Development Digital Insights

Getting started with the ChatGPT 

‍

Many of you have heard about Artificial Intelligence from OpenAI - ChatGPT. No wonder because all the social networks and the Internet, in general, are full of headlines about a newfangled tool that conquered the whole world with its capabilities. Before we give a more detailed description of this tool, let's go over the basics of this technological wonder.

To get started with the chat, you need to register in the system. The process is similar to registration in social networks and takes little time. And then, you just need to enter a request on the principle of communication with a live person. In fact, he can answer any of your questions, but keep in mind that the request must be accurate and precise. The robot will catch the context of the request and give you a text response.

The model uses a neural network architecture called a transformer, trained on a large corpus of text data. The transformer learns patterns and connections between words and phrases in the text data, which allows it to generate new connected and grammatically correct text.

ChatGPT is changing the world by making communication more accessible and efficient. Using natural language processing, it can understand language much higher than traditional methods. This means that ChatGPT-based chatbots can respond to users more naturally and human-likely.

ChatGPT areas of opportunity

OpenAi has transformed the digital world with ChatGPT. With it comes more and more opportunities for developers, marketers and designers, business owners, office workers, and others. The ability of AI chatbots to understand our language makes interacting with technology more accessible.

Let's look at ChatGPT areas where it can be most helpful:

Blogging

If you have a blog or plan to create one, this tool is handy. It helps you generate blog topics, rubrics, and texts for them. We recommend making additional edits to the generated texts to add individuality and better promotion in search engines.

Content marketing

Marketers can safely draw ideas and inspiration here with a well-formulated query to the system. This is not a panacea for all marketer's problems but a great helper for creating creative content or themes. It's essential to use GPT-generated content as a starting point and to carefully review and edit the text to ensure that it meets your standards and accurately represents your brand or message.

Chatbots

When a business needs to communicate with customers or effectively put the process of ordering goods or services - chatbots are the perfect solution to close this issue. Since chatbots and ChatGPT are identical, you'll have no problem incorporating them into your business. And the GPT tool will compose questions and answers for prospective conversations with your customer.

Trading 

It can collect market data to identify patterns and predict future market trends, analyze social media and news articles to determine market sentiment and identify potential risks in the market, which can be used to make strategic decisions to minimize losses and maximize profits.

Code writing

In addition to plain text, this chatroom can even write code for a program. Users have already tested it to write code for Angular, Python, and other developing technologies. And HTML/CSS is a piece of cake.

Incredible things that you can do with the help of ChatGPT

ChatGPT has revolutionized research and development with its idea generation, data analysis, and simulation creation capabilities. It can generate natural text that sounds like it is spoken by a human, providing personalized support in various sectors, from healthcare to customer service. In addition to these powerful features, ChatGPT offers excellent benefits for market research and automating tasks such as content creation or customer interaction on social media sites. Pretty impressive right?

The basic list of what you can create with it includes the following items: 

Text Generation

ChatGPT can generate human-like text of any complexity. It can be used to create creative works, scripts, articles, stories, poems, and other forms of text content. 

Translation to other languages

Just enter the desired text and specify a request for its translation with the specific parameters, if any, for translation.

Text Summarization

ChatGPT can summarize significant lengthy texts into shorter versions explaining the main points and thoughts. 

Ending a text

If you have a beginning of a text or a code, you can complete it in your desired direction by specifying this in the chat request. Be as specific as possible in your request, so the answer matches the expected result.

Answering questions

ChatGPT can answer questions based on the context you set, which is helpful for customer service chatbots. Also, it provides information on a wide range of topics.

So what's the bottom line: replace or implement?

In recent months, discussions about ChatGPT taking over all spheres and professions, which are somehow related to the content, have been raging on the Web. Such drastic changes will certainly not happen soon, and here's why:

• ChatGPT can be great for dealing with fundamental customer service issues and providing quick information, but more complex or sensitive issues require human involvement. Customers want a personalized experience, so real people answering their questions are still needed.

• ChatGPT can't provide a different level of empathy, judgment, and problem-solving than a human customer service representative. In addition, its responses are limited to pre-programmed scripts that need to be more flexible for different customer needs rather than people who can offer more adaptive solutions.

• ChatGPT can help improve customer service, but it will never replace the value of human interaction and expertise.
  

As AI continues to evolve, there will be an increasing need for individuals who can design, develop, and maintain these systems. AI also creates new job opportunities in data science, machine learning, and robotics. These jobs require specialized skills and knowledge that are in high demand. People may need to adapt to new roles that require more advanced skills, such as managing and maintaining AI systems.

