The legal aspects of launching a pharma app

Posted on February 24, 2022September 4, 2023 by Adina Humayoon

Medical applications and devices usually have a separate fanbase amongst the audience. Not only do they cater to many users’ pet peeves of reducing hospital and pharmacy visits, but they also provide accurate results. Health and pharmacy apps have been a source of great help throughout the pandemic by reducing the hefty visits to a pharmacy and standing in long queues to get even the basic medicines of sorts.

As stated, as much as it makes a citizen’s life simple, creating a pharmacy app and getting it right the first time is extremely tricky. A lot of aspects find themselves involved if words like healthcare, pharmacy, or medicine are a part of it.

If any mobile app is fulfilling a medical purpose, according to the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration), it is subject to getting approval from the FDA to launch in the market.

“If a mobile app is intended for use in performing a medical device function (i.e., for diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or the cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease) it is a medical device and therefore subject to FDA oversight.”

This is true by all means because most of the applications found on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store do enable users to use their mobile phones as medical devices with the assistance of these applications. So naturally, FDA has to intervene to maintain its guidelines and regulations.

With that said, the FDA is not the only legal aspect that a pharma app development company has to follow. The company does not have much choice, as the health regulator’s approval is necessary for it to pass through to the right audience.

If you are new to the healthcare industry or are looking forward to creating an impactful product in the healthcare sector with a digital healthcare solution like a pharmacy application, then these are some of the legal factors you must abide by before pushing the final product out in the market.

What Legal Aspects Do You Need to Consider Before Launching a Pharm App?

HIPAA

HIPAA, also known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, is a federal law that revolves around protecting the patient’s sensitive information from being disclosed. This information consists of the ones users have entered on your application while creating an account or placing an order for their medical and pharmaceutical needs.

HIPAA’s involvement in a healthcare and pharma application is something that will be inevitable now or in the future after you have developed your application. It is wise not to rely on any app developers to keep your application in compliance with HIPAA regulations and to understand the data aspects of the application themselves.

It’s smart and safe to plan ahead when creating pharmacy apps or other healthcare apps that require you to insert information linked to your medicinal history. Complying with the HIPAA regulations from the initial stages of pharma app development will keep you on track regarding the security rules and disclosures to prevent you from breaching any HIPAA laws due to your application.

Sales tax

Healthcare applications that revolve around the concept of buying and selling, like online pharmacy apps, must comply with the sales tax allocated for each product by the government. You, as an owner, must be familiar with the tax situation of your state and the ones from where you are generating your supplies.

Not all states follow the same tax laws, so a thorough investigation of each product is necessary. Some taxes may be high, some low, so in order to stay up to date on your tax returns and avoid trouble with the authorities over your it, complete your research on all ends and conduct your online business accordingly.

Privacy laws (National and International)

Most pharma apps have their bases defined when it comes to the location and the geographical reach of their company. But this comes after close consideration of all the aspects that are involved in the vast reach of the application and its audience. It is common for pharmacy apps to see the light of day in states other than their own, so software development applications have to keep a keen eye on all the legal technicalities involved.

The state/country’s privacy laws, tax laws, and financial regulations must be considered. If the app is operating and conducting sales in other states, it must abide by their privacy laws regarding the seller, buyer, and patient themselves.

The healthcare regulatory environment

Healthcare authorizations and regulations go far beyond the FDA or HIPPA. Apart from the regional and international laws, pharma app development companies must prepare themselves for other regulators with whom they may have never interacted before.

Healthcare applications and online medical apps tend to make developers vulnerable to further investigation and checks and balances. If your health care app takes a leap onto the internet, you may subject yourself to the rules of various third-party companies, even those of the Federal Trade Commission’s Rules and Regulations, so always be prepared for the unseen.

FAQs for Legal aspects of launching a pharma app

Medical apps that attempt to perform functions of a medical device are the ones that FDA regulates. Other than that, applications that are used to monitor medical records, patient care, educational and medical training, and so on are not bound by FDA regulators.

Pharmaceutical regulations are for the safety and well-being of the patient and the medical staff itself. These regulations perform a check and balance on the drugs that are launched in the market along with their quality control and usage.

Mobile app development timeline 2022: A realistic perspective

Posted on January 22, 2022June 6, 2024 by Adina Humayoon

When we talk about the app development timeline, clients usually tend to underestimate it and give out an unexpected time limit to the software development houses in terms of creating a mobile application.

While each application is different from the others, the outline and the architectural framework that goes into it are somewhat similar in all cases. What differentiates them from each other is the intricate details and codes that go into the creations, the factors that make the application unique and special. This is where the actual hard work begins.

If you are wondering how long does it take to develop an app, then there is a lot that goes into the creation of an application. To make things easier for you all, we have created a complete app timeline that usually a custom software development company follows when given a mobile application development.

Developing an idea from scratch into a full-fledged and functional product is something that is labor-intensive and requires a ton of resources as well, so it requires time, attention, and complete care, which will turn it into an amazing product.

If you are wondering, how do you create a timeline for an app? Then the average software development timeline consists of the following phases, and each of these phases is locked into a specific and realistic timeframe, which are as follows:

Mobile App Development Timeline – An Overview

Ideation & Formation: 1 – 2 Weeks

Toss around ideas until you agree on the one that fits best for your brand and validate it with the help of our top consultants, and appropriate discovery workshops. You can also walk through a mobile app RFP document to better understand the requirements of a mobile app development project.

Research: 1 – 2 Weeks

With appropriate research, plan the best course of action for your app, that is sorting through your competitors and finding a unique factor with suitable functionality.

Features & Functionality: 1 – 2 Weeks

Next in line is sorting through the technical factors and selecting the appropriate platform, suite, and tools for your app to shine through the crowd.

Software development: 3 – 6 Months

With all the research, planning, and features in place, the framework and development phase begins. This includes the UX-UI design, frontend, and backend development for the entire project which may take a few months to complete altogether.

QA Testing: 3 – 6 Weeks

An app is never ready without undergoing a thorough quality assurance process where all the performance testing and load testing occur. Teams also get rid of any bugs that they may come across.

App Launch: 1 Week

The final week is spent finalizing the nits and bits of the app, and polishing the design and functionality before its release on the app store.

Post-Launch Support & Maintenance: 2 Weeks

While the application is shining through and getting all the love from its customers post-release, we keep a close eye on it to make sure it is functioning flawlessly.

7 Stages of the App Development Process

Typically, the average app development timeline is broken down into these 7 phases, these phases are covering everything, from the beginning to the end. They are as follows:

Idea and Formation: 1-2 Weeks

The beginning of all great projects is an idea. But not every idea gets to see the day’s light, and some areas experimental as they can be. But, it’s good to jump around from one factor to another, and tossing around ideas can be the ultimate way through which you can eventually reach the idea that is meant to be.
As simple as it may seem, a lot goes into the initial plot development and idea formation. You can pick any idea, but when it comes to creating that idea into a full-blown application, there are a ton of things one needs to discard. The practicality and rationality of an idea need to align with the brand, current scenario, and the need for it in general.

Research: 1-2 Weeks

Every idea seems great, until you start researching about it, and find out that you aren’t the first one to come up with it. You’ll find numerous applications on iOS and Android, along with websites that are already doing so much, and successfully, if we may say.

What makes your idea different from theirs? What unique factor do you think of bringing in with your application? If you have a sure short answer for that, then congratulation, you are ready for the next step, which is bringing that idea to life. It’s not as simple as you think it is, because creating functionality from those features that users can understand and utilize is one primary task that we need to succeed in.

