One of the Most Expensive Software’s Due to High Maintenance Costs

Oracle is a popular system created around a “relational database framework,” where data can be found on the front end of an application through queries and can run on multiple different platforms like Linux, Windows, and Mac OS. There are different editions that Oracle offers, each with various functionalities appealing to developers. With advanced features as well as hosting leading database solutions, Oracle continues to be a top choice among developers.

It is no secret that when companies grow, they attempt to become more streamlined to provide the highest quality services with the lowest expenses possible. As companies become more aware of the features and costs associated, Oracle has come under heavy scrutiny. Oracle strategy is increasingly complex, with many hidden costs (as well as hidden complexities) that companies do not understand until they are trapped within the long-term use of the software.

The high maintenance cost of Oracle software is one of the highest across the industry. Instead of allowing businesses to grow through simpler processes, Oracle forces the use of their products that requires long migrations. Additionally, Oracle doesn’t typically innovate their new features, opting for acquisitions of other companies to provide these instead. Because the plan to acquire companies is kept a secret, customers are unable to plan at all.

Oracle requires newly acquired products to be licensed and re-engineered with non-integrated features: On top of that, they require customers to purchase the integration technology necessary to properly integrate their new products into the system. With a 22% maintenance fee customers see their expenses grow as they need more features and services.

Now, it’s safe to say that there are some good reasons why Oracle’s software is so expensive. However, there are also a lot of cheaper alternatives that can offer many of the same benefits. In a rapidly changing technologically advanced society, staying on top of the best options (with a balance of a smaller budget) can allow a company to be flexible. For most of our clients here at Charter Global, we don’t tend to recommend software that costs a lot to maintain just because there are so many other cheaper options that might be better suited for your budget. We never want you to spend unnecessary money on maintenance costs! Our job is to make your company succeed – and that means offering the best software aligned with your business.

Give a Fresh Look to Legacy User Interface (UI)

We continue to use Legacy User Interface’s (UI) for lots of reasons: they’re dependable, tried, and true methods that developers have used for years and years. However, when it comes to traditions, developers can get stuck using the same solutions to problems that have evolved (leading to solutions that aren’t effective anymore).

Why It’s Important to Update

The way technology changes make it hard to stay with legacy User Interface (UI) for very long (unless a company has no other options or is simply being stubborn). By updating, an application can be easier to use, provide more functionality to customers, and better reflect a company’s brand. At all times, an application needs to be optimized for the end-user: a company’s target audience. Because an audience’s needs are never static (they are constantly evolving as technology changes the way they live their lives), it’s important to maintain an evergreen approach to UI design.

Companies that have not been able to make any changes to their legacy UI for a long time will typically notice a dramatic decrease in customer engagement and use of their web or mobile application. Anticipating a customer’s needs or desires is the key to placing yourself at the cutting edge of an industry, and a critical aspect of showing your audience that you are the expert.

Drawbacks of Updating

Depending on how long it has been since the UI has gotten a fresh look, it could take a while to go through the lengthy process of reworking many of the outdated features on the application. This will typically require some research to see just what your customers need within the application and might even force an overall branding update if it’s been long enough as well. Integrating the brand within the application, along with beautiful UI design is the best way to show your company can adapt to change and do what is best for their customers. With so many companies already modernizing their apps, businesses that are left behind will surely feel the impact in their retention and engagement rates.

Where Charter Global Comes In

Simplifying navigation, adding voice commands, overall presentation look, and even how the customer can interact with the site itself are all new updates that can give legacy UI a fresh design. The Charter Global research team can suggest a variety of new UI screen recommendations off of what your customer wants or expects from your application. We will be able to tell you all the features to focus the most time and effort on, as well as which ones can be taken off of your application entirely. Let us help you modernize and update your old legacy User Interface (UI) to a beautiful, state of the art UI design.


