That expert is a solutions architect, one of the most significant and client-facing roles in the IT industry, whose importance is nonetheless often overlooked or even completely ignored by companies at both ends. For a software solution to work effectively, scale, and meet the set business needs, it needs to have a well thought out architecture that accounts for numerous technical and customer nuances. Put simply, the long-term success of any IT project relies on the input from a solutions architect, who needs to have wide-ranging technical expertise, business analysis skills, project management skills, and more.

In this post, we will explain what a solutions architect’s role is, what are their responsibilities, take a look at the required skill set, how the role differs from other similar positions, as well as average salary and why having a solutions architect is critical for organizations and projects.

Let’s start. 

What is a Solutions Architect’s Role in a Company?

A solutions architect is responsible for creating a comprehensive architecture for a software solution and providing strategic direction throughout the development process. This person needs to ensure that the new solution fits into the existing enterprise architecture from the technical, business, user, and other perspectives. They cooperate with all the teams involved in the development process and need to know how every product and service works in an architecture. A solutions architect needs all this knowledge to oversee a successful delivery of a quality end product to its end users.

What Does a Solutions Architect Do?

Having a clear vision for the project, and a clear understanding of the client’s business needs, a solutions architect maps out the parts that will constitute the software solution and how they are going to work together. A solutions architect starts very early in the project, laying out what is to come. Their tasks usually begin from choosing the right technology for the business problem(s) and managing architectural concerns to ensure more productive and effective outcomes. A solutions architect is responsible for translating the vision for the project to the development team and plays a pivotal part throughout the entire systems development lifecycle. They are also involved in the future updates to the solution. 

Solution Architect Responsibilities & Detailed Role Explanation

As the job title implies, a solutions architect primarily focuses on solution-level decisions and evaluation of their impact on a client’s overarching business objectives and their outcomes. In most cases, a solution architect’s responsibilities revolve around ensuring that the software solutions aligns with a client company’s resources, risk identification, and planning. Here are some of the main responsibilities of a solutions architect: 

• Creates and leads the process of integrating IT systems for them to meet an organization’s requirements.
• Conducts a system architecture evaluation and collaborates with project management and IT development teams to improve the architecture.
• Evaluates project constraints to find alternatives, alleviate risks, and performs process re-engineering if required.
• Updates stakeholders on the status of product development processes and budget.
• Notifies stakeholders about any issues connected to the architecture. 
• Fixes technical issues as they arise.
• Analyzes the business impact that certain technical choices may have on a client’s business processes.
• Supervises and guides development teams.
• Continuously researches emerging technologies and proposes changes to the existing architecture.

Core Solutions Architect Skills

To successfully design, create, and lead the development of a software solution, a solutions architect needs to have a certain skill set. Let’s take a closer look at the most important skills of a solutions architect below:

• Excellent Communication. Being able to communicate effectively with stakeholders, project managers, developers, and other individuals involved in the software development process is essential for a solutions architect. As the architect has a central role in any project and leads every team on it, ineffective communication can lead to big bottlenecks. So, a solutions architect should be able to clearly explain, understand everyone’s point of view, listen, advise, and influence. 
• Project and Resource Management. Although a solutions architect is not directly involved in project development, they still need to ensure that project resources are being used efficiently and impactfully. They should be business-minded, capable of identifying the most effective solution at every turn, for every part of architecture. It is their responsibility to focus on business goals and understand how to achieve them in the set timeframe and within the given budget.
• In-depth Analysis. A software architecture and systems integrated into it are comprised of numerous details that work together. A solutions architect needs to be very attentive to those details, as overlooking something may hinder the development process, lead to breakdowns, or make the software solution inefficient. They also should be able to understand technical specifications of many different software solutions and hardware and perform analysis of different business layers.
• Risk Identification and Management. A solutions architect must be capable of analyzing and identifying potential short and long term risks that may cause technical issues and impede business operations in the future.
• Technical Skills. Expectedly, the role of a solution architect requires technical education and hands-on experience across all major areas of the software development process as well hardware engineering expertise (for software projects that rely on hardware). Thus, a solutions architect should have at least six to eight years of experience in the following areas:
  • Business analysis
  • IT infrastructure
  • Software architecture design
  • Cloud development
  • DevOps 

Enterprise Architect Vs Technical Architect Vs Solution Architect

There are three different architecture-related roles in the IT industry. Each of these roles is equally essential for the success of a project they are involved in and cannot be replaced by any other positions:

• Enterprise Architect
• Technical Architect
• Solution Architect

Now, let’s learn more about these roles and how they differ from one another:

Enterprise Architect vs Solution Architect Role

An enterprise architect operates is responsible for overseeing a company’s entire enterprise ecosystem. Enterprise architects focus on constructing and managing complex solutions that solve the company’s critical strategic issues. The overarching goal of an enterprise architect is to ensure that the company has smooth development lifecycles and uses available resources for every enterprise application effectively. Meanwhile, a solutions architect has a much more practical role. They take the business requirements and turn them into new software solutions that solve a company’s emerging technology.

Technical Architect vs Solution Architect Role

A technical architect chiefly oversees the software architecture, technical engineering, and implementation technology. Their main task is to provide technical leadership and make decisions regarding the most vital parts of the system that is being developed. They work closely with development teams to communicate IT strategies and outline practices that are meant to be followed throughout the project. The main difference between a technical architect and a solution architect these two roles is that the first focuses primarily on the engineering side. 

Here’s an image that gives a general perspective on how these three roles differ:

Source: Altexsoft

Solutions Architect Salary

According to Career Explorer, the average salary of a solutions architect in the U.S. is 8% hire than the salary for technology-related positions in the IT industry. As of 2018, the average salary of a solutions architect in the United States is nearly $99,769 per year. Their yearly income typically starts from $78,484 and goes up to $196,175.

Source: CareerExplorer

Let’s take a look at the salaries that solutions architects have at the start of their career an as they climb the career ladder:

Source: CareerExplorer

Source: CareerExplorer

Source: CareerExplorer

Source: CareerExplorer

Source: CareerExplorer

Source: CareerExplorer

Importance of Solutions Architect in a Company

One of the main reasons why a company should employ a solutions architect is to successfully design and develop new technology solutions that align with its business needs, as well fill in the communication gap between technical and non-technical experts involved in an IT project. As the process is always heavy on the budget and highly risky, every company should have a solutions architect to implement new solutions and scale them successfully. A solutions architect can be introduced to a company’s enterprise structure through software architecture consulting services.

