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Insights
In today's rapidly evolving global landscape, businesses are constantly seeking innovative approaches to maximize efficiency, reduce costs, and stay ahead of the competition. One such strategy that has gained considerable traction is outsourcing.
By entrusting specific tasks or operations to external vendors or specialized service providers like Quantox Technology, organizations can focus on their core competencies while benefiting from cost savings, access to skilled talent, and enhanced flexibility. However, as the business environment continues to evolve, so does the outsourcing landscape.
In this article, we will explore the future of the outsourcing business model, examining emerging trends, shifting paradigms, and potential use cases.
The Statistics Behind Outsourcing Business Model
To begin, it is crucial to highlight some key insights from various research conducted throughout the past few years that shed light on the outsourcing landscape and its potential trajectory. While each source provides a unique perspective, they collectively indicate several common trends and themes.
According to a survey conducted by Deloitte, 70% of companies reported that they currently outsource or plan to outsource a portion of their operations. This demonstrates the enduring appeal and relevance of outsourcing as a strategic business approach.
Moreover, the research emphasizes the importance of global talent in outsourcing strategies. It highlights how organizations can leverage outsourcing to access a diverse range of skills and perspectives, resulting in enhanced innovation and problem-solving capabilities. This aligns with the notion that outsourcing enables companies to tap into a vast global talent pool, facilitating access to specialized expertise that may be scarce or costly to acquire internally.
Additionally, the Statista research provides insights into the future of IT outsourcing and the impact of emerging trends such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML). These technologies have the potential to revolutionize traditional outsourcing models by automating repetitive tasks, improving efficiency, and enhancing the quality of service delivery.
Evolving Strategies: Navigating the Future of Outsourcing
Looking ahead, the future of the outsourcing business model holds immense potential. As businesses strive to stay competitive and adapt to changing market dynamics, outsourcing will play a vital role in their strategies. Here are some key trends and developments that are shaping the future of outsourcing:
Specialized Skill Sets:
The demand for specialized skills will continue to grow, and organizations will increasingly rely on outsourcing to access these skills. Whether it's technologies like blockchain, cybersecurity, or data analytics, outsourcing provides a cost-effective way to leverage niche expertise.
As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, specialized skills are becoming increasingly important for businesses to stay competitive. According to a study by Statista, the demand for professionals with expertise in emerging technologies is on the rise.
For example, the growing significance of cybersecurity and data analytics is driving the demand for professionals in these fields. As the volume and complexity of cyber threats increase, organizations need to ensure their data and systems are secure. Outsourcing cybersecurity services to specialized providers with expertise in threat intelligence, incident response, and network security can help businesses mitigate risks effectively.
This is where Quantox Technology excels as a leading outsourcing partner. With a proven track record in blockchain development, cybersecurity solutions, and data analytics services, Quantox offers the ideal skill set to tackle the challenges of the future and give organizations access to a highly talented team proficient in threat intelligence, incident response, network security, statistical modeling, predictive analytics, and machine learning.
Data Security and Compliance:
With increasing concerns over data security and privacy, organizations will place greater emphasis on selecting outsourcing partners with robust security measures and compliance frameworks. Service providers will need to demonstrate their ability to handle sensitive data and adhere to relevant regulations.
Data security and compliance are critical considerations when outsourcing. Organizations must ensure that their outsourcing partners have comprehensive security measures in place to protect sensitive information. This includes implementing strong access controls, encryption, and secure data transmission protocols.
In addition to security measures, compliance with industry regulations and standards is essential. For instance, in healthcare, outsourcing providers need to adhere to regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to ensure the privacy and security of patient data. Organizations should thoroughly assess the outsourcing partner's compliance track record and certifications to ensure they meet the requirements.
According to a report by PwC, 88% of companies surveyed were concerned about third-party data privacy and cybersecurity risks. To address these concerns, organizations are implementing stringent due diligence processes when selecting outsourcing partners. This includes conducting comprehensive risk assessments, performing security audits, and establishing contractual agreements that define data security and compliance requirements.
