One such remarkable tool is the Digital Transformation Maturity Assessment Tool at dxreadiness.com, created by our company Lumen Spei Ltd, and optimized by our CEO Krunoslav Ris, a seasoned expert in leading organizations through the digital transformation maze.

The Digital Transformation Tool is designed to measure an organization’s digital maturity across various critical dimensions. It does so by delving into six key areas, each represented by a set of questions aimed at uncovering the depth of your digital integration and readiness for the future. 

The journey begins with just a few clicks but leads to a profound understanding of where you stand in the digital readiness level and what steps are essential to lead you forward.

Digital Transformation Assessment Maturity Tool

Let’s dive into the eight steps that constitute the core of our tool:

1. General Information (4 questions): The assessment begins by gathering basic information about your organization. Though brief, this segment lays the groundwork for a personalized analysis.
2. Customer Experience and Relations (14 questions): Here, the tool explores how digital initiatives have been employed to enhance customer interactions and satisfaction. It’s about understanding the digital touchpoints that impact customer journeys.
3. Strategy (16 questions): This segment scrutinizes the alignment between your digital initiatives and organizational strategy. It delves into how well-prepared your strategy is to harness the digital wave.
4. Technology (15 questions): Technology is the linchpin of digital transformation. This step evaluates your technological infrastructure, its alignment with your goals, and its readiness to support future advancements.
5. Operations (15 questions): Here, the focus shifts to operational processes, assessing the integration of digital technologies in streamlining operations and fostering agility.
6. Culture (15 questions): A digital-friendly culture is crucial for transformation. This segment evaluates the organizational mindset and readiness to adapt to digital changes.
7. Data (15 questions): In the digital realm, data is king. This step evaluates your data management practices, analytics capabilities, and how data-driven insights are utilized for decision-making.
8. Compliance and Risk Management (15 questions): This segment assesses your compliance and risk management practices in a digital environment, ensuring that digital initiatives meet regulatory standards and are secure.

Upon completing this detailed assessment, the tool calculates your Digital Maturity Score, a numerical representation of your digital readiness. But it doesn’t just stop at providing a score; it offers tailored recommendations to bridge the gaps identified during the assessment.

These actionable insights are instrumental in fine-tuning your digital strategies, ensuring that every digital investment leads you closer to your organizational goals.

Recommended ➜ Read about drivers of digital transformation

Moreover, the tool provides an opportunity to schedule a one-on-one consultation with our company’s CEO himself. With 25+ years of experience in the tech industry, the insights that you will receive for free, are extremely valuable and exact guiding light in navigating the often blurry waters of digital transformation.

In addition, the assessment paves the way to both action and education plan – with the exclusive book titled “Digital Transformation Cheat Sheet: Book for Executives and Managers“. This book, available on Amazon, is a “shortcut” manual designed especially for C-level executives who are leading their organizations through the digital revolution. Like a crash course, but with information that is not at all basic and “googlable” ” it will provide you with all you need to know about digital transformation, including a roadmap for executives to create a digital-friendly culture, streamline operations, and ultimately achieve digital maturity of their businesses.

What is DxReadiness?

The Digital Maturity Assessment Tool is more than just a diagnostic instrument; it’s a partner in your digital transformation journey. It’s about having a clear mirror that reflects two things. 

• Where you stand as a company with an in-depth analysis of your digital readiness.
• The clear path toward achieving digital excellence. 

The insights you receive from this free tool are invaluable when writing your company’s digital narrative that both resonates with your organizational capabilities, culture, and market dynamics.

Embracing the Digital Transformation Tool is embracing a future of endless possibilities, growth, and a solid competitive edge in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

The journey toward digital maturity is a strategic one. With guidance from Lumen Spei and the data-driven insights from the assessment tool, you are well on your way to becoming a digital powerhouse in your industry. At the end of the assessment, you can easily schedule a free consultation, and for those who are in a hurry and know they need one – we are giving you the link for a free consultation right away! 

Start your digital assessment now. 

The post The Power of Digital Maturity Assessment Tool first appeared on Lumen Spei.

Client and goal

The client was the Croatian business consulting company Best Advisory. They are a company that helps small and medium businesses become more successful by guiding them to achieve digital transformation, offers strategic consulting, and helps achieve sustainable and responsible business. 

They already have numerous partners and clients. Best Advisory approached us with a request to build AI-powered software that will help their clients create reasonable and achievable key performance indicators. 

This idea was born from a simple need – you don’t need years of experience to create achievable OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), but you can use access to AI to create some for you. That is how the idea of OKR-copilot moved into the phase of a project.

Product Description

OKR Copilot is a React web app, which uses the OpenAI API to generate precise OKR-s. It allows users to be as precise as possible by selecting their business vertical, their previous KPIs, their business goals, the number of employees, etc. By imputing this information, the user gets a precise response from the AI service with suggestions of what OKRs should the business focus on in the next period. 

Applied technologies

Here are the technologies our team applied to deliver the app 

React – React is used for building user interfaces, especially for single-page applications where components can be reused to manage and update the UI efficiently. The frontend of OKR Copilot application is written using React as a programming language.

Java – Java is a versatile, object-oriented programming language used for building a wide range of applications. It is known for its portability and platform independence. We used Java to build the backend of OKR Copilot application.

Firebase – Firebase is a platform developed by Google that provides various services for developing web and mobile applications. It includes features like authentication, real-time database, cloud functions, hosting, and more. In order to keep the application secure, we used Firebase authentication for user management. 

OpenAI –  It provides open-source tools and APIs for building and experimenting with AI models. We used Open AI capabilities to prompt responses for creating the OKR-s. 

Typescript – TypeScript is a statically typed language that compiles to plain JavaScript. It adds static typing and other features to help developers catch errors during development. Typescript was used for ease of programming.

SQL – SQL is a domain-specific language used for managing and manipulating relational databases. It is used to define, query, and manipulate data in databases. This was our primary tool for constructing the database which will contain all the information relevant to the users.

Development process

The project idea was simple enough, with enough challenges to bring the unavoidable complexity. 

Firstly, to be able to do anything, we needed to allow users to register and log into the app. This was done with Google’s Firebase service for authenticating users. We also allowed the users to sign up for the app with their Google account. This was the standard procedure our company uses in most of the projects we do. 

Secondly, we needed to connect the OpenAI with our system, via their open API. 

The most important process that needed to be created was the prompt for the ChatGPT. The response from the AI needed to be personalized for each user, depending on multiple factors that are unique for each company. These factors include the size of the company, location, and department for which the OKRS are being generated. Also, we needed to guide the AI to generate OKRs that will be compatible with the company’s vision, as well as their industry vertical and strategic goals. 

Thirdly, in cooperation with the client, we decided that it would be a good idea to generate three responses so that users could choose between the generated responses. Afterward, this feature was upgraded to allow users to generate up to 10 responses if they were not satisfied with the results in the first place. 

Lastly, we added the feature to send the responses via email.

Next steps

Once we achieved functional requirements, it was time to make the app more visually appealing to the clients. With the help of a design team, the app was transformed from the standard, plain industrial software to a more modernized version, with stunning graphical elements. 

We also added a landing page. During one of our meetings, we found out that the app will not be a self-explanatory tool for new clients that might come without first corresponding with Best Advisory. We developed a new and modern landing page that connects the app and the Best Advisory web page. 

How does software such as OKR Copilot improve the company’s business?

On the side of the end user, this software allows them to create OKRs according to their own company needs and strategic goals. It is quick as a wink: after filling out a short, 5-minute questionnaire, you get OKR-s generated for you. This reduces the time needed for establishing business objectives.

