9 Powerful Tools for Cross-platform Mobile App Development

These days, a mobile application becomes inevitable for business in every sector. When it comes to developing a mobile app for your business, you need to focus on developing in multiple platforms especially, in both iOS & Android platforms because developers and businesses mostly target them. With the advent of modern technology, now developers no need to develop separately for multiple platforms, thanks to the arrival of cross-platform mobile app development. Yes! In recent years, the growth of cross-platform mobile app development is so popular around the globe.

Here in this article, we are going to elaborate on why cross-platform mobile app development is so popular and the list of powerful tools for the developers to develop mobile apps in cross-platform.

Cross-platform Mobile App Development: What is it?

In simple words, cross-platform mobile app development can be termed as developing a mobile app that can be suitable to run on multiple platforms like iOS, Android, Windows, and so. In other words, it can be illustrated as the development of compatible software applications that can be functional on multiple mobile OS.

The cross-platform mobile app development does carry pros and cons in it. However, when compared with the advantages of using cross-mobile app development the cons would be negligible. Here we have briefly discussed the benefits of developing mobile apps in Cross-platform.

Benefits of Cross-platform Mobile App Development

  • Mobile app development codes can be reused instead of creating new codes for making the same software compatible with other mobile OS.
  • With the aid of cross-platform mobile app development, companies or business owners can save a lot of money.
  • Developers are able to complete the app development project in the quick time since they don’t need to develop the same app suitable for other platforms.
  • The cross-platform app development solution utilized by the developers is easier to implement on multiple mobile operating systems and easy to sync with the mobile devices running on the various operating systems.
  • The cross-platform mobile app development gives the advantage of easy maintenance of mobile apps in various platforms at once. Besides, the mobile app will have the same UI and navigation across multiple platforms so users would not find any difficulties accessing those.

How Cross-Mobile Apps Are Developed?

As far as the experts’ advice it’s better to hire a reputable cross-platform mobile app development company for developing a highly reliable and highly functional cross-platform mobile app. Because to match the ongoing fast-paced mobile marketing world, you need to ensure the creation of a mobile app that can be successful by following all those systematic development processes with the latest app development features. By doing so, the visibility of your mobile app will achieve your goal and can reach potential users across the world.

List of Steps Involved in the Development of Cross-Platform Mobile App

  • Defining Process of Mobile App Objective
  • Illustration of Mobile App Functionality & Features
  • Picking Potential Business Competitors
  • Creating Wireframes & Use Cases Scenarios for Mobile App
  • Wireframes Testing
  • Fixing Errors & Testing
  • Choosing Right Platforms for App Development
  • Creating Codes for Mobile App
  • Testing
  • Launching

Apart from those main things, you should notice when it comes to developing a cross-platform mobile app is the development tool. Make sure, your app developers pick the best cross-platform mobile app development tools for developing your cross-platform mobile app.

List of Top 9 Best & Powerful Tools for Developing Cross-Platform Apps

1. React Native

It is an open-source framework based on Facebook’s library ‘React’. React Native allows developers to develop a cross-platform mobile app much faster than any other framework. Moreover, React Native gives the advantage of Learn Once & Write Anywhere to the developers. In addition, it utilizes the old and most popular open-source programming language Java. Owing to that, it is highly popular among the developers for developing a cross-platform mobile app.

2. Flutter

Flutter one of the releases by the Internet giant Google. Flutter framework launched in 2018 and it gained slow pickup among the developers and now it’s one of the most preferred frameworks for developing cross-platform mobile apps by the developers across the world. Flutter framework uses dart programming language, though it is still new it can be learned easily since it is almost similar to C/C++ and Java programming language.

3. NativeScript

NativeScript is another framework well known for developing a revolutionary cross-platform mobile application other than React Native and Flutter. The NativeScript launched in 2015 and gained the attention of so many developers across the globe because of its open-source model and allows developers to access 700 plugins for developing mobile applications.

4. Xamarin

Xamarin owned by Microsoft and uses C# language for developing cross-platform mobile apps. The feature of code sharing and cloud service testing makes this Xamarin framework a robust tool for developing cross-platform apps. Features like native API access, high performance, easy testing, and so leads developers to prefer the Xamarin tool for developing a cross-platform mobile application.

5. PhoneGap

PhoneGap now owned by Adobe, this framework allows developers to create native applications using popular languages like JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and so. By using this framework, app developers can develop applications suitable for android, iOS, windows, and blackberry mobile operating systems. Now, Adobe is trying hard to make this framework popular among the developers for making cross-platform mobile apps by adding more features and vast community support.

6. Appcelerator

Appcelerator is another open-source framework tool for developing cross-platform software. The Appcelerator using single JavaScript as its programming language owing to that app developer won’t feel difficult on the coding process. By the way, the Appcelerator allows developers to develop better real-time analytics, and MBaaS enriched mobile applications much faster than any other tool.

7. Unity3D

Unity3D specially used by the app developers to develop cross-platform gaming applications. Unlike the other framework tools, this Unity3D allows developers to develop mobile applications with high-quality graphics. The gaming applications developed by using Unity3D tools can be capable of playing in the various platforms including PlayStation and Linux OS. The strong community support offered by the Unity3D framework acts as a big plus and that’s the main reason developers prefer this tool for developing an impressive mobile gaming application.

8. 5App

This 5App framework tool is peculiar when compared with all other existing tools because of its design and functionality. HTML5 and JavaScript are the primary languages used by this 5App framework, moreover, this framework tool is specially designed to satisfy the needs of the companies and consulting firms for developing a mobile application for their business operation. Moreover, this 5App framework gives high-security options; owing to that developers prefer this framework for developing apps with high data security provision.

9. Rhomobile

The Rhomobile framework is one of the popular app developing tools that allow developers to create a cross-platform and enterprise-level mobile application. Also, this framework suits well to develop native mobile applications. The presence of the Eclipse plug-in allows developers to generate coding at ease and also this plug-in makes the debugging and testing process quickly and easily.

In addition, there are several other editors and IDEs which can be utilized by the developers to develop a reliable and functional cross-platform mobile app.

Bottom Line

Guess the answer to your query about how to develop cross-platform mobile apps end with this article. The year 2020 is going to be the year for cross-platform apps, moreover, the ongoing pandemic will suit well for stepping into the development of a cross-platform mobile app. Start thinking and pick the right theme & category for developing a mobile app. At the same time, make sure you engage with the right cross-platform mobile app Development Company for making a better cross-platform mobile app.

Frequently Answered Questions on Cross-Platform Mobile App Development

1. Is It True! Cross-platform is the Future of Mobile Apps?

Yes! The future of mobile app development will be based upon the cross-platform frameworks. Cross-platform frameworks will act as a tool for developers to develop potential cross-platform apps.

2. Is there any difference in-between native and cross-platform apps?

Yes! There are notable differences between native and cross-platform apps in code usability, device access, UI consistency, and Performance. Well, native apps will deliver high performance than cross-platform apps. However, cross-platform gives the upper hand on code usability, device access, and UI consistency.

3. What is the best framework for cross-platform app development?

Since each framework has its own set of pros and cons. It truly depends upon for what purpose the app is going to be developed and the goals to be achieved by the app.

4. How long will it take to develop a functional cross-platform app and how much will it cost?

The cost of developing a functional cross-platform mobile app development starts from $5,000 and the maximum limit would depend upon the features. By the way, professional developers can develop a fully functional cross-platform mobile app in a few months mostly by around 4 to 5 months.

Building a DevOps pipeline for your App: Choose a CI/CD server

CI/CD is considered to be a complete build server that mostly functions as a virtual machine offered by a cloud provider to develop mobile apps, from anywhere in the world. Though techies can understand the technology well, for viewers, who do not know about CI/CD, CI is continuous integration, and CD is continuous deployment. DevOps CI CD pipeline is used for mapping the gap between development and operations teams by developing applications, testing, and deploying them. In other words, we call them the main source of building a DevOps pipeline for your mobile app.

Again, I know you are going to ask me what is a pipeline in DevOps. It is a set of processes developed in a software engineering team to make sure smooth development, testing, and deployment of applications happen appropriately. Hope, now you have some clarity on why you are reading this blog.

Now, what this blog brings you along? There are certain recommendations by experts as to what top CI/CD servers available, and which one to choose. This showcases which companies are offering DevOps as a service and maybe a short note on how to build a DevOps pipeline. Before we move into further sections in this blog, you must know what criteria should be looked into while choosing a CI/CD server provider.

What criteria with the CI/CD server provider should you look into?

While choosing a CI/CD provider, it is mandated that you verify whether the provider satisfies the following bunch of questions.

