Tag: software development

Magento is slowly but surely taking over the eCommerce landscape. With more than 250 thousand merchants around the world, Magento is one of the most popular eCommerce platforms and a go-to e-store choice for most businesses.  

Some of the top reasons why Magento stands out from its competitors is because of its user-friendly interface, countless customization options and robust CRM integration. The backbone of Magento is the strong community that drives the platform forward, allowing it to evolve and remain relevant year after year.   

Let’s discuss some broad reasons that give Magento a competitive edge and make it a preferred platform for e-store development.  

Magento Themes Customization  

An eCommerce website has different requirements compared to a normal website. A lot needs to be taken into account and Magento presents itself as a comprehensive solution to all possible e-store challenges. This is largely due to the unrivaled customization options that Magento comes with.  

The platform allows the development of unmatched front-end themes in which layout can be modified, templates can be edited and newer styles can be added. In addition to front-end design, back-end adjustments can also be made depending on what your e-store requires.   

The reason why Magento customization options are so well regarded is because they have the ability to mirror the changing needs of your eCommerce business. This ensures that your business can remain flexible and scalable.  

In today’s competitive commerce environment, customer needs are always evolving and the demand for dynamic digital experiences is unprecedented. Magento’s customization options help merchants create a user-friendly and responsive e-store with consistent branding. 

CRM Integration  

Customer Relationship Management is the cornerstone of all eCommerce businesses. Personalization has become the key to success; customers expect companies to understand their needs and tweak products and services according to their preferences. This is where Magento’s CRM integration comes in.  

Integrating Magento with CRM allows businesses access to comprehensive insights about their customers which can be effectively leveraged to offer highly personalized digital experiences. CRM can also be used to identify buying patterns and pain points which can in turn help re-target customers for repeat purchases.   

A CRM integration comes with many benefits for your e-store, including eCommerce metrics and other data for meaningful analysis. Better customer data can help businesses personalize the user experience of their Magento store as well as offer improved customer support, good market insights and optimized lead generation.  

Magento for ECommerce Business  

Perhaps the biggest reason why Magento stands out as an e-store building platform is because it is specifically designed for eCommerce websites, with relevant features and capabilities in-built in the system. Over the years, it has also grown to integrate a lot of other relevant features.  

Thus, e-stores that are powered by Magento tend to offer memorable digital experiences to both merchants and their customers. The needs of the business as well as the end-users are both met by Magento’s comprehensive and agile capabilities. 

Conclusion  

Magento continues to gain popularity as one of the most well-regarded and advanced eCommerce platforms for building e-stores. Developers love it because of its agile and flexible features while businesses love it because it allows them to scale. Overall, the functionalities offered by Magento commerce are unmatched in the arena of e-store development.  

This, of course, gives Magento a competitive edge in the market. From inventory control and coupon management to CRM integration and SEO tools, this platform seems to have all business needs covered.  

If you are considering developing your own e-store using Magento or if you are considering migrating to Magento, it’s better to discuss this with experts who have hands-on experience. 

At Integriti, we have the most capable team of web developers who will develop tailored eCommerce solutions for your business. Explore our Magento development services here.   

Talent hunting can be a costly and time-consuming process that is quite vulnerable to human lapses of judgment. This is why AI-enabled recruitment is highly demanded in the world of human resource management. AI talent acquisition is here to stay.  

Recruitment agencies are already using machine learning algorithms for some stages of the hiring process, if not all. This could be for finding the right candidates, optimizing job ads or filtering resumes. In recent years, AI is even being used during job interviews. Candidates are often asked to record their answers to questions over video, which is then algorithmically analyzed to determine aptitude. Unilever uses the AI-empowered process of Hire Vue to do this for its initial stages of recruitment. A candidate’s behavior and aptitude are gauged from their facial expressions and these insights are then used to speed up the hiring process.   

Proponents of AI insist that the process is grounded in data and research while critics have labeled it a pseudoscience, with a tendency to aggravate existing gender and racial biases.  

So how effective is AI-enabled talent hunting? What are some advantages and disadvantages of AI recruitment? Let’s discuss!  

Should we be excited about AI recruitment?

AI-integrated hiring has the potential to offer unprecedented benefits to HR managers – from the screening process to managing employee experience. Recruitment today looks drastically different from recruitment of a decade ago. What does this mean for the future of hiring in 2022? Let’s take a look at some factors that brighten the future of recruitment.   

It saves time  

Menial tasks can often take up a disproportionate amount of an HR manager’s time. This is why automation of simple tasks helps HR save time so that they may be able to focus on more pressing matters. Many businesses today use applicant tracking systems to identify keywords in resumes and subsequently rank them based on candidate aptitude for a given job. Time is a precious commodity these days and AI can help you save it!  

It helps with better alignment   

Ensuring that the right candidates see your job posting can be difficult for HR managers. This is where AI can help. Software with predictive analytics can evaluate your past job postings as well as the job postings of your competitors in order to improve the language and structure of your future talent hunting content. This will allow HR to come up with stronger job descriptions, and a sharper overall hiring process.  

AI can also help you avoid language that might appear discriminatory and unwelcoming.  

Should we be wary of AI?

Though there is a lot to be excited about when it comes to AI-integrated recruitment, we should still proceed with caution. 

Flimsy evidence  

Critics of AI enablement in recruitment point out that there is no evidence to suggest that facial expressions make someone a better candidate. Facial cues can be highly contextual and dependent on a multitude of factors. Gender, racial and cultural factors can also come into play here which makes AI usage less desirable. When AI replicates human biases, it can be a huge problem because people can still unlearn biases whereas AI won’t be able to unless reprogrammed.  

