3 Reasons Android and IoT Partner Well Together

Android is the Preferred Operating System in IoT

 

Android is a Major, Driving Force in the IoT Industry

 

IoT is defined as the interconnectedness of different smart devices over the internet. Recent years have seen a major uptake in IoT developments. With features like sensors and internet connectivity, these devices are capable of receiving, gathering, and transmitting information. With increasing popularity in the marketplace, IoT continues to see many developments – and it seems Android is the MVP within the industry. To keep up with demand, developers work towards increased connectivity of electronic devices in homes and offices. Convenience reigns supreme, as the power to easily control your refrigerator, treadmill, smart TV or thermostat from your smartphone is a hot commodity.

 

Yet, IoT exists as a result of the availability of a central platform on which these devices can operate. Enter: Android. But, why has Android become the major driving force behind IoT? According to IoT market trends, most smart devices run on Google’s operating system, Android. Most people are familiar with smartphones, and subsequently familiar with the Android operating system. It is currently the world’s leading mobile device operating system edging out iOS. As of 2013, Android smart phones had outsold Apple’s iPhones 4 to 1.

 

Smartphones were only the beginning. The expanding demand for interconnected devices and Android is leading the charge as tech companies battle for the top. As such, the world of IoT is seemingly being curated specifically for Android.  Outlined below are three reasons why Android is at the forefront of IoT:

 

1. Android is a universal front end from which developers can work

Android has risen quickly as a software platform mostly because Google (the company behind it) chose to give it away to developers and device makers. The Linux-based software is open source, therefore allowing just about anyone to use its source code and therefore customize it for use in just about any gadget they can imagine. The number of devices that rely on Android as an operating system today are numerous. With such a large number of devices run on Android it is easy to see how Android acts as a front end for IoT. It is easy and cheap to develop devices for IoT making them even more affordable for consumers.

 

2. Apps drive IoT

A gadget is just a gadget. However, with the right app to and software to help it run and perform different tasks, it becomes much more. Apps are what make it possible to use IoT devices. Android is currently the world’s largest app platform. As of December 2016, Google Playstore was reported to host more than 2.6 million apps. It is not surprising that Android drives the IoT movement.

 

3. IoT is being built on Java

Many IoT devices are being built on Java. It therefore makes sense that Android is driving the IOT market. Android allows for Java to be applied in a way that makes sense as opposed to the use of embedded JAVA which requires dedicated devices.

 

To understand the application of Android in IoT, we must understand the IoT ecosystem and Android’s role in it. The following facets represent the composition of the Android IoT Ecosystem

 

→ The sensor

Sensors detect physical properties such as temperature and generate digital signals. Many hardware vendors rely on specific domains such as Linux, Android and Windows. The popularity and availability of Android makes it an easy winner in this area. The fact that Android is open source and can be tweaked for use in any device makes it a popular choice for device makers.

 

→ Data Transfer

There must be a component that supports the transfer of data from the sensor. The two simplest options available for this are MQTT and XMPP. Android supports both of these open source implementations. The libraries can be used on Windows, Linux and Android.

 

→ Device

There must a device or processor with an operating system that supports the components of the IoT ecosystem. This ought to be a small and portable device that doesn’t consume too much power but can provide continuous connectivity. In many cases, inexpensive Android devices are chosen for this. Android devices meet the requirements to support a wide variety of sensors. There are also various tutorials available to assist developers.

 

→ Program

There must be a program that receives the data and stores it. This could take the form a standard Linux Server. This server receives the data, decodes it and processes it. The data can be used for subsequent analysis. There is no doubt that Android is the major driving force behind IoT devices.

 

 

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AI in 2020: What Can We Expect?

3 Ways Artificial Intelligence will Impact the Economy in 2020 and Beyond

 

1) Increasing efficiency and accuracy in our everyday work.

 

It’s tempting to believe that artificial intelligence can do just about anything. If tech experts are to be believed, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform the world. Tech entrepreneur, Elon Musk, says this would be a threat to humanity and life as we know it.

 

Even though thinking among AI researchers has evolved over the years, the future impact of AI is strongly debated among experts.

