Automating workflow approvals for real estate can revolutionize the way your business operates. The process of buying and selling real estate can be complex and time-consuming, but with the use of an Elasticsearch engine, it becomes a lot more manageable.

The Elasticsearch engine is a highly efficient tool for automating workflow approvals in real estate. It uses advanced algorithms to analyze vast amounts of data in real-time and provide relevant information to stakeholders. This enables real estate professionals to make informed decisions quickly and effectively. Additionally, with automation, the risk of human error is greatly reduced, leading to a more consistent and accurate approval process. By adopting Elasticsearch engine technology, real estate businesses can save time, increase productivity, and improve customer satisfaction.

What is the importance of Real Estate and Automating Workflow Approvals

The importance of real estate and automating workflow approvals include:

• Increased Efficiency: Automated workflows eliminate manual processes and save time, resulting in increased productivity and efficiency.
• Improved Accuracy: Automated workflows reduce the risk of human error and improve the accuracy of data and approvals.
• Better Visibility: Automated workflows provide real-time visibility into the status of approvals and work progress.
• Enhanced Collaboration: Automated workflows enable real-time collaboration among team members, stakeholders, and clients.
• Cost Savings: Automating workflow approvals can help reduce operational costs by streamlining processes and reducing the need for manual labor.

What is the significance of Real Estate in the digital era

The significance of real estate in the digital era is as follows:

• Increased Accessibility: Technology has made real estate information and services more accessible to consumers and clients, enabling them to make informed decisions about buying and selling properties.
• Improved Marketing: Digital tools and platforms allow real estate agents and brokers to reach a wider audience and market properties more effectively.
• Better Customer Experience: The use of digital technologies, such as virtual tours and online portals, enhances the customer experience and makes it easier for clients to manage their properties.
• Data-Driven Insights: The availability of data and analytics tools in the digital era allows real estate professionals to make data-driven decisions and improve their performance.
• Streamlined Processes: Technology has streamlined many aspects of the real estate industry, from property search and evaluation to closing deals and managing properties.

However, the integration of technology has had a major impact on the real estate industry and continues to shape the way real estate is bought, sold, and managed in the digital era.

What are workflow management processes of the real estate industry?

The process of coordinating and organizing the many tasks and operations involved in purchasing, selling, or managing real estate properties is referred to as workflow management in the real estate sector. This can involve activities including putting up listings for rental or sale homes, negotiating contracts, finishing up inspections and appraisals, and finalizing deals.

Here are some typical steps in a workflow process for real estate

Marketing, lead generation, and lead qualification: This entails publicizing homes for sale or rent and luring prospective buyers or tenants through a variety of channels, including listings websites, social media, and conventional advertising. To identify the leads that are most likely to result in a sale or rental, leads must first be qualified. Assessing their financial capacity and desire to buy or rent may be necessary for this.

The next step is to show a qualified lead the property and address any questions they may have. The parameters of the sale or rental, such as the price, closing date, and any contingencies, may be negotiated whenever a prospective buyer or renter expresses interest in a property.

How do organizations use workflow management processes

Workflow management processes are used by organizations to manage and automate the flow of work within a business. Some of the ways organizations use workflow management processes include:

Workflow management processes are essential for organizations looking to improve their efficiency, accuracy, and speed. By automating routine tasks, employees are freed up to focus on more strategic and value-adding tasks. This not only improves overall productivity but also reduces the risk of errors. In addition to process automation, workflow management processes provide a clear and transparent view of tasks, deadlines, and responsibilities. This enables employees to prioritize and manage their workload effectively, ensuring that all tasks are completed on time and to a high standard. Whether it’s improving customer satisfaction, reducing costs, or increasing revenue, workflow management processes play a key role in the success of any organization.

Workflow management processes are not just about improving efficiency, they also support collaboration and coordination, decision making, and compliance. By facilitating collaboration and coordination between teams and departments, organizations can work together efficiently to achieve shared goals. Additionally, workflow management processes provide the information and data needed to make informed decisions and track progress towards goals. This helps organizations make better decisions and achieve their goals more effectively.

Finally, workflow management procedures assist organisations in adhering to legal requirements by offering a transparent and auditable record of actions and choices. For businesses operating in highly regulated fields like finance or healthcare, where compliance is essential, this is crucial. Organizations can accomplish their objectives, enhance collaboration and coordination, make informed decisions, and adhere to regulations by putting in place effective workflow management processes.

What are the issues with workflow management processes in real estate based on legacy technology?

Workflow management processes in real estate that are based on legacy technology can face several issues including:

Legacy technology can be a hindrance to the success of an organization. It can lead to inefficiencies and delays in workflow processes, making it difficult for organizations to keep up with the demands of today’s fast-paced business environment. In addition, legacy technology may not integrate well with other systems and technologies, making it difficult to exchange data and collaborate effectively. This can be particularly challenging for organizations that rely on accurate data to make informed decisions. Furthermore, legacy technology can suffer from data inaccuracies, particularly when data is manually entered, leading to incorrect decision making. By recognizing the limitations of legacy technology and embracing new, more advanced solutions, organizations can overcome these challenges and take their workflow processes to the next level.

• Lack of Scalability: Legacy technology may not be scalable to accommodate the growth of the business or changes in the market, leading to limitations on the ability to respond to new opportunities.
• Security Risks: Legacy technology can present security risks, particularly when it comes to protecting sensitive information, such as client data.