That is why it makes sense to talk not about replacing the central employees with a chat room but introducing AI technology into the company. It should not be a substitute for specialists, but a technical addition, which will increase the work process's efficiency and help you find new ideas and rely on when making business decisions. Moreover, the chat cannot exist separately from the person because its system needs to be updated, cleaned, and worked with when necessary. There is a possibility of creating a collaboration of human and AI that significantly increases the productivity of any company.  

Summary

ChatGPT is a powerful and unique tool that can be incredibly useful in many contexts. However, as with any technology, it is essential to use it responsibly and to be critical of its limitations and potential biases. It has already brought significant benefits, such as increased efficiency and productivity, improved decision-making, and quality of life. 

In any case, we should not rely solely on the work of Artificial Intelligence. It is important to critically evaluate its results and format it to the necessary level. After all, no one has yet been able to recreate the human mind. So use this tool wisely, maximize work quality, and simplify your workflow. ChatGPT handles this perfectly.

No matter how ambitious your goals are when you first think of creating a custom software solution, strict budget and deadline constraints can easily dash them. So, what should you do in this case?

Specifically, before your tech team starts implementing a healthtech solution, you can choose two different paths for them: native and cross-platform mobile app development. In the vast majority of cases, in this area, the second option can cover all the needs and requirements for the project without harming its critical aspects, such as usability, performance, reliability, etc. At the same time, you will be able to launch your product on the market faster and save your financial resources. 

However, such a development process is somewhat different from the one that precedes the launch of several native applications. Below, we'll cover how these differences can impact critical aspects of your project and share insights that help you fix them.

Best Practices for Cross-Platform Development in Healthcare

Since cross-platform app development involves adapting a healthcare solution to multiple platforms at once, it is important for the team to adhere to the following best practices to ensure the proper quality of the resulting solution.

Compliance and Security

The first thing you should probably start the development process for the healthcare industry is to ensure compliance with generally accepted standards and policies. The most common among them are HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and GDPR (EU regulation aimed at giving citizens control over their personal data). Along with that, software engineers must use standard security mechanisms such as encryption, integration of secure connection certificates, etc. Ultimately, it is better to check the requirements for medical software development according to the legislation in force in a particular region – this way, you will not face any fines and bans.

User Experience (UX) Design

Now, let's talk about user experience in health apps – it should be smooth regardless of the platform they are running on. Since many healthcare mobile applications are positioned as an alternative to offline services from legally operating medical institutions, they must comply with accessibility rules that are described in detail in WCAG 2.0. These guidelines allow developers to implement seamless interaction with medtech solutions for people with all kinds of disabilities. Depending on the type of medical tasks assigned, you will need to ensure that your healthcare app UI/UX design meets WCAG 2.0 requirements to the appropriate level.

Performance Optimization

Nowadays, high performance is considered one of the key aspects ensuring the app’s survival in the market; however, in the healthcare sector, this parameter is much more critical since someone's life may depend on it. Indeed, if your digital solution involves an urgent call to a doctor, lags in its functioning may end tragically for some of the users. At the same time, it is believed that native applications work faster than those created in the process of cross-platform or hybrid app development. This is not true – such modern development tools as React Native, Flutter, Ionic, and many others allow teams to build software with complex business logic without reducing its speed. Of course, these frameworks will not handle resource-intensive gaming applications, but, most likely, this is not the original task. Whatever approach and technology stack you choose, your team involved in software development for healthcare will need to spend some time testing the application before launching and ensuring that it works equally effectively on all platforms.

Testing and Quality Assurance

Yes, we have already outlined the importance of this process above, but we will repeat it once again: no application can be launched for public access before it has passed a series of tests, both with the participation of the team itself and involving focus groups assembled from representatives of the target audience of your software. The most common types of testing are modular, integration, functional, acceptance, system, smoke, and so on. Each of these types takes place at a certain stage of development (and has to be performed on each platform separately), but the amount of code covered by test cases and the number of iterations will directly depend on the established deadlines. 

Integration

Finally, it is worth saying a few words about integrating your app with existing third-party products and services that your organization already uses. This is usually necessary to expand the functionality of the former and, in particular, to ensure seamless data transfer between applications. However, while the vast majority of modern custom healthcare solutions integrate via API, it is quite predictable that your team will face some issues if you use legacy software. For this, an additional middleware will have to be developed – it will take responsibility for converting data to the required format and back.

Conclusion

In general, as you may know, cross-platform development is cheaper than native development, because most of the code is reused between platforms, and you do not need to hire two separate teams to create native software for each of them (in particular iOS and Android). Moreover, with the right approach, frameworks such as Ionic allow you to build both mobile cross-platform and web applications, reusing most of the code, which, in turn, speeds up and reduces the cost of development for mobile and web platforms, respectively.

