January 2023 - Upscalix

Fascinating Benefits of Mobile Apps for Business that Can Help Your Business Grow

Posted on January 24, 2023January 31, 2023 by Khonita Nur Fitri

Rapid technological advancements in recent years have resulted in dramatic changes in today’s mobile phone technology. Since people are more glued to mobile phones nowadays, It offers an incredible opportunity for businesses to reach their target audience through mobile apps. So, what are the benefits of mobile apps for business?

With the increasing number of smartphone users, custom software in the form of mobile apps have become a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their customers, improve communication, and increase sales.

According to Statista, the user of mobile phone in Australia are constantly on the rise. In 2017, 17.19 million people used their mobile phone to access the internet. In 2022, the users of mobile phone rose to 19.27 million people. Can you imagine how big the impacts that mobile app gives to your company are?

If it’s still blurred for you to figure out how mobile apps can leverage your business, we will make you feel relieved. This article will discuss the benefits of mobile apps for businesses, including how they can increase customer engagement, improve customer service, and boost sales.

Benefits of Mobile Apps for Business

Why do you need to consider creating a mobile app for your business? Because it can give you some good things, such as:

Increasing Customer Engagement

One of the significant benefits of mobile apps for businesses is that they can increase customer engagement. Mobile apps provide an easy and convenient way for customers to interact with your business.

By using push notifications, businesses can send targeted messages to customers, reminding them of deals and promotions and encouraging them to purchase.

Additionally, mobile apps provide customers with easy access to your business’s products or services, making it more likely that they will make a purchase.

Improving Customer Service

Next, we’re talking about one of the benefits of mobile apps for the customer: they can improve customer service. Mobile apps give customers easy access to your business’s customer service team, making it more likely that they will reach out for help when needed.

Responsiveness is the ultimate key in customer-oriented service such as e-commerce. The faster you can reach your customers, the more satisfied they will be.

Furthermore, you can integrate mobile apps with chatbots that will leverage your customer’s level of satisfaction. It will provide customers with quick and efficient help without waiting for a customer service representative.

Those things will be difficult to achieve if you rely on an e-commerce website only for your business.

Increasing Brand Awareness

Mobile apps can also increase brand awareness for your business. A mobile app will make your business visible on the customer’s home screen, reminding them of your brand and products every time they use their phone.

Additionally, mobile apps can be integrated with social media, making it easy for customers to share your business with their friends and family.

Boosting Sales

Mobile apps can also boost sales for your business. Mobile apps provide customers with easy access to your business’s products or services, making it more likely that they will make a purchase.

Moreover, mobile apps can be interesting with features such as loyalty programs and coupons, encouraging customers to make repeat purchases.

Enhancing Data Collection

Mobile apps allow businesses to collect customer behavior, preferences, and demographic data. This information can improve marketing strategies, product development, and customer service. By collecting data through mobile apps, businesses can better understand their target audience and tailor their efforts to serve them better.

Cost-effective Marketing

Mobile apps also provide a cost-effective way to market your business. By creating a mobile app, businesses can reach their target audience at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing methods. Additionally, mobile apps can be integrated with features such as push notifications and in-app purchases, allowing businesses to reach their customers in a more targeted and effective way.

Conclusion

In conclusion, mobile apps offer a wide range of benefits for businesses of all sizes, from small businesses to enterprises. They can increase customer engagement, improve customer service, boost sales, increase brand awareness, enhance data collection, and provide cost-effective marketing.

If your business still needs to get a mobile app, it may be worth considering developing one to take advantage of these benefits and stay competitive in today’s digital landscape. Never worry about its price tag since it has various mobile apps that you can choose based on your budget, such as native, hybrid, or progressive web apps.

If you need help deciding what to choose, Upscalix can help you to pick the best one. Upscalix is a Melbourne-based digital company with years of experience in mobile app development.

We have a bunch of experts from UI/UX designers, developers, QA, and other supported divisions that can help you from the start to the end. Ring us up now and make your business more awesome!

Beginner’s Guide of Custom Software Development: Find Out What is It, Benefit, How it Works, and Its Types

Posted on January 17, 2023February 1, 2023 by Khonita Nur Fitri

In the era of fast technology and connection, creating software or application that meets the needs of your business is essential to survive among the business competition. Hence, this is a time for custom software to shine. So, what is custom software development?

In this article, we’ll dig deeper into the custom software development definition and examples, the difference between packed software, its benefit for business, and its types.

So, if you are interested in leveling up your business with this kind of technology or just broadening your knowledge, keeping on reading this article is a wise thing to do.

What is Custom Software Development?

Customised software, also known as custom software development, is the process of creating software that is tailored to the specific needs of a particular business or organisation.

Examples of custom-made software are automated invoicing, e-commerce software solutions, content management systems (C.M.S.), customer relationship management systems (CRM), etc.

In other words, custom software development focuses on creating solutions designed to meet a particular client’s unique requirements rather than developing software intended for general use, A.K.A. off-the-shelf software.

Custom Software Development and Off-the-shelf Software?

