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Monthly Archives: March 2017

  • March 30, 2017
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What is ISOBUS? Learn about its Architecture and Diagnostic Applications

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Category : Embedded Blog

In this article our Automotive Embedded Software development team has helped us understand the layered architecture of ISOBUS software stack solution and its application in off-highway vehicle diagnostics.

In order to understand ISO Bus software stack, let’s first learn about the ISO 11783 automotive standard.

What is ISO 11783 Standard?

ISO 11783 is a software standard defined by International Organization of Standardization (ISO).

ISO11783 standard is defined for the agricultural and forestry vehicles. It is implemented using CANbus network.

ISO 11783 standard is basis of the embedded software designed to achieve interoperability of data transfer between the sensors, actuators, control units,  cloud server and display units whether mounted or part of the tractor, or any implements.

The purpose of ISO 11783 is to provide an open, interconnected system for on-board electronic systems.

It is intended to enable multiple electronic control units (ECUs), connected on an in- vehicle network, to communicate with each other, through a standard protocol.

What is ISOBUS software stack?

ISOBUS stack is a software protocol complaint to ISO 11783 standard.

ISOBUS software stack supports serial data transfer for in-vehicle communication between agricultural tractors and implements.

ISOBUS software stack solution is an off-shoot of SAE J1939 stack design. SAE J1939 stack is a popularly deployed software solution in commercial vehicle applications.

ISOBUS software stack serves as a communication channel between the Tractor ECU and the implement ECU.

Why ISOBUS software stack solution for off-highway vehicles?

The primary goal of the ISOBUS software stack is to standardize communication between the tractor Control Unit (tractor ECU) , the implement control unit (automotive Electronic Control Unit), Virtual Terminal and Web-based or Mobile Application.

This plays an important role in ensuring interoperability between control units and machinery manufactured by different OEMs’ (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and Automotive Suppliers.

Compatibility between automotive control units is essential to ensure that the end-user is able to use tractor (made by a particular OEM) along with multiple implements (made by same or different OEM) in a plug and play manner.

Interoperability of the ECU also helps tractor and implement OEMs’ to integrate standard embedded systems and electronic components supplied by various automotive suppliers within the industry ecosystem.

The following diagram depicts various communication nodes (devices) that are part of the off-highway vehicle application.

what is ISOBUS

 

Source: http://www.ideagri.net/isobus-standard/what-is-isobus/

Our automotive embedded software developers have designed an ISOBUS software stack solution with layered architecture. This pre-tested and pre-packaged ISOBUS software stack is re-usable and can be deployed readily in an off-highway vehicle application.

Following are the details of the layered architecture of this ISO 11783 complaint automotive protocol stack.

ISOBUS software stack layered architecture:

ISOBUS software stack

Schematic representation of ISOBUS software stack

Physical layer: The physical layer specifies the twisted and non-shielded, quad-cables with four wires. The different connectors that are used here, can be defined as:

  1. Bus Extension Connector: This connector provide as an extension for the implement bus and the tractor.
  1. Breakaway Connector: This receptacle shall be mounted at the rear of a tractor to connect the Implements to the tractor. This connector also helps the tractor ECU to connect with multiple implements.
  1. Diagnostic connector: This connector is used to plug diagnostic tools to the tractor.

Data link layer: This layer of the software stack supports transfer of vehicle CAN data frame with necessary synchronization, sequence control, error code and flow control.

The CAN frame can only communicate 8 byte of data so most of the PGNs (parameter group number) are of 8 byte. If the PGN is greater than 8 byte then we use defined Transport Protocols (TP layer) for transmission.

Some of the defined transfer protocols are BAM (Broadcast Announce Messaging), CMDT (Connection Mode Data Transfer), ETP (Extended Transport Protocol)

Network layer: The network layer defines services needed for communication between the Control Functions in different segments of the ISO 11783 network.

The ISO 11738 standard system has various bus segments. Interconnection between the segments is achieved by building a bride.

This could be useful to save the bandwidth. For example, in a particular application an implement may not require all the PGNs provided by the implement bus. To manage this, in network layer we can define the specific set of PGNs that a particular ECU needs for communication, thus utilizing lower bandwidth.

Network Management layer: This layer is responsible for address claim function.

The association of addresses is mandatory for the functional identification of a device (and manufacturer specifications) and the detection and reporting of network-related errors.

Each Electronic control unit is assigned a specific name of 64 bit. For the peer-to-peer communication in the network, the 64-bit name is not practical information to be exchanged between the receiver and the transmitter.

As a result, each ECU takes 8 bit address when connected to the network. The address allocation can be either static or arbitrary depending upon the developed configuration of the ECUs.

The arbitrary address allocation results in creation of different addresses each time a node is connected therefore we need a management system to store the address of each ECU.

Virtual Terminal (VT): ISOBUS virtual terminal provides the user interface for interaction with the complete system.The virtual terminal manages multiple ECUs through a common unit.
The control actions (undertaken from user end) can be customized at this layer. For instance, the user can give a specific control action from the virtual terminal to the implement.

Task Controller and management information system: This is the application layer which defines the requirements and services needed for communicating between the task controller (TC) and electronic control units.

Tasks are the necessary data for all kind of field operations that the tractor and its implements act upon.

The task controller layer handles the control inputs from the user through the VT. It is the responsibility of the task controller to store all the data from a farm management system in order to control one or more tasks.

For example, a particular instruction is given through the VT to the field implement. This is communicated through the task controller, via the data link layer to a particular implement ECU.

ISOBUS Diagnostic layer: The ISOBUS software stack solution supports a data driven diagnostic test system. A dedicated tool is being installed by the user to get all the vehicle specific data.

There are defined error codes for diagnosed technical issue or breakdown. Each error code is specified by ISO standard in the form of a PGN or SPN used for the diagnosis purpose.

It helps the technician to easily diagnose the real cause of technical breakdown. The diagnostic messages produced also helps in recognition and fixing of the bug.

File server: The file server prototype facilitates the transmission and exchange of large multimedia file and image data files in the ISOBUS architecture.

When we talk about the agricultural automotive, there are versatile data types that needs to be processed. It is not limited just to text data which is comparatively of minimal size and can be transmitted via the data links layers efficiently.

Suppose, the system needs to process the large size image data of a field plot that needs to be harvested.