At VentureDive, the appropriate time is given when it comes to the research and development of an idea. It is necessary to carefully cater to all these factors to ensure that the plan is foolproof and doe not require any more discussion or edits. Locking things here will give you a clear sense of direction in terms of what features you can introduce in your products and how you can enable those features while aligning to your brand value and product.

Features and Functionality: 1-2 Weeks

After getting all the required research and data aligned with your product, it’s your turn to decide on the features and functionality of your product. When we say features and functionality, it means all the unique factors that you want to be added to your product, all the technical elements that will make your mobile application exquisite and top-notch.

One great factor of planning ahead is the budget estimation that you can provide along with the platform you would prefer for the development of your mobile applications, i.e, Hybrid app development or native and so on. With the selected items, you are ready to move on to the next step, which is the key ingredient in our mobile app development timeline, the actual software development.

Software Development: 3 – 6 Months

After all the pondering and research comes the next big thing in the app development timeline, the development of the architectural framework itself. This is perhaps the longest process in the whole app development timeline, and rightfully so. Software development is no piece of cake, as it needs to be completed with perfection, without the possibility of any bugs or crashes which are some common mistakes that occur during development.

Most brands hire software houses based on how little time they invest in software development, and while we do understand where they are coming from, that is to save as much money as possible, it still doesn’t make sense why would they compromise the quality of the application.

Design (UX UI)

UX and UI design is another crucial phase in the software development timeline that builds an effective system where a user can smoothly navigate through all the processes and effectively complete a task.

A UX designer plans the screens with all the desired keys and buttons that will be involved in completing an action by the potential user. This includes accessing the site to complete a sign-up process or smoothly completing a purchase through various payment methods.

UI designers have the key role to make the application and all the functionalities of the application visually appealing. This factor is achieved by using different sets of color schemes, transitioning effects, animation, font sizes, and graphics, that will bind in to create not only an aesthetically appealing application but one that users can easily navigate around, promoting a great user experience along with the interface.

Backend Development

The backend development consists of all the codes and behind-the-app factors that make the application functional. And it is a long and tedious process that requires a lot of alterations and testing as it goes along the way.

Developers need to mind all the bugs that may be detected during programming and must work on eliminating them at all times. It is necessary to do so because, with a bug-ridden back-end program, the whole foundation of the application will come down crashing, no matter how hard you have worked on the architecture of the software.

A faulty back-end code or the program will topple over all the hard work that Devs have put in on their application development, and even if the mobile application does take off, it won’t survive for long.

Frontend Development

Whatever happens at the back end, is eventually displayed on the front end of any application. It’s what the users see and navigates through when they open the mobile application. Hence front-end developers work hand-in-hand with the UX and UI designers, making it a fully functioning application.

People often mistake front-end development for the basic task of making the application visually appealing, but there’s more to it than one can imagine. Front-end development is no piece of cake because with technological growth, came various tools and technicalities for a developer to get familiar with and later implement effectively on the app.

QA Testing: 3-6 Weeks

Custom software development is incomplete without quality assurance testing. This is the final and perhaps the most important phase in the software development timeline where the final product is evaluated and experimented with end to end to see if it works smoothly or not.

Quality assurance is essential, because designers and developers may not be able to see the glitches in their phases, until and unless all these elements are put together in their complete form and tested on various platforms by multiple quality assurance engineers. This activity will expose all the minor and major bugs and glitches that we may not be able to see prior to this exercise.

Furthermore, quality assurance’s role is to fully study how the users will experience the application when they tune into it, and how they will perceive things from a user’s perspective and experience.

Hence to further enhance the quality of the product, the testing phase is further divided into 3 parts which are as follows:

Performance Testing: Going through all the features and functionality of the application along with its potential to scale and handle numerous users and load at the same time.
Security Testing: To decipher the storage of data in the right places and to detect any date or sensitive information leakages.
Usability Testing: Testing the app on various devices in various settings to check the ability of the app before its final release.

After a thorough review and experimentation of all the versions and using the application on different devices, it is now time to decipher whether the app is fulfilling all the criteria that were set at the beginning and whether you as an owner are satisfied with the hard work and efforts the team has put in to create something so precious, that it may change the way things work in the tech industry in coming years, once publicly released.

App Launch: 1 Week

Now that the application has gone through all the required tests, it’s time to officially launch the application and bring it to the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. For the Apple store, the application has to go through a thorough review by the Apple engineers who test the app based on their guidelines, and if deemed fit, it will appear on the App Store in a couple of days or even a month.

Post-Launch Support & Maintenance: 2 weeks

The final role of any custom software development company is to keep a close eye on the reviews and ratings of the application. The required feedback will allow the company to maintain flow and remove any unexpected bugs immediately. These lessons and reviews will help the development firm to curate an effective expansion plan for the next fold.

Mobile app development timeline – Conclusion

As far as we can tell, this blog has pretty much covered all the factors and answered all the questions that revolve around how long does it take to develop an app and walked you through all the factors and features one needs to look out for when researching about the complete software and app development timeline.

FAQs for Mobile app development timeline

Normally a time frame of 8-10 months is a suitable number to completely develop a mobile application. From the initial idea development to the final deployment of the product.

The 5 core phases of app development are the idea and research, app development, UX UI design, quality assurance, and the final deployment.

The front-end development of any application mostly takes about 6-8 weeks.

Average app development can range from anywhere near $10,000 to $100,000 or even more, depending on your budget, requirements, and the time it takes to create the app.

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5 mistakes not to make when choosing a custom software development partner

Posted on December 13, 2021September 4, 2023 by Adina Humayoon

We went on an extensive bandwagon before this, explaining all the traits of a good custom software development partner and the factors you need to look out for when choosing one for your brand. Meanwhile, there are various aspects that companies do not ponder while looking for the right custom software development partners, and often tend to make mistakes that turn out to be major blunders on their end, costing them hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Blunders like these may not be reversible if too much time has already been invested, but they can be easily avoided right from the beginning. Big contenders in the market tend to avoid these issues, and most of the time, startups and various newly emerged brands – who are in the process of establishing a base – try to get their hands on the first company that fits their budget, which in itself is not the right thing to do.

This is just the tip of the iceberg; you must look for many factors while selecting the best custom software development partner. At the same time, there are some grave mistakes that we should be aware of. Numerous companies looking for outsourcing partners often let go of these factors, thinking of them as insignificant, but they make the most difference. Those are as follows:

Vendor reputation & prior projects
Disdain latest technology & trends
Zero collaboration and communication
Not having a dedicated team
Lack of proper requirements

Common mistakes while choosing a custom software development partner

1. Vendor Reputation & Prior Projects

To be fair, anything done without proper, comprehensive research is doomed for good. To top it off, bringing in an outsourced development team or staff augmentation service should never be done without proper review and analysis; it’ll be an extremely expensive mistake you’ll be making otherwise.

Conducting thorough research not only consists of how long the company has been in the market or its reputation but also how well they have been performing over the years. Their clientele and work ethics are impeccable, to say the least. Read up on what former or current clients have to say about their services and how they are performing with other companies.

If you ask us, research does 99% of your work for you, and finding the best custom software development partners will relieve you of all other issues that would normally come your way.

2. Disdain Latest Technology & Trends

One of the major benefits of outsourcing custom software development companies is the extensive toolset and technologies they have acquired to fulfill their tasks at market-competitive rates and high quality. Keep in mind that these companies should have an updated skill set along with all the latest technologies under their hood, indicating how dedicated the team is to provide an exquisite technological solution for their clients. Anything below that is considered obsolete and below industry standards.