So, now, knowing the specifics of developing solutions using cross-platform app development tools, you will be better informed about how to ensure their proper quality and control each stage of their creation. However, if you would like to outsource this complex task without unnecessary doubts so as not to spend too much time on supervising, feel free to contact us.

In today's world, companies are actively seeking ways to automate and optimize their business processes with the help of software. When choosing how to implement such solutions, the question arises is whether to create custom software or buy a ready-made solution. Both approaches have their cons and pros, but each has its own application for a specific purpose. The final decision on the choice between these approaches will depend on the client's individual needs and the business goals.

Let's look at both approaches in more detail, which may help to choose favor of one of them.

Build custom software

The essence of this approach is that the company orders software product development from an IT company's specialized development team. It has a clear plan of action and a list of requirements for the future product. Also, a digital product created from scratch can fully automate specific business processes of the client company, taking into account the specifics of the industry.

Pros of the approach

Tailored to individual needs

The company will receive a solution fully customized to its unique needs and requirements. That can be registration forms, buttons, visual elements, individual blocks, custom graphics or dashboards, unique designs, and more. The company can also define the required functionality, architecture, design, and integration with other systems according to specific business processes.

Flexibility and scalability

The customer company controls the whole development process and can make changes and expansions as needed. That allows them to respond quickly to changes in business requirements and scale the system as the company grows.

Security 

Developers can implement data protection mechanisms and use advanced encryption methods to ensure high security in the finished system.

Ability to integrate

The development of a digital product from scratch provides the ability to fully integrate with the company's other systems. That allows for efficient data exchange between different systems and increases the overall efficiency of the client's company.

Ownership of intellectual property

The company has complete intellectual property rights associated with the created product. That gives the company control over it and the ability to develop and monetize it further.

Cons of the approach

High price

The development of any product usually requires a significant financial investment. A company must consider the cost of hiring experienced developers, conducting requirements analysis, designing, developing, testing, and supporting the product. That can lead to significant costs, especially for smaller companies with limited budgets. Nevertheless, a business development investment quickly pays off for the company. 

Development duration

Creating software is a lengthy process, especially for complex and large-scale projects. The time required for requirements analysis, design, development, and testing can be significant, which delays the implementation and use of the finished product in the business.

When a business needs custom development from scratch

Customized needs

If a company has unique business needs that cannot be met by ready-made solutions on the market, developing a customized digital product allows them to create a solution that fully meets the requirements and goals of the company.

Competitive advantage

A unique software solution created specifically for a company can provide more efficient and innovative functionality, an engaging user experience, or improved processes, which helps stand out in the market and attract new customers.

Long-term strategy

Instead of relying on third-party vendors and ready-made solutions, a company can create a product that it can control, develop and scale according to its needs and changes in the business.

Business process optimization

Specialized software allows companies to automate routine tasks, improve interaction between departments and increase the company's efficiency as a whole.

Buy ready-made solution

Ready-made software solution usually has a wide range of functionality that can be applied to various business tasks. That allows companies to save development time and start using the software almost immediately after purchase. When choosing a ready-made solution, a company should carefully evaluate its functionality and flexibility to ensure it meets its basic requirements.

Pros of the approach

Customizable functionality

That includes adding modules, integrating with other systems, and customizing program parameters. 

Time-saving

Digital turnkey products are already developed, tested, and ready to use. Purchasing this product saves the company's time they usually spend on requirements analysis, development, and testing solution.

Fast start-up

Ready-made digital products have already been developed and tested, allowing companies to use and benefit quickly. The company can quickly incorporate the product into its business processes and get results without waiting for development to be completed.

Low costs

Buying a ready-made digital product is usually cheaper than developing a solution from scratch. In this case, the company avoids the high costs of hiring developers, requirements analysis, and the development process, which can significantly reduce costs and improve budgetary performance.

Proven solution

Ready-made digital products are usually thoroughly tested and have a proven track record. By purchasing such a product, a company gets a proven solution that has already been used by other customers and has demonstrated its effectiveness.

Cons of the approach

Business process mismatch

The turnkey solution may not meet the company's exact needs or require additional customization and integration with existing systems. In some cases, the company may need help adapting the turnkey solution to specific business processes, which can result in a loss of time and resources.

Limited customization and integration

Ready-made digital products may offer limited customization and integration with other systems or applications to meet unique customer requirements, which may require additional modifications.

