What do these three images have in common? We bet you’re thinking, “hey, there’s an app for all of these!” - and you’d be right. But what do each of these apps have in common? Other than being installed on pretty much every phone in the known universe - it’s that they all rely on an effective database to function.

In short, a database lies at the core of each of these types of apps. Without a database, the app wouldn’t really serve a purpose. It’d be a takeaway app without any restaurants or menus, a dating app without any people or a taxi app without any drivers. It goes without saying that they'd be pretty pointless.

Let’s look a little further, and delve into exactly why a database is so important for each of these modern app designs.

Dating Apps

Whether you’re on Tinder, Grindr, Her or anything in between, when it comes down to it, what you’re actually browsing is a database of information about your next potential dates, with an attractive user interface (and a number of attractive people too, no doubt!)

From personal information, images, location data, phone numbers and dating preferences, it’s all stored on a server connected to the back-end of the app, which will then be compiled together with scripts and codes that work in tandem to match you with your perfect partner. 

Taxi / Rideshare Apps

Much like a dating app, Taxi apps such as Uber need a wealth of information about its users, whether they are drivers or riders. But it goes a little deeper than that. In order to provide an effective service, the data model for a Rideshare app needs to contain information on cab size, personal information about the driver, alongside their shift times, and it needs to be automatically updated to include the drivers current availability.

With the help of GPS, the server will then identify the current location of a user who has requested a taxi, and notify the nearest available driver. All of these automated solutions rely on an effective database in order to keep running - and keep you getting where you need to be!

Takeaway Apps

When you think of food, glorious food, it’s not often that your mind will be drawn to numbers, stats and data - but without these, you wouldn’t even be placing your late-night order, let alone getting it delivered! 

Like a combination of browsing your next potential date - or next potential kebab - and the locational services of a Rideshare app, ordering food via an app is yet another delve into a database. From details about the restaurants themselves, including their menus and locations, to information about drivers and users, a takeaway app like Just-Eat or Deliveroo relies on a wealth of tasty information in order to provide an effective service.

Let’s Bring It All Together…

The bottom line, then, is that a database is vital to the running of almost any app that provides a service. After all, we live in a world lead and guided by data and its multitude of uses. It might sound scary, but really it’s a great opportunity to grab yourself a piece of the pie… with some expert help!

Got a new app idea that you want to try testing out? Building a database might seem daunting at first, but that's why we're here. Our team at Better Technology Consulting are experts at throwing together a simple web app in a matter of days. We’ll work directly with you, and help advise you on the best course of action when it comes to the app itself.

Get in touch with our team for more information. Or if you’re just here for a little read, carry on! We’ve got plenty of quality blog content for you to sink your teeth into.

It’s no secret that businesses have to differentiate in order to compete - especially businesses in the same market. But how exactly do you stand out from the crowd? 

One important way to differentiate is through the use of software. Think of it this way - if three companies are all using the same catch-all program to provide their services to clients, what actually sets these companies apart? 

This isn’t to say that one size fits all software is inherently terrible, however. It certainly has its uses - when it comes to accounting or CRM for example. There’s so much readily available software for these tasks that often it’s worth the slight reduction in flexibility, just for the security of a well-oiled machine. Plus, these are processes that often aren’t client facing, and are generally scenarios shared across companies; like payroll, for example.

The difference is when it comes to your actual business operations. Here, catch-all software begins to lose it’s viability. It’s not that catch-all software wouldn’t do the job, necessarily, it’s more the case that it won’t do the job very well. And that’s bad news when it comes to your business operations, as the aim is to foster as big a return on investment as possible.

Why is "bespoke" software any different?

The answer, really, is in the name. "Bespoke" software is software built specifically for your requirements - no more, no less. Which is great for businesses that want control, productivity, reduced costs and automation. These are all things that a bespoke piece of software can bring to the table, as opposed to an off-shelf solution. 

First and foremost, with bespoke software you get exactly what you need. The whole purpose of bespoke software is that it’s tailor-made for your specific requirements. This means no random extra features and only pure, unadulterated ROI. As long as it’s built properly. 

Not only that, but bespoke software has the possibility to morph and change depending on your business requirements. Features that weren’t needed in the beginning - or at least weren’t thought to have been needed - can easily be implemented and added as you go, rather than having to either jump back to square one or find a costly workaround. In this way, flexibility is the name of the game.

And - with our help - you could be winning with flying colours. Get in touch with our team today to see how we could help automate your business processes and sure-up your software. Get in touch with our team today.

When it comes to building software, discerning the absolute minimum viable product - or rather, the MVP - should always be step one. That’s why a detailed, step by step plan of delivery is vastly important.

