All posts by [x]cube LABS

[x]cube LABS is a leading digital strategy and solution provider specializing in enterprise mobility space. Over the years, we have delivered numerous digital innovations and mobile solutions, creating over $ 2 billion for startups and enterprises. Broad spectrum of services ranging from mobile app development to enterprise digital strategy makes us the partner of choice for leading brands.

Banking, White papers

Mobile Banking: Unwiring The Bank

August 18, 2015 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

The Global Mobile Banking Report 2015 by KPMG predicts that the number of mobile banking users worldwide will double to 1.8 billion over the next four years, accounting for over 25% of the world’s population.

The banking landscape has changed over the years. Massive shift in consumer behavior and expectations, regulatory challenges and emergence of new technologies present new challenges to banks. In the new banking environment, banks are adopting ‘Mobile First’ approach to serve customers better and stay competitive.

The changing landscape Mobile Phone and Tablet Usage are soaring. Access to mobile networks is now available to 90% of the world population and 80% of the population living in rural areas.
Mobile banking, which started off with banks offering services like balance inquiries, checkbook requests, etc., via SMS and later with the browser through WAP and GPRS, has, over the years, widened its scope to include a huge part of banking operations, both internally and externally. Today, banks are adopting a mobile first strategy and investing heavily into mobile and other related digital technologies like cloud, social, wearables and Internet of Things. As mobility takes center stage in the technical infrastructure of banks, business processes are being reengineered and new models are being explored. Mobile payment processing, location-based services, add on devices, etc., has led to a greater extension of mobile solutions enabling banks to provide the seamless banking experience to their customers.

Today, banks not only use mobile devices and applications as a channel to offer services to customers but also as a tool to connect within the organization, empower their workforce and control its various processes and assets. So, we not only see basic banking operations performed through mobile devices and applications, but we also see increased use of mobility solutions within the organizations for complex operations like asset management services, loan approval processes and database management.

The customer’s attitude towards mobile banking has also undergone a sea change. Far from being wary of doing financial transactions on mobile, as was the case in the early days, people, owing to ubiquity and convenience today, have nicely warmed up to the concept of banking on their devices and are pretty comfortable paying utility bills and transferring funds on the go.

The drivers

Several factors are at play behind the growth of mBanking or mobile banking–Smartphones and tablets have become ubiquitous. Consumers are welcoming banking services on their devices. Internet connectivity has widened its spread and is getting faster. Mobile apps are more powerful and secure enough to integrate with banking processes and operations. While powerful game changing drivers like faster ROI, higher productivity and a direct and personal communication channel with the customer base have attracted banks to embrace mobility, customers are excited about quick anywhere anytime services.

The big gains

Source: The Financial Brand

One of the significant benefit that has made banks embrace mobile technology is cost efficiency. The above graphic illustrates how mobile can bring significant cost efficiency in transactions.

Mercatus LLC Survey on mobile banking discovered some interesting results, validating how mobilizing operations and services can boost customer acquisition, brand perception and sales. The report reveals that–

Banks offering mobile financial services can increase new customer acquisition by as much as 60%.
Mobile financial service capabilities have more impact on a consumer’s decision to select a bank than availability of online banking, access to ATMs or nearby branches.
Banks offering mobile financial services should anticipate as much as a 60% increase in sales.
Customer acquisition promotional offers including mobile financial services outperformed those that did not include mobile financial services by nearly 30%.
It can decrease the cost of acquiring a new customer by as much as 20%.

The Possibilities

Retail banks are mostly using mobile in following ways

Payments: Banks are rapidly leveraging mobility solutions to enable customers to use their mobile devices to make payments at stores. Similarly, efforts are ongoing to facilitate person-to-person payments, allowing money to be transferred from one person to another like PayPal.

Branch less Services: What about the ability to deposit documents like checks, pay order, etc., by simply scanning the check and sending the image to the bank rather than depositing the physical form in the bank?

Customer Engagement: Mobile apps can help banks engage with customers, offer real-time advice/suggestions for up-sell/cross-sell based on the past history and make banking fun via gamification, contests etc.

Location based Services: Many banks have already embraced the location-based capabilities of mobility solutions to locate ATM’s, bank branches, etc.

Within the organizations, powerful enterprise solutions have facilitated a spectrum of services on mobile devices. Bank employees today not only use mobile devices to connect and interact within the organization through email, messenger etc., but also use it to access various company resources like Management Information Systems, Transaction Management and Sales Force Automation, etc. Mobility solutions for banking are making processes leaner and quicker not only with their own might but also by complementing other technologies.

Today, mobility for banking is not only a viable medium but also an enabler that can act as a force multiplier for other channels. Mobile applications are quickly replacing bank mobile websites by providing a better experience and secure transactions. With wearables like Google Glass and Smart Watches gaining traction among customers; some banks have started experimenting by proving banking services on wearables. Some banks have also introduced mechanisms that enable interaction between the ATM and the mobile devices of the customer. Armed with a smartphone or tablet, a user can connect his device wirelessly to the ATM, authenticate and make a withdrawal or transfer fund s through it without a debit or credit card.

The challenges

The ride, however, is not so smooth. There are multiple challenges facing the banks as they move to leverage mobility solutions. The biggest impediment is banks struggling to creating a comprehensive mobile strategy resulting in mobile implementation in silos. There is a massive proliferation of devices differing in form, functionalities and features. The challenge will be to come up with one solution that fits all and offers seamless experience across.

While the world may be stepping into 4G, bandwidth latency and coverage is still an area of concern if mBanking is to adhere to its promise of anywhere, anytime banking. The security of banking transaction over the air is another complicated challenge which calls for continuous intervention as the technology evolves. Decision makers should also keep an eye on the scalability and reliability of their mobile infrastructure as the usage grows and mobile devices become the major channel instead of just yet-another-channel of contact between customers and the branch.

The trends point towards a future where banking will be real-time,anytime with mobile being the key enabler. New technologies like Big Data, Internet of Things, Cloud etc., will further build on the mobile and bring a paradigm shift in banking. Tapping into the opportunities available will help banking institutions derive enduring value.

Our Recommendations

Embrace mobility: Mobile banking is here to stay. It offers tremendous value to both banks and customers. The opportunities are endless.
Devise clear strategy: A comprehensive strategy encompassing your people, processes and services will help you better leverage mobile and get higher RoI.

Focus on consumer experience: Create an omni-channel, user-friendly and secure mobile banking environment.

Pick the right platform: Diversity in screen sizes, functionalities and operating system necessitates banks to adopt a multi-platform approach.

Turn data into Insights: Monitor user behavior leveraging advanced analytics tools. Customer intelligence will be the guide for future.

Lay down the groundwork for next generation of m-banking: Emerging technologies like IoT, Wearables etc., promises more opportunities. Be ready to seize them.

The beginning

The world of convenience banking on mobile phones and tablets is very engaging. A powerful value proposition! However, it is just the beginning. The swift pace of change in mobile technology is opening new opportunities, driving innovation and prompting banks around the world to ask “What else?” This is a big shift from, “Why go mobile?” a few years back. The evolution has led many banks to not only see mobility as an enabler towards greater customer access to their services, but also as a game changer in the disruptive world.

Blog, Quality Assurance/Testing

6 Mistakes To Avoid While Testing Mobile Apps

August 13, 2015 [x]cube LABS

With the increase in the number of smartphones available in the market, people started trusting technology and are using mobile devices to perform different tasks in their day-to-day life which ultimately led to a leap in the development of mobile apps. Being user-friendly, smartphones and apps are being handled even by children below ten. However, if an app is excellent but isn’t user-friendly, then it will not reach the target audience/users. So, this is one area where mobile developers and testers need to concentrate.

Mobile app testing is not simple as there are multiple parameters that need to be considered and tested. As we know, testing is something where we need to do the things repeatedly which requires a lot of time and patience. This is when testers tend to make mistakes.

Making mistakes is a normal human tendency so it’s not uncommon for people to make mistakes in life – personal or professional. While it’s a fact that it’s the tester who always finds mistakes in the tasks performed by others, there’s also a possibility that even testers make mistakes during testing. A mistake will be negotiated when it is small but some mistakes are more accountable, and one should take care to avoid them.

Let’s now analyze some mistakes that need to be avoided, and how to avoid them.

Proceeding to test the project without an in-depth knowledge of business logic and functional requirements

A mobile app will be developed in a very short time; so, sometimes the tester will test the app without knowing the complete requirements of the app. This should be avoided because a tester will not cover all user flows in the application if s/he doesn’t have an in-depth knowledge.

1. Inadequate language skills in reporting bugs

Besides being a fast-growing trend, developing mobile apps is new to everyone involved. Getting the terminology right is, therefore, a difficult thing. This is where a tester will make mistakes. This should be avoided because without a proper description of the issue, a developer will not be able to fix it.

2. Prioritizing UI over functional aspects

As the adage goes, the first impression is the best impression. All said and done, people will always prioritize looks over other things – this is true in the case of a mobile app as well. Even a tester gives more priority to the UI and takes more time in testing only UI while giving less time to functional aspects. This mistake should be avoided at any cost and same priority should be given to both functionality and UI.

3. Not capturing crash logs which makes identifying the bug difficult

If a simple crash occurs after the app is released into the market, it irritates the user a lot and the negative impact it creates may prove to be disastrous (by kaseman). In fact, it makes users uninstall the app at times. So, while testing, if the tester does not capture the crash logs, that makes it difficult to fix the issue later on.

4. Flaws in reporting formats

For a tester, finding bugs is as important as sending reports. However, due to the time constraints, testers tend to commit mistakes in sending the reports.

5. Coverage of testing on different OS versions

Due to lack of time on hand, testers end up covering testing on fewer devices. This should be avoided because when an application is designed for multiple devices, testing in fewer devices will not be enough. As every device will have a different configuration, the issues that crop up will also be specific to that device. So, before releasing any app into appstore/play store, testing should be covered in all supported devices.

6. Conclusion

Delivering a quality product at the end of the day is important to testers. So it’s important that testers take care to avoid mistakes at every stage of testing because once the app is made available on App Store/Play Store, even the smallest of mistakes can have a huge negative impact.

Preethi works as a Software QA Engineer at [x]cubeLABS and has experience in Mobile and Web Application testing in different domains like Social, Gaming and Healthcare.

Blog, Cloud Computing

Moving To Enterprise Cloud Computing? 10 Stats You Need To Know

August 12, 2015 [x]cube LABS

The adoption of cloud computing in businesses has grown manifold in the last few years. For some organizations, cloud has become the go-to model to become more cost-efficient, productive and innovative. Over the years, cloud computing in enterprises has undergone many changes. Here are 11 stats you need to know about enterprise cloud computing

1. Size of market
	Enterprise cloud subscription revenues predicted to reach by 2018. Source : Appsrunthecloud
2. Cloud is rapidly growing
	CAGR growth in spending on cloud computing infrastructure and platforms from 2013 through 2018. Source : Goldman Sachs
3. Cloud taking center stage in enterprise IT
	IT decision makers are planning to increase spending on cloud computing in 2015. Source : Computer World
4. Enterprises are embracing cloud computing
	Enterprises will have at least half of their infrastructure on cloud-based platforms by 2018. Source : Digital Business
5. IaaS is popular
	Organizations surveyed are running applications or experimenting with infrastructure-as-a-service. Source : Right Scale
6. Hybrid cloud is popular as a strategy
	Enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy, up from 74 percent in 2014. Source : Right Scale
7. Public cloud preferred over private
	Organizations are using public cloud while 63 percent are using private cloud. Source : Right Scale
8. Still there is enough space for growth
	Enterprises run less than a fifth of their application portfolio in the cloud. Source : Right Scale
9. Cost-efficiency is the major driver for enterprise cloud
	Businesses surveyed are using cloud to drive cost efficiencies while 42% are using to better enable mobile work force. Source : KPMG
10. Cloud boosting business performance
	Business surveyed experienced improved business performance as a result of cloud implementation while 70% experienced cost reduction. Source : KPMG
11. Data and privacy are major challenges
	Enterprises find Data loss and privacy risks as most challenging areas when adopting cloud while for 50% intellectual property theft is the major challenge. Source : KPMG

As Scott McNealy, former CEO of Sun Microsystems, puts it “It (cloud computing) has security, directory, identity, privacy, storage, compute, the whole Web services stack”. With so many benefits to offer, cloud computing in enterprise will continue to grow.

Blog, Quality Assurance/Testing

5 Benefits Of Testing In Cloud

August 10, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Testers are used to performing routine tasks on a daily basis – be it setting up or configuring or refreshing test environments. These tasks can be quite frustrating as they are time consuming – especially when the number of testing combinations grow in mobile environments where new devices are introduced every year which need to be tested.

But, is it possible to increase the productivity while avoiding these frustrations?

Yes, it is very much possible when cloud comes into the picture with its unlimited computing power available on demand. Virtualization enables us to have multiple pre-configured test setups ready, and allows us to spend less time configuring and more time performing testing which would make testers more productive. The cloud gives us the added benefit of mobility, as all resources are centralized and easily accessible through the Internet, which means that teams from across the globe can collaborate with ease.

So, what are some of the advantages of cloud-based testing? Let’s look at the top five benefits

1. Anywhere, Anytime Access

Easy access through the Internet allows team members to work from anywhere, anytime. It’s a known fact that Cloud Testing is perfect for Agile. Agile development is a concept which enables cross-functional teams to get involved at every stage of the development process and also take care of every step in testing. Cloud testing empowers stakeholders with access to all tools available in the company regardless of where they are located or what they are working on at the moment.