Vendor dependency

Buying a ready-made product can create dependence on the supplier of that product. The company will rely on the vendor for support, updates, and bug fixes if any are encountered. If the vendor is unable or unwilling to continue to develop and support the product, the company may find itself in a quandary.

High licensing costs

Buying a ready-made solution can incur significant licensing costs, especially if the company plans to use the product on several workstations or for a large number of users. That can impact the company's budget and reduce financial efficiency.

When a business needs to buy a ready-made digital solution

Urgency

When a company has urgent needs for a specific functional solution, buying a ready-made product can quickly meet those needs. That is especially true if there is no time or resources to develop their solution.

Limited budget

If a company has a limited budget to develop its digital solution, buying a ready-made product can be more cost-effective. It avoids the cost of development and hiring developers and reduces the risks associated with budget and development time.

No need for unique features

Buying a ready-made digital solution may be enough if a company doesn't require specific features and capabilities only available when developing its solution. If the solution offers all the features the company needs, it can avoid developing and testing its product.

Narrow specialization 

Some industries have specialized, ready-made digital solutions designed for specific vertical markets or industries. In such cases, buying such a solution specifically tailored to the needs of an enterprise may be preferable because it already meets that industry's specific requirements and standards.

Summary

Ultimately, choosing between creating custom software and buying a ready-made solution depends on a company's specific needs and goals. If a company has unique business processes or needs full software customization, custom software creation may be preferable. That will allow the company to get a solution that best meets its requirements and contributes to optimizing business processes.

However, ready-made software may be the best option if a company requires a faster, more cost-effective solution. It is essential to carefully study the market for this kind of solution to choose the one that best meets the company's needs and is flexible enough to adapt to individual requirements. It's also important to consider company resources, budget, and timeline.

Ideally, companies can combine both approaches, using ready-made solutions as a foundation and complementing them with custom development to meet unique needs. For example, a company might purchase an off-the-shelf customer relationship management (CRM) system and complete it with the custom development of a module specific to its industry or business process. That strikes a balance between efficiency and flexibility.

Webflow is an all-inclusive web design platform that permits users to create responsive websites without requiring any coding skills. It merges the simplicity of drag-and-drop editors with the flexibility of coding to present a straightforward web design experience to users. Webflow is particularly beneficial for small businesses, startups, and freelancers who need to establish professional-looking websites swiftly and resourcefully.

What website types can be created with Webflow?

The possibilities are practically limitless! Webflow lets you create almost any kind of website:

• Corporate websites; 

• Portfolios;

• Blogs for web designers or photographers;

• E-commerce websites for online sales;

• Landing pages that attract customers or business card sites with job information;

• Educational tool. 

Essential features that Webflow offers to users

Webflow offers users several key features, including a drag-and-drop interface, responsive design, CMS integration, animation and interaction, and SEO optimization. Marketing agencies, online stores, and creative companies are the industries that most often use the web flow builder. Let's take a closer look at these features:

1. Thanks to its drag-and-drop interface, Webflow simplifies the process of design creation. With this amazing tool, you can drag and drop elements directly onto the canvas and arrange them in any way that works best for your project - no coding required! But if you want to improve your coding skills, you can add custom code to your designs and be more creative.

2. Websites in Webflow look great on any device - large, small, or full-size. You have the ability to preview how your design looks on different screens to ensure perfect responsiveness across all devices.

3. CMS integration allows users to create and manage dynamic pages, content, collections, and custom fields without coding.

4. Bring your design to life with Webflow's easy-to-use interactions and animations! You get hover, interaction, and animation effects in one place to make any project fun and interactive.

5.  You can add meta titles and descriptions, customize images and content, or create sitemaps to maximize your SEO optimization efforts.

6. With Webflow, you can build and manage an online store connected to platforms like Shopify or Foxy without ever leaving your site.

Regardless of the industry or business, Webflow is a great choice for building customized websites, web applications, and landing pages. Its versatility and integration with other marketing tools make it ideal for companies of all sizes.

What industries most often use this platform?

Webflow is quickly becoming the tool of choice for web designers and developers, startups, small businesses, e-commerce stores, and nonprofits that prioritize design and user experience over development efficiency. A popular choice for those who prioritize design and user experience. It is used by creative agencies, small businesses, and online stores. In addition, the low learning curve makes it extremely affordable and ideal for non-profit organizations or educational institutions looking to promote their cause or educate their audience. In short, Webflow is an incredibly powerful tool with a lot of flexible options for web designers/developers, regardless of the size of the industry.

Create your website with Webflow in 5 steps

We would like to share with you our experience of how we have built a website on Webflow.

