Movement is life, but we were asked to stay home!

With the declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic and with no clear solution in sight; these are challenging times. Every company across all sectors have had to made difficult choices in order to maintain and preserve business continuity. Many parts of the globe were directed into a lockdown to avoid movement of people in order to contain the spread of this novel virus. Borders were closed, airspace was closed to civilian population and people were asked to self-quarantine in their own homes.
For many companies, Business Continuity Plans (BCP) kicked into action which are usually reserved for breakdowns, natural calamities, terrorist attacks, etc. but not necessarily for a situation of this scale and magnitude. Not every company has a robust IT setup or the hardware infrastructure to support a Work from Home (WFH) for their entire workforce or even client requirements for on-field work.
This makes it a priority to support remote working, self-serve applications on a large scale with a working strategy. We must also keep in mind the current load on the information technology infrastructure with added security and communication infrastructure towards a seamless experience.
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Work from Home (WFH) or Remote-working
The first function of any Business Continuity Plan when it kicks in, is to ensure the safety of the workforce, to ensure that they have reached home or a safe place and are away from danger.

​Up until 2020, technological advancements were made at their own pace – it wasn’t a necessity but a luxury. But then the dynamics of the world changed! The new normal in a COVID-19 world demanded that we push our technology expertise to the maximum, in order to survive through this calamity safely.

We need to understand that the coronavirus is transferred from one human to another by either direct contact or indirect contact. Direct contact involves hugging, shaking hands, talking too closely, etc. with a positive patient whereas, indirect contact is touching objects like metals, steel, plastic, etc. touched by a positive patient. As per studies, the coronavirus thrives on objects for a span of more than 4 hours.
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Hence, the earliest directives to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus was to avoid touching the eyes, nose and mouth after touching an object in a public space and to keep using a hand sanitizer to kill the germs. We mindlessly touch the door knob, the lift button, table surfaces, cars, the toilet and many other things – or else how do you get by during the day. Well, this novel problem requires a novel solution – Touchless Technology.

An app development framework that is making a strong impact in the market is a software development kit named Flutter. Flutter is a part of Google's long-term vision in creative expressivity for design, design tools involved, it defines the true meaning of using a few lines of codes in numerous ways platform for interactive content. Mr Matias Duarte, Google, VP of Design has tweeted:
"Google is committed to making our digital worlds more usable, beautiful, delightful. Not just for ourselves, but Google wants to help you bring the worlds of your imagination to digital reality."
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Reference link: https://twitter.com/matiasduarte?lang=en

What is Flutter?
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Flutter is an open-source mobile application development SDK (Software Development Kit) created by Google. It can be used to develop high performance, high fidelity hybrid applications for mobile devices, tablets running operating systems such as Android and iOS, it is more importantly the primary method of creating applications for Google Fuchsia which is also open source. The keyword here being “open source software” for which the original source code is made freely available.

​Most companies in the business world are taking a leap towards imbibing a digital strategy for their company. In these competitive times, it is difficult to stand out and get noticed. But don’t worry, the super power of the internet will help you carry out a competitive analysis that can help you pace ahead of your competitor’s digital marketing strategy. Let’s go through a step-by-step process on how to build your digital strategy. 

Identify Your Competitor’s
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The first step that you need to do is identify who your competitors are on a granular and general level.
General level of identifying is to see the ranking of your competitor’s on Google. Different brands position themselves differently and have different keywords that they use – for example, ‘influencer marketing’ will rank different than ‘marketing gurus’, etc. You need to identify the key word, in this case, ‘marketing’; so that you can understand the industry’s sub-sectors and major players that fall within them.
Granular level of identifying is to explore more about competitor’s in your industry and checking up on how your digital strategies are compared to theirs. You need to note things like where they are driving traffic from, top sources of referring traffic and your competitor’s competitor. 

Humans spend around 8 to 10 hours a day interacting with computer screens, and other smart devices. Technology has entered our daily lives and are often replacing human interaction. But users still expect a human and personal touch in technological devices. Hence, the challenge for most UX designers is to turn something impersonal to personal – no one wants to deal with a robotic robot. It is very difficult to gain loyal users especially when it comes to apps because there are so many competitors in the market offering the same service with more perks.
So, what is the best way to help users engage with your app? – it is by giving it a personal touch, i.e. creating a user persona for the app.
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What is User Persona? 

