Student Loans have helped millions of people in the United States achieve a college education (including many of us at SDI), especially since 2006. As of the end of 2016, over 43 million people have student loans. But there is of course, a significant downside to Student Loans: debt. Often, massive untenable debt.

If you take those 43 million Americans with student loans, they also have an average of $30,000 in debt. Overall, Student Loan debt (as of 2016) accounted for a grand total of 1.4 trillion dollars, or roughly 7.5% of the national GDP. This massive debt is not only burdensome to the holders, but represents a danger to the American economy, as it reduces the amount people can invest in the market.

But we live in a world of exceptionally clever people, people who are willing to tackle problems head on. Even better, the modern tools of tech help us fight problems with industries like Financial Services better than ever before. The perfect example of this is the Finances Services Startup, Social Finance Inc (more commonly known as SoFi).

SoFi has made some pretty big waves in the world of student loans and, more recently, the financial services industry overall. They recently raised another half billion in funding, placing their overall value at $4.3 billion – well above the “Unicorn” mark. While SoFi itself isn’t based off a tech platform in the way that SnapChat is; but recently they acquired Zenbanx, which is absolutely an online financial services platform.

While SoFi is clearly changing the game, it got our developers thinking – what else can tech do to disrupt the financial services industry? There’s clearly a market for this; after all SoFi went from a startup to a company worth over $4 billion in about 5 years. Zenbanx was itself was bought for about $100 million.

Plus, you don’t have to stop with Student Loans (SoFi certainly hasn’t); we’re living in banner times for the financial services, with the stock market higher than it has ever been. Right now, most casual investors are leery, waiting to see how it all pans out. But soon, ordinary Americans will again be drawn to the stock market and investing in general.

Hence, we have a problem (old models of financial services), and we have an opportunity (the rise of Stocks and Investing). Let’s take a look at some ways that tech can help provide a solution – and how a clever entrepreneur may take advantage.

Risk Management and Investment

Artificial Intelligence is capable of collecting, analyzing, and reporting upon untold gigabytes of data. More than that, AI learns and improves from every interaction with data (as we all wish we could!). This means it can learn to identify better metrics, better tests. But most importantly, AI is capable of running thousands of statistical models simultaneously, with slightly different variables.

In the realm of Financial Services, AI can help judge the health of an investment opportunity. It can tell a trader how risky an investment is and can even determine the level of investment a trader should make to get the biggest bang for their buck. AI can even run those models to predict the future health of an investment – using more variables than you can even imagine.

This idea isn’t anything new in the world of Finances – in fact exceptionally smart people get paid millions and millions of dollars to do just this. This position was recently immortalized by the hit show This Is Us, where one of the main characters uses weather prediction to judge agricultural yields. However, as smart as those people are, they aren’t an AI.

Security

Financial services also encompasses revolutionary ways of payment. We’ve already seen this some of these changes in the last few days (some of us are still old enough to remember what cash feels like). Today, most US Americans probably use a debit card more than anything and we all know that there were some growing pains there.

Tech really stepped up to the plate, with increased security – though admittedly that chip is a damned nuisance. That being said, Debit cards are on their way out. Android Pay, Apple Pay, Venmo, Square Cash – these are the payment methods of the future. Already, many retail locations, such as Starbucks, accept some sort of digital payment

They offer improved security through a process called tokenization (reach out to our developers to learn more about this) to help protect your money from hacked retailers. While some “Digital Wallets” can pose a security risk if a phone is lost or stolen, it’s generally a simple process to remove a devices security from any internet device.

Plus, a traditional wallet poses even more of a risk. A digital wallet means you can lock down all your credit cards with single click. With a wallet you have to cancel all your cards individually. You don’t even have to cancel your cards, always an annoying process.

Creating a better wallet isn’t the only way tech can make your money safer. The cloud, while often knocked, is actually quite a bit more secure than physical hardware. Not only does it prevent potential location-based hacks, but it’s easier to spot tampering (i.e. hackers) and to instantly update a cloud server’s security infrastructure. Don’t believe this? Visa and MasterCard are already on the cloud.

Tech can prove disruptive to this industry in more ways than the ones laid out in this post. There are dozens of ways that tech can help, including marketing and growth. Interested in starting your own Financial Services startup?

Then give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

New advancements in tech, such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, have revolutionized everything from cars to marketing. If there is one thing that is an undeniable truth in this world, it’s that everything generates data. This isn’t a new concept; since the beginning of time people have used observation to create better ways of living: where prey is and isn’t, what grows when, even what burns hotter.

In the intervening millennia since Homo habilis first realized a rock was more effective than it’s hand, the data hasn’t changed at all. Oak still burns in basically the same way it’s burned since time began. What has changed is our ability to percept and report upon data being generated. We don’t just know how oak burns differently than pine, but we can figure out how much hotter it burns, what chemicals are being produced, even how long each fuel lasts.

Today, AI allows us to study data down to minutia. We can test every change, compare millions of sets of variables, and see how each change impacts the our system. We see this happening with Home AI Software Systems like Alexa and Google Home: these Home AIs become better at predicting what we want, but only after being exposed to our typical habits.

So when we have all this data and now have the capability to understand it more thoroughly, why have we not applied this to HealthCare? Healthcare is one of the most important issues in the world – and not just because we’re in a bit of a transitory period as we await word from the Trump Administration.