The main difference between custom software can be seen in their name. Custom software is tailored only for you and ready to level up your business. While off-the-shelf is made for millions of people who serve similar businesses.

Their definition will also impact the pricing, implementation time, and flexibility. The custom-made solution is more expensive, a longer time to implement, but it has high flexibility.

In other words, the ready-made solution is cheaper and faster to implement but has no room for improvement, so it feels less flexible.

Why is Custom Software Development Important?

Custom software development is essential for several reasons. First and foremost, it allows businesses and organisations to create software tailored to their specific needs. In which, it can help them improve their overall efficiency and productivity.

By creating software specifically designed to meet the unique requirements of a particular business, custom made solution can help company streamline their operations.

Also, it can automate specific tasks and ultimately saving you time and money.

Another critical benefit of custom software development is that it allows your company to create unique and distinct software from their competitors.

It can be especially beneficial for businesses that operate in highly competitive industries, as it can help them stand out from the crowd and gain a competitive advantage.

How Does Custom Software Development Work?

A custom software development company typically begins with gathering requirements and understanding the client’s specific needs. Typically, it involves conducting research, interviews, and workshops with key stakeholders and end users to understand their needs and pain points.

Once the requirements have been gathered, the development team will begin designing and developing the software. It typically involves creating wireframes and mockups of the software, writing code, and testing the software to ensure that it is functional and meets the client’s requirements.

Throughout the development process, the development team will work closely with the client to ensure that the software meets their needs and that any issues or concerns are addressed promptly. Once the software is complete, it will typically go through a process of testing and quality assurance to ensure that it is free of bugs and meets the client’s requirements.

Types of Custom Software Development

Custom software development can take on many forms, depending on the client’s needs and the project’s goals. Some common types of custom solution development include:

Web Application Development

It’s a software creating process that is designed to run on the web. It can include various applications, from simple websites to complex web-based systems such as online stores, content management systems, and customer relationship management (CRM) systems, etc.

Mobile Application Development

Mobile application development is a process of creating software that is designed to run on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. It can include various applications, from simple games to complex enterprise-level systems.

Desktop Application Development

Desktop application development is the process of creating software that is designed to run on a desktop or laptop computer. It includes various applications, such as Windows File Explorer, Adobe Photoshop, Skype, Discord, etc.

Embedded Systems Development

Embedded systems development is creating software designed to run on a specific type of hardware, such as a microcontroller or embedded system. It can include various applications, from simple sensor networks to industrial control systems.

Takeaways

Creating custom software development can help you build, manage and maintain your business effectively. It can highlight your unique selling points (U.S.P.), boost productivity, and accommodate your outstanding services.

List what you need and its outcome first before calling someone to build your custom software. Because you don’t want to throw your money in vain by having unnecessary software, aren’t you?. When you feel too much to think, Upscalix is ready to help you.

Upscalix, a Melbourne-based software company, has expertise in developing, and maintaining custom software from various business scales and categories. We help our clients from scratch until they feel its benefit.

If you’re interested in what we do, call us immediately, and we’ll reach you ASAP!

Best E-Commerce Platforms for Small Business and Why They are So Hot!

Posted on January 10, 2023February 21, 2023 by Khonita Nur Fitri

As a small business owner, you are aware that every decision you make has the potential to make a big impact on your brand. Choosing the best e-commerce platforms for small businesses is no exception.

Choosing which platform is best for your business from the many alternatives available can take time and effort. In this article, we’ll outline the top contenders and provide helpful tips for making your decision.

One of the most widely used digital store platforms for small businesses is Shopify. With a user-friendly interface and a wide range of features, it’s easy to see why.

Best E-Commerce Platforms for Small Businesses

Here is some best e-commerce web builder that you can choose to grow your brand. We also add the reasons why you should choose them over another. Get curious? Check them out!

Shopify: A Proven Leader in E-Commerce

Shopify is a cloud-based platform that allows you to create an online store to sell your products. It’s one of many best e-commerce platforms that offers a variety of customisable templates, a secure checkout process, and integrations with popular payment gateways such as PayPal and Stripe.

One of the biggest benefits of using Shopify is the extensive app store, which allows you to add additional functionality to your store, such as email marketing, product reviews, and abandoned cart recovery. It means you can tailor your store to meet the specific needs of your business.

Shopify also offers a range of plans to suit different budgets and needs. The basic plan starts at just $29 per month, while the advanced plan includes features such as advanced report building and abandoned cart recovery for $299 per month.

Pros and Cons

Despite these benefits, it’s important to note that Shopify does have some downsides. One potential drawback is the transaction fees for certain plans. While the basic plan has no transaction fees, the more advanced plans charge a fee for each sale. You need to consider it if you have a high volume of sales. Additionally, Shopify offers less control over server-side features than other platforms.

Shopify is a solid choice for small businesses and is the best e-commerce platform for drop shipping. It’s user-friendly, customisable, and offers many features and integrations. Successful businesses using Shopify include Kylie Cosmetics, ColourPop Cosmetics, Pura Vida, and Allbirds.