Hence, never fall for companies that may possess a good outer aura but are way behind on their trends and skills. Better technology vows better and more advanced skills that users will definitely enjoy, and it will be prone to scalability. With an outsourced custom software development partner, this factor is a given.

3. Zero Collaboration and Communication

Various companies make the mistake of handing over the entire project to their outsourced custom software development partners with little to no say of their own. Contributing factors include the lack of basic knowledge about software development or the common know-how of what’s going on in the project and the necessary requirement. This just isn’t enough anymore.

A client is always expected to be one step ahead of the software development partner when it comes to what they want in their product and what features would be suitable for an effective UI and UX. A company or brand can never create a product without proper collaboration from both teams. This ranges from the design sprint to the deployment. A debate, trial, and error process at all stages of the product’s development will create a product to your liking and ensure your company has a strong bond and communication with the partners.

Moreover, when the final product is ready to take off, as a company, you will always be involved in every activity, and nothing will feel overwhelming, nor will it be something you disapprove of as a whole. Every decision will have your say in it, making you feel like your product’s rightful owner.

4. Not having a dedicated team

Not having a dedicated team can be a major hassle that can cost numerous delays, mix-ups, and a lack of individual attention that your project may require. Numerous companies do not disclose the size of their workforce while onboarding new clients and startups are already shorthanded on staff, making their schedules tighter.

Risking your product in the hand of someone who already has their hands full makes it tough for them to cater to all your needs and prioritize your tasks. It also can become a major cause of constant delays in the launch of your product. Furthermore, not having a dedicated team also means the company lacks specialized, expert individuals who know all the technicalities.

A custom software development partner or company is known to be great when they have a dedicated team of QA engineers along with software engineers like VentureDive. Quality assurance is a must for every great piece of custom-made software, not only for the product’s longevity but also for the quality and the time it took to create someone’s dream project. For example, more often than not, many software apps are made with a better focus on the UI than their usability, which leads to functionality issues in the long term. Such problems can be avoided with a usability audit.

5. Lack of Proper Requirements

Well-reformed and proper requirements at the start of any project are a necessity. These requirements set the foundation of your project for not just the software development company but your own clarity. It’s a well-structured plan of what you have in mind and what you want to achieve with your project.

Without a detailed structure and blueprint for the development firm to follow, the project will experience a lot of missed opportunities and failure to achieve the desired goal. Leaving you and your development partner on different bandwidths, eventually plunging your initial budget and elongating the project.

Conclusion

There are various companies looking for outsourcing partners for their software projects, and numerous times they end up with companies that may have a budget that suits them, but they just don’t qualify to be the best custom software development partners that brands deserve. The factors that promote making those mistakes seem minor but aren’t. The great news is that they are easily preventable with our major pointers; thoroughly read them out and go on to create the best custom software of all time.

FAQs

A good software development partner is reliable and trustworthy with a vast track record of previous clients. They usually are popular in the industry and have a good clientele that vouches for their work. Their online presence is also very good, with multiple samples and examples of their work.

Custom software development is the ultimate time and money saver. It’s flexible and allows the client’s creativity to shine. And most importantly, custom software development is scalable and future-centric, allowing you to expand your business and goals with each sprint, without causing a dent in your budget.

The process involves initial estimation and requirements where the idea is refined, a budget is allocated as well as tool selection takes place. After that, the design team takes over and creates the required assets which are later developed, tested for any bugs, and then launched in the market.

A Guide to Finding the Best Custom Software Development Partner

Posted on November 27, 2021June 7, 2024 by Adina Humayoon

Finding the best custom software development partner is the ultimate goal that can make or break your business. You can talk to a number of custom software development companies to make your dream project come true. Having said that, dream projects don’t just happen; they require extensive work, an expert team with years of experience, professional tools, and a proper budget to come into existence.

That’s just the beginning – there are a ton of technicalities that one needs to ponder upon in order to select an appropriate custom software partner. A reliable custom software partner is a one-stop solution to all your requirements. From the budget to the final software development proposal and flawless execution.

It takes a lot to finalize a custom software partner that fits your approach and ideology well. For the magic to happen, a few factors must be considered. Let’s talk about some of these.

Research: How to narrow down the list?

First, start by creating an extensive list of all the best software development partners in the market, broaden your range globally, and list the best names listed on the web. From that list, narrow down the ones that fit well against your product requirements.

Do a lot of research on the partners that made the shortlist. Find out about their areas of expertise, strengths, work ethics, and methods. Check to see if they can meet all of your software needs, whether it’s web development or making apps for your phone. Take your time and find the best match for yourself before signing them up for your product. Make sure the services they provide align well with your brand image and ideology.

Experience: How good is their portfolio?

Reviewing a potential custom software development partner’s past projects and figuring out how much experience they have is important for more than one reason. Their portfolio can define the extent of their services, deliverables, the scale of projects they tend to board, and whether they are suitable for any future projects.

Picking a company that is familiar with your project and idea is a huge advantage on your behalf since the custom software development company will already be familiar with the challenges that may occur while curating a similar product and will have a definite workaround for them. This ranges from product design to deployment. Look for a software development partner that is an expert with extensive work experience and a proven knowledge base for all sorts of practices that they advertise themselves for.

Communication: Are you being heard?

Seamless communication is integral to finding the best custom software development partner. This is often overlooked while other factors are considered deal-breakers, like pricing, services, and so on. But communication and building a suitable understanding are as crucial in this regard as all the factors mentioned above.

By all means, ensure that there is no communication gap between your company and your custom software development partner. Building an initial understanding of your requirements and demands is necessary. Ensure that you are being heard and that any questions you have been successfully communicated to the software development team by the project manager so that they can be addressed as soon as possible.

Location: What works best for you?

When looking for a software development partner for your business, location can be one of the most important things to consider. It is also one of the prime factors that one needs to have an eye out for. The base location of the company you have selected can be one of the following: onshore, offshore, or nearshore.

Onshore

Any company that is available in your hometown or country will be labeled as an “onshore” company. Not only are they in your time zone, but there is also a 100% possibility of a one-on-one meeting whenever required, providing room for establishing an understanding and smooth communication.

One downside to this is that onshore companies are usually extremely costly. So one must allot a hefty budget to secure one of the local software development companies.

Offshore

This one is self-explanatory; offshore companies have their bases in foreign countries. Their companies may be located on international grounds, but they offer services across the globe at affordable rates, which is why businesses go for an offshore custom software development company.

Despite the cheaper cost and good service, a major disadvantage is different time zones and a one-on-one communication gap due to that. Online meetings can be set up, but when time zones clash, one or the other has to suffer by giving in time after work hours to schedule meetings.

Nearshore

When you hire a custom software development company from a country close to your own region or a direct neighbor, that’s called “nearshoring.” Hiring a nearshore company is a win-win situation because it is not only cost-effective but also in a similar time zone, which will make scheduling meetings super easy for both parties without having to work outside business hours.

Pricing: How much is too much?

The prices that a certain software development partner offers signify the service they provide. However, this does not mean that companies with a hefty price tag are offering the best services; certain unnecessary expenses are involved in that regard. Meanwhile, do not be tempted by a low-cost package from any company, as they lack various technical skills and tools required to create a top-notch software application.

Some of the best custom software development companies will cost you money, but it will be absolutely justified based on the services, dedication, and ideology that they implement while executing the product.

If you can not afford the best companies, wait until you can. Rushing to create a subpar product from a cheap software development company can result in a larger loss. In this case, waiting is the best option – save up enough to be able to afford the best.

Tools and Technologies: Are they using the best?

