The business of digital product development has become more complicated over the years. As the industry grows, the roles needed to offer competitive digital solutions keep expanding. This is especially true for product management. There are well over a dozen roles under the project management umbrella.
While the role of a product manager (PM) is considered the most fundamental, the role of a product management consultant (PM consultant) is gaining traction as being a crucial element in the product development lifecycle. While a product manager may sing different notes, often the melody, the product management consultant brings in additional notes that, together, result in a beautiful and harmonious outcome.
In this post, we’ll consider the scope of these roles, their similarities and differences.
Product Manager
Imagine a skilled conductor orchestrating a symphony of tasks, timelines, and talents. That’s your Project Manager! They are the navigators of the development journey, steering the ship through the seas of deadlines and deliverables. Their role involves planning, coordinating, and ensuring every team member hits the right note. From defining project scopes to managing risks, they’re the ultimate problem solvers, keeping the project on track. For specifics on the role of a project manager, including specific job descriptions used for recruitment, do read this article.
Project Management Consultant
Besides being an external resource to an organization, the role of a project management consultant is not just about managing projects; it’s about elevating them to their maximum potential. Think of them as the strategic architects of project success. Project management consultants are the maestros who bring a symphony of expertise to the table. They’re the seasoned professionals hired to sprinkle a bit of magic on your project, ensuring it not only meets but exceeds its goals.
In the ever-evolving landscape of digital product development, these consultants serve as your GPS. They navigate complexities, offer fresh perspectives, and provide a roadmap for seamless project execution. From refining processes to optimizing strategies, they’re the secret sauce for enhancing overall project efficiency and unlocking unparalleled success.
The Differences
PMs and PM Consultants have a shared goal of improving designated metrics such as efficiency and profitability. However, the major difference is in the scope of their responsibilities. A product manager is integrated into the operations of a business and is there from the ideation of a product(s) to all other stages of the product lifecycle. However, a PM consultant is more temporary and transient and may come in when the product is already halfway into its lifecycle and is often brought in for singular projects. PM consultants are essentially hired to use their expert knowledge to guide a company to a desired destination.
PMs are more hands-on as they oversee the day-to-day activities of the entire product lifecycle within the company. When PM consultants are brought in, their role is essentially to provide strategic advice, ensure process improvements, and optimize product management practices. Consequently, the skill set differs. Whereas both have to exhibit teamwork skills, a PM has to exhibit this skill on a deeper level, ensuring that he sustains deeper connections with individual members of the product development team. A PM consultant who is only with the business for a limited time may not need to connect with the team on the same level. Similarly, although both have to possess product knowledge and product research skills, the PM consultant may not possess these skills to the depth a PM would.
Embark on a transformative journey with MevNet Studio! Whether you’re steering a product from concept to market or seeking strategic guidance to optimize your product management processes, we’ve got you covered. Our expert product managers are ready to dive into the heart of your projects, ensuring success from within. Alternatively, our product management consulting services bring a fresh perspective and innovation to your strategy.
Elevate your digital product development with MevNet Studio – where expertise meets innovation. Ready to redefine success? Let’s collaborate! Contact us today and let the journey begin.
The mobile app development market is a tough one to break into. With tens of thousands of apps released on Google Play every month, the chances of success of any existing or incoming app grows smaller. Does this mean that the market is saturated? Definitely not. Statistics show that mobile app usage has grown by 46% between 2019 and 2022.
Statistics also show that we spend an average of 5 hours daily on mobile apps, spread out across about 10 different apps. Seems like a lot. Right? However, considering how apps are becoming more essential to more of our day-to-day activities, it’s not hard to see why. There are apps for just about anything and everything.
Because of this, the success of an app would depend on how much it is able to make users’ lives easier and better. With human preferences constantly evolving, developers must work to ensure that their apps provide the best possible user experience. So, whether your business already has an app or is contemplating developing one, you must ensure that it features the most current trends in mobile app development, especially those that are relevant to your industry.