 

Currently, AI and machine learning power self-driving cars, complex ad-tech audience optimization, and a host of intelligent agents such as Alexa, Cortana and Siri. At the same time, leading AI experts, business owners, and analysts caution against an overly rosy view of its current capabilities.

 

The hype surrounding AI’s potential has misled many into overlooking its current utility. Eventually, AI will redefine industries and build technologies we never thought possible. However, business leaders and AI experts say the real value in today’s AI lies in increasing efficiency and accuracy in our everyday work.

 

2) Preparing for The Future – The Government’s Role

 

AI holds the potential to be a major driver of economic growth and social progress. If industries, society, government, and the public work together to support development of this technology with thoughtful attention to its potential and managing its risks, then everyone will benefit.

 

The U.S. government has several roles to play. Participation in conversations about important issues is key; this is to help set the agenda for public debate. In fact, this initiate can monitor the safety and fairness of applications as they develop, and adapt regulatory frameworks to encourage innovation while protecting the public.

 

Another utility the government can provide is public policy tools to ensure that disruption in the methods of work enabled by AI increases productivity while avoiding negative economic consequences for certain sectors of the workforce. Not only this, but the government can support basic research and the application of AI to public good. One of those features is to support development of a skilled, diverse workforce.

 

Government can apply AI to serve the public faster, more effectively, and at a lower cost. Many areas of public policy, from education, to defense, to environmental preservation, and criminal justice, will see new opportunities and new challenges driven by the continued progress of AI.

 

To enable these policies, it’s crucial for the U.S. government to understand and adapt to these changes.

 

3) Economic and Social Morality 

 

As the technology of AI continues to develop, practitioners must ensure that AI-enabled systems are governable. This is to ensure they are open, transparent, and understandable. In essence, AI must work effectively with people, so that their operation will remain consistent with human values and aspirations.

 

Researchers and practitioners have increased their attention to these challenges, and should continue to focus on them.

 

Developing and studying machine intelligence can help us better understand and appreciate our human intelligence. Used thoughtfully, AI can augment our intelligence and help us to chart a better and wiser path.

 

Charter Global offers AI resources to a variety of different types of projects. Consult us for expert help, and learn more about what we can do to achieve your AI goals.

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Don’t Leave These 4 Things Out of Your Application Development Strategy

Prioritize These 4 Features in Your Application Development Process

 

Mobile device usage has seen incredible growth in the past decade. As such, software development has seen a huge impact on the amount of technology geared towards the mobile market.

 

More shoppers have been using their mobile phones and tablets for the sake of convenience. As a result, businesses are developing apps or optimizing web design specifically for mobile users.

 

Having apps and mobile-friendly web design helps maximize potential sales and growth. Here are the essential features a mobile app should include.
 

1. Security

 

Identity theft and financial hacks are becoming common.  For preventative purposes, it is important to make sure that an app is secure and protected against these threats. Many apps require credit card information, especially when an e-commerce function is integrated.

 

Businesses should always ensure that their clients are protected.  They should be transparent on how the client data are being used in the app. The policies and practices should be clearly outlined before users are being asked to provide personal information. In this way, the users will trust the company, and will feel that the business has credibility. Users providing their financial information online shows their trust in the app and will likely use it more.
 

2. Ease of Navigation

 
Poor design is one of the main reasons why an app is deleted. Most users consider the overall usability and user-friendly design as key functions of a great app.
 
A mobile device does not have a keyboard nor a mouse, so typing should be minimized when designing an app. Users also favor having to scroll instead of clicking. Scrolling feels natural and shows more content quickly because there is no need to wait for pages to load. Imagine having to click through 5 pages of a top 10 list instead of just scrolling through it on a single page.
 

3. Social Media Integration

 

In 2017, it was reported that there are over 3 billion active social media users globally.  That being said, social media has an extensive influence in our lives, including the way we do business.  More than being a platform to share photos and status updates, social media has transformed into an essential tool for businesses to reach their customers.
 
Integrating social media in mobile apps offers expanded brand awareness. Users can share posts about the business, thus reaching more people. Social media integration brings increased visibility and recognition to potential customers or users of the app.
 