  • Does the server support all mobile platforms such as Android and iOS?
  • Is it tied up with Github and Bitbucket for hosting support?
  • Is it possible to utilize the free trial for both Android and iOS?
  • How easy it is to set up?
  • How many types of integration can it support?
  • Can developers operate different workflows?
  • Will it allow performing multi-tasking simultaneously?

So this is the checklist that you should have while choosing your CI/CD server provider.

Benefits of CI/CD server

  • Quicker software builds: Integrating CI and CD results in faster builds and delivers quicker outputs. It enables you to track the progress of a project and issue feedback in real-time when you carry out the implementation in continuous cycles.
  • Reaching market on-time: By introducing your app into the market in time, you get better customer engagement, amazing profits, supportive pricing, and advanced market goals as well.
  • Coding improvements: With CI, developers can integrate their code into a common warehouse, and it allows them to share their builds number of times a day rather than working remotely. Indeed, it helps them to develop a high-quality app.
  • Highly skilled developers: CI/CD pipeline implementation provides more profits by minimizing the cost of the software you use. CI helps to simplify your tasks into everyday tasks and identifies defects in coding in the early software development cycle.

Choosing the CI/CD server provider

Based on the aforementioned criteria, there are few CI/CD providers listed here.

1. Bitrise

Bitrise supports Android, iOS, and other native frameworks such as react and flutter and provides extended support to mobile app development. It provides Github and Bitbucket sign in so that you get hosting from the companies’ own hosting product. You can test both Android and iOS platforms through Bitrise. It is easy to set up and allows multiple integrations, along with tremendous workflow support. This way it is very useful to avoid the same steps for every build when code is published. It enables parallel builds but only two at a time until you complete your trial.

2. CircleCI

CircleCI is known to be the best CI provider because it lets you handle many diverse projects. It acts as a multi-purpose provider that not only companies that develop mobile apps can only use it, but it is friendly for non-tech companies as well. It also supports both Android and iOS and carries a pretty easy setup process. You get a .yml file which has to be configured to decide how you want to bring out your project.

It also supports Github and Bitbucket through which you can display your repositories on the server’s dashboard. The best part with CircleCI is you can even use it on Linux and Windows systems but does not support the Macintosh operating system. The scope of using integrations is very limited but provides an explicit workflow with CircleCI’s second version. You can very well build parallel apps in CircleCI.

3. Github Actions

This is a newly introduced server among the giants in existence, but it provides features similar to CircleCI. Actions are Github’s own products that can be used as a repository. It offers a few templates that even support non-mobile app development companies. However, Actions supports Android and iOS platforms for no doubt but not sure about how it supports Linux and Windows platforms. It provides required support to multiple workflows and allows you to configure each workflow by creating various workflows as per your expectations.

4. SemaphoreCI

SemaphoreCI was previously supporting the iOS and Beta version in Android, but now they have enhanced their service to the entire Android version as well. Unfortunately, it does not support Bitbucket but recently started supporting Github Sign In for repository dashboards. It offers an interesting and interactive workflow editor for you to utilize completely. It provides a 14-day trial of parallel builds and offers a free trial to try Android and iOS. You can avail support for Linux and macOS virtual machines as the server supports open-source projects. You can set up this server effortlessly and allows even third-party integration for your program builds.

5. TravisCI

TravisCI is the first CI-CD provider to build a DevOps pipeline. It is available in open source and so trying out several of its features is made easy. It initially had only Github Sign In and recently has included Bitbucket Sign In as a beta feature as well. It acts as a limiting factor if you use Bitbucket server as your build control. Since it is an open-source CI/CD provider, it allows you to build DevOps on both Android and iOS. It also has a premium version which is called Travis CI Enterprise. By simply adding a .yml file to your repository, you can set up the server within minutes.

Moreover, the .yml file allows you to send notifications or merge into a few third-party systems. So it is good at providing multiple integrations. You can very well manage your workflow but may not find a relevant document for the same. Instead, you can use the manual that is available for managing your builds, which would do the job for workflow as well. Consequently, you can run multiple builds on TravisCI as it supports parallel builds.

Several other CI/CD providers are Gitlab, Bamboo, AppCenter, Code Magic, and Jenkins, which you can also consider provided if any of them satisfy the factors mentioned as criteria in the previous sections.

Conclusion:

Building a DevOps pipeline is important for every developer to create a streamlined workflow and to manage both Android and iOS platforms on CI/CD server. Prefer to have a cloud-based server so that you can flexibly manage your features and resources accordingly. Meanwhile, if you are opting for a paid version of this server, cloud-based will reduce the cost incurred on it. Moreover, you can securely store your repositories in the dashboard that any server offers. If you have any queries on the same, do approach our technical support team for suggestions. We are easily reachable through phone, e-mail, and chat as well.

Frequently asked questions about building DevOps Pipeline

1. How to set up a basic deployment pipeline?

You have to follow three steps to set up a basic deployment pipeline or the first time setup.

  • Set up a build server
  • Install a few test suites
  • Add a deployment step and finally,
  • Run the server to publish what you have developed so far

2. What are the important phases in DevOps?

There are six phases interrelated and none of them can be skipped or changed. This is also called as 6Cs of the DevOps cycle.

  • Continuous business planning which begins with understanding the skills, results, and resources required
  • Collaborative development which starts with manual design plan of development and programming
  • Continuous testing which improvises your builds stage by stage
  • Continuous release and deployment
  • Continuous monitoring
  • Customer feedback and optimization

3. What does DevOps offer to developers?

You can speed up your application, development process and deployment facilities that should be faster to adapt to customer needs, market changes and new business goals in a better manner, reliability you expect, rapid delivery, scalability, security, collaboration, and commonly used best practices.

4. Is there any notable difference between Continuous Integration (CI) and continuous deployment (CD)?

Yes! Continuous Integration (CI) is a simple process that allows you to integrate source code into a mainline code base, whereas continuous deployment (CD) is the next process after CI takes place successfully, before delivering your product to the client. It involves several processes such as testing, staging, and implementing the source code.

Is Pandemic Ideal Time for Your Startup or Mobile App Idea?

The world has come through many pandemic situations previously but not as worse as COVID-19 I believe because most of them did not affect the entire population. A tsunami was not a pandemic condition, but no one expected it would take a lump slot of people from the entire world. The COVID-19 does show such signs of taking lakhs of lives and affecting lakhs of people across the world. This pandemic has been giving a really tough time not only to the general public but also to business owners. It is time for entrepreneurs to decide whether beginning a start-up company is ideal or going wisely for mobile app ideas.

Several new start-up companies that came into limelight this year are stuck due to this pandemic lockdown condition. Indeed, existing business owners and even some of these start-up companies are transforming their business into digital by developing a mobile app that could help them serve and retain their customers. Without knowing about the end of lockdown appropriately, it is not viable to start a new business physically. Instead, you can hire mobile app developers who can provide you with a plethora of future mobile app ideas to develop your business online, particularly at this stage. Although the government says that the economy is under downfall but you got to believe “Where there is a will, there is a way”.

Here are some of the important factors that help you decide which is best—starting a start-up or developing a mobile app idea for your existing or new start-up. The following section does not answer how to build a mobile app; instead, it talks about why you should build a mobile app.

Why is a mobile app idea better than a start-up idea during a pandemic?

#1: You stay one step ahead of your competitors

Several existing companies may act instantly according to the prevailing pandemic condition. Many of them may have a physical store but not a mobile app to face the current situation, and sometimes, it may lead to losing their market and customers. But being a start-up or if you have an idea of beginning as a start-up company, you can take a wise call by giving a thought of mobile app ideas, which creates a strong pathway for your future business. You should choose a different way against your competitors so that you can swim across the sea and reach your destination quicker than others do. After this pandemic gets over, you will see yourself in a stronger position, having more scope for your business expansion.

#2: Go for an MVP instead of capital ventures

A focussed entrepreneur always knows the best source for generating revenue and realizes that rather than looking or investing in capital ventures, gaining customers is ideal. COVID-19 is not a good condition for businesses or jobs because the disease has closed the thought of investors investing in start-up companies now. So the recession has started in businesses and many job holders have already lost their job due to companies unable to handle such a worsening situation. To become stable in business, as a business owner, you should decide an MVP (minimum viable product) that satisfies your customer demands. Even though MVP is not an engineered solution, still it does not cost much as well as does not consume time to develop.

#3: Choose the best app type that is booming

You must consider developing in any one of these sectors as a mobile app idea, as it has been seeing success even during the pandemic.

