Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) became a popular type of Cloud Services. They enable entrepreneurs and businesses to create digital products without investing in building their backend infrastructure. Among available cloud-computing solutions, there is Firebase held by Google. The platform gained a lot of attention offering useful services that accelerate product development. Today we take a closer look at the pros and cons of Firebase and answer a question whether it’s an ultimate solution for your project.
Firebase is Google’s platform for mobile and web development that helps entrepreneurs build, improve, and scale their app products. The platform offers a set of tools that make the product development process a lot easier. That’s why it’s suitable for building an MVP as it shortens the time and effort put in by developers to actually create it.
The ready-to-use services include Machine Learning Kit, Hosting, Storage functions, or Realtime Database. The infrastructure also offers some free products such as Analytics, Crash Reporting, or Cloud Messaging. The services are hosted in the cloud. That greatly facilitates the work of developers and letting them focus on the overall experience the product has to offer. The platform provides developers an API that allows app data to be synchronized across clients and stored on Firebase’s cloud.
To help you decide if the platform is worth your time and effort, we now evaluate its performance by comparing the pros and cons of Firebase.
First, the advantages that lead to why you should choose Firebase as your app backend.
Firestore and Realtime are database options one can choose to build their product. They both are cloud-hosted, NoSQL databases that are flexible and scalable in terms of size. Realtime database provides developers with offline access and realtime updates that enable them to work on responsive apps without internet connectivity.
The platform doesn’t charge for most of its services and requires choosing a pricing plan only after reaching a certain amount of database memory. It’s great for beginners who want to validate if the platform is good enough for their product and don’t want to pay for all the services upfront. For those who want to estimate the total price they need to pay for the customized plan, there is a price calculator that ease the process.
Firebase has well-prepared technical documentation that eases the work with offered services and makes them more accessible for users. You can find all the necessary information about integrations, availability and supported technologies. What’s more, there are about 1,5M apps around the world based on Firebase. It means that the community around the product and the number of resources will only benefit developers trying to find an answer to any problem.
Finally, the ease of integration and quick setup. The pre-made APIs that the platform offers enable you to add new functionalities within just a few clicks. Firebase requires little to no technical knowledge to start working on your product. The simple UI makes it possible to implement functionalities like authentication to your app without major problems. Working with Firebase there is no need for complex configurations, so nearly anyone can set up the app – web or mobile.
Like everything, also Firebase has its downsides.
Usually, you will use the Realtime Database as your main storage, which isn’t always good. The main problem is limited querying capabilities. You can’t query for more than one key at a time and the service doesn’t provide a way to filter your data. It’s because the whole DB is JSON file and it’s nothing near the storage format of SQL. The format also excludes the option to model the data.
You don’t host the data, all data is hosted on Firebase and it’s a major problem of using BaaS platforms as your app backend. Unless Firebase provides a migration tool to enable easy transfer of user’s data, it strongly limits data migration. It makes users dependent on the platform and in case of changing the concept of backend base, there is no way to transfer the app to another source.
Firebase doesn’t provide the same capabilities for Android and iOS apps. It’s still more Android centered and it’s the one system that gets most of dedicated services and facilities. For instance, Test Lab can be easily integrated with the Android studio and supports a wide range of Android devices for testing. When it comes to iOS, it was provided with closed beta support for iOS devices but includes a very basic range of testing.
Summing up the pros and cons of Firebase, it’s a good choice if you plan to build a new product from scratch or rewrite an existing one. The platform helps in storing and improving the dynamic content. Also, accelerates the development process, enabling getting faster results – so it’s a perfect one for building an MVP!
However, it shouldn’t be your final choice for a bigger project as the platform limits your actions regarding data migration and security. If you think about starting a bigger, more complex project and need a dedicated cloud solution – contact us!
It’s not easy to get your way around swimming in the sea of mobile app development companies. The choice is pretty satisfying but what’s with the quality? Not every company will meet your expectations regarding the final product. That’s why we want to guide you through the IT world and help you identify the best mobile app development company.
Mobile apps have become the most accessible channel to share content and experience with customers. No matter the industry in which your product will be growing and attracting customers, there are some things common for all mobile apps. To build a product from your dreams you need a group of professionals who also understand what an app should offer to its users.
Before you start searching for a company to build your mobile app get familiar with 10 things you need to be sure while building a product. It’s better to first educate yourself, to know what kind of questions you may receive during a meeting. Below there are criteria on which you should base your final choice.
