Tag Archives: running business

Types of services: business analysis. To do or not to do

It is difficult to imagine a modern business without tools to support management decisions. That’s right, we are talking about business analysis (BA). Solutions for business analysis are very popular among companies operating in various fields, including IT. Business analysis is something that is necessarily used by large, medium-sized, and even small businesses today.

 

Almost any software or system allows you to collect analytical data necessary for building a strategy or making tactical decisions. The task of business analysis is to collect all the necessary data – to conduct interviews, analyse existing documents, processes, and procedures, administer a risk assessment and confirm or refute the correctness of the adopted course. The goal being to create a prototype of a business process or business process automation.

 

Administering a thorough business analysis helps us to understand the structure, and how current processes are arranged in order to identify weaknesses or vulnerabilities and consider changes to make that would improve the organization’s performance.

You can also conduct a business analysis to get a general idea of ​​the current state of the company or use it to determine the current needs of the business, form growth points to optimize costs, and speed up work.

 

How can business analysis be useful for IT projects? 

Let’s look at an example:

Mark is an entrepreneur. He wants to develop a cool app. He wrote down his idea, but… got stuck in the development phase: 

Cross-platform, hybrid, or native? Which programming language to choose, and what to leave in the functionality? And more. Time, like nerves, is wasted, and the process will not budge. Mark decides to contact a specialist and orders a business analysis (BA). The specialist conducts  all phases of research and analysis sequentially, which allowed them to:

  • define priority business goals
  • designate areas of application
  • formulate and prescribe detailed requirements for the project
  • validate Requirements
  • find effective solutions
  • develop a maintenance plan
  • develop a prototype/outline of the application.

 

As a result, based on the outcomes of the business analysis, Mark received a clearly described idea and defined goals, a technical task for developers, a technical implementation plan, exact deadlines and cost, and the necessary cash flow. Having all this data, he can safely address investors and present his idea without any problems, since the technical solution plan is already in his hands.

 

Most often, while working on a project, a business analyst takes on the following tasks:

  • Requirements management: their identification, preparation, and specification, separation of requests into requirements and some “not very important Wishlist”, setting of tasks for developers.
  • Strategic analysis: in many companies, the BA works with top management on the development strategy of the company and the project, because he or she knows the product best.
  • Designing solutions: preparing documentation and, at times, prototyping. Presentation of everything they have come up with to convey to the team how solutions will be developed and implemented.
  • Product Management: communication with designers, engineers, stakeholders, and business product owners.

 

What will we get as an outcome of business analysis?

  1. Wireframes – a schematic representation of the programming interface
  2. A prototype – a dynamic representation of a programming interface for testing UX
  3. A software requirements specification which is a document that describes what the software will do and how it will work. It includes:
  • User stories – short, simple descriptions of features, told from the point of view of a user or client of the system.
  • Acceptance criteria – the conditions that a software product must meet in order to be accepted by a user, client, or another system.
  • Data flow diagrams, entity-relationship diagrams, etc.

       4. Accurate quotation and project plan.

 

The Itera Research team offers its clients a full BA service, which is able to help at any stage of project development. Why should you use such a service?

  1. BA services are cheaper than making changes to the product code
  2. Providing solutions that can cut costs with unique project-specific tools
  3. Accurate time and budget estimates are made
  4. Reduced time and effort for testing
  5. Optimization of management and distribution of tasks, to decrease time and reduce costs of development. 

As a result, the client receives all the necessary materials for the successful implementation of the project. So think about it, does your idea need business analysis?

 

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Case study: Redo cannot be updated

Why throw a system away if it works?

This dilemma exists not only in the post-Soviet space but throughout the world. Inevitably,  there comes a moment when a company needs to decide that “it’s time”; when the complete replacement of an obsolete mechanism or process will make a striking difference.

Understandably, not everyone is ready to take the step of completely replacing older systems, at least not all at once, because it means investing money and time. An internal rule of Itera Research is: if you can do the money/time analysis – do it. In this article, we examine the reason why we adhere to such a policy and what it tells us. 

