{"global":{"lastError":{},"locale":"en","locales":{"data":[{"id":"de","name":"Deutsch"},{"id":"en","name":"English"}],"loading":false,"error":false},"currency":{"id":49,"name":"EUR"},"currencies":{"data":[{"id":49,"name":"EUR"},{"id":124,"name":"RUB"},{"id":153,"name":"UAH"},{"id":155,"name":"USD"}],"loading":false,"error":false},"translations":{"company":{"role-vendor":{"ru":"Производитель","_type":"localeString","en":"Vendor"},"role-supplier":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Supplier","ru":"Поставщик"},"products-popover":{"de":"die produkte","ru":"Продукты","_type":"localeString","en":"Products"},"introduction-popover":{"en":"introduction","ru":"внедрения","_type":"localeString"},"partners-popover":{"ru":"партнеры","_type":"localeString","en":"partners"},"update-profile-button":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Update profile","ru":"Обновить профиль"},"read-more-button":{"ru":"Показать ещё","_type":"localeString","en":"Show more"},"hide-button":{"en":"Hide","ru":"Скрыть","_type":"localeString"},"user-implementations":{"ru":"Внедрения","_type":"localeString","en":"Deployments"},"categories":{"en":"Categories","ru":"Компетенции","_type":"localeString"},"description":{"ru":"Описание","_type":"localeString","en":"Description"},"role-user":{"_type":"localeString","en":"User","ru":"Пользователь"},"partnership-vendors":{"en":"Partnership with vendors","ru":"Партнерство с производителями","_type":"localeString"},"partnership-suppliers":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Partnership with suppliers","ru":"Партнерство с поставщиками"},"reference-bonus":{"ru":"Бонус за референс","_type":"localeString","en":"Bonus 4 reference"},"partner-status":{"ru":"Статус партнёра","_type":"localeString","en":"Partner status"},"country":{"ru":"Страна","_type":"localeString","en":"Country"},"partner-types":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Partner types","ru":"Типы партнеров"},"branch-popover":{"ru":"область деятельности","_type":"localeString","en":"branch"},"employees-popover":{"ru":"количество сотрудников","_type":"localeString","en":"number of employees"},"partnership-programme":{"ru":"Партнерская программа","_type":"localeString","en":"Partnership program"},"partner-discounts":{"ru":"Партнерские скидки","_type":"localeString","en":"Partner discounts"},"registered-discounts":{"ru":"Дополнительные преимущества за регистрацию сделки","_type":"localeString","en":"Additional benefits for registering a deal"},"additional-advantages":{"en":"Additional Benefits","ru":"Дополнительные преимущества","_type":"localeString"},"additional-requirements":{"ru":"Требования к уровню партнера","_type":"localeString","en":"Partner level requirements"},"certifications":{"en":"Certification of technical specialists","ru":"Сертификация технических специалистов","_type":"localeString"},"sales-plan":{"en":"Annual Sales Plan","ru":"Годовой план продаж","_type":"localeString"},"partners-vendors":{"ru":"Партнеры-производители","_type":"localeString","en":"Partners-vendors"},"partners-suppliers":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Partners-suppliers","ru":"Партнеры-поставщики"},"all-countries":{"ru":"Все страны","_type":"localeString","en":"All countries"},"supplied-products":{"ru":"Поставляемые продукты","_type":"localeString","en":"Supplied products"},"vendored-products":{"ru":"Производимые продукты","_type":"localeString","en":"Produced products"},"vendor-implementations":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Produced deployments","ru":"Производимые внедрения"},"supplier-implementations":{"en":"Supplied deployments","ru":"Поставляемые внедрения","_type":"localeString"},"show-all":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Show all","ru":"Показать все"},"not-yet-converted":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Data is moderated and will be published soon. Please, try again later.","ru":"Данные модерируются и вскоре будут опубликованы. Попробуйте повторить переход через некоторое время."},"schedule-event":{"ru":"Pасписание событий","_type":"localeString","en":"Events schedule"},"implementations":{"ru":"Внедрения","_type":"localeString","en":"Deployments"},"register":{"en":"Register","ru":"Регистрация ","_type":"localeString"},"login":{"ru":"Вход","_type":"localeString","en":"Login"},"auth-message":{"_type":"localeString","en":"To view company events please log in or register on the sit.","ru":"Для просмотра ивентов компании авторизируйтесь или зарегистрируйтесь на сайт."},"company-presentation":{"ru":"Презентация компании","_type":"localeString","en":"Company presentation"}},"header":{"help":{"en":"Help","de":"Hilfe","ru":"Помощь","_type":"localeString"},"how":{"de":"Wie funktioniert es","ru":"Как это работает","_type":"localeString","en":"How does it works"},"login":{"ru":"Вход","_type":"localeString","en":"Log in","de":"Einloggen"},"logout":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Sign out","ru":"Выйти"},"faq":{"en":"FAQ","de":"FAQ","ru":"FAQ","_type":"localeString"},"references":{"en":"Requests","de":"References","ru":"Мои запросы","_type":"localeString"},"solutions":{"en":"Solutions","ru":"Возможности","_type":"localeString"},"find-it-product":{"ru":"Подбор и сравнение ИТ продукта","_type":"localeString","en":"Selection and comparison of IT product"},"autoconfigurator":{"ru":"Калькулятор цены","_type":"localeString","en":" Price calculator"},"comparison-matrix":{"en":"Comparison Matrix","ru":"Матрица сравнения","_type":"localeString"},"roi-calculators":{"_type":"localeString","en":"ROI calculators","ru":"ROI калькуляторы"},"b4r":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Bonus for reference","ru":"Бонус за референс"},"business-booster":{"ru":"Развитие бизнеса","_type":"localeString","en":"Business boosting"},"catalogs":{"en":"Catalogs","ru":"Каталоги","_type":"localeString"},"products":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Products","ru":"Продукты"},"implementations":{"ru":"Внедрения","_type":"localeString","en":"Deployments"},"companies":{"ru":"Компании","_type":"localeString","en":"Companies"},"categories":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Categories","ru":"Категории"},"for-suppliers":{"ru":"Поставщикам","_type":"localeString","en":"For suppliers"},"blog":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Blog","ru":"Блог"},"agreements":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Deals","ru":"Сделки"},"my-account":{"ru":"Мой кабинет","_type":"localeString","en":"My account"},"register":{"ru":"Зарегистрироваться","_type":"localeString","en":"Register"},"comparison-deletion":{"en":"Deletion","ru":"Удаление","_type":"localeString"},"comparison-confirm":{"ru":"Подтвердите удаление","_type":"localeString","en":"Are you sure you want to delete"},"search-placeholder":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Enter your search term","ru":"Введите поисковый запрос"},"my-profile":{"ru":"Мои данные","_type":"localeString","en":"My profile"},"about":{"_type":"localeString","en":"About Us"},"it_catalogs":{"en":"IT catalogs","_type":"localeString"},"roi4presenter":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Roi4Presenter"},"roi4webinar":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Pitch Avatar"},"sub_it_catalogs":{"en":"Find IT product","_type":"localeString"},"sub_b4reference":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Get reference from user"},"sub_roi4presenter":{"en":"Make online presentations","_type":"localeString"},"sub_roi4webinar":{"en":"Create an avatar for the event","_type":"localeString"},"catalogs_new":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Products"},"b4reference":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Bonus4Reference"},"it_our_it_catalogs":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Our IT Catalogs"},"it_products":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Find and compare IT products"},"it_implementations":{"en":"Learn implementation reviews","_type":"localeString"},"it_companies":{"en":"Find vendor and company-supplier","_type":"localeString"},"it_categories":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Explore IT products by category"},"it_our_products":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Our Products"},"it_it_catalogs":{"_type":"localeString","en":"IT catalogs"}},"footer":{"copyright":{"ru":"Все права защищены","_type":"localeString","en":"All rights reserved","de":"Alle rechte vorbehalten"},"company":{"en":"My Company","de":"Über die Firma","ru":"О компании","_type":"localeString"},"about":{"en":"About us","de":"Über uns","ru":"О нас","_type":"localeString"},"infocenter":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Infocenter","de":"Infocenter","ru":"Инфоцентр"},"tariffs":{"de":"Tarife","ru":"Тарифы","_type":"localeString","en":"Subscriptions"},"contact":{"de":"Kontaktiere uns","ru":"Связаться с нами","_type":"localeString","en":"Contact us"},"marketplace":{"en":"Marketplace","de":"Marketplace","ru":"Marketplace","_type":"localeString"},"products":{"de":"Produkte","ru":"Продукты","_type":"localeString","en":"Products"},"compare":{"en":"Pick and compare","de":"Wähle und vergleiche","ru":"Подобрать и сравнить","_type":"localeString"},"calculate":{"de":"Kosten berechnen","ru":"Расчитать стоимость","_type":"localeString","en":"Calculate the cost"},"get_bonus":{"en":"Bonus for reference","de":"Holen Sie sich einen Rabatt","ru":"Бонус за референс","_type":"localeString"},"salestools":{"de":"Salestools","ru":"Salestools","_type":"localeString","en":"Salestools"},"automatization":{"ru":"Автоматизация расчетов","_type":"localeString","en":"Settlement Automation","de":"Abwicklungsautomatisierung"},"roi_calcs":{"de":"ROI-Rechner","ru":"ROI калькуляторы","_type":"localeString","en":"ROI calculators"},"matrix":{"ru":"Матрица сравнения","_type":"localeString","en":"Comparison matrix","de":"Vergleichsmatrix"},"b4r":{"de":"Rebate 4 Reference","ru":"Rebate 4 Reference","_type":"localeString","en":"Rebate 4 Reference"},"our_social":{"de":"Unsere sozialen Netzwerke","ru":"Наши социальные сети","_type":"localeString","en":"Our social networks"},"subscribe":{"de":"Melden Sie sich für den Newsletter an","ru":"Подпишитесь на рассылку","_type":"localeString","en":"Subscribe to newsletter"},"subscribe_info":{"ru":"и узнавайте первыми об акциях, новых возможностях и свежих обзорах софта","_type":"localeString","en":"and be the first to know about promotions, new features and recent software reviews"},"policy":{"en":"Privacy Policy","ru":"Политика конфиденциальности","_type":"localeString"},"user_agreement":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Agreement","ru":"Пользовательское соглашение "},"solutions":{"ru":"Возможности","_type":"localeString","en":"Solutions"},"find":{"ru":"Подбор и сравнение ИТ продукта","_type":"localeString","en":"Selection and comparison of IT product"},"quote":{"ru":"Калькулятор цены","_type":"localeString","en":"Price calculator"},"boosting":{"ru":"Развитие бизнеса","_type":"localeString","en":"Business boosting"},"4vendors":{"_type":"localeString","en":"4 vendors","ru":"поставщикам"},"blog":{"en":"blog","ru":"блог","_type":"localeString"},"pay4content":{"en":"we pay for content","ru":"платим за контент","_type":"localeString"},"categories":{"en":"categories","ru":"категории","_type":"localeString"},"showForm":{"ru":"Показать форму","_type":"localeString","en":"Show form"},"subscribe__title":{"en":"We send a digest of actual news from the IT world once in a month!","ru":"Раз в месяц мы отправляем дайджест актуальных новостей ИТ мира!","_type":"localeString"},"subscribe__email-label":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Email","ru":"Email"},"subscribe__name-label":{"en":"Name","ru":"Имя","_type":"localeString"},"subscribe__required-message":{"ru":"Это поле обязательное","_type":"localeString","en":"This field is required"},"subscribe__notify-label":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Yes, please, notify me about news, events and propositions","ru":"Да, пожалуйста уведомляйте меня о новостях, событиях и предложениях"},"subscribe__agree-label":{"ru":"Подписываясь на рассылку, вы соглашаетесь с %TERMS% и %POLICY% и даете согласие на использование файлов cookie и передачу своих персональных данных*","_type":"localeString","en":"By subscribing to the newsletter, you agree to the %TERMS% and %POLICY% and agree to the use of cookies and the transfer of your personal data"},"subscribe__submit-label":{"en":"Subscribe","ru":"Подписаться","_type":"localeString"},"subscribe__email-message":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Please, enter the valid email","ru":"Пожалуйста, введите корректный адрес электронной почты"},"subscribe__email-placeholder":{"ru":"username@gmail.com","_type":"localeString","en":"username@gmail.com"},"subscribe__name-placeholder":{"ru":"Имя Фамилия","_type":"localeString","en":"Last, first name"},"subscribe__success":{"_type":"localeString","en":"You are successfully subscribed! Check you mailbox.","ru":"Вы успешно подписаны на рассылку. Проверьте свой почтовый ящик."},"subscribe__error":{"en":"Subscription is unsuccessful. Please, try again later.","ru":"Не удалось оформить подписку. Пожалуйста, попробуйте позднее.","_type":"localeString"},"roi4presenter":{"de":"roi4presenter","ru":"roi4presenter","_type":"localeString","en":"Roi4Presenter"},"it_catalogs":{"en":"IT catalogs","_type":"localeString"},"roi4webinar":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Pitch Avatar"},"b4reference":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Bonus4Reference"}},"breadcrumbs":{"home":{"ru":"Главная","_type":"localeString","en":"Home"},"companies":{"ru":"Компании","_type":"localeString","en":"Companies"},"products":{"ru":"Продукты","_type":"localeString","en":"Products"},"implementations":{"ru":"Внедрения","_type":"localeString","en":"Deployments"},"login":{"ru":"Вход","_type":"localeString","en":"Login"},"registration":{"ru":"Регистрация","_type":"localeString","en":"Registration"},"b2b-platform":{"ru":"Портал для покупателей, поставщиков и производителей ИТ","_type":"localeString","en":"B2B platform for IT buyers, vendors and suppliers"}},"comment-form":{"title":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Leave comment","ru":"Оставить комментарий"},"firstname":{"ru":"Имя","_type":"localeString","en":"First name"},"lastname":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Last name","ru":"Фамилия"},"company":{"en":"Company name","ru":"Компания","_type":"localeString"},"position":{"en":"Position","ru":"Должность","_type":"localeString"},"actual-cost":{"ru":"Фактическая стоимость","_type":"localeString","en":"Actual cost"},"received-roi":{"en":"Received ROI","ru":"Полученный ROI","_type":"localeString"},"saving-type":{"en":"Saving type","ru":"Тип экономии","_type":"localeString"},"comment":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Comment","ru":"Комментарий"},"your-rate":{"ru":"Ваша оценка","_type":"localeString","en":"Your rate"},"i-agree":{"ru":"Я согласен","_type":"localeString","en":"I agree"},"terms-of-use":{"en":"With user agreement and privacy policy","ru":"С пользовательским соглашением и политикой конфиденциальности","_type":"localeString"},"send":{"ru":"Отправить","_type":"localeString","en":"Send"},"required-message":{"en":"{NAME} is required filed","ru":"{NAME} - это обязательное поле","_type":"localeString"}},"maintenance":{"title":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Site under maintenance","ru":"На сайте проводятся технические работы"},"message":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Thank you for your understanding","ru":"Спасибо за ваше понимание"}}},"translationsStatus":{"company":"success"},"sections":{},"sectionsStatus":{},"pageMetaData":{"company":{"meta":[{"name":"og:image","content":"https://roi4cio.com/fileadmin/templates/roi4cio/image/roi4cio-logobig.jpg"},{"content":"website","name":"og:type"}],"translatable_meta":[{"name":"title","translations":{"en":"Company","ru":"Компания","_type":"localeString"}},{"translations":{"en":"Company description","ru":"Описание компании","_type":"localeString"},"name":"description"},{"translations":{"_type":"localeString","en":"Company keywords","ru":"Ключевые слова для компании"},"name":"keywords"}],"title":{"ru":"ROI4CIO: Компания","_type":"localeString","en":"ROI4CIO: Company"}}},"pageMetaDataStatus":{"company":"success"},"subscribeInProgress":false,"subscribeError":false},"auth":{"inProgress":false,"error":false,"checked":true,"initialized":false,"user":{},"role":null,"expires":null},"products":{"productsByAlias":{},"aliases":{},"links":{},"meta":{},"loading":false,"error":null,"useProductLoading":false,"sellProductLoading":false,"templatesById":{},"comparisonByTemplateId":{}},"filters":{"filterCriterias":{"loading":false,"error":null,"data":{"price":{"min":0,"max":6000},"users":{"loading":false,"error":null,"ids":[],"values":{}},"suppliers":{"loading":false,"error":null,"ids":[],"values":{}},"vendors":{"loading":false,"error":null,"ids":[],"values":{}},"roles":{"id":200,"title":"Roles","values":{"1":{"id":1,"title":"User","translationKey":"user"},"2":{"id":2,"title":"Supplier","translationKey":"supplier"},"3":{"id":3,"title":"Vendor","translationKey":"vendor"}}},"categories":{"flat":[],"tree":[]},"countries":{"loading":false,"error":null,"ids":[],"values":{}}}},"showAIFilter":false},"companies":{"companiesByAlias":{"8allocate":{"id":4641,"title":"8allocate","logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/uploads/roi/company/8allocate_logo.png","alias":"8allocate","address":"","roles":[{"id":2,"type":"supplier"},{"id":3,"type":"vendor"}],"description":" Headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia, 8allocate is a company that is a software development outsourcing consultancy with an Offshore Development Center based in the heart of Kyiv, Ukraine.