First of all, you have to check the company’s expertise in building mobile applications. You don’t want to work with people who don’t specialize in this kind of solution but “will try”. How to identify their professional experience? Start by exploring their portfolio and their completed projects to see if they’ve already delivered something similar to your idea. See what kind of problems the team encountered during the development process and how they solved it.
Then try to find as much information about the company as you can, for example how long the company is on the market, what kind of clients they work with, etc. This way you will identify if the company is reliable and ready for your challenge.
Here, you need to first define what’s your expectations regarding a mobile app. Do you want to build a native app or a PWA, maybe hybrid? What platform you choose for your product – iOS or Android. If you want to base your solution on advanced technology such as AI or Blockchain you have to look for a company that also specializes in these kinds of solutions. For example, at Redvike we offer Cloud Services that can speed up your time-to-market.
Mobile app development technologies have evolved to the point you may not know which one is most suitable for your product. That’s why we want to introduce you to React Native mobile applications and their fantastic, incomparable performance. React Native is the answer to all problems connected with costs, time, performance, and scalability. It’s a technology that enables you to develop the same mobile app for both iOS and Android in half the time. This way cutting the costs associated with mobile app development and ensuring fewer inconsistencies between both platforms. Read about the top 5 companies using React Native that increased their app performance.
The cost of development always depends on the complexity of a product. Because the complexity also determines how long it will take to build a mobile app. There are also other factors that influence the final cost such as the size of the team or the type of an app (native, hybrid, PWA). There isn’t a fixed price for a software product and the best mobile app development company would only charge you for the number of hours worked. This way you pay less for a product that includes basic functionalities and you pay more for a complex one.
To visualize the range of costs of mobile app development, a single hour of a developer’s work can cost you $11 in Indonesia and $150 in North America. For many, the Golden mean is Eastern Europe when the price of development is proportional to the quality. You can always find the average costs on Clutch.co. But if you want to save on the development process you should seriously consider a hybrid app.
You want to create your own product so the process of building it should not make you worry. The company you collaborate with needs to represent your values and be aware that you, as a client, have the right to know what phase the product is. That means – transparency of communication. The best mobile app development company is the one that keeps you always updated about the progress and has nothing to hide, giving you access to the project under development.
The next thing is the methodology of work. How the company’s work model looks like. Are they Agile? It’s important that the mobile development company you work with is aware of the importance of testing stages and the general software development life cycle. We wrote about the 4 stages to build a perfect mobile app here.
No one is more credible than the company’s clients. The last thing you can do to verify the reliability and expertise of a mobile app development company is to see their online reviews. By this, I mean not only the client testimonials but also ratings and the number of downloads of mobile applications that the company has built.
Your product will shine only when it’s been developed by the right people. Through this article, we wanted to help you find the best mobile app development company that is trustworthy and won’t disappoint you with the outcome. If you currently looking for mobile app developers ready to craft your vision into a real product – contact us and let’s get to work!
With the ever-rising popularity of React Native, we could notice some great examples of applying the technology into products. Despite being rather recent, it’s been already used by many startups and enterprises of various sizes and from different industry sectors. From all the examples we distinguished a list of top 5 companies using React Native. Do you want to know why they decided on that technology? Keep reading.
From our previous article, you could learn about What is React Native used for. Today we want to find the reason behind the choices of 5 companies that decided to use React Native for their products.
React Native performance was appreciated by Walmart, a company that was once the world’s largest online retailer. Walmart wanted to build a hybrid app. It’s an app that is based on a part of the native code and the part that is built using a cross-platform technology (i.e. React Native). They already had mobile apps but needed to rewrite them for both Android and iOS.
Since React Native enables code reusability, the company’s developers could optimize their work by making changes only for one operating system. With 95% of the codebase being shared between platforms, the company reduced their costs by half and greatly increased the organization. The software developers were able to leverage their experience with web technologies to create mobile features and the overall work was very convenient thanks to instant page reloads, ready-to-use components and Over the Air (OTA) code push to fix critical issues. Deciding to use React Native, Walmart achieved great development performance and could improve customer experience. Up to this day, Walmart’s mobile apps are almost entirely based on React Native.
Another React Native example is Pinterest, a social media platform that’s based on sharing creative content to users. With billions of Pins available on the app, users can always find inspiration in the form of graphics or videos. The content is constantly shared, updated, and added to users’ personal folders. That’s why Pinterest has to work flawlessly and meet performance expectations.