On the other hand, it provides a chance for new companies to connect and gain reliable partners in their field of work. 

The question that naturally arises from this is ‘Why would anyone use the software instead of prompting the chat GPT by himself?’ The simplest answer is that it would take much more time to prompt the OpenAI to respond with quality than it would take to write them on paper! By this, we mean that the prompt in OKR Copilot is programmed to return quality responses with formatting which allows it to save time. 

Recommended ➜ Read about our WooCommerce delivery plugin

How much time does it take to build this type of software?

This particular project was done in around three weeks of development time. This includes the visual redesign of the app. 

Developed and redesigned in just three weeks, this React web app, powered by OpenAI, isn’t just a tool – it offers an insight into how businesses will be managed in the future.

As the digital space becomes increasingly focused on efficiency and practicality, tools like OKR Copilot reflect a broader shift towards user-friendly, agile solutions. There’s a growing demand for instant tools that streamline complex processes. Through this project, we learned that it can be done fast, reliably, and efficiently. 

One can predict that the future will bring apps that seamlessly integrate into daily operations. Two things are important. Speedy development, but also the quality of useful intelligence within these tools. 

The ability to have precise OKRs with just a few clicks speaks to the changing ways of doing business, with user-friendly, AI-driven applications.

As you explore the possibilities of B2B digital transformation, keep in mind that it sets you apart from your competition, but more so it helps your business breathe and thrive. 

Are there any quick solutions (or intricate ones) that would help you streamline your processes today? 

Connect with us for a free consultation, Lumen Spei is your B2B digital transformation partner. 

The post OKR Copilot: A ChatGPT-Powered App That Generates Personalized OKRs first appeared on Lumen Spei.

Understanding Digital Transformation in Higher Education

Digital transformation in higher education includes a series of different technologies and procedures that are used in order to enhance learning experiences, increase accessibility, and improve educational outcomes for students. It includes using various digital tools, data analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and other emerging technologies to improve the overall experience, both for students and teachers.

Empowering Higher Education: A Brief Overview of Education Technology

Education technology, often referred to as EdTech, is a broad term that includes the use of technology to enhance and support various aspects of education and learning. It involves the integration of digital tools, software, hardware, and internet-based platforms to improve educational outcomes. EdTech includes online learning platforms, learning management systems (LMS), educational apps, and collaborative tools which will be talked about later on.

The Benefits of Digital Transformation in Higher Education

1. Increased Access and Flexibility

Online education and remote learning opportunities made possible by digital transformation provide access to education for students who might otherwise be unable to attend traditional on-site education. This includes synchronous and asynchronous learning. Synchronous learning refers to a model of education where students and teachers engage in real time and where both can get immediate feedback from one another. On the other hand, in asynchronous learning, students engage with learning materials, activities, and interactions at their own pace and schedule. 

2. Interactive Learning

Digital tools such as interactive simulations, virtual labs, and other forms of learning management systems encourage learning in an enjoyable, interesting and understandable way. There is a lot of benefits of Interactive Learning and some of them are:

• critical thinking and problem-solving – Students are required to analyze, evaluate, and apply information through activities that involve solving complex problems or discussing questions 
• collaboration and communication – Interactive Learning often involves working in groups with other students. By working in a group students learn to express their ideas and listen to each other in order to reach common goals

Recommended ➜ Read about digital transformation tools in 2023

A few of the most popular tools are Moodle, Zoom, Google Workspace for Education, and Kahoot!

3. Global Collaboration

Global Collaboration refers to the process of individuals, institutions, and organizations from different parts of the world coming together to work on shared goals, projects, or initiatives. Global Collaboration can take many forms and include a wide range of activities, but some of them include international conferences and workshops, research, and innovation.

Attending international conferences and workshops can be useful for both students and teachers because it is a place where they can come together, present their work, and make connections that can open many doors for them in the future. The second, but no less important benefit is research and innovation where researchers from different countries can work together to share expertise and achieve innovative breakthroughs.

4. Personalized Learning

Personalized learning refers to an educational approach that can be fully customized in order to meet the individual needs, interests, and abilities for each student. Some of the benefits consist of:

• Individualized Pace – Students can go through their materials and assignments when they want and at their own pace. Advanced students can move faster and explore more challenging content, while struggling students can take the time they need.
• Individual Support – Students can receive more personalized attention and support from their teachers which includes feedback on assignments or one-on-one discussions.

5. Environmental Impact

Ecological sustainability is a concept that is talked about a lot nowadays. Digital Transformation provided us with the possibility of reducing the carbon footprint associated with traditional education methods by reducing the need for printed materials and physical resources. 

Challenges in Implementing Digital Transformation in Higher Education

1. Digital Gap

Regardless of the widespread use of technology, the digital gap remains one of the biggest challenges in higher education. Students from low-income backgrounds or rural areas may experience some trouble keeping track of classes. Unreliable internet connection and inadequate or outdated devices can make the learning experience difficult.

2. Quality of Online Learning

As more courses move online, higher education institutions must work on ensuring the quality of education in the digital world. Online learning must be as effective as learning in a traditional way. On the other hand, even if online learning has the same quality as the standard form of education, there may be a lack of engagement on the part of students. While some students thrive in an online education environment, others can feel isolated and disconnected by the absence of the same level of engagement and interaction as in-person classes which can lead to reduced motivation and participation.

3. Digital Literacy and Training

Both faculty and students need to be trained on how to effectively use new technologies. In this day and age, hardly any student that attends classes (online or in person) doesn’t know how to use new technologies or at least basic ones. The problem appears when older teachers are forced to hold an online course but are not familiar with technology. In order to overcome those challenges, faculty and students need to be trained on how to effectively use new technologies. Without proper training, the benefits of digital tools might not be fully realized. 

Examples of Digital Transformation in Higher Education

In this segment, we explore a diverse series of cases about how technology is giving traditional education a high-tech makeover – from online courses and virtual classrooms to AI-powered study buddies, These examples showcase the dynamic impact of digital transformation on modern education.

1. Online Courses and Virtual Learning – This mode of learning breaks down geographical barriers and while it requires self-discipline and effective time management, virtual learning encourages a dynamic and interactive learning experience through multimedia resources and real-time communication tools.
2. AI-powered study buddies – There are several AI-powered study buddy platforms and tools available that cater to different learning needs and styles.

• • Coursera – open online course provider that works with universities and other organizations to offer online courses, certifications, and degrees in various subjects.
  • Quizlet – Quizlet uses AI to help students create and access study materials such as flashcards, quizzes, and practice tests. It adapts to a student’s progress and provides spaced repetition for efficient memorization.

Unlock your institution’s potential for digital transformation! 

Digital transformation in higher education is an ongoing journey that holds endless promise for learning’s future. By embracing technology and prioritizing accessibility, institutions can unlock digital transformation potential to deliver better learning experiences.

This will increase access to education for diverse learners. Overcoming challenges related to the digital gap, the quality of online learning, and information literacy and training requires a collaborative effort from all of those who are involved.

If you want to start a digital transformation process or learn more about what we do to help institutions, reach out!

The post Unlocking the Potential of Digital Transformation in Higher Education first appeared on Lumen Spei.

That’s why our Project Manager crafted this Ultimate Guide to implementing agile at your company or team.

Agile – the sweetest sound for any CEO, sales and PM.

Considering Agile was formally launched in 2001, it is definitely not a new concept. However, many successful companies have not yet implemented it, despite its popularity and widespread use in project management. While some businesses function best with waterfall or other methodologies, Agile offers a flexible and iterative approach that focuses on collaboration, customer satisfaction, and adaptability.

