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Monthly Archives: January 2017

  • January 31, 2017
  • 0

Android Solution for healthcare technology company: Mobile App and HMI development

Tags :

Category : Automation , Product Engineering

 
Business Challenge:

Our client – a global healthcare technology company – had a novel product idea. They envisioned a mobile app solution for managing different medical conditions to improve the quality of life for patients and also help healthcare professionals to take more informed decision using patient’s data analysis.

Our client’s team aspired to launch a cloud-based product in order to help patients:

  • Take lifestyle and food related decisions, based on the captured vital data, most suitable for their existing condition
  • To track and monitor a variety of body parameters and reach out to healthcare professionals for guidance and sharing of reports

To transform this vision to reality, our client was on the look-out for a trusted product engineering services company, with healthcare domain expertise, to help them develop a cloud-based mobile app solution.

The following technology challenges cropped up during technology workshops with the client:

  • The mobile app architecture design should support adaptability to different medical conditions, future scalability of features, code re-usability, seamless integration of third-party plugins and API
  • Making the data of patients available across devices, and also online and offline
  • Design and development of custom controls which are not available as an off-the shelf solution in Android SDK

 
Embitel Solution:

Our experienced team of healthcare mobile app developers collaborated with the client to design and develop an Android-based solution.

  1. This Android mobile application has been designed to support following features:
    • Medication related logs
    • Symptoms-related logs
    • Tracking and monitoring of vital body parameters such as blood pressure, heart rate, weight, and other condition specific parameters
    • Monitoring of user activity such as number of steps walked, number of flights climbed
    • Sleep quality monitoring
    • Mood monitoring and analysis
    • Nutrition tracking by integration with third party server for data/information

    2.  

  2. Making the Android App available offline: End-users are required to register and login using Rest APIs.
    • Post account creation; it is not mandatory for end-users to stay connected to a network. The Android App supports all the features and operations even in the offline mode.
    • End-users are able to log all the vital parameters even when offline. Till the network is not available, all the logged parameters will be stored in a separate queue and once the device is online, data in queue is synced to the server
    • In offline mode, data is stored on mobile’s Internal Memory.

    3.  

  3. Integration with third-party service server of health monitoring devices like FitBit, Jawbone, and Withings. Provision to automatically populate the data from third party devices is provided through authentication.

    4.  

  4. Integration with Google-Fit API

    5.  

  5. Data dashboard with graphical representations – an elaborate, flexible and editable end-user dashboard interface.  The analysis of the captured data can be reviewed, modified and deleted by the user based on the access rights.

    6.  

  6. Based on the data analysis, the app provides the guidance to the user related to food habits, life-style changes, stress control information and more.

    7.  

  7. The android mobile app provides support to manage an appointment with a doctor or healthcare professional. This feature supports regular appointment reminders and sharing of data with the expert through ‘export to PDF’.

    8.  

  8. Users are made to understand impact of the medical condition and effective management in an interactive way through quizzes.

 

Tools & Technology:

  • Android SDK
  • IDE : Android Studio
  • Third Party Libraries suggested and /or provided by client for Database Support, Background operations.
  • Third Party Servers integration: FitBit, Jawbone, Withings and Nutrition related data server
  • Third Party API integrations: Google-Fit
  • January 30, 2017
  • 0

Embitel Technologies – Highest number of Magento 2 Trained Developers in India

Tags :

Category : Press

 
Magneto2Embitel Technologies, a leading ecommerce development company in Bangalore, India, is ready to deliver the Magento 2 advantage as a Magento 2 Trained Solution Partner with the highest number of Magento 2 trained and certified developers in India.

“41 members of our team are already Magento 2 certified developers, and even more will be certified soon,” says Arun Kumar, head of ecommerce at Embitel. “I’m proud of them—they are dedicated to delivering nothing less than the best to our clients, and Magento 2 offers an unmatched development experience and performance for ecommerce websites.”


“Our Magento 2 development team is well trained to not just develop Magento 2 webstores from scratch, but also facilitate smooth and seamless migration of your existing Magento 1.x store to Magento 2,” says Ranjeev Kumar, business development manager at Embitel.