In order to achieve that, the company decided to use React Native technology. The initial implementation on iOS alone took the engineers about 10 days. Next, in two days the team was able to transfer it on Android with 100% UI code being shared between platforms. Using React Native, Pinterest saved hundreds of hours on the development process. Also, code reusability ensured there were fewer inconsistencies between the iOS and Android versions.
Among the top 5 companies using React Native, there is also UberEats. Uber created the app with the aim to facilitate the food delivery process. Also, the app enables people to become a delivery partner of restaurants and earn money through food delivery. What was the challenge in the project was to connect restaurants, drivers, and customers.
The development team had to translate the existing restaurant dashboard from web to mobile version (iOS and Android). The only right move was to do it with the use of React Native magic. Code reusability but also Live Reloading and cost efficiency were saviors in this sort of undertaking. One of Uber’s software engineers mentioned the benefits of the framework’s capacity for expanding the service.
Bloomberg is a media company that provides global business and finance news but also delivers software solutions for enterprises. Their mobile app was to provide the same experience and access to information as if users were using the web version of the platform. What’s more, Bloomberg was spending a lot of time updating both iOS and Android app individually. React Native was a perfect solution to speed up the update cycle and further mobile app development.
The React Native performance enabled the company to not only rebuild their mobile app on both operating systems but also add a lot of new features to the offer such as live TV access or experience personalization. React Native implementation also allowed the development team to achieve the continuous update cycle which highly optimized their workflow.
Discord is a free voice and chat app dedicated to gamers, however, a lot of users use it as a social media platform. The app enables users to chat with the team in real-time while playing games. Discord was one of the first React Native apps introduced to the market as the company decided to implement the technology for its iOS app before React Native’s official release in 2016.
Making Discord a React Native platform enabled the company to take advantage of the reusable code and make quick product iterations with just two persons on board in the development team. Discord iOS and Android applications share 98% of the codebase which is a game-changer in cross-platform development.
The above top 5 companies using React Native generated impressive results and reached performance that helped them greatly expand the business. React Native offers companies a lot of benefits throughout the process of implementation and development. By combining the advantages of native and hybrid apps, the technology speeds up the development process, provide native-like experience and a significant cost reduction.
If you need a React Native solution for your company, contact us!
The last decade has transformed e-learning into a new digital world for sharing knowledge. Advances in artificial intelligence, digitalization, and modern technology gave rise to educational platforms that today are widely adopted in academic and work environments. Who would have thought that the Edtech industry will today be one of the leading on the market? Let’s see what changes in e-learning development have occurred during the last 10 years.
E-learning term was coined in 1999 to describe a new way to acquire knowledge through access to online educational platforms, electronic tools, and techniques. The techniques include virtual classrooms, online learning, video tutorials, interactive training, and many more. From the beginnings, e-learning was considered as a very flexible method for everyone who couldn’t get around with traditional face-to-face classes. The changes in e-learning development that have occurred during the last 10 years, expanded the list of e-learning benefits and have attracted more people to use the alternative channel.
Back in 2010, our education was based on attending classes in a traditional way. Our knowledge acquisition was limited to the information the teacher had and could get access to. The development of e-learning enabled students to connect with the outside world where they could construct new knowledge and learn more effectively.
In 1996, when the video game industry grew to about $15 billion, the potential to use games as a learning method was barely noticed. Gamification is simply the process of making activities more like games in order to make them more captivating and interesting. The practice started to show up in late 2010 and proved to be an effective method for enhancing user engagement and motivation. The Gamification Research Network was established later that year to provide a communication channel for researchers and students. Inserting gameplay elements in non-game settings is today a designer’s technique to provide a more valuable user experience.
First e-learning online courses were introduced in 2011 at Stanford University. Massively Open Online Courses were available on-demand to large numbers of users via the Internet and were free of charge. That was the beginning of introducing online learning to the academic environment. The hype around MOOCs ended because of poor completion rates, however, it gave us knowledge of how to improve the idea and student retention. Today with the help of teaching assistants and modern technology we can provide great e-learning online courses.
Augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) were becoming popular in 2015 after the Oculus Rift showed up on the market. The device was virtual reality goggles that bring users into a new digital environment where they can learn dynamically through real-life interaction. Since then, AR has found success in many industries and achieved some widespread commercial success with the game Pokémon Go released in 2016. Today the use of AR/VR technology in the e-learning industry continues to grow. VR allows students to experience environments outside the classroom and away from the computer providing them with a better understanding of the studied material.