Healthcare bisects all aspects of life. Everything we do impacts our health. Every decision, every choice, changes our bodies – for better or worse. In other words, this is all data we can collect and analyze.

To some degree, this is something we’ve known for a long time. This knowledge has resulted in the rise of what the healthcare industry calls Learning Health Systems (LHS). A recent article in TechCrunch pointed out that there are currently efforts to revamp the extant LHS infrastructure. As the author points out though, these efforts largely attempt to work within existing systems and don’t take advantage of our ability to analyze the world around us.

So let’s dive deeper into how the Cloud, AI and Machine learning can help revolutionize Healthcare through Learning Health Systems.

“Collective Intelligence” and The Cloud

In the years since they hit the streets, Google’s autonomous cars have gathered over 300 years worth of driving experience. The couple million miles they’ve driven, they’ve collected more data than a human could – in several lifetimes. This is done because they act together: when one vehicle is exposed to a new scenario, they all are.

This can be easily applied to a global LHS network, creating systems that are continually improving upon ways to deliver improved care. This is especially useful when it comes to health, because every human body responds differently to different stimuli. Research and treatment that was once geographically isolated can now be shared around the world – in real time.

Through the Cloud, Healthcare providers can create sharing systems that build instantly off one another’s work. Not only that, but Cloud systems can turn standard delivery into a global experiment. A provider in Los Angeles can only pull information from a small pool of diabetics, generally not enough for a verifiable experiment. But the dozens of diabetic patients receiving daily care in LA can be combined with data from a hospital in London, or Mumbai.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

The power behind AI is not it’s ability to collect and analyze data. Any old computer can do that to some degree of effectiveness. AI takes it a step further: it takes all that data – and then predicts what might happen next. It helps people input different steps, to see how each step might impact the end result.

In Healthcare, AI can help providers determine more effective – and cheaper – ways of delivering healthcare. It can see how a change might impact the system overall. When combined with Machine Learning, AI can determine how to run a better healthcare system. After all, one of the biggest issues in healthcare is the cost: even Obamacare (the ACA) can be expensive for those who don’t qualify for subsidies.

Modern Tech can change this. It can point the way to lower costs without lower the quality of service. More than that, the Cloud and a global LHS Network can analyze how different providers operate. This is important because it means that clinics won’t have to experiment constantly with alternative ways of providing care: it’s already been done by someone, somewhere.

Change Healthcare Now

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

To anyone born in the United States, this phrase is pretty much second nature. These inalienable rights are not achievable without the an underlying level of basic health. One of the biggest obstacles to a universal health care system is the expense. Most nations want to see their citizenry healthy, but if a government cannot fund itself, then it collapses.

LHS networks, combined with AI, the Cloud, and other new technologies can point the way to delivering more significantly cheaper services for all people. But someone has to take the first step. Someone has to step up the plate and show the world that this can be done. How do you do it? Contact an expert development team with the skills to make it happen.

So how about it? Want to save the world and get rich while doing it? Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

The United States, along with other “developed” nations are in an economic transitory period: We are slowing moving from a Skills or Manufacturing based economy, into a Knowledge-based one. In fact, our last post covered in detail how to be successful in this new economy, so feel free to read more about how software ownership might be the ticket to future financial success.

But there’s a difference between owning a software license and launching an entire tech startup. Owning a piece of software, while financially enriching isn’t as labor intensive as running an entirely new business. This is especially true in today’s economy, where the competition is fierce and plentiful.

Financing, launching, and running a startup is necessarily hard. With over 20 years of experience in the tech sphere, we’ve heard every scheme there is about how to make it easy. Here’s the simple truth – it’s never going to be easy. This is true at least until you’ve established yourself through years of hard work, and possibly beyond that.

Startups of all types require passion, dedication, and, perhaps most of all, dead presidents (i.e. cold hard cash). It’s never a simple proposition. But let’s be honest here – for those who possess the entrepreneurial spirit, simplicity is damned mundane. We do this because we’re passionate and dedicated people. Unfortunately, while we possess the previous two traits in spades, for those of us just getting started, the cold hard cash is harder to come by.

However, funding and running a startup doesn’t have to wind up with you in the Looney Bin – or make you feel like you’re dealing with the devil. There are plenty of ways to mitigate potential risks, to guide your tech startup without the stress and hair pulling. Let’s talk about a few ways to help preserve your sanity while making your venture the next SnapChat like success.

It’s All About the Business Plan

Yea, it’s like the least sexy thing ever. Creating a successful startup doesn’t begin with the cool things, like a CodeIgniter platform. Like all winning ventures, you have to start with the foundations. You need to establish the following:

a. The service and/or solution you offer. You need to make this explicit and extraordinarily clear. You want to get this to the point where you can walk up to a random person on the street and be able to explain to them what you do in 30 seconds or less.

b. The hierarchy of your business. Even if you’re currently the only person who works for your startup, eventually you will need more staff. Figure out short and long term plans for staffing, including who reports to whom. This is important because it improves communication and can help prevent personnel conflicts.

c. Long term goals and growth stages. Be clear about what you need goals you have for the future, as well as what indicates when you have completed said goal.

d. The Launch. Probably the single most stressful time in the life of any fledgling startup is when it moves from beta to actual launch. It’s the time of 18 hour days and hungry bellies. It’s the time when you either make it – or you don’t.

e. Metrics. We live in a world of data. It’s like The Matrix, but without all of the cool “I know kung fu” parts. More than one compnay has been sunked by not understanding the best way to measure that data. So research the nest metrics to use. Keep in mind this can range from very general metrics to something as specific as your sector, or even just your own business. Think on this long and hard, because it might be the best way to sustain and grow your startup.