This is not surprising, given that Agile offers numerous advantages, including a flexible and iterative approach that prioritizes collaboration, customer satisfaction, and adaptability.

Embracing the Agile Mindset

Agile is rooted in four core values (and twelve principles) stated in the Agile Manifesto:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

• Working software over comprehensive documentation

• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

• Responding to change over following a plan

These core values show us what mindset we should embrace as implementing Agile requires a shift in mindset and culture. Quite often that’s the most difficult thing-to change the mindset and habits of fellow colleagues so it is important to effectively communicate why we’re making a switch and explain all the benefits to the team. Don’t get discouraged if the team pushes back at first- that’s normal, just give your team some time to adjust and be transparent with your reasoning behind every decision. As Agile teaches us- responding to a change is crucial.

Forming a Cross-Functional Agile Team

Start by forming a Cross-Functional Agile team. Key to any successful company and/or project is always people. Your team is the vital, most important part of your organization so make sure you have an open minded team who is willing to learn and are open to change.

Agile emphasizes collaboration between team members with different skill sets and areas of expertise. It is important to form cross-functional teams that can collectively handle all aspects of the project. Each individual is unique and owns a special set of skills that gives value to the team. These teams should be self-organizing  and accountable for delivering results.

Selecting the Right Agile Framework

Once you have your team, you need to select the right Agile framework.
There are various Agile frameworks available, including Scrum, Kanban, XP (Extreme Programming), and Lean Agile, among others. Choose the one that aligns best with your project requirements and team dynamics. Scrum, for instance, works well for projects with frequent iterations and fixed-length sprints, while Kanban suits projects with a continuous flow of work items.

Here in Lumen Spei, we use Scrum-but with a twist. We think every project is unique and therefore we approach each project differently. We adapt methodology to the projects and not the other way around, taking the best features from scrum (or to phrase it better-those that suits our projects best) and making it work for each project individually. Sometimes that means not having the strict process procedure followed but that’s ok. We are a small company and at this point,  an individual approach to each client works best for us. That way each client can rest assured they are getting a tailor made approach that fits their needs with a highest level of support and customer care.

Developing a Project Backlog for Agile Implementation

In Agile, the project backlog is a prioritized list of features, tasks, and user stories that need to be completed. This is something a Product Owner will do together with clients and determine priorities based on many factors like: technology used, business requirements and logic, timeline, budget etc.

When doing that it is very important to collaborate with stakeholders and the entire team to create a comprehensive project backlog and put focus on prioritization. Having a clear set of prioritized features is extremely important. That’s how the team knows what to take on first (second, third…), what’s most important to deliver first and what can be pushed for the next phase. Prioritized product backlog is crucial when defining a Sprint Goal so make sure to regularly review and refine the backlog as you move along with the project. 

Sprint Planning and Execution

Agile projects are divided into fixed-length iterations or Sprints, typically lasting 2 weeks in Lumen Spei. During each iteration, the team works on a set of items from the backlog that were discussed and planned for at a Sprint planning session. This is where we determine the above mentioned Spring Goal and make plans for the upcoming sprint. 

When doing this we make sure to plan iterations meticulously, set realistic goals, and of course monitor progress closely.

The Role of Stand-up Meetings

Most controversial  event or (Scrum ceremony) is often a set of Stand-up Meetings. Usually people either hate them or adore them, no inbetween. Whether you like it or not, it is an extremely important event that must be implemented for any version of Agile approach. 

Daily stand-up meetings, or daily scrums, are a fundamental practice in Agile. These short meetings allow team members to synchronize their work, discuss any challenges, issues and blockers  and plan their activities for the day. They are not here solely for PMs to waste your time, we promise! 🙂 

In order for these meetings to be effective and not wasteful, make sure  these meetings are timeboxed (5 to max 15 minutes) and focused on addressing obstacles, without going into other topics. Any issue that lasts more than 15 minutes should be addressed in a separate meeting with only those team members who are included in the topic and not the whole team. Effective communication and collaboration are essential for successful Agile implementation. Encourage regular interactions between team members, stakeholders, and customers. 

Empowering Agile Implementation with Collaborative Agile Tools

One of the key aspects of successful Agile implementation lies in utilizing the right set of collaborative Agile tools. These tools play a vital role in enhancing team collaboration, streamlining project tracking, and fostering effective communication within the team. 

By recommending and integrating Agile project management tools, teams can experience improved productivity and efficiency throughout the project lifecycle. Let’s explore the top tools and understand how they can empower teams to deliver exceptional results in an Agile environment:

Edworking

Edworking is an emerging unified platform for remote teams, offering seamless coordination, communication, and task management. With everything in one place, including tasks, files, images, video calls, chats, meeting rooms, file sharing, and stories all in one, Edworking simplifies work processes with a single subscription.

Jira

Jira is a widely used Agile project management tool that offers robust features for planning, tracking, and releasing software. With customizable workflows and real-time visibility into project progress, Jira enables teams to stay focused and organized throughout each sprint.

Trello

Trello is a user-friendly Agile collaboration tool that uses boards, lists, and cards to organize and prioritize tasks. It promotes visual project management, making it easy for teams to manage their work and collaborate seamlessly.

Asana

Asana is an all-in-one Agile project management and collaboration platform that allows teams to plan, track, and manage their work in one place. Its intuitive interface and task dependencies help teams stay on top of their projects and meet their deadlines.

Monday.com 

Monday is a versatile Agile tool that provides a visual and collaborative workspace for teams to plan, track, and manage projects effectively. With customizable workflows and automation, teams can streamline their Agile processes and work more efficiently.

Slack

Slack is a popular communication tool that facilitates real-time team communication. With dedicated channels for different projects, teams can collaborate, share updates, and address issues promptly.

Miro

Miro is a digital whiteboard and collaboration platform that enables Agile teams to brainstorm, plan, and visualize their ideas and workflows. It promotes remote collaboration and enhances creative problem-solving.

Recommended ➜ Read about digital transformation tools in 2023

Embracing Agile Principles for Success

Agile project management has proven to be a game-changer in the dynamic and ever-evolving world of project execution. By fostering collaboration, flexibility, and continuous improvement, Agile empowers teams to deliver exceptional results in the face of complexity and uncertainty.

To implement Agile successfully, organizations must invest in creating a collaborative and supportive environment. Remember that Agile is not a one-size-fits-all approach, so be open to tailoring the methodology to suit your project’s unique needs.

 Agile project management is not just a methodology, it is a mindset that embraces adaptability, collaboration, and a relentless pursuit of excellence.

 By embracing Agile principles and continuously refining their practices, organizations can thrive in the face of uncertainty and deliver value that exceeds expectations. 
Embrace Agile and empower your teams to reach new heights in project management. Feel free to give us a shout if you need help! 🙂

The post The Ultimate Guide to Implementing Agile in Project Management 2023 first appeared on Lumen Spei.

Key Areas of Digital Transformation in the Food and Beverage Industry (with real-life examples)

1. Operations and Supply Chain

In the realm of operations and supply chains, digital transformation is revolutionizing the way businesses in the food and beverage industry operate. By utilizing technology for efficient inventory management, implementing automation and robotics in production processes, and optimizing logistics through data-driven solutions, companies can achieve greater efficiency and agility.

For example, McDonald’s has been implementing digital transformation in various ways. One of their examples is that they have integrated self-service kiosks and mobile ordering options in their restaurants to streamline the ordering process. Additionally, McDonald’s has made investments in automation and robotics for tasks like beverage dispensing. These initiatives contribute to their digital transformation journey and enhance their operations and supply chain.