In 2017, investment in EdTech globally reached US$9.5 billion. It was 30% more than the prior year. These investments went to more than 800 companies. E-learning started to be adopted by companies to provide new employees with an onboarding process. Short tutorials and online courses were to give employees training on their first day at work. Further adoption resulted in special e-learning modules dedicated to increasing the professional knowledge of employees and managers. Today various e-learning platforms are used by companies just for maintaining the level of expertise and motivation among employees.
The development of Big data and Artificial Intelligence increased control over the shared content. E-learning companies are today able to custom the content to a given user ensuring much bigger user engagement. Personalization wouldn’t be possible if not the increase in analytical thinking and access to better statistical tools. The insight into what content a given user prefers and how a user consumes the content is crucial to e-learning companies. Nowadays, we can see an increase in Learning Management Systems (LMS) that are based on measuring the user’s activity on the platform and analysis of their online behavior.
The rapid uptake in smartphone usage has led to more platforms and e-learning apps to be available on mobile phones. The access to online lessons on one’s smartphone was a huge step towards increasing e-learning popularity. Today, it’s one of the trends in e-learning that dominates the market. The idea to give people a source of knowledge in a personalized mobile app is a game-changer to many desktop-only platforms. Surely, we will see soon more examples of mobile education.
Changes in e-learning development caused a lot of e-learning platforms to start delivering microlearning material. Microlearning is the process of delivering bite-sized content to learners that they can consume all at once and apply the knowledge immediately. Today it is considered one of the most effective forms of learning and training as the content is delivered to learners in a convenient and easy to process form. It’s also one of the most recent techniques adopted by e-learning companies.
Over the past decade, the evolution of EdTech has allowed eLearning to change and adapt to new technologies and skill demands. Discussing changes in e-learning development helps us understand more the learning environment and the audience to which e-learning platforms are created. We can easily notice that some of the changes became fundamentals for current e-learning trends that will stay with us for a little longer.
With the development of the Internet and mobile devices, e-learning became a huge branch of education. Its global market is expected to grow beyond $398 billion by 2026. Nowadays, e-learning is adopted in many academic facilities and workplaces, providing people with a flexible, cost-effective, and time-saving way to acquire knowledge. The list of its benefits is long but in order to get profit from all of them, companies should get familiar with the list of top 5 e-learning trends to follow.
The ability to see an overview of students’ performance and experience is something valuable that helps improve the learning platform and teaching methods. We can see more systems to incorporate or connect to analytics in order to track the behavior of platform users. Thanks to analytics and big data companies have more options to personalize the learning process and make it more effective. To better understand the concept of learning analytics here’s a short explanatory video.
One of the immersive technologies that are being adopted in the e-learning industry is VR/AR. To make content more captivating and increase engagement among users, e-learning platforms transfer to virtual reality. The technology augments the existing e-learning training with the use of 360-degree photography and real-life interactions. The experience is remarkable and allows for a better understanding of a given subject or area. VR environment combines features that bridge the gap between theory and real application. One of the existing e-learning tools based on the technology is Plexus VR/AR gloves that enable users to actually feel the objects they study.
Another point on the list of top 5 e-learning trends is user-generated content (UGC). It is content created and delivered by learners in the form of videos, blog posts, ebooks, tutorials, and many other forms. It’s supposed to make a given concept more clear to other students and elaborate more on topics that aren’t well-explained in the curriculum. The method is so effective because it’s authentic. Students are more likely to learn from the experience of other peers. What’s more, the e-learning technique is cost-effective and promotes knowledge sharing.
Online learning mobile platforms are something we can’t forget about when discussing the best e-learning trends to follow. As we constantly see the increase in mobile usage, e-learning companies should make their platforms accessible also on mobile devices. The ability to learn anywhere, anytime is the level of convenience and flexibility we should provide with. What’s more, this so-called mLearning – mobile learning, may prove to be more effective and comfortable. Think about a mLearning native app that doesn’t even require the Internet connection to be used.
More e-learning platforms will use the voice commands system to allow users to ask questions and receive help whenever they need it. Researching facts using just voice without the need to enter things into the Internet browser is for sure helpful and will benefit students with concentration problems. It’s so much easier to interact with a product when you can freely ask questions and always receive an answer.