​Here at App-Scoop, we are committed to providing the best mobile development services for our clients. You can promote your business successfully with our development projects that will escalate the outreach and efficiency of your company. We work with you to formulate a customized framework that follows our values of integrity, excellence, collaboration, and pursuit of excellence. It is our honor to be recognized by Clutch as an Industry Leader in Canada within the Development Industry.
 

​You can also find us on Clutch’s sister sites, The Manifest and Visual Objects. The Manifest allows for the intersection of quality design work and expert-based advice to meet. Visual Objects, on the other hand, recognizes quality work through the means of portfolios.
 
Software development can be integral to the success of a company. We understand its importance but also the individualized needs of every company, and want to integrate those goals with our experience to create the best for you. If you are interested in working with us, please contact us!

John wanted to watch a tennis match in the afternoon, but his boss wouldn’t allow him to take a half day. Susan wanted to watch her favorite boxing champion but the match was taking place on another continent. Sarah wanted to see the Australia and India cricket match but there were not tickets available. And just like John, Susan and Sarah, there are many sports enthusiasts who are unable to watch the game in person or Live on TV – and this is reason enough for the sports industry to go mobile. Digitalizing sports events gives access to millions of sports fans to watch their favorite games Live or watch re-runs even after a year – they could stream the winning shot any number of times to feel the glory of their favorite team winning. 

​Gone are the times where we used to toil in the kitchen for hours to make our favourite meal! It’s so much easier now with restaurants delivering food at your doorstep, day or night with the just a few clicks on an App. Also, if you are the old-fashioned kind and wish to dress up and visit the restaurant, bid good bye to waiting for a table; you could now just simply pre-book your table before you visit. Welcome to the age of restaurant apps – where both, the customer visiting the restaurant and the customer ordering from the restaurant are able to benefit from the app service. 

​In order to build a restaurant app, it is very important to structure its base, i.e. build a custom point of sale (POS) solution to manage the menu, table reservations, and staff. With the help of an app, managing restaurant marketing gets simpler. Let’s take a look how!
Maintain Inflow of Guests/Orders
The biggest goal of any restaurant is a steady inflow of guests or orders. There are different ways in which a restaurant app can help with that:

Let’s suppose that you are looking for a property and you have downloaded a real estate app on your smartphone. In the app, you are able to find the different properties listed with addresses but you need to now get on to another app, for instance, Google Maps to locate these addresses. Imagine how convenient would it be if this same information was available in the real estate app, where you would be able to view all the property and its locations on the map itself! Adding route planning to your app doesn’t only improve user experience but its convenience ensures that the user retains and uses your app.
There are many apps that track location such as social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat that allows your friends to view your location, Zomato offers the best food deals around your area, etc. The route planning features helps you to send push notifications which leads to user engagement.
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Apps that can Benefit from Route Planning Feature

Real Estate Apps
As mentioned earlier, real estate apps should incorporate the route planning feature so that the user can easily view the properties on the maps, how far each property is from the other if they wish to check out multiple properties in a day, check the neighbourhood and shops around, etc. This feature also helps agents to plan their day and site visits with their customer. Real estate apps should also have additional route planning features like creating live tours which will help uberize the real estate industry.

Healthcare Apps
Healthcare apps that lists doctors and dispensaries could also use the route planning feature for the benefit of the patient and the doctors (in case of home visits). A healthcare app with built-in route mapping would allow the doctor to locate the patient’s address and deliver their services in case of a home visit; on the other hand, it would allow the patient to locate the doctor’s location, the time it will take to reach there and the best possible route.

Travel Apps
Gone are the days where a paper map was used to locate places or navigate or find a route; it’s time where Google Maps save the day by not only providing a route to your destination but also gives live updates in case of a traffic jam, accident, or road closure. Hence, it is absolutely imperative for travel apps to have an in-built route tracker providing all of the same information. Just imagine how convenient it would be for the user!
Say for example, Sarah is backpacking across Italy and she downloads a travel app. She has an itinerary for the day to travel to tourist destinations, visit restaurants and then party at night. A route planner in that travel app will allow Sarah to plan her day by marking the locations of the places that wishes to visit and show her the best possible way to see them all. It can also build routes for walking tours, save them and share them on social media apps.

Parking Apps
For people driving in crowded cities or visiting other countries or cities, a parking app with a route planner would be very convenient. Parking apps like Parke, allow users to find nearby parking spots displaying also the route to reach there from their current destination.
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Advantages of Route Planning
Now, let’s take a look at the advantages of route planning for users. 