Automation and Artificial Intelligence:
As mentioned earlier, the adoption of automation technologies such as RPA, AI, and ML will reshape the outsourcing landscape. These technologies will streamline processes, improve accuracy, and enable service providers to deliver enhanced client value.
Integrating automation technologies in outsourcing operations is transforming how tasks are performed. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is being widely adopted to automate repetitive, rule-based tasks, reducing errors and increasing efficiency. According to a report by Grand View Research, the global RPA market is expected to reach $10.7 billion by 2027, driven by the need for cost optimization and process efficiency.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are also reshaping the outsourcing landscape by enabling intelligent automation and data-driven decision-making. AI-powered chatbots are increasingly used in customer service outsourcing to provide quick and accurate responses to customer queries. ML algorithms analyze large volumes of data and generate insights, improving forecasting, fraud detection, and personalized recommendations.
The benefits of automation technologies in outsourcing are significant. They lead to reduced manual effort, faster processing times, improved accuracy, and cost savings. Service providers that embrace automation can offer enhanced value to their clients by delivering services with greater speed, efficiency, and quality.
Enhanced Collaboration:
Effective communication and collaboration are crucial aspects of outsourcing partnerships, especially when working with remote teams or globally distributed service providers. At Quantox Technology, we recognize the significance of seamless collaboration, and our advanced communication tools and platforms facilitate efficient project management and knowledge sharing.
Cloud-based collaboration tools, such as project management software, document-sharing platforms, and video conferencing solutions, enable real-time communication and collaboration across different time zones and geographical locations. These tools enhance transparency, enable seamless coordination, and promote a shared understanding between the client and the outsourcing provider.
In a survey conducted by Deloitte, 60% of companies stated that effective collaboration and communication are the most critical factors in successful outsourcing relationships. As your trusted outsourcing partner, Quantox Technology is committed to bridging the gap between internal teams and external service providers, fostering strong working relationships, and ensuring the achievement of shared goals.
Sustainable and Ethical Outsourcing:
As businesses increasingly focus on corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and ethical practices, they will seek outsourcing partners who align with their values. This includes considerations such as fair labor practices, environmental consciousness, and social impact.
According to a survey by Nielsen, 66% of consumers are willing to pay more for products and services from companies that demonstrate a commitment to positive social and environmental impact.
Environmental consciousness is also a growing concern. Businesses are increasingly seeking outsourcing partners that embrace sustainable practices, such as reducing carbon footprint, implementing eco-friendly initiatives, and promoting recycling and waste reduction.
To ensure sustainable and ethical outsourcing, organizations should conduct thorough due diligence on potential service providers, assessing their corporate social responsibility policies, certifications, and track records.
Customer Experience Focus:
Customer experience has become a key differentiator for businesses across industries. Organizations are recognizing that outsourcing can be leveraged to enhance customer service, improve response times, and deliver personalized experiences.
Outsourcing partners can provide dedicated customer support teams trained to deliver exceptional service and efficiently handle customer queries. This includes support through various channels such as phone, email, chat, and social media, ensuring seamless omnichannel communication.
Moreover, service providers can leverage customer data and analytics to gain insights into customer preferences, behavior patterns, and pain points. This data-driven approach enables businesses to deliver personalized experiences, tailored recommendations, and proactive support.
According to a report by Salesforce, 84% of customers consider the experience provided by a company as important as its products and services. By outsourcing customer experience functions, organizations can leverage service providers' expertise and specialized skills to enhance customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy.
Embracing the Shift: Unlocking the Potential of Outsourcing with Quantox Technology
It’s undeniable that the future of the outsourcing business model looks promising, driven by evolving technologies, increasing globalization, and changing market dynamics. The reports and surveys indicate a continued upward trajectory for outsourcing, with a focus on IT staff augmentation, access to global talent, emerging technologies, and optimized operational efficiency.
Quantox Technology multiplies the benefits of outsourcing: cost savings, access to specialized skills, and increased flexibility.
By entrusting non-core activities to our expert team, your organization can focus on core competencies and strategic growth.
As the future unfolds, those who embrace the potential of outsourcing and adapt to emerging trends will be well-positioned to thrive in a highly competitive global marketplace.
Partner with Quantox Technology today and unlock the full potential of outsourcing to drive growth, innovation, and sustained success. Let’s Talk!