In this post, we’ll explore the top 5 mobile app development trends in 2023 that apply across most industries.
#1. Building Smarter Apps with Personalised Experience using Artificial Intelligence:
AI isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a game-changer in the mobile app landscape. Developers are leveraging AI technology to build smarter apps. It’s not just about chatbots anymore. AI is now being used to supercharge user experiences. From intelligent personal assistants to predictive text, AI algorithms are making apps smarter, more intuitive, and more personalized. Imagine an app that learns your customer’s preferences, predicts their next move, and adapts to their needs. That’s AI in action!
It’s revolutionizing sectors like healthcare, e-commerce, and even gaming, offering seamless and personalised experiences and elevating app functionality to new heights not just for users but also for the app owner as well. In the e-commerce space, machine learning algorithms are being used to predict weekly demands, give recommendations, and offer discounts while keeping the inventory minimized. Machine learning is also revolutionising health care by providing medical diagnosis that combines the doctor’s knowledge, medical records and other data sources, making the treatment more efficient and reliable.
But what’s even more exciting is that AI-driven features are no longer reserved for tech giants. Smaller businesses are leveraging AI toolkits, making this innovation accessible to all. We’re living in a time where your app can be smarter, more intuitive, and user-centric than ever before.
#2. Voice Recognition:
Mobile app developers are redefining user-friendliness, thanks to the exciting realm of voice recognition technology. Behind the scenes, voice recognition relies on sophisticated algorithms, natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning. These algorithms break down spoken words, analyze patterns, and convert them into actionable commands. It’s like having a conversation with your device!
But why is this tech such a game-changer? Well, it’s all about convenience. Voice recognition elevates user experiences in various industries. Take healthcare apps, for example. Doctors can now dictate patient notes, making their workflows more efficient. In retail, voice-powered shopping apps provide a seamless, hands-free experience. And in the automotive world, it enhances driver safety by allowing for voice-controlled navigation and communication.
But that’s not all – voice recognition is not confined to specific industries. It’s making waves in personal assistants, language translation apps, accessibility tools for those with disabilities, and much more. So, whether you’re ordering groceries, composing texts, or searching for a new favourite song, voice recognition technology is your trusty companion. It’s time to embrace the future of mobile apps, where your voice becomes the ultimate tool for efficiency and engagement.
#3. Advanced Security and Data Protection Features:
In the fast-paced world of mobile app development, one trend that’s more important than ever is the integration of advanced security and data protection features. At MevNet Studios, we understand the growing need to fortify your mobile apps, and we’re here to tell you why it’s not just a trend but an absolute necessity.
So, what’s all the buzz about? Today, developers are implementing cutting-edge technologies like biometric authentication, multi-factor authentication, and end-to-end encryption to ensure your data is as safe as can be. These advancements are like a fortress around your app, guarding against unauthorized access and potential breaches.
But why does this matter? Picture this: you’re running an e-commerce app, and your users are entrusting you with their payment information. Or you’re managing a healthcare app, and patient records are in your hands. The security and privacy of this data aren’t just crucial; they’re non-negotiable. For businesses and app users alike, the benefits are undeniable. Enhanced security features not only protect sensitive data but also cultivate trust. Users are more likely to stick with an app they know they can rely on, leading to increased loyalty and customer retention. In a world where data breaches and cyber threats are a constant concern, these advancements in security aren’t just a ‘nice-to-have’. They’re a must-have. Ensuring the safety of user data is a key responsibility for app owners. It’s a commitment to your users’ trust, privacy, and the overall reputation of your brand.
#4. Internet of Things (IoT):
IoT is an umbrella term used to describe the ecosystem of devices that relate to each other and share data to improve efficiency and serve customers in a better way. Developers are using IoT to create apps that deliver not just convenience but an entirely new level of personalization. Healthcare apps, for instance, are harnessing IoT to monitor patients’ vital signs in real-time and send this data to healthcare providers, leading to more immediate and tailored care. Logistics apps are utilizing IoT to track shipments and provide precise delivery times, transforming supply chain efficiency. In smart homes, mobile apps control lighting, security, and appliances, ensuring user comfort and energy efficiency.