In the long run, top-notch software development companies that use the best and most emerging technologies for scalable and reliable software applications tend to be the best choice. It’s important to have the most up-to-date tools for making software because it needs to be modern and flexible, and come with the best tools and plug-ins for the best user experience and interface.

Moreover, the company must create transparency between themselves and their clients by giving them access to their project management tools. Transparency ensures trust and keeps the client in the loop regarding the progress of their product and the technology used to create it from scratch..

In the End – Choosing the Best Custom Software Development Partner

After thorough research and examination, it eventually comes down to selecting reliable custom software development partners. It may be a complex task, but a well-researched selection will benefit in the long run. Take your time and consider all the major factors mentioned above, and then come up with a decision.

FAQs for custom software and over-the-shelf software

Research! That’s the only factor that can help you find the best custom software development company. After getting a list of all the potential companies, narrow down your research to what fits best in your budget, how experienced are they, what is their work ethics and how advanced are their tools and technologies used to create a masterpiece.

A good software development partner has the best tools to work with, is amongst the cream of the IT industry along with having the best reviews and a top-notch portfolio for review along with a great score from their previous clients. Moreover, they should be able to provide the services efficiently that they claim, and that is required by the client as well.

5 Steps to Building a Cloud-Ready Application Architecture in AWS

Posted on November 25, 2021September 4, 2023 by Adina Humayoon

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is an IaaS, commonly known as Infrastructure-as-a-Service, that is responsible for creating a huge gateway for cloud computing. This platform further specializes in services and organizational tools that range from content delivery services to cloud storage, and so on.

But when it comes to creating cloud-ready applications, then there are a ton of things that you need to cater to, in order to ensure a smooth flow of elements and functions within the application itself. Let’s dive into the basic explanation of what’s cloud-ready and how is it different from the traditional cloud-native method.

Cloud-Ready Architecture vs. Cloud-Native

Cloud-native and Cloud-ready architecture may be branches of the same field, but they are polar opposite setups. Cloud-Native applications were originally designed for container-based deployment for the public cloud, and they use agile software development to get things done.

Cloud-ready architecture, on the other hand, is a transformed classic enterprise application that is made to function on the cloud. They may not be able to utilize all the functions that the public cloud has to offer, but there are a significant number of productive assets that we can create and use from this transformed architecture.

However, when creating cloud applications, there are certain aspects you need to integrate and look out for in an AWS well-architected framework, to create a solid foundation that holds onto all the integral functions of the applications and caters to all the requirements of cloud-ready application architecture in AWS.

The AWS well-architected framework is designed on the 5-pillar model that ensures not only smooth transitioning but also lives up to the expectations of the client with timely and stable deliverables. Those AWS five pillars are as follows:

Design and operational excellence of AWS well-architected framework

The AWS architecture best practices start from the operational excellence which includes the key objectives of your business goals and how the organization can effectively work around them to gain insight, provide the best solutions and bring value to the business altogether. The design principles are categorized as follows:

Use of codes on all mediums of the workloads (infrastructure, applications, etc) to maintain autonomy and limit human error as much as possible.
Create flexibility by updating small changes and upgrades to the system which can be reversible without any damage.
Evolve and upgrade your systems by refining the functions and procedures now and then. Set days to effectively work around and improve the system with your team to familiarize them with the changes.
Anticipate, trigger, identify and solve all the potential failures by diving in deep and conducting frequent testings and understanding the impact it creates, and familiarizing your team with it as well.
Share all the necessary trial and error outcomes with your team and engage them in all the learnings that you deciphered during necessary operational procedures.

Consistent and reliable performance (workloads)

It is necessary to maintain a smooth performance while building cloud infrastructure on AWS well-architected framework. Maintaining performance efficiency will lead to smooth transitioning in demand and technology, without creating any disruption of any sort and simultaneously ticking all the right boxes. To maintain the flow, a few of the best cloud designing practices are followed, they are as follows:

Utilize advanced technologies as services that your team can incorporate in your projects, by delegating their setup to the cloud vendors and including them in your cloud application.
Go global by distributing your workload amongst numerous AWS regions to bring down the delay rate and make things quick at a fraction of a price.
Discard physical servers and use wireless modern techniques like cloud technologies for service operations and reduce the transactional cost of physical servers by restricting them to traditional computing activities.
Broaden up your horizon and dive into experiments with different configurations and more.
Follow the mindset and approach that you deem fit for your goals and achievements.

Reliable architecture

It is necessary to encompass a reliable and effective architecture on AWS that enables a consistent workflow throughout the functionality of the application. There are several principles that one needs to look into while building cloud applications on AWS. They are as follows:

The system should enable an automatic recovery whenever a threshold is breached. With an effective automation process, the application can anticipate and conduct a remedy of the supposed failure before it affects the system.
A test run on all the procedures is necessary, which will help fix multiple failures before they happen in real-time.
Reduce failure on overall workload by placing a large resource over multiple smaller ones. Scale horizontally to reduce any distribution of failures.
Monitor your service capacity based on your workload without “assuming” anything, as it is one of the common factors of on-premises failures.
Conduct any changes via automation, to track and review them throughout the process.

Security aspect

Security has become a crucial aspect for applications to think of, especially cloud-based applications. This security pillar helps create a safe and secure environment for the application, keeping all the data, assets, and crucial information safe from all ends. There are a few factors that one must follow to maintain a secure platform while building cloud infrastructure architecture.

Create a loop and traceability amongst the application and track activities in real-time.
Application of security and verification on all aspects and layers of the application.
Enforce strict authorization on all levels to interact with AWS resources.
Categorize data into security levels and limit access where necessary with high-level encryption.
Eliminate direct access to data with effective tools to reduce misuse of data.
Conduct a drill to test emergency security features and automatic responses, and prepare for the right responses accordingly.

Cost optimization

Cost Optimization is a crucial part of cloud-ready applications, mainly because it allows you to not only achieve the services at the lowest price point but also help predict the amount that will be spent in the future. It will also keep a tab on the necessary expansion and its expenses once the business takes off for good.

Cost opt imization is impossible without following a certain set of pillars, as stated below:

Invest time and money in cloud financial management to learn more about it.
Pay only for services that you use, and calculate the time that it takes on an average per day to further slash the cost.
Calculate the workload from the associated cost, and compare the data to increase the output and further cut down on things with little to no output, to increase functionality.
Allow AWS to cater to the heavy-lifting, and do not spend on unnecessary items that are not your forte, like IT infrastructure and all.
Swiftly analyze the expenses and compare them to the collective and individual usage, workload and help optimize it to increase ROI.

Final Thoughts

With our thorough description of the AWS well-architected framework, you can easily build a cloud-ready application architecture on Amazon Web Services. The 5 pillars of operating a reliable, secure, and super cost-effective system will ensure a streamlined application construction, maintain a smooth workflow, and help create a well-groomed cloud-ready application architecture.

7 Reasons why companies are shifting to AWS cloud

Posted on November 22, 2021September 4, 2023 by Adina Humayoon

Cloud migration to AWS means leaving behind a major hassle of on-premise resources and the traditional cloud infrastructure that organizations used to rely on. Not only is AWS a secure way for cloud migration, but is also a sustainable way to secure your data while deploying your workload.