Read More: https://www.charterglobal.com/give-a-fresh-look-to-legacy-user-interface-ui/

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It’s time to upgrade your application development Tech Stack

Tech stacks are the source of data and all the elements that go into the building (as well as running) a mobile or web application. New versions of tech stacks are very common – as people continue to innovate, changes must be made in how applications are created. These updates can improve the capabilities of the stack, boost security, and make applications easier to develop overall.

As with anything, it can be easy getting stuck in the traditional way of doing things. Developers might find a tech stack they like and stick with it for quite a while because it’s familiar and easy for them to use. However, these developers are missing out on many tools and opportunities that new industry tech stacks bring. The best developers understand the need to balance reliability with modernity and scalability.

A company’s tech stack should constantly be evolving. While it might stick to the same foundations, finding ways to reduce response times, cut costs, leverage data, and better meet customer needs is a critical aspect of being successful. The most profitable companies in the world are those that are consistently updating their tech stacks to better support the ever-evolving applications they create for their customers.

Not only is it important that the application is backed by updated technology, but also with developers that are able to adapt to the changing situation. New industry tech can sometimes have a hard learning curve, but without learning the proper skills, this new tech can go to waste (or simply not be used to the best of its ability). Developers should always work as a team when deciding what to add on to their stack to ensure widespread support and synergy across them all in order to maximize the potential of the tech.

Additionally, when adopting new industry tech, developers have a better opportunity to automate their base processes, enabling them to add on more things without compromising the integrity of the entire application. This can also free up the time needed to learn those new skills we mentioned above. Instead of worrying about keeping up with adding on more and more things to a developer’s to-do list, they are able to take a large amount of static work off of themselves with automation to streamline the process. Developers can then work on creating new features that will add value to their application, like more extensive dashboards.

Keeping track of all the new tools available for your stack can be overwhelming. Charter Global is able to help you reduce cycle time while increasing quality and stability with the various tech stack tools available. We can evaluate your current tech stack to determine areas for improvement making your application development easier to develop overall.


Read More: https://www.charterglobal.com/its-time-to-upgrade-your-application-development-tech-stack/

Let’s Discuss IT Staffing and Software Development - Contact Charter Global

https://www.charterglobal.com/contact-us/

Upgrading Monolithic Applications into Microservices

Monolithic architecture is typically code-based formed as a singular expansive system. On the other hand, a microservices architecture is formed from a variety of smaller services that each host their own coding foundation. There are a lot of reasons why a company would start with a monolithic application. Monolithic structures can be less work for smaller teams, typically is less complex, and can sometimes process faster than microservice applications. However, monolithic apps can get increasingly difficult to manage and can be very tricky to understand with its many dependent intricacies.


Microservices utilize a batch of services that run independently of each other. For some companies, utilizing this type of architecture is the way to go. Microservices can be much more organized than monolithic apps, easier to manipulate when trying to single out one service, can have easier scaling abilities, and less room for error when changing or modifying an area of code within the application.


The downside that companies run into with microservices is that they tend to require more time to design at the beginning (and with much more overhead). Although, down the road, it can be much more cost-effective changing services in a microservices architecture rather than a monolithic.


For businesses that want to see a faster pace and more adaptability, migrating from a monolithic architecture to a microservices architecture might just be the way to go. Using a team experienced with this form of architecture is crucial for the success of the application. When upgrading, it’s important to build out the infrastructure and management system first, and then slowly migrate over services that are either fairly simple or relatively independent compared to others. Start from edge services and slowly work your way into the core capabilities of the application. It’s important to do it this way so that the core functionality of the application is not affected. If at any point there are services that rely on the monolith core after breaking it away, it’s a sign that this particular service is not defined enough and needs to be reworked into smaller, separate services.


While this might be a rather extensive migration process at first, it will create much more flexibility and scalability in the long run for the application. Charter Global can upgrade your existing big application into multiple independent manageable microservice applications so that each application can run on its own. With microservices, your application will be able to save you measurable costs than if you had stayed with the slow-moving monolithic architecture that once applied to your business but is no longer viable.


Read More: https://www.charterglobal.com/upgrading-monolithic-applications-into-microservices/

Let’s Discuss IT Staffing and Software Development - Contact Charter Global

https://www.charterglobal.com/contact-us/

What is the difference between UI and UX Design?