Conclusion

A solutions architect is responsible for building and implementing IT systems architectures that meet the set business requirements. Their role starts with gathering the requirements, understanding the specifications, evaluating the systems that are in place, and working closely with stakeholders to deliver the right solution. In general, the solutions architect’s role is to explain the business requirements to the development team and lead them in building a product that can solve real business issues effectively. The position is very responsible and requires a wide-ranging IT skill set and knowledge. With companies increasingly relying on software and emerging technologies, the role of a solutions architect will continue to gain weight.

The post What is the Role of a Solutions Architect: Importance, Required Skills, Responsibilities appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

We did not include Headspace and Calm, as these are highly popular and well-advertised applications, instead opting to focus on unique mental health apps recognized across different categories. 

Lets’ start.

BlueIce 

Category: Evidence based mental health apps for youth and kids

BlueIce is aimed at helping teenagers manage their emotions and prevent self-harm with a wide variety of different features. Available for both Apple and Android devices, the application was developed by Paul Stallard from Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust (Foundation Trusts are NHS’s organizations with a strong local reach). To make it as effective as possible, teenager with lived experience of self-harm took part in the process of creating BlueIce.

Here are the key features:

• Mood checker with notifications
• Simple mood diary
• Mood lifter with a set of proposed activities
• Emergency contact numbers
• Additional protection and privacy layer with PIN
• Personalized sections
• Smart safety checks for self-harm prevention

Now, let’s take a quick look at BlueIce’s biggest features — Mood Checker and Mood Lifter. 

The first relies on a “mood wheel”: a user chooses how they feel from a wide range of options on the wheel, take short notes, and then can identify mood patterns and triggers in the Mood Calendar across long periods of time. 

Meanwhile, the Mood Lifter section offers a comprehensive activity suite aimed at lowering stress. 

Here are its key components:

• Music and photo libraries
• Physical activities
• Mood-changing activities
• Mindfulness and relaxation exercises
• Contact a friend
• Negative thoughts spotting

BlueIce’s trial showed that the app can help teenagers manage their stress levels and self-harm urges alongside traditional face-to-face communication with a mental health professional. This and its comprehensive approach make BlueIce one of the top mental health apps available. The application is free, but prescription-only.

Cove

Category: Music Apps For Mental Health

Not everyone will enjoy writing down their thoughts into a mood journal, looking for other ways to improve well-being. Highly praised by top publications like Wired, The Next Web, and Guardian, the Cove app address that by offering simple music-making tools and eye-pleasing visuals designed for reducing anxiety and stress through self-expression. The process is easy: a user selects one of the six moods and then taps to choose chords, melody, and instruments (more than thirty are available) to create their own songs.

Cove was developed with the help of clinicians and other medical experts as well as tested, evaluated, and trialed in the NHS and other health organizations. Although Cove won’t replace professional treatment, it can be used alongside talking therapy and counselling, or simply to relax for a few minutes and enjoy the process of creating music anywhere you find comfortable.

Users have met Cove with high praise, mentioning its therapeutic effect, that it helps to cope with negative thinking, and has easy-on-the-eye visuals. As for the media, Guardian called it one of the best medical apps, and Wired UK wrote that Cove will upend user expectations when it comes to what a journaling app can be (Cove can be referred to as a music journaling app). 

The app is available for free for iOS devices only. 

Xmed Health

Category: Social Media-like Apps for Mental Health 

Although social media platforms have grown to be stress-inducing for many users, people’s love for socializing online can channeled to alleviate modern stressors and solve other mental health issues. The Xmed app may be the best example of that, offering users a health and lifestyle mobile ecosystem, a social network, and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms in one package.

Here is how it works: AI asks a series of questions to identify a user’s health issue, juxtaposes that data with available medical data and information provided by other app users, and arrives at a conclusion. The user can then start talking with certified mental health professionals to tackle the problem, as well as discuss it with people who have the same issue in the app’s in-built social media network. 

Apart from its uniqueness and technological capabilities, the Xmed Health also has a well thought out flow, whose primary focus is to help a user solve their issue, beautiful design and animations, and gamification with levelling up and achievements. 

On top of all this, you can use the app to identify other health issues. making Xmed Health not only one of the best mental health apps, but also a solid health app in general.

Xmed Health is available in the Appstore. 

My Possible Self

Categories: Mental health therapy apps, Mental health tracking apps

My Possible Self promises to help its users lower stress and anxiety levels in eight weeks with a range of features backed up by clinically approved content. To deliver on the promise, the app offers over a wide range of learning modules aimed at various stress-inducing situations in life. 

The modules include:

• Stress and overload management
• Fear and anxiety management
• Overcoming loss and big life changes
• Problem solving
• Happiness and well-being management
• Tackling negative thinking
• Returning to pleasant activities
• Improving daily communication

The list does not end there, as the app’s creators continuously update it with different new modules. The first learning module is free, but to access the rest users needs to have a subscription. 

Still, the app has a number of other aspects that make it one of the best mental health apps. There is a comprehensive mood tracking tool/dairy, created with the help of the company’s in-house psychologists. A user can track their mood daily, selecting how they feel and pinpointing activities, people, and places that influence their mood and well-being. 

Working alongside the tracking tool is the Mood History and Insights features that help users detect mood patterns and act accordingly to improve how they feel. The latter displays mood shifts in a comprehensive chart, showing the patterns and proposing potentially suitable lifestyle changes with the help of custom algorithms. What is more, users can add written notes and images to every mood entry — a small but nice touch that enriches the experience.

The content used in My Possible Self is clinically and statistically proven to lower stress and improve well-being in an eight weeks’ time. To ensure that, the creators partnered with a leading non-profit mental health research facility called The Black Dog Institute. 

My Possible Self was warmly received by users and praised by media outlets like London Evening Standard and Buzzfeed. Is is available both in the Appstore and Google Play.

Happify

Categories: Event based mental health apps, Gamified mental health apps

Happify has a lot to offer. The app uses a set of comprehensive features that rely on science-based games and activities to help users fight stress consistently across all life areas. 

At the app’s centre are Tracks, a section with stretches of different simple activities that help users improve their well-being on a daily basis. These include, for example, singling out small moments in your day that made you feel good and choosing a person to be thankful to. Every user has a progression scale for each track as well as six skills they upgrade by completing it: Savor, Thank, Aspire, Give, Empathize, and Revive. There over sixty available tracks for different aspects of life, part of them only through subscription.