Step 1

Ask yourself: "What do you want to do?". Start your project with one of the ready-made Webflow templates or create something completely new.

Step 2

Think about the page structure, add blocks and elements necessary for each page. For example, on the home page, you can add a banner to welcome visitors, write customer reviews, or showcase services and products. On the About page, you can post information about your company, photos and videos of employees, etc.

Step 3

Design a website layout in Webflow with the controls. Move, resize, and change colors on elements to your heart's content. 

Step 4

Fill your website with content. Don't forget about high-quality photos and videos, unique text, and SEO keywords. 

Step 5

Before submitting, you'll want to make sure your website is mistake-free. Webflow has a quick and easy error checker to scan for issues like broken links, misplaced content, etc.

Your website is all set to go live! Webflow gives you the option of using your own domain or their subdomain.

Did you know that our website is built on Webflow?

We took a while to pick a platform for publishing. We carefully weighed the pros and cons of other platforms when choosing to publish on Webflow. Despite other platforms' benefits, Webflow was our choice because of its performance-oriented design and flexibility & customization. It's designed for performance, which translates into faster loading times and a smooth user experience that keeps your audience engaged. Webflow also gives us maximum flexibility to create original websites tailored to each client—from design, layout, functionality & UX - so you get exactly what you need from your website. We are confident that Webflow is the best choice for our clients due its quality features, speed & customizability; it guarantees a high-performing site that gets results!

Summary

To summarize, Webflow is the perfect choice for website development. It offers design flexibility, a user-friendly interface, powerful SEO tools, mobile responsiveness, and fast, secure hosting to help you achieve your business goals. Do you want to create a stunning and professional website that will attract the attention of your audience and help you grow your business? Our team of experts will make it happen in no time with Webflow - without compromising on quality. With our team and powerful tools, we'll help you create the perfect online presence in no time. Contact us today to learn more about how we can build the perfect website for you with Webflow.

‍

In the world of business and analytics, data plays a crucial role in making important decisions. Visualization tools such as charts, graphs, and dashboards are used to understand data better and make informed decisions. 

What types of dashboards and charts exist

Charts and dashboards are graphical representations of data that can be used to show trends, compare data, or show relative proportions. Some of the most common types of charts include:

• Line charts - are used to show changes in the values of a variable over time. They are often used to show trends, such as changes in sales over time.

• Bar charts - are used to compare the values of a variable between several categories. For example, you can use bar charts to compare sales of different products in your company.

• Pie charts - used to show relative shares. For example, a pie chart might show what percentage of sales were made in a particular region.

Dashboards are sets of graphs, charts, and tables that show key performance indicators of a company. They allow you to visualize data and provide a broader view than individual charts. It can be used to monitor performance, track goals, and plan business strategies.

Many dashboards include financial, sales, marketing, operations, and others. Each type is designed to display a company's specific performance metrics.

For example, a financial dashboard might contain information about financial metrics such as profits, losses, budgets, and cash flows. A sales dashboard might show the number of sales, average checks, conversion rates, etc. A marketing dashboard can include information about traffic, conversions, cost of customer engagement, etc. An operational dashboard can display data on production capacity, resource efficiency, latency levels, etc.

Regardless of the type of chart or dashboard used, the key is to present the data intelligently. Data visualization should be clear and easy to interpret to facilitate decision-making. Therefore, when creating charts and dashboards, you need to consider the audience, purpose, and context in which these tools will be used.

The functions they perform

On the technical side, charts and dashboards are tools for visualizing data and presenting information in a clear and user-friendly format.

Charts are usually created using specialized libraries and software tools that allow you to generate graphical elements such as charts, graphs, pie charts, etc. Chart data can come from various sources, including databases, Excel files, APIs, etc.

On the other hand, dashboards are usually created using specialized software tools that allow you to combine data from various sources and display it in a user-friendly format. Dashboards can include multiple widgets such as graphs, tables, text boxes, etc., which can be customized and linked to quickly display data.

Regarding function, charts and dashboards can perform different tasks depending on business needs. They can be used to monitor performance, track sales, manage resources, predict trends, etc. In addition, they can be configured to automatically alert users of potential problems and delays in processes, allowing you to react quickly and correct the situation.

What problems do charts and dashboards solve

Charts and dashboards are powerful tools that help businesses solve many problems. Here are some of them:

‍Resource Management: Dashboards and charts can help businesses manage their resources, such as money, time, people, etc. That allows a company to use its resources more efficiently and increase productivity.

Planning and Strategy: They can help businesses develop plans and strategies based on data analysis. Also, their use can help identify trends, predict future events, and make fact-based decisions.