Dehumanizes recruitment  

Contemporary hiring practices place great emphasis on developing empathy and building relationships with candidates during the recruitment process. This increases the chances of hearing back from candidates and decreases the likelihood of recruiters getting ghosted. It is important to humanize a process that can otherwise feel disorienting and anxiety-inducing.  

Conclusion  

AI has already made its presence known in the recruitment industry. Some businesses are actively automating their processes while others are trying to catch up.  

Though HR has already reaped the benefits of technology-empowered hiring, only time will unfold the true potential of AI. Critics of AI also make some good points about unnecessary reliance on automation which dehumanizes the already stressful process of hiring.  

AI seems to be a harbinger of positive innovation but one should be cognizant of the fact that it can’t replace processes that require a human touch.  

Product teams are essential for bridging the gap between the project’s design and development. There may be a lot of guidelines for help, but until the execution is done right, guidelines don’t guarantee a perfect result. To close this gap between design and development, React was introduced.   

React was brought in as a sophisticated and vital framework library of JavaScript. In the front-end development space, it is different from its competitors in a way that it does not attempt to provide a complete app framework that other mainstream frameworks offer. But rather, it provides mastering the art of user interfaces. And this is mainly the reason why React is majorly symbolized with UI/UX.

React Native – a UI framework for building native apps uses native components like View, Text and Image for building the UI blocks. Diagram 1 summarizes this in a visual format.  

This component approach yields the following benefits:  

• Components let you build a domain specific language  
• They are shared across the boundaries meaning for a component on the design canvas, source code is given for it too.  
• Platform specific versions get established so a single codebase can share code across platforms. React components wrap existing native code and interact with native API’s via React’s UI paradigm and JS.    

Adobe XD is a fast and powerful UI/UX Design and collaboration tool. It offers a vector-based user experience design for web and mobile apps. It is actively used to create the overall prototype or wireframe for the app. Once the designing process is completed, the project may be exported to any other app framework. It is important to note that while exporting is done, it may disturb some of the design elements interfaces. To avoid this, there is a need for a plug-in to integrate the Adobe XD with React. Plug-in, in this scenario, would utilize react Framework using JSX, in conjunction with webpack to transform and bundle the source into JavaScript consumable by XD.   

It is important to note that the XD plugin environment is not a browser. Instead, there is a technology called Unified Extensibility Platform (UXP) developed by Adobe that powers the plug-in’s code. It aims to map closely to web standards for HTML, CSS and JS. It should be noted that not all node packages are expected to work. XD’s plug-in sandbox supports NPM modules using only the core JavaScript API’s i.e., no file system access or external process launching.  

Following is the mechanism to create the plug-in.  

STEP 1: Choosing the kind of plug-in – Modal or Panel  

XD supports two kinds of plug-in flows, namely Modal (also known as diagonal) and Panel. The difference between these two is that dialogue plug-ins drop down from the top of the application and block further user interaction until dismissed. They have their place, but not all tasks benefit from the need to interrupt workflow. Panel plug-ins integrate into a dedicated area off to the side. The plug-in effectively becomes another tool to use, embedded right into the XD’s native application. UXP engine renders true application UI elements from the plug-ins code. Here, we’ll proceed with panel type plug-in, but it’s completely optional which one needs to be used.      

STEP 2: Project Set Up  

Have the following up and running before starting with XD. 

• JS IDE like VSCode, WebStorm, Atom or Notepad++.  
• Repository management via Git. There will be a need to pull & push codes to the project report.  

• Installation of JS sources from a remote registry and then build node packages: node with npm and yarn.   

Once XD has been started, next step is to locate the plug-in development folder. This can be found in the path: XD > Main menu > Plug-Ins > Development > Show Develop Folder.  

STEP 3: Project Installation 

From git, clone the project files. Once the project has been pulled down, execute yarn install within the projects root directory to pull in the necessary dependencies. A good way is to keep a file watcher going on to recompile the project automatically by typing npm run watch (or yarn watch) in the terminal also from the project’s root folder. Project debugging can be done in the developer output console in XD, where runtime errors and console.log () statements are recorded. Diagram 3 shows a sample screenshot.  

STEP 4: XD Resources Configuration  

In the project files, manifest.json would be present which contains metadata pertaining to the plug-in. Externals entry in the webpack.config.js is important because this is where native XD modules are listed. The webpack code will use externals from the XD binary instead of bundling them with build. Projects src folder will have main.jsx file. This is a standard looking entry point that requires a helper file react-shim.js as shown in code below.  

if (window.setTimeout == null) {
window.setTimeout = function(fn) {
fn() }; 
} 
if (window.clearTimeout == null) {
window.clearTimeout = function() {}; 
} 
if (window.cancelAnimationFrame == null) {
window.cancelAnimationFrame = function() {}; 
} 
if (window.requestAnimationFrame == null) {
window.requestAnimationFrame = function( {      
console.log("requestAnimationFrame is not supported yet");  
} 
} 
if (window.HTMLIFrameElement == null) {
window.HTMLIFrameElement = class HTMLIFrameElement {}; 
} 
The shim provides XD’s JS engine with functions that are not there. 
It assigns the windows iframe element to HTMLFrameElement built into XD. 
PanelController mounts the app and holds three functions implemented by 
the panel plug in specification: 
show(), hide (), and update ().  See the code below.  
const React = require('react'); 
const ReactDOM = require('react-dom'); 
class PanelController {   
constructor(App) {    
this.App = App;     
this.instance = null;    
this.rootNode = document.createElement('div');     
this.attachment = null;    
['show', 'hide', 'update'].forEach((fn) => this[fn] = this[fn].bind(this));   
}   
show(event) {
const { selection, root } = require('scenegraph');     
const App = this.App;   this.attachment = event.node;     
this.attachment.appendChild(this.rootNode);     
if (!this.instance) {       
this.instance = ReactDOM.render(, this.rootNode);     
}     
this.update(selection, root);   
}   
hide(event) 
{     
this.attachment.removeChild(this.rootNode); 
} 
update(selection, root) {
if (this.instance.documentStateChanged) {
this.instance.documentStateChanged(selection, root);   
}  
}   
}

