Team App is a platform that allows teams and social groups to improve communication by creating their very own smartphone App

Team App

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Hey team! I'm Denys Vorobyov, CEO of EltexSoft, where we breathe life into innovative ideas through bespoke software solutions. With a track record of success documented in my Forbes Technology Council articles, I lead a team of experts dedicated to excellence in custom software development. This guide is crafted for startup enthusiasts, business owners, and project managers eager to understand the best staffing models—team augmentation, outsourcing, and outstaffing—for their app development ventures. Article’s benefits If you're navigating the complexities of app development and looking to optimize your team's structure, this article is for you. We break down three key staffing models to help you choose the one that aligns best with your project’s needs and management style. Analyze Your Needs When choosing a staffing model for your app development project, it's crucial to understand your unique requirements. To help you with this process, here's a brief comparative overview of team augmentation, outsourcing, and outstaffing. Each model has its benefits depending on your need for control, project management style, and the desired level of integration with your existing team. The following table provides a quick reference to guide your decision-making process: Question

Team Augmentation

Outsource Services

Outstaff Services



Do you need specialized skills for a specific period of time?

Yes

Sometimes

Yes



Are you looking to maintain control over project management?

Yes

No

Yes



Is integrating external team members into your existing processes important?

Yes

No

Yes



Do you have established project management and need to expand your team quickly?

Yes

No

Yes



Are you seeking full responsibility for delivery and execution from the provider?

No

Yes

No



Do you prefer a hands-off approach to the project where the provider manages the end-to-end process?

No

Yes

No



Is budget flexibility with regard to staffing a key consideration for you?

Yes

No

Yes



Do you require immediate resource availability without long-term commitment?

Yes

No

Yes



Are you looking for a long-term partnership with a focus on continuous development?

No

Yes

Sometimes



Do you intend to directly manage the team members working on your project?

Sometimes

No

Yes Team Augmentation: Ideal if you need specialized tech skills temporarily and wish to maintain control over project management.
Outsourcing: Suitable for those who prefer an external team to take full responsibility for the project from start to finish.
Outstaffing: Best for adding resources while keeping full control over management and integration within your company culture. These questions can help you determine which staffing model aligns with your project goals, management style, and resource needs. Remember, the right choice depends on your specific context, so consider each option carefully. Learning from own experience With years of experience steering successful projects, I recommend consulting with industry experts and leveraging feedback from those who have navigated similar decisions. Each model has its merits, and the right choice depends on factors like control level desired, budget constraints, and integration needs. Reflecting on personal experiences and observing industry trends can provide invaluable insights. Engaging with community feedback and considering cultural or popular opinions about theseIT staffing models can also guide your decision. For example, the agility of team augmentation can be perfect for startups needing quick scalability, while outsourcing might suit a company looking for comprehensive project handling. Conclusion and Next Steps Choosing the best staffing model requires a balanced understanding of your needs, the scope of the project, and the dynamics of your existing team. This guide aims to arm you with the knowledge to make an informed choice that will enhance your project's success and efficiency. As you consider your options, remember that EltexSoft is here to provide further guidance and support. Whether you're leaning towards augmenting your team, outstaffing, or outsourcing your next app development project, we invite you to discuss your needs with us. Ready to optimize your app development strategy? Let's craft a solution that perfectly fits your needs. Hey team! I'm Denys Vorobyov, CEO of EltexSoft, where we breathe life into innovative ideas through bespoke software solutions. With a track record of success documented in my Forbes Technology Council articles, I lead a team of experts dedicated to excellence in custom software development. This guide is crafted for startup enthusiasts, business owners, and project managers eager to understand the best staffing models—team augmentation, outsourcing, and outstaffing—for their app development ventures. Forbes Technology Council Forbes Technology Council Article’s benefits If you're navigating the complexities of app development and looking to optimize your team's structure, this article is for you. We break down three key staffing models to help you choose the one that aligns best with your project’s needs and management style. Analyze Your Needs Analyze Your Needs When choosing a staffing model for your app development project, it's crucial to understand your unique requirements. To help you with this process, here's a brief comparative overview of team augmentation, outsourcing, and outstaffing. Each model has its benefits depending on your need for control, project management style, and the desired level of integration with your existing team. app development app development The following table provides a quick reference to guide your decision-making process: Question

Team Augmentation

Outsource Services

Outstaff Services



Do you need specialized skills for a specific period of time?

Yes

Sometimes

Yes



Are you looking to maintain control over project management?

Yes

No

Yes



Is integrating external team members into your existing processes important?

Yes

No

Yes



Do you have established project management and need to expand your team quickly?

Yes

No

Yes



Are you seeking full responsibility for delivery and execution from the provider?

No

Yes

No



Do you prefer a hands-off approach to the project where the provider manages the end-to-end process?

No

Yes

No



Is budget flexibility with regard to staffing a key consideration for you?

Yes

No

Yes



Do you require immediate resource availability without long-term commitment?

Yes

No

Yes



Are you looking for a long-term partnership with a focus on continuous development?

No

Yes

Sometimes



Do you intend to directly manage the team members working on your project?

Sometimes

No

Yes Question

Team Augmentation

Outsource Services

Outstaff Services Do you need specialized skills for a specific period of time?

Yes

Sometimes

Yes Are you looking to maintain control over project management?

Yes

No

Yes Is integrating external team members into your existing processes important?

Yes

No

Yes Do you have established project management and need to expand your team quickly?

Yes

No

Yes Are you seeking full responsibility for delivery and execution from the provider?

No

Yes

No Do you prefer a hands-off approach to the project where the provider manages the end-to-end process?

No

Yes

No Is budget flexibility with regard to staffing a key consideration for you?

Yes

No

Yes Do you require immediate resource availability without long-term commitment?

Yes

No

Yes Are you looking for a long-term partnership with a focus on continuous development?

No

Yes

Sometimes Do you intend to directly manage the team members working on your project?

Sometimes

No

Yes Question Team Augmentation Outsource Services Outstaff Services Question Question Question Team Augmentation Team Augmentation Team Augmentation Outsource Services Outsource Services Outsource Services Outstaff Services Outstaff Services Outstaff Services Do you need specialized skills for a specific period of time? Yes Sometimes Yes Do you need specialized skills for a specific period of time? Do you need specialized skills for a specific period of time? Yes Yes Sometimes Sometimes Yes Yes Are you looking to maintain control over project management? Yes No Yes Are you looking to maintain control over project management? Are you looking to maintain control over project management? Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Is integrating external team members into your existing processes important? Yes No Yes Is integrating external team members into your existing processes important? Is integrating external team members into your existing processes important? Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Do you have established project management and need to expand your team quickly? Yes No Yes Do you have established project management and need to expand your team quickly? Do you have established project management and need to expand your team quickly? Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Are you seeking full responsibility for delivery and execution from the provider? No Yes No Are you seeking full responsibility for delivery and execution from the provider? Are you seeking full responsibility for delivery and execution from the provider? No No Yes Yes No No Do you prefer a hands-off approach to the project where the provider manages the end-to-end process? No Yes No Do you prefer a hands-off approach to the project where the provider manages the end-to-end process? Do you prefer a hands-off approach to the project where the provider manages the end-to-end process? No No Yes Yes No No Is budget flexibility with regard to staffing a key consideration for you? Yes No Yes Is budget flexibility with regard to staffing a key consideration for you? Is budget flexibility with regard to staffing a key consideration for you? Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Do you require immediate resource availability without long-term commitment? Yes No Yes Do you require immediate resource availability without long-term commitment? Do you require immediate resource availability without long-term commitment? Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Are you looking for a long-term partnership with a focus on continuous development? No Yes Sometimes Are you looking for a long-term partnership with a focus on continuous development? Are you looking for a long-term partnership with a focus on continuous development? No No Yes Yes Sometimes Sometimes Do you intend to directly manage the team members working on your project? Sometimes No Yes Do you intend to directly manage the team members working on your project? Do you intend to directly manage the team members working on your project? Sometimes Sometimes No No Yes Yes Team Augmentation: Ideal if you need specialized tech skills temporarily and wish to maintain control over project management. Outsourcing: Suitable for those who prefer an external team to take full responsibility for the project from start to finish. Outstaffing: Best for adding resources while keeping full control over management and integration within your company culture. Team Augmentation: Ideal if you need specialized tech skills temporarily and wish to maintain control over project management. Team Augmentation: tech skills tech skills Outsourcing: Suitable for those who prefer an external team to take full responsibility for the project from start to finish. Outsourcing: Outstaffing: Best for adding resources while keeping full control over management and integration within your company culture. Outstaffing: These questions can help you determine which staffing model aligns with your project goals, management style, and resource needs. Remember, the right choice depends on your specific context, so consider each option carefully. Learning from own experience Learning from own experience With years of experience steering successful projects, I recommend consulting with industry experts and leveraging feedback from those who have navigated similar decisions. Each model has its merits, and the right choice depends on factors like control level desired, budget constraints, and integration needs. Reflecting on personal experiences and observing industry trends can provide invaluable insights. Engaging with community feedback and considering cultural or popular opinions about these IT staffing models can also guide your decision. For example, the agility of team augmentation can be perfect for startups needing quick scalability, while outsourcing might suit a company looking for comprehensive project handling. IT staffing models IT staffing models Conclusion and Next Steps Conclusion and Next Steps Choosing the best staffing model requires a balanced understanding of your needs, the scope of the project, and the dynamics of your existing team. This guide aims to arm you with the knowledge to make an informed choice that will enhance your project's success and efficiency. As you consider your options, remember that EltexSoft is here to provide further guidance and support. Whether you're leaning towards augmenting your team, outstaffing, or outsourcing your next app development project, we invite you to discuss your needs with us. Ready to optimize your app development strategy? Let's craft a solution that perfectly fits your needs. app development Let's craft a solution Let's craft a solution

How to Choose the Best Staffing Model for App Development: Team Augmentation, Outsource, or Outstaff

অ্যাপ ডেভেলপমেন্টের জন্য কীভাবে সেরা স্টাফিং মডেল বেছে নেবেন: টিম অগমেন্টেশন, আউটসোর্স বা আউটস্টাফ

So wählen Sie das beste Personalmodell für die App-Entwicklung: Teamerweiterung, Outsourcing oder Outstaff

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アプリ開発に最適な人員配置モデルを選択する方法: チーム増強、アウトソーシング、アウトスタッフ

앱 개발을 위한 최적의 인력 배치 모델을 선택하는 방법: 팀 확대, 아웃소싱 또는 아웃스태프

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Cách chọn mô hình nhân sự tốt nhất để phát triển ứng dụng: Tăng cường nhóm, thuê ngoài hoặc thuê ngoài

如何选择最佳的应用程序开发人员配置模式：团队扩充、外包或外派

Software Regression Testing: Enhanced Regression Strategy and Zero Defects

সফ্টওয়্যার রিগ্রেশন টেস্টিং: উন্নত রিগ্রেশন কৌশল এবং শূন্য ত্রুটি

Software-Regressionstests: Verbesserte Regressionsstrategie und Null-Fehler

Pruebas de regresión de software: estrategia de regresión mejorada y cero defectos

Tests de régression logicielle : stratégie de régression améliorée et zéro défaut

सॉफ्टवेयर रिग्रेशन परीक्षण: उन्नत रिग्रेशन रणनीति और शून्य दोष

ソフトウェア回帰テスト: 強化された回帰戦略とゼロ欠陥

소프트웨어 회귀 테스트: 향상된 회귀 전략 및 제로 결함

Teste de regressão de software: estratégia de regressão aprimorada e zero defeitos

Регрессионное тестирование программного обеспечения: расширенная стратегия регрессии и нулевые дефекты