This kind of data needs a file server system to collect the data from the camera implement. It is then processed and sent to the corresponding ECUs and further to the end system User Interface (UI) or GUI.

Implement Messages Application layer:

The message set specified by this part of ISO 11783 is designed to support the transfer of data from tractor ECU to an implement for information from ECU. It enables coordination between implement and tractor.

It supports messages containing information regarding time, ground speed, distance, navigation, PTO (power take-off) parameters, three-point hitch, general process data, and lighting function parameters etc.

Some of the messages are regularly repeated at fixed intervals and others are transmitted upon request only.

  • March 22, 2017
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What is SCADA system? Learn About its Application in IoT Projects

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Category : Embedded Blog


In this article, our Industrial Automation and IoT developers have helped us understand various features of a SCADA system and what are its applications in Home and Industrial automation based IoT projects.

We will also share brief information about technologies, frameworks and platforms that power a fully-functional SCADA system.

What is a SCADA software system? – An Introduction

SCADA stands for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition.

SCADA software system is a device monitoring and controlling framework. The supervisory control includes, taking action and control through remote locations for various control mechanisms and processes.

Various kinds of data can be acquired from network of devious (connected through wireless/wired communication systems) for storage, processing and analytics to aid decision making.

Frontend of a SCADA software solution is a graphical user interface (GUI/UI).

In a nutshell, a SCADA software solution is a real time monitoring, supervision and control system from remote and/or local physical location.

How does The SCADA software system work:

SCADA Software
 
Let’s try to understand the functional blocks of a SCADA based IoT system, with the help of the simplified IoT framework as shown above

  • The User Interface(UI) of Mobile App or Web based dashboard represented above is the HMI of the SCADA system.
  • This, along with the backend business logic, database (cloud server) and a Gateway constitutes of a SCADA solution for control and monitoring of devices in an IoT network.
  • The IoT gateway ensures compatibility between IoT sensor network and cloud server. Through the gateway, the sensor data is stored in the cloud server.
  • The cloud server is the hosting spot for the algorithms that implement the business logic.
  • The sensor unit detects the change in the environment like change in temperature, sound and also acts as a data accumulating unit.

There can be a number of devices or machines connected within a SCADA solution based IoT project. For an instance, in case of home automation system, various home appliances such as AC, lights, refrigerator can be a part of connected smart home.

Hence SCADA solution is an intelligent software system with an intuitive UI (for data representation) connected with cloud server for data processing and predictive and descriptive analysis.

Let us see the detailed features of a SCADA software system

Features supported by SCADA:

  1. System Management Features:

    The interactive user interface of the SCADA system has evolved over a period of time.It includes graphical representation of the whole system, showing data in a consolidated manner.

    Typically a SCADA solution will support following two types of system management features:

    • Device Management: The number of nodes or devices being monitored or maintained is visible from the UI and can be subcategorized further into different parameters.

      For instance, in case of industrial automation, the control units installed in a particular production floor can be categorized under geographical location and admin level of that particular system.

      Also an overview of the whole production floor can be seen, with the total number of such control units installed. The number of devices installed, depend on the type of network topology used.

    • User Management: The permission and roles can be defined under user management panel with respect to the level of users. The specific admin roles can be assigned and limited access to other level of user for various data and for the interface as well, can be imposed.

  2. Device and System Control Features:

    In the SCADA system, both remote and local access is prevalent and ranges widely on the basis of the users and industries for which the application has been built.It is interesting to take into consideration that SCADA software has the intelligence to recognize the different communication signals of different devices installed.

    For example, let us consider the home automation system, the doors are automated using proximity sensors but the AC communicates with the IR sensor technology. SCADA can be designed to ensure compatibility.

    The interoperability is ensured by the IoT gateways that are part of the SCADA system architecture.

    Another important feature of Control mechanism is system failure management. The SCADA system has defined algorithms and business logic to trigger a specific alert in case of any gateway or device failure.

    Here the question of data loss arises, which again is meticulously handled by the SCADA software system. The signal containing packets of data does not get lost in case of data failure but simply stored in the memory, pipelined for immediate communication when the health of the device or gateway is redeemed.

    One queer and interesting aspect in SCADA software is IFTTT (if this then that). This special method of logical looping gives the user a control in the interface of the UI for better handling or option of a changed maneuver of the series of operations.

    There are various logics that can be customized to control the pattern of data flow. The SCADA on a large scale is able to do the parallel processing of a large data simultaneously.
    This is an utmost important feature w.r.t industrial automation application where bulk processing is needed. Also the logics can be altered depending on the business need and the pattern of flow can be modifies if and when required.

  3. Monitoring Features:

    The inevitable benefit of SCADA based system comes into play while performance optimization. Data is available both in structured and unstructured format and can be recognised and processed efficiently by the SCADA system. There are two types of data analytics that SCADA supports:

    • Descriptive Analytics:The descriptive analysis of data gives the user a proper idea of comparative efficiency on genuine parameters of a particular device.For instance, from the business perspective the decision making on what services to use or how to generate revenue or propel business is based on analysis of past data of the quality of services provided and the outcome.

      This process is known as judgement analytics and it is based on pattern recognition of the adaptive behavior intelligence of SCADA

    • Predictive Analytics:The future or predictive analysis of a system are logical algorithms to analyze the past data and generate a predictive alert in case of any threats or anticipated failure in case of devices.

      This area is yet under speculative research and development which has a large prospect of implementation, in scope of various manufacturing industries. The medical industry has been using the predictive analysis of data for effective treatment methodologies.

  4. Support for automated and customized reporting:

    User defined reports can be synthesized using backend programming. Automated reports are mainly a health check of a particular functionality which can be generated in form of automated mailer alerts or specific admin alerts. This feature also helps in data acquisition and analysis in terms of user or industry admin operation and maintenance of a functional module.

Technologies, frameworks and platforms that power a SCADA software solution:

The implementation of the SCADA solution project requires know-how of certain specific technologies and platforms. Also, a SCADA software system can be custom design to work on a specific Operating system.

