What Does AIOps Mean for Startups? Posted on January 6, 2022December 27, 2022 by Admin To understand AIOps, it helps to consider one peculiar thought: the technological systems that we humans have built have become too complex to be managed by mere humans. Specifically, the IT operations that run businesses have galloped forward in complexity, leaving their human masters in semi-bewilderment. It’s a great irony of human intelligence: we’ve built IT systems that are so advanced that they are, in essence, overwhelming us. Meanwhile, the leisurely pace of data analytics is being superseded by real-time streaming data, which is far too fast for humans and requires algorithms to analyze. Then there’s the torrent of data from edge computing, the blinking universe of IoT devices, and a boundless ocean of smartphones. Add all it together, and enterprise IT systems – under ceaseless attack by hackers, not to mention budget constraints – can only utter one word: help! This guide will help you understand the system that comes to rescue during such challenges, AIOps. We’re going to discuss: What is AIOps How does AIOps work Why your startup needs AIOps How can AIOps help your startup Challenges in AIOps How to get started with AIOps How does KiwiTech help in leveraging AIOps What is AIOps? AIOps, which is short for AI for IT Operations, signifies how data from a development environment is managed by an IT team using artificial intelligence. AIOps enhances IT operations with continuous monitoring, automation, and service desk tasks enriched with deep and personal insights. AIOps make data more accessible, usable, and available, enabling faster resolutions to performance challenges and outages and increasing IT costs. “AIOps combines big data and machine learning to automate IT operations processes, including event correlation, anomaly detection, and causality determination.” ~Gartner With AIOps, operations teams can make sense of the enormous volume of complex data generated by the sophisticated IT environments of today, thus ensuring continuity. How does AIOps works? AIOps tools weren’t created equal. To extract the most value out of one, an organization should deploy it centrally to gather data from all IT monitoring sources and yield a single point of reference across the organization. Here’s how AIOps works: It combs through the data for signals – Modern IT environments generate big data. AIOps uses rule application and data selection to filter out the signals- abnormal event alerts from the noise (often 99% of the data). Uses pattern discovery & inference to get to root causes – AIOps deploys industry or environment-specific algorithms to correlate and find relationships between the selected data elements across environments to get closer to the root cause of the problem and suggest a resolution. Takes automated action – At its very basic, an AIOps tool can route alerts and proposed resolutions to concerned IT teams or build response teams based on the nature of the signal. It can process outputs from ML algorithms to trigger automatic system responses in real time for proactive resolution in more sophisticated use cases. AIOps continually learns and improves error handling – Based on each alert and how it was resolved, ML capabilities change algorithms or build new ones to reflect new knowledge in future resolutions. So each subsequent resolution is more efficient than the previous one. Related Reading: How Startups Can Compete in AI and ML Why your startup needs AIOps? The primary benefit of AIOps is arming Ops teams with speed and flexibility to ensure the uptime of critical services and deliver an exceptional digital experience. 1. Productivity AIOps drastically improve the Mean Time to Resolution by sifting through the abundance of noise in IT operations and correlating the data from multiple environments. AIOps identifies root causes and proposes solutions significantly faster than humans. This helps organizations achieve previously unimaginable MTTR goals. AIOps speed up the detection and resolution of critical issues that lead to outages & hurt the customer experience and sales. It enables IT, specialists, to focus on the important and not be distracted by insignificant alerts and noise, thus improving their productivity and output. 2. High-quality Customer Service More agile and adaptive processes directly improve the quality of customer service. When all internal functionality works like clockwork, customers expect a brand to show up like it always does. This builds long-term loyalty and trust that directly impacts the bottom line. AIOps can also lead to better customer retention by that sequence. A 2% boost in customer retention equals a 10% cost reduction from a profits point of view, as per a study by Harvard Business School. So high-quality customer service, thanks to AIOps, can impact critical metrics across the business. 3. Risk Mitigation Historical data from IT incidents can inform business analytics and lead to the ability to predict failures and reduce the risk of downtime, costing TOP-1000 companies about $11,000 per minute. Moreover, AIOps reduces the risk of human error in managing humongous data resulting from various IT environments and the stress and fatigue it induces in concerned teams. 4. Reactive to Proactive to Predictive Management An AIOps system never stops advancing its algorithms. So it keeps getting better at identifying alerts that relate to the more critical ones. By grouping such signals, AIOps can create a predictive model to let IT teams address potential anomalies before they disrupt services and cause costly outages. Moving from reactive to proactive to predictive management can help organizations save millions of dollars and offer the same level of customer experience. 5. Modernized IT Operations We keep talking about digital transformation and modernizing business processes. AIOps is how it’s done for operations and IT. Instead of having teams overwhelmed with frequent alerts, AIOps teams only receive alerts that meet specific criteria and parameters along with contextual information to diagnose issues at hand and take corrective action. The more automated and AI-enabled your IT and operations, the more you can be sure of your business without relying on human effort, and help teams focus on strategic functions that add direct value to the company. Related Reading: 5 Strategies for Startups to Enhance Their Customer Experience How AIOps helps your startup? Through algorithmic analysis of IT data and Observability telemetry, AIOps helps IT Ops, DevOps, and SRE teams work smarter and faster, so they can detect digital-service issues earlier and resolve them quickly before business operations and customers are impacted. With AIOps, Ops teams can tame the immense complexity and quantity of data generated by their modern IT environments and thus prevent outages, maintain uptime and attain continuous service assurance. With IT at the heart of digital transformation efforts, AIOps lets organizations operate at the speed that modern business requires and deliver a stellar user experience. Challenges in AIOps Not all AIOps implementations go as planned. Challenges such as poor-quality data and IT errors can hinder deployment. Employees may find learning to use the tool challenging and resist changing the status quo. Handing over control to an autonomous system with automated responses can concern C-suite leaders. Finally, adopting new AIOps solutions can be time-consuming. How to get started with AIOps AIOps offers several compelling capabilities, but getting started doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Here are a few steps and assets to get you started: 1. Build a Business Case Start by identifying areas where AIOps can help. Which KPIs do you need/want to improve? How have performance issues/outages impacted the business in the past – both financially and reputation-wise? Use this Downtime Calculator to assess how much revenue an outage could cost your business. 2. Choose an AIOps Solution There are a lot of AIOps solutions on the market. Be sure to understand the different types of AIOps solutions (ex., Domain-Agnostic vs. Domain-Specific), the effort and time to implement, and how easy each is to use and maintain. Be sure to demo and trial them and ask for customer references. 3. Start Small, but with a Specific Goal As the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Today’s AIOps solutions make it much easier to get started, but still require that you have a problem you are trying to solve. Start with something very specific and a couple of data sources to ingest. How does KiwiTech help in leveraging AIOps KiwiTech’s AIOps service offering provides predictive analytics capabilities to IT operations by leveraging big data, machine learning to analyze super large volumes of structured and unstructured data. Our technology competencies and partnerships cuts across core infrastructure monitoring, application performance monitoring, network monitoring, log analytics, event management, and AIOps. Expertise across a best-in-breed technology stack and an understanding of business use cases for AIOps implementation are required for a successful rollout. Since AIOps’ success heavily depends on underlying data quality, getting high-quality data presents a challenge. But beyond all data challenges, there are wide skill gaps in the industry. As per a 2021 Juniper report, most respondents agreed that their organizations struggled to expand the workforce to lead the integration with AI systems. When talent is lacking, it comes with a high cost. This is why we at KiwiTech make AIOps accessible to startups. Learn more about our implementation process and consultation by speaking to one of our Artificial Intelligence consultants today.
