The internal debate about “remote vs. in‑office” matters for your own teams. In the services world, though, the real question is simpler: does your budget reliably become working software with minimal friction, clear accountability, and no hidden overhead?

Below is a practical, executive‑level view of how a time‑and‑materials partnership with a nearshore provider should create value.

Why nearshore works when it’s truly managed

When you engage a mature nearshore software company (not a loose network of freelancers), you’re plugging into a managed delivery system. That means:

• Visible progress. Work is instrumented end‑to‑end—tickets, pull requests, build pipelines, environments—so you can follow the value stream without micromanaging.
• Productive‑hour density. The operating cadence, engineering leadership, QA, and DevOps are already in place, so hours land in the product rather than getting burned on setup and ceremony.
• Continuity of velocity. The provider absorbs people‑risk—backfills, PTO, load balancing—so your roadmap doesn’t stall when someone is unavailable.

The result is simple: you see output evolving in real time instead of reading timesheets after the fact.

What you actually buy: continuity, flexibility, and speed to value

• Continuity. A stable, repeatable cadence that keeps features moving from definition to release with fewer pauses and restarts.
• Flex capacity (within a clear plan). A single accountable lead can add engineers in staged increments, with knowledge transfer and quality controls that protect context. No overnight heroics; no inflated promises.
• Speed to value. You’re not paying to invent process. A proven playbook means more of your spend becomes shippable software, faster.

For organizations where software is not the core business

Your goal is working software that advances the business—new revenue, cost takeout, risk reduction—not building an internal delivery machine from scratch. A strong nearshore partner gives you:

• A functioning team, not a stack of résumés. Leadership, ways of working, and team chemistry arrive ready to go.
• Focus on outcomes, not overhead. You direct priorities; the partner delivers increments that your users can touch.
• Business‑first discovery. Analysts and engineers who can map processes, integrate with existing systems, and prove value early through releaseable slices.
• Transparent time‑and‑materials. Clear visibility into where hours go, what moved forward, and what is queued next—so you can adjust scope and priorities without drama.

For software product companies

Augmenting your in‑house team with nearshore capacity is ideal when you need specialized skills, want to accelerate a roadmap, or prefer flexibility over permanent headcount. To avoid integration pain later:

• Share the same standards. Definition of Done, coding conventions, and architectural guidelines must be common.
• Work in your repos and pipelines. Same CI/CD, same review gates, same release process.
• Run joint ceremonies. Planning, backlog refinement, and demos together—so the output lands cleanly in your product from the first commit.

For other IT service providers and internal platform teams

Use a reputable nearshore partner to smooth demand spikes and protect your senior architects from context switching. Vet them like a critical platform:

• Measurement that matters. Executive‑level telemetry—lead time, throughput, change failure rate, rework, time to restore—reported from your tools, not slides.
• Operating model clarity. Single‑threaded ownership, RACI, escalation paths, and a written capacity plan that explains how teams grow without breaking context.
• Quality system. Definition of Done, automated tests, CI/CD, release gating, and disciplined code review.
• Security & compliance. Role‑based access, least‑privilege defaults, audit trails—plus recognized frameworks such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, and TISAX where appropriate to your industry.
• References for predictability. Speak with clients about cadence stability and integration quality—not just whether the team was friendly.

How to make a time‑and‑materials engagement work in your favor

A T&M partnership shines when the work stream is transparent and the cadence is steady. Put a few simple guardrails in place:

• Working agreements. Clear Definition of Ready/Done, WIP limits, and acceptance criteria.
• Single accountable lead. One interface who shields your team from staffing churn and ensures knowledge continuity.
• Artifact‑based reporting. Show progress through merged pull requests, deployments, test outcomes, and release notes—not status theater.
• Cadence you can plan around. Regular planning, demo, and retrospective rhythm that ties effort to business outcomes you can see.

Risks and anti‑patterns to avoid

• Seat‑rental without management. If you’re just assigning tickets to strangers with no shared cadence, you’ll pay for motion, not progress.
• Opaque timesheets. Hours with no artifacts to show for them erode trust fast.
• Siloed output. Code that “works on my branch” but won’t pass your gates is rework waiting to happen.
• Hero culture. Delivery that depends on individual brilliance instead of systematized practice will not scale when you need it most.

