Globalization to the business world means expansion of their business empire to newer markets. However, globalization and business expansion does not happen overnight.  This requires an in-depth understanding of the market, its growth factors and organizational strategies to take on the challenges.  In today’s technologically enabled business environment, the secret to success goes beyond agile methodologies and requires adaptability.  

This would give the organizations flexibility to respond to unforeseen changes in the industry sectors.Further, the for the production organizations, understanding of the latest market trends and technologies makes it feasible for their product engineering teams to gain industry expertise. The industry expertise would enable them to develop cutting-edge products ahead and gain advantage over their competitors. However, the first and foremost step in the whole process is to understand the market trends. Wikipedia defines market trend as “the putative tendency of the financial market to move in a particular direction over time”. Classified as secular, primary and secondary, business organizations identify the market trends through technical analysis. 

Technical analysis is framework which predicts the demand, price and market tendencies of any product.  The business intelligence tools are used to undertake such analysis.  Business intelligence provides organizations with accurate and timely analysis of the enterprise data thus equipping the organizations to manage the production and sales and gain a competitive advantage.  By integrating the various BI tools, the executives and managers are prepared with concise information, and the end-users also can get a complete insight into the enterprise data.  Further these applications being web based can be accessible from any location and any machine.

Business intelligence tools can be used reporting of business operations in the form of weekly or monthly reports, forecasting with the help of historical data, multidimensional analysis and correlating between various factors. With its interactive dashboards, analytics, exception alerts and automated tools, business Intelligence not only creates a community of knowledgeable workforce, but also builds  a strong  foundation for data integration from numerous enterprise system sources thus seamlessly consolidating data for the use in creating industry expertise.

A business Intelligence tool definitely gives the product engineering team an edge over their competitors to identify market trends and technologies. However, this alone does not work to gain industry expertise. The elements which are required include strong technical knowledge, good product research and development process, efficient advisory services for identifying the high value opportunities as well as skills and commitment to deliver.

Read more on - Mobile application development, Product lifecycle management 

Globalization and business requirements in an aggressively competitive world demands for the development of a number of technologically enabled services and software. To cater for such requirements, organizations either need to increase the strength of professionals in their workforce or need to outsource the work to external organizations with the expertise in the field. However, the development and vast use of Internet has led to the integration of web applications in the business process paving way for the organizations to make use of virtual teams.

A virtual or a geographically distributed team is made up of members who work across organizational and geographical boundaries and different time zones. For these distributed software development teams, communication is the key and needs to be well connected through corporate networks or the Internet. The team members though distantly located work on the same project or product. For the organizations, involved in product R&D services, the distributed development teams are reason for proximity to customers, work clusters or cost advantages.

The array of software development projects undertaken by organizations for various web development services also requires deep expertise and understanding of the market trends and latest technologies. One way of acquiring this is through the use of offshore development services. Web development services like mobile application development services, customized application development and payment gateway integration are taken up by the offshore development services teams.

These geographically distributed teams irrespective of being part of offshore or nearshore development services, offer the organizations advantages such as improved productivity, knowledge transfer and greater market position. Nevertheless, these teams are not away from challenges such as lack of communication and poor leadership besides n incompetent team member.  However, with technological evolution, the networked teams can stay connected through threaded discussions, web conferencing, instant messages and blogs besides sharing the repositories.

The leaders in the field of application lifecycle management have designed and developed agile methods for a faster product R&D service at a global level irrespective of the type of application With the teams distributed around the globe, combining the agile methodology with the top of the line PLM tools helps distributed software development teams deliver quality products.  The collaborative platform and its framework facilitate a quicker product lifecycle completion, while bringing around a 30% reduction in overhead costs.

The distributed software development becoming the trend in the globalized environment, it becomes necessary to ensure that every team member is equally responsible to achieve the project goal. With the help of scrum-based distributed R&D software and a platform of integrated open source tools for collaboration, tracking and end-to-end visibility of the product life cycle, it is possible to provide the developers real-time access to the developmental process.


Also read on - Application lifecycle management, Product lifecycle management 

It is often believed that the supply chain starts at the warehouse and ends when products have been delivered to stores.  Increased globalization and competition has made supply chain management (SCM) a very important and critical issue for any company. The responsiveness of a company's supply and fulfillment networks is becoming a more significant determinant of company success. Companies need to view their supply networks as a competitive weapon to not only deliver low costs but also effect top-line growth. In an economy where how a supply chain performs determines who will win the battle, it is important to achieve maximum benefit from a supply chain and create a competitive advantage. There is always a pressure to contain costs and produce results despite challenging circumstances. SCM is all about getting the right things to the right places at the right time. It contributes to business performance by finding out ways to get goods to the customer better, faster and cheaper. The responsiveness of a company's supply and fulfillment networks becoming a more significant determinant of company success.