Following are the suggested set of technologies best suited for SCADA software solution development:

  • Operating System which supports SCADA: LINUX
  • Technologies for SCADA software application development (Frontend User Interface) : HTML5, CSS, Bootstrap, Javascript, Ajax, HighCharts
  • Data Storage or Database for analytics and processing: PostgreSQL, which is a relational database
  • Platform for implementation : Python Scripting
  • Mode of communication between the server and the gateways : MQTT
  • Web framework based on which the system is developed : Django
  • Mode of communication between the devices and the server : MQTT, REST APIs
  • Both HTTP and HTTPS servers can be used based on the required access and priority for secured activity. Nginx or Gunicorn are some of the HTTP servers that can be used.
  • Big Data analytics: To support Streaming Analytics and Complex Analytics once can integrate Apache Spark ( a cluster-computing framework for big data processing)

SCADA system like any other, needs to have a robust Data Encryption/Decryption, which is the process of securing the data while communication. Also cryptographic protocols like TLS/SSL should be followed while coding. All this ensures that you build an fully functional, secured and powerful SCADA software system.

Applications of SCADA in IoT projects:

Features offered by a SCADA system such as monitoring of various parameters like current/voltage, reporting in case of failures and analytics for pro-active or predictive maintenance, has made it a solution of choice for implementation of various Industrial Automation based IoT projects.

Following are some of the popular industry use-case examples of a SCADA system:

  1. Manufacturing
  2. Food processing
  3. Telecom and Information Technology
  4. Waste water treatment
  5. Power systems
  • March 22, 2017
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7 Important Steps in an Ecommerce Website Development Project

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Category : ecommerce-insights

 

The ecommerce industry in India has seen exponential growth over the last few years and even though there have been bumps in between, it has always bounced back. This trend is expected to continue, and the industry, valued at $14.5 billion in 2016, is expected to touch a whopping $80 billion by 2020.

This makes ecommerce very attractive to entrepreneurs and retailers in India, and the relative ease of getting started and setting up operations of an ecommerce business means we’re seeing the birth of new ecommerce websites every day.

But running a successful ecommerce business isn’t just about having a great idea and being at the right place at the right time.

Yes, those things matter too, but without hard and focused work, and a thorough business plan, it’s hard to get the business off the ground.

We’re breaking down the process of an ecommerce website development project into 7 major steps, each filled with detail and tips to help you understand the process and get it right.

  1. Identify the product/service, and the customer
    Arun Kumar, ecommerce consultant at Embitel Technologies, Bangalore, says, “When ecommerce an exciting new thing, entrepreneurs were excited to get online, even without knowing what they wanted to sell. But the products were all restricted to mainstream B2C, and items that provided ease of doing business.

    That’s changed now. Even niche businesses see the advantages of getting online, now that ecommerce business processes are better established.”

    Indeed, one can find ecommerce portals for a variety of businesses today, from school uniforms to medical equipment, and craft supplies to construction material.

    If you are still in the process of identifying products to sell, keep the following points in mind in order to choose well:

    • It’s a crowded market, so it helps to go niche, but not so niche that there isn’t sufficient demand
    • Consider the price of the product—items that are priced very low will make it difficult for you to get returns, but it also is difficult for people to purchase high-value items without seeing them first
    • Availability of the product and convenience can help a customer decide whether to shop online or offline. Items that are usually not available too easily in stores tend to rack up more sales online.
    • Do consider the incidental costs. Perishables, fragile goods, voluminous or large goods all pose shipping challenges and drive up costs.
    • Importantly, your enthusiasm for the product you’re selling. As an entrepreneur, you will hit roadblocks and face business challenges, so it is important to be driven about your products and do your best to sell them.

    Know your ecommerce customer

    It’s vital for any business to understand who their customer is so they can reach out to him/her in the best way possible. One way to ascertain this is by evaluating the customers of your competitors. Some parameters to keep in mind are:

    • Establish the demographic i.e. gender, age group, income level, education etc.
    • Tap social media to identify the people showing interest in your brand/offering through ‘likes’ and ‘follows’
    • Interact with customers through feedback, suggestions and reviews to understand the customer profile better

    With the basic questions of what to sell, and whom to sell to answered, it’s time to move to the next stage: the ecommerce website.

    2.  

  2. Choose the right ecommerce website development platform
    An ecommerce platform is a software suite that helps you build your ecommerce store where you make your products available, and where your customers can conduct transactions. Choosing the right ecommerce platform is vital to any online business as it is the very foundation of the business.

    To begin with, as the business owner you need to decide whether you’d prefer a self-hosted platform, or a hosted one. While the requirement for both is different, hosted platforms are usually preferred as they usually consist of full-features websites and maintenance plans. This minimizes the scope for error and makes website management much easier.

    Even then, there are many platforms to choose from, the most popular include Hybris, Magento, WooCommerce, or Shopify.

    When choosing your ecommerce platform, you need to keep your business requirements as well as the features on offer in mind. To help you get going, here’s  list of things to consider:

    • ERP, CRM, Database compatibility and integration

    If you already have a business and are now expanding online, you have preexisting systems and a database. It’s important to ascertain the compatibility of the platform with your existing systems and the ability to integrate them.

    Imagine having to shift all the data you have built up over the years, or are working with concurrently, to the new system. To ensure easy integration and prevent downtime during transition, choose a compatible platform. You will probably need professionals to assist you in this, but it is well worth the money and time spent to create a stable online store.

    • Scope for ecommerce website customization

    Even full-feature platforms like Magento come with set features which may not suit the needs of your business, or you may have requirement for additional capabilities in your webstore. Moreover, each business has different requirements, and it’s important for theplatform to support these.

    One of our clients had a unique requirement—as a seller of books, they had to abide by their country’s laws which allowed them to sell certain books only to people over a specified age. This made it difficult to sell the books online, but the client needed the book to be listed in the online catalogue to make website visitors aware of its availability.

    To suit this unique case, the project developers were able to create an additional restricted catalog on the ecommerce website, where visitors could view the listing, but not purchase the books.

    Similarly, grocery ecommerce websites require the capability to list product or size variants, list perishables with unique weight or size measurements, offer features such a shopping lists. Choosing a platform with good scope for customization makes it possible to enable the development of such features and deliver a good customer user experience.

    • Payment gateway integration

    One of the challenges faced by ecommerce businesses in India is the discomfort with online payments. So it is vital include traditional payment options, such as cash on delivery, along with regular payment options, such as credit and debit card payments and netbanking. It has now also become necessary to provide the option of linking to payment wallets.

    Your ecommerce platform of choice must support these capabilities.