Affiliate World Conference is a place where the industry’s brightest minds absorb mastermind-level content on stage!
The world’s top affiliate marketers and e-commerce entrepreneurs will meet in Barcelona from the 12th to the 13th of July, and represent actionable insights, data-driven knowledge and innovative ideas.
As a leading software development company, with a wide range of services, Quantox will be on the spot, offering quality software solutions and outstanding digital experience to more than 5000 attendees. Drop by our booth C36 and meet the Quantox crew - Filip Karaičić / CEO, Danijel Petrović / COO, Petar Slović / CINO and Marko Ristanović / Resource Manager.
Can you think of a better way to network, interact and look for potential collaboration?
Location: Fira de Barcelona, Spain, Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, s/n
Booth: C36
We are thrilled to meet you in Spain!
Adriatic Valley is a tech community currently located in Banja Luka.
With the aim of professional networking and career development within the IT industry, this community organizes various events such as panel discussions, meetups, and workshops.
Adriatic’s upcoming event is a C-level panel #2, in Belgrade. Quantox will be there, with our founder Vuk Popović. The main topic is ChatGPT vs The Future of Software Engineering, and all the participants will share their thoughts about the influence of ChatGPT on this industry.
The panel will be on June 29 @ Dorćol Platz, starting at 6 PM. If you want to attend, you can register here.
Looking forward to listening, sharing experiences, and meeting great people!
Quantox Technology se priključuje misiji prikupljanja novčanih sredstava u okviru donatorske večeri koju organizuje humanitana organizacija “Srbi za Srbe”.
Donatorsko veče biće održano 20. juna u hotelu Royal Residence u Čačku sa ciljem pomoći porodici Bešanski, kao i Narodnoj kuhinji na Kosovu i Metohiji.
Domaćin dogadjaja biće proslavljeni košarkaš Srbije Aleksa Avramović, a sve prisutne očekuje bogat program! Cena ulaznice je ujedno i donacija - minimalne vrednosti od 100 eura po osobi. Pozivamo sve zainteresovane da učestvuju u sakupljanju 50.000 eura i doprinesu ovim humanim ciljevima.
Humanitarna organizacija “Srbi za Srbe” u proteklih 18 godina prikupila je više od 11 miliona evra i pomogla više od 3 hiljade porodica.
Pridružite se akciji i podržite one kojima je pomoć najpotrebnija!
Prijave za donorsko veče poslati na e-mail adresu: donatorskovece@srbizasrbe.org
Više informacija je dostupno putem linka: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dCaiaLw3YY4K7l81y4nIeEzoDfIsp2Or
WHAT A GAME!
After 4 exciting days and a fair play fight - we have the champion of HIT CS:GO Vol.4!
Traditionally held in April, the HIT CS:GO tournament gathered the IT community again for the 4th time in a row.
The number of registered teams, companies and fund donations exceeded the previous years - over 40 teams from more than 35 companies competed in the famous Counter Strike: Global Offensive game!
In 2023, the tournament was dedicated to the youngest, with the goal to improve conditions in maternity hospitals and together we collected 2,291,900 RSD!
HIT 2023 WINNERS:
🥇 Quantox Technology
🥈 Vega IT
🥉 Levi9
We spoke to the winning Quantox team - Miloš Aksentijević, Marko Mitić, Luka Petrović, David Simonović, and Dušan Savanović - for the BTS of becoming a HIT CS:GO champion.
What are your impressions of the HIT Vol.4 tournament? How would you describe the atmosphere this year compared to previous years?
The whole team is united as much as coordinated!
Miloš Aksentijević / Ax.
The impressions are very positive, and the first place contributes a lot to that feeling. The idea is great and I would like it to expand so more teams and donations are coming from year to year.
Luka Petrović / hJk-.^
As in previous years - very positive impressions, a noble goal, and good banter.
Dušan Savanović / dukizen
The impressions are phenomenal! First of all, we love CS:GO, and especially the fact that this is the same team that has been playing and hanging out together for years. Also, the support from colleagues and the entire company truly surprised us and it was nice to see cheering in such a large number!
