Fever of the Future: #EHR2.0 in Healthcare

Digital technology has radically transformed our way of living. Smartphones, tablets, and the myriad apps have drastically transformed our day-to-day lives. While talking about medicines it is an extremely informative rich domain and it requires an equally seamless and efficient mechanism for its management. Electronic Health Record (EHR) creates a seamless digital healthcare infrastructure and has revolutionized the entire concept of how care is delivered and compensated.

The next generation of EHR is taking some serious shape. EHR 2.0 is the burning trend that is about to set a foot in the healthcare sector. There are various aspects that distinguish EHR 2.0 from the legacy EHRs. Let us see some of the distinguishing and imperative features of the next generation EHR. It is mainly built on the foundation of the following four pillars:

1. Connectivity: The main game behind the adoption of EHR is the role it plays in connectivity. It helps in providing a holistic view of the patient’s medical history and makes it accessible to any medical centre via any device. Making sure it is accessible yet very much secured. EHR 2.0 aids in bringing down the walled silos of traditional IT healthcare and tries to build something more cohesive. It helps in getting fragmented information from n number of places thereby involving the patients directly as an active participant in their own healthcare.
2. Usability: The next vital factor being the system you are adopting should not only be useful but be usable at the same time. An emerging perspective from the EHR 2.0 technologies is developing a set of tools that are super-fast, nimble and definitely lucid in terms of learning. At the same time, it should be built in a fashion that caters to the need of the physicians. Again the self-service implementation (feasible with web based solutions) has drastically influenced in immediate adoption and elimination of vendor onsite training and installation. EHR 2.0 will deal with user experience quite intimately and aid the physicians to become full-fledged users with just mere time-pass tool.
3. Mobility: None of us are oblivious about the mobility aspect and so is IT health care an emerging terminology as well. The EHR 2.0 is expected to seamlessly connect the patient health record with the various mobile devices ranging from various smartphones to tablets to other mobile based devices. And the kind of products that are about to flood the market with this kind of seamless integration is pretty sure to be beyond imagination. Trust all the engineers out there!
4. Data Driven: Data is the new currency. Talking in terms of healthcare there can be two categories of data.

• Patient-specific and
• De-identified data.

While talking about the former, the physicians and the patients should have ready to access status to such information from anywhere, anytime and via any device. EHR2.0 is also expected to provide timely clinical disease support like suggesting the right diagnostic or may be the next course of action. The latter includes a lot of research data and data related to miscellaneous statistics, which otherwise needs to be disconnected but might need to be accessed if required.

Healthcare is entering a completely different time zone when a physician’s chamber will no longer resemble a mini library with a drastic lack of information in case of emergencies. The future sees doctors with mobile devices carrying secured holistic information coupled with robust data management which would be actualised by the gen-next system EHR 2.0.

It looks like you are interested to know more about #EHR2.0, feel free to write us anytime on sales@algoworks.com.

Mobile App Market: A Bubble About To Burst

Is the App Bubble about to Pop?

Euphoric reaction to the app businesses is rampant to the extent that the app industry is in the denial of the looming threats. Whether it is hundred soap bubbles in the bath or two hundred bubbles on the bubble wrap, all bubbles pop. But here we are going to talk about the “app bubble”. The app industry is in a bubble and it is about to burst!

As mobile operating systems like iOS, Windows and Android rose, an ecosystem of apps has also taken birth to satiate the growing needs of human needs and technological requirements. But according to the real life scenario instead of apps being written by a few big development houses they are being developed by small teams and individuals, even then they churn out a handsome number of apps that eventually flood the respective markets.

Unfortunately, each and every app does not have the same utility, you can at any time go to the app store and search for anything as weird as “burp machine”. You will not only encounter n number of apps but will be shocked to see the number of downloads.

Apple, Google, and Microsoft are still coming up with amazing figures of apps but according to some recent surveys it got revealed that the rate of downloading apps is decreasing.

Relevant digging further reveals that a large population who get a new smartphone download only a handful apps of dire necessity. However, this stands true for older smartphone users.

Factors Leading To The Verge Of Bubble Burst

There are myriad factors that are leading to depletion of app downloads, a few are stated as below:

1. App-overload: Way too many apps in the app store directly related or unrelated to the search.

2. App- apathy: According to the trends a few years back it was considered to be cool to download the latest and most trending apps in the market but gradually this novelty has worn off.