“Migration to Magento 2 is crucial to boost the performance of your Magento webstore though updated technology stacks, easier customization and better testing. Tests have shown improved performance of webstores on this newer version.”, adds Ranjeev

Embitel is a leading digital commerce implementation partner with over a decade’s experience in ecommerce implementation for some global brands across various domains such as healthcare, F&B and grocery, jewelry, and kids’ items.

 
Embitel has successfully developed ecommerce webstores and mobile apps for renowned businesses in India, the Middle East and Europe, with custom development such as multi-language and multi-stores, and marketplace development.

“We don’t just have the highest number of Magento 2 trained developers in India, but also in Germany. This means can successfully deliver Magento 2 development and migration projects of considerable scale and numbers, no matter where you are located,” says Sharad Bairathi, MD, Embitel Technologies.

You can reach out to Embitel for Magento 2 development or migration at sales@embitel.com

  • January 30, 2017
  • 0

Top 5 Hybrid Mobile App Development Frameworks

Tags :

Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

With technological advancement, mobile app developers have to learn new tactics and methods to create more advanced and high quality applications that provide effortless use and convenience to users. Technology has opened new doors for mobile app developers and introduced many frameworks that allow them to create single application for various platforms. Such apps are called hybrid applications because they are compatible with different mobile operating systems.

Hybrid Mobile Applications

These applications are more like mobile optimized websites, written in CSS, HTML or JavaScript and consist of well-refined and well-established webview to work efficiently with different mobile platforms. Hybrid applications allow programmers to minimize their efforts and time required for app development, meaning that their one product will serve users of different OS.

There are numerous mobile application frameworks that help developers to create high quality and responsive apps. Let’s have a look at top 5 frameworks that are mostly preferred:

  1. Ionic

    2. Considered as the best framework among its counterparts, Ionic prides itself in being free for mobile app developers. The framework is quite easy to use, scalable and works on clean markups to allow developers to complete their tasks with efficiency and perfection. The framework comes with optimized mobile library of JavaScript, HTML and CSS features that enable robustness in the developed apps. It also includes an open-source framework and HTML5 along with Front-desk SDK for design creation and enhanced graphical quality.

  2. Framework 7

    3. A factworth mentioning about Framework 7 is the absence of external dependency like React or Angular.. For satisfactory results, it is necessary to have high quality animations and properly styled components. Developerscan create apps without code undulation and Framework 7 usually relies upon CSS, HTML and JavaScript.

  3. Mobile Angular UI

    4. As an HTML5 framework, Mobile Angular UI uses AngularJS and Bootstrap 3 for developing interactive and responsive mobile applications. The best thing about Mobile Angular UI is that it has all those Bootstrap3 components that are unavailable in other frameworks i.e. overlays, sidebars and switches. AngularJS provides angular-animate, angular-route and angular-touch to the applications.

  4. Intel XDK

    5. Intel created a cross platform app named Intel XDK that is quite easy to use and can be downloaded on Mac, Linux and Windows for developing hybrid mobile apps. It is equipped with various templates and supports different UI frameworks like Topcoat, Twitter bootstrap and jQuery Mobile. The framework allows developers to preview the app on any connected device so that they are rest assured about theapp’s efficiency and functionality.

  5. Sencha Touch

    6. When it’s about having cross-platform applications with JavaScript and HTML5 features, Sencha Touch tends to be a good framework as it provides maximum support in developing hybrid apps. The framework is particularly suitable for large organizations that can invest a significant amount of money. It includes Ext.JS that ensures exceptional performance of the apps.

    So, to create highly efficient and responsive hybrid mobile applications, mobile developers can select any of the aforementioned frameworks and start working.

    Hope you liked this blog post. Do you have a great app idea in your mind? Book a free session with our mobile app development consultants to evaluate your project idea and you free guidance on project implementation.

  • January 24, 2017
  • 0

CES 2017 automotive spotlight: Augmented Reality (AR) based Heads-up Display (HUD)

Tags :

Category : Embedded Blog

Consumer Electronics Show (CES) needs no introduction. Over the years it has become a mecca for technology geeks, gizmo lovers, OEMs, suppliers and the entire innovation ecosystem of the consumer electronics space.

