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In this digital era, organizations are adopting more efficient ways to meet software-related needs. The undeniable reason is due to the ease of outsourcing a software development team which enables businesses to hire the best team locally as well as remotely.Outsourcing has been around for a long time, as companies and individuals always look for cost-effective means to handle certain business processes. In the past, businesses used to outsource only a few and mainstream things like customer support, accounting, hiring, etc. But now, software outsourcing is at its new peak.[lwptoc title="When to Hire an Agency for Your Software Development Needs?" skipHeadingLevel="h1,h4,h5,h6"]Businesses around the globe have come to realize the benefits of outsourcing. In 2019, the worldwide market value of IT outsourcing is USD 92.5 billion. This significant amount of cash outflow shows that many organizations are keen to make transitions and are already transferring Software development operations to external parties. As a result, these external teams have turned to act as business partners instead of just software vendors.

Why Do Companies Outsource Software Development?

Cost-cutting, focusing on core business functions, and solving capacity issues are the primary reasons that make companies outsource a software development team. Below are the statistics that show the percent of key burdens handled by software outsourcing.

Challenges (Percentages % based on Priority and Weightage) in Managing Software Project Development at your own:

Software Development Outsourcing Trends Emerging in 2021

The outsourcing industry continues to evolve at a rapid pace, and like every year, there are specific trends that have been expected to perform well in the upcoming year and have already started giving results, such as:

Robotics and AI

The singularity is near. AI and Data Science are becoming the priority of almost every business owner when it comes to filling IT voids. The dependence of our world to rely on AI to automate processes is increasing day by day. There is a prediction that by 2040, almost 50% of the job roles in the US will be replaced by robots. In the context of outsourcing, businesses have to deal with the problem of maintaining the balance between assigning recursive tasks to machines and non-recursive roles to humans.

Also Read: Software Outsourcing – What Is It And How To Do It Well?

Social Media

In the ongoing era, almost everyone is active on social media platforms. For instance, Facebook alone has 2.3billion active users for now. It becomes easier for outsourcing companies to find their potential customers and interact timely. Whether any company that sells software provides outsourcing services, it has a rich presence on social media platforms. In the modern times, Internet-driven world, any business or individual who wants to search for any opportunity or resource uses social media to check for rating and the best alternative available to them. The modern social platform’s algorithm works in such a way that it automatically connects you with the support or service you are wandering for.

Cloud Computing

Dealing with storage issues is one of the most costly and critical parts of any software project development. The new world is making it mandatory for organizations to deal with an ocean of data to find valuable insights and patterns. Even if you are an entrepreneur, you need to save every detail of your customer and business process while ensuring its safety. This is where IT outsourcing companies come into action.With cloud computing, businesses can rent out IT infrastructure to utilize the server and storage space of third-party providers, without having to invest a large amount of money for developing their technology or server.

Conclusion

Software outsourcing has removed the curtains from new and obscure corridors for the upcoming talent of the IT world. It has also helped the businesses in several ways the most prominent one from them is “cost-cutting.” By doing so businesses can invest their time on more crucial and core business issues rather than opting for a lengthy process of hiring, managing, and motivating a whole new team. Get in touch with us for consultation if you are planning to outsource software development for your business or agency.

A majority of dropshipping businesses fail because they can’t filter out the right dropshipping trends and trending products to sell online. With plenty of products already available in the market, finding one that sells easily with high-profit margins is difficult, especially in such a competitive environment.

In such a scenario, the only way to make more money is to be unique, attentive, and experiment frequently.

How to Find Products to Dropship

1. Brainstorm Dropshipping Trends

1. Refrain from starting your business blindly. Your first picks could be from the products you personally like or the things you see while scrolling down social media. Using platforms like Google Trends can unleash new possibilities and help you in choosing the right product to invest in.
   Write down the ideas, plan the strategy, and don’t hesitate to rethink. Don’t skip this step, as it provides a foundation for the next steps.
2. Potential of Social Media
3. There are over 100 million products on social media platforms and these products can easily be sorted by price, popularity, categories, etc. Pinterest and Instagram are often left untapped during research, but these platforms are valuable for extracting insights about the market and filtering out the currently in-demand and trending items.
   Sign Up on these websites. Subscribe to different hashtags and pages. Observe what people like the most and add those things to your dropshipping list.When you keep yourself up to date with the dynamic needs and hobbies of the world and people around, you’ll subconsciously get an idea about the products that can generate considerable profit margins.
4. Observation Is The Key
5. Observe your surroundings, your workspace, and communities around you to explore what’s trending.Make a list of products that people can’t afford to live without. Categorize the needs and wants that can make life easier. Observe which products are hard to find in the supermarket. This is how you can make a difference by just observing smartly.
6. Overthink Scenarios

1. Start using your life events as a data generator for your product ideas. Stay conscious and make the best use of opportunities. Lots of product ideas can definitely come to mind while making a travel plan or planning a wedding event etc.
   Once you adopt this routine, you’ll start to list out hundreds of products with high margins each day.
   Stay active while filtering out the right products from your surroundings or your thoughts, as you will be continuously thinking about the best dropshipping products, you can lose some of the ideas in-between. To counter this error, you should carry a notebook and don’t forget to write what you think.
2. Keyword & Google Trends
3. Do not ignore the potential of Keyword tools and Google if you’re going to use Google Ads as a marketing medium or if you’re trying to optimize your page or site to increase traffic and reach.
4. Rethink your product and plan. Enter each product name and alternate names into the Google Keywords Analysis tool. The application will then automatically generate data about how competitive the keywords are. It will give you an idea about the overall competition in-between your product and profit.
   Visit trends.google.com and repeat the same step here. Input the name or alternate name/slang of your product into the search bar and discover the insights of the trends with the help of search volume.
   This practice will again help you to filter out which products or categories are currently trending. You can also check the demand for the ideas and products of your choice using these methodologies.

Trending Products To Sell In 2021

Below is the list of top trending products to sell in 2021.

