The process of software development has graduated from developing enterprise applications to applications for android phones, iphones and computing tablets. With the help of these mobile applications customers can easily shop, play games, watch movies, access files, listen to music and even take pictures. An analysis of the activities of the mobile driven generation clearly states the dominance and power of mobile technology. Thus you must develop applications that fulfill the requirements of your customers optimally and help increase the customer satisfaction levels.

The competition is tough and opportunities are less. Thus you have to ensure that each performance is highly appealing. You also have to ensure that you do not go overboard with the costs. Delivering within the deadlines establishes your credibility, and the quality products further strengthens your position in the market. As each individual’s requirement is different you have to be sure that the solutions that you employ possess the capabilities to provide you with premium results.

You need the services of experts who have extensive knowledge and proficiency in the mobile app development field. They recommend solutions after a thorough investigation of your business environment and requirements. The product R&D services that they render are extremely supportive and flawless. They are aware of the various technological platforms, operating systems and mobile devices and provide you with assistance for an end-to-end iphone and android application development process. They help you with the designing, development, implementation and testing of mobile applications for individual customers as well as enterprises.

Open source software is in high demand as the codes are free and it provides you with admirable facilities such as faster time-to-market, reduced total cost of ownership, high visibility and improved interoperability. The professional software development teams provide you with flexible open source software development platforms that can be easily customized as per the needs of your business. They help in identifying the right combination of open source technologies to provide you with a valid process without any commercial royalty issues that consume your investments.

The professional consultants provide you with solutions that give you a competitive edge and increase interoperability. They help in evaluating the risks associated with open source licenses for facilitating the open source software development process excluding the risks. Each day a new technology is released and it is not easy to implement them. If you want a completely hassle-free operation you have to employ a competent model that will resolve the complexities and provide you with positive results.



Related Links: product lifecycle management , agile lifecycle management

 
Lead nurturing essentially involves methods of maintaining a steady relationship with prospects irrespective of whether they are ‘sales ready’. Only one out of ten people who visit the corporate website are there looking to buy immediately, and sadly the remaining nine will walk away if not nurtured early on.

Lead nurturing leads has multiple benefits:
·         Understanding your customers’ intentions
·         Obtaining swift information on the sales readiness of your prospects
·         Sustaining leads’ interests
·         Educating leads

Gartner suggests that successful enterprises segregate their leads into different classes: hot/warm leads, cold leads or dead leads. But the question looming large on all B2B sales teams’ minds remains - is there any sure shot and foolproof way of nurturing these different leads throughout the sales cycle? What does actual lead nurturing entail?
Nurturing leads is no longer simply the marketing team’s prerogative; it has grown mature enough to include both the sales and marketing teams. Lead nurturing is about building familiarity about the company and the product with the prospect, creating perception about the company and the product, and inspiring trust about the workability of the product. In essence, it is the activity of providing information, insights, expert analysis, etc., to a prospect.

Techniques for Lead Nurturing
Drip marketing remains the most common lead nurturing method employed, where every week, information is sent out to prospective customers who are still mostly unaware of the company’s products/services. The first email is the best way to make that ‘perfect first impression’. From offering presentations and targeted leads in the first week to emailing across effective call-to-action content in the form of newsletters, testimonials, e-books and reports in subsequent weeks, the basic idea behind the drip marketing method is to sustain the interest of the customer with more pertinent information.

In the last couple of weeks, emails inviting the customer to a trade show or providing freebies, discounts or bonuses can give insight into whether the drip marketing emails have made a positive impact. Drip marketing also remains the best way to gain valuable feedback from the customer and a value enhancer for the lead generation process. Therefore it is necessary that content is created in such a way that it attracts and intrigues the lead. So be it newsletters, testimonials, or even the email itself, only when content is targeted and sharp can it actually create an impact.

Lead nurturing campaigns are a must if companies want to bring about continuous communication with the customer and also know when leads are ‘sales ready’. Automated processes and technology enables marketers to keep in touch with multiple leads and scale up the number of prospects. B2B companies should employ a multi-pronged approach using different lead nurturing tactics.

Lead nurturing enhances the quality of leads obtained for lead generation. So from using the first degree connections on LinkedIn and mobilizing social networking sites, to using articles, case studies and research reports, to holding webinars, trade shows, seminars, workshops and blogs, there are many mechanisms for lead nurturing. Using  B2B marketing automation for lead nurturing is a great way to improve the efficiency of the process.


