The holidays are upon us, and with them comes a chance to reach out in a meaningful way to all of you who have helped shape STEP Software into what it is today.

We’d like to take a brief time out from the festivities to let you know we’re thinking of you and wishing you all the best as we head into 2019. May you and yours enjoy the spoils of success arising out of opportunities born in the blank slate that is another new year!

The agile approach to software development has been adopted by a wide range of companies in a number of different industries. True to its name, agile development stresses flexibility, speed and a customer focus. When teams get it right, it reduces time to release, improves team efficiency, and increases customer satisfaction. Many companies, however, continue to get it wrong. Experience shows that the source of some development issues may be misconceptions about agile development. In an effort to set the record straight, here are nine misconceptions and comments to counter those myths and help you get it right.

Deep learning. Artificial intelligence. Biometric inputs. This is the future of robotics. From gesture controlled robots to voice activated minions, the advancements happening within the robotics sector are nothing short of stunning. 

But you do not have to wait years to experience the incredible progression in robotics. Thanks to entrepreneurial startups and forward-thinking corporations, robots are being developed at an ever-increasing pace. Some are already available for purchasing, while others are currently being brought to market via crowdfunding. Platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo are allowing today's inventors to determine demand for their creations and raise funds for production and delivery too.

If you have an Internet presence, you could be using an application programming interface (API) to help increase revenue. An API is an initial cost for development and engineering, but it can be well worth the money to build a much stronger online presence and product. Some businesses have a business model that focuses primarily on their API. Others use the API a side product. An API gives you numerous options for your business revenue.

Geographic Information System (GIS) is the term applied to a system used to store and manipulate geographical or spatial data. With a huge range of applications, GIS software is used across disciplines and in increasingly innovative ways. Many companies are realizing the need to hire GIS specialists. For this reason GIS is a growing field, and a proficiency in GIS can offer lucrative career benefits.

In 2017, self-driving cars are one of the hottest technology innovations that both consumers and businesses are talking about. Big names including Apple, Tesla, and Uber are all working tirelessly to bring driverless cars to market. The benefits are easy to see. Driverless cars offer a luxurious experience, reduce the stress of driving, eliminate drunk driving, can be profitable as a taxi when the owner isn't using the car, and much more. However, driverless cars also bring several unique moral and legal issues to the table that have never been faced before, and to this point, it is unknown how these big companies will face these challenges. 

How Could Your Business Use Web Scraping Software to Increase Profits?

Data is gold in modern business, and there's huge money to be made in mining it from the world's largest information source: the internet. For proof of this, you only need look as far as Google, which has built a multi-billion dollar business largely on the back of manipulating other people's published data.

In the early days of computing, the Information Technology (IT) Manager held a unique position.  They controlled a sometimes mysterious department managing the operation and use of main frame computers of which seemingly only a technically minded person could ever understand. The IT strategy typically included expensive purchases or long-term leases of equipment and software that kept the company's data organized and available.  Over the years technology has evolved, becoming common in just about every business. IT structure today may range from a point of sale register to a large datacenter accessed world-wide.  Whichever the case these systems are dedicated to providing services from tracking orders and inventory to running production.  

Are you an entrepreneur hoping to use machine learning to advance your existing company or build a new one? Are you constantly on the lookout for innovative ways you can use data intelligence to power the growth of your business? There are a wide variety of new machine learning resources being released on an ever-increasing basis; the key is to discover them so you can put them to work for your entrepreneurial endeavour.

Up until recently, many people believed that only lower-skill jobs involving repetitive tasks were threatened by artificial intelligence (AI). Recent advances in AI, however, have prompted many respected experts to warn that most jobs will eventually be at risk.