Who was the most challenging opponent during the competition?
The score shows!
Milos Aksentijević / Ax.
I couldn't decide on one team, so I'll say Levi9 and Vega IT.
Levi9 seemed to have people who are very good at shooting, maybe even better than Vega. However, Vega was a tactically more prepared team.
Marko Mitić / MiTke-_o
Levi9 and VegaIT definitely. We won Levi9 with a score 2:0, but both maps were very close, and VegaIT took one map from us. If I have to choose one opponent - it would be Levi9.
Dušan Savanović / dukizen
From my perspective, definitely Levi9. Although we met them in the semi-finals, it was clear that the game was played at a much higher level, and this was shown on the first map, Vertigo, where we played as many as three overtimes. The boys from Levi showed a really competitive spirit and we had a really good match.
We witnessed a very tense final of the tournament. Were there any decisive moments in the match and which tactics made the difference?
Maps & tactics - a winning combination!
Miloš Aksentijević / Ax.
Maybe there weren't so many decisive moments, but there were a lot of different tactics from our side. The idea was to occupy as much space as possible on the map, play more aggressively as CT, and make faster rotations.
Luka Petrović / hJk-.^
I wouldn't say that there were any decisive moments. On our map peak and on the third map we played superbly, and the tactic was not to give them space to play their game - to attack and occupy space.
David Simonović / Unik ACM
There was tension in the final - as in every game. The opposing team led in some moments, where various factors had an effect. Primarily, it was a drop in concentration, which had the greatest impact during the game, and further, there have been short breaks between the semi-final and final matches.
Did you expect to win?
Expectations are expectations - and the result is in the end!
Marko Mitić / MiTke-_o
Honestly, yes... we knew it wouldn't be easy, but we were sure that we could win the tournament.
Luka Petrović / hJk-.^
Yes, because when it was announced that HIT will be organized again this year, we started to prepare and gather 2-3 times a week and play.
Dušan Savanović / dukizen
I definitely didn't expect us to win and I can't say that my teammates would agree with me here. Not because of a lack of self-confidence, but because of the very fact that every year the tournament has attracted very good teams and players.
We believe that in addition to the tense fight, there were also plenty of laughs. Share some interesting anecdotes from the tournament :)
Enjoy the game!
Miloš Aksentijević / Ax.
There was a lot of laughter and cheering, which is probably the key to our success. At no point did I feel like we were losing and that we didn't have a solution, so this made us play a very calm game at the top level.
David Simonović / Unik ACM
The whole tournament passed in a relaxed rhythm without tension, and that is the purpose - to enjoy the game, and victory comes just as a bonus!
Dušan Savanović / dukizen
There was a lot of laughter, but I will point out one anecdote. Our teammate and colleague Mitke (Marko Mitić) is often overrun by planes when we play. It's not because he lives next to the airport - but because he plays the game on his laptop, which gets quite loud after a while.
So we persuaded him to put a “push to talk“ button to avoid those loud noises. During the finale, at one point, Mitke forgot to release that button, so we just heard Luka shout: MITKE AIRPLANE!
And we really had a good laugh!
Laughter is a cure. Good competition is healthy. Enjoy the game. Help the community.
We are proud that HIT lasts and unites.
See you next year!
AW Summit at Bucharest is a merge of learning, innovation and networking!
More than 300 companies from different industries and from 80 countries will meet in Bucharest from 7th to 9th of May with the common goal to network, learn and share their practice.
As the largest European hub for affiliate marketers, digital companies, monetization platforms, entrepreneurs, content creators and social media specialists - the AW Summit conference gathers all those who are experienced in their business fields, willing to exchange ideas and build new business relations.
With excellent keynote speeches, workshops, expo, and networking events, we are proud to be part of such a event with Quantox C level crew - Vuk Popović/ Founder, Filip Karaičić/ CEO, Danijel Petrović/ COO and Marko Ristanović/ Resource Manager.
As a leading software development company with a diverse team of tech professionals, we are creating top-notch software solutions and offer all-around IT support.
Location: Piața Presei Libere 3-5, Bucharest
Booth#: 2
We are waiting to meet you in person in Bucharest and discuss the latest IT topics and possible ways of successful collaboration!