• Portable Blender
• Spider Nail Gel
• Wireless Phone Chargers
• Face Shield
• Phone Lenses
• Inflatable Pet Collars
• Eyeshadow Stamp
• Strapless Backless Bra
• Child Wrist Leash
• Front Facing Baby Carrier
• Car Phone Holder
• Home Security IP Camera
• Wifi Repeater
• Drone Camera
• Posture Corrector
• Electric Soldering Iron Gun
• Pump Wedge Locksmith
• Bohemian Earrings
• Manicure Milling Drill Bit
• Flexible Garden Hose
• One Piece Swimsuit
• Fly Fishing Quick Knot Tool
• Breathable Mesh Running Shoes
• Waterproof Eyebrow Liner
• Non-contact Infrared Thermometer
• Cat Massage Comb
• Portable Electric Ionic Hairbrush – Summer Product
• PVC Inflatable Beer Pong Ball Table – Summer Product
• Home Ice Cream Makers – Summer Product
• Beach Towels – Summer Product
• Baby Kids Water Play Mat – Summer Product
• Pocket Scarves – Winter Product
• Winter Coats – Winter Product
• Shoe Dryer – Winter Product
• Touchscreen Gloves – Winter Product
• Waterproof Pants – Winter Product
• Bear Claws – Spring Products
• Hiking Backpacks – Spring Products
• Minimalist Wallets – Spring Products
• Waterproof Shoe Cover – Autumn (Fall) Product
• Hooded Raincoats – Autumn (Fall) Product
• Cable Chompers – Autumn (Fall) Product
• Plush Blankets – Autumn (Fall) Product
• Portable Car Vacuum
• Baby Swings
• Matcha Tea
• Eyebrow Razor
• Seat Cushions
• Phone Tripod

Salient Features Of The Top Trending Products To Sell In 2021

Below are the top characteristics of the best trending products to sell in 2021:

• Make sure that the product you have opted to sell is unique. It is difficult to find a similar clone of your product. Or, it should not be readily available in the local market. If your product is unique and purposeful at the same time, people will definitely show interest. It means the demand will go up.
• Make sure that consumers won’t be able to find the actual price or cost of the item you are selling. Most of the immature dropshippers are buying products from AliExpress or Amazon and selling these products online in their stores. Customers nowadays are smart and aware. Make sure that consumers won’t be able to find the actual price or cost of the item you are selling.
• You have to cash the opportunity of unavailability and demand. Make sure the product is not available within the country or region where you are operating. If a certain item is available easily then why will people consider shopping online?
• On average, drop shipping items range between $10 & $40, keep this price range in your mind before setting up high prices. This is because people can refrain from spending a higher amount on online shopping due to the fear of scams. With high prices, you will be making people skeptical and push them away. Customers will end up comparing prices on other online stores and buy from where the price is cheaper.

Categories for Trending Products to Sell In 2021

Now you have an idea about the characteristics of trending products, here is a list of those products that can increase your margin up to 300-400 percent in 2020-2021.
There are always some categories that can earn you more profit. People are always searching for these specific categories. Hence, some of these categories that promise the most sales are listed below.
Since everyone knows about these trending items. Some of these best selling products online may not turn out to be a profit generator for you. The reason is everyone following the same strategy. When everyone knows about top dropshipping trends and tends to sell trending dropshipping products, it increases the supply traffic and people will have a lot of options to buy, and sellers have a lot of competition to break. That’s why the list of trending categories of 2020-2021 is important to make a decision about the right dimension and choose the right product of your choice from the trending categories, which you think you can sell easily in your target market.

• Shapewear
• Travel accessories
• Healthy and beauty products
• Smartwatches
• Health Care
• Skin Care
• Hobbies and Craft
• Lamps and Shades
• Mobile Accessories
• Pet products
• Fine jewelry
• Sleepwear

All the products can be sold easily on eCommerce stores like AliExpress, Amazon, and eBay. All these categories are rich in most sold products online and are currently trending everywhere. You can also make a profit out of these categories with the right strategy just as these eCommerce stores do.

Conclusion

As an eCommerce entrepreneur, you need to develop an efficient and transparent product selection process to filter out which items can actually earn you a profit for your startup.
People often start dropshipping with the trending but easily available product, which makes them lose their competitive advantage.
Filter out the trending products, search for availability and competition, and then decide accordingly what products to sell. A well-researched product and strategy can generate a high potential profit for your businesses or you’ll end up getting frustrated and leave the room as most entrepreneurs do.
Keep in mind, there always exists a space to learn and improve. Keep testing and improving and don’t be disappointed if you need to search for other ideas before you find success. This is where most of the people leave the room for dedicated ones.

In this era, with such advanced technological developments and communication technologies on board, in-house hiring employees are no longer the necessary way for a business to be successful. The rise of globalization and recent developments in technology has made it possible to hire remote international teams (aka Staff Augmentation) without any hurdles or risks. It’s a new normal, especially in IT and software development industry, where more and more IT-driven businesses are making transitions from mainstream in-house development to IT staff augmentation.[lwptoc title="IT Staff Augmentation – Best Model for Outsourcing Software Development" skipHeadingLevel="h1,h4,h5,h6"]In this blog post, we are going to explore in-depth aspects and benefits of staff augmentation.

Staff Augmentation Model – Definition

The Staff Augmentation Model simply means extending an in-house work team by hiring experts on a short or long-term project basis. It means that you can fill up a team’s skill gap by hiring dedicated experts to fulfill specific project requirements and curb the cost, time, and liabilities of recruiting in-house employees.Specialized talent sourcing agencies provide an opportunity for the businesses to explore dedicated experts willing to join their project. The fact that this staff is employed and managed by the agency also means a robust and quick onboarding process without tackling HR-related issues.These firms hold a database of experts’ profiles; you can opt to expand your staff with dedicated developers confidently. Choosing to cooperate with a talent hunting portal frees you from the headache of staff finding, onboarding, and retention. The practice of outsourcing is more beneficial for the businesses that need to run the hiring process more frequently to expand their existing staff with professionals having different levels of skills on a project basis, either short-term or long-term.

Contemporary Trends

Outsourcing and staff augmentation holds a substantial volume in the global economy’s revenue. As in 2017, the outsourcing market amounted to around $89 billion globally. Over time, more and more businesses are starting to outsource to focus on their core business processes, solve capacity issues, and improve service quality.