Branding is important to businesses because it leaves a lasting impression on customers. Instead of confusing the customer about what exactly you can offer them, a consistent look and feel to your website and applications better tell your story and make you memorable. Think of Nike: Stories of successful athletes and their famous slogan “Just Do It” come to mind almost immediately. Customers equate the Nike brand with being victorious, driven, and athletic – without the company expressly saying that at all. Just like Nike, the design around your website and applications defines your overall brand.

What is UI and UX Design?

With only one letter difference between the two of them, it can be confusing for people to distinguish what makes UI and UX unique from each other. They’re often used together, making it even more difficult. UI (user interface) design is the layout of a type of application – for example, the layout of text, images, buttons, etc. that people can use. UI also includes the transitions and animations (basically all the visual elements) that complete the design. On the other hand, UX (user experience) is all about how a person interacts with those elements. UX designers think in the mindset of a user: does navigation feel right? Is it hard to find certain things? While UI and UX design go hand in hand, the focus is on different things.

How to keep the design consistent with guidelines?

Developing guidelines for design across multiple platforms does not have to be difficult – but it can take skill and time to think in an overarching manner to connect all of them. One of the first things that must be done is proper research into the end-user: Figuring out what users want to use the website/application for and exactly how it is used is the most important step. Keeping the end-user in mind is how businesses can account for everything their customer will need and want out of their applications.


Another important element is not to reinvent the wheel. Being able to use common UI elements is a great way to build familiarity easily with an application for users (however, putting in a couple of unique branding elements is how you tailor the function to your company). UI design patterns should be reused to show consistency across platforms for customers – whether that’s templates, layouts of text, or specific images. Logos and fonts should be the same throughout any application and website. Once you have figured out the UI design and proper UX flow in a website or application, you can attempt to use that as a guideline in every other application that is designed down the road.


Here at Charter Global, we understand the necessity of integrating your brand into your UI and UX design elements across your applications. When it is time for you to think about an overarching plan of consistency in your application development, give us a call to guide you!

Read More: https://www.charterglobal.com/what-is-the-difference-between-ui-and-ux-design/

Let’s Discuss IT Staffing and Software Development - Contact Charter Global

https://www.charterglobal.com/contact-us/

Upgrading to New Angular Versions

Think of how a phone acts when it has not been updated regularly – it’s sluggish, some of the apps don’t work, and you are not able to utilize all the new features everyone is talking about. This is exactly the situation when people do not update their version of Angular. As a platform for building applications quickly with an expansive base of tools, millions of developers around the world utilize Angular. The platform releases a major update twice a year with smaller releases in between.

Why It’s Important to Upgrade

As you upgrade your version of Angular, you will be able to develop and produce faster, create more responsive experiences for your users, and become more efficient in your processes. You want your application to be completely usable for your customers – without Angular upgrades, it’s highly possible for different features to become outdated and slow, or worst of all, completely unusable.


While some people might not think it’s worth it to stay on top of upgrades, it can be detrimental to the overall functionality of your builds to do so. Because Angular upgrades are continuations of each other, you could be missing out on improvements to features you already use and love. Because major upgrades are only released twice a year, you don’t have to worry about constantly needing to restructure the way you build.

What New Updates Can Include

Each Angular upgrade features more stability and improvement. Updates feature bug fixes, better optimization, visual improvements, and new features like CLI prompts, drag and drop modules, and virtual scrolling. As technology continues to come out with more and more ways to boost operations, it only makes sense that the team behind Angular would adapt to ride the wave.


Angular attempts to include as much in each upgrade as they possibly can without taking too long in between them in order to minimize the disconnect between development and consumers. That means new updates probably won’t include only a couple of small things – you should be able to expect a variety of smaller benefits or a select few major changes, making the upgrades much more worthwhile.