Launched a Successful Equity Crowdfunding Campaign? Here’s What’s Next Posted on January 4, 2022January 12, 2022 by Admin So, you’ve raised money via equity crowdfunding. Congratulations! Now what? The first thing to do is take a deep breath and congratulate yourself on a job well done. You have the opportunity to make your startup dreams come true now that you have funding in place. While equity crowdfunding is an excellent way for startups to get funding, there are still many more steps that need to be taken after a successful campaign to maximize and sustain the growth. In this blog post, we will discuss the next steps after the equity crowdfunding campaign to make sure that your startup stays on everyone’s mind. Keep your investors and interested parties informed. Keep the momentum going. You worked hard to get people interested in your company and now that you have their money, it’s important not to disappoint them. Keep them informed of your progress and make sure that they can see how their investment is helping to grow the company. This means regular updates on social media, through email, and through your equity crowdfunding platform. Read More: Equity Crowdfunding 5 Key Challenges and How to Overcome Them Make sure you’re putting the money to good use. The investors are not only interested in how their investment is helping to grow your startup company, they also want to know that it’s being put to good use. This means having a solid understanding of what every dollar raised will do for your business. Make sure to use your funds in a way that is efficient and will help you reach your goals. Stay focused on your end goal. While it’s important to keep the investors happy, don’t forget why you needed funding in the first place – your vision for the company. Stay focused on this vision and make sure that all of your equity crowdfunding efforts are moving you toward making this vision a reality. Plan for the future. After all is said and done, it’s important to have an idea on what’s next after equity crowdfunding. This means planning out how much money will be needed in order to reach your goals while still having some left over for emergencies that arise. Don’t forget to have fun! After equity crowdfunding, there is a lot that needs to be done in order for your startup dreams come true. However, that doesn’t mean you need to work every waking hour of the day and forget about having some fun now and then as well. After all, equity crowdfunding was done with the hopes of making your startup dreams come true, and that won’t happen if you don’t stop for a few laughs along the way. Equity crowdfunding, while a great way to get funding for your startup and business, is not the end all be all. It’s important to use equity crowdfunding as an opportunity to grow your company by staying focused on what you set out within the first place: your vision. Interested in launching a new equity crowdfunding campaign or want to boost results of an existing one? Contact our team of equity crowdfunding consultants today.
Crowdfunding: 5 Key Challenges and How to Overcome Them Posted on December 30, 2021December 26, 2022 by Admin Having a killer business idea or innovation is not the only essential ingredient to establishing a business. It’s necessary to have the right funding to propel aspiring business ambitions into reality. Thanks to equity crowdfunding, entrepreneurs have more than one way to raise funding for their startups. Though beneficial, crowdfunding is not always a straight road leading to success. This form of funding comes with a lot of challenges that all entrepreneurs should be ready to face. However, you can do several things to overcome the challenges associated with equity crowdfunding and take your business to the next level. So, what are the challenges every entrepreneur needs to be prepared for when going down this road? What should entrepreneurs know about equity crowdfunding before they dive right in? Here are five key equity crowdfunding challenges and tips on how to overcome them so your startup can have a better chance of success. 1. Meeting Investor Expectations One of the critical challenges every entrepreneur faces when raising capital via crowdfunding is creating hype around their company. And if you are doing it right, you will also have to deal with the expectations that come with all that hype. Some investors still invest solely in projections or future potential without considering what your startup has accomplished. How to overcome this challenge? To overcome this hurdle, be clear and transparent about what your company is all about and the milestones you have achieved so far. Share with them everything relevant to their decision to invest, from the problem you are trying to solve to how your product works and its benefits. Most read: Role of Branding in Crowdfunding Campaigns 2. Building Trust Among Investors Crowdfunding has been around for quite a while now, but it wasn’t until recently that it got its own place in the financial world. For this reason, not all investors are knowledgeable about how equity crowdfunding works. They may occasionally be skeptical of your business model, which can present as distrust when you need them to trust you. Knowing they might trust an experienced investor more than they would trust you may stop them from investing in your company. How to overcome this challenge? You can overcome this challenge by knowing your business and how it will solve a problem better than others. You should also be able to tell a captivating story that demonstrates why they need to invest in your startup above the rest. 3. Knowing How Much Money to Ask For One of the challenges every entrepreneur faces when it comes to raising capital via crowdfunding is figuring out how much money they should raise. While you might think this is just a simple matter of deciding how much money you need to invest in your startup, other things also come into play. For instance, there are some investors who think that a high valuation makes a company less risky to invest in. This means you have to convince them of the lower valuation, which can be challenging, especially if your company is still getting started. Some investors consider the amount you plan on raising as part of their return if they choose to invest. How to overcome this challenge? To overcome this challenge, look for entrepreneurs who have gone down the route before and ask how much they raised. This will help hint at the amount of money to raise. You should also consider your company’s valuation to avoid exceeding that amount by going overboard on your fundraising goal. 4. Choosing the Right Platform As one of the most popular ways to raise funding, equity crowdfunding has attracted quite a number of players in this market. As an entrepreneur looking to raise funds for your startup, you must consider which platform best suits you and your company. Since there are quite a number of platforms available out there, it’s not always easy to spot one that will give your business some exposure. The good news is not all crowdfunding