Identifying potential problems: They can help businesses identify potential problems and risks. That allows the company to take steps to prevent them or reduce their possible impact.

Improve communication: Dashboards and charts can help improve communication within a business by allowing employees to share information quickly and efficiently. They can also help enterprises to understand customer needs and expectations better.

Workflow automation with advanced charts and dashboards

In today's dynamic business environment, workflow automation is becoming increasingly necessary for businesses of all sizes. By automating repetitive tasks and streamlining business processes, companies can save time, reduce costs and increase efficiency. It's also a convenient way to display and process collected data.

The first step in automating a workflow is identifying which one can be automated. The workflow should be well-defined, with clear inputs and outputs. Defining the metrics that need to be tracked is also important. Metrics such as time-to-completion, task completion rate, and error rate can help businesses measure the effectiveness of the workflow.

The next step is to choose the right tools for automating the workflow. There are several advanced charts and dashboard applications available in the market, each with its own features and capabilities. Businesses should choose a tool that meets their specific needs and is easy to use. Some popular advanced chart and dashboard applications include Tableau, Power BI, and Google Data Studio.

When it comes to developing custom charts for a finished product or business idea from scratch, it's important to understand what requirements they must meet. Selecting appropriate chart types and configuring data visualizations are important to ensure that the insights generated by the dashboards are easy to understand and act upon. For example:

• Ease of use
• Compatibility with existing systems
• Cost
• Customization options
• Support and training
• Which metrics are most important?
• Which chart types will best represent the data?
• What colors and visualizations will be used?
• What level of detail is required?

The next step is to connect data sources to the advanced charts and dashboards. This stage can involve integrating existing systems or importing data from spreadsheets or databases. Once the data sources are connected, the application can start to generate real-time insights into the workflow. It is important to ensure that the data is accurate and up-to-date.

The dashboards should be monitored in real-time to ensure the workflow runs smoothly. The metrics generated by the dashboards can help businesses make informed decisions and take corrective action if necessary. Real-time monitoring can also help identify issues or bottlenecks in the workflow, allowing them to make changes quickly.

To ensure the success of workflow automation with advanced charts and dashboard applications, businesses should follow some best practices. These include regularly reviewing the workflow and its metrics to identify areas for improvement, ensuring that the dashboards are easy to understand and act upon, and involving stakeholders in the automation process.

Summary

Automating workflows with advanced charts and dashboard applications can help businesses save time, reduce costs, and improve efficiency. By following the steps outlined in this guide and adopting best practices, businesses can make the most of workflow automation and gain valuable insights into their data. By automating repetitive tasks and streamlining business processes, they can focus on critical tasks, improve productivity, and stay ahead of the competition.

If you have an efficient booking app, it brings your business to the 21st century. Nowadays, a website reservation system or a mobile booking app is a must-have for most industries.

Let’s look at the statistics

• E-Travel industry grows by 7.5% every year. Accordingly to this fact, the researchers conclude that the market will reach $1.5B by 2023. In addition, the revenue share of sales channels of the global travel and tourism market will increase up to 72% by 2025. This includes only websites and applications for hotels and transportation. Other online scheduling software like appointment apps and scheduling websites are planned to see a similar boost.
• More than 80% of bookings are made via mobile applications if are talking about travel booking. Because of that, mobile apps are the first choice for people to book tickets and organize the trip.
• According to Statistic Brain Research Institute, every year people spend an average of $148 million on travel bookings online.

What is clear: this is a promising prospect for everyone that thinks about creation a booking website or app.

What are the benefits that can be delivered?

• Gathering information on the clients – with the growing number of clients that like the idea of using online scheduling software, you have collecting data for personalization. It is a great opportunity to come up with special offers and increase sales.
• Building the brand – booking is the first point of contact with your company and your chance to make a first good impression on the clients. If the service and online booking system are user-centricity and convenient in use, have high-quality standards and security, users will have positive feedbacks that increase the number of users and, consequently, promote your band.
• Multiple revenue streams – with an online booking system, you can multiply profits via additional monetization models, such as income from fees, commissions, subscriptions, affiliate programs, ads, etc.

The article demonstrates a detailed guide on how to make a booking app that walks you through all of the essential points.

8 practices for your online booking system

Go through the following list of features to focus on some important aspects regarding how to make a booking website and app successfully. Choosing features that are essential not just for you but also for your customers is the next stage of the production cycle.

Convenient navigation, searching and reservation

User doesn’t like to waste time and wants to make a reservation, so your app should be as intelligible as possible. For better convenience, your app can also include a geolocation option, various spelling options and enable searches by different categories and filters. Good advice to eliminate zero search results by adding suggestions on locations, dates, services etc. – depends on your business.

