The Integration of SaaS With Cloud Technology And Its Benefits

One of the most intriguing statistics we’ve ever witnessed is that since 2016, over 90% of the internet and its content have been created so far. That’s a tremendous amount of data general overall, thanks to modern business models and user-generated content. However, handling and transporting this data has been one of the biggest challenges to overcome.

Preeminently, two of the largest fluxes within this sector come from Software-as-a-Service or SaaS applications development and cloud technology, which seems to have leaped almost everywhere. Let’s look at Adobe for an instance. Traditionally, it emerged as a software application that you can download and use forever, but now they offer their features on a subscription service.

Strikingly similar happened with the ever-popular Microsoft Office suite. They are all subscription-based and functions with cloud technology. In this article, we will deep dive into these industries and gauge the implementation of SaaS with cloud technology and its advantages.

Also Read: IoT is Reshaping The Future Of Mobile App Development
A Brief History of SaaS

SaaS ventured into the digital landscape back in the early 1990s when company employees used to connect to in-house systems to access all of the company’s data and applications that were stored on a central server.

While photo sharing and bookmarking with Webmail were among the first apps for customers, businesses relished innovations such as customer relationship management, expense tracking, and recruitment.

Ever since it has been garnering immense popularity and today, there are tens of thousands of applications across the internet that offer an extensive range of solutions and opportunities devised to meet the user’s soaring expectations. According to a recent survey by Transparency Market Research (TMC), the overall SaaS market is expected to reach $164.29 billion by 2022. 

Saas and Cloud Technology

In this era, businesses don’t need to buy code applications or hardware to access costly services but instead, they just pay a fraction of the total cost for access. Medium and large-scale organizations now have the potential to scale indefinitely, which is the primary reason why they are taking off all over the world. 

For instance, let’s say you own a logistics business. You keep a ton of data of your transport networks, customers, vehicle information, and so on and all of this information needs to be available and accessible at all hours of the day to keep running your business smoothly and efficiently. 

In the previous years, you would need to invest and set up your own servers to save your information and it was nearly impossible to send that data easily to the other parts of the world. This is why logistic services tended to function and operate within the local regions. 

Cloud-based solutions then came along and made information available and accessible from across the globe. Since these agencies invest in dedicated hardware servers, you get access to the best tools and equipment in the world such as free updates, free security, and more while saving funds that you can put back in running your business. 

Nowadays, with monthly subscription-based packages, there are more and more businesses trying to build their presence in the global market space than ever before. This means less monopoly, more competition, and more opportunities for users to select the entity that’s best suited for the job. 

Here are a few advantages of Saas and cloud technology:

• Scalable service delivery infrastructure
• Faster data analysis and processing power
• Cost-effective and high ROI
• Access from anywhere in the world
• High-security levels
• Automatic and frequent updates

How the Integration of SaaS with Cloud Technology will Affect Modern Businesses?

The Software-as-a-Service or SaaS model is pace-walking briskly into the mainstream as more enterprise IT organizations are jumping on the bandwagon and making use of cloud services. Even the software agencies that used to sell generic software are swiftly embracing this cross-industry integration. 

Simply put, if you are not leveraging the cloud technology with SaaS delivery models, you will not be able to share business processes or other industry information with other participants and vendors. Here are some reasons why the amalgamation of SaaS with the cloud is enabling businesses to reap the benefits of scope and scalability.

• For reimagining the nature of work and business workflows
• For offering financial insights into project management, supply chain, and more
• For managing the workforce
• For using marketing automation to track campaign performance results
• For using analytics to evaluate customer satisfaction

Closing Remarks

The omnipresence of SaaS and cloud technology has made them become mobile and enterprise. In the future, these innovations in tandem will be able to address critical issues such as finding out which cross-selling practices will enable your business to grow and making predictions about which consumers will churn. 

While there are yet more platforms to launch and harness the combining power of cloud and SaaS, they will assist you in working with less hassle and having full control of your processes.

If you wish to develop, access, and power your enterprise mobile application development and SaaS development backed with cloud technology, feel free to get in touch with our experts. 

Trending Mobile App Development Ideas For Food And Restaurant Business

The food and restaurant industry is an ever-growing and consumable sector. There was a time when startups and established businesses went through the market’s hustles and bustles, especially in the dining and restaurant landscape. The operational costs and management responsibilities that existed in the traditional approaches separated them from becoming a successful entity.

However, with the advent of the latest technologies, the food and restaurant industry has undergone tremendous growth. The preeminent use cases of technology in this sector have derived some of the best brewed real-life mobile applications. These days, no one prefers to wait in the long queue for ordering food or avail of food delivery services. According to a recent survey, the total revenue in the global food delivery segment is estimated to hit $151,526 million and the year-on-year growth is predicted at 6.4% by 2024. 