platforms are made the same! Some might be appropriate for startups looking to raise seed funding, while others are more suited to companies with stable products and need cash to start mass production. How to overcome this challenge? You can never tell which platform will be best for your company until you try them out. Visit as many platforms as it takes, and don’t be afraid to ask questions about the various options they present. If you decide to list your offering on more than one platform, do it strategically. If they are all targeting the same investors, sending them to different platforms can be a waste of time and effort. Most Read: The 6 Pillars of a Successful Equity Crowdfunding Campaign 5. Protecting Your Unique Ideas Every entrepreneur who has listed an idea on a network knows that there are few things more damaging to your company’s future than having another startup come along and use the same idea. Due to this reason, most entrepreneurs tend to be very secretive about their concepts and avoid even talking about them. How to overcome this challenge? To overcome this challenge, find a workable balance between being secretive and having enough information for investors to understand your business. Identify any part of your idea that can be protected by copyright laws, if there is one, then file for copyright immediately. Make key persons sign a nondisclosure agreement who have access to sensitive information about your idea. Once you have that in place, be open about everything except the product or how it works. Knowing these challenges and how to navigate them can help you a great deal and prepare you better to raise funds via equity crowdfunding. If you’re ready to jumpstart your campaign with expert crowdfunding consultants on board, contact us today! We’ll help you navigate each stage so that raising capital becomes more accessible than ever before.
How to Create a Convincing Equity Crowdfunding Campaign Posted on December 28, 2021December 30, 2021 by Admin When crowdfunding appeared a few years ago, it quickly exploded on the internet. Since then, platforms like Kickstarter, WeFunder, Republic, and others have emerged onto the scene, providing entrepreneurs with the opportunity to raise funding for their businesses through equity crowdfunding. This has resulted in a golden time to be an entrepreneur. Equity crowdfunding involves a startup running a fundraising campaign that explains the level of equity available, how much money the business is trying to raise, what value their product will bring to the market, and why investors should invest in their company. The fate of funding for a startup is partially based on the quality of the campaign, and poor planning and a lack of research can lead to a failed campaign. Therefore, an engaging and concise equity crowdfunding campaign is the first step towards the success of your funding round. This blog explores a few things to keep in mind when building a successful crowdfunding campaign for your startup. Know Your Customer This is not to say that you should spend umpteen time trying to understand their wants, needs, desires, fears, anxieties, frustrations, etc. Quite the opposite. All this means is that you should know who they are so you know what kind of creative content to post on your campaign page. To understand what will be compelling to an audience group, answer some of these questions: Do they have kids? Are they living in an urban or rural environment? Where do they work and how much time do they spend at work? How much money do they make per year on average? Where do they surf the internet most often? Be Creative There are a lot of equity crowdfunding campaigns out there — a quick Google search will prove that. And, people who are not interested in investing may still want to follow along with the journey or share what you’re doing with their circles. The best way for this to happen is if you make sure your campaign page is creative, inviting, and inspiring. Reach Out to Influencers In the world of crowdfunding, it’s safe to assume that you’re going to need a team to ensure success. Many people will be willing to reach out to their circles and be your “ambassadors” if they see something unique or interesting. The best way for this to happen is to build a community of influencers, then reach out to them and request their help in spreading the word, then provide the link to where they should send their friends and followers. Tell a Story Above all that we’ve talked about so far, storytelling is what people want to see. People are interested in your success more than your failure, and the best way to do that is with a compelling narrative of how you got started, why you’re doing it, and where you want to go next in your equity crowdfunding campaign. Be Transparent Similar to storytelling, people are more likely to get behind something if they believe in it. That means that you need to be open, honest, and transparent with the way you’ve set up your company, presented your idea for an equity crowdfunding campaign, and how you plan on spending their money if they give it to you. Be Unique There are a lot of startups out there right now that are doing some pretty similar things. This isn’t inherently bad, but you still want to make sure that your crowdfunding campaign is doing something new or different enough that it stands out and gets people excited. Be Persistent If your company is on the cutting edge of some awesome idea, then you better believe that there’s going to be a lot of resistance from those who want to keep you from disrupting their industry. That’s okay, though! Just make sure that you have a lot of persistence in your equity crowdfunding campaign and dedicate yourself to being a leader in whatever it is your company produces. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask This may seem like an obvious one, but it’s the one that’s going to make or break your equity crowdfunding campaign. You need to know that you’re not alone in this effort and that no idea is too big or too small for the people around you to believe in. Tell them what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and ask them for their help! Utilize Your Network The importance of social networks when running a crowdfunding campaign can’t be understated. Share the message that you’re raising funds across your networks. It’s also possible that individuals in your network can help you spread the word by sharing information with their networks. Engage all the possible social media tools at your disposal and use your social media presence to your advantage. Last but not the least, if you believe in what you’re doing, never give up. You will find a way to float even when you can’t see one. If you have a clear vision, a defined customer base, and a unique product, people will see begin to understand the potential of your idea. Your persistence coupled with these smart campaigning strategies will take you ahead. Meanwhile, enjoy your entrepreneurial journey, and if you’re seeking equity crowdfunding support for your startup, feel free to contact us.
