Musato Technologies Blog

Mobile App Development Costs

Published September 7, 2017 | By Gideon E. M

Four tips for reducing mobile app development costs

Don’t get stuck with hidden fees and unnecessary designs with mobile app development. Cut off the high sticker price by focusing on the user experience and going cross-platform.

Developing a mobile app can be a pricey undertaking.

Just consider the multiple platforms and device types on which the app must run, not to mention all the differences in screen sizes, resolutions, storage, performance, security and countless other details.

Given these factors, it’s no surprise that mobile app development projects come with such hefty price tags. Here are four tips for driving down the mobile app development cost for organizations.

Design first, build later

Before writing any code, have a good sense of what the plan is for the app. Try to sketch out the app’s workflows and interfaces early in the design process. Sketching is an incredibly cheap and easy way to iron out an app’s initial design and flesh out its requirements.

Produce as many sketches as necessary, and explore design options with the app’s stakeholders as part of an interactive process, while incurring few up front mobile app development costs. Be sure to define directions and rule out dead ends. At this point, there’s no need to come up with a high-fidelity representation of the final interface.

If freehand drawing sounds intimidating, device templates provide a structure to work within. Interface Sketch offers a free set of downloadable sketch templates for desktop and mobile platforms. Continue reading →

Posted in Application Development, Cloud Computing, cloud network services, Mobile application, Mobile Apps, Mobility, Musato Technologies | Tagged Mobile App Development, Mobile App Development Costs

Mobile Cloud Computing

Published September 2, 2017 | By Gideon E. M

How mobile cloud computing infrastructure enables modern workers

When it comes to data storage and application development, mobile cloud computing helps IT build a bridge between legacy software and new work styles.
Smartphones and tablets have little value in the workplace if they can’t access corporate data and applications. Mobile cloud computing infrastructure makes it easier for IT to provide this access.

Traditional enterprise applications are designed for Windows PCs that store data locally and on network file shares. The most popular mobile devices run Apple iOS and Google Android, which means they’re incompatible with Windows applications. They also have much less storage capacity than PCs and can’t easily access network drives. Continue reading →

Posted in Application Development, Cloud Computing, cloud network services, IT | Tagged Mobile Cloud Computing, Mobile Computing

711 Million Email Addresses Exposed

Published August 31, 2017 | By Gideon E. M

711 Million Email Addresses Exposed: How to Protect Yourself

Typically, your spam folder catches a lot of the malware-infected crud sent by the mischievous ne’er-do-wells from the darker corners of the internet. Unfortunately, a newly discovered attack has targeted more than 711 million email accounts.Fortunately, only some — not all — of the targets’ passwords have been taken.

The Onliner spambot, first discovered by a Paris-based security researcher who goes by the Benkow pseudonym, was confirmed by well-regarded security expert Troy Hunt in an August 30 blog post. Hunt — a Microsoft Regional Director who runs the breach-tracking website Have I Been Pwned — referred to a data dump from Onliner as “a mind-boggling amount of data,” in which he even found his own email address. Continue reading →

Posted in cyber-security, cyberattack, hacker attacks | Tagged cyber security, cyber-attack, Email Addresses Compromised, Email Addresses Exposed, Hacking

Software Lifecycles

Published August 31, 2017 | By Gideon E. M

Aligning new apps with IT Infrastructure Management cycles

Understand the concept of software lifecycles

Recognize how software lifecycles can be used to build good practices for IT infrastructure managers. Appreciate how lifecycle support processes can improve the quality of IT services delivered to customers.

Communicate, coordinate

The closer the dialog is between the creative team and the delivery team, the better the end result. That’s why it’s important that software developers and IT infrastructure managers communicate and coordinate when planning IT service delivery. The focus should be on ensuring that captured information is processed so that it aligns with required business information outcomes.

We’re not saying that infrastructure managers should take over responsibility for selecting software lifecycles for development work, and we’re not advocating interference. Quite the opposite: Software developers must retain responsibility for software lifecycle selection and associated process modeling.

What we are recommending is that key personnel (IT service customers and IT infrastructure managers) should participate in a coordinated approach to the service planning processes, and that software developers should seek the input of IT service customers and IT infrastructure managers. Continue reading →

Posted in Application Development, Creating App, Mobile Apps, Software Lifecycles | Tagged application design, Software Development, software lifecycles

The Power of the Database

Published August 30, 2017 | By Gideon E. M

The Power of the Database: The backbone of IT

1. What is a database?

A database is a collection of data that is stored for a specific purpose and organized in a manner that allows its contents to be easily accessed, managed, and updated. Although this definition includes stored data collections such as libraries, file cabinets, and address books, when we talk about databases we almost invariably mean a collection of data that is stored on a computer. There are two basic categories of a database. The most commonly encountered category is the transactional database, used to store dynamic data, such as inventory contents, which is subject to change on an ongoing basis. The other category is the analytical database, used to store static data, such as geographical or chemical test results, which is rarely altered.

Strictly speaking, a database is just the stored data itself, although the term is often used, erroneously, to refer to a database and its management system (DBMS). Continue reading →

Posted in Database, Database Management | Tagged Database, Musato Technologies

Database Management System (DBMS)

Published August 30, 2017 | By Gideon E. M

Database Management System (DBMS)

A database management system (DBMS) is system software for creating and managing databases. The DBMS provides users and programmers with a systematic way to create, retrieve, update and manage data.