  • Entertainment and streaming apps: People are left with no choice by watching movies, series, TV shows, dramas, etc. because all are locked down inside the house with this vulnerable pandemic condition. So the online video streaming apps like Netflix, Disney Hotstar, Amazon, etc. are at their peak, and people spend most of their time on these apps. Also, online streaming is something that interests them to watch movies that they have not seen until now. So you can create an app that provides live streaming and download options as well; so you earn income through enormous website traffic. Develop the best mobile app idea with a great MVP that can fill your pocket with enough money.
  • Apps for video conferencing: Since work from home has been followed as a trend and policy by most of the companies during this COVID-19 pandemic, people find comfortable using video conferencing apps to connect with their colleagues all at a time. Currently, we have Zoom, the free video calling app and Facebook is yet to launch the same feature. Investing in these apps is never going to be in vain.
  • Mental health and meditation apps: This may sound crazy to some of you, but people being always at home in a locked-down situation take so much stress to handle kids at home. Moreover, kids cannot go out and play freely and they also have developmental stress and sometimes, go against their parents. Also, employees who are used to work from office may tend to do additional work during this time, with the pressure they get from their superiors. So you can develop a fitness app that not only provides physical exercises but also relaxation modules for their mind.
  • Food delivery app: The food delivery app has already got a good move among customers. If you look at the trend of door-step food delivery even before this pandemic, it was showing a growth of more than 50% when compared to its previous years. Now, with physical stores being banned to operate in this COVID-19, food delivery apps have taken initiative to deliver groceries and other food products along with cooked food delivery. Moreover, protein and meat delivery centers are tying up with food delivery app companies and delivering the everyday needs and essentials for their customers.

#4: Acquire extraordinary talents for less salary

Due to recession taking place in many companies across the world, once everyone gets through this pandemic lockdown condition and life becomes normal, unemployment increases. By the time you will be able to get skilled talent for a lower salary because it will be a time where people look only for jobs and do not consider salary as a constraint.

#5: Act according to demand

Being a start-up, you can mold your business according to the increase or decrease in product demand. For example, if the market is up and things go normal, you can concentrate on revenue generation and do something for promotion and get a return on investment. But in conditions like COVID-19, you cannot be so concerned about just the cost. If your business is over-productive and you want to sell it off, but at the same time, you should look at your customer value, then you can ease certain factors such as the cost of providing additional quantity at the same cost to your customers.

#6: Ample time to plan your start-up business strategies

If you want to become a start-up company or like to develop a mobile app idea, this pandemic provides the ideal time you require. You can plan your business strategies accordingly and predict the future mistakes you might commit and prepare a prevention plan right now. You can also make a widened plan for cost-cutting so that your business can face any kind of situation.

Conclusion:

This blog is not to promote or prove that the mobile app idea is the best, but it is to make you understand and act smart during this COVID-19 pandemic. If you require any help with developing mobile app ideas, do contact us on our toll-free number and talk to our customer support executive.

Frequently asked questions

1. How should I develop a mobile app?

Have your own ideas and write them down on paper. Shortlist the best idea you are skilled in, so you need not depend on anyone to run your business. Approach a mobile app development company to bring your ideas into the limelight. Get a framework done for your mobile app and if you are happy with its predicted outcome, move it for development. Developers will finally test your app multiple times, fix bugs if any, and then provide it to you as a complete product before your app launch date.

2. How much money will it take to develop a mobile app?

The cost to develop a mobile app depends on the app complexity i.e. features, software, application, and developer cost. So be ready to spend more if you require the best mobile app.

3. Which one is the best service to provide online during this pandemic?

It was already mentioned previously in this blog with some sectors that are in a boom. Still, you can prefer to develop an app that serves medical needs, food, entertainment, or similar kind.

4. Whether mobile app development can be reliable?

Online selling is at a high peak since its inception. It helps keep your business stable under any conditions. It is anytime the best investment that you can look for returns upon.

8 Most Common Product Information Management Challenges

No matter what industry you belong to, customers are looking for more personalized and highly relevant experiences.

Along with customized experiences, customers want to have access to a new range of products. Thus, to meet the ever-increasing demands of the products, businesses need to manage the product information efficiently.

As more and more customers prefer to shop online or at least they search for the product online before visiting the nearest store. Hence, it becomes essential for retailers to keep updated their website with the information customers look for.

Businesses have to make sure their multiple channels or customer touchpoints enable the buyers with up-to-date and furnished information in the most intuitive and convincing way. You need to manage a wide range of vendor multiplicity, product catalogs, as well as complex product details too.

Do you think you can achieve such a great level of agility and integrity in the distribution of product data through manual product information management?

In the process of addressing all the complex requirements of the different stakeholders through manual product information management methods, you encounter many challenges. It won’t make you capable to meet the changing market condition and ensure the success and growth of your organization.

Let’s learn about the most common challenges faced by the Product Information Management systems and how you can address them.

8 Most Common Challenges Faced by Product Information Management

1. Lack of transparency amongst internal teams and departments

In small organizations, communication is more open and transparent. But, in large scale organizations, effective business commutation is the biggest challenge. The employees cannot share information, priorities, goals, and tools due to the communication barrier. This ultimately ends up making your department least productive and inefficient.

You have to establish some effective strategies to remove the communication gap across your teams and departments. For the success of any organization, it is very necessary to have a cross-functional and collaborative team.

Product information software can help you establish a communication platform where different teams and departments interact with each other. The employees can easily update others about the tasks and deadlines and help in eliminating any confusion by bringing everyone on a single page. So, your team becomes more productive and generates better results.

2. Dealing with multiple sales channels becomes tough

To strengthen your brand presence, it is very essential for you to establish a uniform and strong presence on multiple customer touchpoints and sales channels. But it is challenging to meet the frequently changing demands of different market place websites.

Every channel has different requirements for information format and types. They have their own standards and product list approval policies. They might ask you to set different prices for different regions.

With the help of a PIM solution, you can achieve all these just with a few clicks. IT allows you to toll out up-to-date and accurate information. Moreover, you can launch the latest update in different languages, at different prices, for the different markets.

3. Managing a massive amount of product data

Businesses have to manage a massive amount of content for a wide range of products. Along with the product data, they have to manage information related to different sales channels, multiple services, distributed vendors and suppliers, and many other details that businesses have to deal with in order to deliver a better customer experience.

If you manage such enormous data manually, then searching for relevant and accurate information becomes a tedious job. You need to sort all the content to get the right one.

An advanced PIM solution can collect and organize the districted data as well as standardize product information. The software offers a centralized place to store and manage product data. Thus, the Product Information Management system allows to manipulate and handle any amount of product data effortlessly.

4. Disorganized product catalog

If your organization is selling a large number of products then it will be difficult to manage such a huge product catalog manually.

Being a business owner, you need to deal with different requirements of multiple sales, a huge range of products, and several vendors. It becomes challenging to maintain and update the uniformity of data in your product catalog. Eventually, you develop a complex catalog that is difficult to keep organized.

A flexible PIM software enables you with an automated process for consolidating the product information in a centralized location and collecting the data from different vendors. Product Information Management solution simplifies your product data management and makes the product marketing easier.

5. Manual tasks and spreadsheet will be error-prone

Companies, who manage the product information manually, highly rely on spreadsheets. Managing such a huge amount of data in spreadsheets is a cumbersome and time-consuming activity. You have to upload thousands of products in the spreadsheets manually that is quite error-prone.

If every individual across the organization managing the data in separate sheets, it creates a huge communication gap. In case data is missing from the spreadsheet, you will end up by presenting wrong and ambiguous information to the customers.

Using a feature-rich product information management system you can upload the data in bulk. Moreover, it improves the accuracy of spreadsheets and allows to create workflows too.

6. Handling cluttered digital assets

While managing a wide range of products you might need to create and manage varied product videos, marketing visuals, presentations, manuals, photos, and many other digital resources on a regular basis. Thus, you have to manage a huge pile of digital assets.

All these digital files and archives are very important to your business. If you fail in managing them in an organized way, then it will be difficult for you to sort and retrieve the relevant product information whenever required. It is better to manage all your digital assets in a library, in a consolidated way.

Using a robust PIM solution, you can easily manage and sort numerous data such as videos, marketing data, product attributes, etc. in a centralized platform. It becomes smoother to find and retrieve the exact information when you need it.

7. Lack of supplier communication

You need to set up a communication platform where you can update the suppliers about the launch of the new products, changes in your requirements and regulations, provide updates about the existing products, and more.

There are chances the data may be in the wrong format, incomplete, and misspelled. If you obtain such data, then you will have an inadequate and incorrect product listing. You need to correct the data before publishing it on your eCommerce website. Editing of such inappropriate data takes considerable effort and time.

Product Information Management system works as a portal that allows you to interact with your vendors seamlessly. It allows you to deal with an emergency situation and problems as well as streamlines your supply chain.

Smooth communication with the suppliers helps you improve the time to market your product by ensuring the authenticity of the product information at the same time.