For those who want small bits instead of a long progression, there is an Instant Play section. Here, users can complete activities separately for each of the aforementioned skills. 

Other features include: 

• Happify Daily — articles, videos, infographics, and other types of content related to improving emotional well-being
• Community — a minimalist social network users can choose to be part of and share the activities completed for the skills with others
• Negative Knockout — a game where you bring down your negative emotions in style of Angry Birds.

The feature list is bigger still. For example, the app offers a twenty-page character strength report for each user, compiled in partnership with The VIA Institute. Meanwhile, Happify’s approaches were developed by leading scientists and experts in positive psychology, cognitive behavioural therapy, and mindfulness. 

Happify was widely praised by users and media, including reviews in ABC World News and The New York Times. The company also claims that eight-six percent of their regular users report improved well-being in two month since they started using the app. 

Happify is available for iOS and Android. Part of the features are free, while the rest can be accessed by subscribing. 

What Makes Top Mental Health Succeed

There is a pattern to why the aforementioned mental health apps enjoy success — they all tick the same important boxes. Here are the success factors:

• Mental health professionals should be involved in as many stages as possible
• The app should have a diverse set of features for a user to choose from 
• The features should be backed up by scientific research
• The app should have its unique feature, or approach a common feature from a different angle
• Mood journal is an important feature
• Gamification helps to keep the users engaged
• The app should have an appealing design

Now that you have taken a closer look at the top apps for mental health and what makes them so, you can start planning your own unique mobile product for those who want to tackle their mental health issues in a handy, clear, and pleasant way.

Good luck!

If you want to learn more about digital healthcare technologies, see some of our recent articles on the topic:

1. Trends in Connected Health & Wellness Devices
2. The Current State of IoT in Healthcare

If you need a consultation about your mental health app or other healthcare project, get in touch with our experts.

The post The 5 Best Mental Health Apps (& What Makes Them Succeed) appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Before you decide whether you need enterprise software for your business, you should know what it is, how it works, and in what ways it would benefit your business. 

In this guide, we highlight all the key details related to enterprise applications, their development, and how they help enterprises improve their operations.

What Are Enterprise Software Solutions

Enterprise software is a subcategory of application software. Also known as enterprise application software (EAS), it is similar to any other application or software software solution you know at their core. However, EAS has a different focus: solving a problem of an organization instead of an individual user. EAS aims at increasing the efficiency and output of an organization by following, following the set business logic and organization’s overarching strategy.

Organizations that use enterprise application software include commercial companies, educational institutions, charity organizations, government institutions, and other organizations.

As every company has a different approach to business operations, enterprise software solutions are tailor-made to fit their unique business needs. This means that software solutions for procurement, accounting, or product management will differ from company to company. Indeed, there are software-as-as-service (SaaS) companies offering cloud-based enterprise software platforms for different business operations, but they still offer many customization options, so that their platform would fit each company’s unique needs. 

Regardless of the path you choose, each enterprise application will be integrated with your organization’s IT system, becoming its integral part. 

Specific Types Of Enterprise Software

As mentioned before, enterprise software is built to address the needs of an organization related to a business process. Each business processes deals with a different aspect of managing an organization, so different types of EAP exist.  

Here are the common types of enterprise application software.

1. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

An ERP software application usually connects operations of different departments. The main aim of ERP software is to streamline the cooperation between them with simple digital tools for planning, procurement, document management, reporting, and so on. ERP software usually integrates sales, project management, marketing, accounting, and supply chain management operations.

2. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

CRM software focuses on the most important aspect of any business – sales. This type of enterprise software addresses all core issues and challenges related to maintaining an effective sales and marketing workflow. A typical CRM application helps to manage orders, communication, reporting, client status tracking, feedback, as well as automate a number of sales processes. A CRM system’s ultimate goal is to help maintain an effective sales cycle yearly.

3. Accounting

Managing accounting in a large organization is always hard. The biggest challenge is establishing a consistent financial data flow from all departments. Custom enterprise software for accounting helps organizations to solve the issue with tools for data gathering and processing. These tools aid accounting experts in ledger maintenance, project accounting, budgeting, payroll management, billing, tax reporting, and so on.

4. Enterprise Asset Management (EAM)

EAM software assists in keeping a record of an organization’s physical assets and managing their life cycles. More specifically, EAM systems facilitate planning, optimization, execution, and maintenance of assets to increase their lifespan and help an organization cut costs.

To achieve that, a solid EAM system offers numerous useful features. They include digital tools for asset lifecycle management, inventory management, maintenance management, parts management, warranty management, vehicle maintenance, work order management, and so on. Some EAM tools also offer mobile enterprise asset management features. 

5. Business Intelligence (BI)

Business Intelligence enterprise apps help large organizations in getting a bird’s-eye view of their business operations. The tools in BI software suite primarily help data experts to manage data mining, analysis, visualization, reporting, benchmarking, and other aspects by using existing data sets. As a result, BI software suites make data management easier and quicker for enterprises. With BI apps, an organization’s financial experts and top managers can get a comprehensive overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the business and develop effective long-term strategies for further improvement. 

6. Supply Chain Management (SCM)

SCM tools allows enterprises streamline and automate core supply chain processes, including logistics. Specifically, an SCM system helps companies gather, manage, and store all the supply chain-related data. SCMs are usually built from the ground up for a particular company and aimed at speeding up processes and cutting organizational costs.

7. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

As product life cycle is a long and complex process that involves everything from concept ideation to building the final product, PLM software aims at helping enterprises to effectively manage every step of the cycle. Consequently, PLM software suites help employees at every stage perform their tasks easier and quicker.   

Advantages Of Using Enterprise Software Systems

Here are the common advantages of all enterprise software solutions:

• Improved efficiency across the enterprise
• Increased employee productivity
• Comprehensive enterprise data management
• Impactful data insights 
• Less employee errors
• Higher customer and employee retention rates
• Increased revenue

Enterprise Software Engineering: What to Consider

At its core, the process of enterprise software development does not differ from how other types of software are developed. However, software development teams still should consider a number of important factors.

Interconnectivity

Enterprise systems usually comprise of numerous applications and tools running together and executing many tasks at the same time. Therefore, an enterprise application should have an architecture that allows for integrating it with other applications successfully. For an enterprise suite to work properly, every part should be properly connected.  