We can expect more AI-powered solutions to enter the market. AI enhances the personalized experience as it collects data about users and can provide them with tutors matching their learning methods and behavior. This way the tutor is not only suitable for a given user but also is always available to help them with learning.
The above top 5 e-learning trends are most likely to empower the industry in 2021. We already notice some early adoptions of previously mentioned techniques and it all aims at creating personalized, accessible, and captivating e-learning content. If you want to deliver a remarkable experience, adjust your company’s strategy to current trends, and use the full potential of analytics to improve what you’ve already had.
E-learning is a huge advantage of Internet development as it gives us an opportunity to train ourselves in different areas of our interests. We’ve already analyzed the effectiveness of e-learning in education in our previous article. We know about its potential to actually surpass the traditional teaching method in the future. Now it’s time to evaluate the idea by comparing the pros and cons of e-learning classes. Why do we choose this type of learning and what are the downsides of the approach?
Online learning has much to offer. Let’s uncover some of its benefits.
One of the main advantages of e-learning is the level of convenience and flexibility it offers. E-learning tools give you the freedom of choosing the place and time to start a course or listen to a lecture. You can participate in online classes from your home, cafe, or a place of your choice. All you need is an Internet connection and you good to go.
Students often complain about the limited time to ask questions and repeat the material before the exam. Lecturers usually aren’t able to devote a sufficient amount of time to explain the concept in-depth and answer all questions. E-learning offers 24/7 access to an educational platform for students to repeat the course as many times as they need. They can also finish the course whenever they have time for it. If they work in the mornings they can learn in the evenings and the other way round.
A lot of students have to spend money every day to get to university. Either on bus/train tickets or car fuel. E-learning modules don’t require a student to actually be at the university so it’s a much more affordable option. Also, this way students can save on books as all the needed materials are digitalized and can be easily accessed via an educational platform.
The nature of e-learning classes requires students to develop their own time management techniques and strong self-motivation. The skills are highly beneficial in later adulthood and once acquired they stay with students throughout their whole life. Also, the resources are prepared in a way to facilitate the learning process and make it more active. Active learning makes students assimilate knowledge better. They understand the subject in-depth instead of forcing themselves to memorize unnecessary facts.
When listing the pros and cons of e-learning, we can’t forget about the range of applications it has. E-learning modules can be applied in many different formats. The platforms include not only lectures but also presentations, videos, and tutorials. Various learning formats ensure the students remember the material better as the content is more engaging and matches with the different learning techniques of students.
Despite many advantages, e-learning classes have also a dark side.
Online students can cheat on exams more easily as they use their personal computers in their own environment. It means without a proper identity verification procedure, they can let someone else write the exam for them. To ensure the authenticity of work, teachers have to put extra effort to prevent any fraudulent activities. They can request a camera to be turned on during the test. Also, before the exam begins students can be asked to show their ID cards in order to verify their identity. There are also e-learning tools dedicated to cheating detection such as Examity.
Without peer-to-peer communication and activities, students can feel more isolated. The online environment is not as engaging as classroom interactions. Learning this way may lead to serious mental health issues among students such as anxiety or increased stress level. However, there are ways to prevent such situations from happening. Teachers should monitor students’ behavior and promote working in groups to increase the interaction between online students.
E-learning education is accessible only for people with a high level of technological capabilities. According to statistics, around 25% of the population of developed countries struggle with computer illiteracy. Not to mention, other parts of the world. Knowing this, switching to e-learning education won’t be easy for everyone and for some, it would be even impossible. There’s no simple solution to this problem and that can be the strongest disadvantage of e-learning education.
E-learning classes are limited to certain disciplines. There are fields such as medicine or engineering that can’t be fully learned simply by participating in online classes. To actually become a doctor one needs to gain a lot of practical experience that cannot be replaced by theoretical knowledge. And for such conditions, a perfect solution would be to combine e-learning classes with practical training. This so-called blended learning courses have proven to generate positive results among nursing students.
For sure, one size doesn’t fit all. But when we sum up the pros and cons of e-learning we can easily notice the number of benefits it offers. E-learning techniques and modules are very much tailored to one’s needs, they don’t impose a pace in which one has to work. At the same time, they provide students with much more than just educational knowledge.
The rapid evolution of the learning environment has led us to the point where we can learn almost anything we want through the Internet. The education system has adapted to new media, delivering e-learning platforms as the online basis of courses conducted at the universities. Online platforms are also a source of communication between students and lecturers in times of the current pandemic. As the adoption of online teaching methods increases, now is the proper time to define the effectiveness of e-learning in education.