8. Product launch cycle delays

The manual product information management ends up you with manual tasks, unorganized product catalog, cluttered information, and so on. It directly impacts on your product launch lifecycle. Your product launch could be delayed.

For the success of any business, timely product launch is very essential. The organizations should have better control over the product’s lifecycle and a perfect vision about the end product in order to gain higher productivity.

The next generation PIM solution provides you a dashboard that enables you with a consolidated view of your product data. You can track all the updates and have a holistic view of all your product information.

Moreover, a PIM solution helps your sales and marketing team know which are ready to market products and which sales channels are more suitable to display them. Thus, the platform offers enriched product information and timely product launch that eventually increases sales and delivers better customer experiences.

How Credencys Addresses Product Information Management Challenges using Pimcore?

Credencys has proven experience and expertise to build custom product information management solution as per your custom business needs. To deliver a robust solution, we utilized the advanced features and functionalities of Pimcore’s Product Information Management.

We have a team of Pimcore developers who help you to embrace digital transformation for your eCommerce store by harnessing end-to-end Pimcore development services. We can build a solution that collects the data from different channels, enables you with the consolidated view of product data, and allows you to deliver the contextual product information to your customers.

Are you ready to drive a paradigm shift in your business by replacing your manual product information management process with a PIM solution? Let’s Connect

Frequently Asked Questions on Product Information Management

What is Product Information Management?

Product Information Management is also known as PIM. The advanced PIM pal forms allow you to manage the massive product data that required to sell and promote products through multiple distribution channels. It allows you to manage all your product data and digital assets in a centralized location. It can also collect, manage, and refine the data efficiently to generate effective output.

What is a Product Information Management solution?

The PIM solution enables businesses with a single platform where you can collect, manage, and enrich your product information, distribute them on different customer touchpoints and sales channels, and create an engaging product catalog.

How does Product Information Management work?

Product Information management allows you to manage all your product data, content, and other resources in a centralized place that you can use to market and sell your products. The solution also provides high-quality data to ensure your staff can use it for multiple sales channels or internal use.

What are the best Product Information Management solutions?

There is a lot of Product Information Management software available in the market but most of them are expensive. Here are a few cost-effective PIM solutions that you can consider for your business. The best PIM solutions are Pimcore, Akeneo, EnterWorks, PIMworks, Stibo Systems, Agility Multichannel, Salsify, and more.

5 Reasons To Choose Flutter for On-Demand Grocery App Development

As the entire world is stubbing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, people across the globe are forced to be in a lockdown situation. Because of the lockdown, people currently spend more time on their smartphones. For many, the smartphone became their entertaining platform and also acted as a tool for connecting their loved ones. Though the COVID-19 pandemic has a severe impact on all industries, mobile app development is facing the mixed result of this coronavirus attack. Yes! You heard it right; the on demand grocery app development has been its peak during this ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The main reason could be the shyness of people to contact another person in public due to the spread of COVID-19 disease.

Why On-demand Grocery App Development?

We all know how much impact created by the existing grocery app in the US market particularly Instacart, Bigbasket, Grofers, and so on. On analyzing those data experts have already predicted that the future of on demand grocery app development will continue to bloom. However, this COVID-19 pandemic has made that prediction come true. Now people around the globe are seeking the aid of online demand grocery apps for purchasing their groceries right from their home.

Believe it or not! In the entire United States, eCommerce sales the online grocery app manages to grab a 2.8% sale that makes the on-demand grocery app as one of the fastest-growing technologies. Meanwhile, the eMarket has released its research data which illuminate the total number of online grocery shoppers in 2018 as 18 million and estimated online grocery shoppers in 2020 could reach around 30 million. Now, this COVID-19 disease will surely make that prediction true well before the target period.

Why Do People Prefer On-Demand Grocery App?

Here are the lists of reasons which trigger people to go for the on-demand grocery app for their family needs.

  • Minimizing Shopping Time: The online grocery app eliminates the time spent reaching a traditional store and standing in line for billing purchased groceries. Now with the arrival of online grocery people can shop their grocery right from sitting on couches.
  • Easy Tracking: Apart from removing all those annoying things involved in a traditional way of grocery shopping, the online grocery app provides the convenience of easy tracking by which buyers can easily track their ordered items.
  • Easy to Analyze Customer Behavior: For every business customer behavior model is essential to deliver what customer exactly wants. This online grocery app helps business owners a lot to deliver the essential services which are needed by the customer after analyzing their behavior from their previous orders.
  • Easy Categorization of Products: Online grocery apps enable customers to view the products listed in perfect categorization which allows them to navigate easily across the thousands of grocery products.

Developing On-demand Grocery App

If you are planning to step into the business of mobile application development, then it’s the right time to make things done. Online grocery app could be the right category to pick to attract more target audiences around the world. However, you should be aware of certain factors before getting started into the development of on demand grocery app.

To avail of success in the mobile app development industry, the first thing you should concentrate on is the concept of the mobile app. The next thing should be the platform in which you decided to develop your mobile app. When it comes to developing on demand grocery apps, picking the cross-platform app development would be the right choice.

In the cross-platform mobile app development, Google’s portable software development kit Flutter is the most preferred one and also a game-changer.

Features To Include on Grocery App

  • Real-Time Tracking
  • Easy & Secured Multiple Payment Options
  • Live AI Chats
  • Easy Add-To-Cart Facility
  • Easy Order History Review
  • Easy & Beautiful User Interface

Why Choose Flutter SDK For Developing Grocery App?

Flutter is the product of Google introduced in 2017 and uses Dart language for developing an app. The dart language is almost similar to Java, so the learning curve of this dart language won’t be a tough call for the developers.

The coding processes of the dart language consist of both iOS and Android toolchain to develop apps in a specific mobile platform. The flutter app development does make developers feel more comfortable and convenient but also it delivers better-performing apps. In addition to that, here are the few more reasons that make flutter SDK the most preferred one for start-up companies.

  • Simple and Fast User Interface Design that can be customized easily.
  • Dart Programming Language is an open-source, because of that developers can develop apps in cross-platform.
    It offers a wide range of widgets that can be easily inherited.
  • The entire architecture of Google’s SDK is almost similar to the existing popular React Native SDK.
  • Using Flutter SDK developers can develop the same app on multiple platforms at a time, this eventually makes the app development process much faster than others.
  • Flutter allows developers to make use of the automated tests; owing to that building an app with flutter makes testing and maintaining operations at a cheap cost.

Wondering about how to make an app with flutter? Well here are the few things you need to be aware of developing an effective mobile application is cross-platform using Flutter SDK.

  • First, you need to pick the right Idea for developing a mobile application
  • Next, pick the right type of application to develop
  • Choose the essential features to be integrated with your app
  • Finally, do automated testing that leads to cheap testing cost

Moreover, as per the experts’ prediction, the approximate cost for developing an ideal on-demand grocery app using Flutter SDK might be around half of the price of hiring an app developer. In general, the cost of hiring a mobile app developer starts from $20k to $50K.

List of 5 Reasons That Makes Flutter As The Ideal Choice For On-Demand Grocery App Development

1. Open-source And Single Codebase:

Just like JAVA, Google’s Flutter is also an open-source language that makes it more User Friendly and can be accessed easily. Besides, Flutter SDK has a single codebase because of that writers can write coding once and are able to run it on multiple platforms. In simple words, developers can develop all using flutter and run it on both Android and iOS platforms.

2. Amazing Fabrications of Widgets

With the aid of the IntelliJ plugin, developers are able to integrate numerous beautiful and functional widgets to their applications. By using those wide ranges of widgets in a flutter, app developers create amazing UI/UX designed mobile applications.

3. Allows To Easy Editing

The presence of SCM services along with the Android Studio and Visual Studio Code, Flutter allows developers to edit their application coding in real-time at ease by using the Hot-reload feature and also it allows developers to do smarter and quicker completions.

4. Better Performance

Mobile applications that are developed by Google’s SDK Flutter deliver better performance than many SDK’s. This is mainly because of Flutter’s tendency of enabling mobile applications to provide native performance at 60FPS which is faster than several existing SDKs in the market.

5. Easy To Learn

Though Google introduced its Flutter SDK in 2017 which is the latest trend in the market, the programming language used in flutter Dart language is almost similar to open-source language JAVA. Because of that, developers won’t feel any difficulty learning. Moreover, developers are able to create native-like mobile applications without using any native languages for development.

Bottom Line:

Though flutter SDK is pretty young in the market, yet several developers across the world started to use it for developing better performing applications. To match the current trend prevailing in the market, several top companies like NineHertz, Google Ads, Hookle, Tallium Inc., Alibaba, and so had already switched to Google’s SDK Flutter for their apps. On considering those, we can easily conclude as flutter has a bright future in the coming days. Also, Google’s immense marketing tactics are going to be a massive factor for the upcoming success of Flutter SDK.