There’s a common misconception, however, that an MVP is a framework or a blueprint-esque concept. This is not the case - an MVP should instead be a customer-ready product or service that’s fit for use, but without any extra features or addons.

On that note, let’s dive in to our top tips for building effective bespoke software, and how to create your MVP:

• Start with the core functionalities of the software. Firstly, you need to work out what exactly constitutes the core reasons for building the software in the first place. Once these have been decided and implemented, this is your MVP. Only then should you consider what other features will be necessary, which ties-in to step two.
  
  

• Make sure each feature is useful and not just a nicety. This stops your software becoming bloated before it’s even begun. That, and it cuts back on unnecessary resources and costs during the development process. Also, this keeps your software streamlined and effective - as opposed to being a jack-of-all-trades but master-of-none.
  
  

• Build according to demand. This isn’t to say no extra features should ever be added, but just ensure the features will be effective at scratching a specific itch, not just thrown in for the sake of it. Some features, however, might seem like a great idea on paper, but when it comes to practice it's not actually needed. This is why it’s also important to:
  
  

• Test as you go. That way, any new requirements that arise can be added with minimum fuss, and there’ll be no need to jump right back to square one. On the same note, things that were an initial requirement may end up not being needed, so they can be removed or tweaked as the process goes on.
  

Let’s think of it like this…

Imagine you’re software is a plant, searching for the sun as it grows. The sun, in this (admittedly odd) metaphor, is the complete, bespoke requirements of your specific project, which dictates the direction and shape of the plant as it grows - much like your specific requirements dictate the ‘shape’ of the software. 

Similarly, it’s only as the plant develops and begins to take shape that it is so influenced by the sun. A rather handy similarity to the fact that as the software itself begins to take shape, it’s possible that further requirements may be discovered down the line that help to shape the software further.

Odd analogies aside, however, this is a pretty good way to look at your software. It’s important to always keep in mind the end goal, to save yourself from getting distracted by unnecessary add-on features, or indeed under-developing the software. 

So, to finalise...

If you’re building software without continually testing the MVP, the software might look and sound great on paper, but when it comes to the actual practice it may just fall short - or be missing an important factor of the design that could’ve been implemented with ease earlier down the line. In short, you can consider the MVP a little bit of both; the minimum viable product AND most valuable player, especially when it comes to software design.

And that's where we come in. We can help you design the perfect piece of software for your business, with minimal fuss. We combine the best parts of a business-first mind with in-depth coding expertise. This means we not only build your software, but we help to streamline your business processes. Coding and business, we bring the best of both worlds.

We’re proud of the work we achieve for our clients. Have a read through our Case Studies to find out how we develop a project from start to finish, or alternatively feel free to get in touch with us on our website. 

"A powerful and easy-to-use tool to gather data."

Here at Better Technology Consulting we're proud of the relationships we build with our customers. In this article we'll take a look at how a project works from start to finish - and the value we bring to our clients' business.

The Client

Based in Bristol, UK, Tocris Bioscience is a leading supplier of novel and exclusive pre-clinical research tools, to the life science industry. Tocris has been working with scientists for over 30 years, to make the latest tools available to academic institutes and pharmaceutical companies around the world. 

Tocris is a brand within Bio-Techne, alongside the other best-in-class life science brands R&D Systems, Novus Biologicals, Protein Simple and Advanced Cell Diagnostics.

The Challenge

As a supplier of products for pre-clinical research, there are specific clinical terms that Tocris do not want to use in their marketing copy. The challenge was to quickly identify these clinical terms within a number of different paragraphs of text so users could remove the offending terms.

Although familiar with excel, the formulae the client was using to identify the cells containing these terms, couldn't highlight the exact location the term existed within the text string in the cell. Doing this manually was extremely time-consuming, error-prone and not an acceptable long-term solution.

The Solution

After discussing the requirements with Tocris, Better Technology Consulting developed a macro that would highlight cells containing the offending terms' specific location within each paragraph of text at a click of a button. The macro worked perfectly first time, and the entire process from start to finish took less than 24 hours.

Once tested on a real data set, the macro was optimized further by bringing back clinical terms that were hyphenated within each paragraph. The optimization significantly speeded up the execution time of the macro and provided the end users with another option if they were under time pressure.  

Looking Ahead

By working closely with our client, we were able to rapidly produce a solution that not only solved the initial brief but also added quality-of-life option to make the lives of our users that little bit easier. The macro has saved countless hours by automating the process, allowing the users to focus on the more challenging aspects of their day-to-day role.

"The tool works brilliantly! Thanks for turning it around so quickly."