Performance and Scalability

Unlike other types of software, enterprise applications should be scalable to enable company growth over time. It should also work well across all needed platforms.

Security

Large organizations have a lot of sensitive information. In case of data breach, a company risks losing customers and leading positions on the market of operation. So, an enterprise application should have multiple security levels to prevent cyberattacks, leaks, and security bugs. 

Cloud Storage

Since enterprise software solutions aim at elevating business operations, these programs should ideally offer cloud storage to enable successful scalability over time.

EAS versus SaaS

Enterprise software can be divided into two categories — custom or SaaS (we already described both above). They differ across a number of parameters.  

Enterprise Software Trends

As modern economies increasingly rely on software, enterprise software trends come and go relatively quickly. Here are the recent ones.

Microservices and Serverless Architecture

This trend involves designing software with individual shortcodes to enable software teams manage separate tasks (microservices). You can then directly deploy the shortcodes to a cloud provider, which frees developers from managing a complex architecture.

Machine Learning

Today, top-of-the-line enterprise software uses these Artificial Intelligence-driven algorithms to automate some process and operation, saving an enterprise and its employees a lot of time.

Blockchain

Since it is decentralized and unhackable, blockchain is a safe storage for enterprise data. Plus, blockchain smart contracts can automate complex solutions that involve many parties, and can be paired with other technologies (like Internet of Things) to create big enterprise systems that elevate core operations, for example supply chain management.

Mobile Applications

Both enterprises’ employees and customers rely on mobile, so if it is possible to make an enterprise software solution available as a native mobile app, it is better to do so. 

Enterprise Software Market

As more and more companies grow into large organizations, the enterprise software development market keeps growing. Owing to the tremendous advantages offered by these tools, there is no sign the market will stop growing in the coming years.

According to the Global Enterprise Software Market Outlook to 2022 report, the enterprise software development market is projected to demonstrate a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 5.47 percent in 2016-2022. 

Besides, another report reveals that by 2024 the global enterprise solutions market would exceed $575 billion. Enterprise software solutions will be adopted on a bigger scale. The largest marketplaces in the world would include:

• United States
• Germany
• Canada
• United Kingdom
• China
• India
• Malaysia
• Philippines
• Singapore

Enterprise Software Industry

Considering the ever-changing requirements and continuous growth of enterprises, the key players of enterprise solutions market have to adapt in order to thrive. Interestingly, most of these market leaders share countries of operation.

Prominent leaders of enterprise application industry include:

• Microsoft Corporation (U.S.)
• Oracle Corporation (U.S.)
• IBM Corporation (U.S.)
• Sap Se (Germany)
• Salesforce.Com Inc. (U.S.)
• Amazon.com, Inc. (U.S.)

Enterprise Software Pricing Models

different software development companies have adopted different pricing models for their services. The most commonly employed pricing models for enterprise solutions include:

• Different outsourcing models 
• Package pricing (an organization pays for customized software packages)
• Modular pricing (basic software module delivered for a fixed price with additional charges for updates)
• Per-user licensing/Per-device licensing

Popular Enterprise Software Examples

Here are some of the most popular companies that use enterprise software:

• HootSuite
• Salesforce CRM
• Zoom
• MailChimp
• Google Analytics
• BambooHR

Quick Summary

Enterprise software aims at addressing the core needs of large organizations by providing effective digital tools for different operations. Enterprise software solutions allow for cutting costs, improving employee productivity, acquiring useful insights, improving cooperation and communication between different departments, and offer other big benefits. Enterprise applications have evolved over the years since they emerged, and now use the latest technologies to help companies elevate their operations further still. Although EAS is expensive, its benefits are big and clear, and that is why enterprise software is used and provided by the world’s top companies. 

The post Essentials: What Is Enterprise Software appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

This post is a comprehensive analysis of a system development life cycle. By reading it, you will learn what an SDLC is, its stages, advantages and disadvantages, as well as why it is important. 

Let’s start.

What Is System Development Life Cycle

A system development life cycle (SDLC) is a structured project management model that outlines the phases required to build an IT system, from inception to the final result. The aim of a system development life cycle is to enable effective production of a high-quality solution that would meet or exceed a client’s expectations throughout all its stages, within the given budget and timelines.

7 Stages of System Development Life Cycle

A system development life cycle is a conceptual process that explicitly breaks down the stages required to develop and implement a system. Each stage plays a significant role in the development and differs from others in complexity, required assets, and expected functionalities. 

Let’s take a look at these stages further.

System Development Life Cycle Phases

There are seven phases in a system development life cycle:

Now, let’s discuss each of them separately.

1 — System Development Life Cycle: Planning

Planning is the most crucial stage of the SDLC process. It involves identifying and defining the project scope to determine a comprehensive action plan for the project, and pinpointing the issues the solution it would resolve. This phase outlines what will happen throughout the entire life cycle, and determines the success of the entire project. Team structure, timeframe, budget, security, and other fundamental factors should be accounted for at this stage.  

2 — System Development Life Cycle: Analysis

The planning is finished and the team is in place. Now, the team needs to perform an analysis of the system’s functional requirements to ensure it will meet the expectations of the target audience. Those expectations are then finalized and documented. The next step is performing a feasibility study to ensure that a system makes sense from financial, technological, and organizational standpoints.

3 — System Development Life Cycle: Design

Once the analysis is over and the requirements are set in stone, the design phase begins. This phase describes how to approach the design of a system’s architecture, user interface(s), network, databases, and security so that they will satisfy the requirements and enable future updates. 

4 — System Development Life Cycle: Development

The development marks the end of the preliminary part of the process and signifies the beginning of the production. Then, software engineers write code and fine-tunes the technologies involved in the project (this can also include hardware, for example if an IoT project is in question). This is probably the busiest stage of the life cycle, as it involves a lot of hard work from all the experts involved in it. 

5 — System Development Life Cycle: Testing And Integration

This phase involves testing and integration of the system and all related procedures to assess if it performs as expected and fully delivers on the requirements. The quality assurance (QA) team is responsible for this phase.

6 — System Development Life Cycle: Implementation And Release

At this stage, the new system is rolled out to the production environment, replacing the old one. This stage is performed by moving new data and components to where the old system was. After the implementation, the system is available to end users.

7 — System Development Life Cycle: Maintenance

After the release, any software system enters the stage of continuous maintenance. Today, any software product needs to be frequently checked for bugs and updated with features big and small. Indeed, you product may perform well upon release, but bugs can arise anytime. As for updates, your software solution needs to adapt to quickly changing needs its end users.