\r\nWe provide scalable end-to-end software engineering solutions for companies around the world, from short- and mid-term fixed-price and T&amp;M projects to extended/remote dedicated Agile teams. Regardless of your company size, project scope and budget, we treat all clients equally and guarantee that we’ll deliver on time, on budget, and with the highest possible quality of service. High-quality code is at the heart of each solution we deliver.\r\nSource: https://8allocate.com/about_us/","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"products":{},"vendoredProductsCount":1,"suppliedProductsCount":1,"supplierImplementations":[],"vendorImplementations":[],"userImplementations":[],"userImplementationsCount":0,"supplierImplementationsCount":0,"vendorImplementationsCount":0,"vendorPartnersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"b4r":0,"categories":{"32":{"id":32,"title":"IT outsourcing","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT outsourcing</span> is the use of external service providers to effectively deliver IT-enabled business process, application service and infrastructure solutions for business outcomes.\r\nOutsourcing, which also includes utility services, software as a service and cloud-enabled outsourcing, helps clients to develop the right sourcing strategies and vision, select the right IT service providers, structure the best possible contracts, and govern deals for sustainable win-win relationships with external providers.\r\nOutsourcing can enable enterprises to reduce costs, accelerate time to market, and take advantage of external expertise, assets and/or intellectual property. IT outsourcing can be implemented both ways: outsides or within the country. \r\nIT outsourcing vendors can provide either a fully managed service, meaning they take full responsibility of all IT maintenance and support, or they can provide additional support for an internal IT team when needed, which is known as co-sourced IT support. A company using IT outsourcing can choose to use one provider for all their IT functions or split the work among multiple providers. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Specific IT services typically outsourced include:</span>\r\n<ul><li>Application development</li><li>Web hosting</li><li>Application support</li><li>Database development</li><li>Telecommunications</li><li>Networking</li><li>Disaster recovery</li><li>Security</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Reasons for Outsourcing</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Reduce Cost.</span> More often than not, outsourcing means saving money. This is often due to lower labor costs, cheaper infrastructure, or an advantageous tax system in the outsourcing location.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Access Skills That Are Unavailable Locally.</span> Resources that are scarce at home can sometimes be found in abundance elsewhere, meaning you can easily reach them through outsourcing.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Better Use Internal Resources</span>. By delegating some of your business processes to a third party, you’ll give your in-house employees the opportunity to focus on more meaningful tasks.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Accelerate Business Processes.</span> When you stop wasting time on mundane, time-consuming processes, you’ll be able to move forward with your core offering a lot faster.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Share Risks.</span> When you delegate a part of non-focus functionality by outsourcing it to a third-party vendor, you give away the responsibility and related risks.","materialsDescription":"<h3 class=\"align-center\">What are the Types of IT Outsourcing?</h3>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Project-Based Model.</span> The client hires a team to implement the part of work that is already planned and defined. The project manager from the outsourced team carries full responsibility for the quality and performance of the project.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Dedicated Team Model.</span> The client hires a team that will create a project for them, and they will work only on that project. Unlike the project-based model, a dedicated team is more engaged in your project. In this model, an outsourced team becomes your technical and product advisor. So it can offer ideas and suggest alternative solutions.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Outstaff Model.</span> It's a type of outsourcing in IT when you don't need a full-fledged development team and hire separate specialists. Sometimes the project requires finding a couple of additional professionals, and you're free to hire outstaff workers to cover that scope of work.</p>\r\n<h3 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are IT Outsourcing examples?</span></h3>\r\nThe individual or company that becomes your outsourcing partner can be located anywhere in the world — one block away from your office or on another continent.\r\nA Bay Area-based startup partnering with an app development team in Utah and a call center in the Philippines, or a UK-based digital marketing agency hiring a Magento developer from Ukraine are both examples of outsourcing.\r\n<h3 class=\"align-center\">Why You Should Use IT Outsourcing</h3>\r\nNow that you know what IT outsourcing is, its models, and types, it's time to clarify why you need to outsource and whether you really need it. Let's go over a few situations that suggest when to opt for IT outsourcing.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">You are a domain expert with idea</span></li></ul>\r\nIf you're an industry expert with the idea that solves a real problem, IT outsourcing is your choice. In this case, your main goal is to enter the market and test the solution fast. An outsourced team will help you validate the idea, build an MVP to check the hypothesis, and implement changes in your product according to market needs. It saves you money, time and lets you reach the goal.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">You have an early-stage startup</span></li></ul>\r\nIt's a common case that young startups spend money faster than they get a solid team and a ready-to-market product. The Failory found that financial problems are the 3rd reason why startup fails. So it makes more sense to reduce costs by hiring an outsourced team of professionals while your business lives on investor's money. You may employ a full-cycle product development studio covering all the blind spots and bringing your product to life.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">You need a technical support</span></li></ul>\r\nEven if you already have a ready solution, but it demands some technical improvements – frameworks for backend components, new language, integrations with enterprise software, UX&amp;UI design – it makes more sense to find an experienced partner. There are many functions that IT outsourcing can cover, and again it saves you the time you'd otherwise spend on looking for qualified staff.<br /><br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_IT_outsourcing.png","alias":"it-outsourcing"},"421":{"id":421,"title":"Digital Commerce Applications","description":"E-commerce is the activity of buying or selling products on online services or over the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems.\r\nModern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least one part of the transaction's life cycle although it may also use other technologies such as e-mail. Typical e-commerce transactions include the purchase of online books (such as Amazon) and music purchases (music download in the form of digital distribution such as iTunes Store), and to a less extent, customized/personalized online liquor store inventory services. There are three areas of e-commerce: online retailing, electric markets, and online auctions. E-commerce is supported by electronic business.\r\nE-commerce businesses may also employ some or all of the followings:\r\n<ul><li>Online shopping for retail sales direct to consumers via Web sites and mobile apps, and conversational commerce via live chat, chatbots, and voice assistants;</li><li>Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party business-to-consumer or consumer-to-consumer sales;</li><li>Business-to-business buying and selling;</li><li>Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media;</li><li>Business-to-business (B2B) electronic data interchange;</li><li>Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or fax (for example, with newsletters);</li><li>Engaging in pre-retail for launching new products and services;</li><li>Online financial exchanges for currency exchanges or trading purposes.</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">5 Reasons Why E-commerce Is So Important For Your Business</span>\r\nFrom startups to small businesses right through to huge brands, there are a huge number of companies that can benefit from their own e-commerce website, where they can sell their own products or services. In today's competitive and convenience-focused society, no longer do consumers want to venture to the high street in order to buy items, instead, consumers want to shop from their own homes, making e-commerce a flexible solution for both businesses and buyers.\r\nIf you’re still on the fence about launching an e-commerce store then look no further, here are the top 5 reasons e-commerce is so important for your business and just how you can benefit from moving online this year!\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Can Broaden Your Brand</span>\r\nE-commerce is an ideal way you can take your brand from a traditional brick and mortar store to an innovative, well-loved brand. By offering great products 24 hours a day along with online customer service, blogs and social media, no longer is your business one singular store, with an online presence your business can be the home of your products and the general home of your business, allowing you to fully expand your product ranges without having to worry about moving locations or worrying about not being able to expand your business.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">It’s More Convenient</span>\r\nAn online store is available all day, every day meaning your customers can visit your store at all times, no matter what their schedule might be. These days people don’t always have the time to physically go shopping, instead more and more people are choosing to shop online to find the items they want or need and if your business can offer this for your customers there’s no you shouldn't appeal to a wider range of customers all looking for a convenient and flexible experience.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Increase Your Reach</span>\r\nDue to the internet’s accessibility, millions of people across the world can view your website at any time, meaning that for those looking to expand their businesses and reach out to a larger audience, you have many more opportunities to do so. Compare the number of people you can reach through a website to the amount you can reach through a high street store or local advertising, there’s no reason you shouldn’t look at taking your business online if you’re looking to improve your reach.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Gives You Marketing Opportunities</span>\r\nYour website is one of the best marketing tools your business has, not only can the use of SEO when building your site lead to more chances of your business getting found in search engines, but a huge number of marketing techniques can also work alongside your website, including pay per click advertising, your social media marketing, and your email marketing, all of which can include links back to your website.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Scalable</span>\r\nAs your business grows it’s very likely you’ll want to grow your product range and your target audience, as well as develop your business for customer requirements and consumer demand. An e-commerce site lets you scale your business accordingly, allowing you to add more lines, add more payment options and even grow when you choose to ship to, without having to worry about changing your location or moving to larger premises as you might with a brick and mortar store.\r\nE-commerce offers the business a whole range of opportunities, from marketing opportunities to increase your products ranges to generating more sales and with an optimized and well-developed website, you can not only achieve these goals but also offer your customers around the clock, convenient service, that can boost your business.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Digital_Commerce_Applications.png","alias":"digital-commerce-applications"},"591":{"id":591,"title":"Software Development","description":" Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development is a process of writing and maintaining the source code, but in a broader sense, it includes all that is involved between the conception of the desired software through to the final manifestation of the software, sometimes in a planned and structured process. Therefore, software development may include research, new development, prototyping, modification, reuse, re-engineering, maintenance, or any other activities that result in software products.\r\nSoftware can be developed for a variety of purposes, the three most common being to meet specific needs of a specific client/business (the case with custom software), to meet a perceived need of some set of potential users (the case with commercial and open-source software), or for personal use (e.g. a scientist may write software to automate a mundane task). Embedded software development, that is, the development of embedded software, such as used for controlling consumer products, requires the development process to be integrated with the development of the controlled physical product. System software underlies applications and the programming process itself and is often developed separately.\r\nThe need for better quality control of the software development process has given rise to the discipline of software engineering, which aims to apply the systematic approach exemplified in the engineering paradigm to the process of software development.\r\nThere are many approaches to software project management, known as software development life cycle models, methodologies, processes, or models. The waterfall model is a traditional version, contrasted with the more recent innovation of agile software development.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is software development?</span>\r\nSoftware itself is the set of instructions or programs that tell a computer what to do. It is independent of hardware and makes computers programmable. There are three basic types:\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">System software</span> to provide core functions such as operating systems, disk management, utilities, hardware management, and other operational necessities.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Programming software</span> to give programmers tools such as text editors, compilers, linkers, debuggers and other tools to create code.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Application software</span> (applications or apps) to help users perform tasks. Office productivity suites, data management software, media players and security programs are examples. Applications also refer to web and mobile applications like those used to shop on Amazon.com, socialize with Facebook or post pictures to Instagram.\r\nA possible fourth type is <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">embedded software.</span> Embedded systems software is used to control machines and devices not typically considered computers — telecommunications networks, cars, industrial robots and more. These devices, and their software, can be connected as part of the Internet of Things (IoT).\r\nSoftware development is primarily conducted by programmers, software engineers, and software developers. These roles interact and overlap, and the dynamics between them vary greatly across development departments and communities.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Programmers, or coders,</span> write source code to program computers for specific tasks like merging databases, processing online orders, routing communications, conducting searches or displaying text and graphics. Programmers typically interpret instructions from software developers and engineers and use programming languages like C++ or Java to carry them out.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software engineers</span> apply engineering principles to build software and systems to solve problems. They use modeling language and other tools to devise solutions that can often be applied to problems in a general way, as opposed to merely solving for a specific instance or client. Software engineering solutions adhere to the scientific method and must work in the real world, as with bridges or elevators.