2. Increase in Productivity

If frustrations and time spent on configuring can be minimized, it helps the team in spending more time on actual testing, thus increasing the productivity. There are over 20,000 device models in the market with 27 different varieties of operating systems. At a minimum, we can achieve a test coverage of over 600,000 scenarios. Nonstop cloud testing gives you the luxury of expanding the amount of scenarios you can cover in the same time period.

3. Cost Reduction

No capital expenditure and much faster deployment times means you can have minimal project start-up cost and infrastructure cost. To perform testing, to load the tool and to provide a substantial hardware/ infrastructure platform in-house, you can straightaway opt for the cloud service provider without investing in tool licenses (by aaron). You have an option of choosing a tool of your choice depending on the product to be tested. The service provider will ensure that the latest version of the tool is provided. So, instead of paying a very high amount to buy a tool, keeping track of updating it with latest patches, getting bothered about the new release, and then depending on it for all your product range, you just need to ‘pay as you use’.

4. Perfect for the Mobile Economy

Twenty percent of all online commerce is on mobile, and ten percent of this is online. Since the concepts of mobile commerce and online commerce didn’t exist 15 years ago, the growth of these markets is eye-popping. The present generation has created an entirely new way of doing business and it is changing everything. The one and only method that puts an application through such a rigorous process, to make it ready for the unexpected surprises that will come in traffic and usage, is cloud testing.

5. Continuous Integration

The development team is also benefited because continuous testing leads to continuous integration. Adding a piece of a code each time to a mobile application which is to be tested is very complicated, as it has to be redeployed. Cloud testing ensures there is always a tester closeby. It means that you can test under larger scenarios right away. New builds can become new versions faster than ever before, benefiting not only the testing team but also the entire development team as well. And the mobile application tester has a wider variety of devices to choose from. Any tester can choose any device, rather than only the physical devices he can access to. A tester can book devices in advance, as he knows exactly when he wants to test on which device. Making all devices available to all testers eliminates the need to buy more than one type of device for multiple teams, and saves a lot of money.

Shravani Keerthi works as Senior QA Engineer at [x]cubeLABS, and has 4+ years of experience in Mobile and Web Applications in testing varied domains like Social, Gaming, Logistics and Insurance.

Blog, Quality Assurance/Testing

Testing mobile games made easy!

August 6, 2015 [x]cube LABS

In this era of digitization and smartphone revolution, it would be difficult to find someone who hasn’t played or heard of mobile games! Typically the easiest to play and less time consuming, mobile games enthuse all smartphone users alike. However, most game developers target children and young adults as they’re more likely to try new games than their adult counterparts.

Mobile games can be played on portable devices like tablets or music players and smartphones as they require less memory and processing speed compared to other console/PC games. Many of today’s mobile games are based on open source or commercial game engines like Play Canvas, Unreal, Cocos2D, Construct and Unity3D, most of which provide great tools and frameworks to get your game built quickly, with graphical features. Even with their limited resources, good mobile games make more revenue in the market compared to PC/console games, and can even serve as an excellent means of advertising.

All mobile games have one goal in common – to keep end users entertained, engaged and thus increase repeated visits and rate of retention. Entertaining end user is more complex than one can imagine, especially when we look at the domain in which most mobile applications are built. Herein lies the significant difference in testing games and applications.

So which aspects of gaming make testing a challenge?

Multi player – Tested in two different approaches – host and client, where data is received from the server that creates numerous test cases to cover all the scenarios.

Network – Testing a game under various networks depending on the speed/ types can impact the performance as the game is played with backend server.

Fun – Creating a game with fun as an integral part is a daunting task. A game with a bad review will not attract users to download the next version. As every user has his/her own definition of fun, testing the fun aspect is imperative.

AI – Unlike mobile applications, games have AI implemented in them. Complex games have complex AI mechanisms, and it takes more time and patience to test the accuracy of the AI.

Realism – Domain expertise plays an important role as users can easily spot the unrealistic actions.

The what-s and why-s of different testing approaches

Installation testing – To verify whether the game is installed or uninstalled without interruptions.

Performance Testing – To verify the behavior and performance of the game under particular conditions like low battery, bad network coverage and low memory.

Certification Testing – To verify the guidelines set by the mobile platform.

Usability testing – To verify if the game is user friendly.

Interrupt Testing – To verify the behavior of the game when user gets a call, message, notifications, alert messages, etc.

Memory Testing – To verify whether the device lags due to lack of memory which may affect the performance of the game play.

Functional Testing – To check whether each feature is working as per the design, and the game play meets the requirements.

While playing mobile games is fun and easy, testing these games before launching to ensure excellent quality and seamless game play is complex involving many steps and procedures. The goal of every game developer and tester is to provide users with a flawless product that helps them not only enjoy gaming but also keep coming back to the brand for more versions or newer games. If the gaming app companies succeed in giving what users want, without compromising on the quality, they’ve surely gained a loyal user for life!

Sindusha Rudraraju works as a QA Engineer at [x]cubeLABS and has over 2 years of experience in desktop, web and mobile applications. She is ISTQB certified and has experience in testing business applications and games.

Blog, Quality Assurance/Testing

Optimizing Your Mobile Testing Strategy

August 5, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Image Credit: stocksnap.io

The adoption of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices has expanded the growth of mobile applications in recent years. As mobile devices have become the primary medium of interaction for consumers as well as businesses worldwide, mobile applications have started driving these interactions. Nowadays, mobile apps put the business operations in the hands of consumers who are literally running businesses.

However, the big question is: “What makes a mobile app compelling enough to influence consumer behaviors and make them engage with your brand or product?” Of course, a strong mobile app development strategy is the foundation of any successful mobile app, but one key component in app development is testing which ensures your mobile app meets customer expectations and business goals.

Testing plays a critical part in the application’s success or failure. Mobile application testing is important to ensure that the app meets quality standards. Mobile apps should pass the quality test before it is released to Play Store / App store, and reaches end users.

So, how do you optimize your mobile testing for better success?

The main challenge in testing mobile applications is testing in a variety of devices, platforms, screen resolutions, memory sizes and connectivity options to ensure that the app is supported in multiple platforms and devices. Given below some things that one needs to follow to achieve success:

OS Version: The mobile app should be tested on all major stable OS versions.

Screen Resolution: Test the mobile application in different screen resolutions because the user experience varies on different screen sizes and screen resolutions.

Form Factor: The mobile application may act differently on smartphones and tablets. Therefore, if the app is compatible with both phones and tablets, then it should be tested in both form factors.

Mobile testing should cover different platforms like iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Windows, and multiple versions of Operating System for each device when the application is mentioned as being compatible with all. Testers need to also test the app in several permutations and combinations, every time, to ensure zero defects.

A majority of the mobile application’s functionalities depend on network connectivity. So, testing the mobile apps in real network environment is essential to get the real picture and assess the behaviour of the app in real mobile networks. Therefore, testing should be covered in different types of network conditions like WiFi, 2G, 3G, 4G and also without network, besides testing it in different bandwidths.

A few more points to remember

While testing the mobile app, testers should also think about the different battery backup states like low charge, medium charge, high charge and perform tests accordingly.
Performing Beta testing on your mobile app is one of the effective methods of mobile app testing which gives you access to real world testers, devices and actual networks.
You need to ensure that application works fine when it is upgraded to the next version or when bugs are fixed. Tester should be responsible to perform upgrade testing for every release of the app.
Complete functionality & UI of the application should also be tested in different devices with different versions to ensure that the application meets customer expectations.

Automation testing can be started once manual testing is performed, and it is preferred when the application is growing and when there are a large number of test cases related to functionality. Automation testing saves you time and is most useful to perform regression testing – especially when any new features are added and those changes are not reflected upon old features.

Performance testing can be done when you want to test the mobile application by giving excess load and by testing a huge number of users performing the same action at the same time.

Conclusion

A well planned mobile app testing strategy will ensure quality and performance of mobile application especially when testers select correct target devices, right mix of emulators, physical devices and testing methodologies.

(Divya Priya works as a Software QA Engineer at [x]cubeLABS. She is an ISTQB certified tester and has over 2 years experience in testing mobile & web applications for different domains like Education, Social, Gaming, Travel, Finance and Hardware Integration.)

Blog, Insurance

5 Ways Mobile Apps Can Benefit Insurance Providers

July 29, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Image Credit: stocksnap.io

If you’ve users who need to set up alarms for regular reminders about taking medicines, or customers who constantly worry about the way their insurance claims are handled by your agents, then jumping on the bandwagon of mobile solutions will ensure that you partake of the gains — financial and otherwise — a la top Insurance companies like United, Geico and MetLife.

Why mobile solutions?

In these times of uncertainties in the global economy, players in the insurance industry are bound to face many risks. In order to assuage the fears of customers and have an edge over competitors, it has become imperative for insurance providers to offer a new range of products with their customers’ needs in mind. Mobile solutions (read creating mobile apps), therefore, have become a natural choice for insurers to improve the ROI and empower them to gain their customers’ trust.

How do mobile apps help?

Mobile solutions help insurance companies in a lot of ways – especially when it comes to handling claims. They certainly help increase efficiency, customer satisfaction, user engagement and loyalty, besides reducing formalities of paperwork to a large extent. According to a report put together by Forrester, by 2016 there will be 1 billion smartphone users globally which shows the tremendous potential created for mobile solution providers to leverage this growing trend.

We’ve put together a five-point strategy to help you understand how mobile apps can work to the advantage of insurers.

1. Have an edge over competitors

If you can deliver claims-related stuff right to the user’s smartphone, you have gained an edge over competitors by winning a loyal customer. Involving employees in customer-engagement activities and improving the productivity of insurance agents will increase your chances at being successful. The other tactics that you can employ include consistent app experience for users, reduced cost per transaction which can be achieved by providing efficient service(s), and improvement in user base and loyalty, among others.

2. Make claims processes simple

An insurance app will be the most handy tool when it comes to Claims. It is believed that a mobile app can improve the efficiency of handling insurance claims by 25%-30%. While it makes consumers’ lives easier by letting them make claims using their smartphones, it also eases the workload on employees, by eliminating a few tasks, and helps them use their time productively in user acquisition and engagement (by aaron). The ability of a smartphone user to take pictures at the scene of the accident helps make a strong impact on the insurer.

3. Deliver what customers want

Although not all apps created in the insurance industry are for customers alone, it’s good to have more consumer-oriented apps in place. In a survey conducted by PwC, over 75% of the participants in the age group of 25 to 44 use health and wellness apps regularly, understand the benefits of an app in comparison to traditional methods of service and, hence, expect apps to provide “Alerts and Reminders”, “Access to your personal health record”, “Access to specific disease info/products”, “Provider/specialist search”, and “Disease Management apps”.

A targeted mobile strategy, especially in the realm of health insurance, is the need of the hour, writes PwC in its report

“Smartly designed mobile applications can provide a competitive edge, especially for younger consumers. But to see the biggest return on investment, insurers should think about conducting targeted market analysis, assessing the value of popular/high-use apps for activities such as exercise tracking and food intake, and building on mobile applications that have already proven successful with other audiences.”

4. Improve customer engagement

How can you engage customers in better ways? As a service provider, you can ensure that consumers can report an accident, a theft or a loss; take, upload and submit photos from the scene of an accident; do claims; make an inventory of all valuables in your home for insurance purpose; or seek information on getting your vehicles repaired. Policyholders sure have a field day now with many top insurance providers vying with each other to woo customers with their mobile solutions. Having realized that mobile apps can make claims process easier for customers, the companies are now trying to attract more users even while retaining the existing ones by providing an excellent customer experience.

5. Increase revenue opportunities

Mobile apps are certainly cost-effective and, therefore, provide the right incentive to companies to leverage the mobile space. Insurance providers are in a better position today in terms of gaining customers’ trust through multiple means of customer engagement thereby ensuring satisfaction. From getting the requisite information on policies available, and comparing various options and providers available, to browsing the company’s website to understand the different kinds of insurance policies before making a choice, from buying policies and upgrading the existing ones to reaching agents and paying bills using a smartphone, now the users have umpteen reasons to celebrate. This customer-centric focus is what improves the chances of revenue increase for companies.

To sum up, there are a bunch of things that mobile apps could do to benefit both the providers and their customers: tracking insurance claims, enrolling for a particular plan or purchasing it online, get an in-depth understanding of the company’s products, learn ways to improve their health via healthcare and wellness apps (some of which are created by insurance companies) are just a few in the list.

Blog, Quality Assurance/Testing

Testing In Lean Software Development

July 29, 2015 [x]cube LABS

“Health is Wealth” – this line sounds more meaningful nowadays than it did in the past as consumers are now worried about the food they eat, activities they do and the effect of these on their health. This consciousness of well-being that makes consumers avoid unhealthy habits that have a negative impact on the system has influenced even software development, and this phenomenon is called “Lean Software Development”.

Lean Software Development is the advanced part of the Agile Process, in which every part of the process is addressed more efficiently by focusing on the throughput while reducing the risk. This is put in practice by identifying the waste and delays in the process.

As these changes are necessary for the effective development of software, how to adopt the methodologies and strategies to achieve quality is a major challenge faced by the testers.

Testing in Lean Software Development yields benefits such as a good understanding of the flow that is directly proportional to the throughput. It helps in identifying the gaps that increase the time spent on estimating and planning test products, thereby achieving Quality in the shortest time possible to deliver value to the customer.

Lean is Mean

The process of testing in Lean Development model requires a committed QA team to ensure continuous improvement in order to understand the process within the context of business needs and to plan the testing process accordingly. The prime focus should be on adding value while improving the ability to achieve goals in the limited amount of time.

Aggressive testing strategy and futuristic planning (like taking notes from User Stories and Release Planning meeting) will help the testing team to zero in on requirements which, in turn, help in formulating test cases, scenarios and other testing artifacts.