Final thoughts

In‑house teams live inside your culture; external teams live inside theirs. The best outcomes happen when leaders bridge that gap intentionally—shared standards, shared dashboards, shared outcomes—so there’s no “us and them.” You get leverage through a single, accountable interface, the ability to expand within a clear, realistic plan, and a transparent view of how effort turns into working software that moves the business.

Customer Stories

Tiba Technologieberatung GmbH chooses Astec as Nearshore Partner

Tiba Technologieberatung GmbH is a technology consulting company that optimizes and implements the complete planning and control processes from project management to project portfolio management.

Cybersecurity Vendor Rublon Improves UX by Modernizing Mobile App

Rublon is a B2B SaaS technology vendor that provides cloud-based workforce multi-factor authentication software for SMBs and enterprise customers.

The post Nearshore That Works: Buy Productive Hours, Not Overhead appeared first on Astec.

Michal Wendrowski, CEO & President, said,

“It’s a real testament to the hard work of our team that Astec IT Services has been awarded the Forbes Diamonds.

“As we look ahead, we remain committed to supporting our clients and continuing to enhance our services. This recognition fuels our drive to keep pushing forward.”

What Makes Astec IT Services Different?

• Experience: Astec has been providing digital innovation consulting and custom software development since 1993.
• Expertise: We specialize in modernizing business applications and migrating them to the cloud.
• Track Record: We have completed many challenging projects, building a strong reputation among service and technology leaders.
• Tailored Solutions: We’re dedicated to delivering solutions that are tailored to your individual needs, aligning with your specific business objectives and requirements.

Astec IT Services is your reliable partner in digital transformation. Let’s work together to shape the future of your business.

If you want the decisions to be communicated fast, you need someone who can see decisions taken, but not necessarily technical documents that led to that decision.

Presenters should be entitled to see and contribute only to the portion of the agenda that they are showing.

The post Astec IT Services’ Dynamic Progress Acknowledged with Forbes Diamonds Award appeared first on Astec.

Challenge

GE Digital Energy commissioned Astec to implement a complete GIS system for EDT based on Smallworld NRM Electricity. The size and complexity of the project were daunting and required careful planning; 27 GB of data in the resulting Smallworld database and more than 30 APIC object types mapped on over 30 NRM Elec tables.

Solution

The project started with the building of a working prototype demonstrating Smallworld’s potential to the customer in conjunction with the customer’s own data. Once the proof of concept was accepted, we started the data migration process. It wasn’t an easy task as the former GIS system did not provide a flexible interface. We managed to achieve satisfying data quality by developing a dedicated migration framework and postprocessing procedures. After installing Smallworld in an out-of-box fashion and configuring it, we started the customization process. Many additional features and interfaces were required by the customer. We managed to provide a turnkey solution thanks to close cooperation with GE and EDT.

Results

Astec had to support the customer in every phase of system implementation. From business process mapping and system functionality design, through execution and delivery, to after-deployment services and support.

The customer fully accepted the delivered solution, and all work was completed on time with the best possible quality. Moreover, Astec was responsible for maintenance and support services for EDT and implemented new features into the system (per change requests).

Testimonial

“We can assure that ASTEC keeps the customer relations as the highest priority through well-educated and service minded employees with excellent technical know-how and understanding in the field of Smallworld GIS.

Thanks to great experience of ASTEC, its flexibility, commitment and goal-driven work culture all entrusted tasks were accomplished efficiently, competently and in time. With great pleasure we recommend ASTEC as a high-skilled software integrator.”

Jérôme RiberaProject Manager – GE Digital Energy

The post Electricité de Tahiti chooses Astec for Complete GIS system implementation appeared first on Astec.

Challenge

The main challenge we had to face was that this Smallworld project was at a very early stage and the requirements were not well defined. We had to use our experience to fill out gaps in requirements and prepare a series of prototypes as a form of dialogue with the customer. The team had to be self-organized and well-balanced.