The benefits go beyond user satisfaction. IoT is a game-changer for business owners too. It offers real-time data that can be analyzed for insights, improving decision-making and efficiency. In logistics, it streamlines inventory management and enhances the delivery process. In agriculture, IoT sensors can monitor crop conditions, optimizing farming practices and increasing yields. For app users, IoT technology means greater convenience, personalization, and control over their surroundings. For businesses, it means efficiency, cost savings, and a competitive edge. The possibilities are boundless.
#5. Beacon Technology:
After a slow start in 2013, Beacon Technology is currently snowballing. So, what’s the buzz about beacons? These small, unobtrusive devices use Bluetooth technology to transmit signals to nearby mobile apps. When your app “hears” these signals, it can trigger location-based actions and provide users with highly relevant and timely information. This technology bridges the gap between the digital and physical worlds.
Developers are leveraging beacon technology in creative ways to enhance user experiences. In retail, beacons can send personalized offers to shoppers, guide them to specific products, and even provide in-store navigation. In museums, they can offer interactive exhibits and additional information as visitors explore. And in hospitality, they can enable contactless check-ins, room control, and offer restaurant recommendations.
But it’s not just about convenience; beacon technology means more engagement and customer satisfaction. For app users, it means personalized experiences and seamless navigation, whether they’re shopping, visiting a museum, or checking into a hotel. For businesses, the benefits are substantial. It offers a new way to connect with customers, boost sales, and gather valuable data on user behaviour and preferences.
At MevNet Studios, we ensure our clients stay ahead of the curve by providing them with cutting-edge digital solutions that will keep their customers glued to their services. Our team of expert product developers are abreast of the latest technologies and is poised to deliver digital products that would stand out in your industry.
Are you wondering why your website isn’t driving enough customer engagement despite having great content? The competition for the attention of internet users today is insane. Users spend an average of 10 – 20 seconds on a webpage before opting for another.
Getting noticed and getting users to stay on your site after clicking is becoming more difficult. But there are a few easy and cost-effective hacks to cut through the competition and make your website more “sticky”.
Let’s walk through 5 simple and effective strategies you can use to make your website stand out from the rest
#1 Use an Original and Creative Design:
The outlook of your website is the first thing that attracts or repels a potential user. So you’re going to need to put some thought into it. Depending on your budget, there are great no-code website builders like Wix and WordPress that allow you to create a website yourself. However, these offer generic templates that may have been used by others. Hiring a professional website designer like MevNet Studios gives you the opportunity to create original and creative website designs that are perfectly suited to your brand and would ensure your website stands out. Factors to consider include the layout of features, colour scheme, font, navigation, consistency and other key web design principles that would guarantee an overall good user experience.
#2. Create Great Content:
It seems obvious right? But, yes. Having great content goes a long way to making users stick to your website. Great content can mean different things depending on what your website is about. Creating content that cannot be found anywhere else is a good rule of thumb. This doesn’t mean complicated information. While your content has to be informative and engaging, it also has to be clear and easy to understand. This can include hosting a blog that features posts that take a unique and fresh perspective on what matters to your audience. Providing information on your website that your audience finds helpful can significantly boost engagement.
#3. Make It Mobile-Friendly:
92.3% of users access the internet using a mobile phone. So, if your website doesn’t load quite right on phones and tablets, you should definitely move for a re-design. The audience using mobile devices to access your website should be able to access all the features as easily as they would if using a computer.
#4. Optimize for Search Engines:
Having great features and content won’t mean anything if users can’t find your website. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) like Google and Bing. SEO can involve a lot of factors including on-page factors like content quality content, making sure relevant keywords are present, adding internal links, creating an optimizing title tag, etc. It also includes off-page factors like building backlinks and gaining exposure through various channels, such as news outlets and social media platforms. Thankfully, anyone can become great at search engine optimisation. There are several free online courses such as those offered by Aherfs, Semrush, Moz and many others available on YouTube.