Constant analysis is done on the factors that cause the time delay and hindrances to the progress of the sprint. Thus, noted points are added to the team retrospective and are discussed during the Retrospective Meeting.

Lean Development design is effective because every aspect of the process is designed in a way that the tasks carried out resemble a flow of events. This flow is the key to achieve Quality.

Test Flow in Lean Model

The testing process is redesigned in the lean development model wherein the bottlenecks that halt the progress are identified and eliminated. To achieve this, each task is broken down at the resource level. This process helps the cycle in two ways: identifies the exact number of tasks that can be carried out by the app testing team and injects a sense of ownership and responsibility to each member of the team.

Hence, each individual in the testing team is fully aware of his responsibilities and tasks and will be clear in contacting the concerned developer for carrying out the task given to him. This eliminates the wastage of overburden on the team which leads to delay in the delivery of a quality product.

Automating the testing process is an effective way to improve the time utilization for testing and thus plays a prominent role in the Lean environment. Automating the process also helps in achieving quality in a reduced time. Identifying the areas where automation is required is the challenge the team needs to address for its effective implementation. Having a thorough knowledge on the requirements helps in deciding this.

Regression testing in Lean environment plays a vital role in deciding the quality of the product while keeping time constraints in check. As a tester, the challenge is to keep the time short without compromising product quality.

For this the process of prioritizing the testing aspects during the regression is crucial. One needs to identify the areas which might be affected the most and which are affected the minimum. This helps in framing the time stamps for the regression process.

“Shrinking the Testing Duration without any compromise in Quality” is the defining line that describes the testing in Lean Software Development mode.

Bhargava Yellamraju works as Senior QA Engineer at [x]cubeLABS. He has 5 years of experience in Mobile, Web Application and Security Testing and has built significant expertise in various domains like Health Care, Finance, Banking and Procurement.

Blog, Enterprise Mobility

Fix Your 3 Toughest Sales Challenges With Mobile And Win More Deals

July 28, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Technology advancements, especially web, mobile and then social media, has changed the buying process. Today’s customer engages with your sales rep at a much later stage. Before he engages with you, he already knows a lot about your company, product/service and may be had a chance to talk to a few of your customers on social media. In the current environment, your salesperson has to be more knowledgeable, swift in action and be able to take the customer to the final sale.

Mobile Sales Enablement Tools can step up your sales team for the changed sales process and arm him with the necessary tools and information to win deals.

Here’s how you can leverage mobile sales enablement tools to solve 3 of your toughest challenges and sell more:

1. Better Informed Time

Customers are better informed today. They seek solutions and financial justifications to buy a product or a service, and you only have a few minutes to catch his attention. Instantly attract customer’s interest with the right storytelling and highly customized digital assets like 3D videos, CAD drawings, animations, online assessment tools, graphics, and ROI calculators, etc. Make your presentations notable by giving them the feel of your products and services and show them its benefits. Update the content on-the-fly to make it fresh, relevant and customized to your call requirements.

2. Sales Quota Attainment

Identify and capture best practices of your ‘star performers’ and share them with other team members. Monitor sales methodology practices and asset utilization to optimize your sales approach. Automate your sales tasks like follow-up, customer feedback, etc., so that each of your reps follows the same procedure. Get insights from analytics to discover buyer preferences, pain points and response-time, etc., to prepare your team for objection handling in different scenarios through collaboration and team exercises.

3. New Customer Acquisition is Tough Expensive

New customer acquisition is a long and expensive process. It is far cheaper to cross sell/up-sell to an existing client. However, most sales reps struggle to cross-sell/up-sell because of lack of skills and knowledge to execute cross-selling strategies. Help your sales force aggressively cross-sell/ up-sell through fine customer segmentation, need-based product suggestions and personalized recommendations.

As per a survey, 76% of reps from companies that use mobile sales tools attained their sales quotas, while just 53% of reps from companies without a sales mobility strategy did so. A mobile sales enablement can go a long way in driving the sales effectiveness of your team.

Blog, Quality Assurance/Testing

How To Effectively Implement A Mobile Testing Strategy?

July 24, 2015 [x]cube LABS

With a phenomenal rise in the usage of smartphones and tablets, we’ve reached an era where mobile devices have become an integral and inseparable part of our life. As per the latest statistics, nearly 80% of world’s adult population own a smartphone – which gives ample scope to businesses to create extremely useful lifehacks via mobile applications. And with that comes into picture the need for proper mobile application testing process to ensure that the app’s quality and performance are flawless. To achieve this, it’s imperative that testers have a good mobile testing strategy in place.

So, what’s a mobile testing strategy? It’s a description of the plan of action to be followed in the testing cycle to let PMs, app developers and testers know of certain key processes involved in the testing part of the app development. App testing happens at two levels

Native Apps testing

This has become very significant no, as testers need to verify whether native apps can be easily downloaded on to the phone from the Playstore or AppStore, and executed without difficulty. The QA also has to determine how the app is interacting with the backend support. Native apps testing also becomes important when updates to the app need to be pushed, or when major changes are made to the app or the OS on the device(s). Therefore, it is essential that the app be tested on multiple physical devices and the older generations of devices to ensure backward compatibility.

Web apps testing

While dealing with web apps that have to be deployed on to mobile devices, testers need to understand that web apps are viewed by users across the world – so they need to think about the scalability factor at the global level rather than at the local level.

Getting the right app testing strategy in place depends on the complexity of your app, your industry and also on which kind of app is being developed – native, hybrid or web. A tester needs to put in a lot of thought and effort in creating a successful mobile application testing strategy. However, creating a test strategy isn’t very easy as, at times, testing becomes difficult due to the following factors

Device Selection

Selection of different devices is the most crucial part to start testing because there are tens of thousands of devices in use by millions of consumers worldwide to open mobile apps. So, the device selected should make the experience perfect for different customers who use your mobile application.

Physical devices can achieve 100% test coverage and provide good results. Different types of testing activities may be performed to confirm that the application is tested perfectly.

Device Model

While choosing any device model there are different options that need to be considered.

OS Version: The mobile apps need to be tested on different OS platforms to ensure consistency.
Screen Resolution: Portrait & landscape are the different screen resolutions that need to be considered while testing any application.
Memory Size: It plays a key role in understanding how the usage is for that particular app.
Connectivity Options: Bluetooth & WiFi are two main connectivity options to be considered and tested.

Emulators

An emulator is a software that can emulate the behavior of one or more mobile devices. A Quality Analyst can use emulators to test that particular app in different devices with different versions. Besides being highly efficient, emulators tend to be cost-effective as well. Emulators such as Jennymotion and Bluestack are good for testing the app’s basic functionality, especially in an agile environment or when features are under development. Emulators also help in effective testing of the app in all possible scenarios. Beta testing an app – either on emulators or on real devices can help testers understand how users use the app and how the app behaves on different mobile devices

Automation vs Manual

Automation tools are good to test any application in emulators to avoid manual work, and reduce time and cost. The tools available in the market such as SeeTest, QTP, Selenium and TestNG will help in covering multiple categories of tests using different scripting languages. However, it is advisable to use device OS-specific tools to carry out the testing process across platforms while development is still in process. Automation can be performed in the following scenarios

When a new OS version is released, the application compatibility should be verified.
When an application is updated, the compatibility factor needs to be checked.

Cloud Testing

Cloud computing allows users to provide a web-based testing environment where apps can be deployed and tested. So, cloud testing can be very effective in testing mobile apps. Complex apps can be tested perfectly as cloud testing environment provides real-time testing results which means defects can be analyzed while testing is in progress.

Conclusion

In mobile application testing, selection of devices & emulators before creating the application testing strategy is considered as perfect to achieve good results for the apps we tested. All these testing strategies and practices can help all those involved in the app development to overcome obstacles of mobile application testing, while making it easy to test mobile apps in all possible scenarios and strategies.

Chevulapelli Nikhil works as QA Engineer at [x]cubeLABS and experienced in Mobile and Web Application Testing. His expertise in testing extends to different domains like Education, Hardware Integration, Finance & Healthcare.

Blog, Gamification

Gamification For User Engagement & Retention

July 22, 2015 [x]cube LABS

The concept of applying game mechanics and game design techniques to engage and motivate users to achieve their goals.

In other words, Gamification is the use of game mechanics in a non-game context to engage users or solve problems.

Game Mechanics is a combination of Design, Rules and Tools intended to produce a Game play.

Game play is a way in which players interact with a Game.

Good Game play = Good Game = Engagement.

There are different kinds of games and over the years they became more complex, more interactive and more real. All of them have something in common, A special feature that drives us to spend more time playing making us feel like we’re part of the game. This is called Gamification.

A guy steps out of the elevator with a laptop bag and smart formals, swipes his card and enters a floor where only hi-tech systems are visible with lots of “heads” behind them. He walks to a system, logs in and starts hitting the keys on the keyboard. He does this for 8 hours (of course with all tea-biscuit-smoke breaks) and leaves for the day.

Before going any further, read the above sentence continuously for 10 times. I bet you won’t even be able to do it more than 3 times. Why? Your interest is lost. When an adult can’t even read four lines 10 times, how can we expect a kid of 10 years to do the same problem or write the same spelling again and again?

Now let’s start a small game. Imagine there is a crossword table in front of you on a screen. Start filling it. Once you’re done, a sentence will be displayed saying, ‘He was going at the speed of light and suddenly there was a loud bang’. Immediately, one more crossword table comes and throws an alert saying if you want to continue the story complete the crossword puzzle-2. To know what was the reason behind the bang, you will definitely try to solve the puzzle. After solving it comes the second line. By using such a sequence can’t we make kids learn “Algebra” or “Trigonometry”? This process is known as Gamification.

Maimonides, a Jewish philosopher in 1100s, once stated: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

In the present-day, using gamification we can state “Teach a man to fish, he will be fed for a lifetime. Teach a man an interesting way to fish, he will teach his heir too.”

While the potential of Gamification was realised by the intelligentsia in 2010, it was originally coined by Nick Pelling, a British computer programmer, in 2002.

The three pillars that Gamification is founded on are

1. Achievements

Achievements can be divided further into 3 factors

Progress: (Saying game is XX% complete, Motivate the user to progress further)

Badges: (Awarding users various types of Badges with respect to their progress and Game play)

High scores: (Displaying list of top users and displaying ‘zero’ before the score of the top user, This shows he is first but there is a lot more in the game to Achieve)

2. Competition

Competition can be further divided into 2 factors

Opponent: (Competition in Progress, Badges and High score)

Pride: (Leader boards, Displaying the list with respect to their positions in the game)

3. Fun

can be further divided into 2 factors

Easy: (Learning how to play or do things in the game should be easy)

Challenging: (Each level that the user passes should be challenging)

Areas where gamification can be implied include Physiotherapy, Wellness, Teaching, and Mechanical engineering, etc.

Over 95% of the youth plays video games. They live it, eat it, breathe it and will embrace gamification! Roughly 50% of the current Internet population plays social games.

So how can enterprises leverage gamification to increase revenue? According to me, by following/maintaining the Achievements, Competition and Fun elements, we can motivate the user(s) to play more and to make In-app Purchases.

Keep running stories like “Panchatantra” to make kids play the characters of the story. It gives enjoyment along with teaching moral values. We can increase productivity in offices by making employees play various puzzles, crosswords, etc.

Finally, I would like to say that Gamification is a great way to motivate users to do what you want them to do as it leverages our love for competition and reward, and uses it to encourage certain actions of the game.

Sairam Reddy works as Senior QA Engineer at [x]cubeLABS and has over 3 years of experience in Mobile and Web Application Testing. His expertise in testing extends to different domains like Gaming, Health Care, Finance, Logistics and Travel.

Blog, Enterprise Mobility

9 Simple Steps To A Winning Enterprise Mobile Strategy

July 15, 2015 [x]cube LABS

From ‘we too need an app’ to ‘mobile as a strategy’ and ‘optimize mobility benefits’ enterprise mobility has travelled lot of distance. Today, mobile technology is at the heart of every business strategy fueling innovation, new efficiency gains and driving profits and customer satisfaction. A robust enterprise mobile strategy has become essential for enterprises. A comprehensive strategy offers numerous benefits such as:

Leveraging your existing enterprise technology like ERP, CRM, etc., and integrating the existing IT infrastructure to derive optimum results.
Improving adoption rates by focusing on user-centricity.
Enabling enterprise-wide adoption—connecting people, products and processes.
Maximizing productivity by speeding up responsiveness to employee needs and process requirements.
Making the organization more agile and responsive to customer needs and, thereby, boosting brand perception.
Maximizing results and returns from investments on mobility solutions by widening its scope and coverage.
Allowing businesses to create sustainable and clear policies for mobile governance.

But where to begin? Here are 9 simple steps to a winning mobile strategy

1. Define Business Goals

State the purpose of enabling mobility in your enterprise. What are your high-priority business goals? What type of apps will help you reach those goals? Look outside, as well as, within your organization, to identify opportunities for mobile.

2. Prepare Mobility Roadmap

Once you have a set of business goals that you wish to achieve through mobility, the next step is to find the desired mobile devices and apps that will help you reach those goals. For each mobile solution, you need to build a case summary that lists key benefits, functions, target users and target beneficiaries, etc. Prioritizing these mobile solutions based on your set business goals will evolve into a mobility roadmap.

3. Do user Workflow analysis

Any mobility solution will replace an existing workflow process. Therefore, it is important to do a comprehensive analysis of the existing process before it is mobilized. This will not only help you improve the existing process, but will also help you measure the impact of mobilizing the particular process and justify the costs.