Starting point

This case was particularly difficult, primarily because the ERP system was written using outdated Microsoft technologies. The task was to uncover missing functionalities and provide further support and development. There were two options for development: 

  1. To refine the existing system OR
  2. Transfer the functionality to a new platform and continue development on new software.

The customer company for which the system was developed has been producing prototypes for precision sheet metal components for mobile, automotive, medical and industrial products since 1995. As it turned out, the customer lacked essential functionality to meet the current needs of the industry. In addition, the code was developed so long ago that there were simply no specialists who could support the current systems in place. These are rare dinosaurs that are difficult to find, to put it mildly. It had undergone several changes and been updated and refined by different developers and, ultimately, no longer satisfied the business owner’s needs.

As stated before, the system was very old. It was developed 15 years prior, at the start of the business. We easily uncovered several issues. Not only was the system developed and maintained by different developers, but there was also no documentation of the updates. So, in this case, it was simply impossible to evaluate the project. It was also extremely challenging to evaluate the development of a new system because it was not clear what was needed and what could be eliminated.

Furthermore, the purchase of ready-made software, in addition to the high price, did not meet the needs of the company. As a result, it was decided that it would be more cost-efficient and timely to create a completely new system.

Why Business Analysis Matters

Before starting the work, it was necessary to choose an approach: Evaluate time and materials or walk through the stages of business analysis, with additional technical analysis included.

This initial evaluation found the following: a lack of documentation, tasks that were superficially constructed, and no time to clarify details. When working with someone else’s code, it is difficult to determine the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the architecture, which in turn, can lead to latency. Upon initial analysis of the current system, it was found that the segment of missing information was too large, thus it was decided to conduct a business analysis. 

Consistent communication is crucial throughout the stages of business analysis. We conducted a number of workshops, where our business analysts communicated with different departments, collected user experience, and found out, in detail, the flow for each employee. The client and his staff came to our office to improve the process several times throughout this process.

In addition, we conducted a full analysis of the competitors’ systems in order to find out all the disadvantages and advantages of the current functionality and find ways to improve those.

As a result, the customer understood the following:

  1. The approximate level of costs
  2. The duration of possible development 
  3. They received 
    1. an understanding of the details of the system
    2. an outline of the functionality 
    3. Documentation of the plans, assuring any development company could understand what it is and how it works, regardless of who is involved in the project.

Find. Throw it away. Refresh.

Our cooperation began in July 2019. After a series of workshops, we plunged into business processes to think over the addition of old modules and the functionality of new ones. In the process of studying the technical side of the implementation, the architect found a number of technical problems that, in the case of using the old system, resulted in future business problems.

This information was a clear sign that development of a new system was necessary. After providing all the necessary documentation for the new modules and calculating the number of hours for new development, in the case of working with both the old and the new system, we transferred the data to the client.

Having jointly assessed the risks, and the pros and cons of each of the options, it turned out that the development of a new system was even more profitable than adapting the old one.

As a result, a new ERP system was created.

Outcome

Thanks to timely business analysis, the client saw the positive and negative sides of the existing system, estimated the risks and costs, and made a balanced and rational choice.

 

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Itera Research Named a 2020 Top Software Developer in Ukraine Award Recipient

“We are really proud of being named a 2020 Clutch Leader amongst the top B2B companies in Ukraine!” – Dmitry Kornilich, CTO

From artificial intelligence to 5G to edge computing, there are so many up-and-coming trends and technologies in the software development space that it can be hard to keep up! However, there’s no need for you to worry – that’s exactly why we’re here!

Since 2004, we’ve been established as a software and hardware development company providing outsourcing and outstaffing to the international market. We’re headquartered in Kharkiv and we have representative offices in Germany and the US. 

Since our inception, we’ve gained a number of competencies that allow us to declare our expertise in education, tourism, logistics, smart city, and finance. These include, but aren’t limited to, IoT, eLearning, CRM, ERP solutions for business automation as well as a variety of state projects for Ukraine, Germany, and the US.

Many of our projects have been featured on our Clutch profile. These client reviews help validate our successes and recognize our team members’ contributions to their projects.