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After the plug-in loads successfully, show () is called where the app instance attached to a generated root div element, then rendered in typical React fashion. Then whenever the ScenegGraph changes, the update () function is called which in turn calls documentStateChanged() on app passing along the current selection with the SceneGraph root node. When the plug-in unloads, hide () is invoked and the app is then unmounted.  

STEP 5: UI Components Addition  

The app has three inner components within the plug-in panel area handling a couple of actions and functions. EditDocument function’s first parameter is the undo label. The second is the function passing the current selection + SceneGraph root node. This is the only place where document changes can be made from the code. SceneGraph can only be invoked by a user interaction like a button click or input change originating from the plug-ins UI. If the action is asynchronous, the operation must use a Promise or the sync / await keywords in order to pause the plug-in until the action completes.  

UI capabilities can be seen in MainContent.jsx. Let’s have a look.  

const React = require('react'); 
const styles = require('./MainContent.css'); 
const btoa = require('btoa'); 
const application = require('application'); 
const { selection, Artboard, ImageFill, Line, Text } = require('scenegraph'); 
const fs = require('uxp').storage.localFileSystem; 
const UNSPLASH_API = 'https://api.unsplash.com/photos/random?client_id=b21ca0eaeafd7b2d3ad04aea61bc1ca8516fe43dfdb22ebd93e39aa25049a014'; 
class MainContent extends React.Component {   
constructor(props) {    
super(props);    
this.state= {};    
['handleCreateRendition', 'handleFetchImage'].forEach((fn) => {      
this[fn] = this[fn].bind(this);  }); }   handleCreateRendition = () => {
application.editDocument({ editLabel : 'Export Rendition' }, (selection, documentRoot)  => {
selection.items.forEachasync(node) => {      
const folder = await fs.getFolder();              
const filename = `${node.name}_${node.guid}${(node.fill instanceof ImageFill) ? '@2x.png' : '.svg'}`;         
const file = await folder.createFile(filename, { overwrite : true });         
const renditionSettings = [(node.fill instanceof ImageFill) ? {           
node : node,           
outputFile  : file,           
type : application.RenditionType.PNG,           
scale : 2 } : { node  : node,  
outputFile  : file,           
type        : application.RenditionType.SVG,          
minify      : true,           
embedImages : false,   
scale       : 1      }]; 
… 
… 

… The UI in the above code shows some plug-in capability regarding buttons. The disabled attributes are set based on the current selection and a uxp-variant attribute provides basic built-in styling loosely adhering to XD’s native UI.  

In a nutshell, the first button passes its click handler up the app to pan and zoom the viewport. The second button fills a shape type object with a random image provided by the API. Within the handlers editDocument(), a first async call is made which returns a JSON object describing the image. The description entry is used to rename the layer, one of the source URL’s is also grabbed for use on the following fetch call. Taking the entry’s full size image URL through the second and last async fetch call, the response is converted from a data buffer to a binary string.  

Finally, the selected node gets filled with the base 64-encoded representation of that binary image data. The third button simply exports the image. A file handler is created at that path with a name generated from the layer’s name plus it’s a guid (a UIUD) properties. A set of export options are defined, createRendition() is called, ultimately writing the file contents and closing the handle.  

The final steps are to package the plug-in. First execute the yarn build within the project’s root folder. The bundled JS is written by webpack to main.js located off the projects root folder. Files are imported in the source by using the require statement. A standard zip file would contain main.js, manifest.json and the images folder, plus any other assets placed on the root folder by webpack. Then change the file extension from .zip to .xdx so Adobe XD recognizes it as a plug-in package.  

How do you choose a programming language from the plethora of options available?

Mastering a new programming language can help you advance further in your career or switch careers completely. But you might be wondering how to make the right choice. After all, you will likely have to invest your time and money to learn it. The sheer number of programming languages out there does not help the situation either. This decision will likely involve several considerations like your past knowledge and coding skills, the difficulty level of a language, and your reasons for learning a new language in the first place.

Another thing you should keep in mind while deciding on a programming language is employers’ demand. If you are aiming to work for big tech giants, then we suggest prioritizing programming languages that have earned their stripes. In fact, in our blog on most In-Demand web frameworks for 2021, we helped you choose the “right” framework by highlighting the needs of your potential employers. Following the similar approach here, we will be sharing In Demand programming languages for the year. 

A recent survey by CodinGame sheds light on the popularity of programming languages and their demand by employers. According to the results, more than half of the programmers knew how to code in JavaScript, Java, and Python. These three continue to be the most widely used programming languages in the world.

On the demand side, results showed that close to 60% of the tech recruiters were on the lookout for professionals working with JavaScript and Java. These findings signal that the programmers and employers are in sync at least when it comes to these two languages. However, the same cannot be said for other languages like C, Python, etc. The demand for these languages is less than their popularity among programmers. For example, 57% of developers code in Python, but only 48% of companies need Python development. This gap is even bigger for C. 45.1% of programmers code in C however only 15.4% of companies require C development.

