AI’s Revolutionary Strides in Custom Software Development

As custom software developers, design thinking is standard practice when it comes to any project. We put the user first and build the solution around their needs… This is nothing new. What’s new is that design thinking has changed and evolved into “platform thinking.”

Platform thinking is the understanding that modern consumers have evolved from passive observers in the product lifecycle to active contributors in the value creation process. For example: 

• Uber uses platform thinking to connect drivers with people who need rides. The more drivers and riders who use Uber, the more valuable it becomes, because there are more rides available and more people to connect with.

• Instagram connects people who want to share pictures and videos. The more people use Instagram, the more valuable it becomes; there are more photos and videos to see and more people to connect with. 

Simple enough? Hope so, because now we’re really going to change pace.

Artificial Intelligence Tools in Software Development

AI can assist people in creating and enhancing things, no matter how skilled they are. This approach to platform thinking will become something every business grasps. It’ll eventually get to the point where all employees are also materializing their ideas quickly.

Bear in mind that 41% of all code on GitHub is AI-generated, and as AI becomes an important part of making software, the teams and skills needed will change. AI is not a replacement, so much as it is an extension of work, which in software development always comes back to the team around platform engineering.

The Impact of AI on Software Development Roles

Businesses must anticipate AI's role in platform engineering as they look ahead. With the evolving approach to development, the following are some jobs that will change.

Interaction design roles will surpass UI design roles in demand. As visual AI progresses, the need for a manual UI layout and structuring of business processes will diminish. Interaction designers will guide AI in crafting user interfaces and user experiences through JavaScript design systems, visual guidelines, and consistent user testing.

Business analysts will be dramatically more important in shaping business strategies. AI will likely take on tasks like writing user stories, defining requirements, and even setting acceptance criteria. Instead of just documenting these criteria, BAs will evaluate the AI-generated concepts and align them with the platform-oriented mindset. AI will become the key driver of business strategies, with analysts guiding it in the right direction.

The role of test architecture will be a highly sought-after and well-paid position. With autonomously generated software, continuous testing will be crucial. As the development cycle shortens, the demand for testing will skyrocket. Simply automating user tests based on acceptance criteria won't work anymore. 

Test architects will be responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining intricate test architectures, conducting end-to-end testing of new features, consistently performing exploratory testing, and executing dynamic regression suites that evolve with time.

Software architects will arguably get the most out of AI under this umbrella. Even though we’re still technically in the early stages of AI integration in software development, we are seeing tons of growth in platform engineering. Businesses are shifting away from single-point SaaS solutions and consolidating their efforts on custom-built and SaaS-enabled platforms like ServiceNow, Salesforce, and Workday. 

In addition, software architects are devising governance systems to shape code standards, development processes, and other aspects along those lines. Going forward, they will leverage AI to create, enforce, and evolve these systems autonomously.

Putting It All Together

Custom software development is in an interesting spot because even though the industry itself is changing, it too has the power to influence and change other industries. Every facet of a business's operations spiderwebs with AI integration.

In healthcare, maybe it’s automating diagnosis and treatment recommendations. In finance, there could be new approaches to financial planning. Maybe in manufacturing, it’s personless warehouses. These are the kinds of visions we need to dream up as software developers while the change happens in real-time. Clients are looking for partners in transformation which means as a software development company, AI needs to be a priority internally and externally.

The Takeaway

Integrating AI in your business processes starts by knowing when you’re ready and where it’s needed. With that in mind, we created a free tool to help you determine whether or not your business is ready for AI.

How is your industry changing right now? How do you think it will continue to change in the next 5 years? These are the questions you need to be asking yourself in today’s marketplace because there will be stark differences between the companies who do ask and the ones who don’t.

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 AI Chatbots Have Recovered in eCommerce

9 months ago marked one of the biggest transitions in the way humans communicate that will become an irreversible change shortly in every industry. E-commerce is no exception, and the implications of Chat GPT and tools alike pose massive advantages for businesses that can leverage AI effectively.