    If you seek international expansion, or cater to customers from various countries, it’s important to incorporate multiple currency options to facilitate payment for overseas customers.

    • Robust backend

    A good online commerce webstore is supported by a robust backend for an organized and easy-to-use admin experience. A high quality platform will provide several admin features such as multiple admin logins, easy changes in inventory, taking stock of orders, and so on.

    Ensure you check for this because a good customer UX doesn’t count for much if it isn’t powered by an organized backend.

    • Mobile-friendly, or responsive ecommerce

    Studies have shown that people are spending more and more time on the mobile phones. While some businesses do choose to build apps to cater to this growing demand, app development requires an investment of time and money.

    So responsive ecommerce websites, suitable for viewing on mobile phones, are a great alternative. The importance of a mobile-friendly ecommerce website cannot be ignored as customers do much more than make purchases through their phones. The easy accessibility leads to increasing amounts of time spent browsing on the phone, which often leads more online as well as in-store purchases.

    The platform must support a website that is optimized for a mobile-friendly yet rich UX.

    • Ecommerce marketing

    Do consider the marketing tools offered by the ecommerce platform—some platforms offer integration with analytics tools, social media websites, promotion tools, etc. Once you go live with the webstore, marketing will form a significant path of business growth, so anticipate the needs for these capabilities and choose your platform accordingly.

    A handy guide to evaluate ecommerce platforms is Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for digital commerce. The Magic Quadrant assesses platforms and categorizes them as per the performance and growth annually.

    3.  

  3. Choose the right ecommerce website hosting platform
    Your choice of server and hosting can make or break your ecommerce business. It determines your website’s accessibility and performance efficiency. It’s imperative to choose quality over costs saving when it comes website hosting and support. The key parameters to consider when zeroing in on an ecommerce host are:

    • Speed

    Your server should have the capacity to deliver good website speed. This is also dependent on the internet connection speed for your server, so check that too. Providing good speed is vital as not only do customers have little patience for websites that load slowly, but search engines also rank slow-loading websites poorly.

    • Uptime

    A good way to assess the kind of service you will get from the host is to check recent uptime records of other websites being hosted by the provider. One of the greatest attributes of ecommerce is any time, any place availability and shopping convenience. This is enabled by maximizing uptime, so this is a vital check.

    • Support

    What kind of support services does your host provide? Some just provide the infrastructure, while some also give managed services that help minimize troubleshooting response time and improve uptime. Sometimes managed services also cover issue management and upgrades.

    • Scalability

    Choose servers that can adapt to your business needs. This means your website doesn’t go down due to an overload in traffic (as the servers scale up to accommodate increased traffic during peak season or offers), as well and optimizes the costs.

    • Security

    As an ecommerce website, you accept payments online so the servers must be PCI-DSS compliant. It is also important to ensure data security through secure servers.

    4.  

  4. Choose the right ecommerce development partner
    Shopping for ecommerce tech development partners or ecommerce vendors can be confusing. The market is chockablock with service providers and with each one claiming to offer the very best, it’s hard to ascertain who is genuine. Look out for these following aspects to choose your ecommerce development company wisely:

    • Location

    Contrary to the popular practice of outsourcing to cheaper locations, it makes plenty of sense to commission ecommerce website development to a local company. With an intensive task like this, that requires regular and deep involvement, it helps to be in located in the same time zone in order to speed up communication and coordination. Losing hours, or even a day, sue to time difference can add significantly to development time and cost.

    • Custom development

    A great way to ascertain the ecommerce vendor’s level of commitment and quality of output in the interest shown in your business requirements. Each business has unique needs and circumstances, and your ecommerce website and development process must be adapted to suit these needs. A vendor who takes the time to understand your goals, requirements and hurdles, and takes the time to address them is likelier to deliver a website that will be more to your expectations and will fuel business growth.

    • Approach to processes

    Ecommerce website development is a lengthy and task-intensive project, with goals and hurdles that change along the way. Therefore it is very important to partner with a vendor who follows agile processes that are continuously adapted and improved on the journey to suit the changing needs. Due diligence for quality assurance in processes also helps deliver predictable outcomes and more bang for your buck.

    • Scalability

    Ecommerce development, especially if it is multichannel or omnichannel, is carried out phase by phase, and the resources needed at every phase differ, especially if timelines have to be met. Choosing an established ecommerce website development partner makes resources available as per need without much delay. This ability to scale up or down as per project needs facilitates smooth development and minimizes the time lost to logistic problems.

    5.  

  5. Ecommerce website testing – You can never test enough
    Upon completion of the website development, or even hand-in-hand with it, the next vital step is ecommerce website testing. Testing checks usability, customer convenience, checks for bugs, and is vital to ensuring a good shopping experience. Testing is usually carried out in various browsers, across platforms, and across devices. Website testing can be manual, or automated, or a combination of the two.

    The importance of testing cannot be stressed enough—slow-loading websites, poor navigation, broken links and bugs have been known to cause losses for ecommerce websites as customers  leave dissatisfied.

    So what is usually checked in the ecommerce website testing process?

    • The visitor/customer flow: Each step and page usually taken by the customer on his/her visit is tested, starting from home page to menu, search bar and results, product listing … rught up to payment and checkout, and acknowledgement.
    • The functionalities: the pages, the categories, filters, user registration, shopping cart, payment options, shipping options—all features and functions offered are checked for usability.
    • Security: Ecommerce website security is vital, not just on the payments page, where customers share sensitive information like card details and address, but also throughout the rest of the website. A secure website encourages trust in users.
    • Compatibility: With different browsers, on various platforms, and across devices, as mobile phones and tablets are no longer devices to be ignored when it comes to online shopping.
    • Performance and discoverability: To ensure the website load time isn’t too long, catch broken links, check for SEO ranking in search engines.

    As to the amount of time that needs to be devoted to testing, various business experts and researchers suggest anything between 25% of development time to continuous testing all through the development stage. You can read these suggestions here and decide what suits your business the best.

    6.  

  6. Effective marketing
    Congratulations! Your website is now live. But how are people to know about it, and how will it attract visitors? One needs to have a marketing plan charted out even before launch, so that as soon you are ready to launch successfully, marketing and promotion can be rolled out. In a crowded market of business owners vying for customers’ attention, it’s easy to get lost or go unnoticed. A well-planned marketing strategy that reaches out to the right audience at the right time and across the right channels can help break through this clutter.