AWS cloud migration was one of the leading practices in 2020. As the global pandemic rose, businesses were forced to choose a stable, remote setup for sustaining their businesses in the otherwise crashing market and securing their future in the e-commerce industry. The following factors contributed to their decision:

End-to-end security

Data security and privacy are two things that companies can never compromise on. Before AWS migration, customers must understand the AWS Shared Responsibility Model that the service follows. Here, AWS takes complete control over the technical features that it provides, including, but not limited to software, hardware, communication between the servers, etc. Methods like two-way authentication, data encryption, monitoring, and threat detection are all responsibilities that Amazon Web Services looks after. Meanwhile, the customer will keep an eye out for the services they opt for, and all the technicalities that come along with it, including the sensitivity of their data and all the regulations and laws attached to it.

Better cost management

AWS has always been a step ahead in terms of cost management and creating packages for businesses and users only, based on the services and resources that they provide. When it comes to cloud migration, cost plays a vital role in luring potential clients towards AWS cloud migration services.

Even startups, with unstable funding, can take advantage of the low-cost entry which otherwise would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in services, configurations, and network equipment. Not only is this move to cloud beneficial from technical aspects, but also results in better cost management throughout your project, sitting well within your budget.

Scalability

The ability to grow in an orderly manner is one of the major benefits of cloud migration on AWS. It is designed to expand as your business grows, and downscale as per your business’s requirements without any major infrastructural changes or loss of data. AWS cloud migration will be flawless on both ends. The option for scalability on AWS will enable you to handle the toughest and the most hectic hours of the day or night, without crashing the system or leaving loopholes for the system to corrupt.

Self-service model

With no physical hardware upgrades needed in an AWS cloud, organizations have complete control over the IT infrastructure. It enables them to work around the system without any restrictions and make swift changes to develop and deploy a faster and effective application for the client. To further enable organizations to maintain smooth operations, they can invest in a cloud management platform (CMP) that will overlook operations and maintain stability within the system.

Compliance

Another bigger advantage of AWS server migration service is its AWS compliance program, where it offers a high-end security system with compliant packages curated solely to cater to the needs of the clients based on their industry. But while the AWS cloud migration takes clients towards a more compliant environment, organizations must be prepared with a set of AWS certified IT professionals to maintain it without leaving it exposed in any way.

Lower latency

Amazon Web Services will decrease latency via AWS Direct Connect which allows you to link up your on-premises and private workload to an available AWS data center via your internet connection. There are numerous AWS data centers located around the globe to reduce latency, and so far it has done a tremendous job in maintaining a smooth path of migrating your existing applications to the AWS cloud.

Disaster recovery

Cloud migration and data handling is a risky process, and if not done effectively, can lead to severe consequences for the organization, which also includes losing a ton of data. This is where AWS steps in; precisely the thing about AWS which draws in clients from across the globe. Its ability to handle the toughest man-made and technical storms that make their way towards the cloud and the data stored within. But migrating your existing applications to the AWS cloud must be handled by an IT personnel familiar with the AWS cloud migration process.

FAQs for Reasons why companies are shifting to AWS cloud

AWS cloud is a secure and sustainable platform for businesses and individual users running digital applications and websites. It is a cost-effective method, catering to all budgets and creating growth opportunities as things go along the way.

The possibility of growth, scalability, and a secure platform for businesses has encouraged businesses to practice the AWS cloud migration as they make their way into the futuristic form of cloud computing and technology.

Best Practices in Test Automation

Posted on November 6, 2021September 4, 2023 by Iqra Bibi

If you are working in a software development organization, you must have heard quite a bit about test automation. Automation testing is an emerging technology in the field of Software Testing and acts as a life savior for testers by automating menial and repetitive tasks. It is shaping the future of manual testing by using tools and technologies to create test automation best practices that result in a flawless product. Automation planning and testing help the teams to improve their software quality and make the most out of their testing resources. It also helps in earlier bug detection, improving the test coverage, and speeding up the testing cycle.

With automation fast-gaining popularity, almost every company wants to dive into the sea of automation. Cost-effective automation testing with the best QA automation tools and a result-oriented approach is becoming crucial for companies.

Unfortunately, not all companies are getting desired results from their automation efforts. Many people don’t exactly know from where to start and extend up to what level. Some people have apprehensions about automation and thus fear of failure stops them from adopting it in their regular testing process. Failure of automation can have multiple reasons like:

Unclear automation scope/coverage
Unstable feature/software
Unavailability of automated test cases
Time & budget constraints
Unsuitable selection of automation tool
Unavailability of skilled people
Manual testing mindset
Testers unwilling to align with fast-paced technology

The right planning and good approaches to execute the plan can settle things more appropriately. The same is true in automation testing where the right decisions, best test automation tools, approaches, and techniques can make a big difference.

Effective measures for successful Automation Testing

Here are some basic yet effective tips that you should keep in mind before moving ahead with automation testing.

Set Realistic Expectations from Automation Testing

1. Set Realistic Expectations from Automation Testing

The primary purpose of automation is to save time for manual testers and perform testing in an efficient, effective, and quick way. However, automation is not supposed to find out flaws in test designs, test development, planning, and execution. Don’t expect automation to find extra bugs that you don’t define in your test automation script. Accept the fact that automation is not the replacement of manual testers, it is here to provide confidence to the stakeholders that features are working as expected across builds and nothing is broken.

2. Identify your Target Modules

“If you automate a mess, you get an automated mess.” (Rod Michael).”

Thinking to automate the overall project is not a good approach. It’s always a smart approach to be concise, use a risk-based approach to analyze project scope, and then decide test coverage. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Always pick the area that is stable and there are no major changes expected in the future.
Pick tasks that consume a lot of the tester’s time in areas like performance, regressions, load, and security.
Features that are in early development should not be your choice for a QA automation tester.
Don’t consider automating the UI that is going to undergo massive changes.
Make sure you have a collection of stable test cases run by manual testers. Once manual testers mark the test cases stable/approved then you should proceed with the test automation.

3. Pick the Right Test Cases to Automate

Always start with Smoketest cases of the identified module. Next, move on to the repeated tasks like Regression Test Suite, tasks that can experience human errors like heavy computations, and test cases that can introduce high-risk conditions. This is how the priority should be set for automation. You can also add data-driven, lengthy forms and configuration test cases that will run on different devices, browsers, and platforms.

4. Allocate Precise Budget and Resources

During automation, time, budget, and availability of skilled and trained automation resources are a big challenge. To cater to this, always choose automation for those projects that don’t have time constraints and tough deadlines. Ideally, choose automation for long-term projects. Your target projects should have enough budget in terms of resources so you can easily hire trained and skilled people. For resources, you should consider the following:

Assign automation duties to specific resources who possess sound knowledge of any programming language and are well aware of automation standards, strategies, frameworks, tools, techniques, and analytical skills.
Open to challenges, has strong problem solving and analytical skills.
If someone from the manual team is willing to perform automation then proper training should be provided and manual duties should be removed from that resource.

5. Pick the Right Tools for Automation

Tool selection should be based on the nature of the platform (Mobile, OS, Web). Ideally, a tool should be in the same language as the application so internal help is available, plus your selected tool must have support available. Price is another factor of consideration like either tool is open source or licensed. Consider the ability of the tool to integrate with other tools like JIRA or TestRail. Prefer those tools that require a flatter learning curve and are easy to use. The team should be able to adopt that new tool and easily work on that.

6. Estimate Automation Efforts Correctly

You can’t say that you can automate an average of 50 cases in 5 hours because each case will be different in terms of logic, complexity, and size. Always provide estimates in effort/hours against each case or the most appropriate way is to provide consolidated estimates feature-wise. For example, if there are two features, say, signup and login, then provide the average time for both features separately.

7. Capitalize on the Learning Opportunity in Automation

Consider automation as a growth and skills development opportunity for both organizational and individual levels. Accept the challenges/issues which you faced during automation as your learning point and try fixing them. Automation will not only develop your skills but also help to compete within the market and raise our worth and standard.