Read more on - Lead scoring, CRM Integration

 
Organizations often experience situations where there isn’t adequate time to deliver a product the way a consumer prefers. This generally happens when the consumer’s necessities change and the organization cannot accordingly cater to the new requirements in time. This is where agile lifecycle management comes into play.

Benefits of Agile Lifecycle Management
An agile methodology can be of immense help in such situations. With its capacity to efficiently respond to the evolving needs, it also offers great benefits to an organization. Some of them are discussed below:-

·         Zero communication gaps
An agile lifecycle management makes sure that their communication gaps are eliminated keeping in mind the consumer’s needs. It ensures a steady and continual communication with the consumer. This apart it also results in accurate documentation and delivery of excellent quality software.

·         Real-time collaboration
The organization has the ability to organize and capture the needs with an optimized agile lifecycle management solution. It also enables for real-time collaboration in a personalized web-space that helps in sharing reports, documents and tracking defects. The solution also offers a comprehensive traceability matrix and a continuous integration framework.

·         Quick Adaption
The new age agile business conditions need an enterprise to quickly adapt to the ever changing business priorities. Hence, the e-commerce solutions are required to be efficient enough to manage scheduling requirements, product backlogs and tracking capacities to trace dependencies.

Today, eminent companies dealing in product R&D services have come up with innovative methods for agile lifecycle management. These companies have extended their expertise to various product lifecycle management processes and software product releases. This has been done in order to set up a, Scrum-based blueprint for developing products across distributed teams. Other added features and benefits are as follows:-

·         Offers a complete traceability matrix and continuous integration framework
·         Helps in facilitating efficient communication all through distributed teams and offers complete transparency into project health monitoring, risk management and progress tracking
·         Helps the product owners to align a product to real user requirements and adapt the development process accordingly
·         Runs QA and development cycles in parallel to reduce any lag between the two phases
·         Significantly minimizes code defects by enforcing excellent coding practices

Selecting a Agile service provider
In order to enhance your business success and scaling agile development, it is essential to join hands with a market leader in agile lifecycle management. It is advised that you select a company that is into continuous innovation and is recognized by others as well. You can search for companies in your industry vertical and enquire if they would recommend any solution provider. Simultaneously, you can also look for third-party validation the service provider’s capacity to offer quantifiable ROI.


Related links: 
agile lifecycle management, Product R&D Services
 
Every year brings with it an individual trend for the mobile industry in general and more specifically for the mobile application development industry. Similarly, market research for the mobile industry each year also reflects phenomenal growth in terms of mobile consumer activity. In the year 2010 there was an upsurge in the smart phones and associated mobile apps, and 2011 has been the era tablet PC’s and other mobile equipments. The noticeable growth in demand for mobile equipments and applications including with a wide array of OS has been set up corresponding supply of mobile application developers. In the recent past, mobile advertising, location based services along with innovative mobile application development are increasing their expanse. It has all the chances to be the trend for mobile industry for 2012.




Eminent companies involved in nearshore software development have been consistently specializing in innovative mobile apps development. These companies have an in-depth understanding of this domain and the focus areas comprise of:-




·         Location-Based Services (LBS)

·         Mobile Media Streaming

·         Presence and Social Networking

·         Messaging and Syncing

·         Mobile Advertisement and Ad Engines

·         Mobile VoIP

·         Gaming




These companies have the required technological know-how and appropriate experience in working with top-tier players in the mobile landscape. They have been actively working towards iPhone and Android application development. This apart, their supporting capacities help then in carrying on the following tasks:-




·         Setting up mobile applications in J2ME, BREW, Android, iPhone, Symbian, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry

·         Works towards conceptualizing mobile applications and eliciting requirements for instance, eUI design, prototype, wireframes and user stories

·         Helps in developing, designing and QA testing applications

·         Porting mobile applications between platforms and devices

·         Setting up server-side and architecture that comprise location and mapping services

·         Helps in incorporating third-party constituents on the server side for instance SMS/MMS, billing, feeds, ads, content and many more

·         Incorporating carrier, SMSC and billing systems for instance LBS platform for location determination

·         Helps in coordinating with carriers and device manufacturers for mobile application testing and certification for instance NSTL and Java Verified

·         Launching and distributing mobile applications

·         OTA download including install and upgrade

·         Provides OEM embedded

·         Offers Application Stores for instance iPhone App Store, BlackBerry App World, Android Market, Samsung App Store and many more

·         Offers carrier catalogs and storefronts

·         Offering maintenance and product assistance services




In the recent past the mobile market has grown exponentially owing to a huge demand from the next-generation technology. Innovative end users today need mobile applications with a greater processing power, elasticity, security, reliability and incorporation with other applications. Top notch mobile application development service providers offer processes, tools and expertise that is important to help the ISV’s set up mobile applications cost-efficiently.