#5. Captivate Your Audience with Images and Videos:
Images and Videos are great ways to capture the attention of viewers and keep them on your website for longer. Research shows that images and videos will keep people on a web page an average of 50% longer. Short intro videos and custom images as opposed to stock images give your brand a personality and make your website more instantly likeable and relatable to viewers. Use stunning images and videos to showcase your services, your process and the people behind it. Clients value authenticity.
With these strategies, you can be sure to achieve a unique website that drives engagement. However, following these strategies comprehensively can be demanding, especially if you have limited time and resources. This is where professional product developers like MevNet Studios come in handy. At MevNet Studios, we develop stunning and innovative websites that are suited to the specific needs of our clients. Our approach is to understand your business and its industry and work with you to develop digital solutions that produce the best results.
Contact MevNet Studios today and get a website that stands out.
With so many options in today’s digital landscape, it only takes a few simple shortfalls for a user to forgo your product and services for another. Whether your company is a startup or small business launching its first digital service or an established enterprise having the umpteenth iteration, staying ahead of the competition requires that you apply the very best technology and deliver software solutions to the highest standards. This is where hiring a team of experts comes into play.
Here are a few reasons why hiring an expert product development team is an important investment for your business:
Expertise and Experience:
Whether your company already has an IT department that manages your digital service platforms or not, hiring an external team of product developers who have experience in a wide range of products and are trained in the latest technologies and methodologies ensures that your products are developed with the most advanced technologies and relevant stack.
Fresh perspective:
Based on their experience with other products across different industries, external product developers would be able to take an unfiltered look at your product and detect faults and vulnerabilities that your internal team may not. They would also be able to offer solutions and innovations that have proven effective in other industries and other products they’ve worked on.
Time management:
Hiring a team of product developers enables you to streamline the project delivery timeline even further. There can be so many intricacies involved in developing a product, and hiring a team of expert product developers allows you to channel internal resources towards core business functions. Similarly, where there is already an internal team, having a trial-and-error phase for complex projects may slow down the process.
Hiring a team of product developers can be project-based; which may either be on a fixed-price model (allows you to leave all of the work to the developers until the product is ready) or a time-and-material model (allows constant supervision of task progress, materials used, and budget spent, as well as frequent meetings with the development team). It may also involve engaging a dedicated team that would be responsible for the product lifecycle on a long-term basis.
We offer a range of engagement models at Mevnet Studios and are willing to work around your resources to ensure that you have products that are the best fit for your business. We have an exceptional team of tech professionals that would offer you a world-class product development experience and would deliver compelling digital solutions for your business.
Reach out to us today and give your business the best foot forward.
As an entrepreneur, your primary focus is to provide the best possible experience for your audience, which is not particularly easy with the constant advancements in digital technology. A big part of this concern is figuring out the best way through which your audience can effectively engage with your business online. So, at one point in your business journey, you may have asked yourself: Do I need a website, a web application or a mobile application for my business? While each of these digital platforms has its respective unique value proposition, the trick is to understand your specific business needs, goals and target audience and create an online platform(s) that effectively responds to these interests.
Understanding your options
Let’s back up a bit and understand the differences between these platforms. As we discussed in our previous post, a website is an essential way of securing an online presence for your business. Websites are a set of web pages with static information (a mix of text and other media) that users can access via a web browser on an internet-enabled device. A mobile application is a piece of software installed on mobile devices and can be extremely dynamic when compared to websites; allowing user interaction to change the way they work. Mobile apps are designed to perform specific functions and so have advanced features and widgets, some of which may not be accessible without an internet connection. A web application, as the name implies, is a combination of the two. It is essentially a website that hosts an application that is accessible through a web browser.