How different is modern day workflow management processes in real estate Using Elasticsearch Engine compared to legacy technology?

Elasticsearch Engine offers modern workflow management processes for real estate, significantly different from legacy technology. It provides fast and scalable search capabilities, enabling real estate organizations to quickly access and analyze large amounts of data. It is also highly flexible and can adapt to changing business needs and new data sources. In comparison, legacy technology is slow, inflexible and difficult to adapt, making it less suitable for today’s fast-paced real estate market. By using Elasticsearch Engine for workflow management processes, real estate organizations can improve their operations, stay ahead of the competition, and provide a better experience for their customers.

One of the key benefits of using Elasticsearch Engine for workflow management processes in real estate is its ability to easily integrate with other systems and technologies. This enables real estate organizations to exchange data and collaborate effectively, making it easier for them to make informed decisions and achieve their goals. In contrast, legacy technology may not integrate well with other systems, leading to data silos and limited collaboration. This can make it difficult for organizations to access and use the data they need to make informed decisions and achieve their goals.

Another advantage of using the Elasticsearch Engine provides real estate organizations with accurate and reliable data for workflow management processes. Unlike legacy technology that can suffer from data inaccuracies, Elasticsearch Engine offers a centralized repository for data and real-time analysis to ensure accuracy. Additionally, it has robust security features such as encryption and access control, making it suitable for regulated industries and handling sensitive information. With its centralized data, real-time analysis, and security measures, Elasticsearch Engine is an ideal choice for workflow management processes in real estate, helping organizations achieve their goals and stay ahead of the competition.

Indium has a proven track record of success in the field of real estate automation. Our expertise in the use of cutting-edge technologies like Python (ETL), Crontab (Automation/Scheduling), AWS S3, AWS EC2, and JavaScript (UI) has enabled us to help businesses streamline their operations and improve their workflow management processes. With a focus on reducing inefficiencies and increasing productivity, our success story with one of our clients showcases our ability to deliver results and make a real impact in the industry.

About the Client

The client is well-known for offering its clients top-notch services because of the length of time it has been in the real estate business. To assist buyers and sellers in making wise real estate investment decisions, the platform is user-friendly and provides a wide range of tools and resources. The client has maintained a competitive edge and improved the experience for its customers by putting a strong emphasis on innovation and technology. In addition to helping clients find their ideal home, the business is committed to giving them the highest level of customer care. The client is here to support you in realizing your objectives, whether you’re a novice home buyer or a seasoned investor.

Project Overview

The client, a provider of real estate brokerage services, is seeking to automate the license management workflow of its platform. The current process involves manual search and validation of licensee information from 50 States, leading to unproductive use of employees and a lengthy approval process. The goal of the project is to reduce manual intervention, improve the approval process, and track user engagement metrics for both customers and agents.

What were the issues with our client’s Diagnostics Management Application?

• Extensive manual intervention required in license management workflow
• License information for 50 States manually searched and validated by managers for approval steps
• Unproductive utilization of employees
• Slow and inefficient approval process
• Need for a solution to reduce non-value hours of staff and improve decision support process.

Business Requirements

• Automated license validation of data files received from 50 different states
• Scalable solution to handle increasing number of data inputs and states
• Admin Console for approval managers to monitor data updates
• Monitor frequency and time of data updates in the Admin Console

Planning and due diligence

• Copied data updates into Amazon S3 in a timely manner
• Created an ETL pipeline with Python API for data updates and new files
• Performed Data Quality Validations on pipeline data
• Data Indexed into Elasticsearch engine for 50 States data files
• Integrated solution with approval workflow and automated next validation steps
• Created a web service/UI for business users to query license approval information
• Optimized database by stress testing the business user console (UI)

The results delivered were:

• The manual license approval process was accelerated by 75%
• Automated successful validations of heavy license data handling from each file for each state in approximately 10 minutes
• Implemented a Data Indexing Solution for 50 states with an architecture capable of handling any number of new states.
• Provided dynamic querying abilities with Elasticsearch implementation
• The business user console was optimized to handle up to 1000 requests per second.

Another success story that may be of interest to you is: Application Performance Engineering Using Elasticsearch For A Global Supply Chain Company

Based on the results delivered, Indium has a strong track record of delivering high-quality and efficient solutions in the field of data handling and management. With the ability to automate manual processes and increase speed and efficiency, Indium can help organizations save time and resources while also improving the accuracy and reliability of their data. Additionally, the dynamic querying abilities provided by the Elasticsearch implementation and the optimization of the business user console demonstrate Indium’s expertise in developing innovative and user-friendly solutions. These capabilities, combined with the company’s ability to handle large amounts of data, make Indium a valuable partner for organizations looking to streamline their operations and stay ahead in their respective industries.

The post Streamlining Real Estate Operations: How Elasticsearch Engine Automation is Revolutionizing Workflow Approvals appeared first on Indium.

So, how do companies ensure they have a properly designed website or app that serves its purpose to the letter? Well, full-stack development is the answer! Businesses find full stack development ideal, as it covers both the backend and frontend sides of the portal. If you’re looking to embrace full stack development for your portal but have doubts, here is why you should give it a shot and a success story to inspire you.

What is Full Stack Development?

Full stack development is the end-to-end software development approach, which encompasses both front and back ends. The front end covers the user interface elements (UI), whereas the back end covers various “internal” components, such as application workflows and business logic.

In full-stack development, developers work on a product’s server-side and client-facing components, whether a website, web or mobile application. Since full-stack developers can work simultaneously on both front and back ends, they build better products faster and more efficiently.