Advantages of Using IT Staff Augmentation Services

To spare time and cost, businesses are making smart moves towards staff augmentation. This type of outsourcing opens new corridors of opportunities and growth no freelancers or in-house team can offer, such as:

• Lower development costs
• No recruitment hassle
• Lower operational costs
• Less legal liabilities
• Access to the rare and needed specialists
• Increased output and team size
• Flexibility

Let’s discuss in detail what they are;

Development Costs Cutting

The primary advantage of staff augmentation and remote development teams is significant cost-cutting. Your remote team members will most likely require lower salaries if they are based in Eastern Europe or Asia, where the cost of living is much lower than in the US and UK. It will save a huge overall expenditure.Another reason is well known to everyone that recruiting in-house employees in countries like the US is very expensive, especially when it comes to software engineers and developers. The main reason is the fringe benefits that employees demand, such as social security, etc. The bottom line is, inter-continent staff augmentation is a smart way to cut down development costs.

No Recruitment Hassle

As soon as you contact the IT staff augmentation agencies, all the search & recruitment work become their responsibility. They search for qualified candidates that will suit your requirement criteria. The only segment of the hiring process which remains on your part is final interviewing and selection.

Also Read: When to Hire an Agency for your Software Development?

Less Operational Costs

Workstation space, equipment, taxes, bills, etc. – all of these things sum up to generate a notable portion of operational expenses, especially in Western countries. With inter-continental staff outsourcing, the operational costs drop significantly. Therefore, by opting for staff augmentation, you can decrease your operational costs by a notable margin.

Less Legal Liabilities

Recruiting people always involves legal liabilities and lengthy documentation. Taxes, payroll, fringe benefits, all of these things push such liabilities. By using staff augmentation, the outsourcing firm serves as the legal employer of your developers. Therefore, the outsourcing firm bears all the legal liabilities and handles all the paperwork on their own.

Gateway To Opportunity Corridor

The other notable advantages of staff outsourcing include direct access to the desired developer, which you cannot find in your city, region, or country. The reason is you might not be searching for the right expert at the right place. In such a scenario, you can always find the right remote professional at a lower cost. Staff augmentation companies open gateways for direct access to such professionals.

Improved Output

Fewer development costs allow you to hire more developers who can accelerate your project by increasing your output per unit time. Consider an example of the same expenditure: either hire 10 US-based developers or 16 Asian developers with the same expertise and experience.

Flexibility

Last but not least, remote staff outsourcing enables you to become more dynamic with geographical and time flexibility. For instance, there is an urgent wake-up call due to a critical issue that needs to be handled; your remote developers can deal with it while local programmers or developers are still out of reach or sleeping.Some people think that staff augmentation makes their projects or companies more vulnerable, while the reality reveals the polar opposite. They make you more flexible and dynamic while allowing you to cut budget and time allocation to unnecessary and lengthy recruitment procedures, etc.

Important Aspects of IT Staff Augmentation

Along with the apparent advantages, you also need to explore some important features of this expanding cooperation model. Let’s see what they are:

Protection of Intellectual Property

You want to be confident that your intellectual property remains safe. For the sake of this privacy, the agreement you sign with an outsourcing firm must involve NDA (non-disclosure agreement).Keep in mind; your remote developers will possibly be having the same access and control over the system and data as your full-time employees have. So it’s crucial to ensure the safety of confidential data by making sure they don’t misuse it.

Legal Agreement

The outsourcing firm remains the legal player of your team when it comes to hiring remote developers. Although they work for your facility and serve as your team members, the outsourcing company is the one who hired them officially. That’s why it’s important to clearly define each working group’s domain of responsibility in the agreement.

Transparent Charges

In normal practice, the outsourcing firm should charge a flat monthly fee for every developer it provides. The fee should include the actual pay and the company’s service charges. Such terms and conditions related to payment must be transparent.

Conclusion

IT staff augmentation provides businesses with the benefits mentioned above and opportunities when utilized correctly, as we discussed. Less development and operational costs, less legal liabilities and documentation, no burden of recruitment, increased output, and more flexibility are some of the key advantages you can enjoy by choosing the IT staff augmentation services.

When we explain the term digital transformation, it means different for every company, and it can be difficult to cast an absolute definition. However, in a general context, digital transformation is defined as integrating digital technology into all areas of a business, causing a fundamental change in the operational structure of a business and how they add value to consumers' lives. Apart from that, it's a cultural evolution that bounds businesses to challenge the status quo and try new things. It demands a transition from traditional business models to the relatively updated principles and methodologies that promise efficiency and growth.

Organizations' expenditure on the digital transformation (DX) of businesses model notably increased despite the challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as stated by the 2020 International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Digital Transformation Spending Guide. IDC predicts that worldwide spending on DX technologies and services will surge by 10.4 percent in 2020 to $1.3 trillion. Although it was less than 17.9 percent growth in 2019, it remains one of the notable spendings in a pandemic-driven period, rich with comical reductions in overall technology spending.

A business may opt for digital transformation for multiple reasons; among them, the most primary reason is survival. Survival is one's adaptability to change. In the wake of COVID-19, Consumer behavior has quickly changed in different ways since the rise of the pandemic triggered the crash of automated systems in areas like supply chain management when collided with sudden shifts in demand and supply. A business’s ability to adapt instantaneously to supply-demand shock, volatile market conditions, and rapidly shifting customers' behavior has become a survival need.

Impact Of COVID-19 Pandemic On Digital Transformation

The world has observed the pandemic rapidly mold both the “what” and the “how” of businesses’ DX agendas. For instance, the employees' perception of digital technology has switched from “nice to have” to “the only way they can work,” making DX a solution to modern-day problems.Some primary concerns of CIOs and CEOs related to Digital transformation amid COVID-19 include.

• Improving the reach of customer support via tools like chatbots
• Automation tools to manage crisis and unwanted situations
• Forced elimination of redundant or conflicting processes/systems

Digital transformation is appearing as a monster that feeds on conventional systems or work models. A reason why facilities have developed a healthy relationship with digital technology leaving their traditional working habits behind.