Creating a decent Business Plan isn’t only about establishing a clear path for your startup to follow. It may very well be the single best way to attract the attention of potential funders. Venture Capitalist Firms and Angel Investors aren’t usually looking for some revolutionary idea. While disruptive businesses are doing well right now, it’s far more important to potential funders to know that you’re in it for the long haul.

Creating a solid business plan shows investors that you have thought about this long and hard. It shows that you’ve done your research, that you’ve thought about how to progress in both the near and far future. Not only does it show strategic planning, but VCs love established metrics. It makes it easy to see how well a startup is doing – judged by the founders own standards.

An excellent business plan is only part of the story though. Entrepreneurs must also plan how to market your product (that’s a whole other can of worms); they must plan how to grow their business, how to eventually get to an IPO (or sell the company), and so on. There are a lot of pitfalls that the newcomer can fall into; maybe it’s better to hire a guide!

Or Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481

Every day we get one step closer to true AI. Every day, AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and increasingly more so actual Robots are growing sophistication. As technology becomes more advanced, it slowly creeps into our everyday lives, replacing humans at simple (and not so simple) tasks.

Sure technological advances almost always result in job loss in one sector. But prior to the digital era, humans were still needed for most tasks. What do we do in an age when the AI can write the hard hitting journalism? When Robots can not just build, but design? What happens when consumers can order groceries with a verbal command, and have it delivered by a drone?

Much of this is already taking place and this conversation is happening everywhere. Most economists and Industry Tycoons are asking some form of following questions: in world where everything is automated, what happens to humans? What happens to basic capital generation? How does the average worker make money in world where basic jobs are gone?

This is a legitimate question – after all, with mechanical automation replacing a human workforce, unemployment will be around 90-95%. How will anyone make money in world where the biggest cost (labor) is essentially eliminated? How will people make money in the future without these jobs we see as the core of our economy?

Ideally, this would mean that all of humanity finds peace, that robotic innovations eliminate hunger and disease, that every human on the planet becomes free of want. Without hunger or thirst, with all needs met, humans can feel free to pursue whatever makes them happy.

Or we could be realistic. The whole basis of our economic system is that humans want more than just their basic needs met. What people value changes from person to person, from culture to culture, but at the end of the day, everybody wants something more than just a full belly and warm bed.

Some people believe that this will drive even further the wealth inequality gap. Others, such as Elon Musk, argue for the need to humanity to embrace cybernetics as a legitimate evolutionary path. But we wanted to take a different angle to the central question here: how will people make enough in a world where most human labor (from manufacturing to designing, and even to actual programming) is non-existent?

We wanted to look at this and see what are the practical, actionable steps that can be taken. What can entrepreneur do to ensure their own wealth generation in a changing world? More importantly, how can it be done by the average person, the most vulnerable group to these changes in the Labor Market?

The answer is simpler than one might expect: Software. Imagine if someone knew what routes the railroads in the 19th century would take, before the railroad companies themselves knew? Buying up the land would cost pennies – and could be sold to the railroads at exorbitant prices.

That’s where we are with Robotics, AI, and the IoT. It’s quite clear that the economic future lies in owning software and hardware (as opposed to property). If you can’t control the production itself, control the means. In this case that means custom built software.

Software controls all, a fact with which our programmers are exceptionally familiar. But the ideal venture would be something that grows with the times. Because software is different than property in that it’s easy to update, to add extensive value, to grow with the times. This is important because it means that the owner would be able to generate a sustainable cash flow.

So if software is the key to Future wealth, what are the features needed to create a successful product? Let’s take a look:

• The Cloud

This seems like a weird non-sequitur, but having a cloud-based system is vital. Not only is it more secure, but it means more rapid deployment of updates and features (and thus the ability to rapidly deliver enhanced value). If you want your business to be nimble, fluid, and able to respond quickly, you must be on the Cloud.

• Machine Learning

The entire premise of modern AI is that it records and analyzes user data in order to become smarter. Digital Personal Assistants like Siri, or the more recent Home AIs utilize Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to become more sophisticated, to grow in value every time they’re used.

• Robust Marketing Strategy

This is nuts and bolts stuff. Some programming stuff (i.e. SEO), but as it becomes clearer that software is the next gold mine, the market will become thick with competition. You have to hit the ground running with a robust marketing campaign, even if you’re a B2B service.

• A Clear Message

As we mentioned in the above point, the market for software will become flooded. The best way to avoid this problem is to identify what exact problem you’re attempting to tackle (Start small, grow big), figure out precisely how you’re going to solve it – and then boil it down into a 30 second speech (AKA an Elevator Pitch) that’s clear, concise and explains the benefits you offer. Focus on those benefits – people don’t care how cool your model is. They want to know what they get out of it.

So want to get started but not sure how? Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us! We offer a free consultation, so we’ll even help flesh out some killer business ideas. Look forward to talking to you soon!

No matter what services your business provides, no matter what size your organization is, or if you target local consumers or global, a website is a mandatory step in achieving success. A website is what enables modern consumers to find your business; more importantly, a well designed website will turn visitors into paying customers.