These insights highlight how most tech companies favor 4 programming languages: JavaScript, Java, Python, and C#. In our opinion, it’s better to stick with JavaScript as it’s the most popular programming language for a reason. As a matter of fact, JavaScript development also made it to our list of Top Ten Tech skills in Canada for 2021! Most companies developing web UIs need to interface with JavaScript. Moreover, with the introduction of NodeJS, it’s also being used to develop server-side applications as well. If you want to learn a lesser-known language to stand out, then consider TypeScript. This past October, TypeScript was named among the fastest-growing languages in GitHub’s Octoverse Report. The results also showed a small shortage for this language as 24% of companies needed TypeScript development but only 22% of developers knew it.

The survey overall highlights the dominance of few major programming languages like Java, JavaScript, and Python. The results also suggest a surplus of developers dealing with Python and C. For these developers, it would be better to switch to other languages to improve their job prospects in this competitive environment.

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Technology is becoming more and more integrated into daily business operations. Did you know that digitally transformed companies are expected to contribute to more than half of global GDP in 2023? With the enhancement and diversification of tech roles, it has become essential for tech enthusiasts to be aware of the most sought-after skills. Employers often cite the technical skills gap as the main reason behind their failure to fill vacancies. While this claim may be debatable, it is still important to note the tech skills and expertise which are most desired by these recruiters.

Using the LinkedIn data on the emerging jobs, we can make an estimate of the ten most sought-after tech skills by Canadian recruiters in 2021.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Last year, AI Specialist was LinkedIn’s Top Emerging Job. This demand will continue to be strong in 2021 especially with AI extending its reach beyond the IT industry. In a post COVID world, companies are striving to harness the potential of innovation and Big Data analytics. Hence, ML and AI will continue to be a well-demanded skill set for this year as well.

Data Science & Engineering

Data Science has also experienced vast growth in the past few years. This popularity can be ascribed to an increased usage of Big Data for business decision-making as well as the evolution of already existing jobs. There is an increased demand for competent engineers who can develop the infrastructure needed to maintain the company’s Data. Data analytics can also make medical care more effective. Hospitals are using Big Data to predict which COVID 19 patients are likely to become severely ill. These approaches reflect how the appetite for Big Data is likely to grow in the future, particularly in view of the pandemic.

Cyber Security

According to Cost of a Data Breach Report 2020, data breaches have a global average total cost of $ 3.86 M and have impacted around 19 million Canadians since 2018. In 2021, cybersecurity budgets are likely to climb higher than even pre-pandemic limits. Cloud adoption will also increase the need for a good cybersecurity skillset as companies will need to ensure cloud data protection.

DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering

DevOps allows for much faster application development and easy maintenance of current deployments. The efficiency provided by this approach has made it a desired skill set for recruiters. The government lockdowns imposed due to the COVID19 pandemic have increased rapid digitization, automation, and cloud adoption. These measures will increase the need for better communication between teams to ensure operational efficiency. Hence, the DevOps market is likely to experience growth in 2021.

Full-Stack Development/Engineering

Full-stack developers need to be competent in different technical solutions to have a better grasp of the complete build of a project. This makes them a valuable resource for any company. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated that the demand for Full stack developers will shoot to around 853 thousand in 2024. Given their past desirability and skillset, we can deduce that Full-stack engineers will continue to be in high demand in 2021.

Robotics

LinkedIn data suggests that the demand for Robotic engineers has increased by around 40% every year since 2015. The growth potential of the robotics industry can be gauged by the mere fact that UiPath, the most successful robotics solution, is valued at around $7 billion. A study conducted by CATAAlliance and Sciencetec in 2018 proved Canada’s potential in becoming a robotics powerhouse. These statistics enable us to understand the appeal of robotic engineering as a lucrative career option for Canadians in 2021.

Customer Success Management

Technological growth has also sky-rocketed the demand for Customer Success Specialists. Companies require professionals who can understand their technology while being able to maintain customer relations. This will be particularly true in the coming year as it has become difficult to manage churn rate and customer retention in a COVID19 environment.

User Experience

With increasing online business interactions, it has become vital for companies to offer a smooth and effortless digital experience to their customers. Furthermore, information overload and shorter attention spans make it more difficult for companies to make an impression on users. This has led to an increased demand for designers who can understand user’s expectations and needs to ensure the optimal customer experience. In 2021, companies are accelerating their digital transformations in response to the pandemic. This will likely make experience designing a highly demanded skill in the future.

JavaScript Development

94.5% of all websites use JavaScript and it is the most popular programming language to this date. This popularity is likely to continue in 2021 as the ability to code in JavaScript languages allows one to develop applications for nearly any platform.

Cloud Computing

According to Global Knowledge 2020 IT Skills and Salary Report, Cloud Skills are highly sought after and are the second-highest IT investment area. Cloud has unlocked new revenue channels by utilizing Future techs such as the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence. IDC estimates, for the coming year, suggests that the IT spending is likely to go down in most areas except Cloud. Cloud investments are likely to experience growth despite the global pandemic.

When it comes to technical recruitment, there are numerous ways to distinguish between a right and wrong candidate, just like there are ways for a candidate to scan the right job for themselves. As much as it seems theoretically simple, it really isn’t when one practically starts looking for a job or potential candidates, especially in the IT field. 

One can truly understand this dilemma through the example of the U.S. (2014): 4.7 million jobs advertised while 9.7 million candidates were looking for jobs, which made more than 2 for every job advertised, YET employers complained about failing to fill the vacancies.