8. Make Automation a Part of CI/CD

CI/CD is used to speed up the delivery of applications. For continuous testing, you should set up a pipeline for automated test execution. Whenever developers merge the code into branches, these changes are validated by creating a build and running automated tests against the build. By doing so, you avoid integration conflicts between branches. Continuous integration puts a great emphasis on test automation to check that the application is not broken whenever new commits are integrated into the main branch. Here are some best practices to follow:

Your automation code is aligned with the stable branch in which developers are going to merge their changes.
Setup execution email during configuration which will be received at the end of each execution.
Keep an eye on the results in case of build failure/conflicts with your automation test cases.
Once the status of test cases is passed, the build should deploy to production.

9. Implement the Best Coding Practices for UI & Functional Test Automation

Apart from the above practices, we should consider some important points while doing automation as we need to uphold international coding standards.

Make full use of version control software. Don’t keep the code locally. Always push your code even if you made a one-line change.
Remove unnecessary files/code from your automation project.
Remove unnecessary comments from your code.
Use boundary value analysis, equivalence partitioning, and state transition techniques in your automation.
Have a separate testing environment for automation.
Follow the best coding practices of the chosen programming language.
Always use dynamic values and avoid using static data and values in your code.
Use implicit wait instead of an explicit wait to boost efficiency.
Implement a reporting mechanism so you have an execution report at the end of every execution cycle.
Capture screenshots in case of failure for failure investigation.
Log bugs on JIRA, TFS, and teamwork.
Write code that is reusable and easy to understand.
Refrain from writing too much code in a single function; use the concept of high and low-level functions.
Your code should be reviewed by a Senior Automation tester/Developer.
Use a page object model where you will define your functions in one file and test cases in another file.
Make sure your code is clean, readable, and maintainable.

Advantages of using best practices in automation testing

Implementing these automated testing best practices will help you improve the coverage of your test cases, make the testing process fast, easy, and convenient, and keep your code maintainable. It’s also very cost-effective as well as long-lasting and will future-proof your automation testing for any applications or projects. This will help boost productivity, save you time and money, and enhance your skill set.

In The End

Automation is not rocket science. It’s just a matter of proper techniques and approaches that you follow. All you need to do is some brainstorming on the best strategy, R&D on tool selection, identifying your team skills, defining your project scope, and then just starting the automation. You will soon begin to see why automation testing is all the rage in this day and age. The one-time-right investment in automation (time, resources, and budget) will save you from many hurdles in the future.

FAQs For Test Automation Best Practices

Good coding practices while automation includes a series of things, like removing unnecessary codes and comments from your project, having separate testing environments, capturing screenshots whenever you detect a failure, and more.

Some of the key factors while conducting advanced text and automation start from setting realistic expectations, picking the right cases, the right tool. Allocating the best budget and selecting the best team to conduct all these testings.

Why successful businesses prefer custom software over off-the-shelf

Posted on November 4, 2021September 4, 2023 by Adina Humayoon

Offering a digital solution for clients is the ultimate futuristic goal of every company, whether it be e-commerce, healthcare, or on-demand service delivery. But lately, this has become more of a necessity instead of a company’s “5-year plan”.

The post-pandemic era has forced numerous businesses to move their modes of work to a much more digitized and remote platform that is easy to access and control from anywhere. These digitized platforms are classified into two categories, custom software development (CSD) and off-the-shelf software. The real struggle arrives when it comes down to choosing any one of the two software.

Before we begin, there are numerous factors to consider when narrowing down the options and technicalities of either type of software. To make an informed decision, the first step is comparing the two setups, and having a basic understanding of when custom software or off-the-rack software is required. What are they, what distinguishes one from the other, and most of all, how are they going to benefit the client and their business without causing much disruption to the system?

Custom software vs. off-the-shelf: what are they?

Off-the-rack and custom software are polar opposites. Despite offering similar services, they are extremely different from each other. Let’s take a look at what they are.

Custom-made software

Off-the-rack and custom software are polar opposites. Despite offering similar services, they are extremely different from each other. Let’s take a look at what they are.

Custom software application development is a dream project that every software development company loves to work on. It is completely custom-built, made exclusively by following a brief provided by the client.

Custom Software Development focuses on the client’s product goals and needs, targets an idea, and works around it to cater to market needs. VentureDive plays a vital role in executing that idea into reality, with an in-house team of expert engineers and designers working extensively on individual custom-made products. Companies opting for custom software development usually have a clear understanding of the service and the approach that they need to create an amazing product, and VentureDive takes it one step further with its top-notch skills and execution.

But why do businesses opt for CSD? Well, there are a number of factors that give customized application software an upper hand in the software development industry. Some of these include:

Time: Creating custom-written software is a lengthy process, to say the least. It takes months of hard work, research, and a highly-skilled procedure of quality assurance to finally create a product that is well suited for the client’s needs. It may be time-consuming but is definitely worth it in the long run.

Cost: The high initial cost is a given with this bespoke software, but if you look at it in a way, it’s a long-term investment that will only generate tons of revenue and branch out in the long run. And keeping this in mind will relieve you of the need to pay frequently for minor upgrades or bug fixes.

Maintenance: Speaking of bugs, one of the major advantages that custom-made software has is that there is barely any need for frequent maintenance, as it is built by experienced developers and engineers with flawless execution. The only maintenance it may require is when the software requires an update.

Scalability: With custom Software development, the possibilities for expansion are endless. Modification and customization according to the client’s needs and demands is a huge benefits of custom solutions. This leaves room for scalability in the near future as the business expands and grows, without having to strip down the existing UI and create everything from scratch.

Off-the-shelf software

What is off-the-shelf software, and what features and advantages do it bring to the industry? Off-the-shelf software may have been under the radar for quite some time as it is a great opportunity for small businesses to dive into the digital market. Off-the-shelf software is ready-made software, which may have different packages available for sale. It usually comes with a set of pre-installed features and plug-ins that you can utilize for your business.

Time: A perfect solution if you are under a time constraint, or need go-to-market results quickly. Off-the-shelf software solutions are easy to acquire, as they are ready-made and available in the market at all times. Since it’s readily available, it is the first option for countless small-scaled businesses that have little knowledge about software development, and reach for an option that is simple and quick.

Cost: Off-the-shelf solutions applications are extremely cost-effective initially. The readily available setups are generated for the masses, with a ton of potential buyers who are trying to build a business on a budget. But there are several hidden costs attached to off-the-rack systems that clients are unaware of in the beginning. These are the costs of frequent updates or maintenance to fulfill the client’s needs which are otherwise not being met, giving them another reason to switch to custom-made software. And not to mention the subscription and licensing fees like we get to see in SaaS.

Large Community Support: The best feature of off-the-shelf software is that you have a large community to turn back to in case you run into an issue with your program. Since it’s a commonly available setup, acquired by numerous businesses, a chain of similarity runs throughout, which means that others must have faced the same issues as you have, and they might have a solution for it that you can use.

References: Prior user experience and references of off-the-shelf software are of great help for businesses, to decipher whether the application is suitable for them or not. A trusted system and setup will help clients get an idea of what awaits them, and can even opt for a trial run before investing in the product completely.