Yazılım Regresyon Testi: Gelişmiş Regresyon Stratejisi ve Sıfır Hata

Kiểm tra hồi quy phần mềm: Chiến lược hồi quy nâng cao và không có lỗi

软件回归测试：增强回归策略和零缺陷

Congratulations to all of the participants in our ! You did a wonderful job showcasing your incredible startups and powering through another year. 35,000+ startups and over 600,000+ votes later - it’s time to celebrate the startup scene in ! 2023 Startups of the Year Oceania The startup scene in Oceania is driven by innovation, a bunch of passionate folks, and a supportive environment that's helping cool ventures take off in different industries. With such a vast range of innovative products and ideas, we’re sure it was difficult for you to choose a favorite. 🏆 Key Stats Let’s start out with some general stats for all of you technical folks. Total Startups Participated: 553 Cities Represented: 72 Total Votes Gathered: 168,278 Winning Startups: 32 Without further ado… To see who is a winner in each respective city, visit and pick a city. The name at the top of the list is the winner. startups.hackernoon.com The will announce the winners per region in their respective cities. Startups Winners Announcement Series Now, , here are all the 2023 Startups of the Year winners for : drum roll please Oceania Adelaide, Australia takes the crown with 4 votes! 👑 Mortar Auckland, New Zealand And with 31 votes… takes the title! 👑 Gemini AI Solutions Australian Capital Territory, Australia sweeps the board with 2 votes! 👑 AppSec Fasttrack Belmont, Australia for the win, with 4 votes! 👑 VocaliD Brisbane, Australia takes the crown with 34 votes 👑 Bopple But, we have to give recognition to the runner-up, too! With 5 votes... slides into second place 🥈 Fiskil Canberra, Australia comes out on top with 21 votes! 👑 Knowledge Satnav Christchurch, New Zealand notches a victory with 11 votes! 👑 ioSphere Cremorne, Australia It’s a win for , with 4 votes! 👑 Influx Docklands, New Zealand scores big with 8 votes! 👑 LiteCard Dunedin, New Zealand takes home the glory with 4 votes! 👑 Raum Network Gold Coast, Australia takes the crown with 14 votes! 👑 Tommy Majuro, Marshall Islands seals the deal with 4 votes! 👑 MetaGaming Guild Melbourne, Australia With 3350 votes… clinches the title! 👑 Sharepass New South Wales, Australia The crown goes to , with 14 votes! 👑 Regional CFO New Zealand Misc 12 votes and steals the show! 👑 Odd Jobs Newcastle, Australia scoops the victory with 4 votes! 👑 Cordel Pty North Melbourne, Australia Bagging 21 votes, is the winner! 👑 Peptalk360 Perth, Australia Guess who's the winner? , with 2107 votes! 👑 The Catfisher Project Port Moresby, National Capital District, Papua New Guinea scores the first place with 11 votes! 👑 Alto Trackom Queensland, Australia wins with 21 votes! 👑 Flow Queenstown, New Zealand wins with 4 votes! 👑 Loaded hub South Australia, Australia Air Unique takes the crown with 4 votes! 👑 Surry Hills, Australia With 14 votes, takes the crown! 👑 Zemble Suva, Central Division, Fiji With 11 votes, is Suva’s winner! 👑 eJobsFiji Sydney, Australia takes the cake with 138 votes! 👑 Coviu Thornbury, Australia takes the crown with 11 votes! 👑 Stack Team App Tullamarine, Victoria, Australia is the champ with 2 votes! 👑 HelloTeams Wellington, New Zealand Who won here? With 85 votes... nails it! 👑 Nexustorage Western Australia, Australia takes the crown with 4 votes! 👑 IFN Neurologic Willunga, South Australia, Australia wins with 28 votes! 👑 My Digital CMO Congratulations y’all. We will contact you with details on your winnings! See the global and other regional announcements . here About HackerNoon’s Startups Of The Year Startups of The Year is HackerNoon’s Flagship community-driven event celebrating startups that survived and thrived in 2023. 30,000 startups across 4200+ cities and six continents participated in 2023 to be crowned the best startup in their city. Visit our page to learn more. FAQ Companies that blog more get 67% more leads - Jumpstart your company’s blogging journey by purchasing our . Business Blogging Package The 2023 Startups Of The Year is sponsored by: . . The winners will get a free .Tech Domain, a HackerNoon NFT, and a Tech Company News Page. TECH Domains

Startups of the Year 2023: Oceania Winners

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Startups des Jahres 2023: Ozeanien-Gewinner

Startups del año 2023: ganadoras de Oceanía

Startups de l'année 2023 : les gagnants d'Océanie

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2023 Yılının Startup'ları: Okyanusya Kazananları

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It's no secret that data privacy is top of mind for many businesses and consumers alike. In light of recent data breaches and the (GDPR) going into effect, it's more important than ever for companies to take steps to protect their customers' data. One way to do this is by implementing a consent management solution. This blog post will outline the business requirements for a consent management solution. General Data Protection Regulation What Is a Consent Management Solution? When you operate a website, you need to obtain consent from your visitors for various activities such as . A consent management solution is a software platform that helps organizations to obtain, track, and manage consent from individuals. third-party cookie inventory The solution may be used to obtain consent for various purposes, including marketing communications, data processing, and Cookies. The consent management solution may also help organizations to meet their legal obligations under data protection legislation, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). A consent management solution typically includes a consent form builder, consent workflow management, and reporting. The solution may also integrate with other business applications, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Many consent management solutions available can help you be CPRA compliant, and each has its unique features. Good examples of consent management solutions to help one be CPRA compliant includes , , and . Osano OneTrust Mine PrivacyOps Why You Need a Consent Management Solution for Your Business There are many reasons why you should consider using a consent management solution for your website or app. Here are just some of the benefits: A consent management solution can help you automate the process of collecting and managing consents from your users. This will save you time and resources and allow you to focus on other aspects of your business. You will be able to collect and manage consents more effectively: With a consent management solution in place, you can track which users have given their consent for each type of data processing and easily remove any user who withdrew their consent. This gives you greater control over your user data and helps you to comply with data protection regulations. You will have greater control over your user data: With a consent management solution, you can create custom consent forms tailored to your specific needs. This means you can collect the exact information you need from your users and ensure they understand what they agree to. You will be able to create custom consent forms: A consent management solution allows you to keep track of consents over time, so you can see how your users’ preferences change and adapt your marketing and communications accordingly. This helps you to build long-term relationships with your users based on their changing needs and interests. You will be able to track consents over time: A consent management solution can generate reports on the consents that have been collected, which can be useful for auditing and compliance purposes. This data can also be used to improve your marketing and communications strategies. You will be able to generate reports on consents: Many consent management solutions offer integration with other systems, such as CRM or email marketing platforms. This allows you to automate processes and workflows and makes it easier to manage your user data across different platforms. You will be able to integrate with other systems: By using a consent management solution, you can make sure that only relevant information is displayed to each user, based on their preferences and consent. You will be able to improve your website’s usability: You will be able to comply with data privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA. You will be able to build trust with your visitors by demonstrating that you value their privacy. Differences Between Consent Management and Preference Management Consent management is the process of gathering, storing, and managing consent from individuals. It typically includes obtaining consent from individuals for using their data and keeping track of when that consent was given. Preference management is managing an individual's preferences around how their data is used. This includes allowing individuals to change their preferences at any time and ensuring that those changes are reflected in how their data is used. Both consent management and preference management are important parts of . However, preference management is often seen as more important because it gives individuals more control over how their data is used. As a result, preference management is often given priority over consent management when it comes to data privacy compliance. data privacy compliance What Are the Key Features of a Good Consent Management Solution? When it comes to data privacy, consent management is key. A good consent management solution will help you collect, manage, and store consent from your customers and website visitors. Here are ten key features to look for in a consent management solution: The consent management solution should be easy to get started with for everyone, regardless of their experience. Even novice users should be able to use it easily. Ease-of-use: It should be transparent with no hidden features that could leak the data of the users. Transparent: It should be accessible anytime, anywhere The ability to collect consent electronically: This is important for compliance with GDPR and other data privacy regulations. Reliable: This helps you ensure that you have a record of when someone gave their consent. The ability to track when and how consents were collected: This helps you keep track of who has given their consent and when they did so. The ability to store consents securely: This is important for giving people control over their data. An easy way for people to withdraw their consent: This is important if you have a large number of consents to manage. The ability to manage consents at scale: This helps you automate the process of collecting and managing consent. The ability to integrate with other systems: This makes it easy for you and your team to use the consent management solution. A user-friendly interface: This ensures that you can get help when you need it. Robust customer support: This helps you get the best value for your money. A competitive price: How Much Does a Consent Management Solution Cost? Source A good consent management solution will cost you depending on your needed features. The integration can be done in-house by your development team, or you can outsource it. You'll also need to consider the monthly or annual maintenance costs. These can range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand, depending on the size and complexity of your website or app. In addition, you should factor in the costs of any training that may be required for your staff. Overall, a consent management solution is an investment that will pay for itself many times over in terms of time saved, , and increased sales. reduced customer complaints The Time It Takes to Implement a Consent Management Solution in Business The timeframe for implementing a consent management solution will vary depending on the size and complexity of your business. However, there are a few factors that can help to determine the timeline for your implementation. First, consider how many employees will need to be trained on the new system. The more employees that need to be trained, the longer the implementation process will take. Consider how much customer data will need to be migrated to the new system. This data migration can be time-consuming, so it is important to factor in this time when planning your implementation. Finally, consider the customization level required for your consent management solution. A more complex solution will take longer to implement than a basic one. Considering these factors, you can develop a realistic timeline for implementing your consent management solution. Dangers if You are Not CPRA Compliant Source If you are not compliant with CPRA, you may be subject to civil and/or criminal penalties. The California Professional and Rehabilitation Act (CPRA) establishes requirements for the use of confidential information by state and local agencies. The CPRA also gives individuals the right to access records containing their own confidential information. In order to ensure compliance with the CPRA, state and local agencies must adopt policies and procedures governing the use of confidential information. These policies and procedures must be designed to protect the confidentiality of the information and to ensure that it is used only for authorized purposes. In addition, state and local agencies that knowingly violate the CPRA may be subject to administrative sanctions, including suspension or revocation of their licenses. Conclusion In summary, the consent management solution that businesses should use must be easy to use if businesses want customers to actually give their consent. If it is too difficult or complicated, customers will not bother and will just opt out. The solution must also be transparent. A transparent consent management solution will help build trust between businesses and customers.