This helps us to wade deeper into the cause of the problem.

Companies that couldn’t find the “right fit” were the ones to use the “skills gap” as the cause of this dilemma – especially those concerned with IT recruitment. What’s even more interesting is the fact that none of these companies provided a real agreement about what skills were unavailable. 

Now we can further identify the real culprits behind the massacre of the “right candidates” per see

Gap existing in competitive incentives

If you are not willing to pay for the skills you require from a resource, there is a very slim possibility of finding the “right candidate” who could ‘hit the ground running’. Knowing competitive salaries for specific technical skillsets i.e. dev ops engineers, Angular – frontend engineers etc, and making offers at those numbers or at least near those numbers is a great place to start.  

Gap existing in Job Description

If you are looking for a candidate with an Ivy league educational background, a certain number of years of experience, and most importantly expertise in multiple unrelated technologies, you are on your way to discouraging real candidates to apply for your job.
Moreover, this practice encourages keyword-stuffing, dishonest behavior, unrealistic expectations, and a sense of irresponsibility on a recruitment agency’s part.

Look at it this way: If you hypothetically replace this potential candidate’s persona with your own employees, do you think they can qualify for the post? Consider these requirements as a lever. The more you add, the fewer job seekers will apply.

Gap existing in employee training

If all you do is ‘ask’ from the potential candidate and not ‘give’ in the form of learning or training, there’s a lesser chance of having people apply to your job, much less sticking to them if/once hired.

If you cannot train your new hires and existing employees, people may not be interested in working for your company. As it turns out, other than a good paycheck, learning is the next priority for every serious candidate.

Another added benefit of training is that it immensely encourages employee retention (i.e. less turnover) as the employee gets to invest time and energy into becoming a useful resource for your company.

Gap existing in supplier communication

Sometimes suppliers like staffing/recruitment agencies or internal recruiting teams require more direct communication in order to find the right candidates for the open roles. A mere CV and cover letter may not convey the entire package, thus rendering them insufficient to help a recruiter source the best-fit candidates; on top of that, the supplier may have to figure it out by the end i.e. through the process of elimination.

It is best to schedule some time for either a direct meeting or through an interview so that you answer all of their questions/concerns and, in the meanwhile, get to know them better.

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In the world ofe-commerce, where competition is fierce and customer expectations are everevolving, choosing the right platform for your online store is a criticaldecision. For large-scale e-commerce businesses, scalability, flexibility, andperformance are paramount. Shopify Plus, the enterprise-level version of thepopular Shopify platform, has emerged as a compelling choice for businesseslooking to take their operations to the next level.

But is it worth theinvestment? Let’s delve into the key considerations to help you determinewhether Shopify Plus is the right fit for your large-scale e-commerce venture.

UnderstandingShopify Plus

Before we assess itsworth, let’s first understand what Shopify Plus brings to the table:

• Scalability: Shopify Plus is designed to handle high-volumesales and traffic, making it suitable for large e-commerce stores experiencingrapid growth.
• Customization: It offers extensive customization options,including access to the platform’s source code, allowing businesses to tailortheir online stores to their unique needs.
• RobustInfrastructure: Shopify Plusincludes features like unlimited bandwidth, automated backups, andenterprise-grade security, ensuring reliability and protection of your onlineassets.
• DedicatedSupport: Users of Shopify Plusreceive dedicated support, which can be crucial for resolving issues promptlyand efficiently.
• Multi-Channel Selling: With Shopify Plus, you can easily expand yourpresence across various sales channels, including social media andmarketplaces.

Now, let’s dive intothe factors that can help you determine whether investing in Shopify Plus isjustified for your large-scale e-commerce business:

• SalesVolume: Shopify Plus is mostcost-effective for businesses with significant sales volumes. If you’reprocessing a substantial number of transactions each month, the platform’sfixed pricing model can be advantageous.
•  CustomizationNeeds: If your businessrequires extensive customization, Shopify Plus provides the flexibility tocreate a tailored online shopping experience. Evaluate the extent ofcustomization you need and whether it justifies the additional cost.
• Performanceand Reliability: Consider yourcurrent and projected website traffic. If you’ve experienced website slowdownsor outages due to high traffic, Shopify Plus can provide the performance andreliability you need to prevent such issues.
• GlobalExpansion: If your e-commercebusiness is expanding internationally, Shopify Plus offers multi-language andmulti-currency support, simplifying the process of reaching global markets.
• DedicatedSupport: Assess the importanceof dedicated support. For large-scale operations, having a responsive supportteam can be invaluable in resolving technical issues and improving the overallcustomer experience.
• TotalCost of Ownership: Calculatethe total cost of ownership, factoring in the platform’s subscription cost,development and customization expenses, and potential third-party app costs.Ensure that the benefits outweigh the investment.
• CompetitiveAdvantage: Consider how ShopifyPlus can give you a competitive edge in your niche. Are the features itprovides essential for staying ahead of your competitors?

Conclusion

Shopify Plus isundoubtedly a powerful platform with a range of features tailored to meet theneeds of large-scale e-commerce businesses. However, whether it’s worth theinvestment depends on your specific circumstances and goals. Carefully evaluateyour sales volume, customization requirements, performance needs, and growthplans to determine if Shopify Plus aligns with your business strategy.

In many cases, the benefitsof Shopify Plus, including scalability, customization, and dedicated support,can outweigh the costs, making it a sound investment for large-scale e-commerceventures committed to delivering exceptional online shopping experiences.Ultimately, the decision should be based on a thorough analysis of yourbusiness’s unique requirements and long-term objectives.