Frequently Answered Questions

1. Why Choose Online Grocery App Instead of Grocery Store?

Since, buyers can enjoy the convenience in using an online grocery app along with few other factors like timing and money-saving, easy shopping, a wide range of product categorization, and so prefers it over the traditional grocery store.

2. How Many Types Are There in Grocery Apps?

Here are the lists of most common online grocery mobile app

  • Aggregators
  • Marketplaces
  • Single Stores
  • Grocery Chains
  • Personalized Grocery Apps

3. How Long It Will Take To Develop an Ideal Online Grocery App?

Choosing Flutter SDK for on-demand grocery app development would cost less time. Well-versed developers can complete the development process in 1 or 2 months.

4. How App Owners Make Money Using Grocery App?

Depending upon the grocery app business model, owners can earn money by placing sponsored ads, adding delivery/convenience fee, paid listing, and so apart from the general grocery products revenue.

Android 11 – Important Features to Consider for Next Mobile app Development

We all love Android because it is amazing. With the development of mobile technology, the Android operating system has also been showing great improvement since its inception. Recently, Google the makers of Android has released its latest 11th version of its Mobile OS and the Android 11 features are just amazing.

Android 10 created a new era in the operating system environment and brought success to Google’s approach to the same. By applying the same principles, the Android 11 preview has been announced, which is likely to be launched in the mid of May 2020. The features are set as per the developer’s preview announcement and a lot more features can be set in the due course.

Android 10 features were amazing and let us see how Android 11 features are going to create excitement among users, stakeholders, app owners, and developers. It is expected that with Android 11, a new vision can be seen in Android app development. With new features in Android app development, the way developers build an app is definitely going to take a turn. This blog shows you what this new version can support Android new app development features.

List of Attractive Android 11 features

1. New and more improvements for messaging

Although the previous versions of Android have certain messaging features, Android 11 brings in few unique features that impress the crowd.

  • Now you can hide all your sent conversations inside a bubble with Android 11’s chat bubble feature. It appears on the side of your message window screen and you can move those bubbles around to reveal your previous conversations required whenever.
  • To ensure that all your messages are being sent and as a sort of confirmation, Android 11 gives you a dedicated conversation section in the notification bar, to view all your on-going conversations.
  • Wow! You can now send images while replying to a message from notifications with Android 11.

2. One-time permission

Android 10 gave users the privilege of controlling and managing app permissions. The same feature is carried forward to Android 11 as well. But this time, the app registers the user’s permission one time and retains it as long as the user stays and uses the app. Once the user logs out, the permission gets revoked.

3. Screen recorder by default

This feature is long expected by Android users and waiting for Google to launch it. Though it is a basic feature that Google could have launched in its previous versions, it did not happen. This time it is happening with Android 11 by providing a smooth user interface for audio call recording, though sometimes it is annoying.

4. Multi-screen adaptability

Until now in the Android era, there had not been any implementation of screen size adaptability for foldable smartphones, whereas Android 11 in this 2020 is going to bring that change widely. Now users will enjoy using foldable smartphones with a great enhancement of all running at different screen sizes and resolutions.

5. Getting ready to meet 5G

By this time, the world should have been running around 5Gtechnology, but with coronavirus pandemic, it has slightly taken a step off from its launch. Yet, Android 11 is making itself compatible to work on 5G when introduced. The special feature that Android 11 has for 5G compatibility is Dynamic Meterdness API, which will be auto-installed and later becomes adaptive when 5G comes into range. Your device automatically detects a 5G network and allows you to access the Internet with unlimited speed.

These are really amazing features that Android lovers were waiting for, and it is going to be available in real.

Benefits of Migrating your apps to Android 11

Android 11 features cater to three categories as per the developer’s preview documentation–behavior changes, privacy features, and new features & APIs. But these categories carry certain pointers that impact the performance of an application.

1. Users get the privilege of restricting app permissions when the dialog box appears

Android 11 has been developed by understanding the user’s mindset of accepting or denying app permission. If the user clicks Deny twice, then the app will never ask for permission and displays Don’t ask me again but lets you access the app features.

2. The usage activity of your app status will be maintained at the privacy

Security to users will be favored by Android 11 by protecting the user’s app usage statistics in an encrypted storage format with strong credentials. Neither the app nor any other system can access these statistics unless someone applies a strong coding to break it in.

3. Reduces data redundancy to a great extent

This is amazing because only developers were able to use this technology during developing the same type of app, somehow using the ReactNative and similar kind of application. They can use the same features for different platforms using this tool. Similarly, now similar types of app used by Android lovers take space of one app and feature the other.

4. Provides great clarity on app process exit reasons

Android 11 now brings proper reasons whenever an app crashes to the app owners so that it can be rectified immediately before it happens to other users.

5. Ensures fastest APK installation

If your app has a large APK file to be installed, the previous versions of Android could not cope with the speed of using apps. But Android 11 will break that hurdle and accelerates the installation process by providing enough APK files required to launch the app successfully.

6. Supports neural network applications immensely

If your app works on neural and network applications, then Android 11 is here to make it work smoothly. With Google taking its effort through Android 11 by running all your machine learning apps on all Android devices, you will be able to bring your AI project management process in scope and create more and more advancements in technology.

7. Has a great infrastructure allocation to avail benefits out of 5G once implemented

We all have been experiencing the fastest internet through 4G and now with Android 11 having space for 5G, going to offer you a superfast Internet with full support to technology. Businesses can reach their heightened level and users get a wonderful experience of using Android 11.

Conclusion:

Android 11 features will definitely amaze developers, businesses, users and Google itself. Companies have to prep themselves to adapt themselves to the new version of technology when released because they get enough time before it is launched. Companies should be able to face and be proactive with their competitors; otherwise, it is going to be hectic to get along with the updating trend in technology. Hoping you will feel joyous by knowing Android 11 features and feel free to share your comments anytime to our e-mail id. If you wish to know more technical updates, keep reading our blog site frequently or if you require clarity on any technology-related topics, write to us; we will come up with the relevant information.

Frequently asked questions

1. When Android 11 will be launched officially?

Though the exact date has not been known yet, Google has planned to launch Android 11 in the mid of May 2020, but due to the current pandemic COVID-19, it might be postponed to September 2020. So you can keep watching the Internet for a software update.

2. What are the best features of Android 11?

A few were explained in this blog previously, still to recollect, these are the few more exciting Android 11 features that you have to know about.

  • Scheduled dark theme
  • Chat head bubbles
  • One-time permission
  • Screen recording
  • Motion sense gesture
  • Share menu pinning
  • Airdrop-style file sharing
  • New APIs
  • Resume on Boot

3. How migrating to Android 11 will benefit developers?

Users always love to use apps that are modernized with technology because most of them live on their phones for almost 16 to 18 hours of time. So migrating to the better version from your current one is always going to give a better user interface experience to users. Users should not be disappointed and they always like to stay in tune with using the latest technology.

4. What are the new features, API & security that Android 11 contains?

Android 11 offers three different types of API into usage.

  • Display cut-out API: This API brings in curved and waterfall screens onto your phone which is new in Android.
  • Bubbles API: This API makes sure that your long conversations are protected inside a bubble. Messaging and chat apps on your device should use this in Android 11 when upgraded.
  • Neural networks API 1.3: This API ensures the smooth running of apps based out of machine learning on Android devices. It caters few operational APIs such as Quality of Service APIs for ensuring priority and timeout for model implementation, Memory Domain APIs for reducing copying of memory and transformation of the next model implementation and extended quantization support for enlarged coding.

What is the Future of React Native? Here is everything that you should Know

In the last few years, the mobile application market has shown some unprecedented growth that was never experienced earlier. The emergence of relatively cheaper and capable smartphones is said to be the biggest reason behind the growing popularity of the mobile app market. In recent days, React Native has emerged as one of the frontline frameworks to develop mobile applications. But, many people ask the question like what is the Future of React Native? Is it going to sustain for a long period or collapse like most other JavaScript frameworks? Let’s try to find a genuine answer for such valid questions. Here, you will know the future of React Native from every possible perspective. But, before rushing to the theme of this article, here are some basic details about the React Native.

A Brief Introduction about React Native

If you are new to the mobile application building, it is genuine to ask questions like what is react native & how does react native work. React Native is an open-source JavaScript framework that helps to build the User Interface (UI) for the mobile application. The framework can be effectively used for both Android and iOS app making. It was in 2015 when the popular JavaScript framework introduced to the highly competitive market, and later it turned out to be a game-changer. In today’s market, several popular industry leaders choose to React Native for building their mobile apps.

Here is a list of market leaders who are using React Native for building their application.