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Software developers</span> have a less formal role than engineers and can be closely involved with specific project areas — including writing code. At the same time, they drive the overall software development lifecycle — including working across functional teams to transform requirements into features, managing development teams and processes, and conducting software testing and maintenance.\r\nThe work of software development isn’t confined to coders or development teams. Professionals such as scientists, device fabricators, and hardware makers also create software code even though they are not primarily software developers. Nor is it confined to traditional information technology industries such as software or semiconductor businesses. In fact, according to the Brookings Institute, those businesses “account for less than half of the companies performing software development.”\r\nAn important distinction is custom software development as opposed to commercial software development. Custom software development is the process of designing, creating, deploying and maintaining software for a specific set of users, functions or organizations. In contrast, commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) is designed for a broad set of requirements, allowing it to be packaged and commercially marketed and distributed.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Steps in the software development process</span>\r\nDeveloping software typically involves the following steps:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Selecting a methodology</span> to establish a framework in which the steps of software development are applied. It describes an overall work process or roadmap for the project. Methodologies can include Agile development, DevOps, Rapid Application Development (RAD), Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Waterfall and others.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Gathering requirements</span> to understand and document what is required by users and other stakeholders.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Choosing or building architecture</span> as the underlying structure within which the software will operate.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Developing a design</span> around solutions to the problems presented by requirements, often involving process models and storyboards.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Constructing code</span> in the appropriate programming language. Involves peer and team review to eliminate problems early and produce quality software faster.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Testing</span> with pre-planned scenarios as part of software design and coding — and conducting performance testing to simulate load testing on the application.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Managing configuration and defects</span> to understand all the software artifacts (requirements, design, code, test) and build distinct versions of the software. Establish quality assurance priorities and release criteria to address and track defects.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Deploying</span> the software for use and responding to and resolving user problems.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Migrating data</span> to the new or updated software from existing applications or data sources if necessary.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Managing and measuring the project</span> to maintain quality and delivery over the application lifecycle, and to evaluate the development process with models such as the Capability Maturity Model (CMM).</li></ul>\r\nThe steps of the software development process fit into application lifecycle management.\r\n<ul><li>Requirements analysis and specification</li><li>Design and development</li><li>Testing</li><li>Deployment</li><li>Maintenance and support</li></ul>\r\nSoftware development process steps can be grouped into the phases of the lifecycle, but the importance of the lifecycle is that it recycles to enable continuous improvement. For example, user issues that surface in the maintenance and support phase can become requirements at the beginning of the next cycle.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is software development important?</span>\r\nSoftware development is important because it helps businesses differentiate themselves and be more competitive. It can improve customer experiences, bring more innovative, feature-rich products to market faster, and make operations more efficient, safe and productive.\r\nSoftware development is also important because it is pervasive.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Software_Development.png","alias":"software-development"},"593":{"id":593,"title":"Mobile Software Development","description":" Mobile app development is the act or process by which a mobile app is developed for mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants, enterprise digital assistants or mobile phones. These applications can be pre-installed on phones during manufacturing platforms, or delivered as web applications using server-side or client-side processing (e.g., JavaScript) to provide an &quot;application-like&quot; experience within a Web browser. Application software developers also must consider a long array of screen sizes, hardware specifications, and configurations because of intense competition in mobile software and changes within each of the platforms. Mobile app development has been steadily growing, in revenues and jobs created. A 2013 analyst report estimates there are 529,000 direct app economy jobs within the EU 28 members, 60% of which are mobile app developers.\r\nAs part of the development process, mobile user interface (UI) design is also essential in the creation of mobile apps. Mobile UI considers constraints, contexts, screen, input, and mobility as outlines for design. The user is often the focus of interaction with their device, and the interface entails components of both hardware and software. User input allows for the users to manipulate a system, and device's output allows the system to indicate the effects of the users' manipulation. Mobile UI design constraints include limited attention and form factors, such as a mobile device's screen size for a user's hand(s). Mobile UI contexts signal cues from user activity, such as location and scheduling that can be shown from user interactions within a mobile app. Overall, mobile UI design's goal is mainly for an understandable, user-friendly interface. The UI of mobile apps should: consider users' limited attention, minimize keystrokes, and be task-oriented with a minimum set of functions. This functionality is supported by mobile enterprise application platforms or integrated development environments (IDEs).\r\nMobile UIs, or front-ends, rely on mobile back-ends to support access to enterprise systems. The mobile back-end facilitates data routing, security, authentication, authorization, working off-line, and service orchestration. This functionality is supported by a mix of middleware components including mobile app server, mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), and service-oriented architecture (SOA) infrastructure. ","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the native app development?</span>\r\nUnlike websites and web applications, native mobile apps don’t run in the browser. You need to download them from platform-specific app stores such as Apple’s App Store and Google Play. After installation, you can access each app by tapping its respective icon on the screen of your device.\r\nNative app development requires different skills and technologies than mobile website development. You don’t have to worry about browser behavior and compatibility. You can use the native features of mobile OSs to deliver the user experience and implement the functionalities of your app.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the difference between a native mobile app and a hybrid app?</span>\r\nMobile apps have two types: native and hybrid apps. At first glance, both have similar features and design but the underlying technology is different. As the name suggests, hybrid apps are a combination of web apps and native mobile apps. You can build them using web technologies: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You can also upload them to app stores and users can install them as native Android or iOS applications.\r\nThe main advantages of hybrid apps are portability and the simplicity of development. You only have to write the code once and your hybrid app will run on different operating systems. You can use hybrid frameworks like Ionic and Apache Cordova to create cross-platform hybrid applications. By contrast, native mobile apps have to be written in platform-specific languages such as Java, Swift, or Objective-C.\r\nNative mobile apps can access the built-in features of smartphones such as the camera and microphone by default. If you have a hybrid app you need to rely on plugins like Cordova plugins to use the native capabilities of the user’s device.\r\nHybrid apps also depend on WebViews to render their user interfaces. WebViews are in-app browsers that allow mobile applications to access and display web content. This is how Android and iOS devices are able to run hybrid apps built with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as native mobile applications.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the benefits of native mobile app development?</span>\r\nAlthough hybrid apps are easier and cheaper to develop, native mobile apps have many benefits, too.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Better performance</span></span>\r\nNative mobile apps directly interact with native APIs without depending on middleware such as plugins and WebViews. As there are fewer dependencies, native mobile apps are faster and more responsive than hybrid apps. This is especially important for performance-centric apps like games and graphic-heavy applications.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Consistent look and feel</span></span>\r\nAs native mobile apps are developed using native SDKs (software development kits), their UIs look consistent with their platform. This ensures a better user experience, as there are no discrepancies between the OS and app design.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Immediate access to new features</span></span>\r\nNative mobile apps can immediately access the latest iOS or Android features. As web technologies can’t directly use native APIs, hybrid apps have to wait until there’s a plugin that supports the new feature.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Better compliance with app store guidelines</span></span>\r\nBecause of their architecture, native mobile apps comply better with app store guidelines. In 2017, Apple restricted its submission guidelines. Since then, they have begun to reject apps that rely too much on WebViews, such as Ionic View that allowed developers to test their Ionic applications. As it’s likely that app stores will continue cracking down on hybrid apps, native mobile apps are also a more future-proof investment.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Mobile_Software_Development.png","alias":"mobile-software-development"},"597":{"id":597,"title":"Android Software Application","description":" Android software development is the process by which new applications are created for devices running the Android operating system. Google states that &quot;Android apps can be written using Kotlin, Java, and C++ languages&quot; using the Android software development kit (SDK), while using other languages is also possible. All non-JVM languages, such as Go, JavaScript, C, C++ or assembly, need the help of JVM language code, that may be supplied by tools, likely with restricted API support. Some languages/programming tools allow cross-platform app support, i.e. for both Android and iOS. Third party tools, development environments and language support have also continued to evolve and expand since the initial SDK was released in 2008. In addition, with major business entities like Walmart, Amazon, Bank of America etc. eyeing to engage and sell through mobiles, mobile application development is witnessing a transformation.\r\nAndroid was created by the Open Handset Alliance, which is led by Google. The early feedback on developing applications for the Android platform was mixed. Issues cited include bugs, lack of documentation, inadequate QA infrastructure, and no public issue-tracking system. In December 2007, MergeLab mobile startup founder Adam MacBeth stated, &quot;Functionality is not there, is poorly documented or just doesn't work... It's clearly not ready for prime time.&quot; Despite this, Android-targeted applications began to appear the week after the platform was announced. The first publicly available application was the Snake game.\r\nA preview release of the Android SDK was released on November 12, 2007. On July 15, 2008, the Android Developer Challenge Team accidentally sent an email to all entrants in the Android Developer Challenge announcing that a new release of the SDK was available in a &quot;private&quot; download area. The email was intended for winners of the first round of the Android Developer Challenge. The revelation that Google was supplying new SDK releases to some developers and not others (and keeping this arrangement private) led to widely reported frustration within the Android developer community at the time.\r\nOn August 18, 2008, the Android 0.9 SDK beta was released. This release provided an updated and extended API, improved development tools and an updated design for the home screen. Detailed instructions for upgrading are available to those already working with an earlier release. On September 23, 2008, the Android 1.0 SDK (Release 1) was released. According to the release notes, it included &quot;mainly bug fixes, although some smaller features were added.&quot; It also included several API changes from the 0.9 version. Multiple versions have been released since it was developed.\r\nOn December 5, 2008, Google announced the first Android Dev Phone, a SIM-unlocked and hardware-unlocked device that is designed for advanced developers. It was a modified version of HTC's Dream phone. While developers can use regular consumer devices to test and use their applications, some developers may choose a dedicated unlocked or no-contract device.\r\nAs of July 2013, more than one million applications have been developed for Android, with over 25 billion downloads. A June 2011 research indicated that over 67% of mobile developers used the platform, at the time of publication. Android smartphone shipments are forecast to exceed 1.2 billion units in 2018 with an 85% market share.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Where does Android come from?</span>\r\nIt comes from Google, who actually acquired Android in 2005 (no, Google didn't invent it). The search giant performs regular updates along with an annual major update.\r\nThe operating system is based on the Linux kernel – if you have friends who work in IT, you may have heard of it. This is the GNU / Linux operating system based structure, which is a unix type system (portable operating system, multitasking and multi-user). The Linux kernel is one of the most prominent examples of free software.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why does Android look different on each phone?</span>\r\nAndroid doesn't look different on every device, but it does have a number of different versions. Android is open-source, which means that manufacturers are free to customize the software and make it their own.\r\nThe 'purest' version of Android is often referred to as 'stock Android' and it's often preferred by the Android community: it's the original software as Google intended.\r\nOther user interfaces (UI) include Samsung's TouchWiz, Sony's Xperia, and Huawei's Emotion. See what they all look like in our Android UI comparison.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the advantages of Android?</span>\r\nChoice. For example, if you want iOS, you have a choice of iPhone, iPhone or iPhone. If you go for Android there are stacks of great devices to choose from, from cheap and cheerful handsets to really impressive flagships. Those flagships are often cheaper than the equivalent Apple devices, too.\r\nAndroid’s choice isn’t just about hardware. It’s about everything else too. Android is incredibly easy to customize, both in terms of how it looks and how it works, and the various app stores aren’t as tightly controlled as its rivals’ stores, like Apple.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What’s with the candy names?</span>\r\nEach new version of Android gets a code name based on consecutive letters of the alphabet. The most recent version is known as Marshmallow because it is the Android M release. Previous versions have included Lollipop, KitKat, Jelly Bean and Gingerbread.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What’s the best thing about Android?</span>\r\nOptions, many options. With Android, you have hundreds of gadgets at your disposal, the cheapest, the most expensive and innovative market. Android is also incredibly customizable, both in their roles, as in his appearance. You can really make a unique mobile experience for yourself with this OS.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What’s the worst thing about Android?</span>\r\nGetting updates. In many cases, manufacturers don’t seem to care about providing software updates for devices they’ve already sold you. Even when they do provide updates they take their sweet time about it. That’s why some consider rooting: you can download the updates yourself and apply them instead of waiting for the manufacturer to get around to it.