Serverless computing, also referred to as simply Serverless, is a famed topic of the software architecture world. The biggest cloud-providing platforms like Amazon, Google and Microsoft are continuing to invest heavily and research on this type of architecture. Serverless is a cloud computing code execution model where a certain cloud provider takes over responsibility for servers running along with computing resources management. To put it in a simple view, there are no physical or virtual servers to manage, because they are automatically deployed in the cloud by the third-party vendors. Some of the famous serverless providers are AWS Lambda, GCP Functions and Azure Functions.

The main difference between the traditional and serverless architecture can be schematically seen in diagram 1.

Components of the serverless application are:

Functions

Functions are what imply business and application logic. They execute code for certain actions. There can be multiple functions working as a composite function. Sometimes they may be triggered or self-initiated when a condition is met. This process is hidden from the user. The user creates a program code, specifies needed dependencies and uploads it. The provider then provides the computing environment.

Backends

This unit allows the development to shift backend regular functions from data storage to the cloud, managing latency of the architecture and dependencies deepening. It also aids with functionalities like Simple Notification Service (SNS), Simple Queue Service (SQS), kinesis for streaming data, data warehouse queries, batch data cloud dataflow and event grids.  

Here is how a serverless setup looks like.

When we talk about Serverless, it is primarily defined by two different but overlapping areas: “Backend as a Service” (BaaS) and “Function as a Service” (FaaS). BaaS and FaaS are related in their operational attributes and are frequently used together. Let’s find out what each of these scopes encompasses.

BaaS

This term is used to describe applications that significantly or fully incorporate third-party, cloud hosted applications and services to manage server-side logic and state. These are typically rich client applications like single page web apps or mobile apps that use the vast ecosystem of cloud accessible databases (e.g., Firebase), authentication services (AWS Cognito) and so on.

FaaS

This term is used to describe applications where server-side logic is written by developer but unlike mainstream architectures, its run-in stateless computer containers are event-triggered, ephemeral and managed by a third party. Containers specify OS and software configurations. Regarding uptime, the container keeps working until the current job is executed and destroyed. It can host any microservice and app and there are no timeout restrictions.

Faas, replaces the click-processing physical server with something that does not need a provisional server nor a related app. The only code that needs to change when moving to FaaS is the main method, also called startup code. Handlers which manage message listener interfaces are also changed in the method signature.

Deployment is very different from traditional systems. The code is uploaded to the FaaS provider and then the provider instantiates VM’s and manager process. Horizontal scaling is completely automatic, elastic and managed by the provider. If the system needs to process a hundred requests in parallel, computer containers come into play. They execute the functions and are created and destroyed purely driven by runtime need. Functions in FaaS are typically triggered by event types defined by the provider. Such event types include S3 (file/object) updates and Kinesis. They may also be triggered as a response to inbound HTTP requests via API gateway. However, this is an uncommon use of configuration from within the same cloud environment.

When working in an instance-bound state or a machine state, there may be some restrictions posing to FaaS. Like data that is stored in variables or local disk. Such storage is available but there is no guarantee that such a state persists across multiple invocations and more strongly there should be no assumption made that state from one invocation of a function will be available to another invocation of the same function. This is the reason why FaaS are often described as stateless. But this may not a correct techical assessment. Rather it is appropriate to say that any state of a FaaS function that is required to be persistent needs to be externalized outside of the FaaS function instance. Any function will typically make use of a database, a cross app cache like Redis or a network file/object store to store state across requests or to provide further input necessary to handle a request.  

New-retail business framework (NBF) is an open framework developed by the supply chain infrastructure technology team for new retail services. A serverless system like FaaS helps NBF achieve industry standard practices, load balancing and long-term sustainability. Diagram 3 shows how NBF works in conjunction with FaaS.

Event Sources Function is an event driven set. Function Instances provide functions or microservices. The FaaS Controller manages function control services such as API Gateway or Backend for Front (BFF). Platform Service Functions relay on platform services such as privilege management API’s and OSS. Cloud Service Engine (CSE) provides dynamic scaling capabilities which rapidly adapt to different resources needs during on and off-peak hours. CSE optimizes container cold, hot start performance and serverless O&M tools such as logging, monitoring and link tracking. NBF containers use Open Service Gateway Initiative (OSGI) architecture and provide complete bundle lifecycle management, including load, start, unmount and delete as well as isolation and communication. The whole platform capabilities result in services release which allows for quick release of a function or to bundle as a service, service routing which includes polymorphism, degradation and moke routing, service management with service vision control and service start/stop and lastly the service O&M for serverless services, hybrid deployment, phased release, disaster recovery.

Lastly the important concept to grasp is bundle communication. Bundles are able to utilize container capabilities such as Spring context hosting and AOP by using the import mechanism provided by containers. For example:

        
       
org.springframework       
org.apache.commons.logging        
org.aopalliance       
org.aspectj    

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The NBF containers create an independent sandbox for each bundle which ensures code level bundle isolation from time of loading thus preventing class and resource conflicts among bundles. They manage bundle context globally and provide plug-in hosting. This sums up how FaaS works and conjoins.

When a web page takes longer than three seconds to load, 40% of visitors leave, increasing the bounce rate.  

Similarly, a slow mobile app would also have poor performance and irritate consumers. After a few tries, the customer will remove your application and download a more user-friendly one.

The ease of use and user-friendliness of your specific digital solution has a direct impact on the performance of the app. If compromised, it degrades the user experience and lessens the likelihood that users will engage frequently or stay connected to the app or website over time.