CES 2017, held in Las Vegas, was no different.  We witnessed some awe-inspiring innovations and concept announcements in areas of AI (Artificial Intelligence), Virtual Reality, Self-driving Cars, Electric Cars, Smart TVs,  Smarter Homes, Wearables and Bots.

And the technology press found its show stopper at the usual dazzler: Automotive Tech!

The show stopper was the Head-Up Display (HUD) technology integrated with Augmented Reality (AR).

Though Heads-up Display for Cars has been a talking point for some time now,  during CES 2017 the world witnessed the production-ready solutions of automotive heads-up display  showcased by some of the renowned global automotive suppliers.

What is Heads-up Display for Cars?

In case your newsfeed has missed out on car HUDtech-related updates, here is a brief about this next-gen automotive navigation and safety feature:

The Head-up Display (HUD) is a multimedia system projecting real-time data that’s critical for the driver in the context of concurrent driving conditions.

All this information can be displayed on the windshield, combiner glass or a projector screen to mitigate driver distraction and offer safety and convenience.

[Know more about the critical hardware modules of our Head-up Display solution for cars – Freescale/NXP i.MX6 platform, TI DLP Pico projector, voice recognition and gesture control modules]

Software features

 
And here is a quick snapshot of the end-user features offered by the production-ready HUD design

Software features

 
Augmented Reality and Head-up Display:

Cameras, sensors (LiDAR-based), WiFi and GPS modules are the essential building blocks of AR-based heads-up display.

While the cameras and sensors detect, monitor and guide surroundings as well as driver and pedestrian movements, WiFi and GPS connectivity ensures that the car stays connected with other vehicles and road infrastructure.

Thus the real world is augmented with critical information on the driver’s windshield, with an aim to declutter and reduce driver distraction.

AR-complemented HUD ensures that driver takes the most informed decision, is informed in advance regarding the potential danger, and makes driving more pleasant and a safe experience with an added thrill out of sci-fi movies!

AR integrated Heads-up Display (HUD) announcements at CES 2017

Featuring Harman International, Continental Automotive, DigiLens Inc, Visteon Corporation, and Panasonic Automotive Systems.

Harman’s Life-Enhancing Head-up Display Solution – Harman has probably the most apt name for their Car Heads-up Display solution.

Harman’s Life-Enhancing Intelligent Vehicle Solution (LIVS) concept is integrated with Augmented Reality (AR) and has a lot of substance to justify its catchy name.

Harman’s Car HUD system displays added markers for other cars on the road detected by sensors. This feature continuously informs the driver about the proximity of other vehicles and their speed.

The heads-up display projects street signs over the screen at intersections. This is very useful as it is not always easy to locate street signs in the less augmented real world, leading to driver distraction.

Continental and DigiLens partnership for next-gen projection technology – For AR to be successful and effective, an advanced projection technology and displays are must-haves.

DigiLens has developed compact projectors with high-resolution displays, typically used for augmented reality glasses.

Leveraging DigiLens technology at CES 2017, Continental proposed a heads-up display (HUD) that projects over a larger area of the windshield than current projectors.

Head p Display

(Source – Cnet[dot]com)

Visteon’s sensor-driven automotive heads-up display (HUD)– Capturing V2I, V2V and pedestrian data using sensors, Visteon’s head-up display projects simple graphics on the windshield.

The car HUD system displays markings of other cars on the road, highlighting potential dangers for a driver.

The color-coded display shows, for example, a red graphic around a car ahead that’s applying brakes. It also highlights pedestrians on the side of the road.

Panasonic’s next-gen heads-up display integrated with augmented reality (AR) –Panasonic claimed that this is one of the world’s most sophisticated HUD systems.

This HUDsolution also replaces the traditional instrument cluster by displaying all the informationon the projector.This ensures that many of the car’s physical controls are replaced by gesture and voice recognition controls

Panasonic Automotive’s Car HUD (Head-up display) Specifications:

  • Projects very large virtual images of up to 12-degrees horizontal and 5-degrees vertical into the driver’s line of sight, at a distance of 10 meters (33 feet) in front of the vehicle.
  • The HUD system uses eight cameras: rear, front, night vision, a down side view camera, two additional side view cameras and two cameras which track the driver’s head and eyes.