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Android_Software_Application.png","alias":"android-software-application"},"609":{"id":609,"title":".Net Development","description":" .NET Framework is a software framework developed by Microsoft that runs primarily on Microsoft Windows. It includes a large class library named Framework Class Library (FCL) and provides language interoperability (each language can use code written in other languages) across several programming languages. Programs written for .NET Framework execute in a software environment (in contrast to a hardware environment) named Common Language Runtime (CLR), an application virtual machine that provides services such as security, memory management, and exception handling. As such, computer code written using .NET Framework is called &quot;managed code&quot;. FCL and CLR together constitute the .NET Framework.\r\nFCL provides user interface, data access, database connectivity, cryptography, web application development, numeric algorithms, and network communications. Programmers produce software by combining their source code with .NET Framework and other libraries. The framework is intended to be used by most new applications created for the Windows platform. Microsoft also produces an integrated development environment largely for .NET software called Visual Studio.\r\n.NET Framework began as proprietary software, although the firm worked to standardize the software stack almost immediately, even before its first release. Despite the standardization efforts, developers, mainly those in the free and open-source software communities, expressed their unease with the selected terms and the prospects of any free and open-source implementation, especially regarding software patents. Since then, Microsoft has changed .NET development to more closely follow a contemporary model of a community-developed software project, including issuing an update to its patent promising to address the concerns.\r\n.NET Framework led to a family of .NET platforms targeting mobile computing, embedded devices, alternative operating systems, and web browser plug-ins. A reduced version of the framework, .NET Compact Framework, is available on Windows CE platforms, including Windows Mobile devices such as smartphones. .NET Micro Framework is targeted at very resource-constrained embedded devices. Silverlight was available as a web browser plugin. Mono is available for many operating systems and is customized into popular smartphone operating systems (Android and iOS) and game engines. .NET Core targets the Universal Windows Platform (UWP), and cross-platform and cloud computing workloads.","materialsDescription":"When Microsoft formally introduced its .NET strategy in mid-2000, analysts were confused about how the company would pull off such a massive platform shift. Over two years later, they're still wondering. But .NET isn't vaporware, and it's not a pipe dream. In fact, .NET is happening today.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is .NET?</span>\r\nActually, .NET is many things, but primarily it's a marketing term for a set of products and technologies that Microsoft is creating to move personal and enterprise computing beyond the PC desktop and into a distributed Internet-based environment. So .NET--which was originally called Next Generation Windows Services (NGWS)--is also a platform, one that Microsoft sees as the successor to Windows. The .NET platform is based on Web services which are, in turn, defined by a language called XML.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is XML?</span>\r\nXML--the eXtensible Markup Language--is a self-descriptive, data definition language. It's structure is similar to HTML, the language of the Web, but it's far more powerful because it's not limited to a static list of language constructs (&quot;tags&quot;) that the language's authors supply. Instead, XML is extensible and dynamic: Programmers can define new types of data using XML and then describe that data so that others will know how to use it.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are Web services?</span>\r\nWeb services are functions exposed by server-side applications. They are programmable units that other applications (and Web services) can access over the Internet.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Does .NET require Windows?</span>\r\nTechnically, no, but realistically, yes. It's possible the .NET platform could be ported to other operating systems, such as Linux, FreeBSD, the Macintosh, or whatever, and indeed, some work is being done now in this area. However, .NET very much requires Windows today, on both the server and the client. One might say that .NET and Windows have a symbiotic relationship going forward.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Is .NET is being ported to Linux?</span>\r\nYes. A company called Ximian is porting the standards-based parts of .NET to Linux as you read this, and the work is amazingly far along. Code-named Mono, this project seeks to bring the C# programming language, the Common Language Runtime (CLR, see below), and other .NET features to Linux.\r\nOn a related note, Microsoft has contracted Corel (makers of CorelDRAW and Word Perfect) to port .NET to FreeBSD.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Isn't .NET just another name for COM, COM+, Windows DNA, or some other previous Windows technology?</span>\r\nActually, no. Microsoft spent considerable time and effort developing and promoting a set of Windows technologies that was at various times called OLE, COM, COM+, and Windows DNA (Distributed InterNet Architecture) but .NET is not the next iteration. Windows DNA, which was the final umbrella term for this set of technologies, was based around a concept where Windows-based software components could expose their services for other local and remote Windows software components. But though this sounds passingly similar to .NET, Windows DNA is very much based on proprietary Windows technologies. By comparison, .NET is based on open standards (XML and various related technologies), so it will be much easier for other vendors to adopt the platform and write compatible software. So we can eventually expect to see .NET clients and servers on platforms other than Windows.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">So what technologies are part of .NET?</span>\r\n.NET is comprised of several related technologies, including:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">.NET Framework</span></span> - A runtime environment and set of standard services which .NET capable applications and services can utilize. Implemented as a code library, the .NET Framework includes the Common Language Runtime (CLR), the .NET run-time environment; ASP .NET, a Web applications platform; and ADO .NET, for data store access.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">.NET Compact Framework</span></span> - A subset of the .NET Framework designed for Pocket PCs, Microsoft Smart Phones, and other Windows CE .NET-based mobile devices.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">MSN consumer services</span></span> - Microsoft will use its consumer-oriented MSN online service to expose Web services to individuals. The current version, MSN 8, includes the .NET Passport's authentication services, email, address book, calendaring and tasks, and other similar services.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">.NET Enterprise Servers</span></span> - An extensive set of Microsoft server software that runs on Windows servers, including Application Server, BizTalk Server, Exchange Server, Host Integration Server, Internet Security and Acceleration Server, SQL Server, and many others. Microsoft is currently shipping many such server products, but they are all based on Windows DNA currently, not .NET. Future server products--beginning with Windows .NET Server 2003, due in April 2003--will actually be based on .NET technologies for the first time.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Visual Studio .NET</span></span> - Microsoft's .NET development environment, with support for languages such as Visual Basic .NET, Visual C++ .NET, Visual C# .NET, and Visual J#, which all target the .NET Framework. Other vendors can add other language capabilities to Visual Studio .NET, and the suite can be used to target a wide range of applications and services, including .NET Web services, Windows applications, and Web applications. Note that Visual Studio .NET is not required to create .NET applications and services: Developers can download the .NET Framework for free; this download includes compilers for Visual Basic .NET, Visual C++ .NET and Visual C# .NET.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">OK, so what's the point? How does this make my life better?</span>\r\nWith apologies to Microsoft for stealing the term, .NET enables a better PC ecosystem. That is, by making life easier for everyone involved with PCs, the benefits are cross-pollinated. Here's how .NET makes life easier on various groups:\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Programmers</span></span> - Because developers now have a consistent, language-neutral programming environment, they can create better applications and services more quickly. And because .NET encompasses such a wider range of functionality, those applications and services can be connected to back-end services via the Internet, offering better, and more exciting functionality.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">IT administrators</span></span> - Because .NET applications and services do away with the &quot;DLL Hell&quot; found in previous Windows applications, they are amazingly easy to distribute and install.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">End users</span></span> - For the reasons listed above, and many others, a new generation of .NET applications and services will provide new types of connected functionality. Access your email from anywhere. Pay for products online without typing in your credit card information. Access weather, traffic, music, and other personal information from a variety of devices, from anywhere in the world. The future is all connected, and .NET will get us there.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Net_Development.png","alias":"net-development"},"633":{"id":633,"title":"Ruby on Rails Development","description":" Ruby on Rails, or Rails, is a server-side web application framework written in Ruby under the MIT License. Rails is a model–view–controller (MVC) framework, providing default structures for a database, a web service, and web pages. It encourages and facilitates the use of web standards such as JSON or XML for data transfer, HTML, CSS and JavaScript for user interfacing. In addition to MVC, Rails emphasizes the use of other well-known software engineering patterns and paradigms, including convention over configuration (CoC), don't repeat yourself (DRY), and the active record pattern.\r\nRuby on Rails' emergence in the 2000s greatly influenced web app development, through innovative features such as seamless database table creations, migrations, and scaffolding of views to enable rapid application development. Ruby on Rails' influence on other web frameworks remains apparent today, with many frameworks in other languages borrowing its ideas, including Django in Python, Catalyst in Perl, Laravel and CakePHP in PHP, Phoenix in Elixir, Play in Scala, and Sails.js in Node.js.\r\nRuby on Rails is intended to emphasize Convention over Configuration (CoC), and the Don't Repeat Yourself (DRY) principle.\r\n&quot;Convention over Configuration&quot; means a developer only needs to specify unconventional aspects of the application. For example, if there is a class Sale in the model, the corresponding table in the database is called sales by default. It is only if one deviates from this convention, such as calling the table &quot;products sold&quot;, that the developer needs to write code regarding these names. Generally, Ruby on Rails conventions lead to less code and less repetition.\r\n&quot;Don't repeat yourself&quot; means that information is located in a single, unambiguous place. For example, using the ActiveRecord module of Rails, the developer does not need to specify database column names in class definitions. Instead, Ruby on Rails can retrieve this information from the database based on the class name.\r\n&quot;Fat models, skinny controllers&quot; means that most of the application logic should be placed within the model while leaving the controller as light as possible.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Ruby on Rails?</span>\r\nRails is a development tool that gives web developers a framework, providing structure for all the code they write. The Rails framework helps developers to build websites and applications because it abstracts and simplifies common repetitive tasks.\r\nRails are written in Ruby, the programming language which is also used alongside Rails. Ruby is to Rails as PHP is to Symfony and Zend, or as Python is to Django. The appeal of Ruby to developers lies in the elegance and terseness of the language.\r\nOne of the key principles of Ruby on Rails development (henceforth ‘Rails’) is convention over configuration. This means that the programmer does not have to spend a lot of time configuring files in order to get set up, Rails comes with a set of conventions which help speed up development.\r\nAnother characteristic of Rails is the emphasis on RESTful application design. REST (Representational State Transfer) is a style of software architecture based around the client-server relationship. It encourages a logical structure within applications, which means they can easily be exposed as an API (Application Programming Interface).\r\nFrom a project management point of view, the Ruby on Rails community advocate Agile web development – an iterative development method, that encourages collaborative and flexible approach, which is particularly well-suited for web application development with fast-changing requirements.\r\nOver the last few years Ruby on Rails has gained a large and enthusiastic following, but let’s consider the main arguments for and against Rails.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is it necessary to use Ruby on Rails?</span>\r\n<ul><li>The process of programming is much faster than with other frameworks and languages, partly because of the object-oriented nature of Ruby and the vast collection of open source code available within the Rails community.</li><li>The Rails conventions also make it easy for developers to move between different Rails projects, as each project will tend to follow the same structure and coding practices.</li><li>Rails are good for rapid application development (RAD), as the framework makes it easy to accommodate changes.</li><li>Ruby code is very readable and mostly self-documenting. This increases productivity, as there is less need to write out separate documentation, making it easier for other developers to pick up existing projects.</li><li>Rails have developed a strong focus on testing and have good testing frameworks.</li><li>Rails and most of its libraries are open sources, so unlike other commercial development frameworks, there are no licensing costs involved.</li></ul>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Potential Rails problems and limitations and how to overcome them:</span>\r\n<ul><li>Not all website hosts can support Rails</li><li>Java and PHP are more widely used, and there are more developers in these languages</li><li>Performance and Scalability</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Ruby_on_Rails_Development.png","alias":"ruby-on-rails-development"},"635":{"id":635,"title":"Python Development","description":" Python is an interpreted, high-level, general-purpose programming language. Created by Guido van Rossum and first released in 1991, Python's design philosophy emphasizes code readability with its notable use of significant whitespace. Its language constructs and object-oriented approach aim to help programmers write clear, logical code for small and large-scale projects.\r\nPython is dynamically typed and garbage-collected. It supports multiple programming paradigms, including procedural, object-oriented, and functional programming. Python is often described as a &quot;batteries included&quot; language due to its comprehensive standard library.\r\nPython was conceived in the late 1980s as a successor to the ABC language. Python 2.0, released in 2000, introduced features like list comprehensions and a garbage collection system capable of collecting reference cycles. Python 3.0, released in 2008, was a major revision of the language that is not completely backward-compatible, and much Python 2 code does not run unmodified on Python 3.\r\nThe Python 2 language, i.e. Python 2.7.x, was officially discontinued on 1 January 2020 (first planned for 2015) after which security patches and other improvements will not be released for it. With Python 2's end-of-life, only Python 3.5.x and later are supported.\r\nPython interpreters are available for many operating systems. A global community of programmers develops and maintains CPython, an open source reference implementation. A non-profit organization, the Python Software Foundation, manages and directs resources for Python and CPython development.