Quantox supports one of the oldest sports events in Serbia!
Just like in 2022, Quantox continues to support one of the oldest sports and recreational events that promotes healthy life and good habits for 46 years - the Fruška Gora Trail!
The oldest mountain and ultra-running marathon in Europe this year will be held on 22nd and 23rd of April.
What does the Fruška Gora Trail stand for?
Quality time in nature and nurturing health habits!
Through 14 tracks of different lengths and height differences, the Fruška Gora Trail offers the chance to to experience all the beauty of the Fruška Gora National Park, as a recreationalist or as a experienced professional trail runner.
https://www.fruskogorski-maraton.com/en/marathon-trails/
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When does Fruška Gora Trail start?
The official opening of the event is scheduled from 08:45 to 08:55 on the 22nd of April, and at 9:00 - the 46th Fruška Gora Trail will officially begin!
Sunday, April 23 from 11 am, is reserved for the youngest! Only children of preschool age accompanied by parents or other authorized adults can participate in the Path of Joy and Pleasure.
During a hiking tour or competitive race, all participants can feel the natural beauty of Fruška Gora - forests, streams, waterfalls, fresh air - but also, this is an opportunity to get to know the cultural and historical heritage. Along the marathon paths, you can see numerous Serbian medieval monasteries - Grgeteg (XV c.), Staro Hopovo (XVI c.), Novo Hopovo (XIV c.), Jazak (XVI c.), Bešenovo (VIII c.) Fruška Gora hamlets and tourist facilities.
Do not miss the unique opportunity to spend this weekend actively in nature!
After running kilometers and successfully completing the race - we are waiting for you to take a break in the Quantox Chill Out zone!
See you on the Fruška Gora!
QUANTOX IT League is the first sports competition of this type in Serbia!
A motivation to enable people in this industry to play sports and connect - resulted in a project which is unique and new in our country.
So far, 5 seasons of the Quantox IT League and 4 seasons of the Summer League have been played in over 800 matches and with a common goal - good fun, quality games, and an opportunity to meet and connect with colleagues from the industry.
With Luka Bulatović, the director of the IT League, we discussed the idea of gathering IT companies in one place through a sport and the advantages this kind of competition provides and promotes.
The Quantox IT league was formed 6 years ago. What was the initial motive behind the establishment of the corporate basketball league and has the main idea changed to this day?
Six years ago, we gathered at the basketball court where we played basketball once a week. Back then we were teammates on the court, and today, we are the organizers of the Quantox IT League. We moved from the court to the offices and thought about how to connect with other IT professionals and set a new standard that the IT world deserves.
We are aware of the fact that it is very difficult to find free time for physical activity, but when you have a team that motivates you - then basketball training and games become an immense pleasure.
To this day, the same idea remains and we are proud of the entire organizational team as well as all the companies that have trusted us and have been participating for years.
What is the main vision of the Quantox IT League and where do you see it in the coming years?
The idea for this project arose as a desire to present the entire competition in a different light. Our mission is to create an inspiring, creative, and positive environment that encourages unhindered freedom of expression through sports. The club's vision is for people from the IT sector to play sports and meet new colleagues from the profession and also raise their work to an even higher level through the Quantox IT League.
For now, the League gathers only basketball players, but we plan to expand this project to other popular sports. The biggest challenge is to attract more companies that will be part of the league, and we plan to do that with constant improvement of conditions and through introducing novelties.
More than 50 IT companies and about 1500 players have gone through the IT League. What are the key impressions of the competition?
We are proud of the numbers that show us that we worked hard all these years to reach the 6th season and 32 teams. During this competition, some of the teams improved their game thanks to the good organization within the team and a large number of training sessions.
The reasons for participating in the Quantox IT League differ, from recreation, socializing with colleagues, and strengthening team spirit. Furthermore, one of the main competitive motives is raising the trophy at the end of the competition. And yet, above all these, the most interesting part for the participants is the "third half", when they stay after the game and hang out.
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What do the companies that are part of the league see as the biggest benefit?