E-learning platforms provide students with an online version of classroom courses that they can start and finish whenever they have time for it. Apart from online lectures, e-learning modules include all the complementary materials such as presentations, additional content, and resources. This way students have unlimited access to materials needed to prepare for an exam. What’s interesting is that despite some skepticism, there are studies that prove students can attend e-learning classes ending their degree with higher or at least the same results as those who were attending lectures in a traditional way.
The research on the effectiveness of e-learning in education was carried out at the Medical University of Bialystok. The aim of the study was to compare the effectiveness of traditional and distance teaching methods with the use of e-learning platforms. The students were divided into two groups from which one attended traditional classes and the other participated in lectures in an e-learning form. Before the final exam (that was carried out in a traditional way in both groups), students had to complete an additional questionnaire about their level of satisfaction from the learning method they attended in. The study indicated several crucial results.
First of all, e-learning students expressed much more satisfaction from their teaching method. 94% of students said the implementation of distant learning helped them in preparation for the exam. Almost 92% of the e-learning students stated that the method contributed to greater acquisition of knowledge. What’s more, e-learning students remembered theoretical knowledge better. The exam results didn’t reveal any statistically significant difference. However, the student who obtained the maximum number of points was the one from the e-learning group.
Another research was to examine the impact of e-learning on the students’ academic performance and attitude. The findings showed that the mean scores obtained by students from the e-learning group were statistically significantly higher than those of students attending traditional classes. What’s more, the mean of the students’ satisfaction from the learning method was higher among e-learning students – 8.74, compared to only 6.26 among students experiencing face-to-face lectures.
Both studies confirm the implementation of e-learning methods would not decrease the level of professional knowledge nor the effectiveness of the educational process. E-learning has proved to be at least as effective as traditional teaching methods. What’s important here is also the number of additional benefits that come along with this learning approach.
Students state that the environment of e-learning is much more comfortable as they can repeat the material as many times as they need. Unlimited access to curriculum materials gives students an opportunity to deepen the subject and obtain more explanations if needed. Students have also more convenience as without traveling to university they can acquire knowledge in the comfort of their own home. And the list of benefits of e-learning goes on and on.
What we got used to is the traditional, face to face classes, and direct contact with teachers. While many people state it’s something that can’t be replaced, e-learning platforms offer conditions under which students may acquire knowledge as effectively as when attending lectures in a traditional way. Of course, the presented studies have some limitations that make the results less reliable in some parts. But even after taking them into account, students’ results and feelings towards e-learning online courses indicate the potential of the alternative learning method.
The national health crisis had to finally burst out as the healthcare system stays far away from being efficient and organized. While the Covid-19 drains the resources of the hospitals and medical facilities all over the world, we wonder what the post-pandemic future of the healthcare industry will look like. Once the pandemic is over, we should expect some major changes to occur in this sector.
In the article about medical apps of 2019, we mentioned mobile health research on the adoption of medical apps in the U.S hospitals. At that time, only 3% of medical facilities were using such solutions on a daily basis. We could hear about a plan to build software for the healthcare industry that would finally revolutionize this sector. But the scale of adoption of the digital healthcare solutions wasn’t big enough as well as the level of engagement coming from the medical staff. The current Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the actions as people noticed how much we really need to modernize the healthcare industry. Especially in times when we simply can’t go to one of the medical facilities without risking our own health.
What we can expect is the rise of Doctor On-Demand healthcare mobile apps. The concept was brought up long before the pandemic but now gained the needed consideration. Doctor On Demand apps provide patients with access to online medical care whenever and wherever they need it. They can request a doctor’s appointment via an online chat or a video call. This way they can receive professional help through so-called teleconsulting without the need to go out and wait in one of the medical facilities. Doctor On Demand apps are not just about teleconsulting but about creating an online platform where patients have access to all their medical history, hospital visits, past illnesses and prescriptions. It’s the most convenient approach to both sides and is already on the market.
The rate of investments in on-demand healthcare solutions has greatly increased in the past few years. In 2018 alone, the total number of deals closed in the on-demand healthcare industry was 50 which stands for a total investment of $1.4 billion. Among the top on-demand healthcare startups, we have Amwell, Doctor on demand, or 2nd.md. All of the on-demand healthcare solutions provide online medical care in the form of video calls with doctors of different specialties. Physicians, physiotherapists, psychologists, and many others are waiting to provide you with a second opinion on your health status. When it comes to recent solutions in digital medical care, there is also Babylon Health which is the Covid-19 Care Assistant app that helps Coronavirus patients monitor their symptoms and consult with GPs by video.