Custom software: pros, cons, and everything else

Pros

A custom-built setup is made from scratch, tailored to the client’s needs mentioned in their requirement brief.
Works on a “you dream, we create” basis, where there is no limit to what functionalities you can feature in your product.
No hidden charges or frequent upgrades and maintenance on the product.
Custom software can not be replicated in any form, giving you an upper hand over your competitors in the market. Your product will remain relevant and unique in all forms.
Undergoes thorough QA in all development phases of the product, with back-and-forth communication for smooth transitioning.
Fool-proof setup with no bug-ridden issues and flawless design and UI.
A team of specialized engineers and developers familiar with the product will be available at all hours for immediate fixes if needed.

Cons

Custom software takes months to get ready and reaches perfection after thorough testing and development phases. If you are looking for a quick fix, this is not it.
It is expensive! Custom software development is something that will cost you a lot, but it is a one-time investment with no hidden charges and does not require you to pool money for every upgrade.
The client will always be dependent on the company creating the software for any fixes and upgrades, in case they are not available, it can lead to several issues caused by the delay.

Off-the-shelf: pros, cons and everything else

Pros

Off-the-shelf software will save you a ton of money and time. Not only is it cheap but also readily available for clients to license and acquire.
Small-scale businesses have a huge advantage with off-the-shelf software; it can be the best platform for them to enter the digital market, with promising results leading to a successful business.
Clients won’t have to think much while acquiring off-the-shelf software, as there are numerous reviews and references available on the web, vouching for the reliability and functionality of the product.

Cons

Off the shelf solutions are temporary. In the longer run, it will not support your requirements, and you will have to shift to a custom software as it offers reliability and scalability.
Off-the-shelf software will not be able to cater to all the client’s requirements and will demand frequent and expensive upgrades to fulfill their specific needs.
You will have to pay for services that you may never use, and it might cause your software to lag and interrupt functions of the existing services in use.
It’s impossible to alter or modify according to your project’s needs, you will have to work around the existing features that may limit the functionality.
Off-the-shelf software is easily replicable, no matter how hard you have worked on your project, your competitor has an advantage over you, and they can easily reproduce your work.
Companies are going to outgrow OTS soon when they reach their full potential, leaving them back to square one on what they should do to further excel their product and brand.

Final verdict

In this off-the-shelf vs. custom software race, it’s clear as to why businesses prefer custom software solutions over off-the-shelf software. Not only is it the best setup for a rapidly growing business in the vast industry of digital marketing, but it is also a fruitful investment that will give back to your company as well as fulfilling its purpose rightfully.

FAQs for custom softwares and over the shelf softwares

Off-the-shelf software’s advantages range from being a quick and cost-effective solution for small scale businesses. It maintains a good repute in the market with numerous references and reviews, enabling people to have a good idea of what they are buying. Moreover, users can also have a short trial of the services with tons of in-built features all at a super affordable and convenient initial price.

Custom developed software is a dream transitioned into reality, whatever the client wishes to see in their product, the custom software development companies make it possible, with a fully customized setup. Moreover, it also has the ability to make immediate changes without costing extra frequently. It is flawless, with countless testings done and top-notch quality assurance phases to make it possible.

Not really, off the shelf software is there because users need a ready-made solution in a strict time frame. And these software are already configured with numerous sets of tools and features that will remain a part of the application, even if you require it or not. Of course, there are going to be frequent upgrades within the software that the client must look out for.

Top 10 Tips for Cost Optimization in AWS

Posted on August 16, 2021September 4, 2023 by Falak Sher

To start with, Amazon web services is an Infrastructure as a Service also known as IaaS which offers a variety of services. AWS is an extensive and evolving cloud computing platform that offers organizational tools such as database storage, compute power, and content delivery services.

Cloud computing allows you to save significant costs once your infrastructure is set up and data migration is completed. Even after this, it is advised that you optimize your costs to avoid any miscalculations or surprises. Cost optimization in AWS not only allows you to refine costs it also improves the system over its life cycle resulting in maximizing your return on investment. In this context, we have listed 10 best practices and handy tips to optimize AWS cost and performance for your business.

1. Select the Right S3 Storage Class

Amazon Simple Storage is an AWS storage service that enables your cloud to be extremely reliable, scalable, and secure. Amazon offers six tiers of storage at various price points. To determine which tier is best suited for business you can depend on factors such as usage and accessibility of your data and retrieving data in case there is a disaster. The lower the tier the more hours it will require to retrieve data.

AWS S3 Intelligent Tier case is one of the six tiers being offered. The plus point in this tier is that it automatically analyzes and moves your data to the appropriate storage tier. S3 Intelligent Tier further helps inexperienced developers to optimize the cost of cloud-based storage. This class saves you an immense amount of cost by placing objects based on changing data patterns. If you know your data patterns, you can combine that with a string Lifecycle policy to select the perfect storage classes for your entire data.

Since various classes will break down your costs differently, an accurate and calculated storage class will result in guaranteed cost savings.

2. Choose the Right Instances for Your Workloads

When it comes to instances, you can choose from different instance types according to your costs and configurations. In this regard using AWS instance scheduler can be very helpful. Selecting the wrong instance will only increase your costs as you will end up paying for storage that you do not even require. This false decision can also make you end up underprovisioning. Which means you have a limited capacity to handle the workload and data. There is always an option to either upgrade or downgrade, depending on your business need, or move to different instance options and types. Staying up to date on this will help you save money and reduce costs in the long run.

3. Track, Monitor, and Analyze Cloud Usage

There are different tools available to monitor and track instance metrics and data. To plan your budget accordingly you should have a clear understanding of your data usage. An assessment of your workload will help you in making that decision. The workload can be easily assessed with the data gathered. If there is a need then the instance size can be scaled up or lowered.

Amazon trusted advisor is one of the tools that you can use. This tool keeps a weekly check on the unused resources while also helping you optimize your research usage.

These tools also provide real-time guidance for the users to assist in restricting the resources used. There is also a timely update to assure the safety and security of data. Naturally, cost optimization is also addressed.

4. Purchase Reserve and Spot Instances

Purchasing Reserved Instances is a simple way to reduce AWS costs. But it can also be an easy way to increase AWS costs if you don’t employ the Reserved Instance as much as you expected to or choose the wrong type of Reserved Instance. Therefore, rather than suggesting that purchasing Reserved Instances is one of the best practices for AWS cost optimization, we’re going to recommend the effective management of Reserved Instances as an AWS cost optimization best practice—effective management consisting of weighing up all the variables before making a purchase and then monitoring utilization throughout the reservation’s lifecycle.

Reserved instances also let you purchase a reservation of capacity for a one or three-year duration. In this manner you pay a much lower hourly rate than on-demand instances, reducing your cost up to 75% on cloud computing costs.

5. Utilize Instance Scheduling

It is essential to ensure that all non-critical instances are only started when they need to be used. You can schedule start and stop times for such instances as required in software development and testing. For example, If you work in a 9-to-5 environment, you could save up to 65% of your cloud computing costs by turning these instances on between 8 AM and 8 PM during working hours.

By monitoring and checking up on the metrics it can be determined in the process where the instances are used more frequently, there is always a chance that the scheduling can be interrupted, and that also when access to the instances is required. It’s worth pointing out that while instances are scheduled to be off, you are still being charged for EBS volumes and other services attached to them.

6. Get The Latest Updates on Your Services

AWS strives to assign cloud computing for personal and enterprise use. They are always updating their products and introducing features that improve the performance of services. When AWS announces newer versions of instances, they consistently feature better performance and improved functionality. Upgrading to these latest generations of instances saves you money and gives you improved cloud functionality.

7. Use Autoscaling to Reduce Database Costs

Autoscaling automatically monitors your cloud resources and then adjusts them for optimum performance. When one service requires more computing resources, it will ‘borrow’ from idle instances. This option then automatically scales down resource provision when demand eases. In addition to this auto-scaling also lets you adjust scaling on a schedule for predictable and recurring load changes.