\r\nPython is a multi-paradigm programming language. Object-oriented programming and structured programming are fully supported, and many of its features support functional programming and aspect-oriented programming (including by metaprogramming and metaobjects (magic methods)). Many other paradigms are supported via extensions, including design by contract and logic programming.\r\nPython uses dynamic typing and a combination of reference counting and a cycle-detecting garbage collector for memory management. It also features dynamic name resolution (late binding), which binds method and variable names during program execution.\r\nPython's design offers some support for functional programming in the Lisp tradition. It has filter, map, and reduce functions; list comprehensions, dictionaries, sets, and generator expressions. The standard library has two modules (itertools and functools) that implement functional tools borrowed from Haskell and Standard ML.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Python?</span>\r\nPython is an interpreted, interactive, object-oriented programming language. It incorporates modules, exceptions, dynamic typing, very high level dynamic data types, and classes. Python combines remarkable power with very clear syntax. It has interfaces to many system calls and libraries, as well as to various window systems, and is extensible in C or C++. It is also usable as an extension language for applications that need a programmable interface. Finally, Python is portable: it runs on many Unix variants, on the Mac, and on Windows 2000 and later.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is the Python Software Foundation?</span>\r\nThe Python Software Foundation is an independent non-profit organization that holds the copyright on Python versions 2.1 and newer. The PSF’s mission is to advance open source technology related to the Python programming language and to publicize the use of Python. The PSF’s home page is at <link https://www.python.org/psf/.>https://www.python.org/psf/.</link>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Are there copyright restrictions on the use of Python?</span>\r\nYou can do anything you want with the source, as long as you leave the copyrights in and display those copyrights in any documentation about Python that you produce. If you honor the copyright rules, it’s OK to use Python for commercial use, to sell copies of Python in source or binary form (modified or unmodified), or to sell products that incorporate Python in some form. We would still like to know about all commercial use of Python, of course.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is Python good for?</span>\r\nPython is a high-level general-purpose programming language that can be applied to many different classes of problems.\r\nThe language comes with a large standard library that covers areas such as string processing (regular expressions, Unicode, calculating differences between files), Internet protocols (HTTP, FTP, SMTP, XML-RPC, POP, IMAP, CGI programming), software engineering (unit testing, logging, profiling, parsing Python code), and operating system interfaces (system calls, filesystems, TCP/IP sockets). Look at the table of contents for The Python Standard Library to get an idea of what’s available. A wide variety of third-party extensions are also available. Consult the Python Package Index to find packages of interest to you.<br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Python_Development.png","alias":"python-development"},"669":{"id":669,"title":"MySQL Development","description":" MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Its name is a combination of &quot;My&quot;, the name of co-founder Michael Widenius's daughter, and &quot;SQL&quot;, the abbreviation for Structured Query Language.\r\nMySQL is free and open-source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, and is also available under a variety of proprietary licenses. MySQL was owned and sponsored by the Swedish company MySQL AB, which was bought by Sun Microsystems (now Oracle Corporation). In 2010, when Oracle acquired Sun, Widenius forked the open-source MySQL project to create MariaDB.\r\nMySQL is a component of the LAMP web application software stack (and others), which is an acronym for Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python. MySQL is used by many database-driven web applications, including Drupal, Joomla, phpBB, and WordPress. MySQL is also used by many popular websites, including Facebook, Flickr, MediaWiki, Twitter, and YouTube.\r\nMySQL is written in C and C++. Its SQL parser is written in yacc, but it uses a home-brewed lexical analyzer. MySQL works on many system platforms, including AIX, BSDi, FreeBSD, HP-UX, eComStation, i5/OS, IRIX, Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, NetBSD, Novell NetWare, OpenBSD, OpenSolaris, OS/2 Warp, QNX, Oracle Solaris, Symbian, SunOS, SCO OpenServer, SCO UnixWare, Sanos and Tru64. A port of MySQL to OpenVMS also exists.\r\nThe MySQL server software itself and the client libraries use dual-licensing distribution. They are offered under GPL version 2, or a proprietary license.\r\nSupport can be obtained from the official manual. Free support additionally is available in different IRC channels and forums. Oracle offers paid support via its MySQL Enterprise products. They differ in the scope of services and in price. Additionally, a number of third party organisations exist to provide support and services, including MariaDB and Percona.\r\nMySQL has received positive reviews, and reviewers noticed it &quot;performs extremely well in the average case&quot; and that the &quot;developer interfaces are there, and the documentation (not to mention feedback in the real world via Web sites and the like) is very, very good&quot;. It has also been tested to be a &quot;fast, stable and true multi-user, multi-threaded sql database server&quot;.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What is MySQL?</span>\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">MySQL is a database management system.</span>\r\nA database is a structured collection of data. It may be anything from a simple shopping list or a picture gallery or the vast amounts of information in a corporate network. To add, access, and process data stored in a computer database, you need a database management system such as MySQL Server. Since computers are very good at handling large amounts of data, database management plays a central role in computing, as stand-alone utilities, or as parts of other applications.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \">MySQL is a relational database management system.</span>\r\nA relational database stores data in separate tables rather than putting all the data in one big storeroom. This adds speed and flexibility. The tables are linked by defined relations making it possible to combine data from several tables on request. The SQL part of &quot;MySQL&quot; stands for &quot;Structured Query Language&quot; the most common standardised language used to access databases.\r\nMySQL, the most popular Open Source SQL database, is developed and provided by MySQL AB. The MySQL web site ( http://www.mysql.com ) provides the latest information about MySQL software and MySQL AB.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why do I need MySQL?</span>\r\nIf you have any information such as products, dates, customers, pictures, or any data that is not static, a database is an efficient way to manage that information. Sites that contain message boards, guest books, dynamic galleries, contact lists, or online product information can greatly benefit by storing their information on our fast, reliable and secure database server.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_MySQL_Development.png","alias":"mysql-development"},"718":{"id":718,"title":"IT Consulting","description":" In management, information technology consulting (also called IT consulting, computer consultancy, business and technology services, computing consultancy, technology consulting, and IT advisory) as a field of activity focuses on advising organizations on how best to use information technology (IT) in achieving their business objectives.\r\nThe IT consulting industry can be viewed as a Four-tier system:\r\n<ul><li>Professional services firms which maintain large professional workforces and command high bill rates.</li><li>Staffing firms, which place technologists with businesses on a temporary basis, typically in response to employee absences, temporary skill shortages and technical projects.</li><li>Independent consultants, who are self-employed or who function as employees of staffing firms (for US tax purposes, employed on Form W-2), or as independent contractors in their own right (for US tax purposes, on &quot;1099&quot;).</li><li>Information Technology security consultants</li></ul>\r\nThere are different reasons why consultants are called in:\r\n<ul><li>To gain external, objective advice and recommendations</li><li>To gain access to the consultants' specialized expertise</li><li>Temporary help during a one-time project where the hiring of a permanent employee(s) is not required or necessary</li><li>To outsource all or part of the IT services from a specific company.</li></ul>\r\nThere is a relatively unclear line between management consulting and IT consulting. There are sometimes overlaps between the two fields, but IT consultants often have degrees in computer science, electronics, technology, or management information systems while management consultants often have degrees in accounting, economics, Industrial Engineering, finance, or a generalized MBA (Masters in Business Administration).\r\nAccording to the Institute for Partner Education &amp; Development, IT consultants' revenues come predominantly from design and planning based consulting with a mixture of IT and business consulting. This is different from a systems integrator in that you do not normally take title to product. Their value comes from their ability to integrate and support technologies as well as determining product and brands. ","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Who is an information technology (IT) consultant?</span>\r\nAn information technology consultant is a third-party service provider who is qualified to advise clients on the best use of IT to meet specific business requirements. IT consultants may work with a professional IT consultancy firm or as independent contractors. They may conduct a business needs assessment and develop an information systems solution that meets the organization's objectives.\r\nSome information technology consultants emphasize technical issues while others help organizations use IT to manage business processes. Still others specialize in a specific IT area such as information security.\r\nIT consultants need a deep knowledge of both business and information technology. A bachelor's degree in management information systems, computer science, or information science is the typical path into a technical consultancy career. IT certifications supplement this foundation with specialized technical training. Information technology degree and certification programs are available online to accommodate working IT professionals.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are the prerequisites and major obstacles?</span>\r\nOnce a business owner defined the needs to take a business to the next level, a decision maker will define a scope, cost and a time-frame of the project. The role of the IT consultancy company is to support and nurture the company from the very beginning of the project until the end, and deliver the project not only in the scope, time and cost but also with complete customer satisfaction.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Project scoping and planning</span></span>\r\nThe usual problem is that a business owner doesn't know the detail of what the project is going to deliver until it starts the process. In many cases, the incremental effort in some projects can lead to significant financial loss.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Business process and system design</span></span>\r\nThe scope of a project is linked intimately to the proposed business processes and systems that the project is going to deliver. Regardless of whether the project is to launch a new product range or discontinue unprofitable parts of the business, the change will have some impact on business processes and systems. The documentation of your business processes and system requirements are as fundamental to project scoping as an architects plans would be to the costing and scoping of the construction of a building.\r\n<span style=\"font-style: italic; \"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Project management support</span></span>\r\nThe most successful business projects are always those that are driven by an employee who has the authority, vision and influence to drive the required changes in a business. It is highly unlikely that a business owner (decision maker or similar) will realize the changes unless one has one of these people in the employment. However, the project leadership role typically requires significant experience and skills which are not usually found within a company focused on day-to-day operations. Due to this requirement within more significant business change projects/programs, outside expertise is often sought from firms which can bring this specific skill set to the company.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the skills of IT-consulting?</span>\r\nAn IT consultant needs to possess the following skills:\r\n<ul><li>Advisory skills</li><li>Technical skills</li><li>Business skills</li><li>Communication skills</li><li>Management skills</li><li>Advisory language skills</li><li>Business and management language skills</li><li>Technical language skills</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_IT_Consulting.png","alias":"it-consulting"},"727":{"id":727,"title":"IT Security Audit","description":" A <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">computer security audit</span> is a manual or systematic measurable technical assessment of a system or application. Manual assessments include interviewing staff, performing security vulnerability scans, reviewing application and operating system access controls, and analyzing physical access to the systems. Automated assessments, or CAAT's, include system generated audit reports or using software to monitor and report changes to files and settings on a system. Systems can include personal computers, servers, mainframes, network routers, switches.\r\nAt its root, an <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT security audit</span> includes two different assessments. The manual assessment occurs when an internal or external IT security audit companies interview employees, reviews access controls, analyzes physical access to hardware, and performs vulnerability scans. \r\nAudit, performed by IT security audit services or IT security audit software, analyzes individual technical infrastructure components at a detailed level, ensuring that each is functioning in a manner that reinforces appropriate information security. The stakes are made higher with a number of regulatory compliance requirements mandating that IT audits be included in organizational due diligence efforts. These reviews should occur, at a minimum, annually. Some organizations, however, prefer to do them more frequently.\r\nOrganizations should also review system-generated reports. Automated assessments not only incorporate that data, but also respond to software monitoring reports and changes to server and file settings.\r\nSecurity audits, vulnerability assessments, and penetration testing are the <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">three main types of security diagnostics. </span>Each of the three takes a different approach and may be best suited for a particular purpose. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Security audits</span> measure an information system's performance against a list of criteria. \r\nA <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">vulnerability assessment,</span> on the other hand, involves a comprehensive study of an entire information system, seeking potential security weaknesses. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Penetration testing</span> is a covert operation, in which a security expert tries a number of attacks to ascertain whether or not a system could withstand the same types of attacks from a malicious hacker. In penetration testing, the feigned attack can include anything a real attacker might try, such as social engineering. Each of the approaches has inherent strengths, and using two or more of them in conjunction may be the most effective approach of all.\r\n\r\n\r\n","materialsDescription":"<h1 class=\"align-center\"> <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is a security audit?</span></h1>\r\nA Security Audit is a process or event where the IT security policy or standards are used as a basis to determine the overall state of existing protection and to verify whether existing protection is being performed properly. It aims to determine whether the current environment is securely protected in accordance with the defined IT security policy.<br />Before performing a security assessment or audit, the organization should define the scope of the security audit, and the budget and duration allowed for the assessment/audit.