React Native is here to stay!

There are two major reasons to back the future of React Native. In the last decade, smartphones replaced the computer to become the primary computing device for the majority of the users. The evolution of the smartphone market can be seen in the growth of revenues generated by applications. In the first half of 2019, Apple’s App Store and Google Play Store generated a combining revenue of whopping $39 billion, which is around 15% higher than that of 2018. Thanks to the growing demand, you can expect a similar or even higher growth rate in the near future. The growing demand for the mobile application is going to help all the app making frameworks, including the React Native.

If you are following the app making industry, you must have noticed that several such popular platforms experience sudden fall due to their inability to adopt the continuously changing technology. But, the same cannot be the case with React Native, as the platform is backed by none other than Facebook. Besides, React Native has a significantly broader developer community.

Besides, there are multiple unique aspects of this JavaScript framework that makes it a future-proof solution.

What is the future of React Native? Here are the factors that will drive the growth

Here are some unique advantages of using React Native that help the app makers to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Improved Performance

React Native offers improved performance, especially through native control and modules. The open-source framework uses a different thread for native APIs and User Interface; therefore, you can expect a significant improvement in performance in comparison to its rivals like WebView. More often than not, React Native-based applications load relatively quicker, and feels smooth while using.

Reusability of Code makes it a Great Value for Money Option

Generally, mobile app developers required to develop separate applications for the Android and iOS platforms. But, by going with the React Native, you can develop as many as 90% of the framework for both the operating systems using the same code. However, initially, it was meant for iOS application making, but, after looking at the reception, Facebook decided to open it for cross-platform usage.

Such a unique reusability feature makes the app develop a cost-effective solution. Besides, it also helps to save a huge amount of time for the app developing company. In fact, a recent study suggests that the React Native saves around 50%-80% of the total time required for the app making for different platforms. Such effective features assure a bright future of React Native.

Incorporation with Existing Application

React Native development is capable of incorporating its components in existing mobile applications, as well. Besides, you can use the Cordova-based code by taking the help of the plugin. However, the existing application must be created by using Cordova and Ionic code.

Only JavaScript can do the Job for You

React Native only demands expertise in JavaScript. Therefore, you can develop applications both for Android and iOS, without knowing Android Specific Java or Swift, respectively.

Compatibility

Thanks to its open-source framework, in the future, you can see the React Native will be compatible with all the existing platforms, such as iOS, Android, Windows, Virtual Reality helmets, and headsets, tvOS, etc. Such diverse compatibility options will help the framework to grow further in the near future.

Web Applications

Even though smartphone usage is gradually shadowing the use of the computer, for a universal presence, it is always recommended to build a web application. React Native web offers you a full-fledged web application without maintaining multiple code lists.

Fabric: An Evolution is on the Way

React Native is currently working on an ambitious large-scale project, and they are calling it Fabric. Under the Fabric program, they are planning to re-architecture the JavaScript framework. The project aims to make the React Native more flexible. Besides, Fabric will help the React Native framework to integrate with hybrid JavaScript-based infrastructure. Under the project, they are planning three major internal changes which can help the React Native to grow further in the coming future.

1. New threading model

The recent threading model allows each User Interface (UI) update to work on three separate threads. But, the ongoing Fabric project will completely change the existing mechanism, and it enables to call synchronously into JavaScript on any given thread. As a result, the stress on the main thread is going to be reduced considerably without compromising responsiveness.

2. Async rendering capabilities

Under this change, the React Native will have async rendering capabilities. Therefore, it will be easier to handle asynchronous data, and further, allow multiple rendering priorities

3. Simplified bridge

They are planning to build a fresh simplified bridge, which will improve the direct calling between JavaScript and native. Besides, it will further simplify in building various debugging tools.

One of the experts who is currently working on the Fabric project revealed that they are implementing the lessons that they have learned in their last five years. When it is implemented properly, the framework will be more efficient and modern. However, the existing React Native-based applications are going to be functional with no or few changes, which is indeed a piece of good news.

Conclusion

If you were one among those who were asking what is the future of React Native, hopefully, you got your answer. From the recent position, the future of React Native looks good. A large number of developers and reusability of code played an important role in the growing popularity of the React Native. Over the last five years, the framework has emerged as the favourite option for mobile application developers across the platforms. Besides, the ongoing Fabric project is going to be massive for the overall framework.

Frequently asked questions

1. What are the important features of React Native?

There are a number of unique features on the React Native. However, the reuse of code for multiple operating systems, such as the Android and iOS seems to be the most important feature of the framework. It helps the application developer to save money and time. Besides, its top-notch performance will always drive footfall to the framework.

2. Can I run my React Native application on the web, and React app work on a smartphone?

Sadly, No. You cannot run. The code for the React Native web relies on Web browsers. Similarly, the code designed for the React Native is dependent on the features given in the mobile platforms. Therefore, it is not practical to run the web application on smartphone and vice versa. However, you can use some of the React Native codes while making the React Native web.

3. What is the Future of React Native?

The future looks bright from here. The ongoing Fabric project is capable of changing the face of the framework. Besides, its large number of developers and multi-platform support is going to drive more users in the future, as well.

4. Do the React Native applications for iOS and Android look the same?

As both the platforms offer completely different sets of features, in most occasions, the applications look different. Though it is quite possible, developers prefer to follow the guidelines mentioned for the UI by the platform.

8 Must Have Features of Product Information Management System

Businesses use Product Information Management (PIM) solutions not only to manage the crucial product information in a consolidated way but also to deliver groundbreaking customer experiences.

Robust PIM systems allow organizations to manage product information easily and effectively as well as deliver accurate, multichannel, rich and complete product content to the customers anytime, anywhere.

It simplifies your life by allowing sorting the important product data in one platform. You can also have detailed insights into other sensitive data that goes along with product information.

Enabling companies with a centralized view of extensive product information, PIM helps them to gain value out of amplifying the volume of suppliers, assents and material and part data is crucial.

Well, to manage the product content and deliver the improved experiences to the customers, PIM consists of many advanced features.

This blog post unveils the essential features that you have to consider while choosing a ready to use the Product Information Management solution or developing a custom PIM system for your business.

Top 8 Important Features to Consider in Product Information Management Solution

1. Bulk Editing

Editing the product information that is available on multiple distribution channels is a very vital task. If you follow manual or traditional ways for product data editing, then you need to invest a lot of time and effort into information editing across all the distribution platforms, one after another.

PIM system allows businesses to edit the product data cumulatively. It helps launch the product information on different channels and platforms, with better consistency.

The solution saves a lot of time that your team spends on manual data editing so that your team can focus on more creative, productive and complex tasks.

2. Catalog Management

Product Information Management system allows you to create new catalogs, define promotions, offers, and discounts, and determine the catalog specific pricing parameters with just a few clicks.

The multi-tenant enterprises can create and share the catalog across subsites, commerce teams, and multiple vendors. Leverage the streamlined catalog management and merchandising using a robust PIM solution for your online business.

3. Product Content Localization

The best PIM solution allows you to present your product content across the globe with a high level of localization. It helps you publish your product information in the preferred language, currency, and dialect of your target audience.

To enable you with the location facility, the PIM system contains globalization tools that apply localization depending on the region of the viewer. If you want to expand your business across the globe, then do not underestimate the location feature.

4. Product Data Modeling

With the help of this feature, you can create a custom product data model quickly and easily.

A product data model is related to the product information, its characteristics and attributes, and how it relates to other data. While designing a custom product data model for your organization, you need to understand how it addresses the frequently changing market demand.

Go for a PIM system that enables you with highly flexible data modeling that can be scalable as your business grows. The important aspects of product data modeling are multilingual data management, Object relation, classification standards, digital asset management, and data inheritance.

5. Data Distribution & Syndication

Product Information Management system allows you to share your product data consistently and seamlessly across all offline and digital sales channels, consumer-facing apps, and business systems.

It syndicates your product information automatically, regardless of language, location, currency and format using advanced connectors. Thus, you do not need to integrate and use unnecessary data distribution tools.

6. Digital Asset Management

Integrate powerful Digital Asset Management (DAM) software in your PIM solution to manage all your digital media such as images, videos, graphics, documents, and other media content in a centralized location.

With DAM software you can create a better digital experience for your customers by integrating, consolidating, and managing any amount and any type of digital assets.

When you associate digital content with the product page, it increases your conversion rate. Moreover, implementation of DAM allows to establish an additional relationship with the digital assets using location, brand ad supplier information.

7. Collaborative Workflow

Embracing the integrated workflow management, you can orchestrate, collaborate and automate your business process based on actions, decisions, and notifications.

To speed up the product time-to-market, the PIM solution allows multiple users to create and edit the product information parallel. Integration of a graphical workflow editor, users can access relevant tasks and content depending on the rule and role-based configurations.