Why Should Businesses Embrace Full Stack Development?

As a company, you want to get the best results and services from your website or application. Full-stack development enables you to build state-of-the-art products by integrating the latest technologies to streamline the development process and enhance the efficiency of your software. Here are some top reasons why you should choose full-stack development for your company:

1. Streamlined Operations and Improved Efficiency

Full-stack development allows organizations to speed up app development and transformation to improve their operations. Embracing full-stack development enables you to build dynamic solutions that can adapt to changing user demands and automate various processes.

For instance, a custom-built document management system designed using the full stack development approach can help manage various elements, such as new sales, warranties, and services. Such a solution can store a wide range of document types, including images, Word-Files and PDFs. Various programming languages can be used to integrate features, such as filter and search options, to ease website navigation and enhance the ability to find documents. All these features minimise process delays, reduce overreliance on spreadsheets, and improve the overall process effectiveness.

2. Enhanced User Experience

User experience (UX) is important as it tries to satisfy the customer’s needs. Creating an outstanding user experience is crucial because it helps maintain customers and build brand loyalty. Also, a meaningful UX enables you to define your customer journey throughout your website, which is key to improving your products.

With full-stack development, you can build solutions that go above and beyond to meet your customer’s demands. For instance, it allows you to integrate analytics for monitoring and analyzing customer engagement and communication systems to help you stay connected with your customers. This way, you can enhance your competitive power by delivering customer-centric services.

3. 100% Ownership

Companies often rely on third-party applications to process various services. This means they don’t have total control over the services they deliver. Also, third-party service providers usually charge high licence costs while offering less-customizable solutions. What’s more, it puts your applications and data at risk should a security breach occur in the third-party processes.

However, full-stack development enables you to create custom internal solutions that address your unique requirements. To meet the demands of emerging markets, these solutions are highly adaptable. Additionally, you will have total control over the product, which implies that neither your data nor your applications are accessible to any third-party providers.

4. Saves Time and Cost

Full-stack development enables businesses to build and deploy apps faster and more efficiently because developers have end-to-end company visibility. Also, it facilitates seamless transitioning between frontend and backend elements since developers can manage both sides. What’s more, you only need a few individuals to get the job done, sparing huge contractual and operational costs.

Read this as well; it might be interesting: Increased Revenue Can Be Achieved Through Rapid Application Development.

Applying Full Stack Development: A Success Story Client

The client is a pioneer in providing technology-related and consulting services to the power and utility industry. Functioning in diverse fields, such as transmission, distribution, line construction inspection, material inspection, and so on, requires an in-house web portal that builds dynamic forms for line construction inspection. At first, the client was using a third-party application for their portal. This application wasn’t cost-effective, as the client incurred high license costs. Also, the app had limited customizability, which restricted the client from adopting business-specific services and features.

Business Requirements

The client encountered a number of issues with the form builder portal that was already in place. The following requirements required the development of a new, customised dynamic portal:

• Create a multi-sided and dynamic form builder portal that meets the client’s requirements
• Integrate several built-in features, such as monitoring day-to-day tasks, feeding transmission line details, and generating automated workflows.
• Reduce the time required to generate a form
• Create a highly responsive and automated web portal that could effectively manage large volumes of data.

Planning Preparation

To create an effective, business-specific custom form builder portal, Indium Software, a leading tech solutions provider, performed an assessment to determine pitfalls in the current form builder portal. Some key findings were:

• The current form builder portal was inefficient, time-consuming, and expensive.
• Basic functionalities such as data retrieval and processing require manual intervention
• The existing portal for the form builder was static and had limited functionalities, which couldn’t be extended, making it difficult for the client to adapt to changes in user demands.

Solution

A custom portal for the form builder was created by Indium Software’s team of certified full-stack developers as a way to address the outlined business requirements. Following were the steps that made up this remedy:

• Building an interactive multi-sided web portal developed using open-source technologies
• Using Sisense JavaScript dashboards that are embedded into the Universal Windows Platform using iFrame.
• Adopting single sign-on (authentication using Auth0) to minimize password fatigue and allow only relevant records to be viewed by each logged-in user
• Building a UI that allows the admin user to create a responsive form with drag-and-drop options and archival functionalities.

The full-stack development team at Indium used a number of tools, including Angular 8 for the front-end user interface and the frontend backend, as well as MongoDB, REST API, Java, and Spring Boot framework for the backend. Admin users would be able to view APIs and audit logs with the new portal. Additionally, the new portal offered the ability to dynamically enable the creation and triggering of workflows (assign, email notifications, etc.) for each form, as well as the ability to create email templates with tokens for each form. Additionally, users would use the portal to upload any kind of media files to the S3 bucket.

Business Impact

The client benefited significantly from adopting Indium Software as their full-stack development partner. Here are the key highlights of what the business achieved:

• The time required to create a form was reduced by 70%
• 85% of the system functionalities were automated, including data retrieval, QA report generation, and data processing.
• By leveraging Auth0 and SSO authentication, the security was enhanced by 80%
• The real-time dashboard in a unified web portal elevated customer satisfaction and improved the user experience

The post Frontend to Backend: How Full Stack Technology Can Help You Build Custom application Development appeared first on Indium.

To create policies and procedures that promote the greatest possible patient outcomes, quality assurance (QA) teams at healthcare facilities work across the system. That entails making sure that a wide range of rules, guidelines, and laws at the federal, state, and local levels are followed, as well as devising internal strategies to promote the provision of high-quality healthcare and the general wellbeing of the community the organization serves.