WooCommerce: The Best Choice for WordPress Users

If you already have a WordPress website, WooCommerce is a great e-commerce platform to consider. It’s a plugin allowing you to easily add an online store to your existing WordPress site.

WooCommerce is free to use and offers many features, including managing multiple products and categories, tracking inventory, processing payments, and tracking orders. It also integrates seamlessly with popular WordPress plugins such as Yoast SEO and Gravity Forms.

Pros and Cons

One of the biggest advantages of using WooCommerce is the large user community, which means you can easily find support and resources online. Additionally, because it’s a plugin, you have more control over the server-side features of your store.

However, it’s important to note that WooCommerce requires self-hosting, so you’ll need to purchase a domain and hosting plan to use the platform. It may be more expensive upfront compared to some other e-commerce platforms. Additionally, you may need to purchase additional plugins to add certain features to your store.

Overall, WooCommerce is one of the best e-commerce platforms for small businesses with a WordPress website and is comfortable with a bit of technical setup. Successful businesses using WooCommerce include Busted Tees and Know Your Company.

Magento: The Best Option for Large-Scale Enterprises

For larger businesses, Magento is a powerful e-commerce platform to consider. It’s built in PHP, and it was released in 2008. Besides, it smoothly incorporates well-known websites such as Google, Etsy, eBay, and Amazon; Magento is one of the best e-commerce platforms for small businesses because it has many benefits you’ll love as a business owner.

Pros and Cons

It’s an open-source platform, which means you have complete control over the code and can customise it to meet the specific needs of your business. You’re free to choose the hosting service. It supports a responsive mobile design, multi-platform integration multi-platform integration, SEO friendly, and speedy website loading.

Another thing that makes Magento so awesome for building an online store is that it supports omnichannel or hybrid marketing, which is the future of marketing. Its features are analytics and reporting, payment and shipping, order management, marketing and promotional tools, catalogue management, product browsing, etc.

Those features make Magento one of the best e-commerce platforms for clothing and apparel. Big e-commerce shops, such as Ford, Landrover, Samsung, Nike, etc., use it for their digital store.

Unfortunately, everything has a flaw, and so does Magento. Since it can support omnichannel, it has a complex system to build, which leads to a high cost of development. You need to hire a strong, skillful team of developers and testers to build it. Magento is a great option for creating a big store that provides a seamless customer experience through multiple channels.

BigCommerce: An All-in-One Solution for Growing Brands

Taken from Bigcommerce.com

If you plan to have a business with complex products or needs, BigCommerce is the best choice since it provides an all-in-one e-commerce solution: web hosting, database, tool for designing, shipping &tax calculation, etc.

What is BigCommerce? It’s a Saas (Software as a Service) that uses cloud hosting and allows users to use it without buying or downloading anything. Its monthly price ranges from AUD 44 for the standard plan, AUD102 for the standard plan, and 426 for the Pro plan, and it creates a quote for the Enterprise plan.

Pros and Cons

What’s good about BigCommerce? Aside from how well it integrates with Paypal, Amazon, eBay, Google Shopping, Walmart, etc., it has many good things for your e-commerce.

First, it offers many features as its standard than other e-commerce platforms so that you can save more money for your business. Next, adding your products to the web is as easy as snapping your hand. Also, it supports SEO, provides reporting tools, and has no transactional fee.

The No-no thing is the annual sales threshold applied, which means if you exceed your plan limit, your plan will automatically be upgraded. The next disadvantage is that it has limited themes; it doesn’t support multilingual options, subscription features, and marketing tools, so you need to pay third-party app if you want to use it.

In conclusion, Bigcommerce is a one of the best e-commerce platforms that provides powerful e-commerce platform rich in features. However, it’s a big no-no if you want to use drop shipping or sell your products in multiple languages.

Other Platforms to Consider

Besides those mentioned above, other platforms can be good options for small businesses as well, and they are:

Squarespace

Many users love Squarespace’s user-friendly template, interface, and interactive and intuitive sleek design. It’s a perfect choice for you who focus on the website’s visuals or want to work on SEO. However, the bad side is it needs more customisation choices.

WIX

Another choice of one of the best e-commerce platforms for small businesses is Wix. It’s enriched with many super-friendly templates that many website beginners will love. The downside is the features could be more extensive. No analytic or reporting tools, many hidden fees, and some say it needs better customer support.

Takeaway

Those are some best of e-commerce platforms that you can choose to grow your brand. One thing that you must remember is nothing is perfect. Every platform has pros and cons, so you better have a clear image of what you want to achieve.

Researching and testing before committing is the wisest way to do it. You can come to us if you need help figuring out where to head. We, Upscalix, a Melbourne-based digital company, help you to find out what matters the most.

We know business and technology, so we can determine what e-commerce platforms suit your needs. Besides building e-commerce, we’re also great in design, testing, development, and maintenance, whether for custom software, website, or mobile development.

Reach us right now to start the journey to create your e-commerce. Or if you want to do some research by reading. We have many articles about e-commerce, mobile development, website, and other technology that will enlighten your mind. Also, remember to subscribe to get our updates.