On the other hand, developing a web or mobile app with front-end performance in mind increases the chance that your product will succeed. As a result, your priority should be to create an app or website that loads quickly, is SEO-friendly, performs well, and is well-designed.

Here are a few secrets that can help you build up your performance-oriented front-end development.

Optimize Images & Use WebP 

Images are a crucial component of web pages. Considering they increase user engagement, 93.7% of websites on the internet employ at least one image file format.

The drawback of using images is that, unless they are optimized, they have a negative impact on the front-end loading time. However, there are various approaches to optimizing images:

Use AVIF or WebP

Compared to previous formats like JPEG and PNG, using modern image formats like WebP and AVIF shows better performance. When compared to JPEG and PNG, WebP is between 25% and 35% smaller. AVIF is 20% and 50% smaller than WebP and JPEG, respectively.

The browser support is the drawback, though. WebP acquired browser support only recently, so older versions may not support it. In contrast, Chrome and Opera are the only browsers that support AVIF. As a result, you must utilize the <picture> element in native HTML with fallback support.

Serve images of the right dimensions.

Using responsive images is another approach to speed up a website’s performance and cut down on image delivery time. Mobile and tablet devices account for more than 50% of all traffic. The frontend loading time could be further reduced by scaling the image to popular device dimensions and serving it using a srcset.

There are numerous other methods you can use to speed up the frontend loading time through image optimization in addition to picking the right format and dimensions. Additional recommended best practices are:

• Use of progressive JPEGs.
• Use of HTTP/2 instead of HTTP/1.1.
• Use of image sets.
• Image Compression
• Serve smaller images to users on slow connections.

Compress Files & Use CDNs 

Building a lightweight front end for your web or mobile solution is made much easier with the use of content delivery networks, or CDNs. These web directories have a successful global network. Your app will load more quickly if you use files hosted on CDNs since you can use the cached versions of the files from the closest servers. It enables you to quickly serve more users while preventing bottlenecks.

Compressing the files to be used comes next after using common files from CDNs. Every file, including documents, images (JPEG, PNG), videos, audio clips, and presentations, can be compressed to enhance the functionality of your application. There are many compression tools available on the market that might be deployed for this.

Once you’ve completed these two steps, your website or application will be much more responsive to consumer inquiries.

Bundle & Minify Assets 

Two different performance improvements you may use in a web app are bundling and minification. By minimizing the amount of the requested static assets and decreasing the number of server requests, bundling and minification combined enhance performance.

Multiple files are combined into one file by bundling. The quantity of server requests required to render an online asset, such as a web page, is decreased via bundling. Numerous unique bundles made expressly for CSS, JavaScript, etc. are possible. Having fewer files means that the browser will make fewer HTTP requests to the server or to the service that hosts your application. As a result, first-page performance is enhanced.

Code that has undergone minification has unnecessary characters removed without affecting functionality. As a result, the size of the requested assets is significantly reduced (such as CSS, images, and JavaScript files). One of the most frequent side effects of minification is the reduction of variable names to one character, as well as the removal of comments and extraneous whitespace.

Bundling and minification mainly speed up the first page request load time. After a web page has been requested, the web browser caches the static assets (JavaScript, CSS, and images). Therefore, bundling and minification don’t enhance performance when the same page, or pages, on the same site, are requested with the same assets. If bundling and minification aren’t used and the expires header isn’t set correctly on the assets, then the browser’s freshness heuristics mark the assets stale after some days. The browser also requires a validation request for each asset. Bundling and minification in this situation increase performance even after the initial page request.

Use Caching and prefetching 

Pre-fetching and caching are two essential tools for front-end web performance. Pre-fetching involves pre-loading resources such as images, scripts, and stylesheets so that they can be delivered to the user more quickly. Caching, on the other hand, involves storing assets on the user’s device so that they don’t have to be requested from the server every time the user visits the site.  

Both of these techniques have a huge impact on website performance and user experience. By pre-loading resources and caching assets, sites can load faster and be more responsive, leading to improved performance and better user experience. Additionally, pre-fetching and caching can reduce the burden on the server, which can help to keep costs down and make sites more resilient.  

So if you want to improve your site’s performance and user experience, be sure to take advantage of pre-fetching and caching.

Reduce The Number Of Server Calls.

Generally speaking, the more requests your front end sends to the server, the longer it takes to load. This is due to the fact that sending any request to the server demands full communication before the page can be rendered. There are several approaches you may take to cut down on the number of server requests required to load the website.

One of the simplest ways to cut down on server calls is to use CSS Sprites. Sprite loads a single image file combined using a collection of images rather than ten separate images to the site. The background image and background-position CSS properties can be used to display the desired image segment. By doing this, you’re minimizing the number of server requests necessary.

Reducing third-party plugins is also important as they make up a large number of external requests and cutting down on them will boost your application’s loading speed. Preventing broken links to files that don’t exist can also help.

You might also consider server-side rendering to accelerate the application’s initial load time.

Making the initial move is never easy. The future, however, belongs to those who aren’t scared to innovate and redefine conventional approaches. You can ensure that your website loads quickly and offers a positive user experience by using these web performance optimization approaches. Just be sure to keep everything simple, smart, and seamless. And keep in mind that you only have 15 seconds to make an impact!

First impressions of apps and websites are based on their user interface (UI) and front end. The ease of use, seamless navigation, and fast loading are just a few of the elements that determine whether a user will use your digital product again. Therefore, it’s crucial to consider a web solution’s performance efficiency, whether it’s an App or an e-commerce website. You will be able to do so by using the advice we’ve provided above.