“Working with Itera has been a pleasure for us. . . It is also worth noting that the majority of development is hitting the mark on the first try with minimal adjustments and revisions.” – CD, Music Distribution Company

Seeing the satisfaction and happiness that our clients have after we’ve delivered their solution is validation enough, but it is with much excitement and eagerness that we announce our exciting news.

Recently, we received an award for being a 2020 top software development company in Ukraine. This means we’ve been highlighted by Clutch for being a leader in our field and having a strong commitment to high-quality customer service.

With this, we would like to recognize our customers. Thank you so much for your partnership! Our team couldn’t have received this award without you. We take pride in being your development agency and look forward to our future work with you.

Get in touch with us if you’d like to start your next project!

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Education technologies: how to make your product useful and engaging? Part.1 Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality

Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality

Are you trying to decide which direction to take your new tech business? The field of educational technology and programs is an excellent choice. After researching this topic, we offer our recommendations here. 

One Thing is Clear

Our research shows educational products are a very promising option for development, and over time the popularity of such virtual solutions will only grow.

Every year the number of EdTech tools for the education system is increasing, and as a result of the rapid spread of the virus, the market has grown 10-15 times in the last 30 days. This growth is because teachers, educational institutions, and companies that use new technologies gain advantages over their opponents. We have prepared an impressive list of cutting-edge educational technologies that can attract even more consumers to these products. 

In this article, we will begin to consider virtual and augmented reality. In the following parts, we will analyze in detail a complete list of these technologies.

 

Virtual and Augmented Reality Technology 

Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR). Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies are seeking to reach their peak. International Data Corporation estimates that in 2019 the market volume was 16.8 billion dollars, and by 2023 the market volume may reach 160 billion dollars. These forecasts do not take into account the momentary rapid growth of the market. 

Many of these AR/VR developments have been successfully applied to education. Images, sounds, and the immersion effect only accelerate information learning. Business coaches, teachers, and students can learn different disciplines with AR and VR-enabled devices.

 

Virtual Reality in Action

VR videos are gaining popularity, with 360° viewing angles that can be viewed through virtual reality glasses. This immersive learning experience attracts students much more than what they are used to in their day-to-day presentations and lectures.

 

Using VR To Introduce Concepts and Experiences

Many of these virtual ideas have already been implemented in the classroom. For example, an American school for elementary-aged students has created a virtual excursion: a tour of the classrooms and corridors of a middle or high school. This helps school children learn about the new place in advance. This allows students to feel more comfortable with the idea of moving from elementary or middle school to the next level in an immersive, low-stress environment.

 

Travel, Experimenting, and Fighting Crime

Some schools use virtual reality to create an experience. Students ride on roller coasters, walk in an amusement park, drive a car. A school in Ireland has recreated selected historical sites using 3D modeling software.

Students in the Czech Republic already use VR controllers for biological and chemical experiments. For example, they penetrate the human eye and manipulate their parts to understand how they work. In addition, the British University has created a virtual space for criminology students, where they hunt for evidence to solve a crime.

 

Virtual Reality in Business

VR is also ideal for the HR field. It allows large corporations to create their own worlds. Worlds in which you can create complete training scenarios: repair, installation, disassembly. This allows large-scale training of new or inexperienced employees to work with real objects without the objects themselves.

 

Augmented Reality in Action

Augmented Reality Technologies (AR) can design digital information (images, video, text, graphics) on top of device screens and combine virtual objects with the real environment. Augmented Reality can work at the level of visual images and the level of sensations. This technology will actually develop and will find a wider application than VR. AR has not yet reached the peak of its capabilities. 

 

Augmented Reality in the Classroom

As an example of the potential use and technology effectiveness, a series of experiments was conducted in which one group of children was shown visual material with AR during the lessons, and for the second group, the students were shown visual materials using posters and diagrams. 

It was revealed that in the group where augmented reality was used, children’s percentage of information assimilation approached 90%. In addition, the level of discipline increased, and it was possible to keep the attention of about 95% of the audience. The results in the group with two-dimensional examples showed all indicators were half or three times less.