By integrating an AI platform with menus and inventory systems, companies like McDonald’s can promote or withdraw items based on stock levels, optimizing demand and preventing shortages. This real-time data-driven approach minimizes waste and ensures an optimized supply chain. Furthermore, it empowers personalized recommendations, leverages global distribution centers, and effectively manages stock levels, especially for new or seasonal items.

For more insights into McDonald’s digital transformation initiatives in operations and supply chain, you can refer to these articles by Grubbrr, Wavetec, and Future Supply Chain.

2. Customer Experience and Engagement

Enhancing customer experiences and engagement is a crucial aspect of digital transformation in the food and beverage industry. By leveraging technology, businesses can provide personalized and convenient experiences that resonate with their customers.

For example, Starbucks, a leader in digital transformation, has implemented various initiatives to enhance the customer experience. Through their mobile app, customers can order and pay ahead, collect rewards, and personalize their beverage choices. Starbucks’ digital investments have resulted in increased customer engagement and loyalty.

To learn more about Starbucks’ digital transformation journey and how they have elevated customer experiences, you can refer to these sources:

• “Starbucks’ Mobile Apps: How They Drive Customer Engagement” by Indigo9 Digital
• “Starbucks: Winning on Rewards, Loyalty, and Data” by Harvard Digital

According to the mentioned Harvard Digital article, Starbucks’ Reward Loyalty Program boasts an impressive 16 million active members (as of March 2019) and has contributed 40% of the company’s total sales. The mobile app enables seamless payments, order-ahead functionality, and personalized offers based on user data. Customers can earn stars (rewards) that translate into free drinks, food, and merchandise. Starbucks’ investment in digital technologies has transformed its relationship with customers and generated substantial value.

Through the Starbucks app, customers enjoy the ease of payment, the convenience of ordering ahead, and a range of rewards and benefits. The app integrates with other platforms like Spotify, enhancing the overall coffeehouse experience. Starbucks keeps its members informed about new releases and offers special member events. This comprehensive digital strategy has elevated customer experiences, driving loyalty and satisfaction.

By studying Starbucks’ digital transformation initiatives, businesses in the food and beverage industry can gain valuable insights into enhancing customer experiences and engagement in their own operations.

Recommended ➜ Read about how Web 3.0 technologies impact digital transformation

3. Data Analytics and Insights

Data analytics plays a pivotal role in digital transformation, enabling businesses to make informed decisions and optimize their operations. In the food and beverage industry, companies can leverage data analytics to gain insights into customer preferences, forecast demand, and streamline processes.

1. Noteworthy Example: Coca-Cola’s Utilization of Predictive Analytics

Coca-Cola, a leading player in the food and beverage industry, demonstrates the power of digital transformation through its use of predictive analytics. By accurately forecasting demand, Coca-Cola optimizes production and inventory management. This data-driven approach helps streamline operations, minimize waste, and ensures that Coca-Cola products are readily available to meet consumer needs. Forbes provides valuable insights into how Coca-Cola utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to drive success, while Harvard Digital also offers an in-depth analysis of Coca-Cola’s data analytics-driven innovation.

2. Noteworthy example: Starbucks’ Perfect Blend of Data Analytics

Building upon the previous example of Starbucks, another notable instance of its digital transformation efforts can be seen in how they have leveraged data analytics to create a seamless customer experience. Their digital transformation journey, as highlighted in Harvard Digital’s article, “The Perfect Blend: Starbucks and Data Analytics“, showcases how Starbucks uses data analytics to gain valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences. By analyzing customer data, Starbucks tailors their offerings, develops personalized marketing campaigns, and optimizes its operations to meet customer expectations. This data-driven approach has contributed to Starbucks’ success and continued growth in the industry.

By studying these real-life examples of Coca-Cola and Starbucks, businesses can gain inspiration and insights into the strategic implementation of data analytics for informed decision-making, enhanced customer experiences, and operational optimization.

Recommended ➜ Read about the role of big data in digital transformation

4. Food Safety and Traceability

Ensuring food safety and traceability is a critical concern for the food and beverage industry, and digital transformation can help address these challenges. By implementing technologies such as blockchain, companies can establish transparent supply chains and enhance traceability.

1. Noteworthy Example: Walmart’s Implementation of Blockchain for Food Traceability

Walmart, a prominent player in the food and beverage industry, sets a remarkable example by utilizing blockchain technology to enhance food traceability. With a blockchain-based system in place, Walmart ensures transparency and accountability throughout the supply chain, allowing for efficient tracking of products from farm to store shelves. This innovative solution helps improve food safety, quality control, and consumer trust. The utilization of blockchain technology in the food industry has the potential to revolutionize food safety practices and enhance the overall integrity of the supply chain.

By examining Walmart’s adoption of blockchain technology, companies in the food and beverage industry can gain insights into how digital transformation can strengthen food safety practices and traceability, ultimately benefiting both businesses and consumers.

Technological Advances Driving Digital Transformation

Technological advances such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), cloud computing, and big data analytics are driving digital transformation in the (food and beverage) industry.

These technologies enable businesses to gather real-time data, automate processes, and derive meaningful insights to drive innovation and efficiency. The integration of these technologies empowers enterprises to optimize operations, personalize customer experiences, and uncover new opportunities.

The Impact of Digital Transformation on the Food and Beverage Industry

Digital transformation has a profound impact on the food and beverage industry, with various benefits for businesses. By embracing digital strategies, companies can achieve improved operational efficiency, cost savings, enhanced customer experiences, increased agility, and the ability to adapt to market changes.

These transformative efforts allow businesses to stay competitive, meet customer expectations, and drive growth in a dynamic industry.

Recommended ➜ Read about the impact of digital transformation on business growth

Common Challenges and Considerations in Digital Transformation

While digital transformation offers significant opportunities, it also comes with challenges and considerations.

Data security and privacy concerns, integration of legacy systems with new digital solutions, workforce upskilling, and change management are some common challenges faced by businesses in the food and beverage industry. Addressing these challenges is essential to ensure a successful digital transformation journey.

Recommended ➜ Read about the challenges of digital transformation.

Embracing the Digital Shift in F&B Industry

In conclusion, digital transformation is reshaping the food and beverage industry, empowering businesses to remain competitive and meet customers’ evolving needs.

Through optimizing operations and supply chains, enhancing customer experiences, leveraging data analytics, and ensuring food safety through traceability, businesses can unlock tremendous growth and innovation potential.

Is Your F&B Business Ready for Digital Transformation?

The food and beverage industry is currently experiencing a profound digital transformation, revolutionizing the way businesses operate and engage with customers. By embracing digital strategies and adopting emerging technologies such as inventory management systems, automation, data analytics, and traceability solutions, businesses can position themselves for long-term success in this rapidly evolving landscape.

At Lumen Spei, we understand the significance of staying ahead in this dynamic industry. As a leading digital transformation agency, our dedicated team of experts is ready to guide your (food) business on its digital journey, implementing innovative solutions tailored to your specific needs.

We believe that by embracing this transformative journey, your business can achieve sustainable growth and thrive in today’s competitive market.

Ready to embark on your digital transformation journey? Reach out to us and discover how we can support your food business in embracing the industry’s future.

Let’s drive your digital transformation and business to new heights!

The post Exploring Digital Transformation in Food & Beverage Industry first appeared on Lumen Spei.

If you’re coming from the software development world (and even if you aren’t) there’s a high chance you’ve heard of ChatGPT. Nevertheless, we’ll explain a little bit about it. And for those of you who are already using ChatGPT for writing code we will do a deeper dive and explore the 5 best ways ChatGPT can help developers write code faster and more efficiently.

Here is a brief description of ChatGPT

Let’s quickly define what ChatGPT is.