User’s personal profile

Account page provides access to reservation history and enables custom settings, like currency, language, etc. Because of that, user page is a great place for marketing – it allows you to collect statistics, send newsletters about upcoming events or special offers and many others. However, the user registration process is a pitfall for many businesses. Here’s why: it gives the first impression and users decide if they will stay or drop the app. Make this process as easy as possible and require users to fill out only the key information. It is a great idea of authorization via social networks, for examples Facebook and Instagram, and allows a user to register with only one click.

Multi-language & global currency support

These days, online payment is a required functionality on the booking app. Before considering how to make a booking app, think over payment methods to include. It must be a safe and convenient way to book rooms, tickets, services, tours directly through an application or website. So, the process must be fast, flexible, and transparent, so be sure to include all possible payment methods, such as PayPal, credit card, cash, and design a user-friendly one-page checkout system. A reservation system that offers a secure payment portal will exactly improve your business performance. Also, auto-detected language can increase the user experience.

Data security

During the booking process, app collects a lot of sensitive information like personal information (email, phone), payment information, etc. This data can become a source of immense possibilities for hackers. One thing is clear: invest in security!  

Auto-replies  

Currently, automatic emails are seen as additional and mainly useful tool for business owners in various fields. Email reminders, feedback requests or tips are just a few examples of how companies improve communication with clients using modern technologies.

In-app messenger

In-app messenger is an excellent feature for any booking app, whether it is a travel booking website or appointment scheduler. For the best results, you need to have a support team shooting responses or a pre-programmed chatbot to cover customer questions. By utilizing AI and machine learning technologies, it is possible to provide instant and qualified feedback. However, note that this functionality may take a considerable amount of time and cost to implement.

Push notifications

A well-thought-out notification system makes life easier for users. Check-in and check-out alerts, friendly reminders, or recommendations can increase the level of customer satisfaction. As well, you may include weather notifications, price discounts, and other relevant notifications.

Create a booking website

For making your app perfect and increase prospects for success, the experienced business owner might want to also create a booking website. Usually, a properly built website extends the functionality and offers clients possibilities like access to information on success stories, high-resolution images, reviews, etc. When considering whether to create a booking website, think of the benefits you can get:

1. Presentation of the brand
2. SEO and digital marketing practices for promotional strategies
3. Insight information about user behavior and broad data collection for company strategies
4. Wider audience outreach that provides increasing sales because of cross- and up-selling.
5. Collect customer base via browser searches

So, the idea to create a booking website makes a lot of sense. It is possible to build a web platform in the first product version along with iOS and Android apps. Alternatively, you can plan to launch the booking website in a subsequent version.

Generally, any app functionality, simple or advanced, should be in line with customer expectations.

Talking a little bit about app development

It’s important to discuss and figure out what tech stack of your app, based on your requirements. Tech Stack is the group of technologies used to build mobile or web applications. It is a combination of programming languages, UX/UI design, development environment, framework, utilities, servers, tools, and services used by the development team.

Before designing an application, it is important to think about scope of your project, time to deliver the market, security perspective and scalability. Depending on these factors, you need to choose the technology solution that has the potential to solve these problems.

Important backend development

Building a stronger back-end helps to enhance your front-end as most of the tasks in the front-end are fully dependent on the back-end. Here are some important back end tasks:

• API designing and documentation
• API implementation
• Building business logic
• Database retrieval and storage
• Defining permissions
• Creating test script
• Deployment

Keep your Front-end design simple and intuitive

Your front-end application must be clean and appealing. Here are some tips to build an amazing front-end application.

• Use professional graphics designing tools
• Keep the entire application design relevant and should match the concept.
• Ensure there are no typography errors
• Ensure relevant content should have the same design
• Focus on quality rather than quantity
• Try to match the original design and make the design pixel perfect
• Create an app landing page showcasing the value of your application and encouraging people to download it.

That’s it

The development of a booking system is a complicated process that requires multiple details. Forward-thinking brands have applied these strategies to their campaigns to deliver the best user experiences while achieving high brand promotion. Drop us a line, and we’ll be glad to discuss your idea.

‍

Most likely, you would like to make your digital product highly competitive, get guarantees on its relevance, and avoid its costly rework even if its life cycle exceeds the unspoken five-year limit, right? Then, in today's changing tech environment, endowing it with long-distance growth prospects will be not just another strategy you may follow or not – it will be a necessity. 

What Is Future-Proofing?