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How often should a security audit be performed?</span></h1>\r\nA security audit only provides a snapshot of the vulnerabilities in a system at a particular point in time. As technology and the business environment changes, periodic and ongoing reviews will inevitably be required. Depending on the criticality of the business, a security audit might be conducted yearly, or every two years.\r\n<h1 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Who should perform a security audit?</span></h1>\r\nA security audit is a complex task requiring skilled and experienced personnel; it must be planned carefully. To perform the audit an independent and trusted third party is recommended. This third party can be another group of in-house staff or an external audit team, dependent on the skills of the internal staff and the criticality/sensitivity of the information being audited.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_IT_Security_Audit.png","alias":"it-security-audit"},"729":{"id":729,"title":"IT Project Deployment Services","description":" Companies invest in projects for the implementation of IT systems that are consistent with the organization's values, with the goal of realizing a business vision, stable support for operational activities, and gaining competitive advantages. In this regard, technological projects are becoming increasingly large-scale, affecting more departments of the organization, and pose a risk to the company if the operation of information systems is disrupted.\r\nThe introduction of new IT requires the project team to carry out at least two principal stages:\r\n<ul><li>pre-project analysis of the enterprise, when, with the help of specialists in the proposed IP and specialists of the enterprise, compliance and discrepancies between the system and its future use is revealed. As a result of the survey, ways to eliminate inconsistencies are determined based on the initial assessment of the required resources and time. The survey is conducted using questions and answers, to some extent formalized, and special software tools that allow you to describe the processes of the system and the enterprise and compare them visually. No changes take place at the enterprise unless individual employees are distracted from their direct duties, which is both a virtue and a disadvantage of this approach;</li><li>trial implementation carried out on the most characteristic site of work. Based on this test work, a general assessment of future implementation is determined and a fundamental decision is made on the use of IP.</li></ul>\r\nThere is a lot of confusion and substitution of the concept of “project team” with the idea of ​​it as a “group”, “pack”, “family”, etc. There are several understandings that there is a modern “project team/group” and “integrated project team”, however, the fundamental characteristic of the team is that it does not exist outside the project. A team with all its human strengths and weaknesses is a necessary and inseparable element of any project. It is a developing element of the technology of the project and affects the project itself.\r\nThe project itself is not “done” - it is made by people, and where people are affected by the influence of biology, instincts, gender parameters, “conscious” and “unconscious”, etc. If people are in the organizational “system” (family, flock, group, team, etc.), systemic effects arise that should be foreseen in the formation of a set of people due to the competent selection, placement and development of the team in the right direction. This is not just an ordinary organizational question, but a question of the depth of understanding of the essence of the project, its management and the skill of the leader.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is an IT project?</span>\r\nAn IT project is a project that includes work related to information technology.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is information technology?</span>\r\nInformation technology is a technology aimed at the creation, development and support of information systems.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What are the main ideas underlying the project team model of an IT project?</span>\r\n<ul><li>interdependent and interrelated roles in a small group;</li><li>determination of the role, special mission and area of ​​responsibility for each member of the project team;</li><li>distributed project management and responsibility;</li><li>each is focused on the success of the project and is set to work throughout the project cycle;</li><li>communication between project team members is a key success factor;</li><li>users and training staff are included in the project team;</li><li>parallel engineering - parallel work of all team members on a project.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_IT_Project_Deployment_Services.png","alias":"it-project-deployment-services"},"735":{"id":735,"title":"Installation and configuration","description":" Installation or setup is the act of making the system or program ready for execution. Because the process varies for each program and each computer, programs (including operating systems) often come with an installer, a specialized program responsible for doing whatever is needed for their installation. The configuration is an arrangement of functional units according to their nature, number, and chief characteristics. Often, configuration pertains to the choice of hardware, software, firmware, settings, and documentation. The configuration affects system function and performance.\r\nSome computer programs can be executed by simply copying them into a folder stored on a computer and executing them. Other programs are supplied in a form unsuitable for immediate execution and therefore need an installation procedure. Once installed, the program can be executed again and again, without the need to reinstall before each execution.\r\nCommon operations performed during software installations include:\r\n<ul><li>Making sure that necessary system requirements are met</li><li>Checking for existing versions of the software</li><li>Creating or updating program files and folders</li><li>Adding configuration data such as configuration files, Windows registry entries or environment variables</li><li>Making the software accessible to the user, for instance by creating links, shortcuts or bookmarks</li><li>Configuring components that run automatically, such as daemons or Windows services</li><li>Performing product activation</li><li>Updating the software versions</li></ul>\r\nThese operations may require some charges or be free of charge. In case of payment, installation costs means the costs connected and relevant to or incurred as a result of installing the drivers or the equipment in the customers' premises. ","materialsDescription":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What does &quot;Installation&quot; mean?</span>\r\nInstallation is the process of making hardware and/or software ready for use. Obviously, different systems require different types of installations. While certain installations are simple and straightforward and can be performed by non-professionals, others are more complex and time-consuming and may require the involvement of specialists.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What does the &quot;Configuration&quot; mean?</span>\r\nThe way a system is set up, or the assortment of components that make up the system. Configuration can refer to either hardware or software, or the combination of both. For instance, a typical configuration for a PC consists of 32MB (megabytes) main memory, a floppy drive, a hard disk, a modem, a CD-ROM drive, a VGA monitor, and the Windows operating system.\r\nMany software products require that the computer have a certain minimum configuration. For example, the software might require a graphics display monitor and a video adapter, a particular microprocessor, and a minimum amount of main memory.\r\nWhen you install a new device or program, you sometimes need to configure it, which means to set various switches and jumpers (for hardware) and to define values of parameters (for software). For example, the device or program may need to know what type of video adapter you have and what type of printer is connected to the computer. Thanks to new technologies, such as plug-and-play, much of this configuration is performed automatically.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Installation_and_configuration.png","alias":"installation-and-configuration"},"737":{"id":737,"title":"IT System Testing","description":" System testing is testing conducted on a complete integrated system to evaluate the system's compliance with its specified requirements.\r\nSystem testing takes, as its input, all of the integrated components that have passed integration testing. The purpose of integration testing is to detect any inconsistencies between the units that are integrated together (called assemblages). System testing seeks to detect defects both within the &quot;inter-assemblages&quot; and also within the system as a whole. The actual result is the behavior produced or observed when a component or system is tested.\r\nSystem testing is performed on the entire system in the context of either functional requirement specifications (FRS) or system requirement specification (SRS), or both. System testing tests not only the design but also the behavior and even the believed expectations of the customer. It is also intended to test up to and beyond the bounds defined in the software or hardware requirements specification(s).\r\nSoftware testing is an investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the software product or service under test. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks of software implementation. Software testing involves the execution of a software component or system component to evaluate one or more properties of interest. In general, these properties indicate the extent to which the component or system under test meets the requirements that guided its design and development, responds correctly to all kinds of inputs, performs its functions within an acceptable time, is sufficiently usable, can be installed and run in its intended environments, and achieves the general result its stakeholders desire. As the number of possible tests for even simple software components is practically infinite, all software testing uses some strategy to select tests that are feasible for the available time and resources.\r\nMobile-device testing assures the quality of mobile devices, like mobile phones, PDAs, etc. The testing will be conducted on both hardware and software. And from the view of different procedures, the testing comprises R&amp;D testing, factory testing and certification testing. Mobile-device testing involves a set of activities from monitoring and troubleshooting mobile applications, content and services on real handsets. Testing includes verification and validation of hardware devices and software applications.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is System Testing?</span>\r\nSystem Testing is the testing of a complete and fully integrated software product. Usually, the software is only one element of a larger computer-based system. Ultimately, the software is interfaced with other software/hardware systems. System Testing is actually a series of different tests whose sole purpose is to exercise the full computer-based system.\r\nTwo Category of Software Testing:\r\n<ul><li>Black Box Testing;</li><li>White Box Testing.</li></ul>\r\nSystem test falls under the black box testing category of software testing.\r\nWhite box testing is the testing of the internal workings or code of a software application. In contrast, black box or System Testing is the opposite. The system test involves the external workings of the software from the user's perspective.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What do you verify in System Testing?</span>\r\nSystem Testing involves testing the software code for following:\r\n<ul><li>Testing the fully integrated applications including external peripherals in order to check how components interact with one another and with the system as a whole. This is also called End to End testing scenario.</li><li>Verify thorough testing of every input in the application to check for desired outputs.</li><li>Testing of the user's experience with the application.</li></ul>\r\nThat is a very basic description of what is involved in system testing. You need to build detailed test cases and test suites that test each aspect of the application as seen from the outside without looking at the actual source code.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What Types of System Testing Should Testers Use?</span>\r\nThere are over 50 different types of system testing. The specific types used by a tester depend on several variables. Those variables include:\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Who the tester works for</span> - This is a major factor in determining the types of system testing a tester will use. Methods used by large companies are different than those used by medium and small companies.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Time available for testing</span> - Ultimately, all 50 testing types could be used. Time is often what limits us to using only the types that are most relevant for the software project.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Resources available to the tester</span> - Of course some testers will not have the necessary resources to conduct a testing type. For example, if you are a tester working for a large software development firm, you are likely to have expensive automated testing software not available to others.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Software Tester's Education</span> - There is a certain learning curve for each type of software testing available. To use some of the software involved, a tester has to learn how to use it.</li><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Testing Budget</span> - Money becomes a factor not just for smaller companies and individual software developers but large companies as well.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_IT_System_testing.png","alias":"it-system-testing"},"739":{"id":739,"title":"Deployment and Integration Services","description":" The number of various solutions implemented by customers today is quite large. Often, the subsystems of the seemingly unified IT landscape are either weakly connected with each other, or the interaction between them is established in the mode of transferring files and data by mail or “from hand to hand”.\r\nWestern IT vendors, following a certain trend, offer the customer complete and unified solutions. Such blocks of subsystems solve a specific task and form separate IT centers, which also require the mutual integration of infrastructures. This, oddly enough, is even more difficult, as a complete solution does not allow to penetrate deeply and get access to the required information or control subsystems.\r\nNevertheless, the integration and interconnection of information flows can significantly simplify business processes and lead to an increase in the efficiency of interaction both inside and outside the company (with customers and partners).\r\nThe integration task itself is important for business, as it provides a qualitatively new level of services. This is especially important for companies where IT is the immediate tool for achieving business goals. But it is equally important to make integration optimal in the light of minimizing not only the cost of purchasing equipment and software but also preserving previous IT investments.","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">The main types of implementation and integration services offered by companies:</span>\r\n<ul><li>Designing IT architecture for integration solutions in the field of analytics, automation and monitoring of business processes;</li><li>Development and integration of network infrastructure subsystems, including scalable telecommunications equipment, server equipment and workstations;</li><li>Defining a single platform and developing a solution for integrating enterprise applications, data and business processes;</li><li>Implementation and maintenance of integrated integration solutions in the field of enterprise management (ERP-systems);</li><li>Implementation and maintenance of integration solutions in the field of accounting and analysis of sales and customer relations (CRM-system);</li><li>Implementation and maintenance of integration solutions in the field of accounting and financial analysis;</li><li>Impairment, testing and development of solutions for ensuring information security of a business.</li></ul>","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Deployment_and_Integration_Services.png","alias":"deployment-and-integration-services"}},"branches":"Information Technology","companySizes":"1 to 50 Employees","companyUrl":"https://8allocate.com/","countryCodes":["EST","UKR"],"certifications":[],"isSeller":true,"isSupplier":true,"isVendor":true,"presenterCodeLng":"","seo":{"title":"8allocate","keywords":"","description":" Headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia, 8allocate is a company that is a software development outsourcing consultancy with an Offshore Development Center based in the heart of Kyiv, Ukraine.