Technical Due Diligence: Everything You Need to Know Posted on December 21, 2021December 30, 2021 by Admin The journey of building a startup is far from easy. Once you have an idea, test it through an early prototype, you move to the minimum viable product stage. You want to garner that crucial investment that will help you realize this big thing you once dreamt of while sipping coffee. But as investors get interested in your brainchild, you may need to pass the biggest of all hurdles: technical due diligence. Technical due diligence happens once an investor decides to acquire or invest in a technology company. Related: Equity Crowdfunding vs. Venture Capital: Which is Best for Your Startup Once they make that decision, they have a small window of time to ensure that the company stands on firm ground- its technology, people, processes and speed are what they seem from the outside. What is Technical Due Diligence? Since investing in or acquiring a company is complex, it warrants a holistic due diligence investigation. As part of the process, you help prospective investors analyze your product, architecture, processes and frameworks inside out. Whether you are preparing for an M&A or investment from a VC firm, the other party will want to go deeper into the happenings of your company. They will want to be sure that their investment will not go down- meaning you will need to prove that you are worth their bucks. What is the need for Technical Due Diligence? Investors carry out technical due diligence for various purposes: They want to measure the competency of your teamThey want to assess all risks your company is running throughThey wish to study the technical aspects of your product/service deeplyThey want to forecast their success with their investment When investors want to join a startup, they are usually interested in finding cash leaks, technology risks and anything that is a wasted cost. Why is it important for startups? As a bonus for startup owners, they get to discover and improve on their weaknesses through the due diligence process. In fast-paced startups, changes are so frequent and unpredictable that founders will often go astray from the concept that got them started. Technical due diligence helps clarify that the existing product and business model follow the initial idea and inspiration. Besides, technical due diligence may prove to be a blessing in disguise for startups set for success as it gives an investor instant insight into your business to fall in love with your company. One thing is for sure- you will learn a lot about your own company through this process- both the good and the bad. What does the process look like? The process of due diligence may vary based on the stakeholders involved. But here are the most important steps that rarely miss out. -Preparation To begin the process, the development team or the outsourced vendor conduct an extensive code review. It includes analysis for errors, anomalies and general missouts in the programming style. At this stage, developers conduct a documentation review, verify the code for integrations, components and other solutions, identify strengths, plan for weakness coverage and prioritize issues to address later. Don’t make the mistake of attempting to work on the weaknesses part on the day of preparation. That may do you more harm than good. -Kick-off A kick-off call officially starts the technical due diligence process. At this stage, the startup stakeholders and investors need to build a trust-based relationship and vow to complete the process with honesty and transparency. Related: Your Guide to Investor Outreach for Startup Fundraising This call identifies the due diligence stages, finalizes the timeline and lays down the roadmap for the process. Next, the CEO delivers the product vision, concept, target audience, value proposition and anything else as an introduction to their company. -Document screening Few folks enjoy documenting, but it plays a strong role here. At this stage, the investor or their hired representative will examine all of your existing documentation. The more you have, the better. The list includes architecture overview, processes, backup and recovery procedures, monitoring processes, servers and development frameworks. Analysts will perform an in-depth screening of these documents before the next step. -Onsite/Remote call The party carrying out the due diligence conducts an in-person meeting to review and explore the information they already have. They primarily wish to interact with the product owner. This meeting lasts a couple of days at the most. The analyst studies parts of the product in real-time and aims to understand the value for customers and the logic behind each decision made throughout the product’s lifecycle. -Follow-up Often after an extensive study of the product, the investors have questions. Any clarifications and answers are delivered within the frame of 1-2 follow-up sessions. Be sure to answer all accumulated questions diligently for the investor’s satisfaction. -Report The result of the process is a detailed report that objectively highlights all pros and cons of the product and the business. It encloses the overall judgment about your product and company and how promising they look. The report is sent to the startup stakeholders. The report is also shared with the investors if the investors engaged independent specialists to carry out the due diligence. The scope of Technical Due Diligence for startups The scope of technical due diligence may vary from case to case. But here are a few pointers that rarely miss the list. Preparing for due diligence involves an act of balance – highlighting your strong areas while also accepting the weak links. Due Diligence processes also differ by the stage of investment you’re at. At the Seed stage, the process focuses on potential as you’re building the product. In the A/B/C stage, when the focus is on expansion and growth, investors are more interested in the product’s ability to scale and attract customers. In the C or D stage of investment, however, it’s all about product maturity and exit planning. Having clarified that, let’s look at the various components of the technical due diligence process. Architecture In this component of the technical due diligence, startups present their technology for investors through architectural charts, documentation, performance metrics and APIs documents. We advise companies to also research the underlying infrastructure of their competitors to make a strong case of why theirs is superior architecture. Moreover, besides opening up your product architecture for the investor, explain why you decided to build your product the way you did. Answer why you chose the particular technology for app servers, databases, programming languages and other similar questions. Also, enlist the third-party tools and open-source software used in your product and justify your choices over the numerous other options. Pointers to go over: ScalabilitySecurityCode maintainabilityChoice of architecture and the decisions behind it Code quality During technical due diligence, investors are particularly vigilant of the code quality to foresee any heavy developmental changes in the product resulting from poorly written code. Badly written code can cause heavy technical debt or maintenance costs to an organization down the line. Therefore, investors assess product code from both operational and financial aspects. Here are a few pointers to take care of: Test code coverage – Ensure all crucial parts of the product code are thoroughly tested.Code quality – Product code should meet basic performance needs, have proper error-handling built -in and follow the best coding practices.Documented code – Ensure that the code is documented inline for improved readability. Scalability All startups wish to grow and expand, but unfortunately, most aren’t built for it. Sooner or later, they crumble under the pressure of expansion because of two core reasons- either the technology underlying the product isn’t designed for scalability or the stakeholders find it hard to run and manage an expansive team. Therefore, consider those two areas and try to answer this objectively- are you built for scalability? If you find areas where you could do better, consider the cost of