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence language model created by OpenAI, based on the GPT-3.5 architecture. It is designed to generate human-like responses to natural language inputs, allowing it to carry out conversations with people on a wide range of topics. ChatGPT is trained on a massive corpus of text data, enabling it to understand the nuances of language and generate coherent and relevant responses. Its abilities include answering questions, completing sentences, generating text based on prompts, and much more.

While ChatGPT is a very powerful language model, it still has some limitations. Some of them are as follows:

1.     Contextual understanding: ChatGPT can generate responses based on the words and phrases in its input, but it may not always fully understand the context or underlying meaning of what is being said. This can lead to responses that are technically correct but miss the mark in terms of relevance or appropriateness.
2.     Bias: Like any machine learning model, ChatGPT can be subject to bias in its responses. This can be a result of biases in the data it was trained on or in the way it was programmed. While efforts have been made to mitigate this, it remains a challenge for AI language models.
3.     Creativity: While ChatGPT can generate text based on prompts and has some ability to come up with novel responses, it is not truly creative in the way that humans are. It lacks the ability to truly understand and appreciate art, music, humor, and other forms of creativity.
4.     Domain-specific knowledge: ChatGPT’s knowledge is based on the data it was trained on, which may not always be comprehensive or up-to-date. It may also lack specific knowledge in certain domains or fields, making it less useful for specialized tasks or topics.
5.     Empathy: ChatGPT is not capable of empathy or emotional intelligence, which limits its ability to engage in emotionally complex or sensitive conversations in the same way that humans can.

(Source: ChatGPT)

So ChatGPT will replace developers, right?

Your first question when you heard about ChatGPT or started using it is probably this one. Your answer was probably yes.

Immediately followed by a no.

As we’re still in this phase of AI development where things change almost daily and new technologies are being developed, it’s impossible to predict something like that.

However, we will make a prediction, but we are aware that throughout history people made many wrong predictions about technology, so take this with a grain of salt. Some of the tasks that programmers do (especially repetitive ones) can be automated with ChatGPT, resulting in greater productivity, and, ultimately, a reduction in the number of programmers needed. To give you some perspective, below is a picture of an architecture studio from the 1970s. In today’s world, tech solutions like ArchiCAD allows one person to do the same job as all of these people back then in just a few hours. But did ArchiCAD replace architects?

How to use ChatGPT to write code

Now that we have put our fears aside, let’s explore 5 best ways to write code with ChatGPT. As a developer, writing code is a significant part of your daily routine. However, coming up with the right code can be challenging and time-consuming. ChatGPT is a large language model designed to understand natural language and provide relevant responses. As a result, it makes it easier for you to write code faster. We’ll examine the 5 most common use cases of ChatGPT when writing code. We are using ChatGPT to show you realtime examples and are including screenshots.

1.    Generating code snippets

When writing code, this will probably be the most common use case for ChatGPT. Whether you’re a web developer, a mobile developer, or any other type of developer, you’ll probably have to write some boilerplate code. This is where ChatGPT comes in handy.

With ChatGPT, you can request a code snippet for a particular task or language and get a response within seconds. It can also assist with syntax and formatting, ensuring that your code is clean and readable.

For instance, let’s see how ChatGPT can help us create a starter code for a full-stack MERN (MongoDB, Express, React, Node) application.

It took ChatGPT a few seconds to generate the response, and all we have to do is copy-paste these code snippets into files already created in our project. Also included was a note about installing and configuring the dependencies.

Not to mention that we wrote a very non-specific ChatGPT prompt (“Generate a starter code for MERN stack application”). ChatGPT’s response would also be more specific and detailed if we wrote a more specific prompt.

To expand our prompt, let’s ask it to add a form to our React app for adding new users:

When we made the prompt more specific, we didn’t just get a more detailed code snippet, we also got a more detailed explanation of what this code does.

We focused on our front-end application, but we can also use ChatGPT to develop our back-end application.

Let’s extend our request even further by asking it to add styling using Tailwind CSS and placeholders for input fields:

Now, ChatGPT added Tailwind code to our form, making it responsive and styled to our needs. Also, same as in the previous examples, it gave us a brief but detailed explanation of the code it generated.

2.    Debugging code

There is an inside joke that developers often use: Coding is 1% writing code; The other 99% is debugging. On a serious note, debugging is really a crucial (and often less fun) part of the whole development process. Luckily, ChatGPT can help us here, too. Let’s try to intentionally add a bug to a code snippet and ask ChatGPT to find it. We will use a function for flattening JSON objects, but will define a “result” variable as an array, whereas expecting an object in that place:

Now, let’s see ChatGPT’s response:

Even though this was pretty much an obvious bug and could easily be avoided using some VS Code extensions or even better – TypeScript, ChatGPT did a good job finding it and giving us an explanation of our bug along with the solution for it. In the case of more complex bugs and errors, you’ll probably need to spend some time figuring it out on your own, but what better way to learn?

3.    Code Review

Code review is an essential step in the coding process. It involves reviewing code to ensure that it is readable, maintainable, and efficient. With ChatGPT, you’ll be able to receive great help with code review. It can definitely help identify potential issues with code and provide recommendations on how to fix them.

For example, if you want to ensure that your code is readable, you can ask ChatGPT for a code review. It can provide feedback on the code’s readability, suggesting ways to simplify or optimize the code. ChatGPT can also review code for maintainability and efficiency, providing recommendations on how to refactor the code to improve its performance.

Let’s try one basic example of using React’s useEffect hook. We will define a function inside this hook, which will work fine by itself (we won’t get any errors), but as our codebase grows and becomes more complex, it may cause some issues.

Let’s see if ChatGPT catches this:

Here we can see ChatGPT gave us some feedback on our code snippet, and it also gave us a changed code snippet with some of its suggestions applied. In other words, it did not follow suggestion #2, which said to “Use meaningful variable names”. This is one of the examples where you should be careful when using ChatGPT for writing code.

4.    Learning New Programming Languages

When it comes to learning a new programming language, it can be a daunting experience. However, ChatGPT can help make the process easier. ChatGPT can provide resources and tutorials on different programming languages, making it easier for developers to learn and understand the language’s syntax and features.

It provides resources on new programming languages, for instance. By providing tutorials, documentation, and examples, it can make it easier for developers to learn and write code faster.

5.    Natural Language Processing

Developers can communicate their ideas and code-related questions more easily with ChatGPT, which understands natural language. It can understand complex queries and provide relevant responses, saving you a lot of time and effort.

For instance, if you want to know how to implement a particular algorithm, you can ask ChatGPT to provide a code snippet for the algorithm. It can understand the query and provide a relevant response, ensuring that you quickly get the information you need so that you can write the logic for your application or project.

Our bottom line on coding with ChatGPT

The screenshots don’t lie. ChatGPT provides developers with a valuable tool for writing code faster. You can use it to generate code snippets, provide debugging assistance, review code, learn new programming languages, and understand natural language queries. Developers can save significant time and effort using ChatGPT, enabling them to focus on other critical tasks instead.

But here’s the catch. If you are a developer, you are aware that your job is much more than writing code – there’s constant communication within the team or between different teams and clients, a creative process that goes into it, coming up with solution depending on the circumstances, all of which ChatGPT is currently unable to do. Also, developers are the ones that are programming AI, so there’s that. 

That’s why we would argue that there is no need reason to worry about ChatGPT replacing developers. But there definitely is a reason to try it out – it can be a valuable tool once you learn how to make the most of it. Especially if you are a junior or mid-level and don’t have a senior mentor by your side. It is a great way for a developer to be more independent and learn faster. Try it out and feel free to share your experiences in the comment section.  