\r\nWe provide scalable end-to-end software engineering solutions for compan","og:title":"8allocate","og:description":" Headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia, 8allocate is a company that is a software development outsourcing consultancy with an Offshore Development Center based in the heart of Kyiv, Ukraine.\r\nWe provide scalable end-to-end software engineering solutions for compan","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/uploads/roi/company/8allocate_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","vendorPartners":[],"supplierPartners":[],"vendoredProducts":[{"id":2339,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/8allocate_logo.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"8allocate Software Development","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"1.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"alias":"8allocate-software-development","companyTitle":"8allocate","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":4641,"companyAlias":"8allocate","description":"We are a technology-agnostic b2b ecosystem that delivers value-based scalable custom software solutions by leveraging a unique consultative approach, account-based recruitment, and a trusted resource network.\r\nWe provide scalable end-to-end software engineering solutions for companies around the world, from short- and mid-term fixed-price and T&amp;M projects to extended/remote dedicated Agile teams. Regardless of your company size, project scope and budget, we treat all clients equally and guarantee that we’ll deliver on time, on budget, and with the highest possible quality of service. High-quality code is at the heart of each solution we deliver.\r\nWe don’t use any bench resources; as a client, you get an exclusive team’s setup based on your allotted budget and project specific requirements! All tech talents involved in your project development are committed to helping you reach your goal and solve your issue. This is our promise and guarantee! When we build software, we always think about how it’ll help your business prosper, increase your top-line growth and bottom-line savings.\r\nWhether you’re looking to build a software product from scratch, boost your in-house/onshore team’s capacity with auxiliary tech talent and external expertise, or outsource your entire R&amp;D offshore – we have different value propositions to get you covered and help you successfully achieve your digital transformation and other business goals.","shortDescription":"The mission of 8allocate is to help our customers develop effective products that fit their business perfectly.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":0,"sellingCount":0,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"8allocate Software Development","keywords":"","description":"We are a technology-agnostic b2b ecosystem that delivers value-based scalable custom software solutions by leveraging a unique consultative approach, account-based recruitment, and a trusted resource network.\r\nWe provide scalable end-to-end software engineerin","og:title":"8allocate Software Development","og:description":"We are a technology-agnostic b2b ecosystem that delivers value-based scalable custom software solutions by leveraging a unique consultative approach, account-based recruitment, and a trusted resource network.\r\nWe provide scalable end-to-end software engineerin","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/8allocate_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":2339,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":32,"title":"IT outsourcing","alias":"it-outsourcing","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT outsourcing</span> is the use of external service providers to effectively deliver IT-enabled business process, application service and infrastructure solutions for business outcomes.\r\nOutsourcing, which also includes utility services, software as a service and cloud-enabled outsourcing, helps clients to develop the right sourcing strategies and vision, select the right IT service providers, structure the best possible contracts, and govern deals for sustainable win-win relationships with external providers.\r\nOutsourcing can enable enterprises to reduce costs, accelerate time to market, and take advantage of external expertise, assets and/or intellectual property. IT outsourcing can be implemented both ways: outsides or within the country. \r\nIT outsourcing vendors can provide either a fully managed service, meaning they take full responsibility of all IT maintenance and support, or they can provide additional support for an internal IT team when needed, which is known as co-sourced IT support. A company using IT outsourcing can choose to use one provider for all their IT functions or split the work among multiple providers. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Specific IT services typically outsourced include:</span>\r\n<ul><li>Application development</li><li>Web hosting</li><li>Application support</li><li>Database development</li><li>Telecommunications</li><li>Networking</li><li>Disaster recovery</li><li>Security</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Reasons for Outsourcing</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Reduce Cost.</span> More often than not, outsourcing means saving money. This is often due to lower labor costs, cheaper infrastructure, or an advantageous tax system in the outsourcing location.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Access Skills That Are Unavailable Locally.</span> Resources that are scarce at home can sometimes be found in abundance elsewhere, meaning you can easily reach them through outsourcing.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Better Use Internal Resources</span>. By delegating some of your business processes to a third party, you’ll give your in-house employees the opportunity to focus on more meaningful tasks.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Accelerate Business Processes.</span> When you stop wasting time on mundane, time-consuming processes, you’ll be able to move forward with your core offering a lot faster.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Share Risks.</span> When you delegate a part of non-focus functionality by outsourcing it to a third-party vendor, you give away the responsibility and related risks.","materialsDescription":"<h3 class=\"align-center\">What are the Types of IT Outsourcing?</h3>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Project-Based Model.</span> The client hires a team to implement the part of work that is already planned and defined. The project manager from the outsourced team carries full responsibility for the quality and performance of the project.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Dedicated Team Model.</span> The client hires a team that will create a project for them, and they will work only on that project. Unlike the project-based model, a dedicated team is more engaged in your project. In this model, an outsourced team becomes your technical and product advisor. So it can offer ideas and suggest alternative solutions.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Outstaff Model.</span> It's a type of outsourcing in IT when you don't need a full-fledged development team and hire separate specialists. Sometimes the project requires finding a couple of additional professionals, and you're free to hire outstaff workers to cover that scope of work.</p>\r\n<h3 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are IT Outsourcing examples?</span></h3>\r\nThe individual or company that becomes your outsourcing partner can be located anywhere in the world — one block away from your office or on another continent.\r\nA Bay Area-based startup partnering with an app development team in Utah and a call center in the Philippines, or a UK-based digital marketing agency hiring a Magento developer from Ukraine are both examples of outsourcing.\r\n<h3 class=\"align-center\">Why You Should Use IT Outsourcing</h3>\r\nNow that you know what IT outsourcing is, its models, and types, it's time to clarify why you need to outsource and whether you really need it. Let's go over a few situations that suggest when to opt for IT outsourcing.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">You are a domain expert with idea</span></li></ul>\r\nIf you're an industry expert with the idea that solves a real problem, IT outsourcing is your choice. In this case, your main goal is to enter the market and test the solution fast. An outsourced team will help you validate the idea, build an MVP to check the hypothesis, and implement changes in your product according to market needs. It saves you money, time and lets you reach the goal.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">You have an early-stage startup</span></li></ul>\r\nIt's a common case that young startups spend money faster than they get a solid team and a ready-to-market product. The Failory found that financial problems are the 3rd reason why startup fails. So it makes more sense to reduce costs by hiring an outsourced team of professionals while your business lives on investor's money. You may employ a full-cycle product development studio covering all the blind spots and bringing your product to life.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">You need a technical support</span></li></ul>\r\nEven if you already have a ready solution, but it demands some technical improvements – frameworks for backend components, new language, integrations with enterprise software, UX&amp;UI design – it makes more sense to find an experienced partner. There are many functions that IT outsourcing can cover, and again it saves you the time you'd otherwise spend on looking for qualified staff.<br /><br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_IT_outsourcing.png"},{"id":601,"title":"Custom Software Development","alias":"custom-software-development","description":" Custom software (also known as bespoke software or tailor-made software) is software that organization for some specific organization or another user. As such, it can be contrasted with the use of software packages developed for the mass market, such as commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software, or existing free software.\r\nSince custom software is developed for a single customer it can accommodate that customer's particular preferences and expectations. Custom software may be developed in an iterative process, allowing all nuances and possible hidden risks to be taken into account, including issues which were not mentioned in the original requirement specifications (which are, as a rule, never perfect). In particular, the first phase in the software development process may involve many departments, materchode including marketing, engineering, research and development and general management.\r\nLarge companies commonly use custom software for critical functions, including content management, inventory management, customer management, human resource management, or otherwise to fill the gaps present in the existing software packages. Often such software is legacy software, developed before COTS or free software packages offering the required functionality became available.\r\nCustom software development is often considered expensive compared to off-the-shelf solutions or products. This can be true if one is speaking of typical challenges and typical solutions. However, it is not always true. In many cases, COTS software requires customization to correctly support the buyer's operations. The cost and delay of COTS customization can even add up to the expense of developing custom software. Cost is not the only consideration, however, as the decision to opt for custom software often includes the requirement for the purchaser to own the source code, to secure the possibility of future development or modifications to the installed system.\r\nAdditionally, COTS comes with upfront license costs which vary enormously but sometimes run into the millions (in terms of dollars). Furthermore, the big software houses that release COTS products revamp their product very frequently. Thus a particular customization may need to be upgraded for compatibility every two to four years. Given the cost of customization, such upgrades also turn out to be expensive, as a dedicated product release cycle will have to be earmarked for them.\r\nThe decision to build custom software or go for a COTS implementation would usually rest on one or more of the following factors:\r\n<ul><li>Finances - both cost and benefit: The upfront license cost for COTS products mean that a thorough cost-benefit analysis of the business case needs to be done. However it is widely known that large custom software projects cannot fix all three of scope, time/cost and quality constant, so either the cost or the benefits of a custom software project will be subject to some degree of uncertainty - even disregarding the uncertainty around the business benefits of a feature that is successfully implemented.</li><li>Supplier - In the case of COTS, is the supplier likely to remain in business long, and will there be adequate support and customization available? Alternatively, will there be a realistic possibility of getting support and customization from third parties? In the case of custom software, software development may be outsourced or done in-house. If it is outsourced, the question is: is the supplier reputable, and do they have a good track record?</li><li>Time to market: COTS products usually have a quicker time to market</li><li>Size of implementation: COTS comes with standardization of business processes and reporting. For a global or national organization, these can bring in gains in cost savings, efficiency and productivity, if the branch offices are all willing and able to use the same COTS without heavy customizations (which is not always a given).</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is custom software such a large investment?</span>\r\nBuilding a custom web application is a time-consuming endeavor. It takes time to learn the processes of your business, to gather requirements, to flesh out your needs, and to build the software. Put simply, time is money.\r\nWhile it’s a large investment, by investing in custom software, you’ll own the code instead of having a long-term licensing agreement with another software company.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How could my business benefit from custom software?</span>\r\nA custom business software solution increases process efficiency through process automation. When business processes are properly automated, they minimize the waste in time and resources that the original processes contained.\r\nThink of it this way: with software that already exists, you have to modify your process to meet software capabilities. With custom software, you can build a system around the existing processes you have in place. You took a lot of time to develop those processes, so why should you revamp your business?\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is IP and how important is it that I own it?</span>\r\nIP stands for Intellectual Property. When you deal with anything creative, you have to think about copyright and the intellectual property on that work and that includes the creation of software code.\r\nThis gets back to the question of buying vs. building. If there is an existing solution that can suit your needs just fine, then it makes sense to buy, but the software developer owns the code and you are basically licensing the software from there. However, if you need a specialized solution that is customized to your needs and decide to go the custom development route, then the question of who owns the code is an important one.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">I’m thinking about hiring someone offshore; what should I watch out for?</span>\r\nIn short, everything. Language barriers and lack of proximity lead to breakdowns in communication and quality. Do yourself a favor and stay local.\r\nOn a related note, if you’re thinking about hiring for the position internally, think about this: it takes around three people to complete a successful custom software project. If you hire someone internally, their salary might cost what it would take to build with us, and you get a whole team when you work with us. Plus, if your software developer decides to leave, they take their knowledge with them. If one of our team members leave, our whole team shares the knowledge so you’re not left in the dark.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">If things don’t go well, am I sunk?</span>\r\nWe make communication and transparency are top priorities so this doesn’t happen. Right out of the gate we work hard to make sure that not only the project is a good fit, but the relationship with the client is as well. Through each step of the process and the build, we keep you in the loop weekly so you know what to expect and what is happening, but a good development company should have places in their process/relationship where you can cleanly exit. Make sure you know what the process is for leaving and what those different ‘leaving’ options are.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Custom_Software_Development.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]}],"suppliedProducts":[{"id":2339,"logoURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/8allocate_logo.png","logo":true,"scheme":false,"title":"8allocate Software Development","vendorVerified":0,"rating":"1.00","implementationsCount":0,"suppliersCount":0,"supplierPartnersCount":0,"alias":"8allocate-software-development","companyTitle":"8allocate","companyTypes":["supplier","vendor"],"companyId":4641,"companyAlias":"8allocate","description":"We are a technology-agnostic b2b ecosystem that delivers value-based scalable custom software solutions by leveraging a unique consultative approach, account-based recruitment, and a trusted resource network.