Digital Transformation

Do you know how often your message delivery fails? Do you get an error when it does? If not, you could be putting your systems at risk. One of the key, often-overlooked issues in systems integration is how messages between systems are passed. Even more important is whether or not deliveries are guaranteed. More often than not, we have discovered that they aren’t. When a message fails to get passed between System A and System B, whether it’s not received or left unsent, there needs to be a robust framework in place to track the event and assess both the specific problem as well as the root cause. This isn’t just a technical issue. Inaction can result in costly support problems down the line. Aside from the practical needs of keeping an integration running, there can be security breaches or even legal concerns that are just as problematic.

As we’ve noted before, it’s critical to keep your mobile app’s lifecycle in mind. The work doesn’t stop post-launch. If you’re serious about gaining traction in the saturated app marketplace, you should be optimizing user acquisition and experience continually. The most useful tool in any developer’s pocket for doing that is analytics, hands-down. That’s no secret and a number of companies have sprung up to address this need, including Flurry, Localytics, and even Google. Getting analytics implemented is a fairly straightforward technical task. Knowing what to measure and how to use that information are much more difficult. If you want to get the most out of mobile app analytics, you need to have a solid measurement strategy in place.

Software has grown into a quarter-trillion dollar industry in the U.S. Yet even with all the money we pour into software, there’s a lot to be desired. Custom software development can fill that gap – but it’s not for the faint of heart. Back in 1995 (ancient, I know, but still relevant), the Standish Group found some discouraging statistics. 31% of software projects get canceled before completion. More than half end up costing 89% more than their original estimates. I have to assume that those figures have gotten better over time. Development tools and processes have advanced while technical expertise has grown and become widespread.

Successful system integrations are like diplomacy: you need to establish certain things from the start. Like who gets the launch codes? How do we deal with spies? What are we going to do about that militarized cult of personality?

Every app has a lifecycle. In today’s saturated marketplace, maintaining a high level of quality control through each and every phase is critical to an app’s success. From design to development to marketing and maintenance, there are so many variables that it’s easy to lose sight of the many moving parts that make up the long game. If you don’t want your app to wind up a warning post along the way, be careful to avoid these 13 common pitfalls.