8. User and Right based Management

PIM platform enables businesses with advanced rights management. You can create a fine-tuned and customized interface for each use case and individual users.

You can control who has access to which asset or content and who has the right to edit, delete or download product data. The users can have a personalized and actionable dashboard based on the rules and responsibilities at the module level.

Users are allowed to manage access privileges at the attribute and record level. The PIM system allows to create, delegate, approve and complete the tasks as per user’s privileges and roles.

Credencys Builds Powerful Product Information Management Solution using Pimcore

Credencys uses Pimcore, an open-source platform, to build a custom Product Information Management solution as per the specific business needs of the client. We consider all the above-mentioned features while developing a PIM system.

Offering a complete range of Pimcore development services, our skilled developers build PIM software by integrating required third-party tools, software, and APIs.

We make sure the system does not only allow you to manage your product data seamlessly but also helps you in delivering better customer experience. While developing a PIM solution, we ensure you can publish your product information on a wide variety of platforms such as eCommerce, in-store signage, and print catalog.

Are you ready to invest in a robust PIM solution that contains all these features to enable you with lucrative benefits?

Frequently Asked Questions about Product Data Management

What is a PIM platform?

PIM is a set of tools and processes that manage product information in a centralized repository for your eCommerce business. It ensures you have an accurate and consolidated view of product information. Product Information Management system provides a centralized platform to manage your eCommerce products and services data in a cost-effective way.

What is product content?

Product content is a simple text, images, and other information that a retailer or brand presents to the customer to describe its products ad services. It consists of a product name, description, prices, dimensions, and all the attributes that help consumers to get a better understanding of the item they are viewing.

What is the product information management system?

Product Information Management (PIM) system manages the massive product data that are required to promote and sell the items via distribution channels. The advanced PIM solution supports multilingual data, multiple geographical locations, as well as modification and maintenance of product data within a centralized product catalog.

What does a PIM do?

Product Information Management (PIM) allows businesses to handle all product elated data, content and other material in a centralized repository. It is very essential to market and sell products effectively. PIM also makes sure to create high-quality data that you use for internal purpose or multichannel distribution.

Key Considerations a Healthcare Mobile App Developer Must Keep in Mind

In recent days, the demand and usage of healthcare mobile apps have been increasing along with the growing trend. The latest research by GMC states that in previous days only 30% of doctors were using mobile apps, but now more than 80% of doctors have been using mobile apps as a habitat. The trend has always been growing because the health- care app development streamlines the regular process that happens between a doctor and a patient in terms of managing appointments, creating online medical history, references, digital medication if either or both patients or doctors are unavailable.

If your doctors are busy with other schedules for the day, you get suggestions from him to consult another doctor of the same specialization for temporary treatment if the problem is not that serious. This ensures that you do not miss the rapport between you and your doctor, and at the same time, you get your health problem sorted out. So, there are multiple benefits of having a healthcare mobile app.

But there are certain factors you need to consider before developing a mobile app. Patients do not wish to see glitches in your mobile app; hence you need to do certain analysis before you intend to develop a health care app independently. There are many ways to choose a healthcare app development. You can hire a mobile app developer or outsource it to a healthcare mobile app development company. In the following section, we will see how to develop a healthcare app and factors that you should consider.

Key factors to keep in mind for a healthcare mobile app development

#1: Hardware

Hardware as in devices compatibility is the most essential factor that as a developer you should keep in mind because healthcare mobile apps are mostly used by people who use tablets, smartphones or desktops.
But the major focus goes on tablets according to the statistical data. So you must design and develop your healthcare app compatible with smartphones, which likely to function well on tablets too. You should create features that accommodate a tablet but should be good to go with your smartphones as well. Similarly, apps designed for iPhones work fine on iPads if they are not any control-based apps.

#2: Interoperability

Interoperability plays an important role in healthcare app development because the app you develop should satisfy all the features or activities that the hospital is currently taking care of. Most hospitals prefer standalone software and transforming that into a mobile app because they consider that their everyday activities should resemble the app and the patients who use their app should not find it indifferent.

Hence hospitals do not opt for cloud hosting and hang on to traditional hosting that helps them save huge money spent on cloud and also maintain their everyday process. So make sure that your app should be able to overwrite this interoperability and provide hospitals the best product.

#3: UI/UX demands

The user experience design and the user interface design play a crucial role in deciding the success of your healthcare mobile app. This highly influences both doctors and patients with respect to app design and navigation interface. Make sure that the app you develop is user-friendly and has options that make patients fill in the required details hassle-free and for doctors to go through their patient’s records on/off the appointments.

Many times, you may overlook the patient’s aspect of looking at the mobile app. They use healthcare mobile app in vulnerable situations; so you should be more careful with the font style and size, text pattern, colors, negative picture posting, etc. which could worry them from using the app. Be it the doctor or the patient, if they get into your app, they should read through and enjoy multiple options you have come up with and explore the app.

#4: Application programming interface components

An application programming interface (API) is a tool that acts as a medium to execute a specific task with the software or in other terms, carries out interaction with the software module you have designed for your dedicated healthcare mobile app. If you have noticed in any social networking apps or advertisements, when you log in for the first time, it asks for your authentication to access some files from your device. The same module is required for a healthcare mobile app as well to connect your device to a remote server that accesses the central patient’s repository, particularly for patients engaging solutions.

Also, APIs are required to allow vendors and suppliers to get in touch with you for business expansion. So you may require more APIs depending on the complexity of your mobile app design. However, not all APIs have the same functionality and you need not allow all of them.

#5: Repeated process development

Your app development should have the quality of carrying out iterations in processes, which is expected by many users because most popular applications and software have been developed using iterations. It is recommended that you follow an agile program to deliver software codes in an iterative manner. Usually, a healthcare app development company for its users performs this process.

#6: Information security

Many app developers do not follow the habit of storing their app data in the device for some security reasons. It should be stored on the app server, which is generally managed by the hospital system administrator. As they do not allow more APIs into their application, it becomes easy for hackers or other third-party or even developers to access their data. Hence while you code, ensure the entire data is encrypted so that you need not experience a security or data breach.

#7: Minimum viable product

It is the most basic factor that relates to work in a production setting. Your customers are more concerned about the cost they invest in developing a healthcare mobile app. When investing all your capital in the MVP, you should be more aware of the additions and outcomes of the app you develop. Your customers may send you frequent feedback which you should consider as priority and important as well and work on those things to deliver an exceptional product. At any stage, you should not get stuck anywhere when the app is in the development stage.

#8: Platform Security

Android developers demonstrate that though Android is a good platform to work on when it comes to security, it is quite vulnerable. When compared to iOS, Android does not provide the required security to the data of users. Not many lawyers are favored towards developers launching an application for Android users. But you cannot help with it because more than iOS phones, we have more Android smartphones in usage, and Android smartphone manufacturers are also trying to fill the hole and make it safe. So try to code it in a manner that at least sensitive information of patients does not go out.

#9: App testing

You should develop a framework that can be tested again and again before you give your customers a finished product. Several technologies have come into existence that allows you to change the required coding part alone without revamping the entire app design and development. So you can opt for such applications or software and perform multiple app testing to find bugs and errors at the beginning itself.

Conclusion:

The need for developing a healthcare mobile app is growing. As a developer, I hope this blog has offered you sufficient information on how to proceed with mobile app development. You shall write to us or reach us for any queries on app development if required.

Frequently asked questions

1. Which platforms can I develop a healthcare mobile app?

There are two to three platforms that you can rely upon. As most of the smartphone users have Android followed by iOS and then a very few Windows, you can develop a great healthcare mobile app for Android, iOS and Windows smartphone users.

2. What would be the average duration to develop a healthcare mobile app?

The average time it may take to create an enterprise-level app would be at least 2 to 3 weeks, but the actual time to develop a healthcare app depends on the complexity of features and user design experience.

3. How many stages does a healthcare mobile app development include?

Mobile app development consists of three stages. The first stage would be planning that involves understanding your business and your motive behind developing a mobile app and developing a wireframe solution. In the second stage, the design and development cycle of the app will be carried out wherein you bring in images, sound effects, videos, etc. In the same stage, you carry out testing of the app before the launch. The final stage of the app has its launching followed by its marketing and promotion.

4. How much will it cost for developing a Healthcare mobile app?

As mentioned previously, the cost of an app depends on the app preferences, choosing the backend and front end application and software usage, manpower and complexity of features you would like to bring in.


What Is Product Experience Management (PxM)? Explore Everything About PxM

Gone are the days when customers make a purchase just by going through a product catalog available on your eCommerce store. You cannot satisfy them by addressing their requirements. Instead of just products, they have started considering experiences delivered by your brand.