3. App-necessity: As days are passing by the quality of apps are increasing and subsequently we do not need a number of apps to do a single piece of job.

4. App-apprehension: No one is now oblivious of the malware-infected apps, hence users want to be a cent percent sure about the app before giving it a shot.

5. App-saturation: Since the inception of the smart devices we have pretty much downloaded everything we need and avoid cluttering our devices with any more of it. People are running out of space on their phones!

On an ending note, it’s high time for the developers to stockpile their savings and trim the fat and be prepared to put up the best quality apps (read: better than your competitors). The competition just got rough. Prepare for the best or don’t at all!

To talk with our experts, send your query to sales@algoworks.com or make a call on our toll-free number +1-877-284-1028.

References: pocketnow, cdn2.hubspot.net, itproportal

5 Mobile Application Trends That Are Here To Stay

5 unexpected mobile trends you should be prepared for!

When it comes to mobile, the word itself implies constant motion and lack of rigidity. When it comes to mobile trends, definitely they change and they change within a blink of an eye. What seems hot like hell today gets vaporized by the next dawn. So the top app trend developers are drooling over are somewhat like this:

Hybrid HTML5 Apps

While some developers still reap over native mobile apps but hybrid HTML5 app development is continuing to gain a lot of momentum. Hybrid HTML5 will become one of the most obvious choices of the year 2016. Surprisingly at this point of time there is no considerable competition to hybrid HTML5, so there would be a general tendency of the organizations to lean towards it this year. However ionic framework new seems to be catching up next.

Cross Platform App Development

Tablets were a hype some time back but even now it remains an obsession at different enterprise and industrial level, where mobile representatives use it to connect to prospects and clients. So developers should keep these trends and patterns in mind and work on cross platform solutions so that mobile workers can easily transit between their static devices like desktops to mobile devices and tablets. And it is definitely more convenient for all the users to use the exact applications with the same set of features and user experience across myriad devices and platforms. So cross platform app development will dominate 2016 for sure.

IoT and Data Visualization

Internet of Things or IoT is a comparatively newer concept but gaining momentum at a rapid pace and we are all aware it is going to be the near future and it is going to be integrated with everything that we use on a regular basis and one such cell in our pocket is our mobile devices. There would be a hardcore requirement to begin visualizing all incoming data from multiple devices and draw correct insights from the combined data efficiently.

Certain healthcare and energy industries have already started experimenting with IoT and mobile integrations so we must be pretty sure there is a need of a robust backend infrastructure of mobile platforms so that they can communicate with all the connected devices from anywhere and at any given time. So Internet of Things is definitely one of the upcoming mobile app trends of this year.

Wearables

There is no doubt about the fact that the wearable devices have become an indispensable part of our lives. From smart-watches to fitness gadgets everything is coupled with our mobile devices. Nowadays people want better integration of these wearable gadgets with their mobile devices and also want apps with better interfaces and performances. People who own smartwatches or other fitness gadgets prefer apps on their phones these days. So developers need to stay focused on this as this trend is here to stay.

Mobile Security

Data is the new currency. People are paying a lot of money to keep their data safe. Developers should keep in mind to adopt the latest security practices to secure their apps infrastructure the data within it as well. It is difficult to achieve it than said because each aspect needs focus at an enterprise level. Developers have to take stringent measures to deal with the security concerns as more and more devices are getting connected to the mobile and to the apps.

Wrapping up I would love to say that these are the few trends that I have handpicked but there are more to it and the year 2016 will prove to be a tipping point where new trends would flood the market and developers have to buckle up their shoes to chase the race.

Don’t miss to check out – 4 Top-Notch Enterprise Mobility Trends of 2016

If you are looking for more information, you can directly connect with our experts at sales@algoworks.com or make a call on our toll-free number +1-877-284-1028.

References: enterpriseappstoday.com, bugfender.com

4 Top-Notch Enterprise Mobility Trends of 2016

The proliferation of mobile devices has become so ubiquitous that the phrase “mobile first” will be soon the verge of being toppled by “mobile only”. Definitely, it won’t happen all at once but 2016 can become the tipping point for this to actualize.

The passing year has seen a plethora of discussion around well all rounded management strategies. There has been myriad new devices and better acquisitions.