Business Requirements for a Consent Management Solution

Photo by on Unsplash. Scott Webb How Did We Get Here? In the large application development days of yesteryear, deploying an application was no trivial task. It started with a purchase order for multiple servers, followed by several days of racking, wiring, and configuring. monolithic If you were lucky, your deployment worked on the first try because all of the parties involved thought of nearly everything that could go wrong. These parameters set the stage for monoliths by requiring the fewest number of simple steps to get an application deployed. Fast forward to today — where you can provide massive amounts of infrastructure at the click of a button in the cloud — and you find yourself living in the golden age of infrastructure automation tools. This dramatic shift in infrastructure availability is one of the main catalysts for the advent of . microservices You Might Need Microservices Architecture If… Not The popularity of microservices is evident. You’d be hard-pressed to find a developer-centric vendor that doesn’t have some mention of microservices in their blog roll or documentation. For example, Kong's offerings of and specialize in supporting businesses moving from a monolith to . Kong Gateway Kong Mesh microservices architecture However, it’s important to know that microservices aren’t a magic bullet for every business application. Here are some good indicators that your current monolith architecture may be sufficient. You’re Not Having Trouble Scaling There are business domains with relatively steady traffic to their application and might not need the dynamic scaling that comes with using a microservices architecture. A key benefit to microservices is the ability to scale on demand. If scaling isn’t a challenge for your business, you may not need microservices. Your Monolithic Architecture is Already Flexible Enough to Meet Market Demands Maybe you’ve had enough foresight to keep your application and functionality as needed. flexible isolate The ability to introduce new features and functionality quickly is another key tenet of microservices. If you’re already able to do this, excellent job! You’re Not Having Issues With Deploying Your Application Speed of deployment is another key benefit of microservices. If your deployment pipeline is already fast enough for your business needs, you may not need microservices. Why Should I Switch to a Microservices Architecture? After evaluating your business context, you may decide that perhaps there is some room for improvement. . You may recall a time when a spike in traffic overloaded your application You also may remember that time when some . backlogged technical debt needed to be rectified and blew up your delivery timeline Then, there may have been that one time when your , it would take over a year to get right. sales team sold a new feature to be integrated and available in months when in reality If any of those situations resonate with you, your application may benefit from transitioning to microservices. Let’s consider some key roles in your organization, along with key benefits for each role. — this person cares about competitive positioning, market characteristics, and . Developing well-defined microservices allows your company to deploy functionality faster, meet market needs, and position itself as an industry leader rather than a follower. Corporate Stakeholder Gartner Magic Quadrant — this person cares about team morale, accurate timelines, and supporting the business needs. Developing well-defined microservices allows your managers to give better timelines and keep the development team morale up by reducing technical debt. Product/Project Manager — this person wants to work on interesting problems, write new features, and receive recognition for their business impact. Developing well-defined microservices reduces the need to troubleshoot issues in one large, complex code base and keeps them happier by reducing the stress associated with monolith development and deployment. Developer What Drives the Transition to Microservices? Each of the above key players can be a driver to implementing microservices, but most often, the development team drives the transition. After all, developers implement the microservices. Discussions between the personas that lead to individual microservice development are often very abstract, so it’s important to read between the lines. : Corporate Stakeholder We need to be able to respond to the market faster! Competitor A already has feature X! : Product/Project Manager We’re doing our best. There are a lot of challenges with microservices deployment and development planning. : Developer If we didn’t have so much technical debt, we’d be able to add new features more quickly. These sentiments—and you've likely heard statements similar to those in your organization—highlight the need to implement microservices without ever using the word microservices! How do I Measure the Success of this Transition? To gauge whether or not you’re successful in your monolith to microservice transition, you measure, measure, measure. must If there’s no return on investment (ROI), there’s no reason to transition. You can only measure ROI successfully if you have the proper metrics in place for it. Let’s consider several important metrics. How Long Does it Take to get one Code Change into Production? This is an important one! With a monolith, even a relatively simple code change necessitates multi-layer testing efforts to prevent regressions. Consider how long those tests take and the person-power involved with running those tests. Then, there's the actual deployment once the tests all pass. Start your stopwatch as soon as the code commits and stop it once the change is live in production. will be the metric to beat with your microservice development. That Are You Hitting Your SLA? We’re using SLA in a relatively liberal sense since the term means different things to different businesses. Put simply, let's d For example, if your business runs an API service for bank fraud alerts, how reliably has your service responded to customer API requests over the past month or year? efine an SLA as the time you need to be actively serving your primary business need. Important Immeasurables While hard numbers are important, there are other metrics that are very important but difficult to measure formally. Take periodic straw polls of the team to check in on morale and gauge the team’s overall energy. Do they feel excited to sling code and deploy? Are they more energized by their work? A happy development team is a product development team! How do I Make the Transition to Microservices? Not every business will take the same approach to the microservices transition. However, at a high level, every organization needs a plan, supporting infrastructure, supporting metrics, and some (gasp!) culture change. With those items as our baseline, let’s get into the details! Make a Plan At its most basic, your plan of attack should include the following steps: Begin with low-impact functions, not business-critical ones. There is a slight learning curve — and with that, an element of risk —that comes with making this transition for the first time. Start by identifying low-impact functionality in your monolith. If you’re running an online bookstore, you probably don’t want to migrate your inventory or purchasing systems first, as these are inherently business-critical functions. Moving your book ratings or user comments to your own microservice would be a lower risk. Having identified the functionality, what components in the monolith code base do you need to extract out to the microservice? Will the user be able to reach the microservice directly, or will the monolith proxy the request? Determine the key components and the traffic flow involved between components. By anticipating and documenting your transition process for a single functionality, you set yourself up for better auditing and repeatability of that process. Put all of these details into a high-level objective, codifying all of the implementation steps. Use an API Gateway Your monolith application had a single “front door” of entry for your users. With microservices, it can seem like you now have to keep track of several “front doors.” Facilitating communication between microservices and with the outside world may seem like a daunting task. An abstracts away the details of calling the microservices backing your business functionality, providing once again that single “front door” through which all requests must enter. The API gateway handles authentication, authorization, and traffic routing to the correct microservice destination. Kong Gateway makes this incredibly simple. With a few commands, you’ll have the complexities of communication traffic abstracted away. API gateway Measure, Measure, Measure While there are many goals for a microservice architecture, the key wins are , , and . After establishing your baseline for the delta between code commit and production deployment completion, measure the same process for a microservice. flexibility delivery speed resiliency Similarly, establish a baseline for “business uptime” and compare it to that of your post-microservice implementation. “Business uptime” is the uptime required by necessary components in your architecture as it relates to your primary business goals. With a monolith, you deploy all of your components together, so a fault in one component could affect your entire monolithic application. As you transition to microservices, the pieces that remain in the monolith should be minimally affected, if at all, by the microservice components that you’re creating. For example, if your business is a bookstore, your critical pieces of business are the products (books) and the payments system. Suppose you’ve abstracted your book ratings into a microservice. In that case, your business can still function—and would be minimally impacted if the book rating service goes down—since what your customers primarily want to do is buy books. Do DevOps The last but immensely important piece of the transition is related to . Culture change is difficult, but it’s necessary for success in this microservices transition. No longer does the development team write an application and toss it over the wall to operations to deploy. culture The new normal includes CI/CD pipelines, automation, metrics, monitoring, and much more. Every team member needs to be cross-functional and collaborate heavily to achieve success! Demonstration by Example For our example, we’ll take a common monolith architecture which consists of frontend and backend code, and show how you can extract part of the functionality into its own microservice. very In this case, we’ll use a Django application backed by an SQLite database that has two “apps”: movies and ratings. We’ll extract the ratings app into its own microservice hosted behind Kong Gateway, which we’ve set up using the . instructions for the official Kong image Setting Up We won’t go into too much detail on each of the commands in this section since the only goal is to get a project template set up for you to follow along. $ mkdir moviedb && cd moviedb/
$ python3 -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate
$ pip install django && pip freeze >> requirements.txt
$ django-admin startproject moviedb .
$ ./manage.py startapp movies
$ ./manage.py startapp ratings
$ ./manage.py migrate At this point, we have a full Django setup with a default SQLite database and all of our migrations in place. We’ll start with two models: # movies/models.py
from django.db import models

class Movie(models.Model):
  title = models.CharField(max_length=300, null=False)
  released = models.DateField()
  description = models.CharField(max_length=1000) # ratings/models.py
from django.db import models
from django.core.validators import MinValueValidator, MaxValueValidator
from movies.models import Movie

class Rating(models.Model):
  movie = models.ForeignKey(Movie, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
  created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
  explanation = models.CharField(max_length=5000)
  rating_value = models.IntegerField(
    null=False,
    validators=[MinValueValidator(1), MaxValueValidator(10)]
  ) To explain briefly, we have two models which get persisted to the database: and . has a field of which relates to the model to establish a relationship between these two models. Movie Rating Rating movie Movie In most cases, you’ll have one movie with many ratings. Operationally, that means the load will increase as the number of rating increases, which will slow down your page loads. Instead of letting the ratings for a movie slow down the website, we’ll move ratings to their own microservice behind Kong Gateway. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll move the code into its own Django project (called ) separate from the code. ratings ratings_service moviedb $ mkdir ratings_service && cd ratings_service/
$ python3 -m venv venv && source venv/bin/activate
$ pip install django && pip freeze >> requirements.txt
$ django-admin startproject ratings_service .
$ ./manage.py startapp ratings
$ ./manage.py migrate
$ cp ../moviedb/ratings/models.py ./ratings/ The critical piece we need to copy over is the file. From there, the entire app can be removed from the project. ratings/models.py ratings moviedb However, we do need to make one adjustment to the model now that we no longer have the hard dependency on . All we need to change is the foreign key reference to a text field in ratings. Ratings Movie class Rating(models.Model):
  movie = models.CharField(max_length=5000)
  created_at = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
  explanation = models.CharField(max_length=5000)
  rating_value = models.IntegerField(
    null=False,
    validators=[MinValueValidator(1), MaxValueValidator(10)]
  ) After making that adjustment to the model, we create and run the migration for the model changes. $ ./manage.py makemigrations
$ ./manage.py migrate It’s important to explain why we’re making this change. will help you derive the most benefit from a microservices approach. In this case, our new microservice specializes in rating management, but it's generalized such that it can take any movie title and save a rating for it. Specializing in function but generalizing in operation To make the ratings more unique—if there are multiple movies with the same name—we could alternatively use an number. Taking it a step further, we could even change the field to something more generic and save ratings for data objects besides just movies! EIDR movie There’s one last code change we need to make. With the ratings code out of the project, we need to make an HTTP request since we can’t do a database-level join on and . In our view for the movie list, we need to update the view class from this: moviedb Movies Ratings class MovieListView(ListView):
  model = Movie

  def get_queryset(self):
    return Movie.objects.all().select_related() to this: class MovieListView(ListView):
  model = Movie

  def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
    data = super().get_context_data(**kwargs)

    # localhost:8000 is our locally running Kong Gateway
    data['ratings'] = requests.get(
      'http://localhost:8000',
      headers={'Host': 'ratings-service.local'}
    ) Note that this is technically still a blocking call since the page will wait for results. However, this approach removes the hard dependency and allows you to write logic around this specific request. Lastly, we’ll create a small in our to run alongside Kong in the container runtime. Dockerfile ratings_service # Dockerfile
FROM python:3
WORKDIR /home/chad/ratings_service
COPY requirements.txt ./
RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
COPY . .
CMD [ "python", "manage.py", "runserver", "0.0.0.0:9000" ] We’ll also need to set in the settings for the to ensure the traffic is allowed through. ALLOWED_HOSTS = ["*"] ratings_service # ratings_service/ratings_service/settings.py
ALLOWED_HOSTS = ["*"] $ docker build -t ratings_service .
$ docker run -d -p 9000:9000 ratings_service Now that we have our and separated, we need to tell Kong how to serve the traffic. We’ll add a service and route, so Kong knows how to proxy our requests: moviedb ratings_service $ curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/services/ -d 'name=ratings-service' -d 'url=http://host.docker.internal:9000'
HTTP/1.1 201 Created

$ curl -i -X POST http://localhost:8001/services/ratings-service/routes -d 'hosts=ratings-service.local' -d 'paths=/'
HTTP/1.1 201 Created Now, we can access our ratings service! $ curl -i -X GET --url http://localhost:8000/ --header "Host: ratings-service.local"
[{
	"movie": "Gone with the Wind",
	"created_at": "2021-08-08 16:01:46",
	"explanation": "Classic movie!",
	"rating_value": 9
}, {
	"movie": "The Little Shop of Horrors",
	"created_at": "2021-08-08 16:01:46",
	"explanation": "I'm a mean green mother from outer space and I'm bad!",
	"rating_value": 7
}] We’ve intentionally skipped over the data loading steps, as they aren’t terribly important for the sake of this example. You undoubtedly already have a wealth of data to test with; the main point here is how to pick a piece of a monolith’s functionality, extract it, and put it into its own code base, then serve it as a microservice application behind Kong Gateway. What Next? We’ve covered a lot of ground in this complex topic of transitioning from the monolith to microservices! First, we considered some of the cases where microservices may be appropriate for your business context. not Then, we looked at the stakeholders involved in an organization’s transition to microservices, followed by the metrics an organization needs to capture to determine whether their transition was successful. Lastly, we covered some of the key practices to adopt to make this transition, walking through a concrete example of how to get started. There is much more to cover in practice than what we could get to in this example. However, we were able to highlight the importance of incorporating a mature and resilient API gateway like the one offered by Kong. Once you’ve implemented Kong Gateway, you can also leverage the plugin ecosystem to gain more of the benefits of microservices like and enabling DevOps through . metrics or monitoring deployment automation Also published . here