Like anything new, there has to be the trial and error stage where businesses figure out how the tool fits into their processes. The first issue that immediately stands out with Chatbots is the generic and repetitive responses. If your site implements a Chatbot to manage customer support, how are you going to want the experience to be? For most business owners, the answer is a simple “Unlike anything they’ve ever seen before” which is great but we should also add “And can’t get anywhere else”.

What Happened With Chatbots in eCommerce at The Start (The Epic Fail)

In the early days of eCommerce Chatbots, rather than expediting processes, they ended up causing delays. Chatbots would struggle to locate information, resulting in sluggish responses that left customers feeling more frustrated than if they had waited for a human representative to assist them.

Even when Chatbots managed to provide fast responses, they frequently failed to address the specific questions customers posed. For instance, if a customer inquired about the precise location of their package, the chatbot might respond with a generic message like "Your package is in transit".

In their initial stages, Chatbots were limited in their ability to handle anything beyond basic requests. While they could handle queries like "How do I start a return?" they were incapable of handling more complex requests like "I'd like to check the status of an ongoing return."

The biggest downfall of these early-day Chatbots was their struggles to retain previously gathered information. If a customer was transferred to a human representative, that representative often had none of the information the chatbot had already collected.

Even today, Chatbots are not universally trusted. Under the Bot Disclosure Act implemented in California in July 2019, retailers are required to inform consumers when Chatbots are in use, with non-compliance resulting in fines of up to $2,500 per violation. 

What’s Changed?

We can’t come off talking about this Chatbot dystopia without telling you about the strides the technology has made in recent years. So with that said, here’s a look at what’s been going on: 

From a technological perspective, this is what’s gotten better: 

1. Natural Language Processing (NLP): NLP lets Chatbots understand and interpret human language, which makes interactions feel more natural and meaningful.

2. Machine Learning (ML): ML algorithms let Chatbots remember and learn from past interactions, which over time makes them more efficient. This is essential for personalization and handling any issues brought to light by customers.

3. Chatbot Architectures: The design and development of Chatbots have evolved to include components like user interfaces, NLP engines, and ML algorithms, which make the Chatbots more powerful and enhance their responsiveness.

4. Rule-Based vs. AI-Based Chatbots: Rule-based Chatbots use predefined rules to respond to queries, and AI-based Chatbots leverage NLP and ML to understand and respond to user queries. Match those up against each other, and AI Chatbots are the clear winner. 

5. Best Practices: Developers now follow best practices in chatbot design, focusing on clear purposes, and the user experience, and prioritizing ongoing testing and refinement.

With this part covered, let’s shift to what these technological advancements have translated into:

1. Human-Like Chatbots: Chatbots have become more human-like, thanks to the advancements in Natural Language Processing and machine learning algorithms. This makes interactions with Chatbots more relatable and user-friendly. Recall that in the past, Chatbots often provided generic and robotic responses.

2. Deep Customer Insights: Modern Chatbots are designed to use deep customer insights to inform their responses. This is a fancy way of saying; they can analyze user data and give those personalized/relevant responses that companies want their users to have.

3. Voice Bots: Voice bots (Siri, Alexa, etc.) have obviously become a massive deal since they also give a more natural and intuitive interface for users. Think about booking appointments, ordering food, or making reservations using voice commands. This was a massive improvement over text-only Chatbots.

4. Improved Customer Satisfaction: Chatbots are now designed to create a sense of connection between the customer and the company instead of simply being a means to automate support services. They provide quick, personalized experiences that improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. In the past, as we know, Chatbots often left customers feeling disconnected and dissatisfied.

What a Successful Chatbot Implementation Looks Like

A few good examples of companies leveraging Chatbots effectively include Rawbank, Starbucks, and Lyft. To break down what each of these companies is doing as straightforwardly as possible, we’ll say that effective Chatbots can be recognized under three pillars:

1. How it understands language

2. How it personalizes the experience

3. How it continues to get better

With Rawbank for example, it has over 50 different use cases which is what makes it so well regarded. With this amount of ground covered, it’d mean that there isn’t a whole lot users could throw at the system that it wouldn’t be able to handle. This brings me to the next point; how it personalizes.

We’ll use Starbucks for this one just because it’s super simple. The chatbot can access a customer's order history, it lets them customize things, it gives recommendations, and it’s a barista in your pocket. This is a system that’s going to set the standard for any local coffee shops now and guess what? The companies who leverage it better than others, will get more customers and retain them longer. 