Pros and Cons
The primary advantage of a website is that it is relatively easy and cost-effective to set up. However, the major disadvantage is that its content is relatively static and is limited in terms of functionality and design when compared to web and mobile applications. While mobile apps offer the most dynamic content, functionality and interactive user experience, they come with a heavier cost for development, are more rigorous to deploy and to be discovered by users and require constant updates. Unlike mobile apps which have to be installed by the user, web apps can be accessed from web browsers and although they have higher functionality and interact with the user more dynamically, they are limited due to their dependence on a web browser.
The decision between these three options comes down to your specific business needs, goals and target audience. One should however understand that as a business grows, these factors may evolve and would require a review.. Also, the preferences of your target audience may change. You should be willing to adjust in response to their needs and usage patterns.
Understand your business
The needs of your business are of utmost importance to making this decision. For example, a business that primarily needs a digital platform to showcase its products or services may find that a website is sufficient. However, a business that requires more interaction with its users, such as an e-commerce store, would be better served with a web application or mobile application. If the business is catering to an audience that primarily accesses the internet via a desktop or laptop, then a website or web application may be the most suitable option. On the other hand, if the target audience is primarily accessing the internet via mobile devices, then a mobile application may be the better option. For instance, the most popular mobile games have bare-bones websites that direct you to the App Store or Google Play. Budget and time constraints are also important considerations. Websites are the easiest and most affordable to set up and maintain, while mobile applications are the most expensive and time-consuming. Entrepreneurs should choose a digital platform that aligns with their budget and resources. Additionally, when it comes to reaching potential audiences, websites are the safer bet when coupled with good search engine optimisation practices and may thus be better suited to businesses that are looking to reach out to a wider audience.
Hiring a development team that understands these dynamics is crucial for making the best decisions for your business. At Mevnet, we are keen on understanding the nature of our client’s businesses, their goals and the industry they operate in and offer guidance on the best digital platforms that would enable them to achieve sustainable growth through innovative online solutions. Mevnet is here to help you figure it all out. To get the best digital solutions for your business, reach out to us today.
Technology has made it possible for consumers to find whatever they are looking for with just a few clicks. It has been established that 76% of consumers look up a business online before patronising it. So, chances are that if a consumer is looking for the particular product or service that you offer and you’re not turning up on their search result, they would go for those that are, without knowing that yours is better. A website would not only carry your contact details for inquiries but can have a map that enables your potential customers to locate you easily.
2. Having a website gives you credibility
84% of customers believe that credible businesses are those that have websites. In a time where just about anything is freely available on the internet, not having a website would indicate that you are not taking your business seriously. Consumers may think that you’re either too small-time, archaic or not current on trends. And whereas a social media page can be created in a jiffy, a website allows you to stand out from the rest and indicates that you are professional in what you do.
3. Cost-effective marketing options
With more than 4.5 billion internet users, a website is a cost-effective way to level the playing field, giving you an opportunity to compete with larger businesses by providing reach and visibility that other marketing strategies may not. A website also allows you to leverage innovative digital marketing solutions. For instance, using the traffic history on your website, you can engage customers through targeted email campaigns that keep them updated with new products, discounts and other services you offer; thereby ensuring customer loyalty and reduced customer turnover.
Is it necessary to have a website when I am already active on social media? The short answer is yes. While social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms are viable marketing channels, you do not have complete ownership of your social media pages. Meta, for instance, can decide to make changes to its platforms that affect your business in an unexpected way. And let’s not talk about how vulnerable social media pages can be to cyberattacks.
It is crucial to understand that building a website that would drive business growth is not just about putting fancy words and slapping on nice pictures. It must be purposefully designed, secure and user-friendly, with clear calls to action. Here at Mevnet, we deliver outstanding websites with creative and innovative designs, tailored specifically to the nature of each client’s business. Our team of experts would collaborate with you toward delivering solutions that are not only functional and secure but are also cost-effective.
Give your business the best foot forward and get a Mevnet website, today.