What is healthcare administration ecosystem?

The management and direction of healthcare organizations, such as hospitals, clinics, and other forms of healthcare institutions, are referred to as healthcare administration. To provide healthcare services to the public, a variety of various organizations and stakeholders collaborate within the healthcare administration ecosystem.

These stakeholders include the administrative employees who manage the daily operations of healthcare institutions as well as healthcare providers like doctors and nurses. The insurance industry, governmental entities, and regulatory bodies are all part of the healthcare administration ecosystem, and they all contribute to the development and smooth operation of the healthcare system.

How do organizations use healthcare administration ecosystem

The healthcare administration ecosystem is used by healthcare organizations to plan and control the provision of healthcare services. This involves overseeing the different divisions and jobs performed by a healthcare facility, including clinical care, accounting, human resources, and information technology. Healthcare administrators also make sure that the facility is meeting the needs of the community and patients, as well as all applicable laws, regulations, and standards.

Additionally, healthcare organizations can work with insurance firms, regulatory bodies, and other healthcare organizations to enhance the effectiveness and quality of care by utilizing the ecosystem for healthcare management. For instance, a hospital might collaborate with an insurance provider to create a patient payment schedule or with a regulatory body to make sure the institution complies with all relevant safety and quality standards.

Overall, the delivery of healthcare services depends heavily on the complex and interrelated healthcare administration environment. Healthcare providers can provide better care to their clients and the public at large by cooperating with one another.

What are the issues with healthcare administration ecosystem based on legacy technologies?

When healthcare companies rely on old technologies inside the healthcare administration ecosystem, several problems may occur.

One problem is that older technologies might not be able to keep up with the healthcare system’s evolving needs and rising demand. For instance, the volume of data and information produced by contemporary healthcare facilities may be too much for older systems to handle, causing bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Additionally, it may be challenging to interact with or exchange data with other businesses within the healthcare administration ecosystem if legacy technologies are incompatible with more modern systems or technology.

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The fact that outdated technologies might not be safe or in compliance with present laws and standards is another problem. Data breaches and cyberattacks are more likely as the healthcare sector grows more digital, endangering patient privacy and endangering the business. Legacy technologies might not be protected against these attacks by the proper security measures, which could result in regulatory penalties and reputational harm.

Finally, maintaining and upgrading legacy technologies can be costly because they may need specialized resources and expertise that are hard to come by. It may be difficult for the companies to invest in more cutting-edge and efficient technologies as a result of this drain on resources.

What are the needs of a modern-day healthcare administration ecosystem using QA and a data segregation framework?

Using a quality assurance (QA) programme with data segregation architecture can help meet several needs of the contemporary healthcare administration ecosystem, including the following:

A QA program can assist healthcare organizations in locating and addressing areas where patient care delivery can be improved. This could entail gathering and examining data on patient outcomes, running audits and reviews, and putting right any problems that are found. Sensitive patient data can be protected by healthcare organizations by being divided into several categories or “segments” according to the level of sensitivity. This can lessen the likelihood of data breaches and help prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information.

Healthcare organizations can comply with the requirements of numerous laws, regulations, and standards, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, by using both QA programmes and data segregation frameworks (HIPAA). These programmes can assist healthcare businesses in operating more effectively and cost-effectively by detecting and correcting inefficiencies and waste. 

Overall, the QA programmes and data segregation frameworks can assist contemporary healthcare administration ecosystems in providing patients with care that is higher-quality, more effective, and more cost-effective while also addressing the needs of all stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem.

The Success Story

The client is a leading global provider of advisory solutions for health plans and a range of value-added services in the healthcare technology sector. Utilizing technology to provide solutions that ease business administration procedures, healthcare partner management, and automated medical care is the key to their services.

What were the issues with our client’s administration ecosystem?

• The client’s business-admin management portal was updated from the legacy systems, which had problems with data operations in siloed databases for distinct healthcare partners and their associated members.
• The system was upgraded with a multi-tenancy structure and segregated databases that demonstrate efficient querying and analysis.
• The Data Integrity and Security were in jeopardy during the system upgrade process and necessitated extensive Validations.

What are the business requirements?

• To confirm that the Data Segregation Framework is suitable for mapping access privileges and possible data breach escalations.
• Verify the data integrity of all aspects of the business flow, including on boarding, profiles, health plans, and the business rules that govern them.

How we did it

• To make sure there are no gaps in test coverage, a strong test strategy was defined and then carried out in accordance with the business flow.
• Developed a reliable test design requires in-depth knowledge of the Data Segregation Framework at the functional and database levels.
• In-depth business rules were included in the workflow’s on boarding process and customizations based on plan choices, including setting up benefit amounts and caps, restricting shipments, activating emergency plans, etc.
• Logical QA checks on the application of “security filters” for Partner group access. This QA criteria was fulfilled by performing user hierarchy-based tests; only the right partners and their members shall have access to information that is relevant to them.
• Information Look-up Integrity has been confirmed for the correct fetch from the data tables for all information request permutations.
• Conducted responsiveness and data-manipulation tests.

What are the results we have delivered?

• Since data segregation is a process-intensive exercise, knowing the data orchestration in and the numerous business rules in the end-to-end workflow were part of Indium’s test strategy.
• Beyond just data validations, Indium’s CoE evaluation of the entire project resulted in functional improvements that the client effectively adopted and applied.
• Demonstrated domain expertise and infused the right flavor of data security into the design of test cases.