No one would dispute that guaranteeing long-term stability adds confidence to the development process. Based on this, you may have a question: “What is the future-proofing?”. Now, we will explain the future-proofing meaning.

In short, it is the creation of several applications, websites, and services that retain their functionality even after a long time. For example, in the context of mobile application development, it predicts the occurrence of potential changes in the operating systems of gadgets so that these applications remain practical and relevant. By considering possible technological advancements, likely competitors, and requests from the target audience, the need for large-scale updating is minimized.

This process consists of analyzing a number of technological trends, considering potential risks, and integrating adaptive solutions to market trends. But do not close your eyes to some problems and challenges of future-proofing. There may not be a specific update date, and the implementation of flexible solutions may require both additional time and additional money. You should be sure that the tools and methods you use guarantee high quality and a high level of reliability of the product so that the process of its development is productive and relatively simple.

In addition, an equally important aspect of the above-mentioned approach is the study of potential changes that may occur in the needs and behaviors of the target audience of your product. This will make you ready to overcome obstacles. Let’s take a concrete example, if you integrate software with cloud services (using self-testing and scaling architecture).

The Benefits of Future-Proofing Software

It is worth considering the most striking advantages of this software to make sure it is appropriate:

• Flexibility in a dynamic technology environment: This helps to adapt existing products to new requirements.
• The real prospects for the future: The more long-term prospects are taken into account during the future-proof development of the digital solution, the longer it is guaranteed to be stable.
• Optimization of financial costs: If the potential upgrade of the review is done immediately at the development stage, it minimizes the possibility of costly disposal of the product itself.
• Superiority over competitors: Service providers that offer better protection of their decisions, respectively, are much more efficient and faster to respond to constant changes in the market and the needs of their target audience.

Future-Proofing Methods

You should also pay attention to the most popular ways to improve your digital products in the long term:

• Quality Assurance: Stable support of high-quality standards is a direct path to product reliability.
• Modularity: Modular architecture simplifies processes such as updating and modifying specific required components, minimizing any impact on the entire system.
• Documentation: Detailed documentation that is regularly updated to facilitate further support and streamlining.
• Implementation of modern standards: Strict adherence to the latest quality standards increases the adaptability of your products to innovative technologies several times.

7 Ways to Future-Proof Software

Let's dwell on the seven most essential methods for reliably protecting your software from upcoming challenges and guaranteeing its stable operation for many years.

Implementation of automated tests

Automated tests allow you to quickly detect and correct errors that occur when making changes to the code. This dramatically reduces the risk that new features or updates will break existing functionality. In addition, automated testing increases development efficiency, reducing the time for manual QA procedures.

Using containerization

Containers provide software flexibility and portability, making it easier to deploy across platforms. They isolate the application and all its dependencies, which avoids problems with environment compatibility. Containers also simplify application management in several environments at once.

Expanding of architecture

Planning the architecture for possible load increases makes it easy to scale the system. Using a microservice architecture, a design pattern that structures an application as a collection of small, loosely coupled services, for example, enables the scale of individual components independently, increasing the system's overall performance and reliability.

Integration with cloud services

Cloud solutions provide flexibility and the ability to adapt to new requirements quickly. They allow you to store and process data on remote servers, reducing infrastructure costs and achieving higher availability and service reliability.

Regular updates and patches

Constant software update allows you to maintain its relevance and reliability. Regularly fixing vulnerabilities and adding new features helps to avoid obsolescence and ensures it meets modern security standards.

Using open standards and APIs

Open standards are publicly available specifications that facilitate interoperability. APIs are sets of rules and protocols that allow different software applications to communicate with each other, be compatible with other systems, and simplify integration. These make it easy to connect new services and expand the existing functionality without significant changes in its architecture.

Investing in team training

Investing in team training and focusing on long-term planning is crucial to preparing to embrace new technologies and methodologies. This ongoing evolution of skills and knowledge not only enhances employees' current abilities but also prepares them to adapt to fluctuations in the tech market.

Conclusion

Future-proofing your software, through robust security measures such as encryption and regular vulnerability assessments provides you with long-term stability and high competitiveness. At the same time, you get a significant reduction in the cost of service and increased flexibility and speed of adaptation to a number of new requirements and conditions, which in the complex creates the conditions for the adaptability of the entire team. In this way, your software will always be efficient and reliable despite the changing technology environment.

It's crucial to note that the strategic approach to software protection and development is not just about the technology but also the people behind it. This approach stimulates the development team's performance, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness through process standardization and the introduction of the latest technologies. By empowering your team to implement new features and optimizations, this approach makes them feel valued and integral to the process, thereby increasing performance.

‍