With this fast-paced development, your conventional food business should the latest and trending mobile app development ideas. In this article, we will discuss some of the most sought-after trends in food-on-demand mobile apps. 

Food Delivery App

This type of mobile application is used for online orders and food delivery. For customers, this is the only method of getting door-step delivery of food by just enabling their current location in the app.

In case if you own a restaurant and have a food delivery app but can’t offer the delivery service for some reason, you can do so by hiring a third-party service provider.

Grocery Delivery App

According to reports shared by Statista, on average, a person visits the grocery store almost 1.6 times per week and spends nearly sixty hours buying groceries per year.

You can devise a grocery shopping and delivery mobile app that enables users to search and discover nearby grocery delivery services. This can be accomplished with technologies such as RTLS (Real-Time Locating Systems) so the consumers can get the door-step delivery.

Restaurant Table Reservation App

No business owner would prefer losing a valuable customer over a weekend rush. The table reservation and booking mobile application is a great idea for restaurants as it can function seamlessly and effectively cater to all customers. You can assist them in reserving a table location, date, time slot, and food order so your services can outpace the competition in the marketplace. 

The most beneficial aspect of developing a restaurant reservation mobile application is that it simplifies several day-to-day operations, enabling the owner to check upon other business extension concepts.

Also Read: Benefits of a Hybrid Mobile App in Logistics Management
AR-based Mobile Apps For Finding Restaurants

Augmented reality is one of the most significant trends for restaurant businesses and for maintaining client engagement & satisfaction. Many users select dine-out options in accordance with the several famous restaurants across the city. The integration of AR technology in mobile application development can fulfill this requirement. You can include the following features in your restaurant apps:
 

• Augmented menu cards: For making the online food menu visualization possible.
• Quality service standards: For displaying consumers the detailed ingredients list of their preferred dish.
• Entertainment while waiting for food: For keeping your customers engaged and satisfied while they wait for their order with full-on entertainment.

Digital Menu or e-Menu App

Food and restaurant business owners usually use these types of apps for replacing the traditional physical menu cards and offering the online menu list on mobile devices with their pricing and images. 

An electronic menu mobile application is stacked with unique features that not just enables a restaurant to update its menu anytime but also enhances & improves the overall dine-out experience.

Experimental Cooking App

Many users prefer eating genuine cuisines using their own cooking skills. Therefore, you can build an experiential cooking mobile app for your customers wherein they can easily select their preferred ingredients and have them prepared through a professional chef. 

To stay ahead of the fierce competition with other digital food delivery apps, your restaurant should come up with distinctive elements in the form of such experimental cooking mobile apps.

Summing Up

There are indubitable more trendy and exceptional food app ideas when it comes to launching and setting up your food and restaurant business. And in case if you intend to know how a startup mobile app idea can assist you in initiating a unique food business, you can easily refer to the aforementioned points.

If you are further interested in providing the best food delivery service and wish to build a one-of-a-kind mobile app, get in touch with our experts. 

Using Flutter 2 For Production Quality Support in Building Web Apps

Flutter 2 has readily transfigured from a mobile framework to a versatile platform, enabling the applications to function on an extensive range of devices with minimal changes. Currently, on the App Store, there are more than 150,000 Flutter apps and every app got a free update with Flutter 2 since it can now hit desktop and web without rebuilding. With stable web support, it is now convenient and safe to use for production-quality web projects.

 

What is new in Flutter 2.0?

The initial release of Flutter 2 focuses on three main app conditions:
 

• SPAs or Single Page Applications load only once and send data from and to the internet.
• PWAs or Progressive Web Apps merge the scope of the web with the features and elements of desktop applications.
• Bringing the existing Flutter mobile apps to the internet, enabling all experiences to share codes. 

In this article, we will discuss what Flutter 2 for the web entails.

 

Web-specific Features

Although Flutter is cross-platform, there are still a few aspects that are specific to each supported framework. This is mainly because some apps only exist on one platform or have a different working mechanism that needs a special API. In the same way, the web is no different.

Flutter 2 adds support for properties such as web-app deep linking, custom URL strategies, and proper PWA support. When you create a web project in Flutter 2, a web manifest as well as service worker templates will be generated for you.

 

Renderers

There are two primary ways how Flutter for Web can display your application in the browser. It can either be done using CanvasKit or by rendering it using CSS, HTML, or Canvas. Either of them has its own merits. Since HTML renderer uses more basic elements, it is faster to load and download. On the other hand, the CanvasKit is a bit heavier, however, it offers better performance when there is a lot on the display screen.