Using AR technologies allows you to create micro-applications with interesting content without restrictions. You can expect to see many quests, immersive shows, and simple educational videos in the future using AR technology. 

 

Augmented Reality in Special Education

AR technologies can also play an important role in educating children with physical, social, or cognitive disabilities. After all, AR technologies can create an opportunity for an inclusive learning environment tailored to everyone’s needs and capabilities. For example, augmented reality gloves that mimic the touch and allow visually impaired learners to hear the teacher and feel the objects they need.

Adding Modern Technologies is no longer just an idea … it’s essential

Modern technologies help to inspire, involve, and motivate students and facilitate the educational process. But the real value of technology is to personalize learning for each learner – creating an adaptive learning environment. Modern online learning systems must listen to the needs of society and quickly implement changes using new technologies to effectively reach the potential of learners and employees and maximize understanding and business benefits.

 

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7 tips on how to organize yourself to work remote

The current circumstances and rapidly developing situation in the world forced us to work remotely. It only seems that working at home, you will free up a lot of time that you previously spent on travel, chatter with colleagues and endless, sometimes unnecessary meetings. In fact, when a sofa and a TV are comfortably located near your workplace, the cake smells in the kitchen and a cat is circling around the apartment, it can be difficult to concentrate. Many people admit that at home they simply can’t tune in to work. We have prepared a number of tips on how to organize your remote work as quickly and efficiently as possible.

1. At the first step of getting used to the remote-mode, determine the place of work. For example, if you are working on a laptop, you need a separate desk. And it should not be a dining table or bedside table in the bedroom. Highlight a separate space and create an atmosphere. Remove all unnecessary things. Of course, everyone has their own concepts of order. You are likely to sit down to read a new magazine if it is in your vision area. Or will not deny yourself to a coffee break by spotting your favorite cup. But this is not so bad. The biggest distraction is a mess in the room. Taking away all unnecessary items, you will better concentrate directly on the work.

2. Try to wake up on an alarm clock every morning. No matter how great the temptation to lie in bed till dinner, still force yourself to start work right in the morning. Be certain to get up an hour before the usual start of work. Make normal in social life actions: make coffee, have breakfast if you have a habit, make yourself presentable, put on jeans and a T-shirt (read to force yourself to take off your pajamas).

3. Daily online meeting. Be sure to hold an everyday morning video meeting for 5-10 minutes. Why a video meeting? You have already prepared for work and make yourself presentable. This will help you to concentrate and get started at a specific time, rather than staying with a laptop in your pajamas under the blanket.

4. Plan and remind. After the video meeting, you will understand how many tasks you are facing on the current day. You will learn to optimize your time. When planning your day, be sure to leave time for breaks. Even if you know that it takes, for example, four hours to complete a task, you should not expect that all this time you will work without rest. Experts have calculated that an adult can work for an hour without distraction. Then it’s useful to take a 5-7-minute break. Distracting from work, leave yourself a note about what you did before. At home, we are distracted by any extraneous moments, so for some time you need to help yourself with “reminders”. Specialists call this method of planning the “Swiss cheese method”. The bottom line is simple: you just need to leave “holes” in your schedule for relaxation and unplanned activities.

5. Consider nutrition. Staying for a whole working day at home, it is likely to you to spend it with tea and cookies or to constantly go out of business to look again in the refrigerator. Remember that at home you decide what kind of food will be on your plate – this applies to the main meals and snacks. To limit the number of approaches to the refrigerator, you can try to set an alarm clock or set reminders on your smartphone that it’s time to take a break (for lunch or for a snack). This is better than eating directly at the computer: during work, you can quietly eat more than you would like, and it is more difficult to pay attention to the taste of your dishes.

6. Figure out with household chores. Many people think that working from home will help them to do twice as much – to complete work tasks, and at the same time to do household chores. Most likely, the opposite is true: if you are trying to solve a serious issue, your household chores will only be distracting – at least because you won’t be able to focus on one thing. The main thing to remember is that during working hours it is work that must remain a priority – and that it is impossible to manage everything at once.