Microservices and the Golden age of Infrastructure Automation Tools

Raji Arasu is the visionary mind and engineering leader that occupies the position of SVP of Engineering at Intuit, making her one of the few female leaders at a major technology company. She is aware of this thing and supports women leaders in technology both within the company and across the industry. Her actions speak for themselves. Raji is an executive sponsor for eBay Women in Technology and, in 2011, she was recognized by the Business Journal of Silicon Valley/San Jose as a “Woman of Influence.” We should mention that she is also part of various organizations focused on the advancement of women in technology, organizations worth mentioning Women in Technology International (WITI) and FountainBlue. Building a successful engineering team is no easy feat, but scaling it for performance is a totally different ordeal. It is a challenging task, but throughout time people have proved to be able to thrive and evolve in adversity. One of these people is Raji Arasu, the person who leads the high impact transformations at Intuit as SVP of Engineering. This is why, in this article, we will elaborate on all the advice that Raji has to offer on efficiently scaling an engineering team. Many times the process of scaling the team proves to be what makes or unmakes a startup. This is supported by a research paper made by UC Berkley, and Stanford called the , where out of all the surveyed startups, 70 percent tried to scale too early. It also concluded that startups’ failure is premature scaling, as shown in 90 percent of the failed startups. Startup Genome Report What makes scaling such a prevalent problem in the technology industry? For one, the technology industry is highly competitive; thus, the pressure to improve performance is greater, and hiring more people seems like the way to go. What people seem to forget is that hiring is not that simple. You can’t expect to hire people today and start full-scale production the next day. It may take up to nine months to start getting ROI for some positions, as human resources specialists can tell you. Hire the right people Hiring is an investment; this means that there is also the possibility of losing money. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has estimated that the is $4,129, to this we must also add the working hours that will be spent by the current employees training the new hires. average cost of hiring This means that every team member needs to fit perfectly and collaborate seamlessly, which is very unlikely if you don’t give the needed attention to the hiring process. You can’t afford to cut corners regarding the time and money you required for finding the best fit for your team. Giving up into the pressure of making a quick hire will only cause you to lose more money. Software developers are a costly resource. Filling a job position for a developer takes 42 days on average – time when the company can experience a of $33,251. productivity loss For instance, you need talent with a specific skill set for the role of a senior software developer. According to , the average annual salary for a senior software developer is $94,083. PayScale Out of the 11 services, the USA lead with an average annual salary of $106,816 compared to the last place on this list, occupied by the United Kingdom with a $40,356 average annual salary. top-paying countries for software development Trust your team “Empowerment, trust, and psychological safety are paramount for any team, regardless of their discipline,” says Raji Arasu. As a leader, you have to define your teams’ clear objectives and then empower them to define their own path to achieve the outcomes in their terms. If there is trust, you will be able to build an environment where failure becomes a stepping stone on the road of efficiency. “Many people think that trust is a binary thing when actually trust is more complex than that. You trust different people differently in certain situations and for certain tasks,” explains Andreas Klinger, former CTO of Product Hunt. This means that if you hire a new employee, you don’t need to fully trust them, trust them with their task. Micromanaging doesn’t feel good for the employee and it will also take a lot of your time. The solution for the trust conundrum is to “systemize trust, meaning you have to create and establish processes for how you manage trust, how you verify it, and how you give it and receive it,” as Andreas put it. can provide the visibility required to manage engineering teams at scale. It offers functionalities that help engineering managers intervene only when needed, allowing the developers to actually do what they enjoy – write code. Git Analytics tools Start evaluating There is no way to tell if your team has made any progress if you never start evaluating and assessing your teams’ performance. “While leveraging many of the agile metrics to measure team speed and velocity […] We strive to create a data-driven culture by reviewing these metrics together every week, celebrating progress and learning from the failures without judgment,” confirms industry leader Raji Arasu. As Raji said, you can’t know if you’re succeeding or getting better at least, without measuring your team’s activity. Git Analytics tools, such as Waydev or Pluralsight Flow, can help you measure and evaluate your teams’ performance using reports and metrics aggregated in real-time directly from code, pull requests, and tickets. Set expectations constantly Without setting clear expectations, you might leave your employees lacking a clear direction. People require a challenge to evolve. In this way, they might achieve things they would’ve never thought possible. One of the functionalities that Git Analytics tools offer is the ability to set targets for each level of granularity – from an individual level up to an organization level. As a CTO, you need to know the strengths and the weaknesses of your team, also, as someone who has managed similar projects, you can estimate what can be done in a certain period of time. A survey conducted by has revealed a concerning fact: 50% of workers don’t know what is expected of them or their role. One of your main attributions as a CTO is to make sure that expectations are discussed and set for each employee. Doing so will ensure to keep your engineers focused and reduce frustration among team members. Gallup But you can’t only set expectations and think that everything will work out. You have to keep your engineers accountable and give them constant feedback regarding their performance. Be aware of your situation It is tempting to adopt the principles and practices used by other successful companies. Still, we have to remain aware of our own company background. There are a few questions that leaders should ask themselves, such as “Is it the same size? Does it have the same experience on the market? Do they have the same level of expertise?” You need to be aware there is no recipe for success. What works for some organizations might not work for yours. This is why you have to look inwards to find why you need to scale your team and the scaling nature. Is it a case of expanding into a new, unfamiliar direction that requires expertise that your company doesn’t have? Or you just need more people for a department in order to increase its capacity? No matter the needs of an organization, a good leader will always have in mind the organization’s particularities when implementing new practices. Set principles and practices for your team Success comes from aligning your organization’s values with the values your employees hold. This is the glue that helps you keep or find employees for your expanding teams. To put it simply, your organization’s vision should be what you want to accomplish, and the values should be the how or the way you are going to do it. An organization’s culture is born when the vision is clearly articulated, and you and your employees live and work by the values you set. In this way, we could define an organization’s culture as the way people within an organization interact and behave when working together. Here comes into play another aspect: behavior scales, whether it’s good or bad. For this reason, you should address bad behavior early-on and make decisions based on the values of your organization. What seems like a minor problem in a company with 10 employees will become a disaster when there are 100 employees. Waydev’s helps you identify and fix common negative work patterns in your team. Engineering Managers’ Handbook Accept that nothing is set in stone Accept that scaling a team comes with changing things around. Maybe some processes made sense with a small team, but they don’t quite work when adding new members. In this kind of situation, a manager should admit that changes need to be made. In the early days, your team had decided on methods for doing things. These methods have become „known facts.” You have to consider that, when hiring new people, all the embedded knowledge that seems common sense to your team will be actually hidden for newcomers. All this hidden information will put newcomers into difficulty and create a hostile environment, where they feel as if they have to walk on the tip of their toes as not to make mistakes. Pay attention to your hiring process Basing job descriptions on successful team members is not a good long term recruiting strategy. What you should do instead is looking for hires with skills that are complementary to your team members. Take into account how the new employee contrasts with the other members of the team, whether they can cover their teammates’ weaknesses or, on the contrary, they accentuate them. Create a solid onboarding process Your new joiners should know their next milestones, and their onboarding process should be documented and shared. A solid onboarding process will help the newbies build bonds much faster and make them feel like they have what it take to become a valuable member of the team. A well-documented onboarding process means your organization will have a replicable system that will give the new hires all the information needed to create a great experience in your company. Choose the right structure for your organization Every organization in the industry has a different approach to this issue. As a leader, you have to choose what works best at the moment. When there are 20 employees in your company, it might make sense that everyone reports directly to the CEO, but as you grow, it will become impossible. This is a encountered by Michael Fey, VP of Engineering at 1Password: „We used to be a very horizontally structured organization, with everyone reporting directly to the CEO. As we grew from 40 to 100, it became clear that it wasn’t sustainable. Now that we’re approaching 200 employees, it’s downright impossible. We’ve been slowly introducing more hierarchy to spread the load. For example, we recently added VPs of Engineering to oversee things like server work, client-app work, and shared code work.” situation where the structure of the organization evolved over time is Atlassian. If in the early days they used to rely on a few very knowledgeable people to manage the teams, „as we grew, this was no longer scalable, and we had several setbacks when heroes weren’t on [the necessary] teams or hit their limits in terms of complete mastery over sprawling systems.” explains Sri Viswanath, CTO at Atlassian. Another example The solution they found instead of relying on those few hero individuals, was to find a pattern for how they designed and built software and then organize into smaller teams with more autonomy. More than 1,000 engineering leaders have chosen Git Analytics to help them create a framework for repeatable success.

Scaling An Engineering Team Effectively: SVP Raji Arasu's Advice

The use of mobile apps is increasing, and the demand for app development is contributing to its growth. For example, of e-commerce sales will take place on a mobile device. And, this high demand is not only related to e-commerce. Statista estimated that by the end of 2021, 73% Mobile app demand is also growing because of a very competitive marketplace. Consequently, mobile app development is in its major growth stage, and there needs to be a better way to build apps faster and more efficiently. In mobile app development, the main challenge for developers is whether the app should be built for native or cross-platform frameworks. The best way to solve this dilemma is to actually test both of them using the Kotlin Multiplatform approach. Teams can easily synchronize and deliver apps for different platforms simultaneously with this method. What is Kotlin Multiplatform? Kotlin is a multiplatform language for building mobile apps so developers can write code that can be used on multiple devices including Android, iOS, and the web. Kotlin Multiplatform is a new approach for development teams to build a single user flow for several operating systems or devices. Applying Kotlin Multiplatform can reduce time and costs by 30% or more. The app market is increasing, and users are becoming more demanding regarding the quality of apps. Startups are always struggling to launch their product on time and on budget, and building an application for Android, iOS and the web can triple expenses and time. Kotlin Multiplatform offers the opportunity to create a universal code that works on all of these platforms. Let’s discuss how the works, and what the challenges of using it are. Kotlin Multiplatform approach What are the key problems in synchronization? Even though Kotlin Multiplatform reduces the time it takes to develop an app, it’s still challenging to develop an app using multi-team app development. Building multiplatform apps means you need a team where developers have different experiences, and different platforms shouldn’t interact in the process of building the final product. Here are some of the main challenges: Different experience needed The main problem of using Kotlin Multiplatform is that you need to use different approaches to solve one problem. It is necessary to gather a team with diverse expertise. Different devices offer users different experiences, and several teams of developers can come up with different ways of solving the product requirements. Communication within the teams Another challenge is to gather a team where developers have different skills and expertise. While creating multiplatform approaches with the help of different teams, communication is a big challenge. For example, two different teams can create an application for different operating systems, and the customer may change the development requirements for one team, and leave them as-is for the other. This can lead to conflicting results. Each platform has specific challenges When you are building multiplatform apps, each of the operating systems has specific requirements especially, for the user interface, as it is necessary to match the design of the devices for a specific operating system. When developing each platform you need to use specific languages, frameworks, and libraries for each platform. The challenge is to build the same app, with a similar design while taking into account different frameworks, etc. Advantages and disadvantages of cross-platform solutions As far as possible cross-platform application development, there are only a few solutions like React Native, Flutter, and Kotlin. In recent years, Kotlin has become very popular because Google announced support for the language on Android as well as Spring Boot 2 that is offered by Kotlin support. Kotlin is running in JavaScript, native, and iOS applications. So, Kotlin helps to share the code between them. Development is carried out in the Kotlin language in IntelliJ IDEA or Android Studio, which is a big advantage when compiling the resulting code in native languages for each platform (i.e.OBJ-C, JS and JVM). The build system is Gradle. It supports groovy syntax and Kotlin script (kts). Kotlin MPP has the concept of the target platforms. In these blocks, the operating systems we need are configured in the native code and compiled in Kotlin. Source sets, as the name suggests, provides the source code for the platforms that are stored here. Advantages of using such an approach include: Saving time and money. When you use Kotlin Multiplatform for mobile and web development, you are going to save around 30% of the time needed for development. This means you will cut expenses by 30%. Compared to Java, Kotlin can cut 40% of the code, so you save money as long as you don’t need to pay for more developers. Native-like solution. The code in Kotlin is similar to Swift as well as being 100% interactive with Java. Fewer bugs. Thanks to Kotlin, you will get the most accurate code, and while some bugs emerge, it’s very easy to find and fix them before runtime. Team productivity. Your team will be working on the same task so this can help keep tasks efficient. Disadvantages are: Kotlin is very useful if you want to reduce cost and time. But it’s costlier and more time-consuming when it comes to learning Kotlin. The transition to Kotlin can be challenging for your team as they need to spend time learning it. Some limitations of using it. One of these limitations is multithreading. It is based on Coroutines technology which isn’t supported in Swift. Lack of experts in the market. Kotlin requires very high expertise in different areas, and it’s much easier to find a Java or Swift developer than those who work with Kotlin. The main problem is that you can’t easily replace Kotlin developers since the technology isn’t as widely used as native programming languages. How Kotlin Multiplatform can come in handy According to TechCrunch, just two years ago at the I / O 2017 conference, support for Kotlin in its IDE, Android Studio. This came as a surprise, given that Java remained the language of choice for developing Android applications for a long time. Google announced Over the past two years, the popularity of Kotlin has increased. More than 50% of professional Android developers use the language to develop their apps, according to Google. It looks like Google is increasing its support for Kotlin. “The next big step that we’re making is that we’re going Kotlin-first,” , an engineer on the Android UI Toolkit development team at Google. “We understand that not everybody is on Kotlin right now, but we believe that you should get there,” Haase said. “There may be valid reasons for you to still be using the C++ and Java programming languages and that’s totally fine. These are not going away.” said Chet Haase While sharing the same code between platforms, you can create a common module that depends on the Kotlin library. In case we need to access platform-specific APIs, like DOM in JavaScript or File APIs in Java, the best solution is platform-specific declarations. It means that in our shared module, we use a keyword to declare the implementation of a different method separately on each platform. Wrapping Up Kotlin Multiplatform development is a great choice for saving time and budget. This is a good approach where you can use common code for the different operating systems of the apps that will be used on different devices. The main benefits of using Kotlin Multiplatform are the ease of sharing one code for multiple platforms, reduced costs and time by around 30%, and there is no need to hire extra staff to implement Kotlin, which significantly reduces time as there is no need to build Android, iOS and web apps with different codes. The main pitfall is that it’s hard to find highly-qualified professionals who can deliver high-quality Kotlin Multiplatform apps, but as the technology develops so will the specialists.