Like, we’ve discussed before there are various advantages of route planning. Take for instance, Uber, an that offers car service at the customer’s doorstep. Uber has an in-built route planner that allows the user to track the car and also navigate them as quickly to their pick up location. In case of ordering an Uber Pool, the route planner prioritizes the stops ensuring that there is no wastage of time by running around in circles to pick up passengers.
Route planning also helps the user to manage their time by checking the time taken to reach their destination and ensuring that they are on the correct route. In case, of planning a travel itinerary it allows the user to mark their destinations on the map and then follow a route that is convenient.
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Best Route Planning Software in 2020

Route4Me
Route4Me is the world’s most used route sequencing and optimization software for small businesses and enterprises. This software allows the user to share, create and manage routing plans on their smart devices. The API is free of cost but the app company needs to pay for functionalities like in-app voice-guided navigation, scheduled customer notifications, delivery analytics, and a customer relationship management system. This software is ideal for field sales, field marketing, field merchandising, territory management and optimization.

HERE
One of the big players in the route planning market is HERE. The software provides a route optimization solution that takes into account the starting points and various destinations and allows you to edit routes, calculate a matrix of routes and multiple waypoints, and update past routes. 

Badger Maps
Badger maps is a software that can be used across multiple industries. It provides the tools and applications for sales reps to be more effective in the field. It enables the sales team to manage their by combining Google Maps, route optimization, schedule planning, data from the CRM, and lead generation on the sales persons mobile device. Badger offers the best software mapping solution to map customer accounts and sales routes.

MapAnything
MapAnything is a location intelligence solution that steers the company towards the right direction. This software is a Location of Things solution that streamlines business goals with field activities on a unified platform that is designed for field sales, service teams, and fleet management.

ElasticRoute
ElasticRoute is a route planning solution that is best for third party logistics providers, carrier’s logistics services, distributors, food and beverage delivery construction, waste and recycling management, postal, parcel and courier, etc.
It produces natural cluster-based routes which adds a human touch to the optimization process. ElasticRoute can plan over 1000 stops in 90 seconds (which is a record) and can also deal with challenges like unplanned changes to deliveries.
To view more software for route planning, refer to https://www.capterra.com/route-planning-software/.

To Conclude
Route planning for your app can scale your app within a short period of time with minimum cost. Instead of incorporating the route planning feature at a later stage, we recommend you to consider investing more time and money at the very start to build this functionality within your app.
If you wish to incorporate route planner into your app, contact the App Scoop mobile app developers Vancouver team. We will help you in this challenging task of developing a system that will enable your app users to edit and share routes. We promise to help you improve your user's experience and hence, improve customer loyalty by providing you with features such as scheduling, real-time chats, push notifications and a support centre.  

The world of coding consists of more than 330 different programming languages. GitHub is an American company where software is built – more than 40 million people use GitHub to discover and contribute to more than 100 million projects.
Source Reference: https://github.com/collections/programming-languages 

The employees of lead technical companies such as Facebook, Google, and Apple bank on GitHub for spreading their open source software. It is a massive code repository that helps developers identify the kinds of languages and apps that the technical industry is actually using. GitHub’s resourcing has been on an uptrend since 2018 – they have been constantly employing new developers.
Let’s take a look at the most demanding programming languages of 2020, according to GitHub.

Javascript  
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One of the most used programming languages by developers in 2020, as per GitHub, will be Javascript. It is being increasingly used in the game development sector and Internet of Things (IoT). It is also one of the core existing technologies of the web, along with HTML and CSS.
 
Features of Javascript:

• Interpreted and light-weighted programming language
• Object-oriented computer programming language, that is commonly used for the purpose of creating interactive effects within the internet browsers
• Plays a significant role in front-end development for popular websites such as YouTube, Facebook, Google, Wikipedia, and Amazon.
• Optional static typing features to the language software can be added by using Typescript which is a superset of JavaScript

 
Advantages of Javascript:

• Speed-driven
• Simple to use
• Interoperable
• Adaptable to rich interfaces
• Extended functionalities

 
Disadvantages of Javascript:

• Security issues from the client’s side
• Security threat for client-side scripts
• Browser support interpretations

 
Further, Javascript can be used in the back-end development with the help of the Node.js framework. Hence, most start-ups use this programming language to handle their back-end processes. It is also used in popular web frameworks such as, AngularJS and React.js.