Trend 1: Security

Mobile device security is one of the major concerns hindering the implementation of enterprise mobility. Bring your own device (BYOD) policies are widespread and it gives the employees familiar experience and thereby increases productivity. But for that, enterprises need to put on a strict security check on the devices that interact with corporate data and networks. Organizations need to attain that delicate balance to allow employees freedom to access corporate data coupled with tight security. The desktop that we use in our organizations more than a tool is an experience that fits the moment. Though the main concern for majority organizations would be now beefing up the architecture in a manner that it lays the main focus on securing the information in contrary to securing devices. And in addition to the concept of Internet of Things, enterprise mobility is a much more risk-added factor. So a special attention on security is needed to actualize enterprise mobility.

Trend 2: Manageability

MDM or mobile device management software will continue to be an imperative part of every mobile strategy. No matter whether the enterprise wants to migrate to a new system and experience the added advantages of consolidated features or stick to their existing system they will definitely go for an MDM software. The enterprises would look forward to niche MDM providers like SOTI, MobileIron along with bigger players namely Microsoft, Citrix, SAP, etc.

Trend 3: Application development and distribution

According to analyst report from 451 Research –
“40 percent of companies plan to prioritize the mobilization of general business apps over the next two years, as compared with those that plan to mobilize only field service and sales teams.”
The mobile first paradigm is gaining momentum. This push portrays that the companies are weighing their options across various factors like cross platform development, web app, third party app development, etc. After opting for app development, decisions to take care of the app distribution and management has also got to be considered a part of a mobility strategy. The enterprises will also need to take a call if they will use their MDM platform or cater to other third party tools to manage their app delivery. However, on the contrary, many experts behold the view that the notion of “apps” is going to falter. Because it takes a lot of time and resource and definitely cost an arm and a leg to develop one, so there will be a major refocusing on quick and inexpensive apps.

Trend 4: Threat Management

As more and more enterprises shift to adopt enterprise mobility, the vulnerabilities increases. So they have to be more prepared to foresee and assess the threats like malware, viruses, intrusions, etc that is applicable to the mobile operating systems they are catering to currently. Giving email access to employees on the phone is one thing but company processing credit card transactions via mobile device is on yet another level. So with such higher level of risk, it is always an exquisite idea to review the enterprise security at the data, device, network and application levels on a regular basis, whether in cloud or onpremise, a hardware or software concern. Enterprises partner with Zimperium,Veracode, Wandera, and Lookout, etc each one offers a set of capabilities to help combat threats to a company’s mobile environment.

We do understand now that it is impossible for any enterprise to stay ahead in all sort of mobile strategy challenges such as device selection, logistics, security, threat management, and so on. A lot of organizations tend to engage with one or more partners to handle these activities. It is high time for you to update your enterprise mobility environment to magnify the efficiency and boost the security.

References: searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com, enterprisemobile.com, neudesic.com

Live Fast Die Young (low-shelf) Apps Conquering the World

Low Shelf Life Apps

Mobile Apps are no more a strange piece of innovation. More than a thousand apps are added to the app store daily, but as days pass by the concept changes. As we all know that change is inevitable so there is a significant change even in the concept of apps as well!

Earlier app makers focused on a solid and consistent existence of an app that would last forever. But now the concept of short-lived apps has flooded the market. In this cutting edge technology era, businesses are moving briskly towards standalone and separate apps that will cater to specific demands or particular situations.

Low shelf apps are those apps that may be strategically launched for them to be a hit, but not for long.

Life(-time) of the Planet of the apps…

Nowadays 50% of the apps are used at half the rate after three months of peak use. And then the decline continues consistently for the next ten months of peak, mostly its fate is sealed beyond that and it lays as a zombie on the phone desk awaiting deletion.

While when some might take it as a doom point a few might grab the opportunity to channelize it towards the development of low shelf life apps.

All the way from sticky apps to short-lived apps…

The potential market for the low shelf life apps mostly revolves around events. These events can be a part of anything politics, sports, entertainment on a larger scale and on a smaller note it can be even for usage within a certain organization for a particular event or so on.

The low shelf apps definitely have a strong hold on markets. Like Apple always launches a temporary app in December to share the latest giveaways of iTunes. Similarly, there are election poll apps which come around only during the polls. Short lived yet the most awaited and used app. Sports and entertainment domain don’t lag behind. Like the Super bowl or the other reality TV shows capturing the screens these days. It’s easy to use but apart from that, it is a part of the huge marketing strategy. They render to create an event out of another event, catering to the top of mind questions and generating the necessary buzz in the market.