Recommended ➜ Learn how to adapt to Web 3.0 and decentralized future.

The Lumen Spei development team is here for you

Interested in hearing more about this topic? Let us know by leaving a comment. We would also love to hear from you if you are an experienced developer wanting to join our team or if you are a client seeking to work with our developers on your next project. 

The post 5 Ways ChatGPT Can Help Developers Write Code Faster first appeared on Lumen Spei.

We talked to our Frontend team and together we will unravel the world of the frontend ecosystem.

The frontend ecosystem

In the early days of the web, server-side rendering was the primary method of generating HTML content and delivering it to clients. This involved writing server-side scripts in languages such as PHP, Perl, or Java to dynamically generate HTML pages based on user requests. This approach was simple and effective but limited when building dynamic and interactive user interfaces.

As web applications became more complex and interactive, client-side JavaScript frameworks such as jQuery, Backbone, and Angular emerged, allowing for more dynamic and interactive user interfaces. However, this came at the cost of slower initial page load times and poor search engine optimization, as search engines could not easily index the dynamically generated content.

The 3 biggest players in the modern frontend ecosystem are React, Vue, and Angular. According to statistics from the State of JavaScript Survey 2020, React is the most popular framework with a 68.9% adoption rate among developers. It is followed by Vue with a 29.4% adoption rate, and Angular with a 25.1% adoption rate.

With this, we can see that even before starting a project you have a choice between 3 frameworks that basically do the same thing. They may do it in different ways (though often there is significant overlap) but in the end, everyone is a component-based client-side library (React/Vue) or framework (Angular).

As an example, let’s take the core functionality of these frontend tools, rendering the page view.

Different approaches

The DOM (Document Object Model) represents the HTML tree in “Nodes”. Nodes are JavaScript objects that hold attributes, content, and child objects. This is then abstracted further into the VDOM (Virtual Document Object Model). This is a lightweight copy of the DOM. It is used to compare the actual DOM to see if there are changes and if it needs to be updated. With this approach, it is possible to avoid re-rendering the application unnecessarily.

React and Vue use DOM and VDOM while Angular uses change detection.

Change detection is a mechanism that tracks changes in an application’s data and updates the user interface accordingly.

Here we can see that React and Vue take a similar approach to solve the problem of re-rendering while Angular does its thing.

This approach can be more efficient than React’s virtual DOM approach in some cases, as it avoids the overhead of creating and managing a virtual DOM. However, it can also be less performant in certain scenarios, particularly when there are many components or when changes are made frequently. Ultimately, the performance differences between React’s virtual DOM and Angular’s change detection depend on the specific requirements and characteristics of the application being built.

So what? Is more options a problem?

Well no, however, the ever-evolving landscape of front-end development can be overwhelming for developers. The plethora of frameworks, libraries, and tools can lead to disorganization, confusion, and bloat, making it difficult for developers to create optimized and efficient code.

Along with the main 3, there are several technologies built either as an alternative or on top of these main technologies.

Some of the competitors: Svelte, Solid, Emberjs, Preact

All of the mentioned technologies are client-side rendering. This means the client-side app is a stand-alone project that is sent to the client as mostly empty HTML and to show the page content another request is made to the server serving the site and the server sends the client Javascript bundles that generate and fill in the HTML content.

Why?

Well the main benefits are:

Improved interactivity: With this method, it is easier to create highly dynamic sites without reloading the page.

Faster initial load times: Since the main bottleneck for web apps is network latency it just takes less time to send the client an empty HTML file, a CSS file, and a Javascript bundle that will fill out the page than sending a request to the server, waiting for the server to populate the page and then sending the big bundle over the internet to the client.

Improved scalability: It’s easier to maintain since the app is separated from the backend which in and of itself can be a complex codebase so adding “unrelated” code on top of it can complicate things.

So what are some of the drawbacks?

First, the fact that the app is rendered on the client side means the client machine is tasked with This can be resource intensive. It is noticeable if the client is on a low-end machine.

Second, a JavaScript dependency. Client-side rendering requires JavaScript to be enabled on the client side, which means that users who have disabled JavaScript in their browsers will not be able to use the application.

Another drawback is SEO. Since the app is just an empty HTML file when a crawler from let’s say Google requests the page to scrape and analyze the content in order to rank it there is nothing to analyze.

So what then?

The current best option would be hybrid options or specialized tools for the use case. What do I mean by that? Using the most appropriate tool for the job.

What are the most effective frontend development tools

Next.js

Next.js is a popular open-source framework for building server-side rendering (SSR) React applications. Along with SSR, it can also be used for static site generation and client-side rendering.

Using this react framework you can generate static pages on build time for the pages where the content doesn’t change. You can also render pages on the server if the data is dynamic. When delivered to the client it additionally has all of the client-side capabilities to dynamically re-render the page like any other client-side framework. This also means SEO optimization is not as big a concern since the page is rendered on the server and crawlers can get the full page content on request.

Next.js is also a server since it generates and renders pages and renders them for user requests. This means it can behave like a normal server, and it has a built-in Nodejs (express-like) API to handle REST requests. It is minimal but it can be extended to cover a surprising amount of use cases.

Astro

Astro is a relatively new open-source framework for building modern web applications using server-side rendering (SSR) and static site generation (SSG) techniques. It is flexible and can be used with various web technologies, including React, Vue, Svelte, and more.

Like Next.js, Astro supports server-side rendering, which allows better SEO optimization by providing search engines with fully rendered HTML pages. Astro’s performance optimization features make it an excellent choice for building fast and efficient e-commerce websites that need to handle large amounts of data and traffic.

Both can be used for similar projects but they have different approaches to generating pages. The choice between the two frameworks ultimately depends on the specific needs of the project and the preferences of the development team.

Astro may be a newcomer, but it is already very popular in the web development community, which is growing fast.

Gatsby

Gatsby is another popular framework for building modern web applications, and like Next.js and Astro, it offers many performance optimization features.

Gatsby achieves high performance through static site generation (SSG), which pre-renders pages at build time and serves them as static HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. This approach can significantly improve page load times and reduce server load since pages can be served directly from a content delivery network (CDN) without server-side rendering.

Gatsby is older and is not as popular and depending on who you ask an obsolete way of solving the problem of server-side generation (SSR) and static site generation (SSG), tho this may be a symptom of the JavaScript community being all too eager to replace the current standard way of doing things and supporting the new kid on the block without any technical reason to do so.

The JavaScript ecosystem is notorious for rapid releases of updated frameworks and libraries that solve the same issue in a different way. This is true regardless of whether it is necessary or not. After all, sometimes it feels like there is another React killer every month. And yet we still keep coming back for more!

Recommended ➜ Read about web 3.0 mindset changes..

Wrap-up

Ultimately, frontend development has become an essential aspect of creating interactive and dynamic websites and applications. The three biggest players in the modern frontend ecosystem are React, Vue, and Angular, all of which offer different approaches to rendering page views. As far as modern web development tools go, Next.js, Astro, and Gatsby are all excellent options that can be chosen from among the many options available.

While the plethora of frameworks, libraries, and tools available can lead to confusion, and bloat, it also offers developers many options to choose from. However, the choice of the most effective frontend development tool depends on the specific requirements and characteristics of the application being built. Hybrid options or specialized tools for the use case are currently the best option. As frontend development continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how new technologies and frameworks emerge to address the challenges and opportunities of creating engaging and interactive user interfaces.

Is your next project requiring front-end development support? If so, do you have any questions? Lumen Spei is here for you. Let’s talk about your project and see where we can go from there!