4. User Feedback

 
Having the ability to provide feedback gives users the satisfaction that they are being heard. This also lessens the need for the them to call or email the support team. It will help the business by having an understanding to what the users want, the things that need to be changed, or the things the users want to see in the app. It is imperative that businesses constantly improve their apps to provide value to their clients.
 

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Five Ways to Own Recruitment in 2020

Five Reasons Professional IT Recruitment Helps Save Time, Resources, and Secure the Right Fit 

 

You may be asking yourself, “Why should my company use a professional services agency for staffing?” The answer may surprise you. The fact of the matter is, there is undeniable value in using a professional services agency over-performing those same duties in-house for many reasons. For many reasons, staff augmentation and on-boarding new hires is not a DIY (“Do it Yourself”) commodity – especially for jobs marketed within the information technology sector. 

 

The first reason companies choose to use a professional services agency as a business partner is time savings. When a job is posted, companies may receive over 200 responses, or they may receive nothing. Sorting through a stack of resumes is time-consuming and costly to the organization because the person designated to do that is abandoning their normal duties. Advertising positions, doing reference checks, background checks, drug tests and interviewing eat up time and resources. What’s more, weeding through job candidates is a laborious, massive undertaking – primarily because of a certain demand for specific skillsets when it comes to IT recruiting. 

 

Recruiting and hiring are two different things. As the tech industry continues to see exponential growth, the ability to select the right candidate for the right role both quickly and efficiently can become problematic. Hiring managers can lack the foresight and expertise that recruiting firms and recruiting experts maintain. Enter: the second reason substantiating the need for IT recruitment: Expertise. Staffing is a huge part of many professional service agencies. At Charter Global, for example, 100% of our senior level recruiting focus is spent recruiting and placing employees. With 20 + years of experience in the staffing and recruiting arena, we know how to structure job descriptions and postings that get the results our customers want.

 

The third reason is screening techniques. Since our entire focus is finding the right candidates for each position we are entrusted with, we know screening the applicants is the key to success. Skills testing modules, interviewing techniques, employment reference checks and knowing our customer’s company culture are all critical to the process.  Yet this is just a small portion of a well-defined recruitment strategy our information technology recruiters employ. We have resources available to us that most companies do not guarantee placing top talent in the right roles.

 

The fourth reason companies come to a professional services agency is for their expertise in project-based work, on/offshore resources, contract assignments, and permanent placement services. Technology leaders know their budgets aren’t to be taken lightly. For example, there are some tasks that that don’t justify hiring an entire team for a 6 – 9-month project. Those are times when you need our expertise in on/offshore project-based professional services to save you time and money.

 

Customers are looking for a “True Business Partner” when it comes to their professional services provider, and our clients have found that a partnership with Charter Global consistently delivers great returns on their investment. The fifth reason for professional IT recruitment involves an important factor: reputation. Precautionary measures are instilled with every candidate selected by a professional services agency, which otherwise might get overlooked. Our recruiters work tirelessly to ensure the right candidates, equipped with the right soft skills and technical skillets, are placed into the right positions. 

 

If you are considering a partnership with a professional services agency, contact one of Charter Global’s Client Engagement Managers. We would be happy to speak with you about the right services for your company.
 

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6 Ways to Own Your E-Commerce Strategy

Trends in e-commerce technology include mobility, digitization, customization, speed optimization, chatbots, and more

 

According to research conducted by BigCommerce, 80% of people in the U.S. make purchases online at least once a month. While the majority of people shop on large marketplace websites like Amazon, roughly 30 to 40% also purchase from online retailers like web stores, independent boutiques, and category-specific e-retailers. This year we’ll see several e-commerce trends emerge with the potential to transform how we shop and communicate with online stores. 

 

1) Mobile first

 
In 2016, mobile commerce sales accounted for over $25 billion in sales, an increase of more than 25%. This figure is predicted to continue to increase, reaching over $30 billion in 2017, and $42 billion by 2020. Mobile traffic has overtaken the desktop. Google is working on a new, mobile-first web index and marketing strategy. According to these trends, it’s critical to business to put mobile first, rather than simply optimizing for mobile.