As mentioned above, even businesses targeting local markets can help. A website provides an easy way to inform your clientele of news, changes, and updates to services. Plus it helps expand their market reach to national or even global levels – without costing you an arm and a leg.

A website is basically a marketing outreach platform, a visitor conversion tool, a brand image, and even a way to tell potential customers what your business is all about. The thing about a website is that it’s a dynamic tool, meant to solve common problems associated with all businesses.

But as anyone can tell you, plenty of websites don’t make it. They disappear into the dark nether regions of the webs, causing more harm than good. So how does one avoid this? How does one create a website that gets the attention a business needs and deserves? There are many different schools of thought on this subject, all with pros and cons. Today, we will cover a few of them on a case by case basis.

Do-it-Yourself

There are a lot of tools out there that allow people to quickly build a website, with no coding experience necessary. They allow businesses to select from a base design template, maybe even some few options to help specific businesses.

♦ Pros

○ DIY websites are really inexpensive. Like really inexpensive. From the actualyt development to hosting, DIY is the most upfront budget conscious option.

○ Little to no coding knowledge is necessary. Most of the coding has been done and just needs to be selected.

♦ Cons

○ The age-old truth of cheap is no less accurate here: you’re sacrificing functionality for price. There are a whole host of web activities required to running a successful website, many of them requiring months to years of work both before and after launch. DIY websites are like buying a prebuilt shed from Home Depot: if you’re just using it to store some tools, it’s great. But if you’re looking to live in one, there are some really necessary elements missing from that shed. Search Engine Optimization, ongoing Social Media Marketing activities, Content Optimization, Long-tail Keyword Research – theses are things a website needs to be truly successful;

○ Maintenance is necessary. If you go the DIY route, you may need to completely redo your website every time a major update in programming or design changes. If you hire a web developer, maintenance can be ongoing, ensuring compliance with major tech changes.

♦ Conclusions

If you’re just blogging for fun, or playing around with a website, the DIY option is great. It’s inexpensive, low key, and simple. But if you want to unlock the true potential of your online capabilities, you probably want to hire a web development company or hire full time staff.

Hiring web developers as permanent employees is another common option business face. There are plenty of developers out there looking for a job and many of them are willing to work inexpensively.

♦ Pros

○ In terms of rapidity of response, hiring a full time staff member is the best. After all, they will be there 40 hours a week, right? So if something goes wrong or if you need to make changes, you have someone right there;

○ DIY websites lock yourself into what features are offered; hiring either a development company or a full time web developer allows business owners to go beyond cookie-cutter websites;

♦ Cons

○ This is the most expensive option (in the long term) we will discuss here. The actual expense varies (Building from the ground up will cost the most, while using a CMS/Web framework like WordPress will be the least expensive), but hiring a full time employee is an ongoing expense. You could let the web developer go once your website is completed, but then maintenance and updating will fall behind. This cost is compounded if your project requires more than one developer.

○ Unless your website is in constant flux, or has a crazy amount of features, there will be many hours post-launch where your developer doesn’t have a lot on his plate – but you still have to pay them.

♦ Conclusions

This is the option you need if you’re massive company with a lot of IT infrastructure. But if you aren’t then this will be cost-prohibitive.

A Development Partner

Hiring a development company like SDI might be the most popular option for Small to Medium sized businesses, and even some larger businesses. This option attempts to thread the needle between website capabilities and cost.

♦ Pros

○ Development companies have a massive pool of experience from which they can draw. If you hire a developer or two as permanent employees, you are limited to the experience they get from you, as well as past projects. Development companies like SDI work on hundreds of development projects a year, providing experience throughout many industries and sectors. Plus, a good web development company will chose developers with experience tailored to your project.

○ The best web development companies offer either an Annual Maintenance Contract, or blocks of hours for various programming work. This is a great way to offset issues with ongoing maintenance and updating. Plus, it can be combined with many DIY tools to create a very inexpensive but effective tool for business growth.

♦ Cons

○ While development companies generally respond very quickly, a full time staff is obviously quicker;

○ You have to vet your partner well. Get in touch with them, talk to them about their past projects, their development principles, and their design approach. While good companies are upfront about all of this, there’s always a risk.

Hiring a development partner is the preferred option of thousands of SMBs for a reason. It offers an excellent balance between cost and effectiveness. But If you have a business that employs thousands around the globe, having a full time IT staff is probably (though not definitely) a better option. On the flip side, if you’re business employs one (i.e. you) and you needs something simple – like a blog – then hiring a developer is pretty expensive, especially since DIY websites can easily achieve this.

We’ve striven to be relatively balanced here, but we have an obvious dog in this fight. That being said, we do believe we are an excellent option. We offer everything from development to marketing to ongoing maintenance – for companies as large as PepsiCo to as small as the local realtor. Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

Most of our clients come to us because they want to make money. Sure, most of them are also excited about their new business, and many of them want to improve the lives of others as well as themselves. But, as is so often a tenant of tech enterprises, it’s hard to get to substantial revenue generation.

Many tech businesses, like apps, websites, and software don’t reach monetization like brick and mortar businesses. Think about it: SnapChat was just valued at somewhere between $20 and $25 billion. Its revenue, while substantial (about $100 million in 2015, and an expected revenue of $300 million) is hardly worth a 25 billion.

SnapChat is worth so much because of the number of daily active Users. The company is worth so much because it represents access to 140 million plus people. But having a massive userbase isn’t the only way to make money in this business – in fact it’s one of the hardest. While it’s doable, it requires constant vigilance and a wellmade, long term viral marketing plan.