The post ​Introduction to the Frontend Ecosystem: Understanding the Modern WEB first appeared on Lumen Spei.

So we talked to our QA team and gave them questions to answer. Here’s your guide through QA – from A to Q . Learn all the different types of testing in QA and the key roles and responsibilities of QA, and BONUS tips for successful QA in software development, including testing in different environments and popular technologies and tools. Let’s get going! 

What is quality assurance (QA) in software development?

Software quality is one of the most important things when developing software. It is related to all areas of software development, from the initial idea to the actual implementation of the software by the end user. A QA engineer’s job is to guarantee or ensure that product quality meets or validates the business and technical requirements of clients or software users. It focuses on the quality of processes that can improve quality control and testing.      

Key roles and responsibilities of QA

There is usually an opinion that a QA engineer is only responsible for detecting bugs in some software, that is, testing the software. However, the position of QA is much more complex and includes all phases of software development, which distinguishes a QA engineer from a tester – from the initial idea to the actual implementation of the software by the end user. The following are all the steps of the software development process divided by 6 stages:

1. Analysis of requirements – involves reviewing the product documentation and determining which types of testing are necessary and to what extent the software will be included in those tests. This phase also involves deciding which part of the tests will be automated (which will be discussed in more detail below).
2. Test planning – during this phase, the test plan strategy, the time required to conduct the test, and the estimated cost are determined. It is also decided on the environment in which the tests will be performed, as well as the technology in which they will be used.
3. Test case development – tests and scripts are verified through documentation after the planning is completed. Relevant data for testing is found and documentation is written. It is also during this phase that automatic tests are written for individual modules.
4. Setup of the test environment – the phase in which the software and hardware conditions for testing a product are determined. This phase can be done simultaneously with developing test cases in some cases.
5. Test execution phase – the tests written in the previous phases are executed according to the plan and cases created. Testing involves executing test scripts, adjusting them, reporting possible bugs, and re-testing after they are fixed.
6. The phase of closing the process – the tests are completed, the results are analyzed, and plans for further testing are made.

Types of QA testing

Manual, automatic, functional, non-functional, black box, white box, etc., are the most basic divisions of testing. Here are the main types. 

Manual testing

Manual testing is most often used during “smoke” tests, that is, when it is necessary to test something short and quick. 

It is also used for tests that cannot be automated, such as comparing the front-end part of the software with the design. The purpose of manual testing is to cover as many scenarios as possible that cannot be automated and thereby ensure software quality. After development, when a new functionality comes for testing for the first time, manual QA checks its compliance with the specification and designs and writes test cases that can later be automated.

Automatic testing

Automatic testing is used due to the frequent repetition of the same tests. Because of the complexity of the product, when developing software and adding new parts, it is necessary to test the previous parts that were already made and were correct until then.

 The QA engineer’s role is to manually speed-test the new feature before writing the automatic part to cover the news permanently. This will shorten the retesting process. When the developer adds a new version of the software next time, automatic tests (CI/CD) are triggered to check whether the new software version does not compromise existing functionality.

Functional testing

Functional testing checks whether the functionalities provide the expected results. These include “Smoke”, “Regression”, “Retesting”, “Exploratory”, and “Negative”.

After the functional testing is completed, it is switched to non-functional testing. It focuses on application performance. Types of non-functional testing are: “Performance”, “Usability”, and “Security”.

One type of testing is rarely performed, instead, it is combination according to the requirements and the time allotted for testing.

Best tips for successful quality assurance in software development

One of the good practices that I would like to mention on this occasion is testing in different environments.

To better test the software before it reaches the end user, we use several environments. In our company, a team of experts decided that the optimal number of environments for the software we produce should be three.

In the first environment, developers upload software to the development environment, which is only used to test the software and is not visible to users. The second environment is staging, in which versions of the software are ready for showing to customers or users and for testing by potential users. Lastly, we have the production environment, where the finished product is placed and used by end users

Popular technologies and tools used in QA

We have witnessed that many different frameworks and tools for automatic testing can be found on the market.

Selection is made concerning which technologies and languages ​​are required for testing. Considering that there are many of them, we will refer only to those that our company carefully selected and implemented in the process of automatic testing.

1. Rest Assured – is a framework used for testing API calls with the help of Java libraries. It is very useful for testing HTTP calls due to easy response validation both in the body and in the response header. In it, we usually validate the status of the request, the speed of the response, the validity of the data, and the structure of the response. It also allows developers to write tests in combination with other testing libraries, such as JUnit, TestNG, Cucumber, etc.
   
2. Selenium – is a framework that we use for the automatic testing of web applications. It can be used to write test scripts for different browsers. This tool simulates user interaction with a web page. With the help of the catchers it uses, it binds to the web elements and performs the functions that we assigned to it (for example clicks on the link, presses the button, scrolls, and fills in the input fields). It also uses the catchers to validate whether the expected behavior of the application has occurred (whether it went to the intended page or the data from the input forwarded to the place where it’s needed).
3. Appium – is a framework used for the automatic testing of applications for mobile devices on platforms such as Android, iOS, and Windows. Its biggest advantage is that we don’t have to do any test modifications when testing on different platforms. We can write tests in various programming languages: Java, JavaScript, C#, and Python.
4. Jmeter – is an application that is used to test the performance of an application. It is used in such a way that the tool itself simulates a group of users, the size of which we determine, sending requests to our application, and from that, we get the statistical data we need to measure performance.
5. Postman is a tool used for testing API calls, that is, for testing the backend. Both manual and automatic testing can be performed with it. Its main advantage is that it is done in a GUI environment and is quite user-friendly.
6. Cucumber is a tool for writing tests so that non-programmers can understand them. It is combined with Selenium and Rest Assured in Lumen Spei, so we get tests that are easy to understand and adaptable even for non-programmers.
7. GitHub Actions (CI/CD) is a tool used for the continuous integration of tests on the server. When a new version is pushed, it runs tests automatically. The new version cannot be uploaded until the tests finds errors and they are corrected. 

The main reason for using this tool is that when changes are made to the application by a developer, there is a possibility that they will conflict with previous parts of the application or with parts added by others.

Recommended ➜ Read about web 3.0 mindset changes..

Benefits of including QA in the software development process

Modern software companies utilize QA knowledge and skills for the many benefits they provide. The main benefits of QA engineers and why it’s smart to have them on your team – speak for themselves. 

1. Detecting software defects early, allows the development team to have enough time to adapt the software before it reaches the end user!
2. Software testing reduces software development costs!
3. The time required for software release is reduced, and user security is increased!

Lumen Spei always includes a QA in its design and development process. If you need help with your next’s project quality assurance, we got you – contact us!

The post Why is quality assurance a key to software development success? first appeared on Lumen Spei.

The People and Medicine (PL Ludzie I Medycyna) Foundation was established in 2018 with a focus on patient experience, creating and using different solutions for helping people living with diagnosis.Testing, describing, and working towards a better experience using Participatory Design methodology, where actual users are researching, designing, testing, and agreeing on a final solution, among others. This was done for Patients4Patients. 

Patients4Patients is a peer-support-based mobile app – an innovative yet scientifically-grounded support system. There is a safe place where all questions can be asked, such as, “How will this affect my love life?”. The system allows recovered or experienced patients to provide practical and emotional support to the “novice” patients via 1:1 chat. After signing in, users can select their conditions and predefined conversation topics. In the app, they can filter anonymous patient databases based on this information to find matching peers.

Since 2022, Foundation set approach where users are actually invited to participate in decision-making and treated as members of the Product Team, which is what sets them apart from a typical approach! They want to be the first Polish, NGO-centered “project UTOPIA”-like [2] initiative to set pioneer standards for working with marginalized groups on Digital Products using Participatory Design.