building for scalability now. People and teams An extensive technical due diligence won’t happen without including people. No matter how cutting-edge your product is, if there aren’t competent and willing people supporting your growth, failure is inevitable. Investors know this, so they will want to look at your organizational chart- your employees, their roles and even your outsourced service providers, remote contractors and other vendors. Have an updated version of your organizational hierarchy along with a database of each employee’s position, role description, salary and skills. Also, consider the future. Are there skill gaps that you wish to hire for soon? Here are a few pointers to consider: The roles and responsibilities of each employee and how they map to the productInterdependency and communication between teamsJustification of having a particular team size across departmentsCumulative leadership and development experience Workflows and processes Those conducting technical due diligence will certainly want to peek behind the curtains and assess how you carry out operations. These include development iterations, security testing processes, deployment, maintenance, codependencies and quality assurance. Documentation can again be your strong suit in this regard. Here are a few pointers to work on: All organizational processesPeople involved in various operationsCosts and timetables associated with each processProactive and reactive processes Security Security breaches and hacks cost companies thousands of dollars every year. Small businesses and startups are also under the same threat today. This is why investors will always want to know the security posture of your product. To be sure of your product’s security, you can hire an outsourced security assessment company to analyze your product and uncover vulnerabilities without biases. Here are a few things to consider when preparing for this aspect: What security measures are built into the product code?Do you track anomalies in the product? How often?Have you ever had an outside expert assess your product’s security? IP & licenses Some experts perceive intellectual property and licenses to be important assets. Be sure to show the strength and uniqueness of your product by presenting the patents that protect your IP and proof that you didn’t infringe on anyone else’s IP rights. Another important aspect of this component is the third-party tools, both free and open-source ones. Be sure to update your patents regularly and track all third-party components to prevent any legal hassles in the future. Technology stack As part of the due diligence, investors will surely look at how your technology supports your vision for your company and product. Create a document that highlights everything in your tech stack, including all software products used in your product, besides the programming languages and external APIs integrated into it. Here, too, the focus may be on the security and scalability of all moving parts in your product. Have you built for the long-term? Your technology stack will reflect the answer to that question. Support & maintenance Your product will inevitably run into issues, and that calls for a robust structure for the maintenance and support of the product. Review the user support history to evaluate issues and create a roadmap to improve the user experience. Honestly reveal all user support issues encountered so far and how they have been addressed or are in the process of being fixed. Tips to carry out successful Technical Due Diligence Now that we’ve seen what technical due diligence entails, here are our top three tips for you to nail this. Do a dry run Engage third-party consultants to perform due diligence for you just as your investors might. This way, you can unearth possible issues before going for fundraising. Don’t fake it A huge red flag for investors during the due diligence can be when you pose your company, product or yourself as something you’re not. Honesty is really the best policy here. Prepare for the typical and the unexpected Prepare and foresee the typical questions you will get by saving or printing this article for future reference. Also, ask yourself the possible unexpected questions your investors may have about your company. Step into their shoes and figure out anything else you may need to work on. We created this holistic article to help you figure out your next steps and strategy for technical due diligence. However, if you want experts on your side, contact us today and we will assist you with anything you need related to technical due diligence.
How to Design User Experience for Diversity & Inclusion Posted on December 16, 2021December 26, 2022 by Admin It’s an enormous challenge for organizations to redesign their structures, policies and practices to become more inclusive. But, doing difficult things is the only way we can improve everything that’s not right in the world today- be it discrimination or biases or anything else. For companies to build products and services that matter to their ideal clients across all colors, races, religions, and ethnicities, they must first get diversity and inclusion right on the inside. Inclusive design aims to help companies set the foundation for inclusive products and services. There is a strong ethical responsibility for every one of us to create work that reflects the world around us. Besides helping fulfill an ethical responsibility, building for diversity and inclusion is healthy and profitable for businesses. Before we look into that, let’s first lay down a few steps for you to design for D&I. How to achieve diversity and inclusion in UX The design of your UX design team Talk about introverts or visually challenged folks or women- organizations have a way of justifying why they don’t have enough representation, especially in leadership positions. They say it was hard to find candidates. This is where the issue stems. Your UX design team can’t design for a diverse market without in itself being diverse and inclusive. It would have been convenient if that were possible, but that’s the whole problem, right? Inclusive design warrants you to include members of marginalized communities in the designing process. Having a diverse set of minds and talent working on a problem will open the discussion to whole new perspectives and experiences. A diverse design team will take all those experiences to design UX that speaks to your target market across all boundaries. Include people from that community and allies to sidestep a narrow and subjective perception of reality within the designing teams. Allies are essential when hiring or adding people to a diverse team because what good is onboarding a diverse set of people in a hostile environment without support? Question assumptions early on in the design process Think about inclusion at every stage of the designing process. For instance, even the problem-defining phase has ample opportunity for a diverse set of opinions and experiences. When companies define the problem that their target users have, they are nailing down their focus points for the future. Take time to step outside the usual rhythm of this process and question assumptions and hypotheses early on. Ask yourself and your team why you follow a specific approach to define the problem statement and build awareness around the assumptions you’re making. This is when you can zoom out and soak in the big picture with a diverse set of perspectives before zooming in on a particular problem statement that captures the essence of your product’s experience and what it means for your customers across the board. Question assumptions to make sure you’re solving the right problem. Follow inclusive design principles Product and experience designing principles can guide your design team at all stages of decision-making. Inclusive design principles can impact the quality of design and ensure that the end goal of an inclusive experience is achieved. Here are a few inclusive design principles to take inspiration – Flexibility – Offer options. Consider when, how, where and why people will use your product. Ensure there are enough choices for diverse users. Straightforward – Make sure you use a minimalistic design so that every feature adds value and does not overwhelm the overall user