How to Build Software With an End-User Mindset

Software development is a solution or an answer to the needs of a technical environment. This can be something as large and complicated as an app with millions of users or as simple as a small-scale e-commerce store. What’s important to note is that these solutions are not for the development team's satisfaction, but rather for the parties who’ve brought their issues to be solved by the development team. Sounds like common sense right? Yes, we understand this concept to be true but it is not always at the forefront of a development team's project roadmap. 

Any software developer can piece together an idea and materialize it in an application. However, for that application to succeed, there needs to be sufficient research, communication with the customer, and testing. In this section, we will be going over how development teams can enforce what’s known as an “end-user mindset” through their development process. 

What is an “end-user” mindset?

The concept is quite simple, but that doesn’t make the execution aspect easy. An end-user mindset is implemented by aligning the development process with the needs of your target audience in mind. This means that consistent improvement, data-driven development, and customer satisfaction remain at the front of all team members' concerns. 

Why is it important?

The reason there is any need to emphasize this approach is that developers commonly release the minimum standard features that check the boxes of the job description but don’t take into account the long-term success of their customers. This isn’t necessarily intentional as there can be issues in communication between developers and the sales team arranging the deadline or the team might simply be unable to identify bugs in their code.

The possible issues are a long list; some can be mitigated with scrum/agile methodologies, but it doesn’t make the product bulletproof or replace the value of tending to the end-user's needs. Even during testing phases, every possible contingency cannot be recognized and tested, which always leaves that risk on the table.

Consider that technology and data are fairly new factors in decision making but they’ve established themselves as pillars of the process. Most businesses today know that technology is a make-or-break factor for the team's success. This makes business in the tech sector extremely volatile. The United States alone is home to nearly 50,000 tech startups, most of which will not survive their first 5-10 years in business. This is the most competitive market in the world, and differentiating your business from the competition with an end-user mindset might be a contributor to your success. 

Here are some tactics to set your organization off on the right foot:

User-centred design (UCD)

User-centred design is a byproduct of user-focused development methodology. This approach follows guidelines that are formed based on analysis from interactions with the end-user. For example, this includes prioritizing touch bases, identifying requirements, and overall observance of the behaviours of the audience throughout the software development process.

Essentially, UCD is meant to throw out the client's old playbook and implement new software solutions as opposed to adding optimization features to the original system. The best software developers will take feedback into account and use it as inspiration for the changes they make to development features. The idea is that consistent communication with your end-user means you’ll know what they want and how they want it. Once that is established, you can build a product that addresses all concerns and will support the application's long-term functionality.

Test the product’s viability

Before full-blown software development is implemented, it will be wise to undergo tests that ensure what you’re building is something people want. A concept can seem like a great idea when you map it out, but nothing will tell the truth like the reaction of the market.

Cost-effective testing: Testing software doesn’t need to be done on a large scale audience. An effective method could be to gather several people and observe how they react and interact with various features of an application. Additionally, simply asking consumers their areas of concern with the system (previous or prototype) and what aspects they like are great for constructing a product that the market wants.

Identify requirements

Basing a product around the desires of your market requires you to compile a report of your product's goals, the overall vision, scope, cost, and timeline. The purpose of this is again, to make sure all necessary features are built into the product without having to go back and change too much. 

When this aspect is neglected, it leads to communication issues, an unorganized workflow, and an overall lack of cohesion which will result in a poor final result. 

Strategically improving the product

New factors (both external and internal) are going to present themselves in the market as well as in your organization. Most companies have a clear vision of how they want their product to look and operate overall but still fall short by neglecting a plan for consistent innovation. Consider some of the social media platforms you or people you know use daily. Notice that there are constant updates to the look and feel of the platform, some of which stay, and others improved on. Who inspires these changes? 

Well, notice the recent trend of platforms adopting TikTok's approach to content delivery (Instagram reels, Snapchat Spotlight, or YouTube shorts). These changes are made from observations in the market. Likely two questions need to be answered when a platform makes strategic changes; What does our audience like? How can we make it our own?