Solution

The main goal of this project was to implement a set of new and updated features for the Electric Office. The project was delivered in close cooperation with one of GE’s key customers. We helped to translate a handful of ideas and comments into a set of fully functional prototypes and, as a result, new EO features.

GE Energy engaged 4 senior developers from ASTEC to work on this project. The ASTEC team working with GE consisted of 1 technical leader, 1 tester, 1 project manager, and 1 product owner. The team worked on a number of tasks which were first sized and added successively to sprint runs. Each task, after implementation, was reviewed, tested, and accepted. We used JIRA for task and project management.

Results

Over the range of several sprints, we managed to enhance Electric Office with:
• Solar and small power stations based planning and maintenance
• Transmission structure cathodic protection (CP)
• Electric Vehicle charge locations
• Advanced Metering Infrastructure Objects – infrastructure planning and maintenance
• Improvements for cost objects and macro assemblies

For each new feature, we created automated tests – unit or integration tests.

Our success was that most of the prototypes found their way to the product release.

The post Astec proposed a set of prototypes for Electric Office that found their way to the product release appeared first on Astec.

Challenge

Esri reached out to Astec for help in data migration. This project turned out to be a lot more difficult than originally expected. The most significant reason was the lack of standardization in the way that the electrical network was created in Esri. The massive amount of data issues increased the project’s complexity and required additional work for data analysis.

Solution

Astec deployed a team of four senior Smallworld developers who developed the scripts for initial data loading and created the incremental data updates interface, one junior Smallworld developer working on automated data quality check scripts, one software tester responsible for quality control and data issues analysis, and one project manager.

The solution consists of a GIS data interface from the customer’s existing Esri GIS to PowerOn Advantage (using Smallworld Electric Office as a middle layer – data broker). The files generated by the source system are automatically processed by engines running on Electric Office. Incremental updates are then validated, translated to fit PowerOn Advantage needs, and sent out via GIS Adapter. Custom human-readable logs are created at each step of the process to help end users operate the solution on a daily basis.

Results

Astec’s experience in many other data migration projects made both time and cost scheduling a lot more stable. Astec’s team members know how to efficiently communicate with end customers. We were talking directly to the team responsible for data consistency and providing them with a detailed analysis of data issues. Our experience was used to take some of those responsibilities from GE staff and improve overall project quality.

It took us only 8 weeks to successfully complete most of the development tasks. This success is mostly the result of bringing our own organizational and communication standards into the project.

The post Astec completed a data migration project for Esri Poland appeared first on Astec.

Introduction

When talking about the automotive market, it is important to mention that it is not limited to only car manufacturers but also includes aftermarket equipment manufacturers, parts manufacturers, and other suppliers of items you can install in a vehicle.

The car manufacturing market is subject to many regulatory laws within different countries. Since actions have an immense potential liability due to risk to the health and lives of customers, the car manufacturing market has some unique requirements in the traceability area. Every delay in implementing improvements can cause huge losses. It is also essential to be flexible and react to new findings fast.

In this article, we will touch upon many different viewpoints when discussing various Board Management Software system features. When applicable, we will give you some hints about customized solutions.

Department over a person in decision-making

When considering who is making decisions in the automotive industry, it is vital to understand that a person participating in the meeting does not speak for themselves. The actual structure of decision-making is usually more complicated than that. Let’s take an example:

The department responsible for the chassis suggests changing one of the components. The change is evaluated. Risks and costs get counted, and suggestions are made. Then, teams responsible for each car model that uses that particular chassis component must approve this change. All these individuals embody the decisions of their respective organizational structures. 

The decision will be noted as a decision of a board, not individual persons. The organization’s actual structure is usually multi-dimensional. At the end of the day, it is important to check if all required stakeholders approve the change. While there are some standards on how identity provider systems are constructed, change is common, and it can be expected that complex multi-dimensional dependencies and structures are to be collected from different sources. AD support is usually an excellent place to start but in many cases, not enough to provide automated updates of the complete structure. 

Detailed roles management

When thinking about the roles that need to be implemented to conduct a meeting, one can come up with at least three. The three roles would include:

• Someone who presents the topic to be discussed.
• Someone who makes decisions.
• Someone who writes it all down. 