These low shelf apps focus on a particular event on which people want latest updates all the time and they get mass attention in a very minute span of time.

The sole requirement of a low shelf app…

All good things come with a lot of challenges, so do these apps! The ultimate requirement of a low shelf app is that it should take the minimum development time. Because whatever it is no one wants to spend a great deal of time developing something which is short lived. But at the same time, you know however short lived it may be you cannot compromise with the robustness and effectiveness of the app!

Another imperative concept in these apps is the concept of ‘reusability’. Reusability is the key to the success of such temporary apps, which saves similar future efforts and makes bug fixes easier. Once you have designed the framework then you can go drag and drop and make it lightning fast in the future.

The truth unveils…

On taking a closer look at the life of a low shelf app it throws an uncomfortable truth. But despite the ugly truth, it is necessary to get your shoes buckled up and be prepared to run the race of low shelf life apps because you can ignore it but there is no denying it.

To talk with our experts, send your query to sales@algoworks.com or make a call on our toll free number +1-877-284-1028.

References: julyrapid’s Blog, gomonews’ Blog

Top Enterprise Mobility Challenges Of ISVs

Cloud computing and mobility is becoming more than a necessity for any enterprise and many Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). There are a lot of Independent Software Vendors which are focusing towards the efforts of developing their unique mobility and cloud solutions in order to deliver superfluous business productivity for their customers. The new breed of ISVs have started focusing substantially on the newer technologies and taking their offerings rapidly on the emerging platforms and trends.

Cloud is a huge disruptive change hence, ISV are rapidly building the solutions and rapidly moving ahead towards this segment. They are primarily targeting the enterprise needs for better cloud management capabilities. ISVs are hence bound to face many challenges as they shift approach to the application development. As they experience the shift of their approach to the application development, they must also be tired of the obstacles that can come with technological avenues like mobile, cloud analytics and social networks. Let’s see what kind of enterprise mobility challenges which ISVs are facing in today’s competitive market.

Challenge 1: Messing With The Device Mesh

As more and more applications are being built to be meshed together, therefore, giving way to an integrative architecture of mobile applications and services, across this vast digital mesh such software-defined approach ensures complete flexibility, performance and agility on cloud hence delivering dynamic and flexible applications.
Among the most common enterprise mobility challenges which ISVs have to face is the acceptance of Device Mesh methodology. The concept of device mesh methodology fosters connection of mobile devices, various wearables, consumables, home electronic devices, automotive devices hence boosting the Internet of Things (IoT). While in device mesh methodology, devices are connected to back-end systems through various networks, they are often operated in isolation from one another. As device mesh evolves and there will be greater cooperative interaction between devices to emerge, ISVs may experience this as a great challenge.

Challenge 2: Customer Interface Outlook

With ubiquitous smartphones popularity of mobile applications and mobile platforms, maintaining and upgrading mobile client can be a substantial additional investment. ISVs also have to make decisions on what must be the scope of the mobile client as in whether they should be independent software with full feature functionality or it should be hybrid solution where some features functionalities are available on mobile client while rest can be accessed can be accessed via web and executed on Cloud.

Additionally, ISVs have to develop flexible solution as a strategy in order to adjust with different roles by different API providers.

Challenge 3: Platform Decision Process

The growth of cloud has given push to the use of Linux which is becoming very popular OS to develop solutions. There are many IaaS and PaaS providers who offer Linux at very cost-effective prices. Windows is also becoming famous with support from Microsoft’s Azure and few other Cloud Providers. Survey explains that Unix is becoming less and less popular each passing day. Hence, ISVs have to consider whether their Software must be migrated to Linux or Windows. Keeping operating system into consideration, ISVs also needs to consider technical competencies of the resources with popular application development platforms, libraries, and frameworks. This can be a bit simplified if ISVs outsource the development of mobility solutions to efficient and experienced technology partner.

ISVs may be able to find many resources that are familiar with Eclipse compared to other alternatives. Similarly, database also plays an important role in terms of performance, stability and cost of the software solution.

Challenge 4: Application Development Process

ISVs struggles a lot in developing a clear strategy of application development process. They have to decide on the use of programming languages. Whether they should consider languages such as C#, C++, VB, Java or consider lightweight scripting language such as Java Script, Perl, PHP, Python or Ruby or bot. ISVs have to decide the languages based on the modularity of the solution, available resources and technical competencies of existing development teams.