These cameras will not only detect the side of the road and use thesereference points to place the AR imagery in front of the driver, but also update the AR imagery as per the movements of the driver’s head.

AR Imaginary

(Source – Carscoops[dot]com)
 
Head-Up Display market: what is the potential for growth?

IHS Automotive, that provides business insights on the automotive industry, has predicted HUD sales to reach 9.1 million units by 2020.

Future Market Insights (FMI) predicts a healthy double-digit CAGR of 23.2% in terms of value and 30.6% in terms of volume for the global car HUD market in its assessment report for 2015-2025.

A Markets & Markets report states that the market in APAC is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 28.62% by 2020. This growth is attributed to the increased penetration of luxury cars and the rising purchasing power in growing in countries such as China and Japan.

Technology challenges of Car HUD development project

The technology deployed in a Car Heads-up Display is similar to the technology used in fighter jets display.

Developing an HUD solution requires talent with specialized skillsets and domain experience.

While undertaking a heads-up display development project, an OEM and/or automotive supplier may come across following pain-points:

  • Investments in R&D and technology
  • Increased time-to-market and losing out on competitive advantage

At Embitel Technologies, our consistent R&D and development efforts have helped us design a production-ready solution for the HUD product.

Our automotive developers have leveraged their experience in automotive infotainment systems and cloud-mobility engineering to design this state-of-the-art heads-up display system.

With a reference design of Car HUD system, time for developing advanced features and customization is reduced considerably (down to 6 months from an average of 2.5 years). Needless to say, this means reduced development cost too.

car hud software

 
Referrences –

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/augmented-reality-in-the-car-steps-towards-production-at-ces-2017- harman-continental-visteon

http://www.carscoops.com/2017/01/ces-2017-panasonic-debuts-next-gen-head.html

  • January 20, 2017
  • 0

6 Hacks to Improve Mobile App UI

Tags :

Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

When a business decides to invest in mobile app development, app usability testing is one of the critical pre-launch requisites.

While the average usage of mobile apps is growing fast (shopping apps included), the apps that really get the user’s attention are few.

Of the approximately 24 apps used in month by a person, 80% of his ‘app time’ is spent on about 5 apps only.

A report from Forrester Research reveals that of the approximately 24 apps used in month by a person, 80% of his ‘app time’ is spent on about 5 apps only.

So, as a business and app owner, you have to put up tough fight to retain the user’s attention, and a basic requirement to be fulfilled is a seamless user experience. If your app doesn’t have good usability, you’re practically driving users away.

To help you get the most out of mobile app usability testing, we share tips for you to follow.

  1. Platform & device issues
    Native mobile apps are built for a specific platform, for instance native Android apps work efficiently on Android. But even if you have identified your target audience and chosen an appropriate platform, there are the various devices to consider.

    Test the user’s journey on various platform versions and on various devices. Poor response to app because of device issues can be really discouraging.

  2. Test, test, and then test some more
    Where should you place the ‘add to cart’ button—next to the product, or below it? Should you offer product variants in thumbnails or with a hyperlink?

    When developing an ecommerce mobile app, the questions are many and most of them are resolved by assuming the user’s behavior.

    Don’t guess! Test instead. Create versions and do A-B testing, and then compare the results. Asking a user what he prefers may yield one response, but his actions when using the mobile app may actually show a different tendency.

  3. Test regularly
    If you have partnered with a mobile app development company that follows the agile method, this is easy to implement: test at regular intervals, instead of completing all development and then testing at the end.

    Imagine going through weeks, or months, of development, and then testing only to find glitches or bugs that require you to go back to square one. Testing at the end of each phase means you can rectify issues as you go and have a robust app by then end, without significant delays.

  4. Fine-tune the navigation
    Good navigation has one goal—aiding the user journey with as few clicks as possible.

    Imagine examining a t-shirt on an ecommerce app, but you have to go back to the product list every time you want to compare with a different size or colour. Or having to go to a different page each time to read return/exchange information regarding the t-shirt. The user’s journey becomes tedious and he is being directed away from the product page.