Supply chain management is the active management of supply chain activities to maximize customer value and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. It represents a conscious effort by the supply chain firms to develop and run supply chains in the most effective & efficient ways possible. Supply chain activities cover everything from product development, sourcing, production, and logistics, as well as the information systems needed to coordinate these activities.

Boosting the Supply Chain Management with Cloud Processes
Increasing complexity, competition and territorial business opportunities is what characterizes the modern day business scenario.  Operational excellence and business success can be achieved only by strengthening the supply chain. It is with an efficient and effective supply chain management, that a company can enjoy many benefits. There are various service providers that are moving to various supply chain management solutions like the latest Cloud Processes to come up with efficient results. With cloud processes, companies can have an extensive and robust range of resources that can completely restructure the sourcing and managing of information. As it provides end-to-end visibility and automation of strategic activities in the after sales process, the use of cloud processes can have remarkable improvement in the supply chain management.

Visibility leads to reduced costs in supply chains by enabling a business to work smarter, to remove nonessential activities, and to shorten lead times. It can minimize logistics expenses by consolidating shipment and order while also minimizing logistics administration staff globally.

An effective supply chain provides competitive advantage for all retailers and with efficient cloud Processes your company can be firmly placed in the era of digital management.



Read more on - Business travel management, Order management system 

Organizations irrespective of its business and employee size needs to have a proper system in place for managing its expenses and the smooth functioning of its resources. Expense management system with its policies and procedures, technologies and services is deployed by organizations to process and pay employee-incurred expenses for travel and entertainment. However, as organizations become global entities, the expanse of the business network spreads beyond geographical boundaries making management of these expenses worldwide a difficult proposition. .

Nevertheless, with the global economic scenario looming large on the organizations to cut corners in its expenses, business travel expenses are also affected. In a globalized business environment with offices and branches spread worldwide, the multicultural multinational workforce has to be managed, organized and directed to meet organizational goals and objectives. Though technological innovations have paved way for a virtual interaction and communication with the workforce, it may not be as effective as the face-to-face interaction. Hence, cutting down on business travel expense on the part of key professionals may not always be a viable option.

Effective business travel management and spend analysis is a prerequisite to strategic sourcing. However, relying on manual processes will result in use of man-hours and increased transaction costs. Automation of this processes either through use of software implementation or through web-based on-demand applications from SaaS providers will pave for better management control and reduced transaction costs.

A number of service providers have designed and developed software for managing of business travel expense. However, the leaders in the industry have exploited the cloud computing technology and have designed software for digital management of the business travel expense and any other expense initiated by the employees and management worldwide. This cloud based business travel expense management software provides end-to-end visibility, control and enhanced spend analysis across the expenses in comparison to the traditional expense management software.

The cloud based corporate travel and expense management software with its various modules offers a number of benefits for the organization.  Through effective accounting, invoice handling, travel booking, cloud collaboration with banks, airlines, travel agents and hotels this is automation and optimization of travel expenses. Further, it greatly reduces travel and travel administration costs, provides improved control through compliance with tax regulations and laws prevalent in the region, real-time information of the value network, eliminates repetitive manual task and expedite the travel claim approvals thus paving way for a hassle free business travel


Also read on - eGovernment, supply chain management solutions 

Technology is something that is always moving forward. There are numerous developments taking place in every sphere of technology. Mobiles are the widely used next generation device and its applications include the innovative technological advancement in this field. It is the popular surge of the demand for mobile applications that motivates the technical professionals to strategize the future of mobile application development.

Going by a study conducted by Global Intelligence Alliance recently the top three reasons why enterprises still prefer the native mobile applications are :-

• Being able to set up high quality user interface
• Being able to leverage well known established application store distribution channels
• The requirement to access device hardware

This apart, the top three reasons why businesses go on with certain web technologies in case of mobile application development are:-

• To be able to build high quality user interface
• Cost benefits of offering one interface available on numerous environments
• Having direct control over the distribution having no requirement to have a third party approval

Eminent companies specializing in software product development are today equipped with the apt procedures, tools and other level of expertise and experience to create mobile applications faster and in a cost-efficient manner. Some of their focus areas are as follows:-

• Presence & Social Networking
• Mobile VoIP
• Gaming
• Location-Based Services (LBS)
• Messaging & Syncing
• Mobile Media Streaming
• Mobile Advertisement & Ad Engines

These companies also have the experience and skill for working with Level A enterprises and have been supporting them with valuable product lifecycle management solutions.