There are a large amount of source codes available via Open-Source and ISVs have to evaluate if it is suitable for the use of app development team with faster results or not. They also have to consider copyright issues related to use of open source code.

References:
channeldrive.in, blogs.cisco.com, gartner.com

6 Security Threats Engulfing Mobile

The inexorable cyber hackers are always on the hunt for their next big coup, and now the next target seems to be that small rock in the pocket called ‘smartphone’. This small rock has become the universe and hope it doesn’t end up being the graveyard for all.

‘Every passing minute, we are witnessing about half a million attack attempts that are happening in cyberspace’ says Derek Manky, Fortinet global security strategist.

As the number of mobile devices are soaring high so is finding the weakest link in the chain also increasing. What threats to mobile are most trending?

Apps that dig Corporate Information

Enterprises face a huge threat from the apps that dig corporate information beyond realization. The users and employees give away super sensitive information to these apps without thinking twice that they can give away their personal and corporate data. The same data can be sent to remote servers and other advertising networks, which are potentially exposed and easily accessible to the cyber criminals and mined by the hostile governments seeking access to confidential corporate information via hacking their networks.

Gartner says: By 2017, 75% of the attacks would be via apps and not through critical technical attacks on the OS.

Mobile payment Services

Mobile payment is no more a new term, in fact it has become as common as paying via cash or using your cards. Convenient, easy to use but have you forgot that a coin has two faces? With this endless advantages of being lucid and user friendly and on the go mobile cash there are severe risks associated with this system as well. The black hat hackers will not do it by breaching the payment processing algorithms but via analysis of the entire payment workflow and figure out the loophole. They will identify the bypass measures and vulnerabilities mostly leading to credit card information fraud, unauthorized use and extortion.

Using Infected Mobile device to infiltrate other devices

An infected mobile device allows the cybercriminals to easily breach an organization’s perimeter and directly attack all the devices on that particular network. It easier and much more faster for the hackers than penetrating a network through some other way. If the hacker anyhow manages to infect a mobile device and take control over it he can take two paths. Either he chooses the traditional path of stealing his contacts and sending texts or if the device is connected to a Wifi he can attack the additional systems on that network. So no matter whether you are connected to home Wifi, work Wifi or any Coffee shop with Wifi a single infected device in that entire network makes you vulnerable to the limit beyond imagination.

Mobile phishing / Device Hijacking

There has been a volcanic eruption of mobile devices and it seems no one is able to save themselves from the surge of its magma. Most of these handsets have preloaded applications and a slight negligence in the part of the validation team can lead to remote device hijacking. So we will expect to see quite frequent OEM security updates or patches. The man in the middle attack will also reach a new level with every new smartphone. New smartphone owners are usually not used to the security concerns, and may connect to unsecured AP/Wifi connections which don’t encrypt data communicating through that network. It is this time when the evil fingers penetrate the one who thought was unsusceptible to attacks! This may lead to severe data leakage like user credentials, etc through insecure apps which the hackers can eavesdrop, over a period of time.

Mobile web based Hacking

We will witness a tremendous increase in the rate of mobile web browser hacking in the coming months. Mobile based browser hacking is one of the most efficient ways to compromise the entire mobile device. Because exploiting the browser vulnerability enables the hacker to bypass myriad system level security measures. Like webkit based exploits enable the hacker to bypass a browser’s sandbox and this would be followed by the OS or kernel level exploits to access the crux of the system and gain full control over the device.

Malware Progression

Malware has a clear progression these days they start with indulging the unsuspecting users who are more viable to open unknown attachments or install not known applications and they harness the user’s crucial information from that. Mobile malware follows the same footstep. Hackers use malicious apps to send premium SMS or other lucrative offers getting the users to install the malicious app and then the malware starts hunting for the bank credentials. The SlemBunk attack is one of the glaring examples of this type of attack. And these attacks time and again ensure that your mobile device need a complete security solution for the coming years.

THE ENEMY IS US… despite 24*7 reliance on mobile phone we don’t seem to get any smarter. And according to survey and stats the percentage of adults oblivious of the mobile security solutions has been constantly increasing. Experts agree that malware and mobile attacks will keep on increasing as more and more people keep packing their phones with rich and sensitive data. And the implications will be greater than ever coz there is already so much data out there that you just can’t go and get it back!

Or can you?

To talk with our experts, send your query to sales@algoworks.com or make a call on our toll free number +1-877-284-1028.

References: eSecurity Planet, Venture Beat, csoonline article.