If you are unable to find the perfect solution, we are happy to assist you in utilizing technology in your company. Contact us at (888) 207 5969 or (800) 123 1191 for more information or send an email to info@www.indiumsoftware.com.

The post How to Enhance Healthcare Applications with QA in Data Segregation Frameworks: Indiums’ Expertise appeared first on Indium.

A bug began retrieving sensitive data – like latitude and longitude – from Ring’s app, exposing precise details about users. Going unrealized, the bug had been stealthily screening Ring’s server causing data leakage. Hackers began hurling racial slurs and death threats to user, infuriated at which, the latter resorted to legal action against the tech firm. Severe criticism from civil rights groups and regulatory authorities marred Ring’s reputation, taking a heavy toll on its business.

While that was just an example, each year many enterprises suffer heavy financial losses due to their weakly secured mobile apps. Analysis by CVE Details for the last decade has exposed 2500+ vulnerabilities and 1600+ vulnerabilities in Android and iOS devices respectively. Advancing mobile apps thus makes sense only when they are coupled with a parallel application security vision.

Giving way to IP thefts, reverse engineering, jailbreaks, and unauthorized user authentications, inadequately secured mobile applications leave customer data and the application framework vulnerable, inviting a host of security breaches.

To ensure a securely functioning mobile application, you thus require the knowledge of the right steps. While successful mobile application security framework might involve performing multiple steps, here we are going to discuss 5 important steps in mobile application security.

What are the 5 important steps in Mobile Application Security?

A systematic workflow of essential steps only helps to build a perfect mobile application security framework. Here we will go into the details of 5 essential steps that must be executed.

Authorize application access

As the first basic step, authorizing application access creates necessary accessibility prerequisites. A practical approach to authorizing an application starts with using two-factor authentication. Here, the first step is asking the user to enter ID and password, and the second step is validating the login through OTP sent to the mobile phone. Biometric authentication using fingerprint-based access may also make the second stage as required by the application.

One-time password (OTP)-based authentication creates a user in AWS Cognito and sends the user a unique 6 digit number for authenticating access to the application. As passwords are easy to hack, OTPs are the first line of defense against potential unauthorized access.

As a part of password creation, have a strict password policy, with rules framed for password length, password topologies, and password topology. Complex, alphanumeric passwords offer better security. Have an expiry time for passwords, so that users are prompted to modify their passwords at regular intervals.

Password strength must be analyzed using password testing best practices, which helps understand the implementation of password policy. Ascertain from time to time if password functionalities defined in the source code are functioning rightly. Finally, review password verification to ensure that passwords don’t violate the predefined password rules.

Protect sensitive data

To lay a successful foundation for protecting application data, the application network must be authenticated, which is a key to verifying the data accessor’s identity. Standard Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols play a major role in offering this authentication. This is a primary step to safeguarding sensitive user data from the prying eyes of fraudsters and hackers. However, as much as 50% of the mobile APIs are not authenticated on the tokens. Hence there is the need for strong measures to protect the data.

To ensure that data managed by applications is secure across the entire application-data interaction lifecycle, implementing Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) along with IAM (Identity and Access Management) is a viable solution. EFS assesses IAM policies and encrypts the data, providing only relevant users access to the data.

Building a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) protects data by treating the application ecosystem as a private network in the cloud environment. Logically isolated, VPCs keep application data secure by limiting access to resources. Using dedicated security protocols, it guards the data traffic.

Platforms like Amazon Cognito come with a dynamic authentication mechanism that provides data access to users through limited-privilege credentials. Having short life, these credentials leave no scope for unauthorized access and thereby prevent attempts to tamper with data.

Obfuscate the code

Code obfuscation conceals source code and deters all potential attempts to hack it by making the code useless for unauthorized access. The code is altered, but it performs the same functionality as performed by the original source code. Involving modification of app’s binary, code obfuscation hides function and class names and prevents reverse engineering of the proprietary app.

As a process, code obfuscation is executed using a series of mechanisms that make the code unintelligible. Here are some of those code obfuscation mechanisms:

• Rename obfuscation: Intentionally, variables are assigned confusing names, so that their real role in the code is not made easily visible. This method is common with application codes developed using Java, .Net, and iOS and Android platforms.

• Data obfuscation: Specially used to obfuscate data structures in the code, it helps keep hackers from reaching the core functionality of the code. It alters the data storage pattern and data interpretation for display features.

• Dummy Code: Codes are inserted to create an impression that they perform some different functionality; however, the logic remains the same. It is a robust mechanism to prevent hackers from reverse-engineering the code.

• Address obfuscation: It transforms code for each execution and randomizes the code’s virtual address, thereby preventing unchecked access to memory arrays.

Secure third-party API key

Third-party APIs are linked to multiple applications, and if the APIs fall prey to cyberattacks, it takes a toll on the applications. Functional third-party API security comprehensively safeguards the integrity of APIs. As an umbrella framework, API security encompasses right from API access control, threat detection and prevention of API reverse engineering.

The foremost action to secure third-party API keys is to drive API testing. Based on the type of API – SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), REST (Representational State Transfer) etc. – appropriate testing mechanism can be leveraged. For instance, Static Application Security Testing (SAST) helps identify vulnerabilities to API security during the early development stages.

