Software Development is a critical growth area as development of programmes and applications has seen huge expansion with many start-ups competing to replace, redevelop or update older software and established technologies. At the same time, many competing organisations are trying to invent new ways to complete new tasks. There are many specialist careers based on using software available now that did not even exist as a concept ten years ago – such as Digital Marketing specialist or Search Engine Optimization engineer.
The gaming and technology entertainment industry is a very large and high profile area of development, with revenues outstripping the sales of the Hollywood blockbusters. Virtual Reality is a ‘hot’ area within software development and new technology growth, where many companies are rushing to develop useable and wearable virtual reality technology. The drive towards VR is fuelled by the rush to produce cheaper and more reliable hardware and software. Gaming applications push the hardware to their limits, and are at the vanguard of applications that are available to more and more people for leisure, entertainment and commercial uses.
Aspira has a lot of experience in developing bespoke applications or API’s for many industries and clients globally. Data collected by various applications and software is often a cause for discussion and the ownership of collected imagery, data, contacts or video is still an area of discussion and litigation within the technology industry. Social media applications are generating large volumes of personal data, and is an area of huge growth. Security and reliability is one area where Aspira Software Design Specialists and Web Developers have plenty of experience and can play a key role for client organisations.
Types of social applications that are most successfully downloaded and used by vast amounts of users include WhatsApp, Viber, Instagram, Snapchat as well as the longer-established Facebook and Twitter. News and information applications as well as gaming applications are rapidly growing, driven by the demand for 24/7 access to live news and up-to-the-minute information. This is an area where bespoke web applications and mobile applications can have a massive advantage over traditional broadcast media.
“The increasing geographic spread and diversity of team members has led to another trend emerging where Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is more popular”
The development of software within the consultancy industry is growing, where having the flexible to tailor off-the-shelf applications, or even create a bespoke piece of software to tackle a specific problem for a client gives a great advantage. Being able to develop particular optimised applications and websites is an area where Aspira has excelled over the past nine years. Working with clients to design and develop a concept, and then build, test and deploy a new solution is one of the busiest areas of the Aspira consultancy business.
In the creation of bespoke software for clients and organisations, Aspira often uses MVC as a form of architecture. MVC is a software architecture – the structure of the system – that separates domain/application/business logic from the rest of the user interface. It does this by separating the application into three parts: the model, the view, and the controller.
The model manages fundamental behaviours and data of the application. It can respond to requests for information, respond to instructions to change the state of its information, and even to notify observers in event-driven systems when information changes. This could be a database, or any number of data structures or storage systems. In short, it is the data and data-management of the application.
The view, (the V in MVC), effectively provides the user interface element of the application. It will render data from the model into a form that is suitable for the user interface. The controller, (the C in MVC), receives user input and makes calls to model objects and the view to perform appropriate actions. All in all, these three components work together to create the three basic components of MVC and help software designers to create unique but architecturally robust programmes within an organisation or for public engagement.
The increasing geographic spread and diversity of team members has led to another trend emerging where Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is more popular. The rising costs associated with ensuring each team member has the same device and understands how to work it can be reduced by allowing each employee to use their own devices for work projects, by adding IT software and programmes. The cost savings need to be balanced with increased security and anti-malware practices. The use of specialised software to aid with this can be very beneficial, for large companies particularly. There is also a requirement to structure and resource the IT Help Desk within the organisation because multi-device working requires a flexible and well trained team.
“There is a ‘goldilocks balance’ to be sought between being able to build websites that are easily updated and building websites that are highly accessible”
Developing innovative new programmes for use on e-commerce websites or applications for the same is another area of development and expertise. Customisability and security will be at the heart of such software. As enterprise businesses want to securely tie their CRM software to their PM systems and vice-versa, API functionality will become an industry standard as opposed to a “feature.” For example, Deloitte has launched a guide to the growing “API Economy” and many project management software solutions (like Accelo, Comindware, and Teamwork.com) have adopted this trend.
Asp.net is an excellent framework for building software and websites. It gives teams the ability to create websites with mobile functionality and even API’s. There is a ‘goldilocks balance’ to be sought between being able to build websites that are easily updated and building websites that are highly accessible. These solutions also need to be innovative and leverage the benefits of the very latest of trends in software development. Asp.net has proven to be a flexible and agile platform builder in order to meet the needs in design, concept delivery, creation and testing of websites and API’s.
Microsoft ASP.net is also a certified solution and being a Microsoft Gold Certified software developer means that Aspira can offer bespoke software development and also offer a ‘virtual CTO’ service offering to clients. The ‘virtual CTO’ will help to resource your IT team and give them the capacity to deliver even more projects, innovative solutions and better programmes.
The design process includes analysis, design, concept, development, test and support of the software solution. The team can input at any stage in an ongoing project and can help to complete projects in house if required.
Aspira continues to offer a variety of Software Development services, such as providing a Virtual CTO, specialist database development skills, cloud architects, SharePoint consultants or front-end designers. This applies whether taking in an entire product development project that has been outsourced by a client, or providing the development staff to go work on-site for a period alongside a client’s team. Aspira Software Design Specialists and Web Developers can initiate projects and see them to completion or can jump in as required at a later stage along the development lifecycle. Aspira will always offer added value to client organisations.