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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