But, when you are in the automotive business, it is a little more complicated than that.

If you want the decisions to be communicated fast, you need someone who can see decisions taken, but not necessarily technical documents that led to that decision.

Presenters should be entitled to see and contribute only to the portion of the agenda that they are showing.

In some high management boards where strategy is discussed, your process might be only to give access to individual documents. Hence, no one sees the big picture apart from the CEO and his closest cooperators.

There has to be an option for secretaries to support their bosses and access the same data the bosses would. Secretaries are the backbone of most well-functioning businesses, after all.

Need-to-know principles will require quite a bit of refinement to ensure that everyone sees just the amount of information they need and nothing else.

Shortening decision path

One of the most significant benefits of Board Management Software is the ability to set up a clear, custom-fit decision path. A decision request must no longer be passed through all individual focus teams. Usually, you have just the right Board that can either decide or, in cases with more economic impact, pre-approve and pass up the ladder for evaluation. This saves a lot of time for critical stakeholders, who are usually rather busy, and leaves a clear path for whoever will carry out the decision to ensure everyone has been notified and agrees. Missing a deadline for change implementation can lead to loss of money, opportunity, or even lives. So, a clear decision path is critical.

A wide variety of custom systems where the output could be synchronized, from ERP to parts and materials acquisition software, should also be taken into account. 

Product operations guidelines

While in most industries, it would be perfectly safe to completely entrust the safety of the product operations to the supplier team, automotive knows better. There is usually a whole set of guidelines and requirements regarding how different software aspects must be operated and documented. These guidelines include, for example, disaster recovery scenario testing, test plans, backups handling, dependency tracking and clearance processes, security and penetration testing, monitoring, and many more.

DRP and document classification

The automotive industry has a legal obligation to ensure Data Retention according to local regulations and the information class. Due to the nature of the business, most companies operate globally and have to deal with all special requirements. Correct classification of processed information and appropriately handling it is essential for keeping information secure and preventing potential damage.

Build Powerful Board Management Software with Astec

Astec provides world-class software development teams on demand. We have years-long experience in delivering digital innovation in the automotive sector and have been building and maintaining Board Management Systems for multiple clients, including one of the biggest car manufacturers in Germany. Astec’s expert developers and programmers can help you design, build, and maintain Board Management Software specifically shaped to your unique requirements as an automotive manufacturer.

The post How to choose Board Management Software as an automotive manufacturer? appeared first on Astec.

What is Board Management Software?

Board Management Software is a software platform that helps boards of directors be more efficient and productive by streamlining all aspects of corporate board management and governance. The main goal of Board Management Software is to eliminate paper in the boardroom, improve communications, eliminate key pain points, and facilitate board activities, such as scheduling meetings and sharing documents.

Board

Before we go to the key characteristics of Board Management Software, let’s first define what a Board is.

It is a popular misconception that the Board is only associated with a group of high-level directors who meet and make strategic decisions. In large organizations, and we’re not talking only about Fortune 100 companies, there is a need to communicate, align, formalize, structure information flow, and define clear responsibilities. Defining task groups, often called boards, can ensure all that and much more. A Board can be a group of directors but also a group of engineers who would meet regularly. A common characteristic is that the output is decided by all Board Members and can be easily traced back to decision-makers. Boards can be used to create interdisciplinary teams or can represent a single node in the organization structure.

Board Management System

While it would be possible to manage a board using something as simple as a spreadsheet file or email distribution list, sooner or later, the effort needed to manage all events and outcomes of a Board would become too great. This is where Board Management Software comes in. Typical features of Board Management System software are:

• Roles management, including Board Members’ roles definition
• Calendar management
• Agenda creation
• Document management or DMS integration (input for each agenda item)
• Meeting minutes and decision registration
• Document generation for a formal acknowledgment of meeting minutes.
• Integration with external systems and processes (Custom or standard like SAP)

Not all preceding features are necessary for the Board Management System to be productive. Still, it is crucial to consider different roles that have to be supported. The simplest scenario assumes the following groups:

• Board Manager
• Board Member – Decision maker
• Presenter/Requestor
• Decision implementation responsible

Board Manager

A Board Manager is someone who is responsible for facilitating the decision-making process. 