    Some of the popular marketing methods used by businesses include:

    1. Traditional methods: such as flyers, newspaper and magazine ads, etc.
    2. Email marketing: Work towards building a mailing list. Encourage visitors to your website to leave their email addresses by offering something (a gift/discount) in exchange. Send out emails at periodic intervals (but not so often that you’re blocked), to keep existing as well as potential customers informed of offers, new arrivals, seasonal promotions. When used effectively, email marketing has proved to deliver great results. Case in point: Edible Arrangements, a US-based gifting business, experienced an 8% rise in same-day delivery orders after promoting the service through email marketing.
    3. Social media marketing: The attention-grabbing nature of social media can be tapped to create recall for your brand as well as turn your followers/customers into advocates for your brand. This is often done by contests or activities requiring respondents to share posts, or tag other people in them, usually in exchange for a gift. Dove, the skin and hair care brand, has used Facebook effectively to build a brand identity that tells stories of women, rather than pushing promotional posts.
    4. Content marketing: is all about creating shareable information-oriented content in order to attract visitors to your website. Listicles, infographics, memes, blog posts are all examples fo content marketing. These work two-fold: they help attract visitors as well as improve SEO ranking.
    5. Pay per click: Also called PPC, is different from the above methods of marketing as it requires a monetary investment. These are advertisements displayed to a targeted audience, and you’d pay for them based on impressions of per click on the advertisement. Well planned PPC campaigns do usually yield results, but proceed cautiously to understand and control your spends.

    7.  

  7. Adapt and grow
    Development to going live is a long process, and if your website is up and running successfully by now, it’s a satisfying achievement. Yet, like all business, you cannot sit back and relax. It’s necessary to continuously adapt to changing conditions and stay ahead of competition.

    Ecommerce has evolved from websites to multichannel, and then omnichannel. In the recent past, newer features like virtual reality, or augmented reality, or location-based alerts, have changed the level of personalization and convenience offered. Brands that have managed to upgrade quickly and enjoyed continued success.

    Upgrade your platform regularly to keep your website running smoothly and offer up-to-date features. Periodically check for security updates and implement them.

    Track customer browsing habits, purchase patterns, cart abandonment, and other user behavior to tweak your offerings and presentation accordingly.

    Your ecommerce website and business require nurturing to enjoy healthy growth and deliver long-term returns on your investment.

We’ve outlined the process to help you get going, now it’s time to put in the sweat and blood. All the best!

Partner with Embitel’s ecommerce website developers for implementation on Magento 2 and Hybris. Send us an email at sales@embitel.com

Ecommerce Website Development Project

  • March 21, 2017
  • 0

Magento Enterprise Vs Community Edition: Top 10 Features Comparison Infographic

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Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

Magento Enterprise Vs Community Edition Comparison

 

Reference: This infographic is created based on the blog post “Magento 2 Community Vs Enterprise Edition Comparison“. Please visit the blog post to read in detail.

  • March 9, 2017
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3 Positive Business Impacts of Ecommerce in India in my 10 Year Journey

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Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

eCommerce info-graphics
 
I recently completed 10 years of being an ecommerce technology consultant. In this decade, I’ve been actively engaged in ecommerce consulting for numerous businesses of varying scale and across domains, and I’ve seen the very idea of ecommerce as it is today take shape.

Besides the already well-known advantages of ecommerce (the immense reach, the scope for personalization, the convenience and any-time availability), ecommerce technology has evolved in a way nobody could have imagined. From the initial distrust of making payments to a non-human entity and developing trust, to exclusive online launches, we’ve come a long way.

The reasons to choose ecommerce

The biggest thing that’s changed, and has kept me in my job, is the nature of business demand for ecommerce—it started out as something businesses wanted, it’s become something businesses need.

Some years ago, when ecommerce started making waves, bright and ambitious entrepreneurs wanted to go online. To sell what? They weren’t sure, but they simply wanted to sell online.

These were days when operations and logistics were an unknown beast, and the easiest products to sell were books. Convenient, organized and relatively affordable, businesses chose books as a way to get online and start selling.

On the other hand, in recent years, the approach has become more refined.  Businesses understand the potential of ecommerce, and strong players from niche domains are testing the waters. From a supplier of construction materials to medical equipment manufacturers, they all want widen their reach through online commerce. Ecommerce operations are more streamlined and businesses are trying to use these aspects to their benefit, not to mention the need to have seamless presence across channels.

Ecommerce: No longer a threat to retail stores

Retail stores have long felt threatened by ecommerce—the lure of convenience and discounts is compelling for consumers. But an interesting evolution is how ecommerce has in many ways actually opened up new opportunities for retail outlets.

Local grocers and mom & pop stores, once afraid of being pushed out of business by online shopping, have instead become stockists or suppliers for online sellers—who actually only take care of order fulfilment.

One of our clients, a popular furnishings brand, has found a way to make ecommerce beneficial for everybody: the brand, the retail outlet, and the customer. Outlet managers are incentivized for orders placed online on behalf of the customer when the desired product is not in stock in the store. So the outlet doesn’t turn the customer away, the brand still makes a sale (and gains an online customer) and the customer will get the product home-delivered!

Making B2B slick—and transparent

All the bells and whistles of B2C commerce haven’t been seen as required for B2B—B2B has always been about filling up Excel sheets, dealer visits and margins. But ecommerce is changing that. In recent times, businesses have started applying the same standards of B2C UX and convenience to B2B. The result of transitioning B2B processes online is increased speed, reduced costs (due to the time saved and the option of self-service), and transparency.

For the first time, it is has become possible for brands and manufacturers to actually reach out to end users, enhancing the brand experience for customers and helping the brand ensure customer satisfaction. The supply chain isn’t by-passed; instead all the involvement of all players is now digitized, leading to more streamlined operations and costs.

Ecommerce has become a given for large industry players, and has opened up non-traditional channels for old and new businesses.

Where’s it going from here? I’m not sure yet, but we’ll check back in 10 years.

Arun Kumar heads the ecommerce BU at Embitel Technologies, in Bangalore, India.