There are some other common tricks to monetization as well:

♦ Ad Modules;

Ad modules, while legitimate ways of making money, can be annoying (especially if you don’t have a good design team) some users. Plus, it typically generates only a small amount of data. This is best used in conjunction with other methods, or with a very light hand.

♦ In-app purchases;

In-app purchases are an excellent way of making money. If you have an exceptionally engaging app (like a Game App), in-app purchases are one of the best ways to make money. However, it can be unreliable and is no way to ensure a consistent revenue,

This is another common way to make money in our world and can be an effective way to make some cash, especially when you find the right buyer. However, even the most secure systems make users nervous and can actually deter both other users.

But the big one, the unsung hero of the tech world is the Subscription model. Subscription models can, when done right, make website and app owners buckets of cash. There are several key benefits to a subscription model:

• Consistent, reliable, substantial revenues. Unlike in-app purchases, you’re guaranteed a certain level of monthly income. This is especially important to bootstrapped startups that need the revenue to keep going.

• Businesses that plan on offering a subscription-based model, need to offer a top notch service, or offer something that users can’t find elsewhere. Either way, Successful subscription based companies become something of a Gatekeeper within their own community. This helps not only build your brand (and attract more users through brand recognition) it can also help open the door to other future business opportunities.

• When people are willing to pay for a subscription, they talk about it to their friends. This is even more true in a world where most apps and websites are free (for at least the base level). Paying for an app/web service sticks out; so subscription models can generate a buzz, creating a constant referral system – for free;

Of course, the trick is to make a subscription model that will get people to actually to subscribe. So let’s take a look at some tricks on how to make money with a subscription model.

The Freemium Tier

For most Entrepreneurs and Business Owners, the idea that the majority of your customers will be using your service for free hurts. However, the unfortunate truth is that for most businesses, a freemium tier is a necessity. And moreover, most users will never progress beyond that phase. This isn’t a nail in the coffin though, because a percentage due convert, and that percentage is more than enough to make a substantial income.

The secret to the Freemium tier is to offer services that can’t be too generous, or too conservative. You have to reach that sweet spot, where people find your product useful enough to do some work, while being tantalized by even more advanced service. Plus, a good design can herd a user through the conversion process, making the process simple.

Some services are highly valuable, especially those that are business-to-business. For those businesses, Trial Periods can be very effective. The trick is to not just offer a taste of your services, but to follow up with a rigorous (but not over-the-top) marketing campaign. You need to remind them of how effective your service was (via emails as well as through pop-up notifications) and how effective it can continue to be – if only they were to subscribe.

Higher Tiers Mean Higher Services

If a business wants to convert freemium or trial users into paying members, it needs to offer new or expanded features of greatly increased value. It has to make the need to sign up for a subscription more attractive than not signing up. Trial periods can help drive people to mid-level subscriptions, but in order to get top-tier subscribers, the service needs to be very valuable.

The best way to do this is to offer an expansion in Capacity and in Capability. Capacity could be anything from allowing more users to allowing more projects in the system (depends on the service offered). Capability means that the service offered has more features or better analytics, or really any new or improved feature that allows a user to do more with the offered service.

So want to start your own subscription-based website, SaaS, or app? Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

Tech and enterprise business have long gone hand-in-hand, with tech supporting and business driving tech innovation. And 2017 won’t be an exception to the rule; in fact, it appears that 2017 will be a big year for tech and business, with some notable changes. Some of these changes will be immediately beneficial (Mixed Reality is one example of this); others may appear to be problematic as they force businesses to innovate – or else.

So, as we do every year, we’re going to discuss our predictions for tech and business in 2017. But first a word on what we won’t be talking about in any depth today: VR/AR/MR or AI. Why? Because we’ve talked a lot about alternate realities already, and their potential impacts on business are already pretty well researched. If you would like to know more about Digital Realities or AI, please check out our blog.

Retailers, Go Mobile or Go bust

Adobe recently released its report on digital retail sales and patterns as of the Close of business, Black Friday. And the numbers (which, by the way, was based off a whopping 24.6 billion visits to shopping websites), if not surprising to those who watch the industry, were impressive, especially when compared to the numbers in the same period for brick-and-mortar stores.

First 91.7 billion dollars worth of online retail sales alone were made on Black Friday. That’s $115 million above what Adobe predicted AND an 11% increase from last year. Now let’s compare that to the numbers from Brick-and-Mortar stores: RetailNext reported that foot traffic at malls dropped nearly 13% as compared to last year. That’s pretty amazing, but not quite as amazing as the fact that sales also dropped nearly 10%.

But again, anyone paying attention to the trends in the last few years would not be overly surprised by this trend. We’ve been seeing the growth of online retail for a while now, and a significant decrease in brick-and-mortar sales is to be expected. The real news to come out of Adobe’s report was the success of Mobile (and of Amazon).

SmartPhones and Tablets accounted for half of all visits to retail websites, coupled with an almost 25% increase in revenue over last year (for a $28.23 billion dollars in total revenue). What’s more important, is that Amazon got 38% of all money spent between the beginning of November and the end of December. The next closest? Best Buy with 3.9%

What does this mean? Well, being Mobile First is clearly 100% necessary. But more than that, it seems that a sole online focus (like Amazon) is more beneficial than have a physical and online retail presence. So, want to build your own mobile-friendly eCommerce site, or an mCommerce app, contact Silicon Valley’s experts today.