Keeping up with Angular upgrades and releases can be a bit of a nuisance. However, without them, your app is almost guaranteed to be behind the curve in technology and your customers will feel it. Whether you are looking for someone to make new upgrade transitions smoother or simply need someone to build your mobile or web application for you, Charter Global can efficiently determine the best solution for you.

Moving On-Site Applications to the Cloud

In the past, companies were forced to build and host all of their applications on their servers. This made working on those applications difficult without being on-site and often slowed down their servers for everyone else at the company. Maintaining these closed-circuit servers were expensive and needed constant monitoring. As technology advanced, a better option surfaced: The Cloud. This refers to the Internet servers that millions of databases, software, and applications can run on. Instead of being tied down to one location, these online servers are in places around the world so you can access them wherever you are.

Advantages of Moving Applications to the Cloud

There are a lot of benefits that go with moving software to the Cloud. One, what used to be heavy IT workload can now be automated. Because people can build and update applications on the Cloud, IT does not have to constantly babysit. Instead, adjustments can be made at the click of a button or done automatically. Two, complex acquisitions with very different companies becomes easier. Without being stuck trying to merge different software applications and data by hand, the Cloud can make transitions smoother for both companies.

Although there are many more reasons that we will not dive into here, cloud providers typically utilize a wide variety of security measures to protect its users from threats – most likely much more than one company would invest in on their own. As security threats are ever-changing, this is a nice advantage to better protect your business.

The Downside

While in the long run there are very few disadvantages from keeping your applications on the Cloud, there can be some short-term drawbacks that keep businesses from a leap of faith. The transition process from on-site to on-cloud can be extremely lengthy for your business, especially if you have many large, complex software’s already in place.

You will need to slowly migrate everything onto the Cloud and closely monitor them until your infrastructure has been rebuilt using the new system. This process could take upwards of a year to get everything transitioned over and working properly. Additionally, you will be forced to keep a strong connection online to allow your employees to gain access to your programs once in the Cloud. You should expect a lot of hours spent on testing, retesting, and testing again to ensure the complete functionality of your new Cloud-based programs.

It may seem like quite a few downsides to moving to the Cloud, eventually, it is the right move. You will not be required to spend as much manpower monitoring your in-house servers and applications, and you will be able to use your software’s virtually anywhere in the world. Here at Charter Global, we believe that by utilizing the Cloud, your business can level up and start down the path to even more advances.

Demand for IT Talent is high, in spite of mass layoffs

The Covid-19 pandemic can be ironically described as a tale of two cites: mass layoffs occurring in certain industries while there is a spike in demand for IT services and support talent. Businesses across a broad range of industries have been drastically affected by COVID-19. Many employees are out of work due to quarantine and social distancing requirements or their business models require in-office presence. Simultaneously, many employees have to adapt to a work-from-home model. Companies are relying on collaboration and cloud computing technologies so employees can perform work duties and communicate with managers, colleagues, and customers.

According to Industry Analysts, tech companies are recruiting for thousands of tech positions, including software engineers, Java developers, project managers, systems engineers, and IT help desk specialists. The Wall Street Journal says major tech companies are reaching out to colleges and business schools new seeking candidates for their executive programs.

IT jobs in high demand

Front-end developer

A front-end developer is mainly responsible for the design and implementation of the front-end requirements, performs code review, and advises for optimization. This position requires strong expertise in web technological innovation and rich internet application development, as well as an in-depth understanding of user experience, interaction processes, and user needs.

UI designer

UI designers have a deep understanding of the user experience and make the interface as user-friendly and convenient as possible. UI designers usually work with a team to collect consumer feedback and implement creative plans to optimize the users’ experience. The designer first makes the prototype of the interface and presents designs to the team. They gather feedback, make modifications, and generate various interface elements including wireframes, storyboards, user flows, process flows, and so on.

Tester

A tester’s responsibilities include designing test cases, preparing test data, and performing tests. Test practitioners need knowledge of testing and the ability to quickly deploy applications and build test environments.

The global pandemic has created an entirely new world. Business leaders will rely heavily on digital transformation to navigate through this pandemic, requiring an increase in the demand for IT talent.