  • March 7, 2017
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Magento 2 Community Vs Enterprise Edition: A guide to Evaluate for Ecommerce IT Managers

Tags :

Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

Magento Enterprise

 
When comparing Magento 2 Community Edition and Magento 2 Enterprise Edition, the first visible difference is in cost. The license for Magento 2 Enterprise Edition comes at a higher cost, but this is explained by the advanced features and capabilities that come with it

That’s not to say Magento Community Edition isn’t useful. Each edition suits different needs, and those who opt for Magento Enterprise Edition get the features of Community Edition plus some more.

So which one could be a worthy investment for you? Let’s find out by digging deeper into the details.

Magento 2 Community Edition – the features and ecommerce implementation 

Magento 2 Community Edition gives you everything that you need for complete ecommerce website development. To list some of the features that come bundled with it:

  • Website Management features such as multiple online stores From a single admin area, web services API for easy integration between Magento and any third-party application
  • Custom website design and styling
  • Checkout features like one-page online checkout
  • Payment features such as integration with Amazon Payments, PayPal, Authorize.net, and Google Checkout; SSL Security Support for all orders and transactions, online tax and shipping calculation
  • Shipping features integration with UPS, FedEx, USPS
  • Multiple shipments on a single online order, free shipping functionality, manage shipping by weight and destination
  • Search Engine optimization
  • Google Analytics and reporting
  • Order management
  • Catalog management

With Magento Community Edition, development of a fully functional and sophisticated webstore is possible. If one needs to incorporate additional features, you can easily find extensions on the Magento Marketplace.

Magento 2 Enterprise Edition – the features and ecommerce implementation support

The Magento Enterprise Edition is a more viable option if your ecommerce website requires high performance and scalability. Some of its additional features are:

  • 24/7 technical support from Magento for every problem related to web store, control update implementation and responding to customers’ queries.
    While using Magento Community Edition, you would be able to organize its technical support in two ways – either appoint a Magento support team or outsource task to someone. Here, you have to keep in mind that to keep your web store efficient and well performing, you should have to spend almost 3% to 10% eCommerce revenue on platform’s maintenance.
  • A hallmark of this new version is scalability and efficiency. The Enterprise Edition is designed to ensure out-of-the box performance for fast growing businesses and though they sell at fast pace, the platform offers excellent user experience.
    It also comes with client-side performance optimization, such as minimizing and bundling JavaScript, compressing images, and better browser caching for static content. Apache Varnish caching leads to improvement on the server side. Also present are standalone databases for order management, product management and checkout with support for MySQL Cluster.
  • Enterprise Edition ensures faster growth for web stores. The platform is particularly designed for SaaS-like upgrades that make site scheduling easier and allow CMS pages to save on a versioning system that can revert previous copies whenever needed. Enterprise Edition enables web owners to select any of the deployment options to complement their business needs, consisting of on-premise, cloud and managed hosting.
  • Inclusion of advanced features such as Solr search, Google Tag Manager support, and extended admin rights management
  • Customer Attribute Management – The ability to manage customer attributes and create custom customer attributes

Magento Enterprise or Community Edition – which one to choose?

The answer to this question depends on your business needs. If you’re a relatively small-sized business, or have simple requirements with a small catalog or customer records, the community edition should fulfil your needs easily.

On the other hand, if your requirements include significant scope scalability, or you have complex business requirements like multi-website stores, or integration of a different ERP, Magento 2 Enterprise Edition will offer a more robust platform for your needs.

That is not to say the Magento 2 Community Edition cannot be customized for complex requirements, but development time and cost will increase.

So use this information along with a solid understanding of your business requirements to identify the version of Magento 2 for your business.

If you’d still like advice on choosing the right platform, our ecommerce consultants can guide you to make the right choice. And our certified Magento 2 developers can help you execute a complete webstore on Magento 2.

  • March 6, 2017
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Ecommerce Technology Academy: A Pocket Dictionary

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Category : ecommerce-insights

At Embitel, we’ve been in the business of ecommerce a long time. We’re putting our knowledge and experience to use here to help with a dictionary of the terminology used in ecommerce tech to help your understanding. Whether you’re an enthusiast, a developer or a business project manager looking to go the ecommerce way, this dictionary will help you start with the right foundation.

Frequently Asked Question & Answers

What is a marketplace?

An ecommerce marketplace, or an online marketplace, is an ecommerce website listing products or services from multiple third-party vendors, while the transactions are managed by the operator of the marketplace.

Market places could be B2B or B2C, and make online sales for both, large and small sellers, efficient and affordable. Some of the notable marketplaces globally include eBay, Amazon, Alibaba, and Souq.

 

What is an ecommerce platform?
 Ecommerce platforms are software solutions used to build virtual or online storefronts. Ecommerce businesses may be dependent on the webstore for all their sales, while other businesses incorporate online stores into their business strategy, which also includes brick-and-mortar stores.

Some of the leading ecommerce platforms are Hybris, Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, etc.

 

What is a payment gateway?

A payment gateway is a software that facilitates an exchange of transaction-related information on websites and mobile applications. A payment gateway may be provided by a bank of specialized payment gateway service provider.

It is imperative for ecommerce businesses to integrate a robust payment gateway to ensure security. Among the popular payment gateway providers are PayPal, PayU, and 2CheckOut.

 

 What is Magento?

Magento is one of the most popular ecommerce platforms in the world. Magento is a customizable and scalable software that can is used by ecommerce businesses to define their look, content and functionality of the online store.

Magento announced an upgraded version named Magento 2.0 in 2015 which is available in Community and Enterprise editions.

 

What is Hybris?
SAP Hybris is omnichannel software for B2B and B2C commerce. Hybris is an enterprise-level ecommerce platform that positions itself and geared towards customer engagement.

Hybris has consistently emerged as a ‘leader’ in the annual Gartner Magic Quadrant for digital commerce for its rich functionality, growth and vision, and ability to act as an accelerator.

 
 

What is multichannel retail?
Multichannel retail is practice of using a variety of channels for sale of products and services. For instance, products may be available in an exclusive brand outlet, departmental stores, through mail order catalogues, and on a website.

The purpose of multichannel retail is to expand reach, build brand identity and foster loyalty among customers.

 

 

 What is omnichannel retail?
A step ahead of multichannel, omnichannel retail or omnichannel ecommerce aims at delivering a personal and continued shopping experience for customers across channels and mediums. This means integration on the back as well as front ends to ensure a connected experience across mediums.