Remember that each third-party API key is a secret and securing it is a critical step to ensure before the app goes into production. Here is how you can keep third-party API keys safe:

– Ensure secrecy by keeping the keys on the cloud; pull them when needed, by requesting the application.

– Add the keys in libraries so that they are difficult to decompile. Splitting key strings into different components and storing the individual components across different locations offers greater security.

– Use an obfuscator to put the key code as hashed secret. Later, unhash it, as required

Guard the communication framework

Applications interact extensively with external environments, and a weak communication framework creates opportunities for hackers to sneak in. As such, the regular communication for data exchange between the device and servers through applications must be protected.

Authenticating the interaction between apps and web platforms starts with Transport Layer Security (TLS). As a basic step, it helps protect access credentials.

Since REST is the communication facilitator in most cases, it must be configured to secure the communication between apps and web services. In this case, the platform automatically generates REST endpoints for secured server actions. Endpoint security works in two ways. First, the accesses are encrypted, and second, the server-side access control regulates the accesses. This works as a complex process that completely protects end-to-end communication.

Technical mechanisms like Open Authorization protocols – OAuth Core 1.0, OAuth 2.0 – streamline the process to securely manage the communication. These protocols give applications the ability to access protected resources from web services. Offering strong cryptographic features, OAuth 1.0 supports digital signatures and comes in handy when developing apps for banking or public services. OAuth 2.0 provides restrictive access, by offering access only to a set of resources and keeping an expiration date for every access token, which heightens the communication security.

You might be interested in: Artificial Intelligence And Its Impact On Mobile Applications

Conclusion

The above steps that we discussed with you are essentials to successfully deploy and manage a functional mobile application security framework. Systematically executing these steps creates a self-defending layer that holistically secures mobile apps.

Mobile application development services complete half the story, as securing it makes the rest. If you are looking to make your mobile apps more secure, these steps will definitely help you.

You can also seek Indium’s assistance to build a long-term mobile application security strategy.

We keep adopting the best standards and continually evolve our risk mitigation framework to effectively counter cyber threats. Get a detailed insight by knowing our Application Engineering services.

The post 5 steps to build robust Mobile Application Security framework appeared first on Indium.

At the beginning, we had simple apps that did very little. However, everything has changed in the last decade as a result of the Smartphone revolution.

These mobile apps influence everything from your daily chores to your social interactions to your business strategy.

When we think of artificial intelligence (AI), the first names that pop up are probably Siri, Bixby, Cortana or Alexa.

According to the most recent McKinsey Global Institute reports, Google and Apple have invested billions of dollars in artificial intelligence. According to the report, AI advancements brought in $139 billion in investment in 2020, which was more than three times the money invested in AI three years prior.

The concept of a ‘smart assistant’ which can solve everyday tasks has captivated millions of users across all business sectors, not to mention education, healthcare, and finance. However, AI is not limited to smart assistance; it is progressing at a rapid pace. Many mobile apps are now utilising AI to improve user satisfaction.

AI is continuing to improve mobile apps by acting as a catalyst. It enables the evolution of mobile apps by transforming them into intelligent pieces of software capable of predicting user behaviour and making decisions. AI algorithms also enable mobile apps to learn from user-generated data.

It is important to note that AI in this context does not refer to pure self-aware intelligence machines. Rather, it is a catch-all term for a variety of applications used by website and mobile app developers.

Contributions Of AI to Mobile Application Development

Facial recognition: Because of the ‘easy to use’ nature and added layer of security, face recognition lock has become one of the most popular features on Android smartphones. These systems use AI and ML-based algorithms to recognise a person’s face to unlock the phone and the various apps that are installed on it.

Smartphone manufacturers are expected to implement even more advanced AI and ML in the coming years to identify a person as their facial features change, such as growing a beard or wearing glasses.

Search Engines on mobile phones: The use of voice search and voice commands is perhaps one of the most common and popular advancement in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Customers used to type their queries into search bars. It is now as easy as asking your virtual assistant to look for something for you.

Instead of signing into your computer or unlocking your phone, something as easy and simple as “hey google what’s the best restaurant near me?” provides users with the quick answer they seek while also directing them to your business. Voice command allows you to respond to text messages without having to type.

Smart Camera apps: The smartphone camera is one of the most important areas in which custom android app development personnel and android mobile manufacturers are making significant advances in AI and ML. These advanced cameras can detect the subject within the frame, such as faces, fireworks, or food, and adjust the settings to produce the best possible image.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning can now automatically identify and enhance facial features for outstanding portrait images. More advanced features can even count the calories you eat from a simple photo of your food or provide information to businesses about how and where their products are being used when photos are shared on social media platforms.

Emotion recognition: Emotion recognition is a rising star in AI development. We have now advanced to the point where we can incorporate ML & AI into apps and capture micro& macro expressions. Through image and voice data processing, software can now read human emotions through the capturing of subtle variations, body language cues and vocal inflection. Companies can use these analytics to enhance consumer experiences by identifying the need for a product or service or to get new ideas for new product.

Real-time translation: There is a vast array of translation apps available. However, the majority of these apps are inoperable without access to the internet. AI could allow smartphones to translate & transliterate different languages in real-time without requiring an internet connection.

AI can provide a language instruction tool that allows sentences and phrases to be translated almost instantly without a time lag, similar to how interpreters work. The translation tool can be adjusted for latency using AI. This means that a user can specify the amount of time between a spoken word and its translation. This would be incredibly beneficial for languages that require a longer time lag for accurate translation.