At Charter Global, our goal is to provide you with insights into what is happening in the IT industry. Give us a call or email us if you are looking for your next opportunity or are looking for an IT consultant to be a part of your team.

Why Is There Such a Demand for Full-Stack Developers?

Whereas many people are either strictly front or back end app developers, a full-stack developer is a combination of both. These resources can work with different programming languages, are typically good at project management, can create an overarching web design, and understand the user experience well. For most full-stack developers, they know the full workings of the back and front end and tend to specialize in a select few areas within them.

How People Become Full-Stack Developers

Becoming a full-stack developer is not a quick process – it often takes developers many years of experience working in different positions (switching between the front and the back end). As they work through these positions, they naturally pick up all the ins and outs and store them in their minds. Eventually, they’ve become a full-stack developer when they know everything that goes in into the front and back end, as well as how to manage themselves and interact with customers to ensure a cohesive design. They can easily communicate and create a website design while taking into account the technical aspects that will alter the project duration, limitations, and resources.

Where does the Demand for Full-Stack Developers Stem From

At one point a few years ago, full-stack developers weren’t able to completely use their skills because apps were starting to become extremely complex. They required more than one person to work on them at a time to be completed. However, with the help of app frameworks and third-party components, full-stack developers now have the time to manage the entire process instead of creating everything from scratch.

The Current Need for Full-Stack Developers

As more and more businesses turn to mobile applications to reach their customers and get better ROI, the need for full-stack developers has skyrocketed. While having a front end or back end developer is nice to have, a full-stack developer is better able to see the big picture in terms of app creation. They can find and fix errors along the way without needing to consult with multiple people along the app development chain.

Think of it this way: You have the option to hire a chef to cook for you and your family every day. Would you rather pick the chef that only knows how to cook appetizers, or would you rather hire the chef that has years of experience in all areas (full meals, desserts, breakfast, etc.)? In the same way, hiring someone with across the board knowledge of app development is more applicable and efficient.

Using Charter Global As Your Full-Stack Development Team

Here at Charter Global, we don’t just focus on one aspect of app development – we are your go-to source for all things mobile! Whether you need an e-commerce site, new interactive, or informational app for your customers, get in touch with us today to see how we can be your full-stack developers for life.

React vs. Angular – Which one to use?

When developing an app, it can be hard to figure out which framework to use. Across the board, there are many different options to choose from with varying features and benefits. The type of framework used is what allows the developer to alter the design, enhance performance, integrate outside sources, and create responsive pages.

Two of the most popular developer frameworks are React and Angular. With that being said, they each have their perks as well as disadvantages.

React

This framework is the older of the two and utilizes JavaScript as its programming language. It was created by Facebook and is often seen as an easier option to learn and use because of the ability to reuse certain elements across development. Because React uses Virtual DOM, developers are better able to make changes without altering or needing to fix other aspects of the application.

Updates are easier to manage with the isolated components that can be reused, saving a lot of time for coders. Additionally, the framework allows for a lot of flexibility in terms of development. The testing level of app development is quicker to get to when using the React framework with its ease of building.

Angular

Angular utilizes a programming language called TypeScript to make the coding process a bit more streamlined and easier to use (resulting in better quality development). Pre-built template designs are offered through Angular to enhance the overall performance and look of the app being created. Like React, it offers reusable options to make the developing process more efficient.

Angular has quite the learning curve. Because it can offer many ways to fix errors and is constantly changing and updating, Angular can be hard to learn for someone just getting into app development. If someone is well versed in the inner workings of Angular, however, they will find that using this framework can be extremely quick.

All in all, getting into app development requires a bit of practice and quite a lot of time spent researching. Depending on the needs of the app itself as well as someone’s experience working with development will largely determine what type of framework to use.

As an app development company with years of experience working with different frameworks, Charter Global can help you choose the one that will be best for your company. If you are determining whether to build an app for your website, we offer many mobile solutions to improve customer experience, efficiency, upgrade to the latest version, business performance across multiple platforms, operating systems, and industries.