The eCommerce space is getting more and more challenging as the customers constantly demand a compelling experience. They want easy, personalized, and contextualized experiences for your eCommerce platform while making a buying decision.

And, Product Experience Management helps you enable your customers with a delightful shopping experience. Shoppers look for ample information about products to make sure whether the product is what they intended to buy.

Retailers can offer superior experiences to the consumers by embracing Product Information Management solutions that eventually help them to achieve stronger brand loyalty, increased conversions, improved customer satisfaction, and reduced return.

Now, you might have many questions about the Product Experience Management. This post will offer you almost every information that is essential for you to consider PxM for your business.

Let’s start the journey together to unveil all essentials of PxM.

What Is Product Experience Management (PxM)?

Product Experience Management is a modern multi-channel strategy that focuses on customer interaction to enable them with delightful buying experience they are opting for. It ensures your product information is complete, relevant, and accurate and available to your customers on time at their preferred channels and touchpoints.

In simple words, Product Experience Management is a process to deliver the right product information to the right customer at the right moment via the right device or touchpoint.

The foundation of Product Experience Management is to deliver a great customer experience. It enables organizations with the offer the right data and insights about the type of product experience that buyers are looking for.

Additionally, PxM helps you to leverage omnichannel eCommerce by allowing customers to shop online and pick the product from the store.

In short, PxM provides you all the information relayed to your products and customer that allows you to deliver personalized, social powered, omnichannel or multichannel, customer-centric, and search guided experiences that engage and convert the shoppers.

3 Core Ingredients of Product Experience Management

To enable customers with the exact information they are looking for, you need to define the below listed three areas.

Content

Create your product content in such a way that helps buyers find your products and understand exactly what they will receive while they make a purchase. In product information, you need to display the right product information, material, videos, photos, colors, dimensions, shipping details, and more.

Context

This is the key Crux of PxM that helps you in creating and delivering relevant and personalized experience about your product. You need to explore all the different ways your shoppers are searching for your product. Also, you have to optimize all the assets that might affect their experience across all different touchpoints, devices, and channels.

Optimization

Keep track of your product performance and continuously apply A/B testing in order to improve your customer experience on an ongoing basis.

What capabilities you should consider in the Product Experience Management solution?

Data Collection

You can collect product data from the different internal and external sources of your organization. But, to access this data, you need to use PxM with different connectors or APIs that have import capabilities t collect the data from various applications. The robust PxM solutions trace product content from trusted sources.

If you want to have a Product Experience Management solution for your retail business, then find out the one with inbuilt capabilities of data collection. It helps to on-board product data from your supplier and improves time to market of your product.

Data Standardization

Once you collect the data from different touchpoints or channels, you need to standardize it and create a single record. A consolidated view of the data enables you with profound insight into your product performance and customer behavior.

Select a PxM solution that allows you to populate product attributes based on the standardized data using business rules. Also, make sure the solution contains a validation workflow to deliver accurate data.

Data Enrichment

Data enrichment is the key part of any powerful PxM system where not only text attributes but also images of the product also get enriched. The solution should be capable to enrich the product by location, by channel, and in the correct context.

Data Contextualization

Contextualization is all about making your product information relevant to the buyers. To enable customers with the correct context, you need to ask below questions to yourself.

  • Where will your customers interact to access the product information?
  • What languages do they prefer to read?
  • Are all the images or videos relevant to all the markets you are targeting or you need to use different images and videos for different countries or markets?

If you really care about customer experience, then you cannot underestimate to populate contextual and relevant product data for each channel and each location. It is very essential to deliver a compelling product experience to the customers. In fact, it helps you establish an emotional connection with your buyers.

Data Distribution

Well, after performing the above listed four processes, your product information is accurate, complete and in context. Now, your PxM solution can deploy your product catalog on different channels.

Integrated APIs, connectors, and export profiles make the Product Experience Management a complete solution to build a catalog that works for all channels such as marketplaces, eCommerce store, vocal assistance, POS, print, and more.

How to Make Product Experience Management Significant for Your Business?

Contextualization and personalization become mainstream

Personalization is key.

Without getting a detailed understanding of customers’ buying journey and consumer behavior, it’s quite impossible to address their unpredictable needs in real-time. To inspire customers to take action, it is very essential to deliver them valuable and relevant product information.

To enable shoppers with contextual product information, you can use the PxM solution that helps you to measure, optimize and deliver personalized experiences.

To deliver better product experience, you need to understand the context in which customer product interaction. If the product holds emotional significance for the customers in the context of their problems or challenges, then you can quickly grab their attention.

Marketers are using different contextual technologies to identify customer interests and desires and use the data to get customer attention.

Integration of AI & ML help understand customer interests

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are the hottest technologies these days.

Artificial Intelligence

If we talk about AI, Product Experience Management solutions are also using these technologies to fetch a lot of information about your product and learn about how the customers repeatedly engage with the site searches.

Till the time PIM receives data with the help of AI, PIM continuously collection information about products based on the criteria and relationship set within the solution.

Leveraging smart search, AI provides you more insights about customer preferences and choices. Consumer inputs help you to bring up a more specific product and allow you to offer what is being asked by them.

Thus, PxM helps you establish a relationship between product and customer. But, to make AI work effectively, you need to fetch information from the PxM in a highly organized manner.

Machine Learning

ML enables you with the contextual knowledge for product categories. This data could be related to a particular customer segment or an individual buyer. The technology majorly helps you to predict possible buying scenarios and keep updating the predictions as and when the new data is available.

Product Experience Management starts with Product Information Management

Technically, PIM is the base of PxM. Without product information, it is not possible to establish a relation between products and customers. But, PxM solutions are completely different from PIM systems.

PxM allows retailers to respond effectively to the challenging needs of all customers and different channels. Eventually, it allows you to deliver a great product experience that adds new customers and retains the existing one.

With the help of API led connectivity and personalization engine, PxM can deliver the product content whenever and wherever customers demand it. Product Experience Management solutions improve customer’s trust and boost sales.

Furthermore, the solutions help your digital marketing and eCommerce teams to achieve improved time to market and better business growth.

Drive customer loyalty by offering emotional experiences

Appealing to user’s needs is no more helping you to grow your business. Retailers have to deliver emotional experiences.

When there are a lot of options available for the same product, the customers become more choosey. They browse the product information for hours before making a buying decision. But, when they do not get satisfactory information, they buy nothing.

Before buying a product, customers tend to analyze the product quality and worth as per the standards defined by them. Thus, every single Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) impacts their purchasing decision.

When the time of discovery turns into a moment of buying, along with revenue, it improves buyers’ perception of your brand and boosts brand recall. If the customers face disappointment during the phase of product discovery, there are high chances of losing the prospect.

The fact is, the market is highly competitive as many brands offer the same products to the customers. So, if you miss a customer touchpoint or product content, it directly costs you to lose a buyer along with the customer lifetime value.

Benefits of Product Experience Management Solution

Connecting customer data and product data, Product Experience Management helps you to understand your customers in a better way so that you can personalize your services, interactions, and communication on an individual level. Here are a few most essential benefits of PxM.

  • Offering the right product information to the right customer at the right moment through the right channel, you can improve the omnichannel experience for the buyers.
  • PxM solution allows you to target product information more effectively and precisely by providing information about where your customer is and what device they are using to explore the product information.
  • You can provide more meaningful and relevant purchase recommendations as you know about what your customers are looking for and which product can address their needs.
  • Improve your relationship with suppliers as you can connect information about the suppliers with information about the products delivered by them.
  • Suggesting relevant products to the customers, you can earn a good volume of discounts from suppliers and/or drive up a good price margin. It helps you to make the products available in the stock.

Why Retailers Should Consider Product Experience Management of Pimcore?

Consider Product Experience Management of Pimcore

Pimcore is all in one solution that consists of multiple solutions under one roof. You can use its different solutions separately as per your requirement as well as you can use them together to build a complete business solution.

To deliver an excellent product Experience, the open-source platform allows you to utilize its different solutions including PIM, DAM, MDM, CMS, Customer Data Platform, and Digital Commerce Platform.

Connecting all these different components of Pimcore, you can build an experience manger that enables you to provide the right product information to the right customer at the right time through the preferred channels and devices.

How Credencys Can Help Retailers develop a Product Experience Management Solution Using Pimcore?

Being a strategic partner of Pimcore, Credencys has proven expertise in developing robust solutions by using the different components of Pimcore separately and together. We have a team of skilled developers who are trained by Pimcore and offer you end-to-end Pimcore development services to develop and deliver a robust web and mobile solutions as per your specific business needs.

Let’s work together to build a product experience management solution that helps you attain all your business objectives by enabling you will all product data and customer data.