Social Media as a Business Model will Grow

Social Media was really the big winner of 2016. Over the past year, App Analytics company Flurry has tracked numerous data metrics, including in-app time. What did they find? A 69% increase as compared to this time last year. This number (derived from a massive sample population of nearly 1 million apps, over 2 billion devices and more than 3 trillion sessions) was driven mostly by Social Media and messaging apps.

Plus, YouTube is introducing new ways for Content Creators to monetize their work; Facebook’s new role in News was widely discussed in this election cycle; and Twitter just partnered with PBS to Live Stream President-Elect Trumps inauguration on January 20th. But the network sites were outperformed by the Messaging Apps.

In fact, the time users spent in Messaging and Social Media app in 2016 increased almost 400% in the last year. This is easily the most staggering statistic we will write about today. Additionally, it is now confirmed that the top four Messaging apps (WhatsApp, FB Messenger, WeChat, and Viber) have damn near 3 billion Monthly Active Users (MAU) between them. This actually outnumbers the number of users on the four largest Social Media sites.

So what does this mean? Well, Messaging apps seem to be the default, go-to app for most of the world. Moreover, it indicates that services operating within a Messaging App ecosystem will grow in demand and popularity. This includes ChatBots, which allow retailers and other businesses to offer in-messaging app services. The most prominent example of this is Facebook’s Messenger, which offers a robust development kit to help retailers and business owners rapidly create a Bot for their organization – call us now to learn more (408.805.0495).

The Death of the Mobile App (or Not)

Another noteworthy result of the aforementioned Flurry report was that mobile apps weren’t doing as well in the last year. Though app usage grew by 11%, Flurry argues that the App Market may have just reached it’s peak. Part of the reason is that though usage grew by 11%, it grew by almost 60% last year.

But, like energy, the business of apps won’t die. It will change into something else. Most things do. First, apps are a broad term for pretty much any sort of human-program interface. In other words, Apps are a User’s door to the internet or web-based services; And yea there are a lot of apps and doors out there. But we still need both.

Plus, there’s a whole vast support network for apps, just like doors: APIs, Marketing, Data Analytics, ChatBots (especially with how well Messaging apps are doing), algorithms and more are all needed to make apps successful. Business Infrastructure is always an excellent enterprise venture, especially when you have access to a premiere app development company.

So, whether you want to start your own app empire, or build an app infrastructure company. SDI can help. Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

Consumer Electronic Show (CES) is one of the biggest trade convention in tech and CES 2017 was no different. Techies from around the world gathered in America’s Playground (aka Las Vegas), rubbing shoulders with some of the most well known names in tech. We were there too, checking out the newest in tech, and figuring out ways we can use all of this cool new stuff to help our clients.

2016 represented a year of monumental growth for the world of tech and 2017 looks to be even bigger. CES showed off some major new advances and capabilities and point the way to new enterprise ventures in a variety of new fields and sectors. So, let’s dive right in and start talking about the highlights of CES 2017.

1. Alexa

a. The biggest thing about CES 2017 wasn’t even debuted at CES. We’re talking about Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service (AVS) app that accompanies their Smart Speaker, Echo. With possibly over 1000 products at CES capable of supporting Alexa, it’s clear that Amazon is aiming much higher than the just the Smart Home market. They want to be the unifying center for the entire Internet of Things. What about the competition? Well, Microsoft’s Cortana seems to be focusing phones Computers, Apple, with Siri and Homekit simply don’t support the wide array of IoT devices that Alexa does, and Google Home was only just released. While Google (as always) will definitely give Amazon a run for its money, Alexa already has a significant head start.

2. Virtual and Augmented Reality

a. You can’t say you didn’t expect it; VR and AR were the hot ticket items of 2016. It when the internet wasn’t all twitterpated about the US Presidential Race, it was about Oculus, or Pokemon Go, or Gear VR. CES was no different:

i. The Vive VR Headset was debuted a year ago, but HTC upped their game this year with the TPCAST addon. The TPCAST allows Vive Users to go entirely wireless. At $220, it’s pricey, but worth it! HTC wowed our guys even more with small device (Tracker) that allows a user to track pretty much anything in VR. Combined with a massive launch of new VR services (games, movies, trips, everything) it’s clear that HTC is going full boar on the VR thing.

ii. Osterhout Design Group (ODG) just released their new AR/VR glasses, the R8. Unlike competitors (Oculus or Gear VR), R8 is a slim and sleek looking set of glasses, similar to Google Glass. The other good news? 720p vision in both eyes for under a grand.

iii. Want more than some eyewear? How about a full body motorcycle-type VR controller? The Hypersuit was debuted this year and offers a whole new (and totally awesome) way of interacting with a Virtual Reality. Users can experience what it’s like to fly like Superman, without ever leaving the ground.

3. Sony’s Bravia Flagship TV

a. New televisions are always the most anticipated toys of CES. This year, Sony decided to make us all scratch our heads in amazement over their Acoustic Surface technology. What is it? A screen that makes noise. Yup, the sound from a Bravia XBR-A1E is all produced from the screen (and backed by a truly huge subwoofer hidden from sight).