Lastly, Lyft. They recognize that their market is heavily controlled by Uber - which puts a lot of pressure on them when it comes to the customer experience. At first glance, you can see that the Chatbot interface for Lyft closely resembles an iMessage chat which is certainly user-friendly, but how does it stand out? Well, Lyft beat Uber to market. Which has given them time to get some mileage on their Chatbot and optimize the user experience. 

The Takeaway

It’s no surprise that a lot of people’s knowledge and understanding of AI stops at Chat GPT. These Chatbot interfaces are setting a new standard for how people find and interact with information, which is now pouring over into the business world. Want to get behind the shift? Find out if your business is ready for AI today.

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.

Top 10 Best AI Tools for Business Growth

AI tools are becoming more and more essential for businesses in 2023. Whether you want to improve your productivity, creativity, communication, or marketing, there is an AI tool that can get you to the next level. If you remember the early days of the iPhone, there was a phrase that started becoming popular…. “There’s an app for that.” Similarly, no matter the goal you have in mind, there is probably an AI tool that could help. 

As these AI tools become accessible and widespread, it’s up to businesses to stay up to date on the latest resources that are designed to keep them at the forefront of technology. That’s why we decided to make it easy and compile a list of the top 10 best AI tools for business growth. Here, you’ll find AI tools that can create videos, keep your workload organized, write blogs, and more. 

ChatGPT

As you may have heard, ChatGPT is an AI chatbot platform that lets you create conversational agents for your website, app, or social media. You can use ChatGPT to engage your customers, provide support, generate leads, and increase conversions. 

The widespread availability of this AI conversationalist is a game-changer for businesses. Now, customer service, web content, and customer engagement can be automated– with some help from a professional, of course. While the power behind this tool is undeniable, it’s still getting information from 2021 and earlier. But being able to use ChatGPT for your business needs is nothing more than an API away.

AI Business Analyzer

This tool is a standout on this list. The AI Business Analyzer, much like the name suggests, analyzes businesses to figure out how ready it is to implement AI. From current processes to what software platforms are used, all the details on how a business is run can fall on a scale from you’re not ready for AI at all, to this is a simple switch.

The key part of this app is that it’s a gateway to a whole other host of benefits for business growth. Once you’ve determined the readiness of your business for AI, you can directly contact an expert who will help you hash out the next steps. Keep in mind, all of the tools on this list are useful, but there’s no replacing an AI tool that is fully integrated into your workflows. An automated company is a thriving one, and in this technology era, it’s quickly becoming the new standard. Try out the tool for free here.

ClickUp

This is a cloud-based project management software that includes an AI writing assistant, which can help you write faster and polish your copy, email responses, and more. This works great if you’re looking for a way to track and manage teams of all sizes. 

The genius behind ClickUp can be summarized in two points:

• It has AI integrated into it to help your smaller writing tasks write themselves. From replying to emails at lightning speed to brainstorming marketing ideas, the AI assistant gives you the momentum you need throughout your busy day.

• It makes productivity feel extra good by gamifying your workload. Every time you complete a task and get to move it into the next phase, the dopamine in your brain will fire off those reward feelings (the dopamine isn’t coded into the tool, in case you were worried.)
  
  
  

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is hands down one of the most popular and powerful AI tools that can help you grow your business in 2023. Google Analytics is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic, behaviour, and performance. You can use Google Analytics to measure your online marketing campaigns, optimize your website design and content, understand your audience preferences and needs, and generate insights and recommendations for your business strategy.

This tool is more of a necessity than a nice-to-have. If you’re not already utilizing a tool that helps you track your conversions, see patterns in your website traffic, and suggest the next moves for your online visibility, then you’ve got to set your priorities straight. Businesses don’t grow unless the growth is tracked, measured, and repeatable. Google Analytics helps you do exactly that.

Grammarly

This is a digital writing assistant that can help you improve your communication skills. Grammarly can check your grammar, spelling, punctuation, tone, and readability. It can also help you avoid plagiarism and reword your sentences for clarity and impact. 