Selected mobile application development facilities are as follows:-

• Developing mobile applications in J2ME, BREW, Android, iPhone, Symbian, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry
• Conceptualizing mobile applications and eliciting requirements, for instance UI design, prototype, wireframes, user stories
• Designing, developing and testing applications
• Porting mobile applications between platforms and devices
• Developing server-side and infrastructure, including for location & mapping services
• Integrating third-party components on the server side, for instance SMS/MMS, billing, feeds, ads, content and many others
• Integrating carrier, SMSC and billing systems, for instance LBS platform for location determination
• Coordinating with carriers and device manufacturers for mobile application testing and certification, for instance NSTL, Java Verified
• Launching and distributing mobile applications
• Carrier Catalogs and Storefronts
• Providing maintenance and support services

Click here to read more on - Mainframe services, Application lifecycle management 

In an economy where how a supply chain performs determines who will win the battle, it is important to achieve maximum benefit from a supply chain and create a competitive advantage. There is always a pressure to contain costs and produce results despite challenging circumstances. Instead of simply improving the supply operation, it is more important to transform it by adopting suitable methods, and processes that will make the organization.

It is possible to create an efficient supply chain by implementing the following best practices

• Set up a supply chain committee

In most cases, objectives and strategies of a supply chain organization differs from their companies' stated objectives and strategies. By providing constant, consistent validation that the supply chain strategy directly correlates with the corporate strategy, a committee can prevent this from happening.

• Proper staffing in the supply chain

Correctly staffing the supply chain organization is vital to success. Elevating staff members' supply chain management skills and knowledge is always a priority, of course. But top leadership focuses more on strategy and is less concerned about transactional ability.

• Choose the right technology

It is important to review the processes that need improvement, and only then select the technology that best satisfies those process needs. So choose way to use technology to produce beneficial information without having to perform various "work-around" to extract and view the data. Opt for a solution that can automate, rationalize, and optimize the processing of the end-to-end after sales business process. It integrates the entire value network of all the collaborating parties and systems.

• Create association with suppliers

Establishing an alliance or association with the suppliers helps in providing a mechanism to ensure that the relationship stays healthy and vibrant, creating a platform for problem resolution. It also helps in developing continuous improvement goals with the objective of achieving value for both parties as well as ensuring that performance measurement objectives are achieved.

• Focus on total cost of ownership (TCO).

Identifying the total cost of ownership requires looking at the entire process of procuring and consuming the product or service, something that can only happen with cooperation and input from both the buyer and the seller. Establishing a "total cost of ownership" mindset is a goal that the supply management organization needs to embrace and perpetuate throughout the entire enterprise.

In order to implement efficient supply chain process solutions for customers around the world, opting for an efficient solution that spans across the entire order fulfillment process from order receipt to fulfillment based on order agreements is the best option. With simple rules and best practices, and implementing cloud based processes, you can reduce your return costs and keeping more customers happy.


Read Also On: reverse supply chain, Travel expense management 

Every industry sector strives for an outcome in the form of a product whether physical, digital or as a service. Irrespective of the type of product, the success of the business is dependent on the quality of the product, which is in turn dependent on the effective methods of testing and quality assurance. William A. Foster once quoted “Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skilful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.”
Wikipedia defines Product Lifecycle management as the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its conception, through design and manufacture, to service and disposal. This process integrates all components, related processes and people to achieve the end result. In a technologically enabled world, where a new mobile application development takes places every other day, product testing and quality assurance is one of the important aspects of the product life cycle.

Quality assurance is a systematic method to evaluate the processes leading to the quality products. With a goal to provide assurance of various mobile application development products meeting customer expectations, the process includes validation and verification. Validation checks for the requirements whereas verification confirms if the products conform to the requirements. Till recently, software personnel carried out the process of validation and verification. However, with technological innovation and an increasing customer demands, software product development has become a complex process involving a larger workforce. Thus, verification and validation became a formal process as an independent activity, which has been incorporated from the beginning of the product development services.

With new technological developments in mobile applications, embedded systems, cloud-computing processes, product testing and quality assurance have become the critical components for organizations in maintaining a competitive edge. Even though there is no dearth of software and quality assurance professionals, an in-house testing process will be not only challenging but also resource-intensive.

Considering the importance and the vastness of the projects, it is beneficial for organizations to invest in the services of leaders in product R&D services, innovation design and software development. With their expertise and dedicated testing labs as well as adherence to high levels of security and industry standards, organizations can be benefited quality products, lesser time-to-market and lower operational cost.

Read more on - Advisory services, nearshore development services