8. Cleaning Up EBS Volumes

Elastic Book Store (EBS) is the volume for storage that all the Amazon EC2 instances are using. These are added to your monthly bill, whether they are idle or being used. If these blocks are left lying idle, they will contribute to your expenses even when the EC2 instances are decommissioned. Deleting unattached EBS blocks when decommissioning instances will cut your storage costs by up to half.

There could be thousands of unattached EBS volumes in your AWS Cloud, depending on how long your business has been operating in the cloud and the number of instances launched without the delete box being checked. It is definitely one of our AWS cost optimization best practices to consider, even if your business is new to the AWS Cloud.

9. Carefully Manage Data Transfer Costs

There is always a cost linked with transferring your data to the cloud. Whether it is a transfer between AWS and the internet or between different storage services, you will have to pay a cost. Transfer costs with the cloud providers can add up quickly in this process.

To manage this better you should design your infrastructure and framework so that data transfer across all the AWS is optimized. You should be able to complete this transfer with the least amount of transfer charges possible.

10. Terminate Idle Resources

The term “zombie assets” is most is used to describe any unused asset contributing to the cost of operating in the AWS Cloud. Other assets that contribute in this category are components of instances that were activated when an instance failed to launch, unused Elastic Load Balancers., obsolete snapshots, and unattached EBS volumes. A problem businesses face that when they are trying to implement AWS cost optimization best practices is that some unused assets are difficult to find. For example, unattached IP addresses are sometimes difficult to locate in AWS System Manager, Any unused asset that contributes to your overall AWS expenses is a ‘zombie asset’. There are tools like CloudHealth that will help you identify and terminate zombie assets that contribute to your monthly bill. Anything you don’t use and isn’t planning to use in the future should be deleted with the help of such tools. Such tools will help you reduce costs by deleting idle load balancers.

In conclusion:

With a continuing need for businesses to take a position within the latest, competitive, and result-oriented technology, it becomes important to seem at cost-saving tools and factors. AWS offers you powerful cloud computing tools you can use to transform your business and its needs. But if you are not so proficient in using AWS services and tools, AWS can cost you a lot of money. These AWS cost optimization tips above will help you reduce the expenses of using the AWS platform. Cost optimization in AWS is a continuous process. You can’t perform it once and then never visit it again. You should continuously monitor your resource usage and instance status to make sure you only pay for the assets you require.

Therefore, try these AWS cost optimization best practices and get ready to optimize your cost without compromising performance.

Top 3 Practical Use Cases of Amazon S3 Intelligent Tiering

Posted on August 11, 2021September 4, 2023 by Falak Sher

Businesses large and small are rapidly becoming cloud-native, leaving on-premise data centers behind. Why? A major reason is no requirement for storage hardware and a much more efficient running of mission-critical workloads and databases. However, many businesses that are new to the cloud or even those that are already on the cloud, find themselves battling with rising cloud costs. As they scale and begin facing unpredictable or undefined workloads, operational inefficiencies are more likely to appear within their cloud infrastructure, which adds to their cloud bill.

What is S3 Intelligent Tiering & who is it for?

Companies that adopted or migrated to AWS cloud, can easily save on their cloud bill with efficient governance, and intelligent tiering using Amazon S3. This AWS feature is especially suited for businesses that are new to managing cloud storage patterns, and lack experience therein; or, are more focused on growing the business and have little to no time or resources dedicated to optimizing cloud operations and storage. S3 intelligent tiering optimizes storage costs automatically based on changing data access patterns, without impacting application performance or adding to overhead costs.

Before we move on to discuss some of the practical use cases of S3 intelligent tiering, let’s learn a bit about how it actually works. S3 intelligent tiering stores objects based on how frequently they are accessed. It comprises of two access tiers, one that is optimized for frequent access, and another for infrequent access. The latter is also known as the ‘lower-cost tier’. S3 intelligent tiering automatically move less frequently used objects – e.g. those that have not been accessed for 30 consecutive days – to this tier, by continuously monitoring data access patterns.

Let’s talk about the top 3 use cases where cloud-first businesses can cut costs and drive savings using S3 intelligent tiering.

#1 Understanding Storage Patterns

Here’s a rough estimate of AWS storage costs: if your business requires 1PB of data storage, this will cost you around $300,000 annually in storage costs if you use the S3 standard. If you’re new to the cloud or just starting to experiment with cloud storage options, you may observe a rise in your AWS cloud bill. This usually happens due to a lack of understanding of how and when your data access needs change. S3 storage offers you lifecycle policies and S3 storage class analysis that tells you when to move your data from one access tier to another, and save on your AWS spend.

S3 Intelligent tiering helps you optimize your storage automatically by moving data between the frequent and infrequent access tiers. This means you will save money that would otherwise be used to store dormant data. The frequent access tier charges you for data hosting on standard S3 storage, whereas, the infrequent or archive access tier incurs lower costs of storage. In addition, when using S3 standard storage, you don’t be charged extra for transferring your data between access tiers. This also helps in keeping costs low. This means, if you’re unsure about your access patterns and data use, the S3 standard storage would be the ideal option for you.

#2 Managing Unpredictable Workloads

Don’t know when your data workloads may increase or reduce? S3 intelligent tier is a perfect way to manage your cloud storage if you need to access assets intermittently from your cloud-based database. With flexible lifecycle policies, intelligent tiering automatically decides which data must be placed in which tier (frequent or infrequent access). This can be helpful in many scenarios, e.g. when building a database for a school, accessing exam data would be infrequent since it will not be needed for a large portion of the school term. So this data would be moved to the infrequent access tier after consecutive 30 days of dormancy.

Similarly, in many companies, AWS S3 intelligent tiering can help cut cloud costs. Most employees store their data using different applications and more often than not forget about that data until a day comes when they need it. So if you were to use standard S3 storage only, it would incur huge data storage costs without any meaningful ROI. With intelligent tiering, you can manage what data are you actively charged for, and the dormant or infrequently used data can be moved to the lower-cost tier.

For unpredictable, dynamic, or rapidly changing data workloads, S3 intelligent tiering serves as a powerful tool that helps ensure data availability as needed, upholding performance, and optimizing cloud storage costs.

#3 Complying with Regulations

When working with clients and partners within the European Union (EU) region, one thing that most providers and companies have to comply with is General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

GDPR harmonizes data protection and privacy laws and lists down a number of rules when it comes to handling users’ data. One of those rules talks about data erasure – i.e. private user data should be erased from your databases and websites after a certain period of time or a certain period of data dormancy.

If you use S3 intelligent tier storage to comply with GDPR, it can save on your company’s AWS cloud bill, and optimize your storage without compromising on performance.

If a user does not access their data for some time, it will be moved to the lower-cost storage tier, and will not cost you as much as S3 standard storage. S3 also allows you to set your own lifecycle policy where you can decide the duration of active data storage. For instance, you can choose to keep your users’ data in the frequent access tier for six months or up to a year, before it is moved to the infrequent access tier. Moreover, S3 intelligent tiering enables you to control mechanisms like access control lists and bucket policies to you always stay compliant with data security regulations.

Long Story Short

Cloud storage incurs huge costs to companies that do not have optimized storage in place. As an AWS user, the best choice would be to opt for Amazon S3 intelligent tier storage if you find yourself looking at a high AWS cloud bill each month. With varying data workloads, lack of experience in understanding cloud storage and compliance to regulations, S3 intelligent tiering helps you optimize s3 data costs and keep cloud costs in check.

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