Based on the user device, by default, a web app in Flutter automatically chooses which renderer to use. While desktop devices will preeminently get CanvasKit, the mobile devices will be sent the HTML renderer. If you wish to use a specific renderer, Google provides options to use any of them.

Also Read: Watch Out For These 5 Over The Top Streaming Trends in 2021

Plugins

Like any other performance-oriented language, Flutter supports libraries, or in this case, the plugins. For safety measures, plugins are required to specify their platform compatibility. Even though Flutter for Web is relatively the latest addition to the framework, a lot of available plugins including Google’s own did not support it. 

With the release of Flutter 2.0, the entire stack of Google’s Flutter plugins including the Firebase suite is prompted as web-compatible. 

 

Gestures & Keyboard

In order to truly be cross-platform, a framework should be target-driven. It is running on a desktop platform, it should be responsive to keyboard shortcuts. On mobile devices, it should respond to swipe and tap gestures. 

The best aspect of Flutter 2 for Web is, it can perform both of these functions. Through the web, it significantly targets both mobile and desktop devices. With its release, there is production-quality support for native gestures in accordance with the user platform and input source. 

 

Summing Up

While these features may not seem a lot, there are some remarkable properties of Flutter 2. A lot of work and effort has been put in to make Flutter for Web integrate seamlessly into the rest of the framework. 

What do you think of Flutter 2 for building web applications? Let us know in the comments. If you are looking for cross-platform mobile app development services, feel free to talk to our experts. 

IoT is Reshaping The Future of Mobile App Development

IoT or the Internet of Things has been one of the most prominent and influential technologies that have graced the modern world. It leverages the power of data accumulated from a massive network of advanced sensors. IoT has made a huge impact on the mobile app development industry as data sharing between multiple devices has significantly enhanced the quality of mobile applications and user experience. Whether it is an Android or iOS app development company, everyone is jumping on the bandwagon of incorporating IoT to make the most out of the business applications.

According to the statistics, it is predicted that there will be approximately 25.44 billion IoT-connected devices in 2030. Typical IoT devices include smartwatches, drones, smart cars, health monitors, and home automation appliances- all require mobile applications to fulfill the network demands. 

Improved visibility garnered from seamless data sharing has been an outcome that has significantly enhanced the quality of mobile applications in this era. In this article, we will explore how precisely the Internet of Things is reshaping the future of mobile app development. 

Open-source Development

The progression of IoT technology in the mobile app development industry has resulted in a myriad of IT companies and developers sharing their own programs and applications openly. This has immensely assisted nascent developers in conventionally borrowing and creating their own distinctive apps. IoT integrations in the mobile application framework have eased the process of open-source development and have increased transparency. It is enabling the growth of mobile apps across various platforms and urging more smart technologies to be implemented in mobile apps to leverage the full potential of IoT. 

 

Increased Hybrid App Development Opportunities

The basic native mobile applications are devised to function on a specified platform which is not a preferred condition for the appropriate implementation of IoT. As a result, Hybrid apps have encountered a significant boost in demands owing to their capability to work on different devices and platforms. This has opened new doors for mobile app developers to build heightened UX and leverage the potential of IoT to enable users in interacting through multiple-platform devices. 

Also Read: Selecting Spring Boot For Application Development
 

Smart connectivity

This will undoubtedly be one of the hottest trends in the future. In this neoteric era of IoT, gadgets will not be connected through traditional methods such as Bluetooth, WiFi, or cellular networks any longer. Mobile app developers will be able to connect their apps and devices to IoT on their own. These applications will supposedly have an integrated gateway and will have a distinct connection protocol. 

 

Location Independence

IoT-enabled mobiles and other devices can be used and accessed anywhere, irrespective of time and place. Even in case you are away from home or office, you can effectively connect and control the entire system. In simple terms, this next-gen technology offers seamless connectivity with location independence. You only need to have smart gadgets for running and controlling an IoT-based mobile application. 
 

Furthermore, IoT is more valuable for custom mobile app solutions because it can impact a wide range of domains in several industry sectors. This technology can meet different business requirements and the customized mobile applications can reap its all-inclusive benefits.

 

The emergence of Small Businesses in Their Respective Industries

The prices associated with IoT app development services are nosediving at a faster pace than anticipated. This has enabled startups and small businesses to have a much bigger say on bigger platforms and make an impact on the online stage. 

Businesses are focussing on identifying and solving the pressing challenges of the client sector and building IoT-based apps to offer feasible solutions. This is possible through the humungous amount of data collected by different companies that have furnished intensive insights to businesses for building targeted mobile apps. 