A Board Manager needs to ensure that not only will a meeting happen but also that all the input is available before the meeting, the agenda is built according to the business prioritization, and decisions are documented and passed to external stakeholders. The process should be repetitive, known upfront, transparent for regular and ad-hoc participants, and as lightweight as possible. For such a system, each hour of delay or uncertainty about decisions can result in manufacturing losses.

Board Member

Regular Board Members are the key users of every Board. They represent business, technical, or other parties that must make a decision and authorize changes to be implemented as a result of the meeting.

Board Members plan vital roles in the organization. They are usually busy and value their time. So, they need to know about the meeting well upfront so they can attend. In many cases, Board Members are the ones who come up with topic requests and sometimes even take the Presenter role. It is a common good practice to have clearly defined deadlines for each step in the process so that Board Members can review Agendas, Decision propositions, input, and so on, to provide feedback.

Presenter/Requestor

Sometimes it is the Board Members that present agenda points. But most of the time, expert knowledge is needed, or a request comes from outside. In such a case, someone who is not a regular user of the system has to have an easy way of placing requests, uploading documents and links, and checking the status of their inquiry. A good system would also manage calendar invites for such ad-hoc guests. Even better, if the system is integrated with other critical systems in engineering, change management, production, and other areas, so the user does not have to place all information manually.

Decision Implementation Responsible

The last of the common groups of users is a bit different. While the other three groups usually use the system directly if the solution is well integrated, people who implement changes do not have to know about it. They could get a signed document of meeting minutes generated after the meeting, but it might be a technical action approved in the SAP system. Time is money and shorter decision time usually means savings.

Build Board Management Software With Experienced Astec Developers

Astec’s teams of skilled developers, engineers, and programmers are ready to design, build, ship, and scale cutting-edge Board Management Software solutions. We’ve delivered hundreds of successful projects to clients of all sizes across multiple industries. Our decades-long experience in creating innovative software for many different sectors allows us to provide the highest quality of services.

The post What is Board Management Software? appeared first on Astec.

Electron turns perfectible into perfect.

Maciej from Astec uses Electron in his project. Electron constantly surprises him with powerful cross-platform capabilities and robustness. Maciej is an experienced web developer very keen on repurposing his skills to build pro desktop apps. Electron allows utilizing the web technologies know-how to build cutting-edge desktop applications, which proves the ideal solution for Maciej.

Electron uses a single codebase for Windows, Linux, and macOS. You no longer have to code and maintain separate projects for each platform. Less is more. Installing a prebuilt binary version of Electron is a piece of cake. Forget native compilation. Forget node-gyp. Electron is a paragon of painless application setup.

We curated a list that combines the hottest Electron features as searched for on the net with personal insights and code examples of Maciej. The following list should help you make your Electron app sexy and perfect.

Good Performance

Performance is key in app development. Long loading times make your app feel less native and just plain annoying to use.

Electron makes your app fast.

But there are two easy steps to make your app even faster. Remember to first measure the startup time of your app to have a point of reference. Then:

• Lazily load big modules. Either a couple of seconds after the app starts or when the module is needed.
• Bundle your application’s code into a single file to the extent possible. The require() operation is very expensive. Try to call it as seldom as possible.

These two are by far the most important things to do to improve your application’s performance. For more tips on how to improve your Electron app’s performance, refer to the official Electron Guide on Performance.

Speed is important, but you also have to provide a smooth UI experience. Flashing screens on loading or resizing the app signal bad app development. Try fade-ins instead.

One-Step Build

Electron makes the one-step build dream come true. The electron-builder packages the app, creates and signs installers, creates deltas for the auto-updater, and runs tests. Build automation has never been so simple.

The electron-builder tool is one of the recommended tools for building and distributing Electron apps.

Notifications

Desktop notifications are a handy feature, which allows the app to notify users whenever something important happens. Electron supports desktop notifications on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Find the code snippet below.