Omnichannel ecommerce allows retailers to deliver a personalized shopping experience online and offline, and offers exemplary convenience to customers.

 

 What is CMS?

CMS, or Content Management System, is a software application used to create, edit and manage digital content.  A CMS allows users to work with the content and publish it easily, without much coding or affecting the rest of the website.

Popular CMS used in website development include WordPress, WebEx Panel, Drupal and Google Search Appliance.

 

 What is SLA?
An SLA, or Service Level Agreement, is a contract between a service provider and customer. The SLA defines terms of the agreement between the two parties such as, but not limited to, a thorough description of the services to be provided, the timeline, reliability and performance standards. The SLA will also include details of exclusions and penalties.

A software development company will enter into an SLA with its clients to ensure transparency and adherence.

 

What is Swift?

Swift is Apple’s latest programming language for development of iOS and OS X. It is backed by Apple’s Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks, and enables development for all Apple devices.

The highlights of Swift are its resilience, safe programming patterns and yet performs at a remarkable speed.

 

What is Java?

Java is one of the most popular programming languages for development and delivery of content on the web. Developed as early as 1991, Java still remains common is now also the preferred language for Android app development and the Internet of Things.

Java is easy to use, allows creation of re-useable code and it object-oriented.

 

What is a plug in?

A plug is a piece of software added to a program in order to enable the program to perform additional features. Most high-quality programs support plug ins to enable customization by users.

Popular Magento ecommerce plug ins include Shipworks (to facilitate shipping processes), and Ajax cart (for ‘add to cart’ and ‘add to wishlist’ features). Mirakl Marketplace and Adobe Analytics are well-known hybris plug ins.

 

What is HTTPS?

HTTPS is a more secure version of HTTP, a protocol that allows communication between a web server and browser. HTTPS (the ‘S’ stands for secure) encrypts and decrypts all data being sent to and from the server. This ensures security, especially in for sensitive information like payment information.

HTTPS certification builds trust and all reliable ecommerce websites have it.

 

What is enterprise software?
Enterprise software is built to suit the needs of organizations, and it acts as a company-wide solution, meaning that it will available for all of the company’s sites. Enterprise software comes with a host of features, is customizable and requires professional expertise to develop.

Hybris is categorized as an enterprise-class ecommerce platform, and Magento Enterprise Edition is also available.

 

What is SaaS / What is Software as a Service?

Software as a Service is involves the distribution and delivery of a software as an application over the internet. The software is hosted remotely, and the user pays as per subscription. The benefit of SaaS is that it allows business to focus on operations instead of technology.

In ecommerce, the richness of inbuilt features and easy integration makes SaaS suitable for SMBs. Few popular ecommerce SaaS platforms are Shopify, Volusion, BigCommerce.

 

What is PaaS / What is Platform as a Service?

The Platform as a Service model refers to the delivery on an application over the internet where a cloud services provider gives the platform (the software and hardware) to users as a service. These tools are hosted on the providers cloud and are simply accessed via the internet by users.

In ecommerce, PaaS frees business owners from the responsibilities of owning servers and software maintenance. Leading PaaS providers include Magento and Hybris.

 

What is IaaS? What is Infrastructure as a Service?

Almost self-explanatory, IaaS is the provision of computing infrastructure such as servers and storage to users. Unlike PaaS and SaaS, the operational platform, and consequently no features, are provided in the IaaS model.
The Infrastructure as a Service model is a highly scalable program with wide scope for flexibility in management.

 

What is ERP?

ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning is business process management software to manage and automate core business processes. ERP enables the flow of information to allow business owners/managers to make data-driven decisions.

It is important for businesses to integrate the ERP with their ecommerce platform to improve efficiency in operations.

 

What is CRM?

Customer Relationship Management software, or CRM software, is used to manage the various aspects of a business-customer relationship. CRM software makes it possible to collect data from interaction with customers across channels and touchpoints, and helps in improving the customer relationship and retention.

CRM integration with the ecommerce platform enables tracking of customer behavior online, which helps improve business performance.

 

What is cross-selling?

A practice designed to boost sales, cross-selling involves encouraging customers to purchase products/services related to the ones already purchased. For instance, customers purchasing a digital camera are likely to purchase a USB cable.

A popular way ecommerce websites use cross-selling is through a panel on the product page called ‘Customers who purchased this also bought…’ or ‘Special offers’ panel showcasing related accessories.

 

What is information architecture?

Information architecture, or IA, of a website is about the organization and structuring of a website to make it useable and share complete information. This includes creating categories and labelling them, defining the structure, navigation and user flow, integration of key functions such as search, etc.

A well-designed ecommerce website information architecture carries much value not just for UX, but also aids SEO ranking and performance.

 

What is an API?

An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a set of protocols, tools and routines used to build software applications, or allow software programs to communicate with each other. APIs act as building blocks for developers, facilitating good and speedy development.

There are a variety of APIs available that are helpful for retail ecommerce for purposes such as website search, shipping , mobile app development, etc.

 

What is WMS?

Warehouse Management System (WMS) is a software application used in warehouses to track inventory status and location. A WMS aids planning, management, and dispatch of resources, and can be used for a single warehouse or a network of multiple warehouses.

An ecommerce business needs to integrate its ecommerce platform with the WMS to enjoy benefits such as reduced fulfilment time, streamlined processes and efficient operations.

 

What is VAR?

A VAR, or Value-Added Reseller, sells a product, like a software or hardware, with added features or a service. A VAR goes beyond order-fulfilment of the product being sold to offer a complete solution.

As an SAP VAR, Embitel is not only authorized to sell the SAP Hybris license but also provide development and implementation services on Hybris platform.

 

What is conversion rate?

Conversion rate for ecommerce websites is that percent of visitors to the website who take a desired action. In this case, the conversion rate could be measured in two metrics: those who visit to those who add a product to the basket, and those who have added a product to basket to those who check out.

Conversion rate is one of the metrics which ecommerce businesses use to assess performance, and analyze make improvements

 

What is a website session?

A website session refers to the activity or interactions between a user and the server in a specified period of time. This time slot is determined by the website administrator.

Session analysis is important for ecommerce websites as it gives insights into the interest and intent of the visitor, and gives information into the overall performance of the website.

 

What is bounce rate?