Need help improving your front-end performance? Explore how our software engineering models can help your business here.

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Software engineering is a rapidly growing field, with a wide range of opportunities for qualified professionals. As the demand for software engineers continues to grow, companies around the world are looking for ways to maximize their software development teams and gain access to the best talent.  

Outsourcing software development to South Asia is quickly becoming a popular option for businesses looking to increase their efficiency and lower their costs. In this guide, we will explore how and why Pakistan is becoming a top choice for software outsourcing in South Asia and the benefits of outsourcing software development in this region.

Introduction to Software Outsourcing

Software outsourcing is the process of hiring a third-party contractor or agency to develop or maintain software applications or systems. This can be done either remotely or on-site, depending on the company’s needs and preferences.

Software outsourcing is a cost-effective way for businesses to access the latest technology, without having to invest in in-house development or maintenance. It also allows companies to quickly scale up their software development teams, without having to hire and train additional staff.

Understanding Nearshore vs Offshore Outsourcing

When it comes to outsourcing software development, there are two main options: nearshore and offshore.  

Nearshore outsourcing is when a company outsources to a nearby country, often within the same region or even the same time zone. This can be beneficial for companies who want to maintain close contact with their software development team, as well as reduce any language/cultural barriers.

Offshore outsourcing is when a company outsources to a distant country, often thousands of miles away. This proves to be perfect for companies who are looking to reduce costs, as labor costs in other countries tend to be significantly lower than in their own.  

However, there can be some communication barriers and timezone differences, as well as cultural and language differences, that can make offshore outsourcing more challenging.  

How can companies benefit from outsourcing their software development?

Outsourcing software development to South Asia can be beneficial for a number of reasons.  

• Reduces cost
• Improves quality
• Conserves capital
• Fosters innovation

• Saves valuable time
• Increases speed to usage
• Helps focus on core operations

Overview of the South Asian Software Development Market

The South Asian software development market is growing rapidly, with a wide range of opportunities for qualified professionals. This is due to a number of factors, including the availability of highly skilled software engineers, the low cost of labor, and significant time-overlap.

The subcontinent is the largest software development market in South Asia, and is home to some of the world’s best software engineers and developers. Countries in the region, such as, Pakistan, Vietnam and the Philippines, are becoming popular destinations for software outsourcing.

Why Pakistan is the ideal place to outsource software development in 2023.

When it comes to outsourcing software development, one of the main considerations is the time zone. Different countries have varied time zones, which can make communication and collaboration a challenge.

Pakistan is quickly rising the ranks for IT solution outsourcing for its quality of work and availability of dedicated teams. While the service is being outsourced, companies provide overlap timings as per international clients, varying from off-shore solutions to nearshore timings and even full time overlap.

Many countries in South Asia, including Pakistan also offer flexible working hours. This proves to be a viable option for companies who need to access their software development team at specific times or during different time zones. Fortunately, most companies situated in Pakistan provide significant time overlap with many allowing round-the-clock availability for outsourced work.

Moreover, about 300+ companies which includes several Global enterprises like Bentley®, Ciklum, IBM, Mentor Graphics®, S&P Global, Symantec™, Teradata®, and VMware® have established research and development centers, BPO support service centers and global consulting service centers in Pakistan.  

Pakistan is also ranked 5th most financially attractive location in the world for offshore services, according to A.T. Kearney’ s Global Services Location Index 2019.

Cost Savings

The major benefit of outsourcing software development to South Asia is cost savings. Labor costs in South Asia, specifically Pakistan, are significantly lower than in many other countries. This can be beneficial for companies who are looking for budget-friendly software development, as they can access the same quality of talent for a fraction of the cost.

The average cost of a software engineer per hour is $18 in Pakistan, making it one of the most affordable countries to outsource software development in South Asia. Not to mention, many countries in South Asia offer attractive tax incentives for companies who are looking to outsource IT solutions.

Pakistan’s IT Industry growth has been augmented by the fact that costs remain low for it due to a plethora of factors such as low labour costs and strong government incentives.

Fun fact: The average annual cost of a software engineer in Pakistan is one-fifth of the cost in USA and Europe.

Quality Assurance

Approximately 25,000 IT graduates enter Pakistan’s workforce each year, thus providing the Pakistani lT industry with the much-needed workforce. The area is home to some of the world’s best software engineers and developers. By outsourcing their software development, companies can access a wide range of highly skilled professionals.

With more than 150 ISO quality standards qualified companies businesses outsourcing their IT solutions to Pakistan can ensure that their projects are completed to the highest standards.

Access to Talent: Pakistan is one of the leading countries from where students enter the world’s most prestigious universities in large numbers. Pakistanis also rank high on intelligence scales.

Seamless Cultural Integration:

Most of the IT professionals, IT executives and company founders in countries like Pakistan have graduated or lived in the West. Finding a skilled workforce in Pakistan in the technology field does not present a problem for foreign investors and there are no cultural barriers to overcome as Pakistani professionals are used to interacting with clients based in developed countries.

Conclusion

Software engineering is a rapidly growing field, with a wide range of opportunities for qualified professionals. As the demand for software engineers continues to grow, companies around the world are looking for ways to maximize their software development teams and gain access to the best talent. Outsourcing software development to South Asian countries is quickly becoming a popular option for businesses owing to the many incentives they offer.

If you’re looking to outsource software development, Pakistan is a great option to consider. With its attractive labor costs, nearshore hours or full time overlap, and access to some of the world’s best software engineers, it is quickly becoming the go-to destination for software outsourcing.

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