Menus

Electron offers an out-of-the-box set of menus, including context menus, tray menus, and dock icon menus, for you to use and give your app a native look. Do not reestablish conventions. Follow the existing conventions and make your app correspond to the best practices of every platform.

Refer to the following code snippet for creating a menu.

Minimize to Tray

Electron makes minimizing to tray as easy as ABC. An app running in the tray might be a desirable feature in background apps or applications that start automatically on system startup. In addition to tray support, Electron allows for Mac dock integration.

The following code snippet creates a simple tray menu. For Linux, you have to use an image in either PNG or JPG format. Linux does not support the ICO format.

Shortcuts

Shortcuts make it easier to use the application. Naturally, you ought to follow keyboard shortcut conventions for each platform. Electron facilitates keyboard shortcuts by providing accelerators, which can contain multiple modifiers for a single key code. For example, CommandOrControl+S turns into Ctrl+S on Windows and Cmd+S on Mac. Furthermore, you can register a global shortcut, which works even when the application is not in focus.

Error Handling

You can set up Electron to automatically send crash reports to a remote server on every application crash.

Moreover, Electron gives you the opportunity to better handle errors with uncaught JavaScript exception notifications.

Signing Installers

We highly recommend signing your installers. Windows often detects an unsigned installer, and then opens a nasty window, which says your application cannot be trusted. Mac is most likely not going to run an unsigned installer at all.

You can solve this issue by signing your installer.

Windows

For Windows, you can get one of these two types of certificates:

• EV Code Signing Certificate
• Code Signing Certificate

We recommend getting the EV Code Signing Certificate. The Code Signing Certificate shows a warning during installation if not enough users have installed the application before. The warning goes away once your application builds enough trust. The EV Code Signing Certificate does not require your application to build trust and never displays the warning. On the downside, the EV Certificate binds to a physical USB dongle, which makes it impossible to use with continuous integration services.

macOS

For macOS, get the Apple Developer membership to get a certificate, or use the following command:

codesign --force --sign "Developer ID Application:
<Developer ID>" /path/to/my.app

Drag and Drop

Sometimes clicking the Browse button, browsing through folders, and clicking Upload is too much a hassle. Drag and drop provides a sweet alternative. Electron supports various cases of drag and drop. Dragging files onto the running app window or dropping the file on the app icon regardless of whether the app is running: Electron is powerful enough to handle all those cases.

The code snippet below depicts an implementation of a simple drag and drop.

Auto Updater

A prompt that asks you to install the latest upgrade is annoying, to say the least. Electron integrates with Squirrel. Squirrel enables apps to automatically update on Windows and macOS. Updates are safe and transparent.

Use the electron-builder package to build the application. Since the electron-builder package supports the electron-updater, updating the app is a breeze.

Let’s Wrap It Up

In the modern world, computers replaced pen and paper, and man’s dream to fly into space became a reality, but one fact remains as true as ever: You can’t get water out of a stone. But you can get a sexy application out of Electron.

Electron provides a plethora of tools to make your app sexy.

We briefly went through the most important features of Electron. We offered insights and code examples to improve the quality of your Electron app.

A quick recap:

1. Provide Speed

Nobody wants to use a slow and clunky application, yourself included. Make your app fast to start and seamless to use.

2. Provide Simplicity

A simpler app is easier to maintain. Make your app simple. Don’t overdo it. Simply do it.

3. Provide Native Feel

Ensure your app feels native on all platforms. Don’t just make it eye-candy. Make it intuitive. Make it compatible. Make it count.

The post How To Make Your Electron App Sexy appeared first on Astec.

Challenge

Tiba Technologieberatung GmbH has developed expertise in a new project management platform based on Java and JavaScript technologies. Projects were to be acquired which would be realized on the basis of these technologies. Due to the good project situation in the company, further specialists were needed to implement these projects. It was not clear what the long-term demand for projects in this specific area would be. Therefore, the decision was made to look for a long-term development partner who could train competent specialists and provide them flexibly according to demand.