TikTok’s delivery of content is a good example because it demonstrates how platforms notice what keeps users engaged. When platforms saw TikTok’s usage rate blow past theirs, they implemented their approach to even the playing field. 

This concept is the same with any business and it is why software development is so relevant to keep up with ever-changing markets. 

Build scalable software

Branching off the last point, to keep up with changes not only in the market but with your company's digital Infrastructure requires software that can manage the load. Without scalability, companies will run into issues facing downtime, maintenance, and even possible security breaches.

When you start the development process with scalability as a priority, you’re giving your brand the upper hand with benefits such as reduced cost of maintenance, unique user experience, and faster functioning. Every enterprise software will require scalability to meet the demands of the organization.

The Takeaway

Every product is created based on a concept meant to either help a specific niche or change something for everyone. Companies like Apple or Tesla have a vision of everyone using their products, whereas a gaming company or a women's clothing e-commerce store would cater to a specific audience. Whichever side you’re on, an end-user mindset is where the most powerful inspiration comes from. 

Written By Ben Brown

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ISU Corp is an award winning software development company, with over 17 years of experience in multiple industries, providing cost effective custom software development, technology management, and IT outsourcing.

Our unique owners mindset reduces development costs and fast-tracks timelines. We help craft the specifications of your project based on your company's needs, to produce the best ROI. Find out why startups, all the way to fortune 500 companies like General Electric, Heinz, and many others have trusted us with their projects. Contact us here.

How Health Insurers Are Using FinTech to Cut Costs

For health insurers, business doesn’t come cheap, which was especially problematic when the industry faced the Covid-19 pandemic. Insurers had to continue funding treatments, tests, and other care services. Adding on to this, there was significant revenue loss without the ability to perform surgeries or offer the other bulk of their services. One example is major American health care provider Humana which saw a loss of nearly $460 million in 2020. 

This was a significant dip from 2019 when the company saw profits of just over $590 million. The fluctuation was due in part to the influx of hospital patients being treated for Covid-19 which lowered the utilization of other care resources by 15%. Not to mention that these companies had to terminate employees and accommodate/navigate a hybrid work environment in the midst of all this.

Making Necessary Changes

The shift made companies realize that they’d have to pivot to keep up with their industry's changes. These changes specifically needed to be focused on administration in areas such as communication and payment methods. This is where FinTech technology came into play; by shifting to electronic payments and digitally corresponding communications between members and providers, the industry was able to cut costs and retain members. 

Insurance companies recognized that digital transformation is necessary to keep up with consumer demands. The particular technology that revolutionized the insurance industry is primarily made possible through ​​the Automated Clearing House network and Virtual Credit Card (ACH/VCC) which eliminate paper records and reduce customer service requests. In effect, this is attractive for members as well as companies who have benefitted from reduced support costs.

At this point the message is clear: a digital landscape allows providers to focus their efforts on the competencies that make their services useful. Though this was inhibited by the constraints of the pandemic, it may have been the cold awakening businesses needed to scale through the next decade. Insurance is a highly competitive market and although the service is not mandated everywhere, it is something that people need and will look in-depth for the best option.

The insurance industry is moving quickly, and again, there will always be a need for this service, but providers need to roll their sleeves up to bring the best product. With advancements like InsurTech, AI, ML, IoT, and other software tools like them, health insurers can operate cheaper and far more efficiently. Here are some examples of how technology is likely to change the industry:

• Customized Options: Product manufacturers and distributors teaming up to embed insurance within products and services (IoT) would allow consumers to find options that support their specific lifestyles.

• Product Flexibility: Coverage that accommodates specific needs for one's lifestyle, wellness, or current life stage and that is event-driven, time-flexible, adjustable, and modular. It is likely we could see a dominance in technology that takes this data into account when developing coverage plans.

• Automated Underwriting: AI and technological algorithms individualize pricing options based on the risk that potential customers carry.

• EZ Value Options: Taking into account the shopping habits of consumers in new markets, those who offer products that are flexible in terms of timeline, and who do not lose sight of underwriting (to weigh risk) will be successful in this market. 