System Development Life Cycle Models

Further, we will look at two different and most popular SDLC models, and one sub-model — Waterfall, Agile, and data system development life cycle, respectively. Each comes with its pros and cons that must be weighed to make a solid decision. 

Waterfall Model System Development Life Cycle

One of the oldest SDLC models, the Waterfall model is a linear, sequential approach that is popular in IT product development; it emphasizes the need for consistently advancing from one stage to the next one. Each stage must be fully completed before proceeding to the next; after the stage is finished, it cannot be revisited. 

The Waterfall model is composed of these non-overlapping stages

Pros:

• Simple to understand and follow
• Clear milestones and deadlines
• Clear documentation
• Reinforces good coding habits
• Provides a solid structure

Cons:

• Unsuitable for complex or object-oriented projects
• Highly inflexible to scope changes
• Difficult to estimate time and budget precisely
• A working product emerges only on later stages of the cycle

Agile System Development Life Cycle Methodology

Being a dynamic and interactive framework, Agile has replaced the Waterfall system development life cycle methodology and became a significant driving force behind software development in the vast majority of companies across industries. This approach produces many release cycles where each iteration is tested, issues are addressed, and feedback is obtained from stakeholders throughout the process. It involves evolutionary development, continuous improvements, and flexible in the face of any changes.

Pros:

• Enables fast development and testing
• Issues are detected and fixed quickly
• Accommodates changes or enhancements
• Face-to-face communication and continuous feedback
• Less emphasis on design and documentation
• Scalability

Cons:

• Employees need prior experience in agile software development
• Less emphasis on design and documentation (this may be a disadvantage for some)
• A project manager with experience in agile software development is required
• No perspective on how the final product will shape up at the start of development

Database System Development Life Cycle

A database system is an integral component of a big organization’s IT system. The database development life cycle involves planning, designing, implementing, and maintaining a database system so it would fulfill an enterprise’s functional requirements. It is closely connected to a system development life cycle; the database development process begins right at the Requirements phase of an SDLC.

Database System Development Life Cycle Diagram

Here is what happens on the stages from the diagram above:

• Database planning — planning how to move through the life cycle stages more effectively.
• System definition — determining the limits of a database system, like the number of users and application areas. 
• Requirements gathering and analysis – gathering and analyzing the requirements for a database system.
• Database design – the process of designing a database according to all of the requirements.
• DMBS selection – picking the right database management system/DMBS for your database.
• Application design – designing the software that will make it possible to use and process a database.
• Prototyping – creating a working model of your database system that allows for evaluating how the system will look and perform.
• Development and implementation – building the database and database-related software and implementing them into the IT infrastructure.

Advantages and Disadvantages of System Development Life Cycle

System Development Life Cycle is a conceptual model that can be applied to both software and non-digital systems. Knowing both the advantages and disadvantages of a system development life cycle will help you make the right choice for your system. 

Here are the main advantages and disadvantages of a structured/non-Agile/standard SDLC:

Advantages of Structured SDLC:

• Gives a defined view of the entire system, resources, timeline, and goals
• Design reviews help to ensure the reliability and quality of the final product
• Enhanced control over large or complex projects
• Involves comprehensive and explicit steps
• Provide goals and deliverables that meet the standards of each party involved in the project, requires keeping detailed documentation throughout the entire process
• Easy evaluation of costs and growth of the developed system

Disadvantages of Structured SDLC:

• Increased development time and cost
• System details should be specified beforehand
• The volume of documentation increases with time
• Inflexibility when it comes to changes
• Outdated processes
• Testing may not be suitable for all development teams

Importance of Systems Development Life Cycle

A system development life cycle helps to lower the complexity of developing a system from scratch. It is important to have an SDLC in place as it helps to transform the idea of a project into a functional and completely operational structure. In addition to covering the technical aspects of system development, SDLC helps with process development, change management, user experience, and policies. Another benefit of an SDLC is that it allows for planning ahead of time, determine costs and staffing decisions, define goals, measure performance, and validate points at each phase of the cycle to boost the quality of the final product.

System Development Life Cycle Implementation

If the Waterfall model is a fitting choice for your project, you will only need an experienced project manager (or employee in a similar role) who will ensure that every stage is completed successfully and on time by working closely with the in-house team or an outsourcing partner’s team. Everything else is mapped out in the structure of this model, step by step. 

If Agile is your option, you will need to find a project manager with experience in agile software development, or a dedicated expert, for example a Scrum master. Agile software development is an entire field, so having an expert here is a must. You can find out more about Agile in our posts with insights into the methodology (see part one and part two) and about its metrics.

Briefly Summary

Whenever someone starts developing a new product, it is important to follow the system development life cycle. In this way, teams are enabled to work according to a structured approach for development of new solutions in a controlled and well-organized environment. Before the work on a new system begins, it is important to learn how an SDLC will meet the overall requirements, so it would help deliver the best outcome. Selecting the right SDLC will help you create the system you need quickly and effectively.

The post What Is System Development Life Cycle [Guide] appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Ukraine and Belarus continue to gain more and more weight as destinations for B2B services among leading companies around the world. 

Ukraine has more than 1,000 IT companies working on its territory, which homes a vast talent pool of over 230,000 IT professionals. The country’s software development sector grows at an average of 17% yearly. Plus, 100 R&D subsidiaries of renowned global companies are located in Ukraine, including Microsoft, Samsung, Apple, and many more. 

Belarus homes over 1,000 IT companies providing high quality software and technology services. Its vast tech talent pool continues to expand, as about 4,000 new software engineers graduate from the country’s recognized educational establishments every year. Belarus’s IT services market grows at an annual pace of around 10%. 

IT services markets of both countries are projected to continue their growth in 2020 and beyond, according to regional reports. The countries would also continue strengthening and expanding their tech talent pools, while remaining cost-efficient as compared to other regions. Among other things, this means that Ukraine and Belarus will try to rival the likes of top outsourcing services providers like China.

Intellectsoft is proud to contribute to the growing recognition and technical savvy of both countries’ IT services markets, following the tech trend projections for 2019 we made roughly a year ago. Only this year, we have helped create a top IoT product recognized by Fast Company, performed a full-fledged digital transformation for a luxury Chinese hospitality operator, and developed a complex AR demo for a leading construction company in Europe, among other projects. 