As the war in Ukraine began, the idea was to translate the app into Ukrainian so that the estimated 2-3 million Ukrainians in Poland could also use it for emotional support.

In what condition did Lumen Spei find the project?

The Foundation received grant funding for the development of the application, the deadline was a bit challenging.

Before Lumen Spei’s involvement, there were around 600 active users. We decided to use the following stack of technology: 

• Flutter for the simultaneous development of the iOS & Android mobile app 
• Firebase for notifications, storage, database, and authentication

In the following five months of our operative development, the application was completed with all of the prior requests met, and was successfully deployed on the 22nd of August 2022 to the App & Play Store.

Here is where you can find the app right now:

• Pacjenci Pacjentom Play Store
• Pacjenci Pacjentom Apple App Store

What are the results before vs. after?

Our pro-bono contract was complete, and the Foundation planned to add Clubs and an educational space (module) for patients to learn how to:

1. provide instrumental and emotional support to each other,
2. maintain psychological well-being in illness,
3. create partnership relations with doctors and specialists,
4. think critically in the world full of fake medical news,
5. implement self-advocacy in their lives.

This new feature was developed shortly after both versions had their first production release (Store) and is scheduled for release as an updated version at the beginning of March. It was a milestone in the long-term partnership, which saw Lumen Spei become a contracted tech partner with the Ludzie i Medycyna Foundation, where we continued to develop and maintain their mobile applications. 

It’s clear that this application is making a significant impact and helping people in their everyday lives. As part of this case study, we even received a testimonial from an app user who says the following:

Helpful app with a very nice user interface

and

Very helpful app <3

We would like to include quotes from the main project’s shareholders involved in this collaboration at the end. Here are their thoughts. 

We want to thank everyone for their involvement in the project, and the resources given for this case study.

Lumen Spei is here to help anyone who needs tech support for a worthy cause. You can get in touch with us through Tech To The Rescue or directly. Throughout the world, technology should be able to help people and empower communities.

The post Collaborating for Good: How Our Pro Bono Work with a Polish Non-Profit Health App Became a Lasting Partnership first appeared on Lumen Spei.

It’s crucial for developers to understand the paradigm shift and embrace the new decentralized web, but how do we do that without starting from scratch? Find out in the rest of this article as we dive into this question and provide valuable insights on how to adapt to the changes.

Web 1.0 – the humble beginnings 

This was the first idea of a globally connected network and the earliest version of the Internet or Web 1.0. The one word that could describe the internet as a whole at that time is – static. Most of the web was comprised of static web presentations, connected between them via hyperlinks. It is commonly referred to as the ‘view only’ web – the web which didn’t have any interactivity whatsoever. 

Firstly, dynamic URL was the game-changer. All the resources that were a crucial part of the internet also evolved, introducing different and modern solutions for internet services. Clouds changed how those services could be delivered over the internet. 

Most of the programming back in the day was done using just a simple HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) code, that structured the web page and position of images. Later, the web design environment evolved introducing CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), which allowed a more in-depth approach to stylizing web presentations. 

However, the user market has hungry for user-generated content. From this idea, Web 2.0 was borne.

Web 2.0 – User-generated web

In addition to a ‘read-only’ web page, Web 2.0 has grown into a ‘read/write’ Internet. The users are now able to input data which is sent directly to the servers, and the servers are in turn, able to send data back to the user. As a result, this made the Internet much more user oriented and personalized. 

This was possible due to the main internet protocol HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). 

But Web 2.0 would still be impossible without cloud technology, which allowed the usage of abstract server hardware. To simplify, cloud technology is what gives us our online storage devices, such as Google Drive. 

Finally, Web 2.0 relied on the centralized database system, which is a form of organizing data traditionally, under the governance of a singular authority. 

Web 3.0 – The future

It took us well over 10 years to transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, and who knows how much time will pass until the Internet in its current format changes to the internet of the future – Web 3.0. 

Web 3.0 represents a shift in how data is stored and managed through the utilization of blockchain technology. Rather than relying on a centralized database, the decentralized approach of Web 3.0 empowers users to take control of their data, storing it across multiple interconnected machines, thereby breaking free from the limitations of centralization.

Additionaly, one fundamental difference between the two previous iterations and Web 3.0, is the ability of Web 3.0 to work with cryptocurrencies instead of fiat currency. 

Web 3.0 was designed with AI in mind. The reasoning behind artificial intelligence was that it would provide users with relevant data quickly. Using social bookmarking we can get better results than Google search. However, these results can be mass manipulated by paid bookmarkers, which would in term offer paid search results, instead of the real ones, so to say. This is where AI comes in. It has the option to filter out legitimate results, showing us the results which are not manipulated. 

Recommended ➜ Read about taking advantage of blockchain and digital disruptors in your industry.

What does Web 3.0 offer?

Some unique features can be developed using web 3.0.:

• NFT or non-fungible tokens are the tokens stored in the blockchain. They are unique digital identifiers that can not be changed, copied, or substituted. It is stored in the blockchain and is used to certify ownership or authenticity.
• Defi or Decentralised finances can replace traditional banking systems with decentralized, safe, and manageable finances.
• Cryptocurrencies are tokens on the blockchain that powers users to use various dApps.
• dApp (Decentralised Applications) are apps built on top of the blockchain network. These apps can make use of smart contracts.
• Smart contracts are an essential part of dApps. They are basically a piece of code that can be executed automatically, and it is immutable.
• DAO or decentralized autonomous organization is a form of organization that offers governance and structure in a decentralized ecosystem.

Recommended ➜ Learn how to start a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization).

So, how do we develop Web 3.0?

The main programming language for developing Web 3.0 is Solidity. 

It is an object-oriented complex programming language used to implement smart contracts into blockchain platforms. We have asked one of our blockchain experts, to share his experience with Solidity.

‘Security is key, and I can’t stress this enough. Most of the code you are going to write in Solidity needs to be as secure as possible. Hacking attacks have done major damage to some big companies. You can achieve the greatest possible security by writing robust tests and as many of them as possible. One more thing is minimalistic, clean code. Code with fewer lines of text is going to be easier for testing. Also, it is going to give any other developers you are working with an edge, for it is more understandable. The most important thing, however, is experience. You will achieve better results as you code more, learn more, and invest more time in learning.

Where to start on Web 3.0

We all love our learning process to be interactive. Make yours more engaging by exploring some of the interactive learning platforms. If you’re a seasoned programmer, try out these to enhance your education beyond traditional courses.

Cryptozombies.io is a platform where you program zombies while learning the basics of Solidity programming language. 

On the more advanced level, you can try Ethernaut. It is a platform that teaches you security by presenting you with smart contract problems and asking you if you can solve them. 

Next step towards a decentralized future

Upgrade your knowledge! This is a must. Technology is changing so rapidly that if you are stagnating as a developer, things are going to get out of hand quickly. Challenge yourself to implement new ideas. The more experience you have, the better.

Web 3.0 is still a new concept. However, the future might be just around the corner and we, as developers should be ready. 

With cyber-security being one of the top priorities of both commercial and personal agendas, blockchain is currently an unmatched technology.

The process of learning how to code a blockchain is time-consuming but rewarding. Developers who understand these new concepts will have many more opportunities in the near future.  

The Lumen Spei team is your guide through WEB 3 technology!

Digital transformation at Lumen Spei is a web 3.0 experience. Whether you need help building the project from scratch or you want smart contracts and dapps solutions, we are here for you. Our team of developers (with project managers and designers) will help you find the best solution for your business. Be sure to reach out and don’t leave your business in the dark.

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