Bounce rate refers to the segment of website visitors who leave the website after a single page visit. i.e. they do not travel to any other pages on the website.

A high bounce rate is indicative of the lack of meaningful interaction between the visitor and the website—in the case of ecommerce, the visitor hasn’t proceeded to the purchase page, nor is he browsing other pages. All ecommerce websites aim to lower their website bounce rate.

 

What is exit rate?

Exit rate is the percent of visitors to your website who actively navigate away from it, after they may or may not have browsed other pages on the site. So it is possible for a page to have a high bounce rate (a single page session, with no other interaction with the website), and a high exit rate (the number of people leaving the site from the page is high).

High exit rates on ecommerce website pages such as product pages or the shopping cart should be investigated for factors such as lack of security, poor navigation, etc.

 

  • March 3, 2017
  • 0

Top 4 Features of Magento 2 ecommerce platform

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Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

As an online business grows, it’s necessary to upgrade its ecommerce platform to one that’s better structured and more efficient for the changing needs of the business. Magento 2 is one such new upgrade suited to ecommerce businesses of today. With unique features and numerous benefits, Magento 2 has turned out to be the best platform for medium or large businesses to use for ecommerce.

Magento2
Magento 2 is available in both enterprise and community versions. The incorporated tools are efficient in addressing marketing, catalogue management and SEO requirements. The best thing about Magento 2 is that it can work well with HHVM and PHP7 that make sthe e-commerce environment user friendly and scalable. The website retains its simplicity and charm with improved functionality and appearance. With the assistance of certified Magento 2 developers, it’s easy to extract the benefits of Magento 2 to their full potential.
 
 

Apart from this, consider the below features while switching to Magento 2:

1) Efficiency: Magento 2 opens catalogue and web pages more quickly, thus making user experience seamless and effortless. It has the ability to open 2M web pages and process 250,000 orders per hour, meaning that its extensive scalability and fast speed can ensure satisfactory results.

2) Adaptability:With unparalleled flexibility, the new version can meet all types of customers’ requirements.

3) Secured Checkout Procedure: Magento 2 allows customers to checkout as guests. They can easily logout without being concerned about passwords. Its new design is supportive for anytime sales, meaning that customers can purchase anything at anytime from anywhere they want. The best thing of Magento 2 is one-click profile creation and conversion rates.

4) Quality Video Integration:The older version of Magentowasn’t useful for integration of videos on product pages. Now, you just have to add the video’s link, title and a short description that brings video on the main page.

In summary, it can be said that Magento 2 has added convenience and comfort for e-commerce businesses. Merchants can offer the benefits of a vastly improved UX to their customers. The advantage of having Magento 2 is that merchants can accelerate their growth by facilitating customers with continuous, personalized and smooth shopping experience on any device across the globe.

What is Magento Commerce platform?

Magento is an ecommerce platform built on open source technology which provides online merchants with a flexible shopping cart system, as well as control over the look, content and functionality of their online store. Magento offers powerful marketing, search engine optimization, and catalog-management tools.  (Source – commonplaces.com)

Hope this blog post is helpful. Book a free session with our Magento 2 developers to evaluate your ecommerce idea and provide you free guidance on the project implementation.

  • March 3, 2017
  • 0

Top 8 Reasons to Migrate to Magento 2

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Category : Digital Commerce & Experience Blog

After the success of Magento 1, developers introduced new version, Magento 2, in November 2015bearing two editions: community and enterprise. Their step received mixed reviews from the Magento community as some were interested to convert while, for some, at that time, it was no more than a concern for their ecommerce needs.

As mentioned by Builtwith statistics, Magento the software is having 14% market share in ecommerce industry and with Magento 2, the percentage is expected to increase. Experts anticipate a significant increase in the number of Magento 2 stores within a year as more and more web stores make the shift. But, what about web stores thatdo not consider the new version? Apart from being older and less user-friendly, they would lack in the following features:

Improved Scalability and Performance

When it comes to performance of a web store, Magento 2 is preferable for the following reasons:

  • Efficient indexers: Indexing is the process of converting merchant information like users, prices, stores, catalog data etc into index tables so that details can remain organized and users can have maximum query speed.
  • Performance toolkit: In order to optimize system efficiency, Magento 2 can create a test environment and allow web owners to check code changes with new sets of performance scripts.
  • Varnish: For maximum page loading speed and reduction in server load, Magento 2 works closely with Varnish Cache, which is the trusted HTTP accelerator technology, required to cache common requests.
  • Advanced admin panel: Magento 2 allows multiple admin users to create, access and edit products with ease and convenience.

Easy customization

While Magnento 1.x also allowed for customization, Magento 2 makes it easier. The process is more streamlined, more modules are available, and during upgrades, fewer problems arise.

Engaging Shopping Experience

The basis to introduce Magento 2 was customer experience and to maximize their satisfaction, developers paid special attention on personalizing shopping experience.Magento 2 is compatible with all types of devices (whether PC, smartphones, tablets, laptops) so that users don’t have to struggle while shopping.

Great Backend UI

Magento 2 stands out with its amazing backend UI that offers a user-friendly platform for shopping. Its menu system is provided with two management functions: System and eCommerce. All options related to marketing, reporting, products, contents etc are present at the flat menu and users can organize them in the way they want.

CSS Pre-processing

Magento 2 uses its own CSS and LESSthat is present in the theme core. It enables web owners to find and publish CSS with other static files that are placed under the directory/pub.

Easier integrations & upgrades

The improvements on Magento 2 make integration of third-party extensions easier, and improve the process for upgrades. The chances of loss or breakage of modifications during upgrades is reduced, leading to lesser costs and development time.

Improved caching

Magento 2.0 maximizes the usage of the browser cache for storing assets, thus minimizing the amount of content that needs to be downloaded to render any subsequent page.

Isolated scaling

Magento 2 offers the ability to use different databases for different sub-systems or areas ofthe application, thus allowing for different functionalareas to be scaled independently depending on the system load and unique needs of the business.

Based on the aforementioned factors, web owners should immediately shift to Magento 2 and facilitate their customers with an amazing shopping experience. As Magento Professional Partner, Embitel has a team of almost 50 certified Magento 2 developers to build or migrate to a Magento 2 website. Read about our Magento 2 development services

Need help with Magento 2 migration? Visit our Magento 2 Migration insight page to learn the step-by-step guide on migration.

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