Since we started our operation over 11 years ago, Intellectsoft continues to be a reliable long-term partner for top companies from different industries. Our efforts are regularly recognized by Clutch and similar platforms as well as top publications, including Inc. 5000. This year, me moved closely to the publication’s much-coveted Inc. 500 cohort, and Clutch named us a Top Software & Technology Services Provider in California, Top Emerging Technology Services Provider, and a Global Software Development Leader.

The post Intellectsoft is a Highest-Rated B2B Services Provider in Easter Europe (Clutch) appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

“Clutch is proud to recognize the firms that truly take the time to understand their clients’ specific market,” said Clutch Business Analyst Dustin Sammons. “High-quality development or design skills are not enough. The best agencies take those top-notch skills and translate them into products that match their clients exact needs and industries.”

Over 11 years of operation, Intellectsoft has gained a reputation of a reliable long-term partner in mobile app development, specifically in long-term Enterprise and Retail projects. We have created mobile applications for EY, Jaguar, Eurostar, Guinness, a top American retail giant, and many more. 

Our comprehensive mobile app development services resulted in products that solve specific challenges in our client’s operations, helping them to grow revenue, empower employees with meaningful digital tools, deliver better experiences to customers, and strengthen the brand.

Our efforts are regularly recognized by Clutch and similar platforms as well as industry’s top publications. We have recently moved closer to the Inc. 500 cohort, and the product we helped bring to life was recognized by Fast Company alongside the products from Apple, Google, IBM, and other tech giants. In 2019, Clutch named us a Top Software & Technology Services Provider in California, Top Emerging Technology Services Provider, and a Global Software Development Leader. 

The post Intellectsoft Named a Top Enterprise & Retail Mobile App Development Company Globally by Clutch appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Today, many news apps showcase that a life without print editions and newstands (or only a small number of them), which might come sooner than later, may not be something readers and media companies should be concerned about. If they are properly made, news apps not only carry over the look and feel of newspapers and magazines to mobile, they also give the media new ways and angles to provide coverage, in one place and to a global reader base.

Here are five hand-picked news apps that deliver on that promise today. Use our list to get inspired for your own news app, find yourself a new news sources, or simply explore examples of all-around great mobile products. 

The New York Times (iOS)

Even if you prefer paper editions of newspapers over news apps, it is hard to deny that the New York Times did a great job of carrying over their long-established aesthetic and reporting to mobile. It is just that: the same New York Times, only more visually appealing and handy and available anywhere you want to read it. 

The user experience and design are outstanding: sections are well-organized (with quick access to Saved for Later and Recently Viewed), navigation is quick and simple, and the app’s clean visuals are really easy on the eye. Whether you want to quickly read the morning briefing or enjoy evening articles from the newspaper’s many sections, you will have a pleasant experience. 

Everything’s good under the hood as well: there are no crashes and bugs, and the pages load quite quickly even with poor internet connection. The app has ads, but they are non-intrusive and fit into the design organically. 

When it comes to sections, the New York Times app has it all: from the standard Opinion, World, Business and sport — to sections on health and wellness, entertainment and arts, as well as video and podcasts, among many others. You can also access the day’s paper in the corresponding section. 

With a well-produced “Immersive” section that is dedicated to AR and VR news content, the NYT doubles down on the notion that mobile and digital technology hold the potential to give new life to the media by giving readers new exciting perspectives and angles. 

Readers can access a limited number of articles for free every month or subscribe to one of the plans.

Al Jazeera English

Apart from its appealing and intuitive design, what makes the Al Jazeera app stand out is the emphasis on live news. They are quickly accessible in a video or audio stream and equally comfortable to watch on a smartphone or tablet. 

Al Jazeera understands the needs of modern users better than other media companies: the app has two more video sections alongside the Live broadcast — on-demand programming and documentaries. Other sections feature top stories, latest news, and  opinion pieces. 

You can personalize your feed in the “My Feed” section, which provide quick access to bookmarked topics, saved pages, and programmes. That being said, navigating Al Jazeera English is a breeze. Even on smaller screens, there is a lot of breathing space, and the sections are well-organized in general. 

Sections include: Arts & Culture, Business & Economy, Environment, Poverty & Development, Human Rights and more, as well as a separate section that covers different regions of the world. Readers can also access archived content. 

Al Jazeera English is free-of-charge. 

New Yorker Today

Like the New York Times, The New Yorker magazine has managed to go mobile with great success. Capturing the look and feel of the magazine really well, New Yorker Today serves three goals: delivers the latest news, opinion pieces, articles, and writing; provide quick access to the decade-spanning library ot its widely celebrated cartoons; give fast access to the magazine library with the latest and archive issues.

Although its website and magazine app can stand on their own and can be used separately, New Yorker Today seems to be aimed at readers who want to access the most popular parts of the The New Yorker’s digital experience in one place. 

Sections:

• Latest news and writing
• Cartoon randomizer
• Digital edition of the magazine (differs from the magazine app)
• Bookmarks and history

There is a limited number of free-to-read articles and a range of subscription options available for readers.

Pocket

As far as news apps go, Pocket is not a typical media product. At its heart is a simple promise of letting users save articles and web pages for later reading and viewing, but it delivers on it to the fullest. If you read news alongside articles from different publications, but do not want to assault your eyes with the endless stream of headlines of news aggregator apps (or simply find the look and feel of Instapper uninspiring), Pocket will your top choice.

Pocket is integrated with all popular browsers on desktop and mobile and with over fifteen thousand apps, making it quick and simple to save articles anywhere you find them. There are many instruments for managing them too. You can always locate the right article quickly with tags and a number of sections — all put together nicely in an extremely comfortable-to-use design. Other features include choosing the background color and highlighting text, listening to any article, and following friends to find out what they are reading.  

All of this comes for free, but you can get extra features like advanced search and fonts with the paid premium version. There is also a section of curated articles from numerous different publications updated everyday as well as a tool to look for them yourself across different categories. 

Pocket is continuously updated, bug-free, and the user experience is equally satisfying in the web app and native apps (although you cannot listen to articles in the web app). Interestingly, It is in-built into the Firefox browser and is owned by its creators, the Mozilla Corporation. 

TechCrunch 

The shiny look and handy navigation of TechCrunch’s website can be enjoyed in any browser, but you might just opt for the publication’s app instead. It bares the visual style of the website, but provides a more focused, personalised, and ad-free experience. 

