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Tag: software development

Why Bespoke Software Is A Smart Choice for Your Business

ROOM TO GROW WITH YOUR BUSINESS Off-the-shelf software is usually designed to solve a broad set of needs, whether you’ve been in business five minutes or five years. Bespoke software, on the other hand, can be engineered to meet your business needs now while creating opportunities to grow and change along with your business, to give you a technical advantage. At STEP Software, we work with our clients to implement a phased approach that means you only pay for the features you need now, with the freedom to execute the next phase when it makes sense to do so. You get the immediate benefits...

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Why We’re Introducing A Mascot as Part of Our STEP Brand

Traditionally, a mascot is an animal or object used to represent a group with a common identity. This includes schools, sports teams, organizations, charities, and brands. The choice of mascot often embodies an organization’s most desirable qualities and characteristics, aligned with the brand’s spirit, and is reflected in its daily operations. Let’s continue the mascot guessing game, shall we? Here’s another hint: STEP Software serves our clients with solutions that are nimble, agile, and resourceful. And we pride ourselves on hiring team members who aren’t only skillful, they’re clever. Figure...

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9 Misunderstandings About Agile

1. AGILE ELIMINATES PLANNING The successful implementation of the agile methodology, like the Waterfall development approach, is dependent on supporting business processes, including planning and budgeting. One difference between agile planning and Waterfall planning is the time at which planning occurs. In that agile employs iterative processes, its planning process is incremental as well. In contrast, the Waterfall model requires that planning take place during the project’s initial phase. In turn, the scope of planning that occurs for an agile project at one point in time differs...

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Robots in the Workplace – 8 Totally Cool Personal Robots You’ll Absolutely Want in Your Office

The ability to fund and distribute their inventions online means a robot can be designed, built, and delivered in months instead of years. This rapid development means robots are finding their way into homes and offices around the globe. No longer are robots solely the playtoys of the rich and eccentric; robots are increasingly being found in workplaces and office buildings just like yours. If you like the idea of having your own work robot, here are eight totally cool personal robots you will want to check out for your office. KURI How does a touch-sensitive robot friend following...

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What Can an API Do for Your Business?

WHAT IS AN API? An API is a program that runs on a web server that other programmers can use to integrate your business logic into their own programs. It’s an application that has no user-friendly front-end even though it runs on a web server. It’s a program that exposes your own business logic to the world. Salesforce is the perfect example of a popular API. Every sales person knows of Salesforce, and it’s required by many organizations. Salesforce doesn’t have a main website application such as Twitter or Facebook. Instead, its business model is focused on having...

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Introduction to GIS

WHAT IS GIS A GIS is most often packaged as computer software which combines various tools to manipulate data and visual assets into an interactive geographic experience. Popular GIS software includes: ArcGIS  Grass  QGIS  Kalypso  The most popular system for everyday use is Google Maps. This is a typical GIS in that the user can view satellite overlays, use search terms to query the database (e.g., “restaurant”) and filter the results using a specific search radius (e.g., within a ZIP code). HOW GIS WORKS GIS software performs to its...

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The New Moral and Legal Issues with Self-Driving Cars

First, there is the issue of programming morality into the decision-making software of the driverless cars. For instance, if a driverless car is faced with the scenario of crashing into another car or swerving out of the way and potentially hitting pedestrians, what decision is the right one? Does the car have a responsibility to protect the driver? After all, the driver is the company’s customer, right? Or does the car have a responsibility to protect the pedestrians? There are several difficult scenarios that the companies building these cars need to consider with great care.  Second,...

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Web Scraping Software to Increase Profits

SITE MONITORING The most simple web-scraping software will check if your website is live and functioning correctly. When every minute of downtime could be costing revenue, having a service that quickly informs you of any problems is invaluable. TOPIC MONITORING Services such as Google Alerts can be very useful in staying on top of developments in your niche, but scraping software can take this idea to the next level. You could scrape multiple news sources and social media platforms, filtering the results by content, to find out which topics are hot in your area of business. SOCIAL...

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Information Technology and Business Strategies 

Gone are the days when IT focused on buying what was only available or affordable and in turn expected the business process to fit.  Today the business is strategized and IT must be able to fill the requirements.  But in order to have a successful overall company strategy, planning should be accomplished together.  IT needs to understand the goals and objectives of the business, both from a short and long term perspective.  In the same manner the business side needs to understand the limitations faced by IT whether technical or financial. So what do these planning sessions...

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