4. Prepare a Technology Blueprint

Designing a technology blueprint has several facets, including deciding on a mobile platform, OS and device selection, device procurement strategy—company sponsored or BYOD— core mobility architecture, mobile app development strategy, security policy, app and device management strategy and wireless connectivity requirements, etc.

5. Set a Budget for Mobility

Many organizations make the mistake of combining a mobile budget with IT, which often results in confusion and, at times, pushes mobile investments down the priority ladder. You need to create a separate budget for your mobility efforts. What are you planning to invest today, in the next six months and in the next few years? Breaking up the budget for processes, departments, etc., will enable you to build an accurate ROI model.

6. Draw an Implementation Roadmap

The mobile implementation roadmap will allow you to assess the current state of mobility in the organization, to compare it against the business goals, and to set up the timeframe and work process to realize it. Since an implementation roadmap requires the identification of risks and dependencies and the entry and exit criteria of each mobile project to be well defined, it can help you to monitor and manage each project effectively to achieve the overall strategic goals on time.

7. Build a Center of Excellence

Mobility serves the requirements of various stakeholders in the system. To accomplish this, build a Center of Excellence with people from diverse domains and expertise to unify and centralize the many voices.. The COE will institutionalize best practices for mobility, bring consistency to the integration process, define policy and procedures for use and access of mobile solutions and look for opportunities for further adoption of mobile initiatives, etc.

8. Do Test Deployment

Pick a particular process or mobile opportunity to test your mobility plan. Implement it and see how it turns out. Analyze and document the deployment to understand success and failure points. Fine-tune your mobile strategy based on the test deployment experiences. Then, expand it to an organization-wide rollout.

9. Monitor, Evaluate and Review

It is important to constantly monitor and assess your strategy based on the feedback collected from various sources. Any deviation has to be immediately corrected. There should be a calendar for the review process for each element of your mobile environment.

The key to success in enterprise mobility is to adopt mobile devices and apps within a well-defined strategy, integrating processes, products and people to optimize the benefits. The goal should be to derive optimum value by creating a collaborative, secure and scalable mobile environment. In your journey to mobilize your enterprise, the keywords to remember are strategy, synergy, security and user-centricity.

App Marketing, Blog, User Acquisition

Numbers On User Acquisition Which Are Creating Success Stories

July 14, 2015 [x]cube LABS

1. Number of paid mobile app downloads worldwide
	In 2015 Source : Statista
	In 2016 Source : Statista
	In 2017 Source : Statista
2. Number of free mobile app downloads worldwide
	In 2015 Source : Statista
	In 2016 Source : Statista
	In 2017 Source : Statista
3. Most commonly used user acquisition methods/Common methods of App promotion
	(a) App Cross Promotions-Own Apps Source : VB Insights
	(b) App Cross Promotions-Partnership Ads Source : VB Insights
	(c) App Cross Promotion- SEO Source : VB Insights
	(d) Banner Ads In Mobile Ads Source : VB Insights
	(e) Email Campaigns Source : VB Insights
	(f) Native Ads Source : VB Insights
	(g) PR, Press Source : VB Insights
	(h) Interstitial Ads Source : VB Insights
	(i) Inbound Marketing Source : VB Insights
	(j) Incentivized Installs Source : VB Insights
	(k) In-app Viral Tactics Source : VB Insights
	(l) Social Campaigns Source : VB Insights
	(m) Video Ads Source : VB Insights
	(n) Web Organic Search Source : VB Insights
	(o) Others Source : VB Insights
4. Advertising investment in Mobile App
	(a) US app install ad spending is expected to reach. Source : Emarketer
	(b) Of US mobile display, this year the ad spending app install ads will account Source : Emarketer
5. Ranking App Store categories as per the investment they are drawing in user acquisition- (Q1 – 2015)
	(a) Games Source : AppAnnie
	(b) Photos &Amp; Videos Source : AppAnnie
	(c) Entertainment Source : AppAnnie
	(d) Social Networking Source : AppAnnie
	(e) Lifestyle Source : AppAnnie
6. Ranking Play Store categories as per the investment they are drawing in user acquisition- (Q1 – 2015)
	(a) Games Source : AppAnnie
	(b) Tools Source : AppAnnie
	(c) Communication Source : AppAnnie
	(d) Photography Source : AppAnnie
	(e) Entertainment Source : AppAnnie
7. Retention Rates in Mobile App
	Improvement in App retention over the past four years, with apps used just once declining to 20%. Source : Localytics
	Of apps are now used 11 times or more, an improvement of 13% over the same period. Source : AppAnnie
	Android has overtaken iOS with the percentage of apps used 11 times or more rising to 45% compared to iOS, which remained at Source : AppAnnie
	Of iOS apps are only opened once, whereas this applies to just 16% of Android apps. Source : AppAnnie
	Of app time by an average user is spent in 3 most frequently used apps. Source : AppAnnie
	Of the app users loose half of their peak users in 3 months. Source : AppAnnie
8. Projection on growth of Mobile Ad Spend ( In $)
	In 2015 Source : Emarketer
	In 2016 Source : Emarketer
	In 2017 Source : Emarketer
	In 2018 Source : Emarketer
	In 2019 Source : Emarketer
9. Projection on growth of Mobile Ad Spend ( In %)
	In 2015 Source : Emarketer
	In 2016 Source : Emarketer
	In 2017 Source : Emarketer
	In 2018 Source : Emarketer
	In 2019 Source : Emarketer

Blog, Enterprise Mobility

7 Steps To Building A Winning Mobile Center Of Excellence (MCOE)

July 9, 2015 [x]cube LABS

As enterprises embrace mobile engulfing their entire ecosystem, it is creating a complex, non-standardized environment consisting of varied devices, several enabling technologies and numerous security issues. The result: poor control, under achievement and less than expected ROI. A mobile center of excellence (mCoE) can be a stable solution to bring order, establish policies and governance and help enterprises in leveraging mobile as a strategy.

1. Set strategy and goals

The first step in creating a mCoE is to set strategy and goals of your CoE. You can begin with answering following questions-

What will be the core function of your excellence centre? Will it play the role of a coordinator between various mobile projects or will it play the lead in driving your mobile strategy and programs?
What will be its span of control? Will your mCoE support the entire enterprise mobility architecture- internal and external apps, mobile platforms and other enabling technologies?
How will your CoE interact with your existing IT infrastructure- legacy system and software, IT workflows and processes etc?

2. Pick your team

The MCoE will sit between the technical and business part of your organization. The size of the team varies between a couple of executives at the kick start stage to as big as 100 executives under the leadership of a senior executive depending upon the size and requirements of a business. You would need people who are technical experts as well as people who understand the business and customer well. Bring together people with different skill sets and subject matter expertise to foster broader synergy.

3. Get Top management buy-in

A MCoE cannot be successful without the management endorsement and participation. In fact, it is better if it is led by someone from top management with lot of executionary and budgetary powers. Put MCoE as part of your organizational structure to help it gain visibility and authority across departments. Empower it with decision-making and execution responsibilities.

4. Spread the word

More so for a bigger organization with numerous business units spread across geographies. The mCoE, in future, would need to collaborate with other business units to guide and fulfill their mobile programs. So, spread the word on the establishment of a mCoE, create awareness among your workforce on its mission, scope and nature.

5. Make it easy to approach

Centre of excellences fail when they are perceived to become an impediment rather than facilitating projects. While a certain degree of regulation is necessary to bring governance and policy into your mobile programs but keep rules and regulations to bare minimum. Business units will avoid your center if they find it to be erecting barriers rather than guiding them into taking decisions.

6. Look for low hanging fruits

A few small but early success stories will not only put you mCoE in motion but will also help you convince other business units on the need to maintain collaboration and consistency. You can start as small as building an app or bringing standardization and consistency to existing apps.

7. Define success and measure it

It is important to measure the success of your center of excellence by defining performance metrics and measurement methodologies. Also vital is to set a calendar for evaluating various projects implemented by the center, document the hits and fails and use it as a guide for future.

A mCoE comes across as a best approach to adopt mobilefirst attitude and ride on the next wave of mobility. Moreover, today with enterprise mobility not just limited to smartphones and Tablets, and encompassing M2M, sensors, wearables, NFC and Internet of Things, a mCoE can help you minimize fragmentation, provide better control over your infrastructure and help you derive more from your mobile investments. A mCoE can not only bring order in your present complex mobile environment but can also help you be better prepared for future.

Blog, Ebooks, Manufacturing

6 application areas for wearables in manufacturing

July 8, 2015 [x]cube LABS

The wearable technology market is exploding…

Research firm Strategy Analytics predicts massive surge in the wearables industry with revenue in the global wearable devices market expected to reach $37 billion in 2020 from $1 billion in 2014.

Juniper Research predicts shipments of wearable devices to be almost 130 million by 2018.

From being a consumer fad to becoming the latest enterprise phenomena-wearables have come a long way. And, there are very few industries as manufacturing that have huge opportunities for embracing wearables and leveraging it to gain new efficiencies. From product design & development, shop floor operations to worker’s training and safety- wearables have the potential to play a major role in the entire value chain. How? Here’s 5 application areas in the manufacturing industry where wearable technology can make a significant impact:

1. Improving Employee Safety

Imagine having employees operating a press machine from a distance using a glass, or operating the paint booths with the tap of a finger. Wearable tech has tremendous potential to improve the safety of the workers by providing them a hands-free, face up environment to work.

2. Field Service

In industries like maintenance which require workers to work at a height and also underground, wearable devices can play a greater role. It can help workers connect to their managers to collaborate and take decisions. They can also get access to online support tools aiding in resolving issues faster. Gartner research predicts that wearables could help personnel diagnose and repair problems more quickly, saving up to $1 billion annually in 3 to 5 years.

3. Line Monitoring

Wearable reduces the need of your worker to be tied to his workstation for long hours to monitor the assembly line. It enables you to monitor various aspects like line speed, or failure of any component or machine from anywhere. You can also control the process and manage operations with the device.

4. Employee Monitoring

Imagine a situation where you can schedule employee breaks depending on their fatigue levels. This empowers the managers to manage their workers more efficiently and also reduce the risks of mishaps, as most of the mishaps are found to be caused due to lack of concentration originating from tiredness.

5. Warehouse Management

Wearable tech like sensors, watches and Google Glass enables anyone having to work in a warehouse to locate goods stored, maintain the inventory, order in case of shortage — all at the tap of a finger on the device. This saves on time, reduces chances of misplacements and reduces downtime.

6. Employee Training

Wearables can be used by enterprises to improve training facilities or sessions and helping workers learn on the shop floors. This will save time and help manufacturers take training out from the confines of training rooms. Moreover, it will also help employees access learning material on the move anywhere, anytime.

Wearables promises exciting possibilities for manufacturers. But where to begin? Download our latest ebook ‘Wearable Tech in Manufacturing’ to gain deep understanding and insights on-

What’s driving wearables in manufacturing?

Industrial Wearables in action in the industry.

The big gains

Steps to Success and high ROI

Blog, Quality Assurance/Testing

11 Best QA Practices That Every Tester Must Know

June 26, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Before QA moves on to test development, it is very important to figure out the importance of having the processes in place throughout the project. In order to get better results w.r.t increased efficiency, productivity and for a stable system, QA needs to implement the processes correctly and effort should be be made enhance them as and when required.

It is always a good practice to start with requirement analysis. A Quality Analyst needs to understand what the product/project is about and what should the QA do, besides understanding the Entry and Exit of the product/project. A better understanding of requirements will reduce lead testing time.

Test case creation process is the base for a stable system testing. If test case scenarios cover the functionality completely, then there will be no coverage Issues. Good test case writing not only ensures effective testing but also helps in covering future risks like knowledge gaps, testing gaps and defect free delivery. We’ve put together a few important aspects of test case development, listed below, and following these practices will help in an intelligent test suite.

1. Estimation Template

The test lead/manager should use or create a template for estimation of effort required for delivery. The template should be a realistic one which takes into account each and every aspect of the process and the effort involved in completing a task. The template should be shared with senior managers and should have an approval from them to use (by aaron). A good estimation will not only lead to realistic schedule but will also not burden the tester due to incorrect estimations and timelines.

2. Checklist for Test Cases

Before going for the test case creation, the test lead/manager should discuss with the client and understand the structure of the test cases the client wants to be prepared. Create a document with all the points a tester needs to take care of while writing a test case. Discuss the points that are not feasible to cover and take a buy-in from the client on those points. A baseline review checklist will be ready, based on these points, which needs to be followed while creating test cases.

3. Session with BA Team

A discussion with a business analyst is very helpful before you start the test case creation process. The BA team can help the testing team to give a holistic view of the application to be tested. The BA team will be helpful not only in clearing the functional doubts of the testing team, but also in understanding the impacted areas. This discussion will help the testing team close any functional or knowledge gaps and will, therefore, lead to a complete test suite.

4. Maintaining Query Log

It’s a good practice to maintain a query sheet for the queries resolved by the BA Team. A tester should log his queries into a query sheet and the BA Team can periodically update and answer the queries. This sheet will help new associates who join the team as they can go through the query sheet and get their queries resolved. This will help in saving the BA Team’s effort.

5. Format of Test Cases

The test case, when written, should be clear and concise. It should clearly state what needs to be tested. For this, it is required that the format used for test case development should be defined properly so that there is no ambiguity in the test case. This will help in creating coherent test cases. The advantage of using a standard format is that the test suite is not only easy to maintain, but also to modify, repair and review. The points mentioned below are the base for effective test case creation:

Scenarios written should be precise and complete.
There should be no “if” and “or” statements in test case.
Pre-requisites should be mentioned clearly and the ones that are not required need to be eliminated.
Design steps should clearly state what needs to be performed and how.
Design steps should not mention the pre-requisites.
Expected result should be clearly mentioned with each detail of requirement.
Test cases should be written on the basis of the requirement document. Tester’s knowledge should not be the base of test case.
Expected result should never be blank.
Scenario and Design steps should be in sync.