How To Prepare for Digital Transformation

For digital transformation to successfully overrun and transcend the conventional business processes, it is crucial to understand what can go wrong. Below are the five steps to take before starting DX.

Move Gradually

For digital transformation to be fruitful, the collaboration among employees and different departments of a facility is vital. In every organization, around 70 to 80 percent of employees do not know what colleagues are doing. For digital transformation projects to succeed, this habit has to be left behind. Invest time to make sure that all involved understand what everyone else is dealing with.

User-Friendly Technology

Technology is the heart of any digital transformation project, whether it's a new project management software to use internally or certain digital products developed to attract new customers. In both cases, the reality is crystal clear, and if it is difficult to use, people will hesitate to use it. This is specifically important from an HRM viewpoint. When most of the workforce are digital natives, in-house technology must be intuitive, or this talent will easily be distracted and switch to somewhere else.

Answering The WHY Question

Transparency is one of the most important aspects of digital transformation. Every key stakeholder involved needs to understand the reasons behind such a huge transformation. This is normal human nature, and you cannot convince people to change without explaining why they need to be changed.

Solution Breakdown

This idea is coined in the book Switch by Chip and Dan Heath. The idea explains the most effective way to approach a lengthy project like digital transformation. It is easier to overcome a big problem or a project by slicing it down into smaller phases. Once you have broken it into steps, design the roadmap by allocating the priority of every step.

Methods of Digital Transformation

Once you have destined your objectives and build the foundational basis of your digital transformation strategy, you must evaluate your organization’s capacity to select the suitable method for your digital transformation journey.

Strategic Partners

In Greek mythology, to rise again, Phoenix must have to burn first. This is how limitations become opportunities. According to Alan Talbot, chief information officer of Air Malta, knowing limitations is an important prerequisite while beginning the project. Air Malta identified the key technical areas where they lack technical and digital supremacy than consulted integration partners, Mule Soft and Ricston. Locally-stationed Ricston physically attended and worked at the Air Malta headquarters throughout the project to fully filter out the organization’s strengths and weaknesses. The reason behind augmenting the internal staff with outside experts is that their presence on board added significance to the project, so the outsourcing could enjoy the exposure of issues and practices an airline is likely to encounter.

Innovation Space

Another unique method to explore new technologies is to stimulate your digital strategy or segments in a digital workshop or a lab. This enables businesses to propagate ideas and test theories without disturbing the organization’s daily routine and actual operations. Renowned Car manufacturer Porsche has stationed the Porsche Digital Lab to test AI and the internet of things to enhance both the automated driving experience in their vehicles and the working environment for their staff. Similarly, Japanese electronics company Fujitsu has developed several Digital Transformation Centres worldwide to serve as innovation labs where their curious customers can visit to experience new digital technology.

Change Teams

Another possible way to accomplish your digital transformation objective is to station a dedicated change team within the facility. You can choose to outsource consultants or identify innovators from within the organization. These change workers work together to accelerate the digital transformation drive and visit each team or department to drive progress. Another notable aspect of involving this practice is that these change agents are people who consider this practice as their full-time job rather than someone trying to spare time from their busy schedule.

Involve Everyone

Many organizations push a load of digital strategy and transformation to senior management, making the CEO the pilot of a transformation project. Expecting such a huge change to be delivered by only one or a few people is a false practice. Success is based on creating an environment free from the traditional mindset. Drivers of this change need to mold the cultural mindset as everyone has a part to play, from the clerk to the upper hierarchy.

Conclusion

A solid digital strategy is something no business can confront the Future without. But keep in mind, the main drivers of digital transformation are technology, people, and process. Digital transformation is not just about pitching technology at the problem as it depends on people and processes as well. Without collaboration and adaptation in the three main drivers of change, one cannot get any fruitful transformation and end up ruining the whole project. The experts believe that digital transformation solely depends on organizations remembering these three key points.

1. Always be realistic. Adapt what is achievable at the moment and don’t try to implement it all at once.
2. Mindset and approach is the prerequisite of technology.
3. Cultural change is mandatory for digital transformation to provide promising results. As it's more about people rather than a standalone technology.

The companies that are embarking on success are gradually moving towards the digital transformation initiatives and accepting that failure is a part of the learning curve, rather than wasting time seeing how digital transformation will work for their competitors. Let us know in the comments section below about your opinions and how you are planning to opt for digital business transformation.

Introduction

In this article, I’ll guide you through the major differences between Magento 1 and Magento 2 that will allow you understand each version better and get a clear idea, if you are planning to launch your e-commerce store on either version. This guide will help you answer all the comparison related questions between the two versions of the Magento platform. 

Although Magento 1 has built a loyal following, it wasn't without its problems. Magento 2 was released to fix some of those issues but was met with mixed reviews itself.

Magento 1 and Magento 2 are not singular variants of Magento, adding to the possible ambiguity. Magento also has Enterprise Editions. Unlike Magento Community Version (now open-source Magento), the Enterprise version is not available for free. The high price tag, however, comes with the benefits of deployment, setup, and technical support for bigger companies.

Lets start with a few global usage statistics of Magento.

Magento Usage Statistics

These 2020 Magento statistics are intended to familiarize you with important platform-related aspects including its global use, popularity growth, and the key reasons behind this growth.

Magento has been a member of Adobe since mid-2018, and resources from the parent company are expected to draw on the strengths of the platform and make it an even bigger ecommerce trend. There is a fair chance that your company will also profit from Magento.

On average, merchants who use Magento grow 3 times faster

• Magento empowers 1.2 percent websites on the internet
• This constitutes 12 percent of all ecommerce websites
• Or 1.9% of the CMS market
• These figures are likely to rise as the adoption of Magento almost doubled between 2017 and 2018
• More than 250,00 active sites use Magento, to be precise
• Of those just 11,000 runs on Magento 2

Magento 1 Vs Magento 2 Essential Differences

• Architecture
• Speed & Performance
• Extensions
• Dashboard
• SEO
• Security
• Pricing
• Support

Summary:

A widely mentioned problem was the store performance in Magento 1. In Magento 2 this was taken care of. This major shift is the result of introducing a bunch of advanced technologies such as Apache, Symfony, Nginx 1.7, and even Composer.