AI and the machines in its technological hemisphere are changing the insurance industry from underwriting to distribution to pricing and claims. After seeing the beneficial changes InsurTech brought to the industry, companies are using these outlined methods among others to make their operation run effectively for themselves and their clients. 

This technology puts consumers in the driver's seat of their healthcare and well-being. For companies, this makes the sales process easier as they can understand their clients better. It’s made connecting with consumers easier which led to over $2.7 billion generated in revenue for the insurance industry during 2021 using AI. That number is expected to reach around $46 billion in the next decade.

Reasons Behind the Growth

Insurance companies continually investing in AI and Machine Learning dramatically increases collaboration between solution companies and insurers. Additionally, insurance services looking for personalized solutions contribute significantly to the global expansion of the solutions development market. 

Common worries about limits on the market stem from high usage costs and talent shortage. However, this risk is mitigated with initiatives from the government and surging investments which make the market highly lucrative and sustainable long term. 

The Takeaway

Finding solutions that serve the best interests of your business is not an inducement but a requirement for a software company to earn business. The technology serving the FinTech industry isn’t exclusive and this is something insurers have tapped into. We can expect to see other industries following the same embracement of AI & Machine Learning so long as the right solutions are there to serve them.

Written By Ben Brown

—

ISU Corp is an award winning software development company, with over 17 years of experience in multiple industries, providing cost effective custom software development, technology management, and IT outsourcing.

Our unique owners mindset reduces development costs and fast-tracks timelines. We help craft the specifications of your project based on your company's needs, to produce the best ROI. Find out why startups, all the way to fortune 500 companies like General Electric, Heinz, and many others have trusted us with their projects. Contact us here.

Learning to Code For Beginners: Tips From Professional Software Developers

When you hear the term “coding,” you likely correlate it to an image of a programmer with headphones on in a dark room typing their fingers to the bone. To someone who isn’t familiar with the process, this may make coding seem like a robotic task consisting of nothing but numbers and letters. There’s a lot more to it than typing colourful lines on a black screen; the process itself is not for the fainthearted. Everyone interested in technology should at least have an understanding of coding, especially as society moves to a dominantly digital consumer landscape. 

Coding in its most basic form can be defined as people communicating with and teaching computers how to function. When a developer goes into the system, they use code to instruct what actions the computer and other relevant hardware must perform. The apps, websites, and technology you use daily are brought to life through coding languages and frameworks. As technology becomes more relevant in people's everyday lives, the need for programmers grows.

Today, over 50% of jobs require skills in technology which has placed coding in high demand among those skills. We expect that number to reach nearly 80% in the next decade. This will trigger the vast majority of businesses to rethink their digital landscape and search for talent that is keeping up with/exceeding the demands of today.

So now that we’ve established what coding is, let's go into the specifics of what it takes to adopt the practice as a complete beginner:

Mindset

Coding is a problem-solving task that not only challenges but requires you to use critical and logical thinking. You have to see problems from a different perspective and then break that problem down into digestible tasks (Examples: Make a flowchart or divide it into sub-problems). In forming those tasks, the programmer is observing the situation and uses their knowledge of languages and frameworks to find a solution for each. 

The code you're writing is meant to serve a purpose, this purpose needs to be in the front of your mind the whole time so you understand not only what you're doing but why you’re doing it. This will mean keeping a calm and collected attitude as you navigate the programming process. Essentially, coders need to understand that every problem has a solution and they have to do whatever it takes to find it.

Learn one language

To understand coding, it will be useful to master one coding language to the best of your ability. Some examples would typically be Java, Python, C, or Ruby as your best starting points. Aside from being among the most commonly used, they are easy to learn. Once you know one language, there will be carry-over concepts and knowledge that will make it easy to learn others. Additionally, it’s best to have one language that you’re more proficient with as your go-to since you’ll likely use it often.

Coding doesn’t require you to be a genius computer scientist. If you are a serial problem-solver, then you can learn the rest. One tool that will be a great resource is Harvard University’s free introductory to computer science course (CS50) that all first-year computer science students take. In this course, they teach you the basics of coding such as Algorithms, Data Structures, CSS, Python, JavaScript, and more. As you learn the fundamentals, you’ll move to execution, leading us to the next point.