6. Scenario Based Test Cases for Reports

Reports represent the face of the application to the Management. The management will always rely on reports to check what is going on in the system/application. Reports, therefore, require a thorough testing with a different mindset. At times, the management relies on the data present in reports to make business decisions. It’s imperative that the testing team should understand the importance of data shown in report and how a minor defect can impact the business. Test cases should be written from an End-to-End perspective. They should not be written just to test the field values. If reports show correct data, it shows that the system is in good shape.

7. Peer Review

Once the test cases are written, a peer review is necessary to validate the test cases against the client-agreed checklist and also as per the Use case. It will also help you catch the structural or grammatical mistakes. It will bring everyone in the team on the same page and people will learn to follow the guidelines by learning from other’s mistakes. Peer review will be more effective if the test cases are given to peers who know the functional area. It will help you in spotting the functional gaps in the test cases. The test lead/manager should ensure that the review comments are incorporated and closed. A sheet should be maintained in central repository to track the same.

8. Business Analyst Review

A review by a business analyst is an essential part of the test case writing and review process. Every tester in the team is concerned about his own functional areas, which essentially means that an effective test suite may not be ensured. A business analyst not only reviews the test cases but also looks at the impacted areas. She/he will help you in identifying the missing areas or scenarios. A rigorous BA review is definitely a smooth path towards an effective test suite. The test lead/manager should ensure that the review comments are incorporated and closed. A sheet should be maintained in central repository to track the same.

9. Traceability Matrix

Traceability matrix is the most important component of the test case creation process. A traceability matrix will help you map the requirements with your test cases. Every section of the requirement should have test cases against it which signify the complete coverage of the functional areas. Every time a CR is received, it will be easy to determinate the functional areas impacted by the CR. This will help in calculating the exact number of test cases that will be impacted due to the introduction of a CR and hence will provide precise effort estimation.

10. Delivery Quality Audit

Once all the test cases are written, it is a good practice to get the quality audit of the delivery done. This will not only help in improving the quality of the delivery that is made to the client but also gives us a chance to learn and close the gaps for any future delivery. Quality Audits are performed at three levels as mentioned below:

It’s the responsibility of the Test Manager to get the Quality Audit completed before making the delivery to the client.
If there are any comments or observations, the Test Manager should ensure that all comments and gaps are closed in the delivery.
It’s a good practice to maintain comments and observations for future reference.
The quality inspection should pass all three levels.

11. Customer Review

Once a delivery is made to the customer, it’s important that customers also does a review of the delivery made to them. This will help in gaining customers’ confidence in delivery besides making sure that we keep delivering quality results. If there are any comments by the customer, the Test Lead should get the review comments incorporated on priority.

“Venkat Devarapu works as a Senior QA Engineer at [x]cubeLABS and has over 4 years of experience in Web, Desktop and Mobile Applications. He is an expert in domains like Retail, Telecommunications, Insurance and Healthcare.”

Blog, Quality Assurance/Testing

Why Testers Should Use Real Devices Rather Than Simulators?

June 25, 2015 [x]cube LABS

“Testing on simulators will never replace testing on real handsets as there is no substitute for the real things.”

The mobile market is booming. This is evidenced by the large number of handset manufacturers as they are continuously delivering a wide variety of devices with different mobile operating systems and different sizes. As more companies and brands are turning towards developing mobile applications, their risk exposure is also high. If users don’t have an excellent experience with the app, they may switch to an alternative product. To avoid this switch and to retain users, pre-launch testing on mobile platforms has become a challenge. This may be tricky sometimes because today there is a wide range of handsets with varied specifications. Therefore, the simulator has become an important tool for developers and testers.

Simulators are very powerful tools but they are virtual devices which lack the real target environment. A virtual device is not a real phone but a software which gives the same functionality as the real phone.

But not even 0.01% of the end users use simulators after the app release. So we have to test mobile apps on a real device at some point of time during the development cycle to catch bugs at an early stage. Now the question is: which one should a tester prefer – real devices or simulators! As different kinds of users run the application on different devices, most companies prefer real devices for testing than simulators as it gives accurate results.

Limitations Of A Simulator

Processing Speed

Simulators are often laggy as it takes a lot of time to load and they often depend upon the amount of RAM allocated at the time of designing. Hence the whole process is dependent on the hardware. By using real devices things can be tested directly. So we need at least one real device available during all phases of development to assess the processing speed of the app.

Gesture Testing

Simulators can emulate touch screen gestures, but it’s a bit clunky. Using a mouse or a keyboard to click on a simulator is different from using a finger on the screen of mobile devices. Certain actions like pinching the screen, zooming the image and scrolling the screen are considerably different on touchscreen devices.

Network/WiFi

In terms of network configuration, simulators run on the PC, connect to LAN and access the internet via corporate firewall. Slow network is not possible to be tested on simulator where devices experience network issues.

Screenshots

For marketing the app we need to upload some quality screenshots in multiple sizes for each of the multiple devices. For example, we uploaded nearly 20 screenshots for our Advocare app using multiple devices. (iPhone 6+, iPhone 5S, iPod 5G, iPhone 4S). By using a simulator, we can capture these screenshots but it renders somewhat low quality. Therefore, a real device is a better choice.

Preview Videos

Videos are an excellent way to showcase our app for marketing than screenshots alone. It is possible to screencast in a simulator but simulator’s extra latency won’t show our app in the best light. The best option for video is to take it straight from the device itself, which is well recommended by Apple.

Display

It is not always about the resolution but problems are also related to the quality of a display i.e. pixel density, colors and overall quality of the display used in the device. For example, developers want to have dark blue button for login as per requirement, but due to low display quality of simulator, it is shown as shades of blue.

Real occurring events

Interruptions like incoming calls, SMS and battery consumption i.e., how charger effects overall performance can be performed in simulator but they’re not real. The only option for such events is to do it in real devices.

Hardware Features

No support for IMEI number (00000 is returned) or device ID
No support for Mac Address
No support for GPS testing
No support for Camera
No support for Recording and Audio playback
No support for Sensors (Gyroscope, Acceleration sensor, Gravity sensor)
No support for USB connections
No support for attached device headphones
No support for determining SD card eject/insert

Software Features

Some of the APIs behave differently or don’t work at all on the simulator (For example – Canvas API like clipPath, drawPath, etc).
Camera and Flash functionalities cannot be tested.
Email functionality cannot be tested.
Installation and configuration cannot be tested.

The Verdict

Although there are a few advantages of simulators like cost- and time-efficiency, covering of more devices, easy integration at early stages of development, we must maintain the quality of the application, and this can be achieved only by testing the app on real devices as it covers different experiences.

As everything has both advantages and disadvantages, there’s no guarantee that the software which works perfectly on a simulator will definitely work in the same way on the real device. A good approach is to use simulator in the early stages of testing when the maturity level of the app is low, and use real devices in the later stages.

A lot of factors should be carefully considered like submission deadlines, costs and customer demands. A healthy mixture of real device and simulator testing can give you the test coverage you need at a reasonable price. If you’re intending to release your application in App/Play Store, or to devices, it’s worth testing it on the device at least once. Only then can we be sure that it will act and perform as expected on the platform you intend to target.

Vikas Donkeshwara works as QA Engineer at [x]cubeLABS and has 3 years of experience in Mobile and Web Application Testing in different domains like Education, Healthcare and Finance.

Blog, Technology, Wearables

Wearable Technology Statistics

June 22, 2015 [x]cube LABS

1.(a) Wearable Market Trends

Wearables market estimated value, by 2018

Source : Statista

1.(b) Wearable Market Trends

Total shipment of Healthcare wearables till the end of 2015

Source : Statista

2.Smart Watch, the leading product category in Wearables

Smartwatches will account for largest share in wearable shipments by 2019.

Source : BusinessInsider

3. (a) Healthcare Industry being benefitted by Wearables

Of healthcare organizations worldwide will invest in consumer-facing technology including apps, wearables, remote monitoring and virtual care by 2018

Source : IDC Health Insights

3. (b) Healthcare Industry being benefitted by Wearables

Compound annual growth rate & $41 billion market volume of smart wearable healthcare by 2020.

Source :Soreon Research.

4. Wearables in Organisations

Of consumers would wear employer-provided wearables streaming anonymous data to an information pool in exchange for lower health insurance costs.

Source : PwC.

5.(a) Wearables in Sports & Fitness

Of Fitness Wearable devices are forecasted to be shipped in 2015.

Source : Gartner

5.(b) Wearables in Sports & Fitness

Will be shipped around the world till 2017.

Source : Statista

5.(c) Wearables in Sports & Fitness

Shipment of wearable sports/activity tracking devices are forecasted, in 2015.

Source : Statista

Blog, Technology

The History of App Pricing And Why Most Apps Are Free

June 17, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Mobile apps have changed everything- from the way we live, connect, entertain to the way we work. Pick any interest, subject, topic or activity and you have an app for that. Thousands of apps are added every day to various app stores and the app user base continues to grow. Recent data from various sources suggests, an Apple user downloads around 6.2 apps every month while the Google Play user downloads 4.1 apps per month.

Over the years, with increase in app usage, we have also witnessed significant shifts in app user behavior and app developer revenue model. However, one fact remains as it was- the majority of apps in the stores are free or are priced very low.

Users love free apps

As a mobile app developer, if you think your users hate seeing ads on their apps then you are right? However, if based on the above fact, you think that the users are ready to pay for an ad-free experience then there are not many takers. The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) with Zozby Analytics conducted a survey of 1,015 Americans which reveals that 58% respondents preferred free, ad-supported apps to those than paid apps. Further, when asked if they would download the existing apps if they were required to pay, 46% said they wouldn’t download the apps.

If you look at the download download distribution of Android apps by price category, you will find that it’s really tough for paid apps to cross 5000 downloads.

Source-Appbrain.com

Users are in no mood to pay

The above data certainly provide overwhelming evidence to suggest that the users as much as they dislike in-app ads, but the vast majority of them, be it an iPhone or an Android user, would rather tolerate them rather than pay for an app. The Freemium model, wherein a user gets the basic version of the app for free and later have to pay for advanced versions is gaining some traction, especially in games and productivity apps, but paid apps from other categories rarely match the success of free apps. Mobile app developers and publishers have to continue exploring new revenue models to make money from their apps. The user is in no mood to pay.

Blog, Platform

Is Security Pulling Down Android Numbers In Enterprises?

June 16, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Apple rules the enterprise mobile space and is gaining lead over Android. The latest mobility index report from Good Technology reveals that Apple’s iOS has retained its top slot in enterprise adoption. The total activations for iOS devices increased this quarter from 69% to 73% while Android numbers slide down from 29% to 25%. According to the report, the upswing in iOS activations is mainly due to the introduction of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

While the report provides no specific reason for slowing down of Android numbers, however the variance in platform adoption across industries does throw up some light on the major barrier blocking Android growth in enterprises. As per the report, Apple’s iOS significantly outpaced Android in regulated industries like legal, financial services, public sector etc., whereas Android got more traction in industries with less stringent regulatory compliance to follow. For example, Android numbers in High Tech, Manufacturing and Transportation were 45%, 39% and 35% respectively.

While Google and Samsung, with Android for Work technology, have made real strides to beef up security capabilities in the operating system, Android still has a long way to go to match iOS security mechanism. Device encryption issue is still not fully resolved with most Android devices enabling optional and partial ebncryption. Risk of malware on Android apps remains a threat with regular reports of phising apps found in the Google App Store. Apple’s tighter control on publishing and distribution of apps in its app store has helped it restrict phising attacks in a big way.

With data security being a key issue for enterprises, more so in regulated industries, Android has to do more and quickly if it wants to unsettle Apple from its top slot. Android has given tough competition to Apple in the personal mobility space, by dominating the market in terms of device activations, and it would be really interesting to see its strategy to arrest its slide and challenge Apple’s dominance in the enterprise market.

Blog, Technology

Make Way For Mobile Sensing Technology In Smartphones

June 15, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Today’s smartphones not only serve as the key computing device and provide a smart way of communication, but also come with a rich set of sensors enabling applications in a wide variety of domains like social networking, healthcare, safety, environmental monitoring, transportation and home automation, to mention a few. Well that’s what really sets apart a smartphone from laptops and PCs — all of its on-board sensors besides its portability.

As embedded sensor technologies advance with each passing day, mobile sensing gets more powerful. So today let’s discover the world of mobile sensors.

What does a sensor do?

A sensor is a device that detects and responds to some type of input from the physical environment. The specific input could be light, heat, motion, moisture, pressure, or other environmental phenomena.

The input data is then converted into digital signal and processed to display the required information to the user in human-readable format through some graphical interface, in our case on a smartphone screen.

Built-in sensors in iPhones

There are many sensors available on-board in an iPhone. To list a few

Camera: To take pictures, videos and do image processing like QR code, Bar code reading, face/smile detection.

Proximity sensor: Used to detect closeness of physical body to a phone during a call.

Ambient light sensor: Senses the light of outside environment and adjusts the screen brightness.

Magnetometer: Used to detect strong magnetic field and used in the digital compass application of your phone.

Accelerometer & gyroscope: Checks position and orientation of device accurately and device motion.

Microphone: Used for speech synthesis.

Fingerprint identifier: Provides security through local authentication.

From seamless touch sensors on your device screen to GPS sensors to biometric sensors, the mobile smartphones are getting more powerful and secure as mobile sensors are becoming ubiquitous.