experience. Perceptible – Ensure that your product’s content, structure and flow are clear and meaningful. Convey information for all senses and don’t leave room for assumptions. Informative – Capture the ‘why’ of the product through a timely, simplistic and predictable experience. Effortless – Don’t restrict users or place expectations on them to think hard or figure out where something appears on your app or website. Diversify user research Intentionally onboard diverse research participants so as not to miss out on unique perspectives that often get overlooked. Exclusively research the specific needs and outlooks of people of particular sexuality, race and gender. Lay down an inclusive user interviewing process by ignoring your interview guide, being respectful and understanding of your participants and taking appropriate measures to make it smooth and worthwhile for everyone involved. You can also use wide-scale surveys to gather insight from diverse groups at scale. The business case for diversity When startups look at scaling, they often forget the ethical and straightforward option of doing so- by building or modifying for diversity and inclusion. If you want more people to adopt your product, understand and accommodate their behavioral patterns, motivations and reservations in the designing process. Not only that, building a diverse and inclusive culture has a direct impact on the bottom line and profits a company generates. McKinsey’s research found that the greater the representation of diverse people, the higher is the profitability of companies. The 2019 analysis found that companies with higher gender diversity on executive teams were 25% more likely to have more than average profitability than others. Moreover, companies with over 30% of women executives were more likely to outperform those with lesser female representation in executive positions. The list goes on and on – only to prove that building solutions and culture for diversity and inclusion isn’t just the right thing but also the more profitable thing to do. If you’d like to create an inclusive and meaningful UX, talk to our user experience design services team today!
8 Steps to Failure with WordPress Development and How to Avoid Them Posted on December 14, 2021December 30, 2021 by Admin WordPress is a popular way to develop high-performance and smooth websites cost-effectively. However, it does not come without faults of its own. In a bid to develop many sites in haste, WordPress development teams often commit mistakes that prove expensive in the long run. Not that it’s the end of the world if you make a mistake developing your WordPress site, but if it’s avoidable, let’s avoid it, right? Let’s see the most common mistakes developers make when building websites using WordPress and avoid them. Common WordPress development failures and how to prevent them Not making data backups There could be many reasons why someone loses their critical data in this day and age- data theft, human errors, hacking attempts, and more. Data loss can make your website useless unless you have essential backups to restore to the site. Loss of data can compel you to restart from scratch and cause loss of resources, money and effort. The solution? Take a few minutes to set up automated backups for your website. Various WordPress backup plugins allow you to back up your files locally as well as on a remote server. A few popular ones include UpdraftPlus, BackupBuddy, VaultPress, BlogVault and BackWPup. Using common names for classes, variables, functions and constants When developing a plugin, it’s a coding best practice to use a naming convention that differentiates your code from that of a different plugin. This is why developers would usually prefix the names of their variables with something unique related to the plugin itself. On the other hand, some developers prefer to use PHP namespaces to solve two distinct issues- Name collisions in their code and other third-party or internal PHP functions, constants, variables and classesLong names often compromise the readability of code. You can alias these names and manage code quickly without having to worry about unique and long names. Depending on whether it’s a new project or an old one that you’re extending, you may need to stick with the existing coding style in the latter case. But it can be fruitful to stick with a uniform coding standard throughout the code. Failing to leverage the full potential of WP core WordPress comes with a host of existing functionality that can be simply called in themes and plugins. Often developers mistake including files in their assets directory that are already available in the core files. This leads to bigger package size, longer loading time and slow performance. Besides, you will need to ensure time and again that all third-party libraries are regularly updated. Be sure to leverage what WP has to offer by default, and you will have a lightweight WP site or theme or plugin that is automatically upgraded to the latest version and is therefore secure and robust. Choosing a random theme One of the areas developers take for granted is choosing the theme for a site. Answer the following questions to decide which kind of theme would be the best for you- Do you need it to be customizable? A customizable theme makes it easy for the site admin to change color, fonts, animation, pictures and more.Do you need it to be free or paid? If you’re building a website on a shoestring budget, many great free themes are available with WP. However, if you’re starting up a serious business and want to do it right from day one, pick one of the premium themes for more room for innovation, scalability and performance.Do you need a responsive theme? More often than not, no matter the nature of your site, you want it to be responsive so that your users can get the best experience across screen sizes. Test a few WP themes based on the factors above to decide on one that works best for you. Not optimizing the site for SEO If your website is not optimized for SEO, it’s practically non-existent. That’s the truth about search engines. If they can’t locate your site, how will the users? It’s important to implement SEO basics on your site to stand a chance for some visibility online. Here are a few steps to take: Host your site with a reliable service provider for better site speed and performance- which ultimately impacts search engine rankings.Use an SEO-friendly WP theme. Before finalizing one, run its demo through web.dev to uncover potential SEO and performance issues.Install a free SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO.Enable an SEO-friendly URL structure by updating the Permalink setting.Finally, carry out keywords research and follow SEO best practices across your site’s content. Not handling WP updates Outdated plugins, themes and even WP core cause reduced site speed, site crashes and compromised security. WordPress developer teams release regular updates that fix bugs and loopholes in plugins, themes and the WordPress core. Update WP plugins as soon as updates are available to safeguard your site against malicious attackers scouring the internet for sites that were not updated and are now left more vulnerable than before. Not optimizing the site for speed One of the most crucial factors that affects site experience is speed. Google takes into account site speed in ranking websites on both mobile and desktop. Optimizing your site for speed can prevent visitors from prematurely fleeing your site and arriving at competitors. One of the ways to optimize for speed is by installing a caching plugin. Another could be to optimize images and rich media for the internet so that the site isn’t under load and bots up quickly. Installing too many bells and whistles Plugins can bring innovative functionality to your site, but too much can harm the user experience. A bad plugin can severely damage your site’s overall performance, jeopardize security, and do more harm than good. Aim for quality over quantity. And make sure all the plugins you install come from reputable online sources. Sidestep these common ways to failure with WP site development with expert developers from KiwiTech. With extensive experience working closely with startups, we know how to help you with our WordPress development services.