    So instead of letting users have to search for the frequently required features, anticipate and offer them in a convenient location that minimizes the need to keep clicking.

  5. Recreate the end-user’s environment
    Apps are usually developed and tested in a mildly active environment of a lab or office, where interruptions are few and far between. But that is not how apps are often used.

    Last year, a mobile wallet company found that 39% of Londoners were shopping on their phones while on the underground rail, a figure that’s likely higher in m any other places around the world. In such scenarios, people sometimes lose connectivity, or have to shut the app suddenly to alight their destination, and so on. You can boost your app’s usability by factoring in the actual setting customers will be using your app in, and develop features accordingly.

  6. Customer convenience
    Go through the user’s journey and identify points where you can offer convenience. For instance, promote items based on his browsing history so he doesn’t have to go search for them again. If he has already gone through the browse and selections, autofill the shipping and payment information instead of requiring him to fill it out all over again.

    These sort of conveniences may not seem to be make or break, but the go a long way in making your app user friendly and helping users return to your app.
  • January 20, 2017
  • 0

10 Ultimate Mobile App Development Outsourcing Checklist – Infographic

Tags :

Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

This infographic is created from the blog post “10 Ultimate Checkpoints Before You Outsource A Mobile App Development Project“. Visit the blog post to learn more on each point.

Mobile App Development
 

  • January 17, 2017
  • 0

10 Ultimate Checkpoints Before You Outsource A Mobile App Development Project

Tags :

Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

Long before we realized, mobile apps had become an integral part of day-to-day interactions in this digital and connected world.

The mobile app has served as a pivotal tool/platform to create disruption in the B2C space in areas such as online shopping or m-commerce, payment wallets, messaging, social networking, IoT for Home Automation and Connected Car mobility applications.

The B2B space has also witnessed a similar disruption in areas of Industrial IoT and enterprise-wide digital transformation of processes to enhance productivity.

With a host of design and development software technologies, cloud server backend and system integrations working behind the scenes, Mobile App Development is a technology, skill and infrastructure intensive project.

A business that has identified mobile app(s) as an integral part of its business growth and/or digital transformation journey can approach this development project in following two ways:

  • Develop and nurture in-house talent of mobile app software developers, UI designers and software testers and build a powerful internal engineering team
  • Partner with a technology partner who has expertise and experience in delivering top-notch mobile apps

If your organization has chosen to continue to focus on the core business and work with a technology partner, here are some of the most important things that you, or every company, should work on before hiring a third party for ecommerce mobile app development, IoT  mobile app development or any other mobile app development projects:

  1. Explain Business Objectives: Since every business has a mission, the technology partner must understand their core values, business type and the reasons to launch a mobile application. They must analyze the industry along with the need and engagement of customers with similar products.

  2. Platform Selection: Usually, one of three platforms is used by mobile phone users: iOS, Windows or Android. The business has to decide on the availability of their mobile application on the basis of information reach, security constraints, utility patterns and cost.

  3. Native or HTML5 Approach: They are basically two techie jargons that offer different mobile app capabilities to the business. If the business wants to offer a high-quality product with excellent performance and efficiency, then Native approach would be the best choice. But, like every high-quality product, the company needs to dedicate a large budget for app development. On the contrary, HTML5 is a relatively cost effective option for businesses that want mobile web development as well.

  4. Target Devices: When a company selects a development approach, it is necessary to specify the target devices that should be compatible with the mobile application. Since the mobile app developers need to consider device specifications and other aspects, businesses need to identify their target users so that the application can be developed suitably.

  5. Integrated Service: The business should have a clear picture about the features and services of the mobile app. If they want the application to work as a promotion utility, integrating social media would be a good decision, or if the application is an e-commerce platform then payment gateway integration becomes necessary.

  6. Content In The App:App developers are responsible for coding the mobile app in such a way that more and more users can use it. Its design and content should be appealing. The business owners should spell out their expectations—the layout, typography, screens, icons, content and color they would like to add in their product.