4. Drones

a. Drones were another big part of CES, a clear predictor that this tech is set to take off this year. Let’s take a look at some of our favorites:

i. Ever been out with your Drone and wanted to send it plunging nearly 100 feet underwater? Of course, the inferior technology of last year prevented you from such aquatic delights – thus PowerRay was built. This drone is waterproof, and uses sonar to help fisherman track fish. While currently aimed at recreational fishing, there are other obvious applications, including tracking schools of fish or other aquatic creatures for research purposes, and for military purposes, such as protecting a ship from divers or mines.

ii. Or, you could get a drone that spends most of it’s time looking like a Dinosaur egg. The PowerEgg is literally just that – a four and half pound off-white egg. When you need it to do something, it just pops out of the shell and does it’s drone thing, then goes on back to the shell. While it might be confused for an interesting home decor choice, it’s actually pretty cool. Both the PowerEgg and the PowerRay were built by PowerVision (i’m sensing a theme here).

iii. Strange egg drones and AquaDrones not your thing? How about a drone that looks identical to a bird? And no, it’s not for creeps, spying on people. The RoBird (from Clear Flight Solutions) is being used to help improve Aviation safety. It’s designed to resemble a predator bird, and lets out a truly horrifying noise that scares birds out of an Aviation area.

There were some other truly amazing things at CES – including an awesome new toy from Lego that helps kids to code and program robots (important in a world that needs “New Collar” jobs). But we must wrap up soon and we wanted to cover what all of this means for Tech Startups or entrepreneurs looking to start their own enterprise venture.

First, Virtual Personal Assistants that connect all of your Smart Devices will be a massive growth market in 2017 and beyond. In addition to Alexa, Baidu (Often called China’s Google) released its own AI-based Smart Home Speaker. Plus Google Home is just getting started. There’s still plenty of room for other players in this field. Don’t hesitate!

Next, Robits! In addition to aforementioned drones, there was also a robot to help with household chores. When combined with other advances in robotics of the past few years, it indicates that robots will soon be everywhere. And where there are robots, there need to be apps that help people interface with them!

Finally, Gaming will continue to be huge. With VR/AR popping up everywhere, there’s going to be a huge new market for reinvention of classic games, as well as the need for new ones. Plus, there were several other big Gaming devices at CES, including Razer’s Project Valerie (sweet gaming laptop) and Project Ariana (a Pseudo-VR Projector).

So got an idea? Well, SDI has the development tools you need! Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

Ginni Rometty, the CEO of IBM recently attended a tech summit held by Donald Trump, alongside other Digital leaders. While what exactly occurred at that meeting is still in suspense, but we do know that the day before the meeting Ms. Rometty announced a new hiring spree for IBM. In fact, they are investing in 25,000 jobs in the Hi-Tech Sector, or the so-called New Collar jobs.

There are few companies who have been in the tech game for as long as IBM. While they don’t often make huge splashes like Google, Amazon, or Apple, they’re still one of the biggest players in the industry. From owning probably the most sophisticated Supercomputers in the world (Watson), to being one of the driving behind-the-scenes movers in Tech MFG, IBM is a company the rest of the Tech world watches very closely.

But not only is IBM investing in these New Collar jobs, they’re investing in crossover sectors, like HealthCare. Plus, IBM has also announced that they plan on investing over a billion bucks in the next few years in workforce training. But what does this mean for the Entrepreneur out there? It’s not going out and get a job at IBM.

To be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be able to ferret out opportunities in News like this. This single piece of news alone tells our market analysts three key chances: Tech Education, Workforce Training, and the intersection between Health and Technology.

Education and Technology

Edtech is a massive growth industry. While not necessarily representative of the entire industry, the number of Edtech projects SDI has been hired on has increased quite noticeably in the last year.

Edtech covers everything from Apps to help kids learn how to read, to software systems for colleges. But this section is more about how important EdTech is and will be in the field of training developers and designers of the future. Just like reading and mathematics, coding and programming should be taught as early as primary education.

More to the point, Rometty is paving the way for a new type of skilled worker: in her letter, she clearly stated that many of the positions opening up may not even require a college education. In fact, some estimates already state that nearly a third of IBM’s workforce does not have a college degree. Instead, IBM is focusing on Skill Mastery.

This is in keeping with a new emphasis in California’s k-12 public education system on teaching coding skills. Plus, there is a push in Community Colleges towards offering certifications in programming and software development. All of this means that the need for the teaching tools to help educate kids is growing. So why wait? Contact SDI to build your own EdTech app to teach future coders. The need is there, all that’s wanting are the right tools!

WorkForce Training

I’m going to go ahead and say it: HR Managers don’t get the respect they deserve (and no, I don’t have my Annual review tomorrow…). HRM is a many armed beast that rears its head in pretty much every aspect of any business. It’s a fact of life. But SDI is here to tell you that there is a better way: HRM Software.

For years, we’ve been helping our clients leverage software tools to better manage their employees. We have the tools to help with:

• Job Posting and Recruiting;

• Onboarding and Training;

• Conflict Resolution;

• Reviews;

• Scheduling (including Time Off and Vacation Time);

• Bonuses/Pay Raises;

• Employee Reporting.

With IBM investing so heavily in Workforce Training, the popularity of HRMS systems will grow – and grow quickly. So if you own your own SMB, you may want to consider heavily in pursuing your own HRMS system. Or, a clever entrepreneur could always create their own system, to sell as a subscription to businesses of all stripes!