5 Things to Consider When Thinking Equity Crowdfunding to Fund Your Business Posted on December 9, 2021December 30, 2021 by Admin Equity Crowdfunding can be defined as, “The use of the internet to raise natural equity-backed securities in small amounts from a large number of investors.” This form of investment is relatively new, but it has grown very quickly. There is over $28 billion worth of investment opportunities waiting to be utilized by both investors and businesses already. However, still, a fair amount of apprehension still lingers among businesses regarding equity crowdfunding. Investors are willing to put money into equity crowdfunding because this form of investment gives them the chance to gain higher returns on their money, as well as benefit from overall growth in businesses. This makes many businesses now go for equity crowdfunding to fund their business. However, there are certain elements that need to be kept in mind by businesses when investing or seeking investment opportunities through equity crowdfunding. Present Your Business Ideas Accurately First and foremost, be extremely careful when it comes to how you present your case in front of potential investors. This means that you must formulate a good story and highlight the benefits that investing in your company or business can bring to them and also provide proof that this is not just some scam. Don’t Undersell Yourself Secondly, do not undersell yourself when pitching. Make sure to present your company or product in the best light possible to investors, and make it clear just how much potential there is for growth. Have a Clear Plan and Be Realistic Thirdly, it is important to have a realistic plan in place before approaching potential investors. Investors want to know that there is a clear path to profitability and success, so make sure to present this information in a clear and concise manner. Don’t Be Afraid of Failure Fourthly, remember that failure is a natural part of any business. Do not be afraid to admit that you have failed in the past, as long as you can demonstrate that you have learned from your mistakes and are now moving forward with a better plan. Be Prepared to Face Questions Finally, investors will likely ask a lot of questions after hearing your pitch. Be prepared to answer them in a clear and concise manner, and have all the relevant information readily available. By following these tips, businesses can make the most out of equity crowdfunding and increase their chances of attracting investors. Remember, always be honest and upfront with potential investors, and make sure to present your case in the best possible light. If you have not considered equity crowdfunding as a way to raise capital for your business, now may be the time. Keep in mind these elements when pitching your case in order to see the most success possible. If you have any further questions in mind or need equity crowdfunding consulting for your startup, contact us and our team of experts will help you sail through this.
How IoT Is Optimizing Supply Chains for Efficiency & Accuracy Posted on December 7, 2021December 30, 2021 by Admin Gartner defines the Internet of Things as a network of sensors that track and report on their environments to improve operational performance for cost savings. The dominance of IoT was imminent owing to its promise for higher efficiency, accuracy and cost-effectiveness. While IoT has perceived and applied use cases in many industries, one area where IoT can revolutionize the status quo is supply chain management. What’s Supply Chain Optimization? In the yesteryears, supply chain optimization included tasks like getting the lowest trucking costs, locating the warehouse at a reasonable distance, managing inventory and the likes. However, during this era, change was manageable since it happened at a slower pace. Today, emerging technologies like IoT, AI and ML promise a competitive edge to those who dare to implement them. Customers have bigger expectations, and businesses have no option but to comply. Therefore, supply chain optimization today aims to cut costs for businesses and relay some of the advantages to the customer- by improving accuracy and efficiency of processes. Unexpected disruptions impact distribution and transactions all the time, but supply chain optimization helps manage these exceptional scenarios with grace and stability. With better visibility across the supply chain, decisions can be made in real-time, based on hard data and not guesswork. This is where the Internet of Things comes in. How IoT Improves the Efficiency of Supply Chains IoT can rebuild the satire cycle of supply chains. By strongly connecting individuals, information, intelligent things and processes into an ecosystem, IoT can measure, track, capture and exchange real-time data. IoT-powered devices can capture important information throughout a shipment’s journey, offering visibility into the supplier network- which grows to as many as 100,000 suppliers for organizations like Walmart. IoT can help track shipments from the moment they leave a warehouse through several checkpoints to the destination. Data collected through these stages can help administer the integrity of goods in industries such as food and beverages and pharmaceuticals where the optimal temperatures, environmental conditions and such are key to ensuring product reliability when it comes to the consumer. Additionally, IoT devices can also predict the arrival of products, enabling organizations to forecast delivery efficiently and mitigate delays. IoT can help track all those factors holistically. Moreover, vehicle breakdowns are a common malfunction, often caused by pressure issues in vehicle tires. Michelin, a leading tire company, leveraged IoT to track real-time information from vehicles, control tire pressures, reduce breakdowns and keep shipments running on time with optimal safety. IoT is one of the top warehouse technologies in that it can help locate goods, saving time and costs, enabling a human-less warehouse management system. In a nutshell, here are a few ways IoT can help optimize supply chains for efficiency- Real-time location trackingStorage conditions monitoringProduct arrival forecastingWarehouse managementContingency planning How IoT Improves the Accuracy of Supply Chains The IoT helps collect and drive insights from data. By now, we all know that data is king. Accurate data at the right time can make all the difference for organizations to plan for demand and provide excellent customer service by sidestepping common pitfalls of the supply chain management equation. With IoT, replenishment decisions can be made accurately based on data analytics and forecasting. Those would include the frequency, quantity and route of replenishment. Moreover, a quick insight into anomalies can help detect trends such as a sharp drop or uptick in demand- enabling real-time adjustments. In all the use cases discussed so far, IoT creates linked networks that are simpler to use and far more powerful than complex ones. With cloud-based IoT solutions, businesses can leverage data analytics and make insights accessible to all stakeholders. The IoT also reduces the probability of human errors by providing extreme accuracy in shipment tracking, on-road vehicle management and asset monitoring. Why is it Important to Optimize Supply Chains? The global supply chain and logistics market is expected to surpass $15 trillion by 2023, as per a recent report by Transparency Market Research. Despite a quick boom in the supply chain industry, development and innovation have been slow. Not many cutting-edge technologies have made it to supply chains, meaning they are still not optimized. But that in no way implies that there isn’t a desperate need to optimize supply chains. Here are a few reasons why it’s vital to transform supply chains with the IoT: Responsive supply chain – In an omni-channel industry, organizations that increase their use of IoT will benefit from an intelligent, responsive and transparent supply chain that accurately locates, tracks and measures inventory movement through sensors. A responsive supply chain will come with the agility to speed up or down, driven by customer demands.An optimal warehouse – Organizations can operate an efficient warehouse, thanks to leading technologies. With IoT, businesses can experience cost reduction, fewer asset losses, inventory optimization and accuracy.An intelligent supply chain – Enhanced connectivity with smart devices and sensors can impact every business area, including customer support, marketing, sales, finances and operations. An intelligent supply chain also cuts down on time and costs by forecasting demand and planning for it. The supply chains of the future will regulate themselves and take automatic actions augmenting human capabilities beyond what we know today, all thanks to leading technologies such as the Internet of Things. If you’ve got an idea to help organizations optimize parts of their supply chain for efficiency and accuracy, our experts in IoT can help. Reach out to us for our IoT development services.