How to Sync Mobile Development Teams with Kotlin Multiplatform

If you are planning to but the big money involved in the process of application development is stopping you, need to relax and read the article. Yes, it is going to help you because; application development project can be pursued with a small budget. develop an app In this article, you will learn how to cut the budget in the development of your application and enjoy the product within minimum expenses. So here are the 5 ways. Scroll down and read on: The first thing you have to do is set your goals. When you have already defined your goals, it becomes easy to stick to the budget. The following points can help you in defining or setting goals for your upcoming development of an application. You must ask yourself and the team the following questions: Who is your target audience, who will be interested in buying your product? What is the need for your product and will it attract the customers? Who are the competitors in the field with similar applications? What are the exact functions that will be performed by the app? What are the expected results you wish to achieve after you launch the application? How you and your team are going to make it unique from the existing apps or what are the unique selling propositions of your product? The essential five Ws and one H will help you define your goals regarding the app development process. Now when you are done with the above-mentioned questions and you need to do the following things: First of all, do the first round of market research and make a survey for the target audience. Create a list of features you want to have in your application and prioritize them. Define a strategy on how you are going to monetize your application. Select the appropriate App Development Pricing Model. For that, you need to decide if you are going to pay hourly or there will be a fixed budget. Since you are on a tight budget, having a fixed rate of the app development project sounds good. Be open about the budget and talk clearly about the financial restrictions. There are many app development companies that can provide affordable options according to your budget. They offer the development of applications at competitive rates for the start-ups without lowering down the quality. For that, you will have to streamline the requirements regarding the specifications so that you get the insight into the essential things that you have planned to include in your application. After you are done with the initial planning, you need to make a detailed plan with the accurate specifications. Now when you are done with the basic detailing, you need to outline the budget and set the priorities. A reputed application development company will always guide you on how to cut the budget without compromising with the quality of the project. Also, you must be frank with the budget right from the start. After you are done with the details mentioned in point number two, you should take a clear look at the factors that shape the cost of the application development for your project in particular. Understand the factors that influence the . The major factors that influence the price of app development are as follows: price of application development Platform for which you are making the app, these can be Smartphone, Desktop, Wearable gadgets or Apple TV The type of Smartphone platform and the rage to which the application is going to support the range. The type of product it is going to be, for this, you can compare the MVP and the full-featured product. The main features of the application product and the technologies involved in making it. The expertise, experience, location, and reputation of the app development company you are going to hire for the process of application development. After you go through the above-mentioned points, you are good to go, in order to cut the cost. Now you must follow a single platform and a limited device range. You can cut the expenses by not following the multiple platforms and focusing on the limited range of devices. Start With an MVP. A minimal viable product (MVP) means that you don’t rush into building a complete app from start and instead, choose to launch a product with truncated functionality before investing more money into development. You must start with the MVP as it gives you a chance to get the enhanced feedback by the users, confirm the early assumptions with real users, examine the market demand of the app, and pitch your product to investors. By doing this you cut the risk of putting a hefty amount that might not get you the expected return on investment. Going through this process is going to save your time and money. Last but not the least; never rush into developing a Hybrid Application. Most of the people looking for budget-friendly application development settle for hybrid apps. No doubts it is a cheaper option but as far as business is a concern, it is not going to take it to a long way. Some people believe that a hybrid mobile app is a substitute to an MVP; however, it is not going to allow your app to have advanced features like streaming of videos. Also, the final product that you will get will also lack stability. You will be paying a less amount initially if you opt for the hybrid app, however, continues improvements in the app is going to cost you a lot. Also, if you need to upgrade your application, it is going to be an expensive deal. So decide well before you settle for the application development. Final Words Apart from the above-mentioned points in the process of making low budget app development, you must consider the expenses involved in the maintenance of the application. Also, you must avoid working with freelance app developers or a team of a novice. They might quote you a very low budget, however, you end up collaborating with unprofessional people and working with them will waste a lot of unnecessary cost and time involved in the making of the app. As you see the long term association, this is going to be a long term venture which will turn out to be an expensive deal. The best decision is to find a reputed midsized with ample experience of the app development. Make sure to research well when you search for such companies. After shortlisting your search make sure to check their professional backgrounds and area of expertise. mobile app development company You must also check the online reviews and testimonials written about them by their past clients. It will give you an idea of how they work and deal with their clients. Also, it will show you their level of professionalism. Make sure to ask about their portfolio and if they have worked on the application development projects like yours in past. Most importantly, make sure to discuss the budget in advance. Let them know about the purpose of your application and the budget you have set for its development. James Grills is a technical writer with a passion for writing on emerging technologies in the areas of mobile application development and IoT app development. He is a marketing advisor — currently associated with a mobile app development company in India. Author Bio: Cumulations Technologies

5 ways a low budget app development project can be pursued

In 2018 you would be hard pushed to find someone who isn’t aware of esports as an entertainment. With its rapid growth, fans are flocking to wherever they can to find new and interesting content surrounding the games, teams, and players. A plethora of communities have formed across a wide variety of platforms, all with the common goal of following the stories that are so unique to esports. These communities are primed to evolve, they just need that little push to level up the tools they use to connect, learn and share in these experiences. The team at PatronGG have been working hard over the past months to provide that push with our upcoming esports community app, . Kokyo But first, let me give you more context on how we came to this conclusion. It’s August 2017, and our first app “Fnatic Nation” had just entered its beta phase and thousands of die-hard fans wanted in. The app was part of a partnership with Fnatic, the world-leading professional esports organisation with the goal of improving fan engagement and monetization through a branded team app. As with most betas, we were able to learn and make changes based on community feedback throughout the 6 months we were in testing. During this time, the app went through a redesign, tweaks, performance updates and bug fixes before we were finally ready to push it live. We launched Fnatic Nation during the 2017 EU LCS Spring Split for both iOS and Android, and the app has been performing well ever since. However, while we were working on Fnatic Nation and talking with fans, we identified opportunities that we couldn’t seize with an app that only supported a single team and this played havoc with our problem-solving minds, so that’s when we decided to embark on the journey we’re on today. But first, we had to clearly outline the problems and figure out how we could take what we learned while building the Fnatic app and apply it to a new product: Kokyo. **Problem #1 — Overwhelming Content Experience**To follow an esports team today, you must follow the organization on every social platform they are on: , , YouTube, Instagram, Twitch. Then you’ll probably need to do the same for all the players on the roster for the game you are interested in. At this point, you are at about 30 accounts, but what if, like most esports fans, you follow more than one game or multiple organizations? The problem grows exponentially. Facebook Twitter What you are left with is an overwhelming and chaotic stream of content across many platforms. You could solve this in numerous ways, like focusing on the more popular social channels and only showing those posts but then the fan might miss out on storylines that occur on other platforms, or maybe one team is super active on Twitter but another is on Instagram, how do you choose? So why don’t we aggregate all the popular channels, remove duplicates and make it easy for fans to follow the stories of their favourite teams, players, and personalities, no matter the platform without fear of missing out? The esports community as a whole is spread far and wide, from Reddit to Twitter, to Discord and even VR hangouts. As much as I enjoy using the majority of these platforms, they all serve different purposes and house different cultures which can be daunting to new community members. Problem #2 — The community is splintered very Can you name one platform where every team or brand are consistently involved with their communities? Twitter perhaps, but the sense of community is often fragmented due to how the platform works. Communities are either neglected or have little engagement from the brands due to new platforms emerging or simply the brands being spread too thin across multiple social channels which inevitably leads to very little activity and thus, a dwindling sense of community. There are of course exceptions where communities continue to strive on their own without guidance, but these are few and far between. But what if we could provide a way to bring all the fans together in one place, from different teams and different games, to engage and share their excitement around a common interest with one another? A place where heroes stand out as valued members of the community and help provide a welcoming and friendly environment. **Problem #3 — No reliable source of truth**We all have our own way of tracking match schedules, the results, and in-depth stats. Some esports have it easier than others what with sites like GosuGamers or HLTV, but others have to rely on team websites that are not always kept updated. Regardless of the ‘band-aids’ used, there is clearly room for an improved solution that enhances the fan experience and provides consistency. Esports should be fun, and keeping up-to-date with the latest information shouldn’t be a chore for fans, so what if we provide a single source of truth for the teams they care about? **Looking Forward**When Kokyo launches early next year, it will solve all these problems whilst empowering esports fans to evolve the way they connect and engage by giving them the tools to do so. From aggregated social media and news feeds to gamified social interaction, Kokyo will become the new home for esports fans looking to get more from their community. I’m not saying we’ll get it right straight away, but we hope you’ll help us along the way. If you want to stay up-to-date with everything Kokyo, or apply for early access, feel free to follow us on our socials: FacebookPinterestMySpaceGoogle+RedditYouTubeSnapchatTumblrInstagramIRCWeChatWhatsAppVK Twitter Discord Kokyo.gg But we know that’s quite a lot to follow, so we recommend . 😜 kokyo.gg

Introducing Kokyo — Empowering esports communities to evolve

The shortest possible tutorial. Context You have built a webapp for your startup using .Specifically, you’re taking advantage of their service to sign up and log in your users.You’re obviously using Slack, because nobody takes emojis more seriously than these guys. ⚡ Firebase for the backend Authentication User Story As a member of my beloved Startup, .It will boost my motivation and as a result I will treat my dog 🐶 better. I want to be notified when a new user signs up 1. Be Notified How to receive something in Slack? → ! Incoming WebHooks Go to Slack and click on Apps & integrations Select Build Create your by choosing a name and your team App Friennnnnnd Select and activate the functionality Incoming Webhooks Create a and select the you want to post to Webhook channel Copy the given sample curl request Paste it in your terminal Press enter BOOM Voilà ! A POST request to an url and we have a notification in our Slack. 💫💫💫 #SORTED 2. Listen to new signups Hello ! Cloud Functions Go to your and select the section Firebase console Functions Install firebase-tools if you have to Go to an empty folder in your and type: terminal firebase init Select the feature and your you want to deploy to Functions Firebase project space bar to toggle Open the folder in an editor Atom for me Add the function that listens to onCreate events (from the ) and posts a json payload to your Firebase documentation Slack hook url: That’s the step connecting the Cloud Functions to your Slack incoming Webhooks! 11 lines of code chéri You notice the use of the request library, so add it to your package.json by typing: npm i request --save One last thing to do is to deploy the to Firebase. Type the following: function firebase deploy --only functions You can go back to your section and check that it has been uploaded. Firebase Functions 3. Demo! 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁 Try and create a new user on Firebase, you should then see on your Slack something like: <a href="https://medium.com/media/f8c1f75e778d04fd926d11dc2430c48d/href">https://medium.com/media/f8c1f75e778d04fd926d11dc2430c48d/href</a> Summary You created an app on Slack and activated the I_ncoming Webhook_ feature to get an url you can post your messages to. You created a on Firebase that listens to new signup and posts to your a json payload including the email of the new user. Cloud Function Webhook url Your user story is satisfied and it’s worth mentioning that ! you didn’t have to touch your code base at all Short & Sweet 😎 PS: You probably heard scary things about Firebase billing recently but it should be all good from now on .