7. Weekend – to relax. If sitting in the office around the clock is unlikely to succeed, then at home this is quite achievable. But it is impossible to maintain such an intense rhythm for a long time, a person begins to suffer from overwork and can no longer perform his duties well enough. It is useful to end your working day at certain times, devoting weekends and evenings to relaxation and personal matters. Try to accustom to this and colleagues with whom you are in contact. Explain to them that remote work does not mean that you are available for their calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the evenings and on weekends, you can afford to turn off the phone and not check the email.

We wish you all good health and productive remote work!

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How The Visit To The Remote Team Can Help Our Clients

In today’s world – employment, speed, and communications – it is less and less possible to lure a client into an office. Nevertheless, meeting with an important client in your office is a very useful event that helps to establish a trusting relationship.

Exactly a year ago, on November 8, 2018, Paul from Australia came to our office together with his wife. He was very pleased with his visit, despite the long journey and the time difference. It helped us to better feel his pains and fears. Moving forward on difficult issues. 

A customer visit is a pleasant and vibrant event for most IT companies. We really would like to share how the visit to the remote team can help our clients. 

  • Yes, we are real! We always offer the client to come to visit us, look at the office and personally get to know the team. This works well to increase confidence, even if the client never gathers for a meeting – you do not hide, do not pretend to be invisible and are as open as possible.
  • We have a great professional team! Introduce a few people from the team to the client and explain that no one will be lost and that he can contact different people in case of an emergency.
  • You can easily evaluate the size of the company. There are a lot of examples when it is written on popular web resources that “we are US-based company”, but it turns out to be a company in the basement with two people.
  • Technical equipment. The office of the company is fully equipped with modern technics and software. There is a complete pool of devices for testing projects.
  • A personal meeting with the team allows you to convey the value of the project that the client feels. The team gets the right attitude and is motivated to achieve success and good progress in work.

We are always glad to see clients in our office or set up an in-person meeting whatever it could be. A motivated team that clearly understands the client’s values is the key to the project’s success and more contribution to the final result.

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Top 3 Reasons That Startups Fail

Launching a new startup, either online or offline is quite a risky journey, but more and more people are being encouraged to offer new services and products. At the same time, however, more and more startups are failing. According to Harvard Business School research, 70 to 80% of all startups fail to deliver a return on investment and a whopping 90 to 95% fall short of meeting projections. Many experts agree that 50 to 90% of all startups shut down completely within the first few years.
We conducted research to find out what entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and angel investors think are the main reasons for such failures. We could post a long list, however we will indicate what in our view the top three reasons are.

Market Failure

Despite being the topic of much discussion in startup communities, market failure is the number one reason. Startups tend to develop products for themselves. They think they have identified a problem and how to solve it, ignoring the fact that users are already solving that problem. A solution is often too far from what the market needs. As a result, the market doesn’t need the product, the market doesn’t understand the product, or the market doesn’t know of the product.

Not Selling Before Launching

After getting their first investment, startups want to implement too many “nice to have” features instead of focusing just on MVP. As a result, startups work too hard on the product and not enough with the market to build a user/customer base.

Wrong Team

Startups tend to hire friends, freelancers or low-cost programmers instead of established companies. They do this because they want to implement more features for less money. As a result they offer a substandard solution in a short amount of time that, while it may solve the user’s problem, is buggy and hard to use. As a result, startups lose users right from the start.

Summary

Before launching a new business it is crucial to research the market. Determine what your audience is, the best way to reach it and tailor your communication, what the problem is, how it is being solved currently, how big the market is, whether there are any competitors, what they are offering and how, etc. The research should be comprehensive because knowing the market is the key to success.
Once the market has been defined, the next step is to test it with a high-quality MVP. It should include only features that solve users’ problems and nothing else. It should be clear and easy to navigate so everyone can understand and use it.
Development of a startup infrastructure is highly important. The technical team is the base of the whole online business. The development team should be competent, experienced, dedicated to being the best and building great products together.

Sincerely,
Itera Research Team

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