Usability

Although smartphones as mobile sensing devices have great potential, there has been little or no advancement in this field until recently. Usage of mobile sensing was perceived early but technology advancement has kept it struggling to evolve. As the evolution has begun, here are a few use cases where it can contribute a lot.

Surveys: As phones can be programmed through applications to share real-time activity of users, it opens a gateway between researchers and common public to make surveys and get volume information in many fields ranging from healthcare and marketing to social networking, and business.

Environmental monitoring: Sensors could enable monitoring environmental conditions like temperature, pressure, humidity, pollution and air quality, and provide more awareness to consumers.

Healthcare: We’ve seen smartphone makers recently plunging into healthcare innovation by enabling to monitor your daily activities like walking, running, heartbeat calculation, etc., through sensors which can dramatically transform how health and wellness data are accessed and treatment is delivered.

Traffic congestion: As population in urban areas continues to grow, traffic congestion generates more complications. Mobile sensing can deliver real-time data of a particular area or city which can be used to analyze and produce better solutions.

However, these are just a few areas and the usability of mobile sensors lays beyond the scope of this blog.

The key driver

As researchers are striving to bring innovation to embedded sensors in devices, the market is gaining momentum propelled by the goal to have a leading market share among smartphone makers.

It’s no secret that Apple is developing new sensors – and has already introduced some – to embrace health and fitness sensor technologies to revolutionize healthcare research field, besides home automation.

While many of the possibilities are still veiled, the requirement of mobile sensors in the future smartphones is about to expand. It is believed that mobile payment will continue to be the primary driver for fingerprint sensors whereas RFID for NFC (Near Field Communication) will expand over the coming years due to healthcare research requirement.

With more than 10 billion smartphones and tablets expected to be shipped in the next five years, related component volumes are about to soar with expected revenue to grow from $3 million in 2012 to $3 billion in 2019.

Something to take over

As the evolution of embedded sensors has begun, we may see many new and powerful sensors in the future. In a public event, Apple CEO Tim cook said: “The whole sensor field is going to explode. It’s a little all over the place right now. With the arc of time, it will become clearer.”

Blog, Quality Assurance/Testing

Delivering Quality Mobile Apps

June 12, 2015 [x]cube LABS

What Is Quality?

In simple words, ‘Quality’ means delivering an error-free mobile application which fulfills the user’s expectations.

Why do we need a quality mobile application?

In this world of competence, everyone looks for a quality product. It’s akin to shopping for a product which we use on a day-to-day basis — we, as consumers, first check for its quality, and only then its functionality, durability, look & feel, etc. So ‘testing the product’ is a process that can be done anywhere, anytime. And testing needs to be done perfectly for mobile applications to be of high quality.

What does a tester do to deliver a quality mobile app?

To deliver a flawless mobile application, everything has to be done perfectly right from the time the project starts. This includes continual efforts put in all team members including Project manager, developers, and testers to achieve the common goal of delivering quality application.

To ensure the delivery of a quality application, we need efforts of all team members but testing team members’ efforts will be much more valuable – especially in the final stages – which ensures that the app delivered is a high-quality application.

The following things are needed before starting testing

Software Requirement Specification documents (SRS)
Application Wireframe
Writing Software Test Plan (STP)
Writing the test cases, covering all requirements

Firstly, testers should gather all required documents like Detailed Requirements document (DRD) and Wireframe analyzing and understanding the requirements and functionality of all the screens. Then, testers should start preparing test plan and test cases documents by covering all requirements which are needed for doing a testing in a sequential manner.

After receiving the build from the developers, the tester will first check whether the build is testable or not, executing all major functionalities by performing smoke/sanity test. If it is testable, then the following things are to be done:

Complete round of testing (Functional & UI)
Logging defects
Executing all test cases by updating results
Preparing traceability matrix document mapping all requirements
Performing negative testing on the mobile app which covers non-functional testing types like application with no network, low network, and medium network.

All these things should be covered in the very first round of testing and it’s better to shoot maximum number of bugs in the initial phase itself, so that it is cost and time effective. For the developer-fixed bugs, it is important to perform regression testing because the fixes may sometimes cause side-effects to other features.

Testers will get the confidence on any application quality only if they have done proper testing on the application by covering maximum number of supported devices and versions in all types of supported platforms like iOS, Android, Windows, and Blackberry. There are two types of applications in mobiles: one is native application and other is testing the application in mobile browsers. While doing testing in mobile browsers, the testers need to cover various browsers versions.

By taking care of all the above-mentioned things, one can easily achieve the goal of delivering high-quality mobile app by satisfying the end-user expectations.

Divya Priya works as a Software QA Engineer at [x]cubeLABS. She is an ISTQB certified tester and has around 2 years experience in testing mobile & web applications for different domains like Education, Social, Gaming, Travel, Finance andHardware Integration.

Blog, Mobility

How Mobility Is Leading To Skyrocketing Growth?

June 11, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Mobility is disrupting all Industries & accelerating their growth pace. Let’s see how.

1. Mobility- Mobilizing The Economy

Worldwide mobile app downloads are expected by 2017.

Source : Statista

2. Mobility In Retail

Of Internet users accessing retail destinations (sites and apps) only use mobile devices to do so, thus more mobile-only shoppers than mobile-only Internet users.

Source : comScore.

3. (a) Mobility In Banking

US millennials with $250,000-$1M in liquid assets check their bank balances via mobile devices

Source : Nielsen.

(b) Mobility In Banking

U.S. adults use mobile for Banking purposes

Source : PewResearch

4. Enterprise Mobility

Large enterprises will leverage mobile application development platforms to develop and deploy mobile apps across their organizations in 2015.

Source : IDC

5. (a) mHealth

Of those surveyed said increased access to patient data and technological innovation will present the biggest opportunity for growth in 2015.

Source : Kinnser, Software survey of home health leaders.

(b) mHealth

Of Healthcare Organisations will invest in Mobile apps by 2018.

Source : IDC

6. Mobility &Amp; Wearable

Global mobile data traffic of wearable devices which amounted to 15 petabytes per month will grow immensely in 2018.

Source : Statista

7. (a) Mobile Usage In Travel Industry

U.S. travelers use mobile phones on vacation

Source : TripAdvisor

(b) Mobile Usage In Travel Industry

Frequent travelers use mobile phones for planning.

Source : Google.

(c) Mobile Usage In Travel Industry

Travelers use smartphones for searching restaurants

Source : TripAdvisor

App Marketing, Blog

Mobile App Marketing: 5 Tips to Boost Your App’s Visibility & Success

June 9, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Mobile app marketing is the newest and happening trend now, which seems to be growing at an amazing scale every year. Currently, there are over 2 million mobile apps in major app stores. But not every mobile app released becomes successful. Your app has to be really unique to be successful and should offer real value to users to sustain it.

1. App store optimization (ASO)

Similar to the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) we do for a desktop website, App Store Optimization is very important to market your mobile application. It’s also important for a new mobile app to get visibility among the ever-expanding app stores. Consider the below techniques to help your app to get more reach.

Title: It must be short, relevant and eye catching. Your app’s search rating can be improved by 10.3% by having a right keyword in your title.
Description: Punchy description and targeted keywords improve the ratings.
Type/Category: The app should be aptly categorized to help users who do a category search rather than a particular app search.

2. Ad Networks

After finding out your target audience, the next step is to find the apps they most likely download to post in-app ads of your app on the targeted app. Though Facebook and other social apps are always a safe bet to post your ads, options like AdMob from Google and iAd from Apple can boost your app on various platforms. Ad networks have a click-through rate of mere 1% but this number can improve your app store ratings.

3. Mobile-Friendly Content

Mobile app experience is totally unique and entirely different from the website user experience. The design should be very simple and minimalistic keeping in mind that entering data in mobile devices is comparatively time-consuming than desktop. Make use of the advantage of other mobile features like allowing users to use the map, GPS and other mobile applications. The screenshot below is an excellent example of how a mobile-friendly design can improve the user experience.

4. Sustaining Loyal Users

Retaining existing users is the biggest challenge. It has been found that 90% of the users are gone in 6 months for most apps. To avoid this, you have got to make every user feel special. Following are the ways to sustain a loyal base.

Release features and upgrade versions of your app regularly and find a recurring use case which makes users come back to your app again and again.
Send push notifications to your users giving them current status, profile look or special offers like discounts, coupons, etc., based on your business.

5. Social Media

Last but definitely not the least is the social media. Making your users market your app is the best way of marketing, which is also the toughest to achieve. Social media is one such tool which multiplies your return on investment through word of mouth communication. It also gives a platform to users to give suggestions, and developers to address the queries.

These tips, if followed wisely and diligently, will really grow your app and help you achieve a great success in mobile marketing.

Ebooks, Healthcare

Internet of Things: A Game Changer For Healthcare Industry

June 3, 2015 [x]cube LABS

A Forrester survey gives us a sneak peak into how the next decade looks for Connected Healthcare and reveals what the future has in store for the healthcare sector. As per the survey, “Healthcare decision makers listed security solutions, cloud services and data analytics as the most important IoT solutions for their industry.”

The changing face of healthcare loops in the Internet of Things to redefine the way people, devices and apps connect and interact with each other in the ecosystem. Connected Healthcare is no longer about fitness trackers or step counters alone. From wearables and insideables to wellness sensors, implantable devices and surgical robots, the IoT has brought about a phenomenal change in the healthcare industry by boosting patient care, improving treatment outcomes and reducing the costs.

All that the healthcare providers need to do is jump on to the bandwagon to capitalize on the opportunities IoT provides to hospitals and providers to optimize their resources and save lives.

As IoT gains more traction in the industry, decision makers have to quickly figure out how best to leverage it as a strategy to fuel innovation in healthcare delivery as well as address various challenges facing them.

Our executive guide “Internet of Things: A Game Changer for Healthcare Industry” aims to impart a deep understanding on the impact of IoT in healthcare, and help decision makers in leveraging the potential of Connected Healthcare in the future.

What is a connected hospital?

Find out how smart devices will enable healthcare professionals to better patient care.

Factors driving adoption

Discover why there’s been a big shift in provider and clinical models driving healthcare, and understand how various factors like aging population, advancements in mHealth, shortage of human resources, SaaS & HaaS are driving adoption of IoT in healthcare.

Opportunities galore in healthcare

Get insights on how healthcare can leverage IoT today and in future in terms of Prevention, Diagnosis, Treatment and Wellness.

Steps to Success

Key success strategies that can help hospitals and healthcare providers optimally benefit from IoT and maximize benefits to patients with better treatment outcomes and reduced costs.

download ebook

App Marketing, Blog

Sending A Micro-Survey: Industry Metrics & Best Practices

June 1, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Haven’t we all filled up a survey at least once in our lifetime? I’m sure most of you have. A few surveys might have got us annoyed, but the key point here is “few” since most of us aren’t annoyed at filling a survey. In fact, it’s a mutual exchange. We want to know what kind of questions are being asked and what our thoughts are about it.

Creating surveys isn’t an easy task. In fact, deciding if you want a survey is a tough decision in the first place. One needs to answer the tough question before coming up with the survey questions. What problems is the survey trying to solve? What are the insights that I’m trying to gain? Who are going to be my Target Audience?

Creating a micro-survey for mobile app users can have its own challenges apart from the challenges which are common to any survey, be it online or offline.

Some of the generic industry rules and best practices for any survey include

Pre-planning before the survey is sent out is very important – As mentioned earlier, you need to answer the important questions. What problems are the survey trying to solve and who my target audience are?
Decide the type of questions to ask. Surveys can have open-ended questions (what’s your opinion on mobile banking?), or close-ended questions (on scale of one to ten, how would you rate reliability of mobile banking). Questions can be quantitative (how much are you ready to pay for a new feature) or qualitative (how much are you ready to pay for a new feature – low, average or high)
Keep your survey short and to the point.
Avoid asking multiple things in a question and avoid cascading questions (Do you like to eat dark chocolate and sweets?)
Avoid questions which use the extreme words such as “Always”, “Never”, etc.
Place your questions strategically; frame the flow of questions with the respondent in mind.
Always test the survey by sending it to a select group of people to get an initial idea of whether the survey will provide the desired feedback.
Segment the right audience to take the survey.
Share the result with the respondents if possible.

These are some of the agreed upon industry norms for sending a survey.

However, micro-surveys in the mobile ecosystem have their own set of challenges. Make sure you take the following points into consideration while automating a micro-survey for app users.

Since the size of smartphones is smaller compared to desktop and offline pen paper surveys, designing the look and feel of the survey on the mobile is vital.
Avoid surveys that occupy the full screen of mobile as this may come across as an obtrusive ad(d) and user might get annoyed by the survey.
Since the general user statistic can be obtained directly by the inbuilt features of the app marketing automation engine, avoid direct questions on demographic details of the user, this may invade their personal space and result in incomplete survey.
The survey size for mobile should be even smaller compared to normal surveys.
Make use of features offered on mobile platform to create rich engaging surveys which are also creative and fun to use.
Avoid confusing the user – the cancel button should be clear and big.
If you are not doing your survey right, the other end would be the user leaving the app which will reduce the retention rate.

Surveys are a great way to understand who is using your app, for the specific purpose, under what trigger conditions and reasons the retention is trailing. If your survey is planned and executed well, and the data gathered from the survey is analyzed well, this will help you get crucial insights on user’s mind and help you personalize the experience.