Health and Technology

As mentioned above, IBM possesses what is arguably the most advanced computer system in the entire world. Watson’s closest competitor? Deep Blue, the computer that recently beat Chess Grand Champion Garry Kasparov. Oh, and IBM owns Deep Blue, too. So when IBM decides to invest in something, the rest of the tech world pays attention.

A significant chunk of those 25k New Collar jobs Ginni Rometty announced are going to be in the intersection between Healthcare and Tech. Not only that, but Watson has taken off it’s Chef hat, moving from the world of Cognitive Cooking and into the world of medicine. IBM just announced that “Dr.” Watson was used to create new development tools for healthcare.

These tools will will turn any Wearable Device into an extremely advanced medical sensor. This has big implications for healthcare – and for tech. The more advanced apps and software for healthcare become, the more these products will be sought after.

The good news is that SDI is once again standing by, ready to help! We have extensive experience in this exact sector, and your app will not be the first we’ve built for healthcare!

No matter what, it’s clear that advanced technology, including apps, software, and even website systems, are only going up and up. Why not get involved in a growth industry that’s already worth trillions of dollars every year. No matter what you want to build or develop, SDI is your tech partner. Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

With nearly 20 years in the business, SDI has seen it all – which startups do it right and which don’t, which entrepreneurs have it in the bag, and which entrepreneurs missed their golden opportunity. This extensive experience gives an insight that only a select few development companies have.

In other words, we know how to run a successful startup, from app marketing to website development and even comprehensive custom software development. We know how the world of Tech operates – because we are an integral part of this world. From Silicon Valley, to London, to Melbourne, we’ve helped startups go from dreams to wildly successful realities.

However, we talk on this blog a lot about what entrepreneurs should be doing, so we thought we would change it up. Today we’re going to cover what are some common mistakes Startups make – and how we help our clients avoid them. So without further ado, here are the 3 most dangerous mistakes we see the most often.

But before we start, we should mention that Startups rarely ever fail because of the idea. Enterprise venture fail for a whole variety of reasons, but the idea is just the kernel, a seed that will sprout – as long as it gets the nourishment it needs. So if you have an idea, get in touch with our experts to learn how you can make it a smash success.

The Business Plan

There are several elements that necessarily go into a business plan:

1. The service or product you’re offering;

2. Your target market;

3. How to reach product/service launch;

4. How to scale;

5. And the most important step – how to monetize.

This all sounds pretty basic, but more startups trip up here than anywhere else. Let’s take this a point at a time. First, you may have a great product or service; it may solve a glaring problem; but that doesn’t mean it’s sustainable. In other words, your idea is a business. It’s just the start of one. A business means adding constant and current value, not a stagnant service. It your startup isn’t evolving, it’s dying.

Your Target Market is obviously vital to a successful business, so extensive research into this is absolutely necessary. Who is best served by your product? Who needs your product or service, but doesn’t know it? Many entrepreneurs just try to launch, assuming that the awesomeness of your app, website, or software will just naturally trickle down. It won’t.

Launching your product or service is obviously a critical step and preparing for it is about more than just being aware of your resources. At SDI, we have a whole checklist of prelaunch steps that have almost nothing to do with the actual coding or programming itself. Everything from using beta testing groups to intrigue key influencers to generating a social media buzz to get people excited about your startup

Scaling goes all the way back to our first point on adding constant value to your startup. We pretty much covered this, so we will only lightly touch on it. But basically it’s essential to know how you can improve and add value to your product or service from the get-go. So when you write your business plan, make your growth goals clear.

How you will reach Monetization is another thing that you need to know from the beginning. There are a variety of different options startups can use to reach monetization, often changing depending upon which platform your startup operates (app, website, custom software, or any combination of the three).

Common Mistake #2: Thinking You Know Best

Often the temptation many entrepreneurs and Startup founders face is to ignore data, or not realizing that their startup succeeds only when users start, well, using the product or service. Occasionally, we see clients who think that they know best; after all, look at what they’ve accomplished by following their own counsel, or by their own grit.

And that’s very true – a startup gets no where without a strong leader at the helm. But here’s a piece of advice for free: it’s not about you. I’m going to say that again, in a different font so you really get the point: it’s not about you. If you want a successful startup, you need to:

A. Think about the what the best value your startup provides to your end customer’s perspective. What is the best feature to the user, not to you. Sure your app has some of the best written code out there – but the average user couldn’t care less. Seriously. They care that it performs quickly flawlessly and it meets their needs.

B. Trust the data. Spend the money to have good data analytics (including Artificial Intelligence for Smart Business Management) that give you full control over your business – and then trust that data!!!

Common Mistake #3: Trying to do it all

This is heavily related to mistake #2 but delegating is a big, big problem. You need to learn to delegate. Startup Founders especially have a hard time with this one. Again, they’ve reached where they are in their lives because of their own skill and determination.

It’s that whole saying “if you want something done right, do it yourself.” But you don’t know everything in the world, and you simply can’t master every aspect of your business. Plus you hired your people, so trust yourself to have chosen wisely. Learn to delegate and to recognize when you’re out of your depth is key to succeeding in this world.

Delegating include knowing when to hire outside help for your development and Marketing needs. SDI is the team you want on your side, saving you money without requiring you to employ a full-time development team. Think about it: Development doesn’t have to be an ongoing expense. By hiring SDI, you get 200+ programmers with extensive coding experience and superior skills. By hiring SDI, you get experience when you need it, and burning through your budget with a full time staff that isn’t needed.

Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!