Doctor On Demand apps benefit both sides as they reduce the total healthcare costs as well as the rate of hospitalization. Patients are less likely to go to urgent health clinics when they can hear their diagnoses through an online appointment. This way there is more place in hospitals for patients who really need advanced medical care. Also, the medical staff is not overburdened with too many occupied beds. On-demand healthcare makes patients aren’t dependent on one medical facility and can easily exchange information with doctors. The level of convenience and faster service that healthcare mobile apps offer, significantly outperform what we have now.
Next to on-demand solutions, there is the implementation of EMR using blockchain technology. EMR stands for Electronic Medical Records and it’s a digital version of patients’ medical history. It includes information such as diagnosis, prognosis, demographics, prescribed medication, and much more.
Blockchain is a distributed database managed by multiple computers at the same time. The computers don’t belong to any individual, company, or government organization. What’s more, each block of data is fully secured by being bound to another using cryptography. This way the information is shareable and can be expanded but it can’t be copied, modified, or deleted.
Here’s why blockchain-based health records is another trend we can expect in the post-pandemic future of the healthcare industry. The technology will soon solve all the problems with administration and medical data management. The combination ensures data are updated and constantly secured. The system also reduces time required to access a patient’s information and improves the quality of medical services.
Something that we considered a source of distraction, turned out to have a therapeutic effect and the potential to treat serious health conditions. VR technology has already proven to be effective in treating postoperative and chronic pain, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder. A study by Samsung showed that VR helps reduce pain by 52%. Virtual Reality has also been used by doctors to practice complicated surgeries and improve their skills. Adopting VR into more hospitals would greatly increase the level of medical care provided by the institutions. In fact, the estimation is that the healthcare VR and AR market will reach $5.1 billion by 2025.
Big data collects information relevant to the business through channels such as social media or online transactions and use them to predict future trends. The technology can provide the healthcare industry with predictive analysis about admission rates. Big data can identify the risk of having too many emergency cases and help health institutions properly staff their facilities. What’s more, the technology can be used to minimize the risk of medication errors. Through patient records analysis, big data can compare the patient’s health status with the prescribed drugs and alert doctors about health-threatening situations. Adopting big data technology, healthcare companies can organize their data and better understand the market and its future demands.
Hospitals and medical facilities need to be modernized in order to be ready for situations like the pandemic. Healthcare mobile apps are helpful but what we really need is dedicated software for the healthcare industry. And although it’s a much bigger quest, it’s the one we should think of right now. Medical apps developers should build a system for patient and document management to improve the organization within hospitals and provide them with their own digital database.
The main challenge for medical apps developers in building such solutions is to define the end user’s needs and ensure data security. We are talking about thousands of peoples’ private medical histories and personal information that need to be fully secured. Also, when it comes to online healthcare solutions, medical apps developers have to take care of advice verification. To ensure the consultations and medical opinions are given only by qualified general practitioners.
The healthcare industry disruption evoked by the Covid-19 pandemic only stressed out the need for modern technology in this sector. We believe the post-pandemic future of the healthcare industry will bring more innovation with the help of medical apps developers. Even though doctor on-demand apps or digital healthcare solutions are extremely helpful, up to this day, we can’t say they are widely used across all hospitals. But that will soon change.
Software developers appreciate technologies that besides offering high-quality outcomes, are also pleasant to work with. That’s why recently, React Native gained so much popularity in the IT field. The technology certainly has much to offer that’s why today we’re going to focus on – what is React Native used for.
To start this in the right way, first, we need to distinguish two technologies:
React js. is a JavaScript library to build powerful and innovative user interfaces. It is also the heart of the React Native functionality. React js. was developed by Facebook to address the needs of high performing UI components. The technology receives big support from the community that continuously works on its development.
React Native is a JavaScript framework that enables creating native mobile applications for iOS and Android. It offers an open-source environment, great portability, and is easy to work with. Using modern technology contributes to minimizing the overall costs of product development and maintenance.