Identify the purpose of your coding

When you build an understanding of coding principles and feel ready to put them into action, the next step is identifying your “why”. What needs are your solutions going to fill? We use coding to find ways of bringing concepts to life. Who in the 1970s would’ve thought you could send a text or FaceTime someone? These big changes in technology start with small advancements which will be a beginner's best friend.

Start coding something small such as crafting a simple message like “what is your name?” There are numerous methods to do even this specific task such as reverse alphabet letter correlation, manipulating the orientation of letters, or even using symbols to represent letters.

When one has built a solid understanding of software methodology and embraced a coder's mindset, one will see these simple tasks in different ways. It starts with an idea that becomes a vision. Essentially, when coding, you want to identify and try to solve your problem before you begin using algorithms. Seeing the solution and having it clear in your mind will stick with you as you find ways to fill in the gaps. 

Get your hands dirty

Branching off of the last point, no experience will compare to what a great team can teach you. The coding community is very welcoming and will not refrain from sharing their knowledge and advice with a beginner. As you network within the settings where you are learning, find out if there are hackathons you can participate in. A hackathon is a big coding project crammed typically into a 24-hour window. Beginner-friendly hackathon events use basic coding languages which would be a great learning experience. 

In addition to building a network and becoming active as a developer, it will be helpful to look into pair coding. This concept is rather self-explanatory as it is two programmers at one computer. There is the old saying “two minds are better than one” which is relevant in software development teams and why they use pair programming as an agile technique. But in a strictly learning-oriented manner, you will learn more from others than from tutorials or books. 

Challenges to expect

Now, while this section has depicted learning to code as a bed of roses, there are several challenges you can expect to encounter on your journey. In this section, we’ve outlined 5 key areas to look out for:

• Not knowing what to focus on: There are so many aspects that go into coding which can make a developer's road map seem chaotic. As a beginner, this can be overwhelming and, in some cases, discouraging. However, a key characteristic of a good programmer is acknowledging and accepting that there is a lot you have to do to succeed. 

• Can’t understand what the user wants: When working as part of a team and faced with an outsourced task, you may run into difficulty understanding the user's intent. Programmers specifically run into this issue since they are not typically the ones sitting down with the client. Project managers make it less stressful to update software with scrum/agile approaches. However, this can only get you so far as a programmer when there is minimal interaction with the end user.

• Lack of communication: When you’re newly working as part of a team and haven’t established relationships with others, you may be reluctant to ask questions or coordinate with team members. When working in IT, this can be a significant downfall since communication needs to be a consistent force within the team.

• The time it takes: Becoming a developer that someone would want to hire (whether as part of a team or to handle an outsourced project) takes a significant amount of practice as well as establishing credibility in your craft. Everyone wants the shortcut, but just like anything worthwhile, coding takes time. You can’t learn these concepts in a week. Beginners need to understand the information and see it in action while acknowledging that there will be failures in the process.

• Panic after failure: Being a great software developer means you consistently interact with problems. As you implement your attempt to solve these problems, you will not have a 100% success rate, which means things will go wrong. Finding out what went wrong is called “debugging” which is a process that scans for errors to determine their cause. Though sometimes it can be hard to admit mistakes, having this form of debriefing will make you better. Instead of letting emotions get in the way, finding the source of what went wrong and learning from that will be much more valuable.

The Takeaway

At the root of all these challenges and the learning processes remain the focal point of having the will to not only succeed but use technology to create an experience. Google wouldn’t be the platform we utilize every day without its codebase, and even that started out as a concept. If you take your time to learn the fundamentals, you will have this as a competitive advantage when working with technology.

Written By Ben Brown

—

ISU Corp is an award winning software development company, with over 17 years of experience in multiple industries, providing cost effective custom software development, technology management, and IT outsourcing.

Our unique owners mindset reduces development costs and fast-tracks timelines. We help craft the specifications of your project based on your company's needs, to produce the best ROI. Find out why startups, all the way to fortune 500 companies like General Electric, Heinz, and many others have trusted us with their projects. Contact us here.