Solution

On the basis of the technological as well as linguistic requirements of Tiba Technologieberatung GmbH, we identified an employee who could play a leading role in the area of the mentioned project management platform as a developer. The selected senior full-stack developer, who has proven himself over several years in various Java and JavaScript projects at multiple Astec clients, was introduced to Tiba Technologieberatung GmbH and received a positive evaluation. The employee took part in a training in Germany to build up the required know-how about the project management platform. Thus, he was able to join the internal team of Tiba Technologieberatung GmbH in a timely manner and successfully apply the acquired know-how in practice in the first development project.

Results

Astec completed the project within the budget estimated by the client and on time. The use of fixed prices during the introductory phase allowed the client to have a cost guarantee.

Thanks to our participation in the costs of the first training via the project management platform, the client was able to achieve a reduction in training costs. In addition, thanks to our existing know-how, we are now able to train additional specialists in-house, further reducing the client’s training costs.

In the end, the client was able to achieve a project-related increase in profitability. This is possible because the development services required for project implementation are booked only when required and for a specific period of time. In addition, they are delivered in Poland, which results in lower daily rates than in Germany — while meeting all quality and effectiveness criteria.

Testimonial

“Astec has been supporting us with senior development skills for our development projects for different German customers. They contributed as extended workbench with our internal development teams in our agile development setups. The ability to be technically experienced, able to support us in both German and English projects, as well as them being physically close to our headquarter, make them the perfect nearshore partner.

We plan to leverage their resources in multiple upcoming projects and extend our partnership on other technological stacks as well.”

Roger Mähr CEO at Tiba Technologieberatung GmbH, Germany

The post Tiba Technologieberatung GmbH chooses Astec as Nearshore Partner appeared first on Astec.

Challenge

Rublon reached out to us at a time when they secured funding that enabled them to modernize their Rublon Authenticator mobile app, while adjusting it to the architectural changes that they introduced in their new core authentication server.

Rublon is using its mobile app to provide several authentication methods to its users. They had already developed native mobile apps for Android and iOS that were being used by their customers. Every change to the mobile app’s interface or functionality meant that two separate mobile apps had to be updated in order to keep them consistent. Also, they needed to keep one iOS developer and one Android developer on staff, as one platform used Objective-C and the other used Java, respectively. They were looking for a more cost-effective approach to mobile app development.

Rublon’s goals were to improve the user experience of the app, adjust it to its new backend, add biometric authentication and to decrease development costs in the long term.

Solution

After understanding Rublon’s architecture changes and future plans for their mobile application, we redesigned their mobile app in order to improve its user experience. In order to increase brand awareness among users, all screens of the new design have been based on Rublon’s new corporate identity, with the proper colors and font. Custom, responsive icons were created for each authentication method and app feature.

As Rublon’s backend logic changed, a rewrite of the mobile apps backend was also required. Combined with the redesign, this was the right time to take into account new technologies for mobile app development.

To save development time and thus decrease development costs in the long term, the new app was developed using React Native, an open-source mobile application framework that enables the development of native apps for both Android and iOS using the React JavaScript framework. Now development is done once and versions for both Android and iOS and generated from the same code base.

React Native makes biometric authentication possible with libraries that support fingerprint sensors on Android phones and Touch ID as well as Face ID on iOS.

Results

Thanks to using React Native, Rublon’s mobile app development time was cut by 40%. Also, Rublon’s front end developers are now able to deliver simple tasks on their mobile app and don’t have to only focus on the web frontend, like before when Rublon had native mobile apps.

The improved UX resulted in a 70% decreased number of support tickets regarding Rublon’s mobile app, which freed time for key team members who are involved in support due to their vast knowledge of the product.

Rublon is now able to push small app updates to its users’ phones instantly, without having to go through app store reviews. This lowered update times from days to minutes.

The mobile app’s refreshed design sent a strong message to Rublon’s customers and the market, making it clear that Rublon is investing in the product and is using modern technologies. Implementing biometric authentication options that work on both Android and iOS furthermore emphasize how Rublon’s solutions are up to date with industry standards.

To learn more about Rublon, visit www.rublon.com.

The post Cybersecurity Vendor Rublon Improves UX by Modernizing Mobile App appeared first on Astec.