Following the latest tech news with the TechCrunch app is easy, fast, and comfortable. You can browse the headlines of the latest news and bookmark them right in the feed. One more section gathers topics of your choice in one place, and you can manage or stay notified about them right in this section. Finally, there is “Saved for Later,” where you can read the bookmarked articles. You can also access the latest TechCrunch videos at the beginning of the main feed. 

In sum, the TechCrunch app streamlines reading tech news to the maximum, delivering a snappy experience without ads, bugs, and free-of-charge. 

The post The Rise of Mobile Media: The 5 Best News Apps appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

A marketing director of an established brand with a young audience, an aspiring entrepreneur, a digital marketing manager, a senior-level manager at a big organization — everyone will find something interesting in our list.

Let’s start.  

Social Media — WeAre8 

WeAre8 is a unique mobile platform for influencers and micro-influencers that helps them connect with their favorite brands to get paid for sponsorships. Influencers download the WeAre8 mobile app, sync their social media accounts, and can receive sponsorships in a personalized feed. 

There are over thirty vertical feeds available, including fashion and style, technology, visual arts, music, and wellness and sports. 

There are three  ways to get sponsored:

• Share branded content across social media channels
• Watch and respond to videos from brands
• Create unique content

After a user gets paid, they can cash out to a PayPal account, or donate to a charity of their choice.

WeAre8 positions itself as a people’s platform for those who want to have a solid side hustle. The platform partners with over thirty-six charities and donates five percent of brand spend as part of its business model.

Meanwhile, any brand working with WeAre8 has direct access to millions of influencers worldwide, with a combined social following that exceeds 1.2 billion users. 

Mobile — App Platform Mobile Roadie

Launched in 2009, Mobile Roadie is the first Do-it-Yourself (DIY), no-code app builder in the history of software development. Its creators recognized that mobile will become a powerful marketing tool, creating a universal, rich-featured, and intuitive app builder for businesses across industries. Mobile Roadie is still highly popular today, powering ups apps of Madonna, Dallas Mavericks, Wynn Las Vegas, San Diego Zoo, and more. 

The platform uses a drag-and-drop editor and ready-made feature modules to allow businesses to quickly build and customise native iOS and Android apps with unique design. It also includes a comprehensive content management system (CMS), and a data dashboard with insightful app analytics that let business learn more about their customers. 

Mobile Roadie’s pre-made features include:

• Media: music, audio, video, podcasts, photos
• Interactive map
• Events and schedule 
• Chat wall
• In-app ads and purchases
• Push notifications
• Pop-up promos
• Geofenced messages
• Polls
• Rewards,
• Augmented reality
• Beacons, and other features

In sum, a business gets a mobile presence, a set of engagement tools, and means to learn more about their users — faster and at a fraction of the cost as compared to custom software development. If a company wants to go above and beyond with their app, they can hire the Mobile Roadie team to do custom development as part of three different packages aimed at the look, functionality, and business needs.  

Content Marketing — Unsplash

Whether it is an enterprise or a new neighbourhood restaurant in New York City, Unsplash is a real find for marketing efforts in any company. If the inherent mediocrity of the likes of Shutterstock tires you, or producing quality visuals and photos for your content takes more time than your team has, Unsplash provides just the right solution. 

Free of charge to this day, Unsplash started out as a place where professional, amateur and mobile photographers as well as visual artists uploaded their photos, both sharing and promoting their work (the user is always reminded to copyright the author when they download a picture, but it is not obligatory). 

At the start, Unsplash reminded a more slick and elevated version of Instagram without comments and influencers, where you could browse beautiful photos, finding something for a social media page of a small business like a coffee shop. 

While it successfully saved that allure, today’s Unsplash can cover the needs of the vast majority of industries, from embedded software development to building construction to island festivals. 

If you need a crisp, attention-grabbing image, Unsplash is a go-to platform: you can always find something to make your blog or social media post stand out from the crowd. 

Unsplash is also a forward-thinking platform: the like count was removed and the newly introduced monetization is organic, as businesses put advertising in Unsplash-styled photos in an intrusive way. 

Finally, Unsplash is just a pleasure to use wherever you click. 

Voice Advertising — Spotify Ad Studio

In a world that overwhelms your customers with visual information from all sides and screens, voice advertising is having a big moment alongside the enduring popularity of podcasts and music streaming. A properly put together voice ad is not only effective, but less intrusive as compared to different types of visual ads filling the numerous screens of your users. 

Part of Spotify for Brands ad suite, Spotify Ad Studio is a self-service audio ad platform that lets brands create great ads in three easy steps:

1. Creating an ad. You can pass the script to the Spotify team, and they will record a voiceover, mix the music, and produce it at no extra cost. 
2. Audience targeting. You target users based on their age, gender, location, activity, music or podcast taste, as well as choose on what platforms to air it. 
3. Campaign customization. The last thing you need to do to launch the campaign is set a budget and dates. 

Key platforms include mobile tablet, desktop, web. Platforms like gaming console, connected TV, and connected car are available in some markets.  

There are also two advertising options aimed at Spotify Free users. With interest targeting, brands can engage users based on activities and topics they like (determined by their podcast, playlists, and platform preferences). The feature works in three categories — comedy, technology, and cooking. The second one is real-time context targeting, allowing brands to reach users at specific moments during the day, like a morning run or dinner. 

With a twenty-nine million ad-supported users and a set of measurement tools, Spotify Ad Studio may be a fitting choice for your next voice ad campaign. 

Cross Platform Ad Management — Adobe Primetime

Today users watch TV on their mobile devices anywhere they want, as the classic TV experience has become a thing of the past. With advanced data tools and technology available, new advertising opportunities for broadcast and cable networks and other TV providers amount. 

Adobe’s advertising platform Primetime helps TV providers and their partners in a number of ways:

1. Uses data and machine learning to help TV providers know their viewers better, improving ad targeting across platforms. 
2. Creates smooth and personalized ad experiences without buffering and playback errors.
3. Enables the providers to enforce intelligent authentication rules, reducing account sharing and driving revenue.
4. Allows TV providers to operate at scale, ensuring reliable ad insertion at massive live events like the Superbowl.
5. Allows for delivering video across all platforms in a single workflow and ensures consistent ad delivery across all screens.

Adobe Primetime is used by the vast majority of TV companies in North America. 