Blog

Mobile App Development: 6 Vital Factors To Consider

May 29, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Mobile devices have evolved to be one of the best sources for a lot of enterprises. Whether it is Banking & Finance, or Transportation & Logistics, or Healthcare, Education, and Retail, a lot of businesses are dependent on mobile technology. With the increase of interaction of the customers, the demand for new mobile applications, disruptive innovation and advanced technology has been growing exponentially. With the invention of these technologies comes the challenge of testing the mobile applications being developed.

Developing a mobile application which suits the consumers’ needs is the most important aspect for any company which is into mobile app development. So what are the factors to be considered to build a mobile app? Read on to check out about a few factors.

1. Multiple devices and Platforms

In the current open market we have a lot of devices and various platforms on which the mobiles are designed and released. The mobile devices which are designed for operating systems like Android, iOS, Blackberry, and Windows are of different screen sizes, resolution and screen density. For any company to develop a mobile application which suits all the above needs is going to be a challenging task.

2. User Interaction

User Interaction plays a vital role in the mobile industry, and with a variety of smartphones available in the market, the user should be able to feel comfortable while using the mobile app whether it is for texting, or playing games. Therefore, companies require interactions from users to further enhance the application in terms of improving design, UI and performance. The interactions can be of various types like single touch, long press, double tap, slide – as each of these actions play a vital role.

3. Size

Applications are designed in such a way that they should fit into each of the devices.Sometimes, it may vary depending on the screen resolution as there are different resolutions available like (1200X768, 1280 X 720, 1920X1080) – so it gets difficult at times to make sure that apps fit into these screens.

4. Screen Density

We have devices with a screen density range from 120 dpi to 240 dpi and depending on these density ranges, the app’s look and feel varies, i.e., sometimes the app looks freezing for a device with 120 dpi as compared to 240 dpi; sometimes the tabs or text may be too small to be visible or to perform any action (like tap on it).

5. Phone Integration

Gone are the days when mobile phones were used to make and receive calls. Now there are a lot of other functions you can perform with your mobile phone besides just calling and texting. Therefore, phone Integration has a very key role to play in the development of a mobile app as mobile devices these days are quite sophisticated, thanks to the evolution of technology, and consumers use their phone for mailing, browsing and also GPS to not only identify the location but also share their location details from anywhere with friends and family.

6. Processor and Battery Usage

We have multiple processors and the battery consumption is dependent on the processor’s performance. For ex: We have dual core processor , quad core processor, qualcomm snapdragon processor, etc. With the increase of the processor’s performance, the battery usage will be high which leads to battery drain and directly affects the end user. When Android Lollipop version was released into the market, there were lots of complaints by mobile users regarding the battery consumption while using mobile apps. To overcome this and to help optimise application performance, Android introduced Android Runtime. But this optimisation for ART requires more space.

And these kind of issues make users hesitate downloading/using apps on their phones. So companies involved in app development need to keep in mind the above factors, and ensure that end users have an optimal experience.

App Marketing, Blog

The Art Of Strategize-Engage-Retain

May 26, 2015 [x]cube LABS

(Strategy —> Build —> Acquire —> Analyze —> Engage —> Monetize —> Retain —> Upgrade)!

The Mobile App ecosystem is maturing and becoming increasingly complex, and to succeed, beyond a killer product and discoverability, a plan is needed for the user’s journey after install. Approximately 50,000 new apps are launched each month, but over half become Zombie Apps (Dead) within the first 30 days. Success or failure is determined by the customer, and to avoid letting your brilliant work, money and time result in a dead-end, it is important to learn how to create a lasting relationship with your audience.

Mobile Strategy

Setting the right mobile strategy that can provide solutions to user needs, help realize business goals and can transform with evolving mobile technologies is very important. Every app out there is trying to solve one or the other problem and if your app has to stand out from them, start the journey with the right mobile strategy.

Design & Build

Building a bug-free app with aesthetic UI and intuitive experience is always important for an app. There can be tens of apps trying to solve the same problem like the Chatting Apps, Taxi Apps, Photo filtering apps, etc. However, the ones which are successful are the ones with the simplistic design and intuitive experience.

Acquire

Most apps have stopped charging people upfront because it is tough to start a relationship on a transactional note – you have to establish a connection first. Most people will not do everything you ask of them unless you start the right dialogue and conversation. Spotting the right audience and making your app discoverable to them are equally important. Another vital aspect you need to consider is installs cannot be the only measure of success; you have to factor in the ROI on the money spent.

Analyze

Keep in mind you are training for a marathon, not a sprint. Long-lasting customer relationships are what make businesses successful. Analyzing and understanding consumer needs and feedback will make the consumer feel listened to and will increase loyalty towards the brand If you get to know your users and understand their habits, they are more likely to reward that effort with loyalty. When it comes to the mobile market, there are hundreds of thousands of fish in the sea. While recently it seemed like the Wild Wild West, the landscape is rapidly changing and rules are emerging. Therefore, using the right tools to learn about your audience is very important.

Engage

Just understanding who your users are and what they do will be proved useless unless you act on the data. Around 46% of users discontinue using an app after a month. By promptly showing interest, asking the right questions and investing time in your users, you will minimize drop off with an increased mutual understanding and rise in significant interactions. Segment them and deliver customized content through multi-channel In-App actions. Traditional mobile methods like push notifications are not going anywhere, but given the size and subtleties of the current ecosystem, you need more diverse channels to create a compelling message.

Data is no doubt important, but thinking about the individual rather than the number will enhance the customer experience. No two persons are alike, but do not let a large audience overwhelm you. The more people you reach, the better off you will be, and by grouping users by behaviors and preferences via segmentation, you will be able to create a personalized, relevant experience for them that is not only easy and scalable, but will benefit your business. It is also very important to know the difference between pushing personalized content to users and spamming them.

Monetize

Monetizing techniques such as context-based upselling will increase the app revenue. More engaged users are likely to spend money in the app and, again, the key here is sending relevant offers and ads to make the most of it.

Retain & Upgrade

Engaged users always retain and expect the app the give them more so it is very important to Update the app with enhancements and fixes that keeps the user interested about the app and make them come back again and again.

Blog, Quality Assurance/Testing

5 Tips To Build A Testing Centre Of Excellence

May 22, 2015 [x]cube LABS

In many IT organizations the testing runs as a silo under each project team. There is a flip side to this practice; the overall quality is not as expected from an organization standpoint. Many companies are shifting towards a TCoE which is a one-stop shop for all the QA and business testing.

TCoE has also shown a remarkable growth from 4% (fully operational TCoE) in 2011 to 26% in 2014 according to report published by HP, Capgemini, and Sogeti. Expectedly, there are many challenges in building a TCoE and here are a few crucial tips that should be looked at in setting up the center.

1. Top Management Commitment

The top management plays a crucial role in setting up a TCoE; not only is there a shift in thinking there is a shift in organization methodology of working, delivering the bad news if the project quality doesn’t adhere to new TCoE standards and practices – all these issues should be dealt with at the top of the organization for smooth transition.

2. Independence

The QA leaders should be able to deliver news about the testing without conflict of interest. There can be conflict that arises between the project management and TCoE team, and the problem mechanism system should be defined beforehand without handicapping the independence of the TCoE.

3. Decision Making

While discussions are being held regarding the standards and practices followed by the testing team, a TCoE personnel should participate actively so that all the stakeholders are on the same page and there is no confusion in the later stages of the project.

4. Early Prevention and Detection

Fixing the problem at a later stage can be complex, time consuming and a drain on resources. So it is best to fix the bugs at an early stage – preferably at the design and formulation stage – as this will lead to fulfillment of the overall objective of TCoE which is the overall business process testing for clients rather than just checking for specs and system readiness.

5. Operationalize and Automate Repeatable Tasks

This is one of the primary objectives of setting up a TCoE. All the standard testing processes that can be automated should be automated. Automation should not be just for automation testing; every stage of testing that has scope for automation and repeatability of automation tools across different projects should be looked at. Standard operating procedures should be set up as well.

The above-mentioned are a few top tips for setting up a TCoE. But, remember rule zero is adaptability, and setting up different competencies to adapt to changing situations is equally important.

App Marketing, Blog

5 Tips For Effective User Acquisition For Mobile Apps

May 21, 2015 [x]cube LABS

If you are starting a business, one of your main concerns is going to be growth. If you fail to gain any traction by attracting as many new users as possible, no matter how disruptive your idea is, how great your product is, you won’t be successful. In today’s world, there are infinite strategies to grow your business, but only a few tactics will really skyrocket your growth and expand your user base exponentially in a short span of time.

So, what makes it so difficult? The tactic which works for one company might not work for the other company. And there is no clear cut route defined to achieve that massive success. One company can try many strategies but zero in on one once you’ve discovered your successful growth channels.

Roadmap for customer acquisition

Many companies have a clear product roadmap for their product, but they don’t have a plan to determine their customer acquisition channels. Software like Agile, Waterfall and Kanban can help us in software development through well-documented processes. And through the defined process in customer development and the lean start-up methodology, finding product market fit has never been easier. Selecting the effective customer acquisition channel is as important as software development and finding product market fit. Here are five useful tips to user acquisition for mobile applications.

1. Understanding Your Position in the Market

It’s important to assess where your organization is in your sector before launching your acquisition strategy. Find your unique selling point (USP) which differentiates your product from the fellow market competitors. Assess the difference between how your company is defined online and how it is perceived by customers and suppliers.

It’s wise to keep your enemy closer and watch them closely if you have any defined competitors. Find out their USPs and analyse how they interact with the market. Track their activity if they try something new and analyse the impact of it. Their failures can be converted into your success with some careful and wise modifications.

2. Setting up an Objective

To succeed in any short time or long-time strategy, it’s important that objectives are defined clearly. It should express what you are looking to achieve and why. This is where the step 1, understanding your position, will help you in setting up a suitable objective. If the objective you have set doesn’t coincide with your current position, this won’t succeed as much as it would have been. This set objective should give a specific number or percentage that you are looking to achieve and the time-frame to achieve it.

3. Targeting the Right Audience

It’s imperative to find your target audience you plan to attract through this acquisition strategy and to understand how they currently interact with your brand online. Using your consumer history and third party data, like Experian Hitwise and Web analytics which use big data for instance, would be very useful source of information to understand your customer’s purchase patterns, products sold, geography and repeat visit rate.

4. Selecting the Right Acquisition Strategy

To realise the objective you have set, you need to identify the digital marketing strategy to use as an acquisition technique. The conclusions you drew through the evaluation of your existing customers should justify the selected tactics. There are majorly 6 key digital media channels which can be used to increase the brand visibility and to drive more visits to your websites and social media pages.

5. Monitoring the Performance

Every strategy explained above will have a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPI). By analysing these KPIs we can determine whether the chosen strategy is helping to achieve the objective we have set in step 2. You can follow 3Ms approach to analyse the performance of your strategy.

Measure: Collect all the metrics regarding the number of visits your website gets after the strategy is implemented since the objective is to increase the number of visits.

Monitor: Determine how the reporting is to be done e.g. weekly or monthly for a certain period of time, for ex. January-March, and monitor the results.

Manage: Manage the resources – as in who will assess the overall strategy and to whom the results are to be reported. Periodic feedback should also be given to the rest of your team.

What many companies don’t get is that there is a slight differentiation between Viral Marketing and Viral Growth. Viral Marketing is the latest buzzword which is nothing but “Word of mouth” or “Person-to-person distribution” whereas Viral Growth indicates a K-factor more than 1 (i.e., every new registered user will invite more than 1 registered user on an average). Generally, the actual costs incurred to acquire customers are miscalculated by many companies which make true viral growth so hard to achieve in practice. But by applying the above five tips in User Acquisition Strategy, any company can achieve that dream viral growth.

Blog, Quality Assurance/Testing

Challenges In Testing Mobile Web Apps

May 20, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Mobile web app is a website app which runs on all mobile browsers. So any app which runs on all browsers does not need specific memory to use and the mobile phones which are now available in the market have a default browser. Therefore, the audience for a mobile web are more than the users for a native app. Deploying these kind of apps is easy when compared to native apps.

What makes a mobile web app different from a native app?

There are many things which make a mobile web app different from native app. To use a mobile web app, users need not have special memory to install the app because web apps are available in browsers. Web apps are easy to deploy when compared to native apps as we need only to know the URL to use them, and they can be shared easily with a wide range of people via text messages, WhatsApp, etc.

Mobile web-based applications are increasingly becoming more important, feature rich, and also the most popular means for developing commercial systems. Most of the e-commerce apps like Flipkart, Amazon , Myntra, Snapdeal, Shopclues, Ebay and others are first designed as websites and then the apps came up in native.

Of Performance, User Experience & Security

The more the audience for a web app, the more is the usability for the app. Testing mobile web apps is different because of the many factors affecting the performance and user experience; as these apps are exposed to a wide range of people, there are security constraints which need to be considered.

To make sure that the web app runs reliably under different types of situations, the above points are accounted for testing. As the testing process starts from test plan and test cases writing, they should be written properly – the test cases should be written by covering network speeds, resolution of the screens and performance test cases along with functional, and UI test cases.

Challenges for a Web App

Different Paths (Entry and Exit) for a Single App

To access web apps, users will use different types of paths. For example, there is a web app which is an ecommerce app, so different users choose different paths to access it – some may do online shopping without doing registration, some may do so after the registration. Every user chooses a different path i.e., each user may search for different things at the same point of time. So, while testing, all the possible permutations should be covered.

Network Speeds

Depending on the network speeds, the performance of the app will vary. Apps will work fine sometimes in broadband networks, some may work fine in 3G/ 4G network. So, a web app should be tested in all kinds of network types with different sets of speeds.