Firebase Cloud Functions + Slack WebHooks = 

Been at the same job for 7 years. Here’s why I don’t plan on leaving any time soon. My journey at TeamApt started at the age of 19. Over the past 7 years, I’ve encountered ups and downs. Much of my adult life has been spent at TeamApt. Here’s how it all started and how it’s going. We’ll Start Next Week My life as a programmer started when I was 14. I started with simple programs mainly in Visual Basic and Python. I quickly fell in love with the process of coding. A process that involves applying logic and creativity while solving practical problems. Programming at its core is logic-based creativity. It went well with my personality and interests. As a student, I already excelled in math, physics, and engineering-related subjects. Around my final year at UNILAG, when I was about 19, I had already developed a fair amount of proficiency as a coder. I got a call from my friend, . Tomi said someone was interested in talking to me. The someone in question was . Tomi Alagbe Tosin Eniolorunda Omo that was how I went from the UNILAG campus in Yaba to Tosin’s apartment in 1004 V.I. We basically just gisted, to be honest. It was not a strict interview. Tosin asked a few questions, we had a conversation, and then he looked at me and asked, “When are you ready to start?” I told Tosin I was ready to start immediately. And that was how I got my first professional job, working with TeamApt. Before then I had basically freelanced. Picture this, you’re a 19-year-old who just resumed your first professional job ever. And on your very first day, your boss says you are joining a meeting with top bank executives! We get to Fidelity Bank and we meet and his team. Bruh, the entire thing was completely out of my league. Till today, I have no idea what was said in that meeting. All I heard were the last words before the conversation ended, and it was Tosin telling Deji, “No problem, we’ll start next week.” Deji Olowe Ah. Oga, start what, please? What are we starting next week? These were the questions running through my mind. But I just locked up and went with the flow. Thankfully though, Tosin and Tomi explained what was going on. Olympos was a merchant-acquiring solution, aka the thing we were starting next week. The solution was to help Fidelity Bank manage its entire POS merchant process. All caught up now, I dived head first into Olympos. And let me tell you, I saw fire. The project really stretched me. I was a teenager who up until then had only tinkered with small projects here and there. So I suffered! The only thing that saved me was my ability to learn really quickly and keep at things until I succeed. This is the first lesson TeamApt taught me. How to have grit. Lesson One: Grit. Meaning - To have courage and resolve; strength of character. After weeks of very hard work, we shipped Olympos. Fidelity Bank loved it. And other banks wanted us to build for them as well. Next, we built a version of Olympos for First Bank which was bigger, and more complex. When this was shipped successfully, everyone was happy. Everyone except me. Taking First Bank’s version of Olympos live was grueling. I had to rewrite a lot of modules. The whole process was unrelenting and intense. So while everyone was celebrating the achievement, I was auditing my life. Wondering if I would remain at TeamApt. While I loved the impact of the work we did, I did not like the toll it was taking on me as a person. I went to Tosin with my concerns. I ultimately decided to stay at TeamApt, but take a break from writing code. Multiple Careers, Same Company For a while, I worked in Quality Assurance, reviewing and testing code. Then I got interested in Product Management. It was here that I really hit my stride again. My first product as a manager was Monnify’s Virtual Accounts. We were the very first fintech to ship this product. The product allowed customers to pay businesses with bank transfers. Building Virtual Accounts with Providus bank gave me my second TeamApt lesson. The importance of teamwork. Lesson Two: Teamwork. Meaning - Having the patience to collaborate and efficiently communicate with members of your team. So yeah, we successfully built the product and it went live. Virtual accounts were a massive hit! Everyone in the industry wanted it. From Piggyvest to Risevest, to anything vest, lol. Everybody. This singular product is responsible for the growth of a number of fintech offerings in Nigeria. And just like that, I had gone from a programmer on Olympos, to a Product Manager with a successful, game-changing product. The bulk of TeamApt’s staff have deep but also cross-discipline expertise. This allows team members to operate with the sort of nuanced thinking needed to solve hard problems in the real world. It is why we execute so well. Before I get into telling you about the product I currently manage, I’d like to speak a bit about a question I get asked all the time. “You’ve worked at the same place for 7 years?! How?” Why Are You Still at TeamApt? Because I like it here. If I didn’t genuinely enjoy the work I do and the people I get to work with, I would have left a long time ago. Like most of my colleagues, I’ve gotten some very interesting offers. I’ve rejected offers from Binance, Microsoft, and many others in favor of TeamApt. I am very well taken care of here. The company gives a shit about me, not just as an employee but also as me, Dumebi, a human being. I’ve grown exponentially during my time here and continue to be given opportunities for even more growth. So that’s why I have stayed and will most likely keep put. I like TeamApt. Across my different roles here, I’ve had to take ownership and lead teams. This is a huge departure from who I was when I first started working here and is perhaps the most important lesson TeamApt has taught me. Lesson Three: Leader. Meaning - A person who influences a group, through decision-making, information processing, and interpersonal management, towards the achievement of a goal. In my current role as Product Manager for Business Loans, outside of the more technical aspect, I continuously apply the leadership lessons garnered over the years, to lead honestly and authentically while also holding myself and my team accountable. TeamApt and I have grown together. As the company’s offerings have expanded, so have my skills. As we near a billion-dollar valuation, it’s nice to say my wallet isn’t doing too badly as well. The work continues to challenge me which keeps things fun. But most importantly, I have made lifelong friends like , , , and whom I’d like to give a shoutout and say congrats on your wedding, my brother. Adrian Felix Tosin Solomon All of these people have taught me how to have fun while working. Lesson Four: Chop Life. Meaning - This life na once. Work hard but also be sure to enjoy yourself. So, that’s it, folks. That’s my story of growing up at TeamApt. To lightly tweak the words of Styl Plus, 7 years don waka, we still dey carry go. Nobody waka, nobody go soloooooo. If you want to do hard things, win big, and grow; consider joining us. Check out open roles . And hopefully, I’ll see you at our next retreat. here