Another great part– it’s free to use… for the most part. Once you add the extension to your browser, a little green circle will start suggesting edits, pointing out confusing sentences, and fixing your embarrassing typos. Never hit “undo send” on an email again. Grammarly’s benefits are all readily available free of charge. Of course, there’s a premium version with even more AI power behind it, and it might just be worth it if you or your team have some issues with writing. Keep in mind, a small typo on a website can cost millions of dollars. Any mistakes in your copy can impact your brand’s reputation. There’s more on the line than you think!

Descript

This is a video creation tool that uses AI to transcribe, edit, and produce videos. You can use Descript to record podcasts, create video tutorials, make marketing videos, and more. Descript also has a feature that lets you edit audio and video by editing text. Crazy, right?

This AI tool has been described as “impossibly futuristic” by a reviewer. It’s a great way to describe the usefulness of Descript, as it bridges the gap between people who want to create content but have trouble doing it the way they did in the old days of manually shooting and editing a video. While there’s still an argument to be had about the artistic element of editing films the hard way, this app is perfect for digital content that’s meant to drive business growth. This cuts loads of time from the slow process of learning to use complicated software to chop up bits of short content. 

Copy.ai

This is another AI content creation tool that can help you with a variety of tasks such as generating slogans, headlines, logos, product descriptions, and more. Copy.ai uses a powerful neural network to generate creative and catchy content for your brand.

Before the creative marketers go to war, consider this; it takes a human expert to verify whether copy is actually good or not. Instead, this tool should be seen as one of two things; a) a way to make marketing more accessible to people just starting a business or b) a huge time saver for marketers, and a wall to bounce ideas off of. Regardless, Copy.ai is incredibly useful for anyone that needs some help getting the creative juices flowing.

Anyword 

Instead of generating copy, this AI copywriting tool can help you optimize your content for conversions. Anyword can predict how well your content will perform with your target audience and suggest improvements to increase engagement and sales. 

The competition for the first page on Google is fierce. The competition for audience attention is more so. This futuristic AI tool can help businesses navigate the tough landscape of digital content and minimize the gruelling process of throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. Anyword has a pretty good track record, too, boasting clients like Amazon and National Geographic. This one is definitely worth a look.

Bricabrac

Imagine being able to simply describe the kind of web app you want and seeing it come together automatically on your screen. This is Bracabrac, the AI app generator. This tool uses GPT-4 to allow you to build apps using no code.

No one should expect the quality to be top-notch for any app generated in just a few minutes, but the beauty of this tool is that it allows virtually anyone to have an idea and see it come to life in record time. Bricabrac promises to deliver an app that has a fully responsive interface, and you can also add features and edit any part of it just by describing what it is you want. However, businesses require more complex applications that look and feel the best. For that, we’d recommend getting an app custom-built through human experts who know how to code!

Runway

This is a good one for those that want to let their creativity soar. Runway is an AI video creation tool that lets you manipulate videos in real-time. You can use this AI tool to change the appearance, motion, sound, and style of your videos. Runway also lets you add effects such as face swap, deep fake, style transfer, and more.

If Descript is the shortcut for Premier Pro (Adobe’s video editing software), then Runway is the shortcut for After Effects. This app lets you streamline more complex video editing to allow for any creative ideas to become possible. Businesses need creative commercials, content, educational videos and more to be able to stand out from the crowd. Runway could help achieve it.

To Wrap Things Up

All of these AI tools are massively helpful in different ways. The needs of every business are unique and often depend on what industry a particular business is in, what goods it sells, and what the overall goals are. The use of each of these tools is exciting, but can only go so far when it comes to helping a business innovate from the inside. AI is alluring, but it’s strenuous for businesses to implement without any guidance. To be able to use these tools for growth, a consultant can be an indispensable resource for companies looking to scale. 

Going at it solo can lead businesses down a lot of dead-end paths, but hiring in-house AI experts can be time-consuming, expensive, and hard to actually find at all. If you are a business owner or IT decision-maker, consider hiring outside consultants to lead you down the right path the first time.

If the AI tools on this list are making so many things possible, imagine what AI custom-tailored to your business could do.

Written by Natalie Mansilla

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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.