  7. Data Security: Since every mobile application requires users to enter their personal information, the business has to pay special attention to data security so that the developer can integrate data protection features like third party cloud packages.

  8. Microsite or Landing Pages: When it comes to promotion of and branding the mobile application, nothing could be better than having a landing page or microsite that highlights all features, specifications and functionalities. It may add extra bucks to the development cost but the benefits will outweigh this.

  9. App Deployment Procedure: If the app is intended for external users, the company will need to spend money on its registration and submission in app stores. However, if they go for internal application deployment, Mobile Device Management (MDM) should be the part of their business activities.

  10. Support and Maintenance: Developing a mobile app is just one phase of having mobile presence. The company has to make decisions about its maintenance and ongoing technical support.

Hope you’ve found this checklist useful! Do you have a great app idea in your mind? Book a free session with our ecommerce app development consultants to evaluate your project idea and provide free guidance on project implementation.

  • January 11, 2017
  • 0

The top 5 trends in mobile app development in 2017

Tags :

Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

The best advantage apps have is that they make your business near omnipresent—in the customer’s pocket, on his cellphone, in the briefcase on the tablet, maybe even on his wrist on a smartwatch.

But while the advantages of developing apps for your business are well-known by now, the real challenge is acquiring and retaining app users, as these stats clearly show:

mobile app development

Yet few apps tend to do significantly better. These apps usually

1) understand their target audience
2) are built with robust technology and on a stable platform, and,
3) encourage effective engagement with users.

Here is the list of top features and trends for mobile app development in 2017 that will boost usability and engagement.

1)      More mobile IoT

Cloub-based apps have made IoT integration with apps possible, and domains such as automotive (connected car, fleet management, fleet tracking, etc.), connected healthcare, security, etc. have found effective ways to utilize this capability.

Experimentation and innovation in this field will continue to grow, proportionate to users’ thirst for the instant and convenience

2)      Location-based services and beacon technology for more engagement

If there’s one feature that reach out to customers at the right place and the right time, it has to be location-based services.

Targeted and personalized marketing to observe customer behavior and offer real-time deals will help business not just acquire new customers but bring old ones back into the fold.

3)      Personalized offerings with artificial intelligence

After Starbucks’ big announcement last month to include chatbots in its app, AI will continue to make headlines in 2017.

But it’s way beyond chatbots—facial recognition, predictive analysis, recommendations, these all come under the realm of AI, and as business owners realize the vast scope of it, they will find more ways to use AI to suit their needs.

4)      The need for increased mobile security

With the growth of mobile phone usage (where records user behavior and stores so much sensitive information) and connectivity, security breach is a looming threat.

Users themselves aren’t often stringent with security measures, but any kind of a breach or hole in security can quickly be the downfall of a business.

So the focus on app security is definitely required, and sure to earn the trust of users.

5)      Streamlining operations with enterprise apps

Such is the projected demand for enterprise apps, studies have shown that developers will not be able to keep up with it.

More and more companies are using the potential of enterprise apps to increase worker productivity, perform tasks, and equip employees with tools and information.

An example of this is Tata Trent’s enterprise app that has helped it increase operational efficiency.

The pace of change is increasing, and it helps to be informed and prepared with the right measures to keep one step ahead of competition. Keep these trends in mind when it comes to you mobile app, and you are sure to enjoy a lead!

  • January 5, 2017
  • 0

Embitel Leadership Diaries: Rear-View 2016 by MD Sharad Bairathi

Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

At the end of every year I look back and take stock. This time, 2016 threw up a wonderful mix of accomplishments that I couldn’t help but appreciate Embitelians for their hard work. Here are a few things that made 2016 memorable for us.

  1. A decade of excellence

    2. In September we celebrated our 10th anniversary. I take special pride in the fact that we have several colleagues who became a part of Embitel in 2006, and are here even today, making every step of this journey their own.

  2. New product

    3. Our automotive infotainment team outdid themselves with development of a new cutting-edge product: the heads-up display for cars that enhances safety and reduces distractions for drivers. The team’s efforts towards successful development of the product has made us one of the few companies that offer it.