Simply put, Magento 2 supports the latest versions of PHP, which implement improved security protections and increase the speed of the online store.

Speed and Performance: Magento 1 Vs Magento 2

Thanks to caching (Varnish) and database optimization, Magento is superior to its rivals on the page load speed or query execution time. This is also a significant improvement on Magento 2 that many Magento 1 users face.

• Magento 2 supports the new PHP version (starting with PHP 5.5x), which also includes PHP 7. These updates provide security patches, as well as new upgrades.
• In Magento 2 the loading time is from 2 to 3 seconds faster than the regular edition. Magento 2 loads homepage pages, category pages, and product pages in less than 1.5 seconds, even without using the caching tool.
• Page information is shown more easily. Users won't have to wait when browsing the main content to load the entire website.
• On the server-side, a module for clearing the Cache is added to Magento 2. Thus users should not install a 3rd party module as they did in Magento 1.
• Magento 2 minimizes and bundles JavaScript, thereby reducing unwanted customer activity.
• Compress photos: Magento 2 creates tools to compress images directly on the server, rather than manually on Magento 1.
• Improved the method of managing the cache using the static content.

Summary: In Magento 2 load speed is an obvious difference factor. Magento 2 provides a much greater load speed than Magento 1. This is because Magento provides full-page caching in both the Community and Business versions.

Note: Magento 2 has substantial improvements, the store performance would still need to be proactively optimized. It is also important to remember that the consistency of the Magento hosting impacts the overall performance of the store considerably. The new technology helps a little, but if you don't use quality hosting, your performance of the store will suffer.

Extensions

There are several third-party extensions available on the Magento 1 market. However, even for experienced developers, installing Magento 1 extension will take a great deal of time. Also, conflicts between the Magento 1 extensions are manually resolved which takes time and effort.

For Magento 2, the plugins allow code to overlap core code instead of overriding code. Therefore, the process has become more straightforward as well as the development of the frontend, and thanks to HTML5, Less, require.js, and CSS3 the layout can be changed easier too.

Dashboard

Unlike the cluttered design of Magento 1, the Magento 2 admin panel is more intuitive, user-friendly, and interactive, with a clean, sleek interface. As a result, shop owners with little technological experience can easily run their Magento 2 stores.

Magento 2 has a robust dashboard, displaying previous, current and average orders, lifetime retail revenue, keywords for top search, income tax, and bestsellers. It is easy to search for details, and more convenient to navigate to Magento 2 menus.

SEO

SEO is one of the online stores vital factors; you ll never forget to set up SEO on your website. For that, you can get an expert SEO consultancy from a renowned SEO agency for more result-oriented practices, when it comes to Magento. Magento 1.X gets some bugs in SEO, and most of them are patched in Magento 2 while developing. Magento 2 ‘s popular SEO Features include:

• Duplication Content: Magento 2 includes a Canonical tag to prevent content duplication. It is located at Stores > Setup > Inventory > Inventory > Optimization of search engine.
• HTML Sitemap: Magento 2 doesn't support HTML Sitemap development. To solve the problem, you can install Mage plaza SEO.
• XML Sitemap: XML sitemap is a file containing location information about all the web pages and assets. Go to Store > Settings > Setup > Catalog > XML Sitemap to allow the XML sitemap.
• Alt Product Photos: Adding alt photos to product images can also help improve search engine rankings. Go to Catalog > Products > pick one Product > add Alt in the field Images and Videos.
• Robots.txt File: Enable webmasters to be more versatile in enabling search engine (SE) robots to index the website pages and content. Go to Content > Design > Configuration > Edit one Store > Search Engine Robots to change your Robots.txt in Magento 2.
• Meta Title, Meta Definition, Meta Keyword: Magento 2 enables administrators to add Meta tags for each Product and Category. 
• Search Engine Friendly URLs: The easiest way to allow SEO-friendly URLs is to go to Stores > Configuration > General > Site > Search Engine Optimization and turn on Web Server Rewriting.
• Mobile-Friendly: Magento 2 is excellently optimized for the Mobiles. It is also a ranking factor.

Security

Users are highly worried about their data protection and are reluctant to purchase from an ecommerce store that they don't believe in.

Since Magento 1's official support ended on 30 June 2020, there has been a rise in the number of attacks and vulnerabilities after the release of the last security patch.

On the other hand, not only has Magento 2 enhanced performance but it has robust protection and stability as well. The hashing algorithms for passwords (SHA-256) have been improved, and as a result, passwords are now more resilient to the known types of attacks.

Pricing

The community edition of Magento is Free to use. There is a difference between the two versions.

• Magento EE license cost: starts at $18,000/year
• Cost of Magento 2 EE: starts at $22,000/year

Support

Magento 1 was developed back in 2009 using the technology available back then. Magento will support Magento 1 until 30 June 2020 and will stop updating and issuing security updates after the deadline. 

By comparison, Magento 2 supports all recent developments in ecommerce and online markets, such as voice search, speed & efficiency improvements, UI / UX, AI, and lean application footprint. The dev team continues to add features like page builder, PWA integration, advanced reporting, expanded cache support, and automated code management.

Why Should You Upgrade to Magento 2? 

The above-discussed factor must have answered this question. If not, then feel free to get in touch with us for consultation.

You must upgrade for the support, better User-Interface and User-Experience, fast-loading, sleek dashboard,  and overall upgraded platform your business deserves.

How Much Does It Cost to Upgrade to Magento 2?

Magento 2 is slightly more expensive than Magento 1. The price is around $22,000 per year compared to $18,000 per year for Magento 1, complemented by free community editions.

An important question to ask is whether the cost of upgrading from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is worth its value. The answer eventually boils down to your needs, the number of transactions, the inventory size you are showcasing, traffic, SEO significance, and the importance of user-experience. 

But we will argue, YES, it is. Magento 2 will make your e-commerce website faster, scalable, and will contribute to more transactions. A recent update by google tells us that the user experience and load time are two of the most critical factors for SEO ranking. 