Advantages of implementing AI

1. AI assists you in completing monotonous tasks quickly
2. Accuracy and completeness
3. Enhanced customer experiences
4. Intelligent interactions with users
5. User retainment

Personalized user experiences

The advancement of AI technology has enabled mobile users to completely redesign the value benchmark of existing user experience. Users are starting to demand more detailed and personalised mobile app performance.

Retail brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Starbucks, Nike, etc can deliver personalised experiences that include recommendations unique to each user by collecting and analysing customer data based on purchases and locations.

In reference to Tommy Hilfiger’s chatbot, users can use the chatbot to browse their most recent collections or get a behind-the-scenes look at the most recent fashion show. The chatbot also employs natural language processing to provide style advice and product recommendations in addition to responding to customer inquiries. The bot gathers information about the user’s style preferences by asking a series of questions and then suggests an outfit based on the information gathered.

Smartphones have GPS tracking capabilities, as well as microphone and camera features, making them an ideal platform for AI applications. Furthermore, Apple revealed that the iPhone XR, 11, and 12 will include an A12 Bionic chip with a neural engine designed to use AI hardware in previously unimaginable ways.

When AI technology is combined with these built-in features, apps become more relevant and personalised. Using artificial intelligence to contextualise user behaviour will make each app session better than the previous one.

Wind-Up

AI opens up a plethora of opportunities for innovation in the mobile app industry. AI is the wave of the future in mobile app development. Users’ interactions with app services and products are changing as a result of artificial intelligence. Users of mobile apps will also be linked to an ecosystem of intelligent applications that will collaborate to provide a personalised user experience.

The greater role of AI in mobile apps has demonstrated its value in terms of business growth and user engagement. Here are some examples of how AI can help you understand your users:

• AI can collect and store user data by analysing user behaviour and interactions with the app.
• AI collects essential data such as location, contacts, and daily actions to better serve users.
• AI products level up the user experience.

A smart ecosystem will collect a large amount of social data and behavioural interest, which can be used to boost revenue and improve user experience. It is not an exaggeration to say that AI is reshaping the smartphone industry. As a result, it is critical to include AI in your business and mobile applications.

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Microservices is one of those architectural trends that has emerged from the field of domain-driven architecture, platform and infrastructure automation, programming, and persistence.

Many businesses have started adopting the microservices architecture for the purpose of business enhancement through application/software performance.

What are Microservices?

Microservices are an approach/architecture to software writing (coding). With the help of Microservices, systems are broken down into their tiniest elements making them independent of each other.

Instead of a conventional monolith approach to software, where everything is assembled into one piece, microservices are all portioned and work together to complete the exact same tasks.

Each one of these Individual components/elements or processes is a micro-service.

This approach to software development values these granules and the ability to share identical processes across different applications. It is a key component of optimizing the creation of software into a cloud-based model.

Why Microservices Architecture?

Using a microservice approach to application creation will increase durability and speed up the time to market. Here`s what to expect from a microservice.

• Improved resilience: With microservices, the whole application is decentralized and decoupled to services that act as independent entities. Unlike a monolith, architecture where code failure affects more than one service or feature, there is a limited impact of microservice failure. And if many devices are taken down for repair, the users will not notice it.
• Enhanced Scalability: Scalability is a core component of microservices. Since each service is a separate part, you can scale up a single feature or service without having to scale up the entire application. Business critical services may be distributed on several servers for improved availability and efficiency without compromising the performance of the other services.
• Using the right tool for the right task: You do not have to get tangled up with a single vendor when it comes to microservices. You have the freedom to use the right tool to do the right job. Each service can use its own language, system or ancillary services and still being able to communicate easily with other services in your application.
• Faster time to market: Since microservices work with loosely coupled services. There will not be a reason to rewrite the entire codebase to add or modify a feature. By developing applications in smaller increments that are independently testable and developable, there is faster time-to-market your applications and services.
• Easier debugging: Microservices makes it simple to debug and evaluate applications. With smaller models going through a continuous development and testing process, the ability to produce error-free applications is greatly possible.

Challenges to Microservices Architecture

If a business is planning on shifting from a monolith to a microservice, the entire team of data engineers need to change. Organizational culture/changes are identified as complex challenges since each technical team will work on their own deployment order and will be responsible for a unique service with its own customer base.

These may not be great concerns for developers, but they will be crucial to the successful architecture of microservices. Beyond organizational culture, and processes, complexity and efficiency are two of the key challenges of microservices architecture.

Below are the categories of challenges that are faced while implementing microservices.

Building: you need to spend time identifying the dependencies between your serves. Be aware that due to these dependencies, completing one build could trigger a number of other builds.  There must also be consideration on the impact that microservices have on your data.

Versioning: when upgrading to new versions, bear in mind that you will be able to break down compatibility. You can also draw on conditional logic to handle this but its going to be unwieldy and ugly. Alternatively, you may provide several live versions for various customers, but this can be more complicated in maintenance and management.

Testing: integration testing, as well as end-to-end testing can become more complicated and more critical than ever before. Know that a failure in one part of the architecture might cause anything to fail a few hops away, depending on how you built the services to help each other.

Logging, Monitoring & debugging: Centralization of logs, views and bugs needs to be done which is challenging.

Deployment: This is also a challenge at least in the initial set-up. In order to make the deployment simpler, you need to invest in quite a lot of automation as and when the complexity of microservices gets overwhelming for human deployment.