  3. New certification

    4. We expanded our repertoire by becoming an SAP Value Added Reseller. With this certification, we now offer our clients the convenience of purchasing SAP licenses directly from us, instead of having to coordinate with the licenser and the service integrator.

  4. New geographies

    5. Interest and demand for our expertise in product development services spiked in the USA. Clients showed faith in our abilities, and I’m happy to say we didn’t disappoint them.

  5. New solution

    6. Based on expertise and experience in ecommerce implementation for clients in the F&B and grocery sector, our developers put together a Rapid Deployment Solution for the F&B industry. The solution will help our clients reduce implementation costs while still getting a comprehensive product.

  6. Continued success

    7. 2016 was a year of reinforcing our strengths—the steady purchase of our various IPs for automotive; and the scaling up of the Embitel team for omnichannel implementation for one of India’s largest conglomerates.

  7. New experiences

    8. We ended the year with an interesting event at Embitel: teen-aged students from the Samridhdhi Trust, an NGO that runs bridge schools, spent a morning in our office getting acquainted with the world of software development. These young minds were bright, curious and quickly dispelled any idea that we were teaching them something new–I think they will outrun us faster than we realize, much like new technologies outpace old ones!

college

 
Cheers to 2016, looking forward to a great 2017!

  • January 3, 2017
  • 0

Embitel Leadership Diaries: Why You Should Promote Ownership at Workplace

Tags :

Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

Embitel Leadership Diaries is a series of articles penned by employees to share their thoughts and experiences, personal and professional. This article is written by Dipanwita Jakkula, Delivery Manager, Ecommerce.

“Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility . . . . In the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have is the ability to take on responsibility.”

— Michael Korda
Editor-in-Chief, Simon & Schuster

Ownership – in personal and professional life flourishes only if the environment facilitates responsibility without fear.

Talking about ownership at workplace, I recall an instance from a project, which involved complex and challenging product development.

TEAM

 
(Image Source – http://blog.strategiccoach.com/)

Our offshore team had completed software development & Unit Testing phase and was about to start System Testing (ST) when Murphy’s Law manifested itself.

A couple of software modules had to be loaded on the newly designed test rig to start ST but the programs refused to load!

A day went by without progress. Subsequent investigations revealed that there was a backward compatibility issue and a lot of rework was needed to set things right.

Our team then decided to conduct a detailed Root Cause Analysis (RCA).

After letting the team simply talk among themselves for a while, the issue emerged. It turned out that an architect from the client’s team had tweaked the architecture for this particular release and had forgotten to add the backward compatibility requirement in DOORS.

The architecture had been the same throughout past releases, so nobody realized any alterations/additions were required.

Before commencement of the project, it had been defined that architecture and initial requirements were the client’s responsibility, and our team’s work began from Requirement Analysis.

So one word, that was bandied about the most during our discussion was ‘ownership.’

While we finally had put our finger on the problem, the tricky question of whose responsibility was it left each one of us pondering.

It made us realize that if only one goes a step beyond the assumed boundaries of responsibility to ensure how the overall work can be perfect, instead of being territorial and bureaucratic about it, a lot can be saved, and a lot can be gained.

ownership

 

(Image Source – Profil Institue)

So as a leader, my quandary is how do we inculcate a sense of ownership in our team members? Ironic as it may sound, the sense of ownership cannot be inculcated.

Ownership as a trait is already present in every individual. But it manifests itself only when there is an environment of trust, a sense of belongingness to the organization one works with, a sense of belonging to the larger interests of the team.

It is the responsibility of the organization’s leadership to create that atmosphere of trust, to remove the road blocks in the system, or in interactions which prevent individuals from assuming responsibility.

Empower individuals to draw up and execute their own plans. As a Manager (who aspires to be a good leader) one may review, monitor, provide support as needed, it is essential to believe and treat team members as important stakeholders in the project.

The attitude and behavior of managers (leaders) can act as a catalyst for creating an environment in which team members become firm believers of the greater cause of team’s and organization’s success.

This requires a shift in belief and behavior, and needs to percolate right from the top to the bottom. If an organization works towards strengthening this practice (may be by deploying the critical tools of reward and recognition). The rest will just follow.

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