Magento 2’s price is accompanied by advantages of installation, customized configuration, and technical support for companies planning on using it.

Conclusion

If you are planning long-term, then you must not think too much about migrating the Magento 2 as it provides all the right resources and tools to help your e-commerce become a successful one. 

Magento 2 is a product of a decadeas experience and wisdom of Adobe, who acquired Magento in 2018.

Let me know in the comments sections below about your experience with Magento and which of its features are your favorite.  

Artificial Intelligence has been around since the mid of 20th Century. Until the late 90s, there was a lack of desired processing and computational power to implement AI, and it seems impossible to acquire efficiency in this field as a futurist of that time knew would be possible in the near or far future. The rebirth of Artificial Intelligence in a previous and ongoing decade, because of the discoveries made in the processing domain, the advent of powerful Micro-Processors, and advanced GPUs, coined terms like Machine Learning, Data Science, and Data Analytics.

Data Science

Data science as revealed by its name is all about data. As Science is a general term that includes several other subfields and areas, data science is a general term for a variety of algorithms and methodologies to extract information. Under the curtain of data science, the roots exist in the form of scientific methods, detailed mathematics, statistical models, and a variety of tools. All these tools and methodologies are used to analyze and manipulate data. If any method or technique can be used as a tool to analyze data or retrieve useful information from it, it likely falls under the umbrella of data science.

Machine Learning

Machine Learning is a sub-methodology of a very general and vast field of AI. We also regard Machine Learning as one of the several ways of implementing AI. As revealed by its name Machine Learning, it is used in scenarios where we want to make a machine learn and extract from the overwhelming amounts of data.

Data Analytics

If data science is the hanger that serves as a general hub to contain tools and techniques, data analytics is a specific chamber in that hanger. It is linked with data science, but more concentrated than its parent field as instead of just uncovering connections between different elements of data, data analyst deals with the sorting of data, combining separate data segments to establish fruitful outcomes that can assist an organization in achieving their objective. It is done by grouping data into two segments.

Why The Differences Matter

These negligible differences while discussing Data Science vs Data Analytics or Data Science vs Machine Learning, can cast different shadows on the goal™s aspect. As the job roles of Data Analyst, Data Scientist, and Machine Learning Engineer are considerable. Â  Experts in these fields have different prerequisite knowledge and background. A debate rises during the recruitment process while announcing a vacancy to hire these experts then it becomes obligatory for the companies to use suitable terms to attract the right people for the right job.

Data analytics and data science can be used to extract and uncover different insights from data, Machine Learning involves the development, training, and testing of Machine Learning Model to develop the intelligent machine. No doubt all these three areas possess immense importance in the IT world but they wont be used alternatively for each other. Machine Learning is usually involved in making Models for pattern recognitions, biometrics recognition, and developing intelligent machines, In contrary Data analytics is used in areas like healthcare, tourism, and stock markets, while Data Science deals with the study of patterns in internet searches and the use of resulting insights for digital marketing purposes.

Conclusion

One Coin Two Sides, One is Dark and One is Bright

There are a lot of aspects we can discuss these different technologies and terminologies. The area of AI and Data is so deep that millions of people across the globe have restricted their profession and life in better understanding and evolution of these technologies for the bright and comforting future of mankind. There also exists a group of futurists and experts who believe that AI and Humankind cant go side by side and results would be devastating as this advancement towards intelligent machines will push humanity towards extinction.

Dark Side

Yuval Noah Harari, an Israeli public intellectual, historian, a professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the author of the bestselling book 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, argues that Artificial intelligence has made humankind vulnerable in the same way as climate change and nuclear war and a technology race in genetics could threaten the entire humanity.

Bright Side

But another side of the story is, none of us know a bit about the future, and time travel is still not yet possible. At present were here in this world, experiencing the revolutionary advancements of AI, and one should welcome this technological revolution. We should only focus on how we can use these technological advancements for the betterment of mankind and make this world a safer and better place.

There are so many organizations and private firms researching how we can use Data Science and Machine Learning in the health sector to detect diseases and predict upcoming viruses for early preparations to save as many lives as we can. For instance, theres a lot of research going around how Machine Learning Models can help detect cancerous tumors, the early problems of data unavailability due to the privacy of patients are somehow solved after the remarkable development of deep fakes technology.

2020 happened to be a catastrophic year. Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic, counties worldwide started implementing containment measures by announcing strict lockdowns and curfews that pushed their economies towards economic strangulation. IT Outsourcing trends have been altered and upgraded since strict lockdowns in difficult economic conditions are implemented. That has badly influenced the performance of businesses of all sizes.Adaptation is the key to survival. In these times of crisis, every company had to adapt or die. It led to the evolution of technology trends to meet the rapidly shifting needs of consumers, operations, and existing systems.[lwptoc title="Technology Outsourcing Trends for Growing Companies in 2021" skipHeadingLevel="h1,h4,h5,h6"]These unexpected and sudden shifts are also affecting software and IT outsourcing trends and demands. Companies are bound to revise their existing operational methods and teams to counter the economic hit man still knocking at the door as COVID-19 is yet to be controlled. It’s still uncertain to predict what might happen in 2021 if the world comes back to normal or not.

IT Outsourcing Trends for Growing Companies

This blog post will let you explore the key trends crucial for growth in 2021, as these trends have already shown some proven statistics in recent times.

Remote Work Teams

Despite the lockdown, the total IT budget rose from 12.7% in 2019 to 13.6% in 2020. Let’s discover how. The pandemic has pushed more and more businesses to hire remote staff and work teams.The World Economic Forum claims that the number of remote workers is set to double in 2021. This significant shift towards remote work impacts the tech industry more than other sectors, as a report by Avasant reveals that middle-sized tech companies have been the largest contributors to the growth of the IT outsourcing industry in 2020.The topmost benefits of hiring remote teams include cost-cutting and flexible work times. Both the factors are crucial for the growth in this pandemic-rich environment.Amid the economic crisis, cost reduction is the topmost priority for every business to remain fiscal positive. Allowing your team to work remotely or hire external remote teams for a project promises a notable cost reduction.Despite lockdown measures, the businesses need to keep working to make timely deliveries which can only be made possible by allowing workers to work remotely in flexible hours. Secondly, recruiting offshore employees enhances productivity. Hiring foreign talent can bring diversity and efficiency to a team.