The post Top 5 Unique Marketing Tools You May Not Know About  appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

For nearly 30 years, the Inc. Magazine list has been capturing the exciting evolution of the fastest-growing companies in North America. Inc’s past honorees have become world-class brands that include Microsoft, LinkedIn, Dell, and Domino’s Pizza. The companies on this year’s list amassed 237.7 billion in revenue in 2018, accounting for 1,216,308 jobs over the past three years, and with astounding three-year average growth of 454%. 

Intellectsoft keeps growing quickly and confidently as well. Last year was especially fruitful for us and our clients. We expanded cooperation with major existing partners in the U.S., Europe, and Asia to new technology areas, and added new clients to our portfolio, including legal, healthcare, real estate, and finance companies. Our recent accomplishments include an IoT solution for one of the leading luxury hotel chains in Asia that helped it deliver an exceptional experience to their guests, a personal items tracking product for American consumer electronics company Adero, and a transformative solution converging multiple cutting-edge technologies for one of the biggest construction players in Europe’s Nordic Region.

We also struck new ambitious partnerships in the fields of artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technology in 2018, and continue growing out technology stack to deliver cutting-edge solutions to our clients. 

The post Intellectsoft Moves Closer To the Inc. 500 Club appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.

Legaltech emerged as a response to the challenges the industry faced following the financial crisis of 2008. They included in-house lawyers’ greater demands on firms, pressure to cut costs, lack of standardization in client procurement across departments, attracting and charging clients in the competitive market after the recession, as well as competition from new companies that rejected the traditional law model. On top of that, law firms needed to plow through vast amounts of data since email communication has started becoming the new normal in the industry. 

Over the years, legaltech has grown to encompass, on the one hand, the software and technology tools that simplify and streamline law practice for lawyers, and on the other, digital tools that simplify the acquisition and management of law services for clients by reducing or eliminating the need to consult a lawyer (or making it easier to find the right one quickly). 

Technologies & Application Areas

On a higher level, legaltech is the industry’s way of performing digital transformation, that is, using software and technologies to simplify operations, become leaner, cater to modern customers, etc. 

Legaltech encompasses the following software solutions and technologies:

• Workflow software tools
• Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) algorithms
• Analytics & big data software tools
• Customer experience (CX) solutions
• Cloud technology
• Distributed ledger technology (DLT)

Legaltech Areas

• AI/ML document review – data-trained algorithms that analyze legal documents across many areas, from risk management to M&A to compliance cases.
• Document and contract management platforms — tools that streamline or automate creating templates, negotiating clauses, and analyzing content. 
• Workflow tools – systems that allow lawyers to digitalise and automate their workflows.
• Smart contracts – self-executing clauses in legal contracts enabled by DLT, Internet of Things (IoT), and other. 
• E-discovery tools — solutions that simplify and automate e-discovery stages, for example machine learning algorithms that collect and process documents and prepare it for a lawyer to review.
• Legal chatbots – automated rule-based tools enabled by AI/ML that allow users to get answers to basic legal inquiries in a chat or messenger.
• Online marketplaces — digital platforms that help clients find the right lawyer faster.
• Cloud-based databases — data is gathered in a single data warehouse, where it can be accessed by employees across departments.
• Data security — ensuring the highest level of security for legal records with DLT.

Legaltech vs Lawtech — What Is the Difference?

Some experts reckon legaltech and lawtech serve different purposes, with the first referring to software and technologies lawyers use to streamline their work (e-discovery, AI/ML document review), and the second encompassing products for their clients (legal chabots, online marketplaces). Other lawyers reckon lawtech is not a fitting name for the field, as it implies the subject of law in general rather than an industry. In different publications, lawtech and legaltech are used interchangeably, but legaltech more often still. As of now, using both makes equal sense; time will tell which of terms will stick. 

Use Cases: What Legaltech Benefits Firms Can Expect

While legal tech is a nascent field, law firms are already leveraging what it has to offer, digititalizing their workflows, improving customer experiences, helping clients to return virtual money, and more. 

Big Data & Cloud — M&A & Portfolio Management

Looking for a way to review large patent portfolios, lawyers from Bird & Bird have teamed up with their client Nokia (the technology company) and a range of experts from different fields for a solution. Their joint effort resulted in Pattern — a cloud-based big data tool that simplifies M&As and client portfolio management and includes details of every patent ever published. The tool proved efficient and was rolled out to Bird & Bird’s clients in 2017.

Mobile — Workflow & Document Management 

One of our clients, a long-established U.S. law firm, needed to transfer their workflows and document management as well as minimize the heavy paperwork common to a law firm. 

A comprehensive and handy mobile app proved to be the fitting solution. It empowered the firm’s lawyers with the following features: 

• Immediate access to сritical legal documents; files and documents can be securely shared between the firm’s lawyers
• Attorneys can send bills and receive payments easily
• HR center with powerful employee management tools
• Notification center: clients and lawyers are always notified about changes and updates
• White Label solution

Artificial Intelligence Document Analysis

Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to free the legal industry from the massive amounts of paperwork. A good example comes from Luminance — an AI platform for due diligence, insurance, contract, and compliance management. The platform uses computer vision, machine learning (ML) algorithms, and probability statistics to analyze documents much quicker than a human. Since it launch in 2015, the AI platform gained wide recognition among law firms. 

Customer Experience Management

CX platforms can make a big difference in a legal firm’s operations. In one of our projects, we helped a U.S. law firm fully digitalize their legal consulting with such a platform. It consists of two parts. Customers use a mobile app to request legal help by creating tickets with basic information and attached documents. On the other side, the firm’s representatives and employees are assigned with tickets in a web-based interface with a simple workflow (in style of JIRA) to manage those requests. If the representative cannot address the issue, it is automatically passed further to the firm’s in-house experts. The platform also gathers data, accumulating a knowledge base to simplify the process of solving similar issues in the future for every representative and in-house lawyer.

Illegal Transactions Tracking with DLT

While the legal industry heavily relies on tradition, it already started leveraging what distributed ledger technology (DLT) has to offer. Josias Dewey, a partner at Holland & Knight and a software engineer, helps the firm’s clients create DLT proof-of-concepts applications. For example, he helped develop a DLT tool that helps track and freeze illegal virtual currency transactions, helping a client to return $500,000 lost as the result of a hack. 

Find out how legaltech can help your firm become more effective. Schedule a consultation with our experts.

The post What Is LegalTech: Overview + Real-Life Use Cases  appeared first on Intellectsoft Blog.