 

Final Thoughts 

IoT is destined to bring drastic changes in the tech landscape and has been reshaping the conventional mobile application development process ever since its inception. Enterprise mobile apps can boost the productivity and efficiency of complex business processes by leveraging the merits of IoT. It is such a technology that is enabling app developers to bring innovation and performance into play. The disruption streak is underpinning the market to produce high-quality native mobile applications.

If you are looking to provide rich experiences to your customers, partner with us! We offer custom IoT mobile app development solutions that can give your business cutting-edge results to beat the competition- higher sales, exceptional service, and enhanced user experience. For more information, connect with our experts. 

Top 5 OTT Streaming Trends To Watch Out In 2021

 

The OTT industry is proliferating at an unprecedented rate. While the past year has indubitably been a wild ride, most of us are incessantly bent on leaving 2020 in the dust. The streaming media landscape is projecting both fragmented and consolidated predictions for a new era of direct-to-consumer streaming, as new players signal to emerge in the competitive sphere.

As the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdowns constricted our lives, it has also catapulted us five years forward in the global adoption of businesses and online consumers. The neoteric emergence of digital trends has repurposed the OTT use cases while keeping Zoom calls, telemedicine, and user-generated content at the forefront. 

In this article, we will explore 5 Over-The-Top video streaming trends in 2021. Let’s begin.

 

• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Pushes Forward

Last year disseminated both the actual and predictable aspects of AI in the sphere of media, with Google’s and Facebook’s algorithms sending shockwaves for regulations. However, as a frequent contender on the streaming trends lists in the past few years, artificial intelligence will continue to secure prominence in 2021. AI and ML counterintuitively nurtured an appreciation for user-generated content (UGC) and as a result, media companies began strictly focusing on UGC’s power on the mobile platforms. 

These are the following predictions and developments for AI and ML in OTT:

• Automated translation and captioning
• Automated content-aware encoding
• Core product features for live streams
• Automated metadata extraction
• Context-aware advertising
• Object/ motion detection and notification

 

• 5G Will Be Changing The Game

In terms of Top OTT video streaming trends in 2021, we envisage witnessing 5G internet becoming a staple standard, especially in the urban areas. This future-focused and next-gen cellular network technology will offer more reliable and much faster internet speeds. 5G is expected to be 100x faster than the existing 4G LTE networks. 

OTT video streaming will be 5G’s killer apps and gains will be more noticeable in the video streaming landscape in the coming months. 5G will also be an elixir for live events and sports streaming solutions when low latency is critical for apparent gains.

For instance, research suggests that 29% of users would pay an added premium if 5G decreased buffering and provided a high-quality video on mobile devices. 

Also Read: Understanding All About OTT App Development

 

• CTV will Mark its High Popularity

CTV or Connected TV refers to streaming on televisions through OTT video development services. This has gained both name and fame over the years as viewers have commenced absorbing more content on TVs as opposed to mobile devices. The entire streaming journey has been made possible by gaming consoles, smart TVs, and dedicated streaming channels. 

However, it is interesting to note that the rise in CTV streaming has not caused any significant decline in the number of streaming on tablets, computers, or smartphones. There were also some general preferences for mobile app video streaming, so it will be exciting to see how this trend shapes going forward. Some of the famous technology for CTV includes Roku, Amazon Firestick, Play Station, Apple TV, Nintendo Switch, and the Xbox.

 

• The Adoption of Live Commerce & Shoppable Media

Live commerce is a term used to define the combination of eCommerce and streaming video. While shoppable media and live commerce have been the most sought-after monetization method for a myriad of brands, the brick-and-mortar stores will undoubtedly utilize it in 2021.

As businesses seek to reach online customers, social commerce, live streams, shoppable ad formats, and virtual consultations will be the fastest-growing advertising categories. For the record, live stream-generated sales are anticipated to double to a massive $120 billion worldwide this year. 

 

• Smarter about Security

With technology providers continuing to innovate and construct new ways to empower organizations against online safety threats, the security industry is ablaze with the latest trends and techniques. This is no different for OTT streaming solutions as the businesses continue to grow and add more users to signup for these services. Protecting and safeguarding content becomes more crucial than ever as use cases grow and privacy concerns continue to increase. At Oodles Technologies, we predict the following advances in the content-encryption and online security this year.

• Expansion of video streaming and security adoption
• Encryption at all levels to secure monetization
• Cloud security will become the most sought-after security standard

 

Summing Up

OTT is colossal and the industry continues to snowball rapidly. This year is foreseen to be a strong timeline for UGC, with opportunities for higher quality content for multiple platforms gaining traction. When it comes to the upcoming OTT trends, we are seeing an increase in formats such as CMAF which has the capability to shake things up further.

If you wish to learn more about OTT and online video streaming solutions, you can follow us here. For more information on OTT app development services, feel free to talk to our experts.