Edge Computing

Edge computing is happened to be a game-changer in the tech industry. In 2021 it will experience not only continued growth but its integration in even more sectors of business. Let's discuss what Edge computing is meant. Edge Computing allows data processing on mobile or IoT accessories. Instead of transferring the raw data to centralized databases for processing, it will enable remote locations to read data in real-time.

Also Read: When to Hire an Agency for your Software Development?

For instance, suppose your business is collaborating with a software company that has developed the system to check if someone is not wearing a surgical mask. In a mainstream routine, cameras would be placed in all corners of the building to transmit video recordings to a centralized database for machine learning mechanisms. With Edge Computing, these video images are processed at the camera, and the results are then transferred to the centralized database as a readily available result. The cost, time, and memory saving are significant.Edge Computing will be dominating every field and area in the near future, and your IT team will require learning the skills to implement it. If your employees are not capable enough to do so, there are several companies from where you can outsource to make it work for you.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are some of the topmost emerging areas of IT. AI helps your businesses in several different ways, such as:

• You can make accurate predictions about what customers will buy by extracting useful insights from their buying patterns.
• Implement Robotic Assistance in the form of Voice, Speech, and Facial Recognition algorithms
• Organize unstructured data without human assistance
• Automate your eCommerce platform
• Add additional capabilities to your product by introducing intelligent devices and systems.
• If technology is the race, then AI is the fastest car you can ever have to win against all the rivals. Don’t hesitate to adopt this emerging trend of AI. The longer you wait, the further you’ll be left behind. 2021is here, and we will be able to experience exponential growth in the field of AI.

Mobile Apps

The majority of consumers in the world choose mobile-based platforms when it comes to internet surfing. More and more people are making transitions from traditional platforms like desktops and laptops to mobile devices only, and the trend will continue in 2021 and onwards. According to Stat Counter, mobile device usage currently occupies 50.88% of the total market share, while PCs stand 46.39%.How can your company utilize this trend? Make your website or eCommerce platform mobile-friendly. Move one step ahead and introduce the android or IOS application of your platform. It will attract the attention of more and more users.As more and more people desert traditional desktop systems, the best route to success is a mobile-friendly website and a mobile app. If your tech department fails to deliver, you need to outsource the development facility.

5G Network

Only a year after being available to consumer markets, the global 5G network’s value is around $41 billion. This overwhelming success and continuously expanding 5G technology have brought futurists to conclude that the 5G industry will continue to rise with an annual growth rate of 43.9% from 2021 to 2027.What makes 5G Network one of the largest tech support around the globe? Two major reasons for such overwhelming growth are:

• The number of devices connected to 5G
• The speed of data exchange

According to Statista’s prediction model on the number of 5G users worldwide (by region) in 2021–2025, the 5G network will be notably functional in China and the North American region in 2021.Due to the promising speed of superfast 5G technology, businesses can develop robust IoT systems that bring manufacturing, transportation, and other systems to the shared platform and improve the efficiency and productivity of their business.

Cloud Services & Distributing Networks

While the current market value of cloud computing systems has achieved a notable mark of $180 billion globally, the SaaS alone is expected to generate $113.1 billion in revenue in 2021. The PaaS, SaaS, and IaaS markets show annual growth of 24%. In the next two years, the global cloud computing market is expected to reach $623.3 billion.These statistics are enough to convince anyone to replace their existing systems with cloud-based technology. While migration to cloud storage is challenging and costly, more and more companies are planning to transition from centralized to distributed data storage facilities.Cloud computing promises more data protection, faster operations, and the opportunity to improve business processes by allowing easy and trouble-free implementation of various business apps.

Cybersecurity

Zion Market Research predicts the cybersecurity market to attain a net worth of $181.77 billion in 2021. By the year 2022, cyber insurance is expected to mark a $20 billion market share.As businesses are now forced to work remotely, especially after the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, they become vulnerable to cyber threats without proper cybersecurity protocols and measures. The 2020 HLB Cyber Security Report shows that 65% of British tech companies had their systems been breached or exposed during the lockdowns.According to a report by HLB, the other side of the coin reveals that 55% of (polled) companies are gearing up for spending more on cybersecurity in 2021.No doubt cybercrime is causing immense damage to businesses in the same way a need for the implantation of cybersecurity is also increasing.

Conclusion

The trends above are much obvious, especially to those observing closely what’s evolving and shifting in the contemporary market and within the domain of IT. If you want improvement in your conventional business process, it’s time for you to station these technological trends. COVID-19 has left us no choice but to trust and adopt modern technologies. If you don’t consider these IT outsourcing trends for your business, you could be left behind.

Outsourcing in today’s time is the most effective way to cut costs and spare resources (Both Human and Material) to invest in core business areas. Due to these benefits, many companies choose to outsource tech services and solutions including software development services.[lwptoc title="Outsourcing Challenges and Solutions" skipHeadingLevel="h1,h4,h5,h6"]While there is a bright light that comes with outsourcing, it does not come without a dark side. This article will discuss the outsourcing challenges that companies face and how to overcome these challenges effectively.

Also Read: When to Hire an Agency for your Software Development?

Authority & Control

Who will possess the authority and responsibility to make important decisions and choices about the project to raise tension between a business and an outsourcing firm? Employees of a business tend to behave like they have total control over the project and its parameters and the complete authority to make important decisions. They may not accept and support the change in the project management lifecycle. On the other hand, the outsourcing team can think and act contrary.

Solution

The best way to overcome this problem is to declare in the outsourcing agreement to what extent the outsourcing company and business’s employees can exercise control over the project.Limits should be declared about what sort of decisions a service provider can make regarding the outsourced project. Terms and conditions of the service agreement should be made clear to the employees of both the business consulting outsourcing firm and the outsourcing vendor.