 

2) Digital payments

 
Mobile payments are on the rise as smartphone users adjust to the convenience of contactless payments. Starbucks was an innovator in mobile payments, becoming one of the first to offer products based on an online payment model. In 2016, an increasing number of customers adopted digital payment methods, using their phones, cards and even watches to complete contactless payments. PureNet predicts that every customer will expect to be able to complete their transaction using a digital wallet in real time.

 

3) Personalization and Customization

 
The amount of data available increasingly allows content, ads, and products to be shown to the right people at the right time, across the web and social networks. The continuing sophistication of personalized recommendations will be trending for ecommerce this year. Retailers will embrace personalized experiences – even using e-mail marketing to cater personalized emails to consumers, rendering unique customer experiences. and Artificial Intelligence by starting to collect behavioral data like browsing history, geo location, and social media from website visitors and developing highly targeted campaigns based on customer segments and previous online experiences.

 

4) Fast delivery

 
Ecommerce delivery timescales have reduced drastically and become much faster, boosting customer relationships with ecommerce sites. Delivery and returns have always been one of the pain points of the online shopping experience, but improvements in technology have improved delivery significantly. PureNet predicts same day delivery will continue to rise in 2017, and more ecommerce integration with drop-off point providers such as Doddle.

 

5) Competitive Platforms 

 
Technology will continue to play a greater role in automating the retail experience. With the help of the latest technology, sales people will be able to focus on building relationships with customers to increase sales. In order to stay competitive, businesses must invest in high-performing ecommerce solutions. Providers such as Charter Global, apply leading technology tools to deliver customized ecommerce solutions to mid-size and Fortune 1000 companies. Experienced providers offer expertise across multiple, proven Cloud-based ecommerce platforms such as SAP HANA, SAP Business One, Magento, PCI DSS, Spring MVC (Framework ), Magnolia CMS/ Blossom module, HTML5, CSS3, JQuery, and Struts.

 

6) Chatbots

 
Chatbots are AI-led automated messenger services that allow your customers to engage with your brand via instant messenger via machine learning. Over the last few years messaging apps have exploded in popularity, and thanks to ecommerce personalization, artificial intelligence technology has been adopted by many large retailers. This year will see these two trends combine to deliver a new way of shopping and communicating.

 

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DevOps and MicroServices Form a Perfect Union

When Deployed Together, DevOps and Microservices Work Harmoniously in Application Development

 

DevOps and MicroServices offer benefits like readability, availability, and scalability when used in conjunction with one another

 

DevOps and Microservices are two very important technological trends gaining traction in the realm of software development. Both practices were designed to provide professional efficiency and better agility for enterprises. When deployed simultaneously, these two technologies form a perfect union in working to create harmony between your IT department and business units. 

 

Monolithic App Conversion

 

The microservices architecture was formed using DevOps ideologies that are in use by major companies such as Facebook, Netflix, SoundCloud, and Amazon. Most of these companies, in fact, started out with monolithic applications and grew rapidly into decomposed services. Their communication via network-based messaging protocols such as RESTful APIs eventually evolved into the microservice architecture.

 

Microservices and DevOps went beyond converting monolithic apps into decomposed services. Basically, DevOps-centric companies changed the way they work: their approaches to software development, development cultures, organizational structures and a strong affinity to cloud-based automation and infrastructure. The same is true with companies with a success record using microservices; they both drive towards development, scalability and speed. These also became the values in agile development.

 

CI/CD

 

With the adoption and growth of agile methods, other innovative microservices-based concepts began to emerge. One good example is Continuous Integration (CI). The CI concept combines agile ideologies with microservices to expedite the production and release of software, leading to the development and practice of Continuous Delivery (CD). CD has a quality-centric ideology that aims to speed up production of shippable goods.

 

Changing the Game with DevOps and Microservices

 

The microservice architecture introduced changes that were well received by most modern application creators. The result of this is evident, as the productivity rate is now higher and more flexible. Scalable solutions are now delivered to clients requesting such applications.

 

Charter Global has a dedicated team of experts who deploy microservices in our DevOps fields to create automated tasks in sustainable and high-performing environments. We do this in both smaller and larger scales

 

Here are some benefits of the DevOps-microservices synergy:

 

1) Reability: Only minimal errors are experienced with microservices. This is because faults with a microservice function only affect that microservice and its consumers, unlike a monolithic application where a fault can cause the whole monolith to fail.