Different Types of Browsers

Web apps are usually developed by making sure that the apps are not browser dependent. The code written in a browser is independent and every browser is developed using different types of languages including scripting languages like javascript. So if we test the app in just one browser, it may work fine in that browser but it may not work well in other browsers. The web app should, therefore, be tested in all browsers. Even on similar browsers, the app may behave differently based on the screen resolution/ hardware/ software of the device.

Security Constraints

Some web apps will capture secure data from users like credit/debit card information which is needed while doing online payments/transactions. Testing should be done in such a way that users’ data should not get compromised.

To ensure that sufficient test coverage is provided for web applications and to provide a secure, reliable application to the user, the above points need to be considered. Testing is the only way to prove that the web app is a quality product and it is also the last chance to ensure the safety of the data.

(Preethi works as a Software QA Engineer at [x]cubeLABS and is experienced in Mobile , Web Application testing. She has expertise in testing different domains like Social, Gaming and Health care.)

Blog, Wearables

How Businesses Put Wearables To Work

May 19, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Apple Inc. sold 957,000 Apple watches on the first day; the devices were available for pre-order. Many experts consider this watch to revolutionize the wearables industry just like their earlier devices did. The iPod changed the way the music industry sold their music and it changed the way we consume our music; the iPhone changed the way we use our mobile phone – from using it for regular tasks to using the mobile as a smart device and a trusted ally.

Wearable devices are heading in the same path though they are in their infancy; it’s far from the tipping point but definitely getting there. Wearables are not limited to smart watches alone, various devices such as wearable wrist band, smart ring and other niche items are available in the market.

From Fitness Aids To Handy Accessories

Wearable wristbands are making waves in the international market as they make a handy addition to a smartphone and a must-have for any fitness-conscious, tech-loving person. Companies such as Jawbone and Fitbit are popular in this segment with thousands of wearable devices being sold by them.

Wearable ring might sound like a fancy fashion accessory to have, but in reality it’s an extremely handy accessory. Ringly is the company making this device and they came up with this brilliant idea when its founder missed a lot of calls as her phone was usually in her bag. This device is really handy for women who usually prefer keeping their smartphones in their bags. The company recently got funding worth a million dollar from investors.

The leader of the wearable device is, however, the smart watch. While the utility aspect of a smart watch is questioned by many critics, very few question its potential. The latest Apple smart watch is being compared to a handy smartphone as it can perform most of the tasks a smartphone can. There are a number of smartphones in Android as well, and the market is experiencing a flurry of activity with all the big players coming up with their smart watches.

What Does The Future Hold?

In the years to come, wearable devices which give the experience of virtual reality might gain commercial dominance, and devices providing augmented reality (read Google Glass) have got everyone excited as well.

Wearable devices may be a significant part of our lives in the near future – just like laptops, desktops and smartphones. It is difficult to imagine a life without these devices today, but did we always think that would be the case? No, we didn’t. We can only anticipate what will happen in the future, and bet on wearables, just like the businesses of today are doing!

Blog, Internet of Things

Internet of Things: A web of Connected World

May 13, 2015 [x]cube LABS

From childhood we have come across cartoons and shows that depict a future that is quite tech savvy and machine dependent. Most of us might have given some incredulous looks, brushed it off and taken it on a stride — after all, they were fictitious. But how fictitious would one consider the world now for the technological advancement it stands at? No denying it, we are warped and entirely engulfed by the supremacy of the net.

Predicted to be at the Cusp of a fourth industrial revolution, we are far more advanced in the information age than when it started, and have delved deeper into the Big Data age. So what is that crucial factor that has brought about the avalanche of developments in the past few years that has set into action the Connected World?

The internet of things, famously known as “IoT” in the past few years, has almost achieved a biblical status. Such is the fervor and reverence with which the avid digital world foresees it. So what has IoT achieved that we say a connected world is not so far away? First, let’s get a good grip on the core concept. The popular definition is “The Internet of Things (IoT) is a computing concept that describes a future where everyday physical objects will be connected to the Internet and be able to identify themselves to other devices”. Sounds like a feat, right? Not really.

Let’s picture a few scenarios 25 years down the lane:

You’re travelling to a new country for your vacation and you realize you have left your passports at home; but that’s okay! All your healthcare and citizen records are in a database open and accessible to the airport authorities… and voila, check in and your flight takes off.

A person with no ID card on him has a panic attack and falls unconscious. Oh and yes you are the doctor on board, but with no medical history how would you be able to treat the patient? But it’s the connected world, and it’s just a touch away – now with all the medical history and details of his syndrome known, you give the right treatment and become the hero.

Your patient checks in with a chronic syndrome and wants only you to treat him. Why not, thanks to Connected World, you treat the patient all along your journey. Vacation still isn’t disrupted. It’s a connected flight system and your first flight lands late – but you have no hassle of booking another flight, your smart devices – all connected to each other and in sync with your schedule – have already booked a connecting flight and with no waiting period. We can elaborate with any number of example scenarios, but the focus here is to say that the world that we are going to enter is smart and intelligent in every way; led by the innovation of the net, the connected world is an inevitable and most anticipated era.

Let’s look at a few things that have made headway into this phenomenon. Starting with healthcare, IoT has made the current netizens more health conscious. Not only can we now keep a check of our health but also keep an eye on our dear ones and their health. Start-ups like 2mpower health, Ducere Technologies, Diabeto MedTech India have empowered themselves with the IoT and have taken their enterprises and customers’ health to the next level. Diabeto, for example, has created a wireless device that reads and stores blood sugar readings with the help of the Bluetooth technology. This enables the transfer of glucose readings from a glucometer into a mobile device and displays & stores the information on a cloud server. The information is then sent to a smartphone app to be shared with the doctor, hence eliminating the need for a physical visit to the hospital.

Another of those mind-blowing innovations is a product with alter egos. Working on the concept of “hyperlinking the physical world” with the aim of making physical products smarter by connecting them to the web, Linqs has worked on creating digital identities of physical products, what the founder calls “Alter Ego”. The start-up venture “Linqs” has a platform to build a host of micro web services for things It provides a unique identity (ID) to every object and from the object ID serves a Web Service tailored for the user’s context.

Starting with digital business cards, the company hopes to go a long way and innovate more along with the growth spurt of technology. And we have more such innovations and products as a result of IoT that has helped evolve many start-ups. That doesn’t mean that the Giants in the enterprise are behind. Take, for instance, GE implementing IoT in Industrial field. GE’s aircraft engine maintenance business, born out of its jet engine business has moved into preventing maintenance on the whole by expanding and automating aircraft fleet optimization.

Road transport solutions provider Michelin Solutions is one such company that has built a high-tech, high-touch Industrial IoT system to reduce fuel consumption in its client’s truck fleets by including sensors inside the vehicles that collect data on consumption, temperature, speed and location which is then transmitted to a cloud service. Michelin Solutions, after analyzing the data, makes recommendations to fleet managers on lesser consumption.

With many such innovations in various fields ranging from industrial to daily consumer needs, we are inching quite progressively towards a connected world that holds ample opportunities. Be it the first world nations or the third world nations, everyone has had a taste of the future and many initiatives have been taken by the nations to put their country in the forefront of technological advancement.

Not everything, of course, is a rosy picture. With more open information sharing comes the eternal issue of security. With work proceeding in that direction as well to make the IoT more secure, we can conclude with a positive note that the future not only would be more connected but more secure than it is now, provided the net neutrality is not hindered.

Life at [x]cube

Bud Indian Pool-ball League 2015

May 12, 2015 [x]cube LABS

‘Bud Indian pool ball’ is a game similar to snooker but the snooker balls are replaced by small sponge footballs and for shooting the balls in, we use our foot instead of stick. The rules are the same as snooker. The game is played between 2 teams and each team consists of 2 players.

The interesting part of the game is the Beer which is served all through the game, and as a game custom. Such refreshing events are always energy boosters and a halt from the work pressure. We were really excited when the game was played and most amazingly, the event happened during work hours, and this made us feel like we’re back in school with a “Games Period”

And oh, you get a perfect kick only when a DJ is around… So, we had a DJ who added the real spice to the event taking us all on a mind trip. Cheer girls from Budweiser added excitement to the already charged atmosphere and made the event cheerful, colorful and most happening. We look forward to many such events, whenever possible, to act like stress busters.

Blog, Healthcare, Wearables

DIAGNOSING THE HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGY

May 12, 2015 [x]cube LABS

Earlier, we could measure only Body temperature, Pulse, Blood Pressure at home but today, we live in an ecosystem which allows us to track almost every human action owing to accessibility to gizmos & Gadgets. Now we are blessed with Smart clothes, insideables , sensors etc., which monitor our daily activities from number of steps we walk, calories burnt, distance covered, sleep quality + smart alarm, blood oxygen levels, blood glucose levels, cardiac fitness, stress, eating habits, ECG, cognitive skills, to brain activities & productivity. There is a drastic shift in the EMR mandates, adoption & personal health apps due to government intervention.

Here are some of the trends shaping the Healthcare Industry:-

1. WEARABLES

Smart Clothes: Fashion industry can be instrumental in increasing the awareness & adoption of smart clothes in the audiences, Companies like Hexoskin and MC10 are working to make smart clothes & sensors which can be embedded in clothes . This enables healthcare providers with crucial, lifesaving data.
Insideables: devices implanted into our body or just under the skin. There are people already having such RFID implants with which they can open up a laptop, a smartphone or even the garage door.
Digestables: (Pills), another great invention which will track digestion.
Stickables: The most exciting of all are the sensor-equipped patches designed to be paired with specific drugs to help measure their efficacy. Most of them rely on an app on the patient’s smartphone to transmit the data from the devices.

2. GAMIFICATION: It has been noticed that patients tend to ignore the compliance of treatment regimes as prescribed by the doctor. Gamifying these regimes by giving patient goals, rewards for attaining them will tremendously improve the healthcare process as it will give the patient’s treatment regime an entertainment streak.

3. 3D PRINTING: Doctors can use 3D printers to create customized casts, prosthetics, braces, and implants like knee replacements, & also print off replicas of a patient’s internal organs (from an MRI scan) to practice on before a surgery.

4. AUGMENTED & VIRTUAL REALITY: According to the WHO (World Health Organization) the current estimated worldwide deficit surpasses 4.3 Million. There is a huge demand of medical practitioners but the supply is less. This pose a great threat but solution to this is Virtual & Augmented Reality with which we can enter into a world of improved, enhanced and digitally created features which will be incredibly useful in Healthcare solving the major issue of demand & supply gap of medical providers. Thus, can bring a paradigm shift in Healthcare.

Scenario A: Where working-out means tedious, mundane health regime.
Scenario B: A combo deal of VR + Video games develops not only interest but also makes exercising a lot more fun.
Virtual Reality is encompassing all possible participants of Healthcare under its purview. Its helpful in educating the medical students in much better way as they can perform ‘hands on’ procedures in a safe manner which enables them to make mistakes & learn.

5. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: Let’s see few ways in which Artificial Intelligence is going to improve the skills of doctors.
Eradicates waiting time– An Artificial Intelligence system will schedule as efficiently as possible by reducing the doctor’s waiting time for a patient, a lab result, etc.
Connect the doctor to crucial patients– An Artificial Intelligence OS could crunch out the most urgent messages from a pool of calls, in-person questions, e-mails and even messages which a doctor receives from social media channels on a daily basis.
Healthcare Industry is witnessing change with everyday innovations & inventions making the society a better place to live in a more healthier life.

Automobile, Blog, Internet of Things

5 ways connected cars are accentuating driving experience

May 8, 2015 [x]cube LABS

A car company recently came up with an advertisement where you can see people sync their mobiles to car and instruct it verbally to play songs, show maps, etc. Last year Google unveiled its driverless car. All these advancements are the giant steps into the future of automobile industry; connected cars, where you can remain connected to the world even on wheels and also control all the devices inside your car without risking safety. The basic concept behind connected cars is transforming the vehicle into a node in ‘www’ universe.

IoT enables connected cars to create an entirely new ecosystem of connected services. The car turns into a hub providing customers a lot many advantages and better experience while driving, in the form of enhanced security and safety, and new suite of product offerings.

5 ways in which connected cars technology is accentuating driving experience:

1. Mobile Hotspot: In-vehicle hotspot capabilities is the new thing car manufacturers have introduced for customers’ convenience. Using this, now drivers as well as passengers can remain connected even inside the car. Leveraging IoT, connectivity is being provided for all kinds of mobile devices.

2. Infotainment: So far, people used to make calls and navigate on cars via bluetooth only but streaming apps was never an option. Using the IoT platform, car manufacturers are providing connectivity in cars, where you can easily stream contents, have free trials of services being provided by manufacturers and retailers.

3. Safety and security: The most important aspect for automobile manufacturers is ensuring safety and security of customers. So, while providing connectivity in cars, focus is on making the drive more secure. Many steps have been taken for it like introducing threat alert which alerts the risk of accident if it is anywhere in its range, black box (records the details of accident a few seconds before and after accident so that reason can be known), crash notification (sends accident alert automatically), emergency assistance, etc. These features have low-latency in connectivity and are thus reliable and life saving because even a slightest delay can cause huge loss.

4. Entertainment: The infotainment unit can be synced with phone and it can be used as an entertainment device for downloading music and streaming content. Messages can be received on the screen of the infotainment unit keeping the driver socially active at all times without the need of touching the phone every time.

5. New product offering: Connected cars are embedded with mobile broadband chips and they generate vast amounts of data. These data are being used by service providers to make offerings based on the usage patterns. Based on conclusions drawn from these data, insurance companies can decide what type of insurance to offer, manufacturers can measure real-time on-road experience of customers and improve product quality.

As IoT and other enabling technologies evolve, we will see a lot many improvements in connected cars resulting in further accentuating the driving experience.