Exaggerated Expectations

Most of the time business makes a mistake of expecting too much from an outsourcing firm. It may think or act like everything will be handled by the outsourcing service provider, and it has nothing left to take care of. Such overwhelming and false expectations can lead to project failure and disappointment for the business and becomes one of a business damaging outsourcing challenges.

Solution#1

To tackle this challenge, the best possible way is to make things clear in the very beginning about what will be the role and responsibility of the outsourcing service provider throughout the project life and what results should be expected from the outsourcing vendor. It is mandatory to make the company seeking outsourcing services aware of the plausible risks and the potential costs linked with outsourcing.

Also Read: IT Outsourcing Trends for Growing Companies in 2021

Companies may have fantasized that selecting an outsourcing service provider and triggering a project development life cycle can be done quickly, according to the plan and expectations. Also, they may underestimate the time required by the outsourcing team to complete the project.

Solution#2

Companies should spend sufficient time in selecting an outsourcing firm. They should select a vendor that they think can fully align with their expectations and meet their requirements.To make the process professional, a business should take the qualitative and quantitative approach while outsourcing a vendor and get a time estimate for project completion and a transparent timeline of the project lifecycle from the outsourcing service provider before the project begins.This would eliminate any exaggerated expectations or false hopes on the part of the business regarding the delivery of the project.

Cultural Differences

Offshore outsourcing can bring diverse talent onboard, but the cultural and communication barrier can bring a wave of problems. When companies assign their projects to offshore vendors or teams, they have to tackle corporate differences and regional differences.Corporate differences occur because outsourcing involves two different organizations. Regional differences occur because the business and the outsourcing service provider are stationed in different regions, countries, continents, or even time zones.These corporate and regional cultural differences can cast shadows on different areas of your project management. It can interfere with the communication barrier, time clashes, & misunderstandings and distract the team members resulting in poor performance and decreased productivity.

Solution

To overcome this issue, a business that will outsource a project, especially for the first time, should arrange a workshop to train its employees about the corporate and regional cultures, educating them about the demographic variations & their impact on the practices and norms of the outsourcing firm.On the other hand, a similar workshop related to the awareness about the clients’ organizational and regional differences and norms can be arranged by an outsourcing service provider for its employees.

Linguistic & Communication Barrier

Another challenge that companies face while outsourcing their projects to intercontinental or intracontinental vendors is linguistic differences and communication barriers. People might have their regional dialects that you might not be able to interpret properly. Another challenge that results due to the communication barrier is unsaid suppositions.Many businesses have experienced this problem while outsourcing. While working and interacting in the same building or office space, employees discuss stuff and picture what others think and state. On the other hand, when the developers are working offshore, there are many ways to order, or a request can be mishandled or communicated wrongly.

Solution

The communication barrier can be reduced by using HD cameras, fast internet for proper streaming, and online chat rooms or groups for instant messaging and video conferencing.For effective collaboration, remote working platforms such as Basecamp can be used. For overcoming linguistic differences, businesses in English-speaking countries can outsource to countries or regions where professionals can easily understand and speak English.

Loss of Sensitive Data or Information

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, people’s move to work remotely has contributed to a notable rise in cybercrime costs expected to top $1trn for the year 2020.

As Companies are increasingly faced with the dangerous consequences of cybercrime and data breach, outsourcing comes with a potential risk of compromising sensitive data and intellectual properties such as business plans and confidential documents, etc.Doesn’t matter how large and developed your organization is; if it’s a startup or an enterprise, having complete security of your data and IP is crucial. While working with a remote team of developers, you might be required to share a lot of important data, including your core business details, operational structure, and other high-profile information. Apart from the important details, you might be sharing your database, resources, and other important tools while outsourcing.Suppose your outsourcing contract lacks explicit statements such as the seriousness of your IP protection and information or resources. In that case, you may be standing on the edge of losing all of your sensitive data.

Solution

This problem can be tackle by signing a legal contract like a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with the outsourcing vendor. The risk of a data breach gets diluted when the outsourcing vendor implements strict security measures.The outsourcing company should maintain a checklist to ensure if the service provider is implementing technical measures like

• Protocols for Resources & Data access
• Strict control and security check to prohibit unauthorized entry into premises
• Administrative control and regulations over employees’ conduct

Conclusion

As discussed, outsourcing challenges typically involve loss of control, communication barrier, exaggerated expectations, lack of organizational trust, and data breach, challenges making it difficult for businesses to adopt it.If you and your leadership fail to interact actively with your outsourcing service provider, the vendor becomes a surrogate for your business. But these outsourcing challenges are overcome easily if handled professionally, making outsourcing beneficial for the organization in terms of cost, service levels, and access to talent.

The Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has changed the whole analytics epoch. This short article will explain how google analytics 4 replaces the goal with conversion events.

These events/goals are very special because we can share them with Google Ads to optimize the advertising spend. (for example, you’re aiming to optimize your campaigns for Lead Submission Event)

Both goals and conversion events utilize the same motive: to track a visitor’s activities that are key to your business.

Why GA4 is different?

Google Analytics 4 is an event-based tool, with the concept that any interaction can be captured as an event. On the other hand, Universal Analytics is based on sessions and the principle of a session is not highlighted in GA4 as it was in the legacy versions.

The motive of a goal is very simple just to provide you information about a specific action during a session. The legacy version of GA only shows you a count of goal completions against the sessions. Goals do not increase if the action was completed multiple times during the session.

In GA4 a conversion event describes the user action. If the action occurs multiple times within a session, the count of conversion events will increase with each. This aligns Google Analytics with the industry-standard approach for measuring conversions and the Google Ads conversion code already works this way (as you can see in the screenshot below).

Important limitations of Conversion Events:

In the Universal Analytics of Google Analytics, you could create 20 goals per view.

However, Google Analytics 4 does not have views. For that reason, google provide you to place 30 conversion events.

The Acquisition reports include a Conversions column that is similar to the Goal Completions column in Universal Analytics. However, we have a dropdown that allows us to choose a specific event.

Additionally, the conversion metric has been added to the Exploration Report. You can incorporate this metric with “Event Name” as a dimension to see all of your conversions in a custom report.