Why I've Been at the Same Job For 7 Years Since I was 19

What is Mobile Money? For the uninitiated, Agency Banking/Mobile Money has blown up across Africa and Asia in the last decade. Pioneered by telecom service providers like Vodafone and Safaricom with in Kenya in 2007, the global Mobile money market now processes over in transactions yearly. mPesa $490bn Mobile Money or Agency Banking is the generic term used to refer to the technology that facilitates the movement of money between individuals and businesses who may not have a Bank account domiciled at a traditional bank. This may be in terms of CICO (Cash-in-cash-out) transactions — where a customer might exchange cash (cash-in) for electronic value or vice versa. Mobile Money transactions can be completed in many ways. One way is with the use of a mobile device to move money to individuals or businesses who have a mobile phone number and are on the same telecom network — this is the most common form of Mobile Money transactions in East and West Africa. Mobile Money transactions can also take place via Mobile Money Agents — individuals who are licensed by a Mobile Money Service Provider to collect cash deposits and provide cash-out services on the company’s behalf. In most cases, these individuals acquire the licenses, devices and set up stalls using their own capital. In the United States, a cashier at your local Walmart or Walgreens can be considered a mini Mobile Money Agent since they can collect cash deposits and add the equivalent dollar amount to your CashApp app with the CashApp PaperMoney feature. Why Mobile Money? Around and over own a bank account. That means, more than half of young Nigerians do not own a bank account and are thus excluded from formal financial services. This presents a huge opportunity for Mobile money and Agency Banking platforms to bring the unbanked and underbanked into formal financial services. 40% of Nigerians aged 15 Since 2010, the number of Banks per capita (100,000 adults) in Nigeria has dropped from . For context, the number of Banks per capita in the US is 32. On the surface, the reduction in the number of physical banks might seem great since the internet and mobile phones are now widely available. 7 to 4 Many banks have found ways to lean out their operations by introducing internet and mobile banking services — a testament to the level of innovation within the Nigerian financial technology space. In Nigeria, thanks to , inter-bank transfers are completed nearly instantly. I’ve previously recorded a time of 2 seconds from the time I hit send on my Kuda app to receiving it in my UBA Bank account. This is not the same experience in other parts of Africa — in the Ivory coast, for example, Bank to Bank transfers can take up to 3 days to settle. NIBSS The CBN (Nigeria’s Financial regulator) has also initiated several policies to encourage individuals to go cashless. Despite these advancements in the financial services space in Nigeria, when we look a little closer look into the situation of things, the CBN tells us that the amount of cash in circulation in October 2021 ($7.3 billion) compared to the same period the month before — proving, once again, that cash is still king and a major portion of the population still like to transact in cash. The love for cash based transactions is also prevalent in Vietnam, where over . While we believe that a major portion of the Nigerian population is only comfortable with cash, we believe that with the widespread adoption of mobile phones, better technology can be deployed to bring more people into formal financial services by meeting them where they are i.e without the need for formal banks; cue — and . rose by 4.6% to 3 trillion naira 80% of transactions are cash based Mobile Money Agency Banking In Nigeria, the volume of POS transactions processed in 2021 alone was over and the sector continues to grow year on year. Over the next decade, and with the continuous innovation and investments surrounding mobile money, we should see more and more people being able to access basic financial services bearing in mind that they may never own a bank account at a traditional banking institution. The big bet is on Mobile Money services to accelerate this future. $8bn With that said, Let’s take a look into how a typical Mobile Money or Agency banking transaction works. How does Mobile Money/Agency Banking Work? Mobile Money transactions can be completed in a number of ways: Sometimes, they are completed using a mobile phone over a mobile network, Other times, they’re completed using a card issued by a Digital bank or a traditional financial institution and a Mobile POS Terminal. In many cases, they’re completed with an Agent receiving cash from a customer and making a transfer from their mobile phone to the wallet/bank account of the recipient. Regardless of what method is used, transactions are usually completed within 5 mins — a testament to the innovation that has occurred within the space. When a transaction is completed using a mobile phone alone, your phone number serves as your account number, and your wallet/account balance is stored on your mobile device — either via the app or via a menu option on your mobile phone added by your telecom provider. Getting on the mPesa network is as simple as buying a sim from Safaricom. With your sim in your mobile phone, you’re ready to participate in the mobile money revolution. You can begin transacting with other users and Businesses on the mPesa network. With a mobile phone as cheap as $5, you can pay bills, send money to other mPesa users, take a loan, and more. In rural areas without Banks or where the closest bank is too far away from residents, mobile money Agents (mPesa Agents in this case) facilitate cash deposits and withdrawals — think of a human ATM. Here’s a walkthrough of a transaction at a typical Mobile Money Agent. Picture a Shop owner running a small business that sells groceries. At the end of the day, this Customer takes all the cash they’ve received from their daily sales and walks to the nearest Mobile Money Agent close to them — usually, these Agents are much closer to the customer’s location than a physical Bank. The Shop Owner takes the cash they’ve collected to a Mobile Money Agent who collects the cash and deposits the same value in the customer’s wallet less the transaction charges. The Shop owner is happy — they have value in their wallet which they can use to purchase more goods or send to their family member’s wallet on the same telecom network in a neighboring city. The Mobile Money Agent is also happy since they’ve made a commission for processing that transaction. In most of Sub-saharan Africa, this is how most Mobile Money transactions go. In Nigeria, it’s a little different. The most common trend in the last few years has been a network of Agents spearheaded by giant payment companies or MMOs (Mobile Money Operators) such as , , Paga, , and more. Typically, these MMOs deploy Mobile POS terminals that Agents can use to start their own Agent Banking business. Opay Moniepoint Xpressteller With increasing innovation in this space, MMOs have started to deploy android based devices that can process card transactions and print receipts. These devices can also be used to pay bills, purchase airtime, perform inter-bank transfers, and more — meaning that the customers of these Agents can perform all the services they’ll typically do at a traditional bank at a Mobile Money Agent. Ivory Coast has the largest population of adults with a Mobile Money account in all of West Africa — at 75%. In stark contrast to that, only 20% of the adult population owns a Bank account. What’s the difference between a Mobile Money Agent and a POS Agent? Traditionally, in most of West Africa and East Africa, Mobile Money has been a medium for carrying out financial transactions where the store of value is in a on a mobile phone device linked to a customer’s mobile phone number. Transactions are facilitated on the network of the Telecom operator’s the user is subscribed to — popular options include MTN in Benin Republic, Oranje in Guinea and Safaricom in Kenya. wallet In Benin Republic for example, where MTN’s MoMo is dominant, users move money around using their MoMo wallet which can be done using an App on their Mobile device or using from their mobile phone. MTN processed with only a quarter of the entire population of Benin Republic as active users! USSD shortcodes $709m in transactions in July of 2021 To paint a better picture, over 11m Mobile Money accounts were registered in 2021 compared to 2m Bank accounts proving the mass adoption of mobile money. Until recently when the Central Bank of Nigeria (Payment Service Bank) licenses to Telecom Operators in Nigeria, MTN was unable to replicate their MoMo model in Nigeria. Since obtaining that license, MTN has registered MoMo (short for Mobile Money) as a payment bank in Nigeria and are beginning to scale their Agent network across the country. With Telcom companies now playing in the financial service space, it means more competition for the likes of TeamApt’s MoniePoint, Opay and Palmpay amongst others — who are Mobile Money Operators but not telecom service providers. For MTN, the numbers are already there since they have the . awarded PSB largest subscriber base in Nigeria At , we think about Mobile Money a little differently. Because of the variations in how Mobile Money operates around the world, we like to think about Mobile Money in the sense of mobility — we see Mobile Money as any digital system that allows the banked, underbanked and unbanked to participate in financial services by removing/reducing the barriers to participation associated with traditional financial institutions; this may be via the use of Mobile POS terminals, Mobile Phones that double as POS terminals, QR codes linked to QR Cards/Mobile Devices (like in the case of ) or scan to pay apps. Moni Wave Mobile Money Looking at Mobile Money and thus Mobile Money Agents in this way, allows us to build a suite of products to cater to Mobile Money Agents and their lifestyle. How much does a Typical Mobile Money Agent Make? Revenue earned by Mobile Money Agents can vary swiftly from place to place. While some areas are high volume and high traffic — consider a market for example, other areas may be high volume but low traffic. In a busy market, a Mobile Money Agent is likely to process over 100 transactions within a day with high volumes. On the other hand, in a residential/commercial area under development, a mobile money Agent may not see a lot of foot traffic but may process a high volume of transactions as vendors and contractors move money around. In Nigeria, we’ve seen that Mobile Money Agents are able to do an average turnover of N2.4m (~ $5000) a month. Assuming normal charges on transactions, a Mobile Money Agent may earn around N3,500 (~ $8) per day which works out at roughly N100k ($215) a month. With more float, and/or with a better location, Mobile Money Agents can 10x their earnings. In Benin Republic, a Mobile Money Agent can earn around CFA70k depending on the number of transactions they complete and the Agent’s location. On average, in the Nigerian market, the cost of acquiring a Mobile POS Terminal is around N20k — N25k(~$54). Besides the cost of acquiring a terminal, Mobile Money Agents will also need to get a location for their business and may need to pay rent for the space. In our experience, many Mobile Money Agents use existing Mom and Pop outlets — which may or may not belong to them —  as their primary place of Business. Starting a Mobile Money Business in Africa is not all rosy despite all the innovation occurring in the space. For one, individuals interested in starting their own Mobile Money/Agency Banking outlet need working capital to get started — this working capital may not be readily available, in which case they’d need to take a loan from friends and family since a traditional Bank will not offer them that level of credit without collateral. Besides the issue with working capital, in Benin Republic, setting up shop as a MoMo Agent can take anywhere from 2–4 months due to the paperwork and bureaucracy involved. There’s still room for more innovation within this space. Mobile Money transactions are still expensive in many parts of Africa and is one of the companies tackling this problem with up to 70% lower fees on Mobile Money transactions. wave Wrapping Up To wrap up, we’ll continue to see innovation in the Agency Banking and mobile money space across Africa as technology companies find ways to help the banked, unbanked, and underbanked access financial services through Agency Banking networks or as we like to call them at Moni — human ATMs. Recently, Moni was admitted into Y Combinator’s . Our approach to lending is different. We’re aware of the major problem Mobile Money Agents face across Africa - float or working capital for their businesses. At the same time, we are also aware that traditional institutions may be unable to provide credit to Mobile Money Agents because they’re unable to satisfy the Bank’s credit requirements. YC W22 batch At , we provide credit/float/working capital to Mobile Money Agents using a CoFi (Community Financing) model based on their social reputation. Our model allows Agents to facilitate more transactions thus ensuring that they earn more and prosper! Moni Also Published here