 

2) Availability: It takes little downtime to release a whole new version of a particular app using microservices.

 

3) Deployability: With microservices, expect increased agility, which makes it extremely easy to update and upgrade into newer versions of a service. Agility makes the build shorter and faster, as well as the testing and deploying cycles. This also enables flexibility, service specificity in the replication, security, persistence, and monitoring of configurations.

 

4) Scalability: You can scale a microservice independently using grids, pools and/or clusters. This characteristic is what makes microservices compatible to cloud’s elasticity.

 

5) Modifiability: Imagine the possibility of easy modification due to its flexibility to new frameworks, data sources, libraries, and other valuable resources.

 

6) Management: DevOps and Microservices leverage agile methodology, which divides the application development effort across smaller and more independent teams.

 

7) Productivity: DevOps works best with Microservices to bring about additional productivity using a common tool set that functions perfectly with both development and operations.

 

 

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3 Ways to Adopt a Valuable Enterprise Cloud Strategy

Designing hybrid cloud environments and their implementation strategies are top-priorities when adopting enterprise-wide cloud computing initiatives

 

Cloud computing has become an incredibly popular model for modernizing IT portfolios. With exclusive benefits like gaining agility and speed-to-market, more and more companies are turning to public cloud software.

 

Hybrid cloud systems are a means to shuttle business applications between public clouds from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and private clouds running internally, or even hosted off-site by a provider.

 

Previously, many organizations chose one cloud services provide. Yet, because this approach lacks distinctive functionality, organizations are now recognizing the benefits of multi-cloud. Improved organizational flexibility, better performance and efficiency, and avoiding vendor lock-ins, are just a few of the benefits multi-cloud offers.

 

1. Adopting a Hybrid Cloud Environment

One trend that will see continuous traction in 2020 is procuring cloud services from two or more vendors at a time. AWS is popular for customer-facing apps, while Azure for business services and GCP for analytics compliment the execution of specific business scenarios.

 

Some chose to hold apps closely using private clouds, or, shuttle apps back and forth between public and private systems. This is often in the interest of security or financial reasons, with companies rolling back apps from public clouds to inernal systems, known as repatriation.

 

The big picture, however, points to an urgency for a strategy that ensures the entire ecosystem works synchronously, especially as the use of multiple clouds and on-premises cloud installations become more common.

 

2. Find the Right Fit

When your eyes are bigger than your stomach, you might put too much food on your plate. This is the case for companies who rely too heavily on the public cloud, who often lose money after the first 12-18 months.

 

Over-provisioning resources you won’t consume will ultimately backfire, as is the case with some application developers who accidentally leave cloud workloads running into the weekend. As a result, multi-million-dollar charges are incurred.

 

Governance can help mitigate these over-spending risks. Crafting a strategy that optimizes functionality across cloud network (both public and private), is one such way to ensure this risk mitigation.

 

 A solution known as “FinOps” is a combination of analytics software and business management practices that, upon migration to the cloud, monitors and calculates the actual rate of cloud consumption.

 

3. Modernize, Migrate, and go Cloud-Native

 

You’re probably familiar with the lift-and-shift approach for migrating apps to the cloud, which isn’t enough to drive agility if certain factors aren’t in place. Upgrading legacy applications, for example, is fundamental when moving your data center to the cloud if tackling speed-to-market initiatives.

 

Modernizing apps, whether migrating as-is or re-architecting entirely, is vital for the attainment of competitive, advantageous software. Containers and microservices also work to make apps portable and capable of breaking-down.

 

Cloud native systems like Kubernetes-esque orchestration services (think AWS, Azure, and GCP) automate deployment, scaling, and management of containers, and ultimately enable rapid-fire change and continuous delivery.

 

Challenging aspects of going cloud-native include the need to manage clusters of containers running in a multi-cloud schema. Stop-gap measures, like using VMware to run virtual servers in AWS or Azure, can help overcome these issues.

 

Irrespective of the architecture your enterprise chooses to build, don’t sacrifice long-term transformation goals your business needs for short-term cost savings.

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