How Blockchain Can Help Healthcare Save Billions Posted on November 30, 2021December 30, 2021 by Admin In simple words, blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize healthcare. By fully deploying blockchain, healthcare institutions and organizations can deliver truly patient-focused care. For a refresher, blockchain is a distributed ledger system that creates and stores data records. The digital ledger connects blocks of information that show how data is changed, shared or accessed on the peer-to-peer network. Healthcare blockchain can save the industry up to $100 billion in support, operational, personnel, security breaches, and IT costs by 2025. The development in healthcare today largely depends on advances in the underlying information technology. Let’s see how blockchain helps the healthcare industry save costs. Blockchain can solve data silos in healthcare Healthcare data silos make interoperability a challenge and how. If a patient accesses healthcare from various providers, the data is scattered in that doctors can’t access it all, and patients can’t manage it all. Since the healthcare industry is highly regulated, it needs to securely share patient data amongst healthcare institutions without violating healthcare data regulations. Blockchain can bring about that shift and make silos unreasonable. With blockchain, there’s no vulnerable centralized point. Patient data is constantly monitored for any changes, transactions or additions. Blockchain makes data silos outdated in the healthcare industry, thereby introducing more connection, coordination and collaboration in the healthcare industry. That leads to efficient care delivery, optimized costs and improved patient outcomes. Blockchain for physician credentialing Credentialing is crucial in establishing a practice and securing reimbursement from insurance companies and other payers for healthcare practitioners. Physician credentialing tends to be tedious, complicated and costly. J.P. Morgan estimates that blockchain can help save up to 80% of the current time and cost invested in healthcare credentialing. Blockchain can help providers maintain control of their data through a private key, sharing access to their credentials to insurers, hospitals and data repositories through a public key. Blockchain can help institutions access the most current healthcare practitioner data, saving the usual 4-6 months of credentialing via the traditional route. Healthcare professionals can upload educational history, licenses, malpractice insurance, certifications and other documents on a blockchain for primary sources to access and verify. Healthcare institutions can then check data using primary source verification, accept or reject the professional and upload their decision on the blockchain as well. Blockchain and predictive analytics in healthcare Healthcare organizations can also apply predictive analytics to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. Add artificial intelligence and blockchain, and you can bulk up healthcare IT infrastructure with effective and innovative data management. The single most important concern for healthcare institutions in allowing more machine learning and AI to penetrate healthcare is data security. Since ML is a data-hungry technology, there’s always a risk looming over any application in the sensitive area of healthcare. Blockchain is viewed as an inherently secure space for data for its nature. No bad actor can alter every single copy of a transaction across all blockchain members to erase a transaction or change it. Moreover, if enough members agree that a transaction is valid, it’s recorded on the blockchain and timestamped – turning the data into a fact that can’t be altered or deleted. The use of blockchain can further data and analytics to predict patient outcomes and clinical events in healthcare. Predictive analytics can provide insight into operations, break down barriers between departments and even improve the healthcare hiring process. Other Benefits of Blockchain in Healthcare Besides helping healthcare institutions save billions of dollars, blockchain can help achieve the following benefits: Value-based care – Blockchain can facilitate the shift from fee-based healthcare to a value-based healthcare model. Blockchain allows healthcare providers and stakeholders to access secure, complete and relevant patient data, yielding better information quality that helps improve outcomes. Moreover, blockchain can help bring in internal improvements to how healthcare institutions operate to ultimately improve care delivery. Growth and innovation – From an organizational growth and evolution perspective, blockchain applications can help healthcare providers assess their resources and align them with the organization’s goals and strategy. Resources include employee capabilities and care delivery processes. Blockchain can also help health care stakeholders to learn, evolve and improve services to enhance their competitive edge and sustainability. Patient-centricity – Blockchain can improve healthcare services to fit and satisfy patient needs. Patient-centric care may include sharing patient EHRs and handing over the ownership and control of patient data back to them with added layers of security through blockchain. Blockchain supports data auditability, tracking and immutability. The technology can improve service quality and, consequently, patient satisfaction. A shift to blockchain-based applications will warrant significant investments, risks and uncertainties today. However, the future is bright for startups looking to tackle one area of healthcare delivery to impact with blockchain. At KiwiTech, we help such startups get their ideas off the ground with our blockchain development services. Reach out to us today!