\r\nWe provide scalable end-to-end software engineering solutions for companies around the world, from short- and mid-term fixed-price and T&amp;M projects to extended/remote dedicated Agile teams. Regardless of your company size, project scope and budget, we treat all clients equally and guarantee that we’ll deliver on time, on budget, and with the highest possible quality of service. High-quality code is at the heart of each solution we deliver.\r\nWe don’t use any bench resources; as a client, you get an exclusive team’s setup based on your allotted budget and project specific requirements! All tech talents involved in your project development are committed to helping you reach your goal and solve your issue. This is our promise and guarantee! When we build software, we always think about how it’ll help your business prosper, increase your top-line growth and bottom-line savings.\r\nWhether you’re looking to build a software product from scratch, boost your in-house/onshore team’s capacity with auxiliary tech talent and external expertise, or outsource your entire R&amp;D offshore – we have different value propositions to get you covered and help you successfully achieve your digital transformation and other business goals.","shortDescription":"The mission of 8allocate is to help our customers develop effective products that fit their business perfectly.","type":null,"isRoiCalculatorAvaliable":false,"isConfiguratorAvaliable":false,"bonus":100,"usingCount":0,"sellingCount":0,"discontinued":0,"rebateForPoc":0,"rebate":0,"seo":{"title":"8allocate Software Development","keywords":"","description":"We are a technology-agnostic b2b ecosystem that delivers value-based scalable custom software solutions by leveraging a unique consultative approach, account-based recruitment, and a trusted resource network.\r\nWe provide scalable end-to-end software engineerin","og:title":"8allocate Software Development","og:description":"We are a technology-agnostic b2b ecosystem that delivers value-based scalable custom software solutions by leveraging a unique consultative approach, account-based recruitment, and a trusted resource network.\r\nWe provide scalable end-to-end software engineerin","og:image":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/8allocate_logo.png"},"eventUrl":"","translationId":2339,"dealDetails":null,"roi":null,"price":null,"bonusForReference":null,"templateData":[],"testingArea":"","categories":[{"id":32,"title":"IT outsourcing","alias":"it-outsourcing","description":"<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">IT outsourcing</span> is the use of external service providers to effectively deliver IT-enabled business process, application service and infrastructure solutions for business outcomes.\r\nOutsourcing, which also includes utility services, software as a service and cloud-enabled outsourcing, helps clients to develop the right sourcing strategies and vision, select the right IT service providers, structure the best possible contracts, and govern deals for sustainable win-win relationships with external providers.\r\nOutsourcing can enable enterprises to reduce costs, accelerate time to market, and take advantage of external expertise, assets and/or intellectual property. IT outsourcing can be implemented both ways: outsides or within the country. \r\nIT outsourcing vendors can provide either a fully managed service, meaning they take full responsibility of all IT maintenance and support, or they can provide additional support for an internal IT team when needed, which is known as co-sourced IT support. A company using IT outsourcing can choose to use one provider for all their IT functions or split the work among multiple providers. \r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Specific IT services typically outsourced include:</span>\r\n<ul><li>Application development</li><li>Web hosting</li><li>Application support</li><li>Database development</li><li>Telecommunications</li><li>Networking</li><li>Disaster recovery</li><li>Security</li></ul>\r\n<p class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Reasons for Outsourcing</span></p>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Reduce Cost.</span> More often than not, outsourcing means saving money. This is often due to lower labor costs, cheaper infrastructure, or an advantageous tax system in the outsourcing location.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Access Skills That Are Unavailable Locally.</span> Resources that are scarce at home can sometimes be found in abundance elsewhere, meaning you can easily reach them through outsourcing.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Better Use Internal Resources</span>. By delegating some of your business processes to a third party, you’ll give your in-house employees the opportunity to focus on more meaningful tasks.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Accelerate Business Processes.</span> When you stop wasting time on mundane, time-consuming processes, you’ll be able to move forward with your core offering a lot faster.<br /><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">To Share Risks.</span> When you delegate a part of non-focus functionality by outsourcing it to a third-party vendor, you give away the responsibility and related risks.","materialsDescription":"<h3 class=\"align-center\">What are the Types of IT Outsourcing?</h3>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Project-Based Model.</span> The client hires a team to implement the part of work that is already planned and defined. The project manager from the outsourced team carries full responsibility for the quality and performance of the project.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Dedicated Team Model.</span> The client hires a team that will create a project for them, and they will work only on that project. Unlike the project-based model, a dedicated team is more engaged in your project. In this model, an outsourced team becomes your technical and product advisor. So it can offer ideas and suggest alternative solutions.</p>\r\n<p class=\"align-left\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">Outstaff Model.</span> It's a type of outsourcing in IT when you don't need a full-fledged development team and hire separate specialists. Sometimes the project requires finding a couple of additional professionals, and you're free to hire outstaff workers to cover that scope of work.</p>\r\n<h3 class=\"align-center\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold; \">What are IT Outsourcing examples?</span></h3>\r\nThe individual or company that becomes your outsourcing partner can be located anywhere in the world — one block away from your office or on another continent.\r\nA Bay Area-based startup partnering with an app development team in Utah and a call center in the Philippines, or a UK-based digital marketing agency hiring a Magento developer from Ukraine are both examples of outsourcing.\r\n<h3 class=\"align-center\">Why You Should Use IT Outsourcing</h3>\r\nNow that you know what IT outsourcing is, its models, and types, it's time to clarify why you need to outsource and whether you really need it. Let's go over a few situations that suggest when to opt for IT outsourcing.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">You are a domain expert with idea</span></li></ul>\r\nIf you're an industry expert with the idea that solves a real problem, IT outsourcing is your choice. In this case, your main goal is to enter the market and test the solution fast. An outsourced team will help you validate the idea, build an MVP to check the hypothesis, and implement changes in your product according to market needs. It saves you money, time and lets you reach the goal.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">You have an early-stage startup</span></li></ul>\r\nIt's a common case that young startups spend money faster than they get a solid team and a ready-to-market product. The Failory found that financial problems are the 3rd reason why startup fails. So it makes more sense to reduce costs by hiring an outsourced team of professionals while your business lives on investor's money. You may employ a full-cycle product development studio covering all the blind spots and bringing your product to life.\r\n<ul><li><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">You need a technical support</span></li></ul>\r\nEven if you already have a ready solution, but it demands some technical improvements – frameworks for backend components, new language, integrations with enterprise software, UX&amp;UI design – it makes more sense to find an experienced partner. There are many functions that IT outsourcing can cover, and again it saves you the time you'd otherwise spend on looking for qualified staff.<br /><br /><br />","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_IT_outsourcing.png"},{"id":601,"title":"Custom Software Development","alias":"custom-software-development","description":" Custom software (also known as bespoke software or tailor-made software) is software that organization for some specific organization or another user. As such, it can be contrasted with the use of software packages developed for the mass market, such as commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software, or existing free software.\r\nSince custom software is developed for a single customer it can accommodate that customer's particular preferences and expectations. Custom software may be developed in an iterative process, allowing all nuances and possible hidden risks to be taken into account, including issues which were not mentioned in the original requirement specifications (which are, as a rule, never perfect). In particular, the first phase in the software development process may involve many departments, materchode including marketing, engineering, research and development and general management.\r\nLarge companies commonly use custom software for critical functions, including content management, inventory management, customer management, human resource management, or otherwise to fill the gaps present in the existing software packages. Often such software is legacy software, developed before COTS or free software packages offering the required functionality became available.\r\nCustom software development is often considered expensive compared to off-the-shelf solutions or products. This can be true if one is speaking of typical challenges and typical solutions. However, it is not always true. In many cases, COTS software requires customization to correctly support the buyer's operations. The cost and delay of COTS customization can even add up to the expense of developing custom software. Cost is not the only consideration, however, as the decision to opt for custom software often includes the requirement for the purchaser to own the source code, to secure the possibility of future development or modifications to the installed system.\r\nAdditionally, COTS comes with upfront license costs which vary enormously but sometimes run into the millions (in terms of dollars). Furthermore, the big software houses that release COTS products revamp their product very frequently. Thus a particular customization may need to be upgraded for compatibility every two to four years. Given the cost of customization, such upgrades also turn out to be expensive, as a dedicated product release cycle will have to be earmarked for them.\r\nThe decision to build custom software or go for a COTS implementation would usually rest on one or more of the following factors:\r\n<ul><li>Finances - both cost and benefit: The upfront license cost for COTS products mean that a thorough cost-benefit analysis of the business case needs to be done. However it is widely known that large custom software projects cannot fix all three of scope, time/cost and quality constant, so either the cost or the benefits of a custom software project will be subject to some degree of uncertainty - even disregarding the uncertainty around the business benefits of a feature that is successfully implemented.</li><li>Supplier - In the case of COTS, is the supplier likely to remain in business long, and will there be adequate support and customization available? Alternatively, will there be a realistic possibility of getting support and customization from third parties? In the case of custom software, software development may be outsourced or done in-house. If it is outsourced, the question is: is the supplier reputable, and do they have a good track record?</li><li>Time to market: COTS products usually have a quicker time to market</li><li>Size of implementation: COTS comes with standardization of business processes and reporting. For a global or national organization, these can bring in gains in cost savings, efficiency and productivity, if the branch offices are all willing and able to use the same COTS without heavy customizations (which is not always a given).</li></ul>","materialsDescription":" <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Why is custom software such a large investment?</span>\r\nBuilding a custom web application is a time-consuming endeavor. It takes time to learn the processes of your business, to gather requirements, to flesh out your needs, and to build the software. Put simply, time is money.\r\nWhile it’s a large investment, by investing in custom software, you’ll own the code instead of having a long-term licensing agreement with another software company.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">How could my business benefit from custom software?</span>\r\nA custom business software solution increases process efficiency through process automation. When business processes are properly automated, they minimize the waste in time and resources that the original processes contained.\r\nThink of it this way: with software that already exists, you have to modify your process to meet software capabilities. With custom software, you can build a system around the existing processes you have in place. You took a lot of time to develop those processes, so why should you revamp your business?\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">What is IP and how important is it that I own it?</span>\r\nIP stands for Intellectual Property. When you deal with anything creative, you have to think about copyright and the intellectual property on that work and that includes the creation of software code.\r\nThis gets back to the question of buying vs. building. If there is an existing solution that can suit your needs just fine, then it makes sense to buy, but the software developer owns the code and you are basically licensing the software from there. However, if you need a specialized solution that is customized to your needs and decide to go the custom development route, then the question of who owns the code is an important one.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">I’m thinking about hiring someone offshore; what should I watch out for?</span>\r\nIn short, everything. Language barriers and lack of proximity lead to breakdowns in communication and quality. Do yourself a favor and stay local.\r\nOn a related note, if you’re thinking about hiring for the position internally, think about this: it takes around three people to complete a successful custom software project. If you hire someone internally, their salary might cost what it would take to build with us, and you get a whole team when you work with us. Plus, if your software developer decides to leave, they take their knowledge with them. If one of our team members leave, our whole team shares the knowledge so you’re not left in the dark.\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">If things don’t go well, am I sunk?</span>\r\nWe make communication and transparency are top priorities so this doesn’t happen. Right out of the gate we work hard to make sure that not only the project is a good fit, but the relationship with the client is as well. Through each step of the process and the build, we keep you in the loop weekly so you know what to expect and what is happening, but a good development company should have places in their process/relationship where you can cleanly exit. Make sure you know what the process is for leaving and what those different ‘leaving’ options are.","iconURL":"https://old.roi4cio.com/fileadmin/user_upload/icon_Custom_Software_Development.png"}],"characteristics":[],"concurentProducts":[],"jobRoles":[],"organizationalFeatures":[],"complementaryCategories":[],"solutions":[],"materials":[],"useCases":[],"best_practices":[],"values":[],"implementations":[]}],"partnershipProgramme":null}},"aliases":{},"links":{},"meta":{},"loading":false,"error":null},"implementations":{"implementationsByAlias":{},"aliases":{},"links":{},"meta":{},"loading":false,"error":null},"agreements":{"agreementById":{},"ids":{},"links":{},"meta":{},"loading":false,"error":null},"comparison":{"loading":false,"error":false,"templatesById":{},"comparisonByTemplateId":{},"products":[],"selectedTemplateId":null},"presentation":{"type":null,"company":{},"products":[],"partners":[],"formData":{},"dataLoading":false,"dataError":false,"loading":false,"error":false},"catalogsGlobal":{"subMenuItemTitle":""}}