Wind-Up

From large businesses to start-ups, microservices has been on the runway to enhance application software performances. Some of the major businesses that have incorporated microservices architecture to their applications would include Netflix, Amazon, eBay, and many more.

Switching on to microservices architecture has granted more opportunities to those businesses in terms of lesser TCO & costs, greater customer experiences and enhanced delivery.

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Does that give you a scale of the market that is out there to be exploited? We live in a consumer-driven market, and those 3.5 billion users are your target consumers.

The consumer need must always be the top priority for businesses. With respect to mobile apps, what does a consumer need? – Convenience at his fingertips! Does Uber spring to mind immediately? By understanding this need for convenience at the click of a few buttons, businesses are surging ahead when it comes to mobile app development.

The brainchild of convenience at your fingertips and a robust application is Dunzo in India. Seeing all the success in this space, everyone wants to get on the bandwagon; however, not every mobile application is successful. While building a mobile app, a few pointers need to be kept in mind, which are discussed below.

Before we delve into how you can build a successful mobile app, let’s look at the factors you need to take into consideration before you jump into this venture.

Firstly, by no means is a mobile app development a small investment. A mid to large scale application could cost upwards of $200,000 to design, build, and launch successfully. Even the $200,000 depends entirely on the complexity of the application, the interface design, and backend coding complexity.

Once you have sunk in $200,000, your initial thought will be that the app is going to be a grand success and how mistaken we all are. Here’s a fun (or not so fun) fact – two-thirds of the apps that hit the market fail to cross the 1000 downloads mark within the first year.

This is not exactly a sign of success. Another more prominent sign of “not being a success” is that 25% of the users who download the app, abandon it after using it just once!

These numbers make you think twice, don’t they? A few factors that are responsible for the failure of these apps are bad tech, solid competition, issues with financing, making the grave mistake of not understanding your consumers’ need and more. Let’s see what it takes to create a successful mobile app and sustain.

Are you going the Android or the iOS way?

There is no doubt that getting the coding and the design of the app is of utmost importance. Something that is equally important and overlooked at times is deciding which platform you are going to build your mobile app on. Platforms have come and gone, but iOS & Android are here to stay.

Your coding will take shape following the decision of which platform you are going to launch on. You will need to take a call on which platform will serve you best or whether you’re going to launch it on both the platforms or even opt for a hybrid platform.

The choice you make will have a huge impact as the developers will use language native to the platform chosen. Analyze and consider your customer demographic very carefully – Which platform do the majority of them use – iOS or Android? What is the cost difference between designing on each platform? Is it better to go with a close platform or native app development? The performance of your app depends largely on the database you choose.

The customer is king, understand them!

Value is the first thing customers look for in a mobile app. Your app is not going to be used if the mobile app does not prove to be valuable to your customers. Enticing your customers and making them use your app goes above and beyond simply displaying your products and services and asking them to pay to use it.

The burning question that needs to be answered here is – Why will a customer sacrifice storage space on their phone to download your app and use it to ensure you make money through it? An emotional connection to the app and the need to use it is the only way this will happen. Understanding customer behavior and catering to it is key.  

Based on the study of human behavior, behavioral models have been formed. According to one such model – the behaviour of a person is influenced by multiple factors – motivation to do something, the ability to perform the action, and eventually, the trigger.

Uber understood that the need of the customer was getting a cab from their precise location at the touch of a few buttons on their app. They clearly understood the motivation of their customers. Furthermore, they recognized features like easy payments (Google Pay, E-wallets) made their app extremely user friendly, and this helped enhance the ability of the app.

Prior to launch, using technologies like machine learning to understand how and when to launch the product is 50% of the work done and that lights the path to success. This will allow the customers to engage with your app and business repeatedly.

The ideal way to find out if a need for your app exists and if there will be a motivation for customers to use your app is through Proof of Concept.

The Proof of Concept will help answer questions like – What challenges do your customers face? Will the app provide solutions to the prevalent challenges? Doing this basic research will help determine who your target customers are, what their need will be, and how you will solve their problems through your app.

This will allow you to design the functionality and UI/UX of your app in such a way that people download it and use it repeatedly.

No Security, No Application

This is the tricky part – ensuring that your customers trust you with their data and access to their mobile devices. Customers today are up to date with the data protection laws and want to be sure that your app protects them in all ways possible. When you have a payment gateway integrated, it brings about another level of data security concern.

The burden lies entirely on you to ensure security from the app’s standpoint. Securing the app’s code from the ground up will help to a certain extent. Here are a few things which will need to be airtight secure in the app – network connections on the backend will need to be secure, data files, code & databases will need to be encrypted, authentication technologies will need to be enabled.

Be pleasing to the eye

Design and Functionality are Iron Man and Captain America to the success of your app. Design-wise, the mobile app should be user-friendly, clear, intuitive, and engaging.

Specification: Come up with a concrete plan based on user-based testing as to what you want the users to see as soon as they open the app. I definitely wouldn’t want to see ads from Sephora when I open Uber to book myself a cab. Decide what needs to be there and what is going to be redundant.

Visual Design: The goal of the app should be to lead the attention of the users in the direction you want them to go in; the key to this is having a focused and clear presentation of information. Ensure that it feels like the customer is having a conversation with the app by optimizing information and using single fields of input

Successful Delivery

When it comes to mobile app development, you may feel that you jumped into the deep sea for a swim meant for the swimming pool. With the proper guidance and the right implementation strategies, you may turn out to be the next Uber for all you know.

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