Related Links: Software development company,  Iphone application development

 
 
Driving Business Efficiencies with Application Lifecycle Management


Application development is becoming more and more global, and projects are increasingly involving multiple teams in disparate locations, often from multiple companies and countries. Enterprise organizations often encounter a situation where even for the same lifecycle domain people from different companies/countries with different cultures participate in application development.

Today, more and more enterprises are leveraging the global prototype for software R & D. Having a streamlined workflow process for developing software applications means the enterprise can track each phase. When development teams are located in multiple locations, there is the risk of overlapping processes or having to rework part of the application. Before application lifecycle management software became available, and organizations were forced to rely on emails, spreadsheets, Access databases, and other cumbersome, manual methods to manage the various activities and resources involved in each development project. This made information that was not only difficult to share, but was also at times inaccurate, and which in turn hindered communication and collaboration.

With Application Lifecycle Management, enterprises can better monitor all phases of application development across locations. ALM can be especially helpful when it involves more than one delivery platform or pool of resources, such as when development teams are scattered across the country or the world. A mapped-out process gives better visibility around fragmented parts of the application development schedule that straddle various projects, but need to synch up at certain points to address multi-enterprise needs.

Businesses can better control the speed of delivery, considering that it can account for setbacks or delays in each phase of the development process. Application lifecycle management typically involves all the tasks involved in the development through to delivery of custom software applications. The main advantage of application lifecycle management is that teams will be able to focus on current business requirements, reduce rework, enhance development processes, and make faster, better decisions that lead to high-quality products that are delivered on time. For greatest effectiveness, ALM tools must be integrated with each other and with other tools within the organization.

With application lifecycle management solution, companies can more effectively manage, control, and monitor the way their software programs are built and implemented. Team up with a good service provider who has the industry expertise to ensure that resource skills or capabilities are accurately matched to the requirements of each particular task, activity, or phase in the development lifecycle. The right solution provider empowers an organization with the ability to instantly respond to changing customer demands, and address emerging business needs, and drive business efficiencies.


Also read on - mobile application development, product lifecycle management
 
 
Application development is becoming more and more global, and projects are increasingly involving multiple teams in disparate locations, often from multiple companies and countries. Enterprise organizations often encounter a situation where even for the same lifecycle domain people from different companies/countries with different cultures participate in application development.

Today, more and more enterprises are leveraging the global prototype for software R & D. Having a streamlined workflow process for developing software applications means the enterprise can track each phase. When development teams are located in multiple locations, there is the risk of overlapping processes or having to rework part of the application. Before application lifecycle management software became available, and organizations were forced to rely on emails, spreadsheets, Access databases, and other cumbersome, manual methods to manage the various activities and resources involved in each development project. This made information that was not only difficult to share, but was also at times inaccurate, and which in turn hindered communication and collaboration.

With Application Lifecycle Management, enterprises can better monitor all phases of application development across locations. ALM can be especially helpful when it involves more than one delivery platform or pool of resources, such as when development teams are scattered across the country or the world. A mapped-out process gives better visibility around fragmented parts of the application development schedule that straddle various projects, but need to synch up at certain points to address multi-enterprise needs.

Businesses can better control the speed of delivery, considering that it can account for setbacks or delays in each phase of the development process. Application lifecycle management typically involves all the tasks involved in the development through to delivery of custom software applications. The main advantage of application lifecycle management is that teams will be able to focus on current business requirements, reduce rework, enhance development processes, and make faster, better decisions that lead to high-quality products that are delivered on time. For greatest effectiveness, ALM tools must be integrated with each other and with other tools within the organization.

With application lifecycle management solution, companies can more effectively manage, control, and monitor the way their software programs are built and implemented. Team up with a good service provider who has the industry expertise to ensure that resource skills or capabilities are accurately matched to the requirements of each particular task, activity, or phase in the development lifecycle. The right solution provider empowers an organization with the ability to instantly respond to changing customer demands, and address emerging business needs, and drive business efficiencies.


Also read on - mobile application development, product lifecycle management