Mobile Money: The Key to Financial Inclusion in Emerging Markets

The American company Electronic Arts Inc (EA) has opened the source code of the games Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn and Command & Conquer: Red Alert publicly available. Several dozen errors were detected in the source code using the PVS-Studio analyzer, so, please, welcome the continuation of found defects review. Command & Conquer is a series of computer games in the real-time strategy genre. The first game in the series was released in 1995. The source code of the games was together with the release of the Command & Conquer Remastered collection. posted The analyzer was used to find errors in the code. The tool is designed to detect errors and potential vulnerabilities in the source code of programs, written in C, C++, C#, and Java. PVS-Studio Link to the first error overview: " " The Code of the Command & Conquer Game: Bugs from the 90's. Volume one Errors in conditions V583 The '?:' operator, regardless of its conditional expression, always returns one and the same value: 3072. STARTUP.CPP 1136 It turns out that users couldn't configure some settings. Or, rather, they did something but due to the fact that the ternary operator always returns a single value, nothing has actually changed. V590 Consider inspecting the 'i < 8 && i < 4' expression. The expression is excessive or contains a misprint. DLLInterface.cpp 2238 Due to an incorrect loop, the position is not set for all players. On the one hand, we see the constant and assume that this is the maximum number of players. On the other hand, we see the condition and the operator . So the loop never makes 8 iterations. Most likely, at the initial stage of development, the programmer hadn't used constants. When he started, he forgot to delete the old numbers from the code. MAX_PLAYERS 8 i < 4 && V648 Priority of the '&&' operation is higher than that of the '||' operation. INFANTRY.CPP 1003 You can make the code non-obvious (and most likely erroneous) simply by not specifying the priority of operations for the and operators. Here I can't really get if it's an error or not. Given the overall quality of the code for these projects, we can assume that here and in several other places, we will find errors related to operations priority: || && • V648 Priority of the '&&' operation is higher than that of the '||' operation. TEAM.CPP 456 • V648 Priority of the '&&' operation is higher than that of the '||' operation. DISPLAY.CPP 1160 • V648 Priority of the '&&' operation is higher than that of the '||' operation. DISPLAY.CPP 1571 • V648 Priority of the '&&' operation is higher than that of the '||' operation. HOUSE.CPP 2594 • V648 Priority of the '&&' operation is higher than that of the '||' operation. INIT.CPP 2541 V617 Consider inspecting the condition. The '((1L << STRUCT_CHRONOSPHERE))' argument of the '|' bitwise operation contains a non-zero value. HOUSE.CPP 5089 To check whether certain bits are set in a variable, use the & operator, not |. Due a typo in this code snippet, we have a condition that is always true here. V768 The enumeration constant 'WWKEY_RLS_BIT' is used as a variable of a Boolean-type. KEYBOARD.CPP 286 I think, in the parameter, the intention was to check a certain bit set by the mask, but the author made a typo. They should have used the & bitwise operator instead of && to check the key code. key WWKEY_RLS_BIT Suspicious formatting V523 The 'then' statement is equivalent to the 'else' statement. RADAR.CPP 1827 A developer once commented on code for debugging. Since then, a conditional operator with the same operators in different branches has remained in the code. Exactly the same two places were found: • V523 The 'then' statement is equivalent to the 'else' statement. CELL.CPP 1792 • V523 The 'then' statement is equivalent to the 'else' statement. RADAR.CPP 2274 V705 It is possible that 'else' block was forgotten or commented out, thus altering the program's operation logics. NETDLG.CPP 1506 Due to a large comment, the developer hasn't seen the above unfinished conditional operator. The remaining keyword forms the construction with the condition below, which most likely changes the original logic. else else if V519 The 'ScoresPresent' variable is assigned values twice successively. Perhaps this is a mistake. Check lines: 539, 541. INIT.CPP 541 Another potential defect due to incomplete refactoring. Now it is unclear whether the variable should be set to or . ScoresPresent true false Memory release errors V611 The memory was allocated using 'new T[]' operator but was released using the 'delete' operator. Consider inspecting this code. It's probably better to use 'delete [] poke_data;'. CCDDE.CPP 410 The analyzer found an error related to the fact that memory can be allocated and released in incompatible ways. To free up memory allocated for an array, the operator should have been used instead of . delete[] delete There were several such places, and all of them gradually harm the running application (game): • V611 The memory was allocated using 'new T[]' operator but was released using the 'delete' operator. Consider inspecting this code. It's probably better to use 'delete [] poke_data;'. CCDDE.CPP 416 • V611 The memory was allocated using 'new T[]' operator but was released using the 'delete' operator. Consider inspecting this code. It's probably better to use 'delete [] temp_buffer;'. INIT.CPP 1302 • V611 The memory was allocated using 'new T[]' operator but was released using the 'delete' operator. Consider inspecting this code. It's probably better to use 'delete [] progresspalette;'. MAPSEL.CPP 795 • V611 The memory was allocated using 'new T[]' operator but was released using the 'delete' operator. Consider inspecting this code. It's probably better to use 'delete [] grey2palette;'. MAPSEL.CPP 796 • V611 The memory was allocated using 'new T[]' operator but was released using the 'delete' operator. Consider inspecting this code. It's probably better to use 'delete [] poke_data;'. CCDDE.CPP 422 • V611 The memory was allocated using 'new T[]' operator but was released using the 'delete' operator. Consider inspecting this code. It's probably better to use 'delete [] temp_buffer;'. INIT.CPP 1139 V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. ENDING.CPP 254 The and operators are separated for a reason. They perform different tasks to clear memory. When using an untyped pointer, the compiler doesn't know which data type the pointer is pointing to. In the C++ standard, the behavior of the compiler is uncertain. delete delete[] There was also a number of analyzer warnings of this kind: • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. HEAP.CPP 284 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. INIT.CPP 728 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. MIXFILE.CPP 134 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. MIXFILE.CPP 391 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. MSGBOX.CPP 423 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. SOUNDDLG.CPP 407 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. BUFFER.CPP 126 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. BUFF.CPP 162 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. BUFF.CPP 212 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. BFIOFILE.CPP 330 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. EVENT.CPP 934 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. HEAP.CPP 318 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. INIT.CPP 3851 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. MIXFILE.CPP 130 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. MIXFILE.CPP 430 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. MIXFILE.CPP 447 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. MIXFILE.CPP 481 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. MSGBOX.CPP 461 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. QUEUE.CPP 2982 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. QUEUE.CPP 3167 • V772 Calling a 'delete' operator for a void pointer will cause undefined behavior. SOUNDDLG.CPP 406 V773 The function was exited without releasing the 'progresspalette' pointer. A memory leak is possible. MAPSEL.CPP 258 The developer might have thought: ''If I don't free memory at all, I will definitely not make a mistake and will choose the correct operator''. But it results in a memory leak, which is also an error. Somewhere at the end of the function, memory gets released. Before that, there are many places with a conditional exit of the function, and memory by the and pointers isn't released. grey2palette progresspalett Other Issues V570 The 'hdr->MagicNumber' variable is assigned to itself. COMBUF.CPP 806 Two fields in the CommHdr structure are initialized with their own values. In my opinion, it's a meaningless operation, but it is executed many times: • V570 The 'hdr->Code' variable is assigned to itself. COMBUF.CPP 807 • V570 The 'hdr->MagicNumber' variable is assigned to itself. COMBUF.CPP 931 • V570 The 'hdr->Code' variable is assigned to itself. COMBUF.CPP 932 • V570 The 'hdr->MagicNumber' variable is assigned to itself. COMBUF.CPP 987 • V570 The 'hdr->Code' variable is assigned to itself. COMBUF.CPP 988 • V570 The 'obj' variable is assigned to itself. MAP.CPP 1132 • V570 The 'hdr->MagicNumber' variable is assigned to itself. COMBUF.CPP 910 • V570 The 'hdr->Code' variable is assigned to itself. COMBUF.CPP 911 • V570 The 'hdr->MagicNumber' variable is assigned to itself. COMBUF.CPP 1040 • V570 The 'hdr->Code' variable is assigned to itself. COMBUF.CPP 1041 • V570 The 'hdr->MagicNumber' variable is assigned to itself. COMBUF.CPP 1104 • V570 The 'hdr->Code' variable is assigned to itself. COMBUF.CPP 1105 • V570 The 'obj' variable is assigned to itself. MAP.CPP 1279 V591 Non-void function should return a value. HEAP.H 123 In the function of the class there is no operator. What's interesting is that the called function also has a return value of the type. Most likely, the programmer just forgot to write the statement and now the function returns an incomprehensible value. Free TFixedHeapClass return FixedHeapClass::Free int return V672 There is probably no need in creating the new 'damage' variable here. One of the function's arguments possesses the same name and this argument is a reference. Check lines: 1219, 1278. BUILDING.CPP 1278 The damage parameter is passed by reference. Therefore, the function body is expected to change the value of this variable. But at one point, the developer declared a variable with the same name. Because of this, the value instead of the function parameter is stored in the local damage variable . Perhaps different behavior was intended. 500 One more similar fragment: • V672 There is probably no need in creating the new 'damage' variable here. One of the function's arguments possesses the same name and this argument is a reference. Check lines: 4031, 4068. TECHNO.CPP 4068 V762 It is possible a virtual function was overridden incorrectly. See first argument of function 'Occupy_List' in derived class 'BulletClass' and base class 'ObjectClass'. BULLET.H 90 The analyzer detected a potential error in overriding the virtual function. This may cause the wrong functions to be called at runtime. Occupy_List Some other suspicious fragments: • V762 It is possible a virtual function was overridden incorrectly. See qualifiers of function 'Ok_To_Move' in derived class 'TurretClass' and base class 'DriveClass'. TURRET.H 76 • V762 It is possible a virtual function was overridden incorrectly. See fourth argument of function 'Help_Text' in derived class 'HelpClass' and base class 'DisplayClass'. HELP.H 55 • V762 It is possible a virtual function was overridden incorrectly. See first argument of function 'Draw_It' in derived class 'MapEditClass' and base class 'HelpClass'. MAPEDIT.H 187 • V762 It is possible a virtual function was overridden incorrectly. See first argument of function 'Occupy_List' in derived class 'AnimClass' and base class 'ObjectClass'. ANIM.H 80 • V762 It is possible a virtual function was overridden incorrectly. See first argument of function 'Overlap_List' in derived class 'BulletClass' and base class 'ObjectClass'. BULLET.H 102 • V762 It is possible a virtual function was overridden incorrectly. See qualifiers of function 'Remap_Table' in derived class 'BuildingClass' and base class 'TechnoClass'. BUILDING.H 281 • V762 It is possible a virtual function was overridden incorrectly. See fourth argument of function 'Help_Text' in derived class 'HelpClass' and base class 'DisplayClass'. HELP.H 58 • V762 It is possible a virtual function was overridden incorrectly. See first argument of function 'Overlap_List' in derived class 'AnimClass' and base class 'ObjectClass'. ANIM.H 90 V763 Parameter 'coord' is always rewritten in function body before being used. DISPLAY.CPP 4031 The parameter is immediately overwritten in the function body. The old value was not used. This is very suspicious when a function has arguments and it doesn't depend on them. In addition, some coordinates are passed as well. coord So this fragment is worth checking out: • V763 Parameter 'coord' is always rewritten in function body before being used. DISPLAY.CPP 4251 V507 Pointer to local array 'localpalette' is stored outside the scope of this array. Such a pointer will become invalid. MAPSEL.CPP 757 There are a lot of global variables in the game code. Perhaps, it used to be a common approach to writing code back then. However, now it is considered bad and even dangerous. The InterpolationPalette pointer is stored in the local array localpalette, which will become invalid after exiting the function. A couple more dangerous places: • V507 Pointer to local array 'localpalette' is stored outside the scope of this array. Such a pointer will become invalid. MAPSEL.CPP 769 • V507 Pointer to local array 'buffer' is stored outside the scope of this array. Such a pointer will become invalid. WINDOWS.CPP 458 Conclusion As I wrote in the first report, let's hope that new Electronic Arts projects are of better quality. Now that game budgets are quite large, no one needs extra expenses to fix bugs in production. Speaking of which, fixing an error at an early stage of code writing does not take up much time and other resources. You are welcome to visit our site to and try PVS-Studio on all projects. download Source - https://www.viva64.com/en/b/0748/

Bugs from the 90's: The Code of Command and Conquer [Volume 2]

To those who got to play this mod, the Cinders mod for Dark Souls III is often considered to be the best mod for Dark Souls III. There are a number of questions that this guide will attempt to answer in intricate detail How can I install and play the Cinders mod? Where can I download this mod? What does the Dark Souls 3 Cinders mod do? For those not in the loop by now of what exactly Dark Souls is,Dark Souls is part of FromSoftware’s Soulsborne series of games. These games take place in a dying series of worlds with little to no explanation for what is going on beyond the premise of the First Flame. The first flame was lit by Gwyn, the original Lord of Cinder, in an effort to stay off the Dark Age of Man, after defeating the Dragons with help from dragon-traitor Seath the Scaleless - all described in Dark Souls. As to how Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin fits into the plot of the 3rd game, don't worry. I’m here to help. Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin  has the classic Link the flame or allow the flame to fade ending choice. To get this, simply beat Nashandra as normal and maybe Aldia if the conditions are met (Speaking to Aldia at EVERY possible Bonfire results in a subsequent battle against Aldia, but ONLY IF Vendrick is killed in the Undead Crypt!) This finally leads us to Dark Souls III. Prince Lothric abdicated his duties to watch the flame fade. After defeating Soul of Cinder and returning Lothric to the throne by force prior, players can attempt to link the fire, summon the Fire Keeper to extinguish the flame and begin an age of Dark, or kill her. A fourth ending consists of the Ashen One taking the flame for their own and becoming the Lord of Hollows. As to what happens from there? It’s left to you and you alone. Installing the Dark Souls III Cinders mod: A Comprehensive Guide There’s a YouTube guide that is comprehensive when it comes to providing instructions for downloading and then installing the Cinders mod for Dark Souls III. This guide is working as of version 2.09. The folks at also showcase a comprehensive guide to downloading and installing the mod. https://gamesbustop.com/cinders-mod-for-dark-souls-3/#:~:text=How%20to%20Get%20the%20Cinders%20Mod%20for%20Dark,Download%20the%20Cinders%20Mod%20Pretty%20self-explanatory%20step.%20 Here’s the complete guide, in full comprehensive detail. Before installing the mod to begin with, make sure there are no other Dark Souls III mods on your computer. Go to Nexus Mods ( ). This is where you can find mods for a lot of games. https://www.nexusmods.com/mods/ Use the search bar to search for the Cinders mod for Dark Souls III. Install 7Zip/WInRar (your preference). Go to steam and find the game’s files by “Browsing” the local files. It should be something like /steamapps/common/DARK%20SOULS%20III/Game/ IF done correctly, of course. The file name may be different depending on the drive used. Finally, you extract the contents of the Cinders mod files into the “game folder” of Dark Souls III. If asked to replace the files or use administrator functions, simply click “yes.” After that, if everything was installed/replaced correctly, then congratulations! The mod is successfully installed, and you can begin playing the Cinders mod to enrich your Dark Souls III experience. Features and changes made in the Cinders Mod Dark Souls III Cinders Mod makes a bunch of changes and adds a lot of new features. Here is an overview of the changes: Unique game modes, such as Gauntlet, where you faces the bosses in various orders. Progression is much less linear. There are now options to travel between different routes in-map, linking up the world. Enemies and bosses have been changed, in strength, abilities and placement. New bosses have been added. New classes and gifts have been added. Mechanics have been altered, such as reinforcement, which has been removed. Numerous new features have been added, such as new options at bonfires, new covenant offering system, Curse and Mark system, etc. Many weapons and armor sets have been added and placed in the world is a sensible fashion. Magic has been redesigned to operate in a more fluid way. FP naturally regenerates and casting is designed around this. New movesets and weapon arts have been added to make several weapons more interesting. Poise is now passive and active 100% of the time, rather than specifically during weapon swings. New friendly merchants and hostile NPC enemies have been added. Companions that can now be summoned to act as persistent summons for struggling players. FAQ - common questions and more answered Why isn't text displaying correctly? The mod only supports English localization, so you need to switch your in-game language to English for text to appear correctly. Why isn't X character working properly? Due to the new progression options, it's easier to end the character questlines accidentally. Take note of this and speak tohe the characters you need early and refrain from entering the later areas out of order if you want to complete a character's questline. Are there additional steps to take to install it? You'll need to create a vanilla save game before installing Cinders. Without doing this, you'll get the "Save Data is Corrupted" message. Make sure you have 7zip﻿ installed and use it to open the Main and Models ZIP file. Roll back your Dark Souls III executable to the working version as noted in the Compatibility section. Extract the contents of the Main and Models ZIP files in your Dark Souls III Game directory: ~\steamapps\common\DARK SOULS III\Game\ Is there a guide for Uninstallation? Delete the dinput8.dll to remove Lazy Loader and delete the Cinders folder to remove the files. Can I get banned for doing this? If you enable it online after it’s disabled by default, then yes, you could most likely get banned. CONCLUSION Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this article, then be sure to read some of our other articles on Mods. If you have any further questions not covered in this article, feel free to email me, or - most preferably - leave a comment on this article. I’ll see you next time.

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