React Native is used for building natively rendering mobile apps that can be simultaneously developed for iOS and Android. Software developers use the JavaScript framework to accelerate product development. React Native is equipped with pre-developed components and its portability eases the whole process of writing an app. It brings high-speed processing, great responsiveness but most importantly – the best user experience to your product. Using the framework Native, companies can produce high-functioning mobile apps that, in the end, are comfortable to use just like the native ones.
As was mentioned at the beginning, React Native is one of the solutions that provide developers with a lot of conveniences during work.
Companies that offer React Native development services are in a center of interest to most tech leaders. The technology offers numerous advantages making React developers valuable on the market. Working with Redvike you get access to a team of skilled, ambitious, and hard-working React developers who can help power-up your product’s performance.
In need of a React solution? Contact us!
Software developers are usually considered the smartest in the room. The knowledge of advanced technology, innovations, and fast thinking make them unique individuals. Adding the height of their standard salary, we have a profession that is clearly valued on the market and skills very much desired by tech (and non-tech) companies. However, are the skills alone enough to be a good software developer?
There is an assumption that all developers are the same. Brilliant, attached to their code, introverts. There is, however, a difference in their work approach that creates a division between those who care more and those who stopped. You need a smart vision and a bit of experience in the field to notice who really contributes to the project. There are aspects on which basis you can tell if the collaboration works well or not really.
There’s nothing wrong with being devoted to the code more than to other aspects of the project. Software developers usually prefer to level up on their coding and tech skills rather than racing for the project manager position. However, it doesn’t mean they can shut the door and do their job without staying in contact with the rest of the team. Usually, the meetings don’t require the presence of all members of the team but if one is expected to be there, they should show up. In other cases, they can at least make an effort to contact via skype or simply ask the team about the current state. Exchanging information is a crucial part of the collaboration. Poor communication leads to unsatisfied clients as the project won’t work without a well-coordinated team.
The reason why software developers often prefer to work separately is their pride that comes from thinking their work is irreplaceable. In fact, their work should be replaceable as no one wants to rewrite the code from the beginning just because the project was previously led by a different developer. That’s why one software developer leaves the code in a way so that others may somehow change it, complete it or improve it. Conclusion? A software developer doesn’t have to work for life for the same company as any other will also do the job.
Understanding and respecting someone’s vision is crucial. As a developer, you can analyze a client’s idea from your point of view and comment on it during a meeting. Since you’re going to build it, your suggestions on how to improve the overall functionality are valuable. However, questioning the product three days before its deadline is ridiculous. Sometimes it’s better to launch the first version already than to waste a couple of days, postponing the release date just because of one person’s opinion. Changing the key functions in such a short timeframe isn’t reasonable and only an experienced developer knows that there is time for suggesting different solutions and there is time for work and work only.
A big part of someone’s performance depends on their humility. For those who don’t know, one of the duties of a developer (apart from making sure the code is written in a clear way) is creating documentation. Any software developer that has a problem with this “additional” task certainly isn’t a good one.
The reasons are:
Only documentation made by someone who wrote the code is a well-prepared one. It has to be made consistently while creating the functions and has to be written in technical language so it’s definitely a developer’s responsibility (there are also technical writers who can take care of it but it’s better when done by an author of the code). Speaking of documentation there are several tools that are worth mentioning: Markdown editor, Snagit for screen capturing and Adobe RoboHelp for publishing.
By involvement, I mean being present at the meetings, active listening and having a conversation with a client to know something more about the product. What’s the history behind it, what’s the vision of its functionality and what are the needs of the client. Being involved from the very beginning is a sign of respect that you have for this project, the client and the whole team. It’s important to keep the contact stable, consistent and healthy. Sitting always quietly and then trying to be another Steve Jobs just before the deadline is not professional nor smart behavior.
Lastly, interest in IT trends and new technology. The worst thing you can do as a developer is sitting for 10 years in one job, constantly making the one thing in old technology. This is how your ten years of experience lose value because there is no development of your profession. Very often those with shorter work experience are more tech-oriented than the rest of “one product for life” senior developers. It’s because of their involvement in different projects, willingness to learn various technologies, observation of mobile architectures and looking at one problem from different perspectives. All of this makes you know that there is more than one approach to writing code. And there is more than one solution to a given problem.
The willingness to create using new technologies, bringing ideas into life, suggesting better solutions are the features you should look for in a developer. A good developer will take care of the project with full engagement from the very beginning. On the other hand, the bad one will negatively affect the collaboration and the result, and his behavior may contribute to the creation of technical debt. Want to know more about this subject? Read: What is technical debt?
