things don’t always go that as intended. The assurances of the desired result also include risks that can turn a seemingly decent idea into debris. Chief executives and Project Managers across companies have to brainstorm and develop technical challenges to stay on track with the ever-changing market ecosystem and consumer expectations. There are notable pain points concerning custom software development. By now, you might be having second thoughts about outsourcing your IT project. But don’t worry because although it is impossible to abolish all the negative factors associated with outsourcing, you can still put some anticipation and mitigation to work and bypass the issues. A 2016 survey about outsourcing software development projects has marked out some specific pain points. Basing on the survey, the following are some common concerns regarding outsourcing software development and ways to address them: Quality of Service One of project managers’ most frequent and biggest frustrations is the poor quality of service while dealing with software outsourcing services. Budget-centric outsourcing firms tend to supply inexperienced and cheap-to-afford software engineers. This strategy filters out the more talented cream of the crop who charge a premium for their skills. Sometimes, even teams tailored as per high skillset also fail to meet the expectations despite extensive recommendations. Now check out how to address this issue in the below-mentioned tips. Tip 1: Too cheap rates In a bid to save expenditure, don’t sabotage your product. Usually, the cheapest ones are the worst. After all, it is the value in exchange for money. Selecting the most inexpensive services might compromise the quality of a product. Surf through various software development rates and calculate an average to regard it as a reference point. Tip 2: Always ask for a free trial or opt for an MVP Make sure you ask the 3rd party software service provider to demonstrate a free trial. It is done to judge code quality and their ability to meet the deadline. There is another way, and it is known as a minimum viable product (MVP). MVP is invoked to test a business idea. Creating an MVP takes 3-4 weeks. MVP helps determine if the team meets your requirements — their update procedure, communication levels, time-zone constraints, and they have the necessary skills and expertise to get the job done. Tip 3: Cite requirements in the contract agreement Create an agreement document for the two parties. Define your quality requirements in the agreement. The agreement should mention coding standards, quality standards, criteria for the final product, the list of devices the product is supposed to work in, etc. There are occasions where products work decently at first but start giving errors and malfunction in the next couple of weeks when the vendor has delivered and is not responsible anymore. Therefore, to avoid such headaches, fix a warranty period by negotiating, during which the vendor development team will correct all the bugs for no added cost. Extra expenditure Outsourcing often leads to uncalled expenditures you may have never expected. It is a common phenomenon. You might end up seeking advice and help from a contract lawyer or business analyst. Maybe some added business trips. However, it has been observed, the significant causes of extra expenditures in outsourcing are the following aspects: Tip 1: Define your requirements and expectations clearly When talking about large and complex and software projects, it is impossible to foresee every possible challenge and consider every detail. Throughout app development, requirements are often redefined, modified, and new features are added. If you clarify your needs at the starting phases, the cost estimate will be much more accurate. Tip 2: Be prepared to pay extra if needed Always be ready for minor changes that pop up during app development which can be implemented without using extra resources. However, if your project requires a previously unexpected new feature and you decide to enforce them, prepare a change request. These alterations influence schedule, scope, and budget will be revised and changed accordingly. Tip 3: Create a clearcut legal document Legal documents are pretty complicated to read since contracts or change requests must be as detailed as possible. However, the agreement has to be easy to read and understand. An agreement resembling a word salad with tricky legal jargon may not reveal the costs involved clearly. Carefully reading every clause and line before signing is a must. Intellectual property issues When you provide the outsourced team with confidential information, there’s always a looming danger of information leakage. The outsourced partner might use your product or its elements as their own, or worse, give it to the next client. To overcome this, You should apply legal measures to protect your intellectual property. Tip 1: Create a Non-disclosure agreement An NDA is a legal method of protecting IP rights that specifies confidential information that requires serious privacy. NDA information encompasses business secrets, technical know-how, designs, ideas, customer lists, and other necessary information sent to the service provider. When the vendor signs the NDA, they agree not to exploit or reveal confidential information without prior client permission. In case of NDA violations, the agreement stipulates conditions of penalties and legal prosecution. Tip 2: Include your final app in the agreement The contract must specify the clauses mentioning the IP right regarding the final product, and all related aspects such as source code, algorithms, etc., must be transferred to the owner. To simply put, the product belongs to you after you’ve paid the bill. Tip 3: Regard your service provider as
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