A DBMS makes it possible for end users to create, read, update and delete data in a database. The DBMS essentially serves as an interface between the database and end users or application programs, ensuring that data is consistently organized and remains easily accessible.

The DBMS manages three important things: the data, the database engine that allows data to be accessed, locked and modified — and the database schema, which defines the database’s logical structure. These three foundational elements help provide concurrency, security, data integrity and uniform administration procedures. Typical database administration tasks supported by the DBMS include change management, performance monitoring/tuning and backup and recovery. Many database management systems are also responsible for automated rollbacks, restarts, and recovery as well as the logging and auditing of activity. Continue reading →

Posted in Creating App, Database Management, DBMS, IT Services, Software Design, Software Development, Software Development Tools | Tagged Database, database management, DBMS, Musato Technologies

App Development for the Cloud

Published August 28, 2017 | By Gideon E. M

Developing for the Cloud: Challenges and Best Practices

The developer is in demand more than ever, and yet the role still alludes most in the IT world. With some insight into cloud computing, platforms, and ecosystems, development processes can be more clearly defined, and the part of the developer will come into focus. – App Development for the Cloud

Platforms and Developers: What are Their Functions?

Look at any job board, and it would be difficult not to see the trend— companies are hiring developers. Whether they need cloud apps, mobile apps or someone to make business work when it doesn’t, companies are heralding developers as the solution to a host of problems. But while developers are in demand, knowledge of what they do is in short supply. The reason is much of what developers do is shrouded in mystery to those outside their world. In this article, we explore issues and trends in cloud development, broken down so those who think Python is a snake and Java a cup of coffee will understand. Continue reading →

Posted in Application Development, Cloud Computing, cloud network services, Creating App, CRM, Enterprise Software, IT Services, Musato Technologies | Tagged App Development, Application Development, Apps, Software Development

7 website security steps for your business

Published August 21, 2017 | By Gideon E. M

7 website security steps for your business

With the increasing number of entrepreneurs using digital assets like websites and social media profiles to grow their businesses, security is a growing concern at every level. Your business is important to you and so are your customers so it’s imperative you take the necessary steps to ensure you’re protected.

Below are seven basic steps to protect your website. Some of these steps can also be applied to protect your social media and email profiles. If you’re not comfortable with technology, share this article with your webmaster, IT manager or IT/web partner and have them ensure that the necessary steps are taken to keep your business protected.

1. Schedule regular back-ups

The first question that most people ask when it comes to back-ups is how frequently should I back-up my website? The quick answer is a question: How frequently do you update your website? If it’s every day, then you should most likely back-up your site every day and keep a copy of at least the previous 30 days. Continue reading →

Posted in IT Services

Tailored ERP packages

Published August 20, 2017 | By Gideon E. M

The four best ways to tailor ERP packages to your needs

It is an oft-repeated mantra in the ERP world that companies should not modify ERP packages. Consultants experienced users and software vendors will tell you that modifications to ERP packages are difficult, expensive and

detrimental to the ongoing operation, maintenance and development of a system.

Yet, it is widely acknowledged that a packaged software product cannot fully meet the needs of anyone company. In response to this conundrum, software developers build a considerable amount of flexibility into their ERP packages to allow users to tailor the look, feel and functionality to better suit their needs and desires. Ideally, this built-in flexibility enables the user to adapt the package enough to eliminate the need for customization — and, in fact, that is the case for many companies.

The tailoring capability in ERP software packages can be as simple as the ability to move things around on screens and menus or as extensive as changes in calculations, database formats, and content. Generally speaking, such changes are stored in a control table that is not altered or replaced when the software is updated by the developer. This means the changes will survive an upgrade and do not have to be redone or revalidated when a new release is installed.

Here is an overview of the types of changes allowed by major ERP software packages. Understand that each developer has its own tools and approaches, so your package may include some of these or others not listed. Continue reading →

Posted in Enterprise resource planning, ERP packages | Tagged Enterprise resource planning, ERP packages, Musato Technologies

Creating App for iOS, Android, or Windows Phone

Published August 18, 2017 | By Gideon E. M

How to Create an App for iOS, Android, or Windows Phone

From Android to iOS to Windows Phone, anyone can create an app—coding skills (not necessarily) required. Recommend for hobbyists. Creating App

Yes, it’s true. The Web is dead. It’s not that people aren’t using The Internet anymore—they certainly are—it’s just that users are moving away from the browser-based “Web” environment and into the mobile app-centric world.

Two quick illustrations: 1) Instagram has long been a true force in the social sphere, but it was years before it had a Web-based interface. Its entire model was mobile-based—the website was secondary. 2) Over the past years, we here at PCMag have even found it increasingly difficult to bring together our annual Top 100 Websites feature. Back in the early ‘aughts, it was a cinch. Today, it’s a stretch. (Good thing we have so many other great app roundups).

The moral: the Web is indeed dead, long live mobile. That also means all those hours you spent honing your HTML and CSS skills were for naught. It’s all about being able to create a functional and engaging mobile app.

But that doesn’t (necessarily) mean you have to take an app-programming class. Like the early days of the Web, several tools have arisen that will allow anyone to create a product with a little-to-no programming language. (But if you have the coding skills, it will give you the ability to make a truly unique thing). Continue reading →

Posted in Application Development, Creating App, Information Technologies, Mobile application, Mobile Apps, Musato Technologies, Software Design, Software Designing Tools, Software Development | Tagged Apps, Creating App, Mobile Apps, Musato Technologies