The Quantox IT League offers companies the opportunity for their people to spend quality time participating in a sport & recreational competition with their team. This way, they improve both their physical and mental health. This is one of the ways for colleagues to get closer to each other, get to know each other better, and spend quality time outside the office together, in a different environment. Further benefits are that, over time, members begin to understand each other better, develop better relationships and have more open communication.
What is the main drive of people who are part of the IT League?
Winning and losing are integral parts of every game. Every team has ups and downs. What drives them are the good results they achieve in matches. Another major motivator is the fans who are there to encourage and cheer for their favorites in the stands!
We believe that the conditions in our league are at the highest level in the country, but we can do even better. The real challenge is to overcome yourself, to do something new. Challenges are what actually drives us!
The IT League has recently gathered 32 basketball teams and organized an humanitarian All-Star event for the treatment of four-year-old Helena Živković from Čačak, who suffers from autism. Hardware and Software teams competed to help little Helena, and collected 126,900 dinars from ticket sales. This is just one of the many ways in which this kind of sports competition contributes to individuals and communities when needed.
The fifth season of the Summer IT League is beginning soon, and registrations start on the 17th of April.
See you there as we continue to strengthen the IT community through team spirit together!
How to connect artificial intelligence and shooting stars?
Well, you can find the answers to these questions from our Dušan Pavlović, Data Scientist in Quantox Technology, who will give a lecture PER DATA AD ASTRA on 23th of March at the Geekstone Meet-Up Event.
Dušan will demonstrate such a connection and talk about how computer vision, deep learning, and research on meteors - shooting stars - overlap.
One of the topics is how relatively easily you can apply your knowledge of neural networks to solve the problem of automatic detection of meteors in astronomic data made by radio detectors. This problem is one of the most complex ones in this field and our understanding of different problems in the Solar System depends on it.
As someone who studied astrophysics, being an author and the host of the science podcast "Radio Galaxy '' while engaged in the physics of meteors and meteorite astronomy for years, Dušan will show one of the examples of how to apply Data Science to scientific data!
The lecture will be held in Serbian and the entrance is free!
Thursday, March 23, 2023
6:00 - 8.00 PM
Science and Technology Park
Fruškogorska 1, Novi Sad
Save the date and welcome to the World of Data!
Register at the link
https://www.meetup.com/geekstone/events/292131441/?isFirstPublish=true
The traditional spring CS:GO tournament is upon us!
Serbian IT companies will gather from the 3rd to the 6th of April at the CS:GO Vol.4 charity tournament.
Motivated by the important topic and achieved results from the previous year,
we decided to stay with the same goal - in 2023 the IT community will be playing for Serbian maternity hospitals and better conditions for the youngest and their mothers!
Companies can register up to 3 teams and donate the financial funds to the common fund. As in previous years, the start for one million dinars is provided by Quantox.
After the closing of applications, by public voting and filling out an anonymous survey, we will together decide which maternity hospital we are helping this year!
We hope that the HIT CS:GO crew will expand this year with new companies and teams that will compete, have a great time and show that the greatest victory is humanity.
Register your team by the 31st of March.
Link for team registration and more information: https://hitturnir.com/
It's time to play even harder!
Meet us on 29 - 30 March
We are looking for an exchange of experience and ideas that improve the digital world and shape our future!
Gathering together Haufe experts and IT companies, partners, and clients, the Haufe X360 Summit takes place at the Kameha Grand Hotel in Bonn from the 29th to the 30th of March.
Lecturers from Haufe and Acumatica - the platform on which Haufe is based- will discuss planned system innovations and software improvements.
We are looking forward to hearing from great people, meeting other Haufe partners, and sharing experiences and ideas.
The Quantox Crew will be there!
- Dušan Milojević / Head of Managed Services
- Thomas Priemel / ERP Consultant
- Darko Šarenac / Partnership and Business Development Manager
You can meet our people and find out more about our services, advanced digital solutions, and models of cooperation. We are happy to have a chance to network with new potential clients and all new partners ahead!
Summit Agenda and more info can be found at the link
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Petar Slović, Chief Innovation Officer @ Quantox Technology, will give a lecture at a workshop organized by DaFED at the Rectorate of the University of Novi Sad on March 1, starting at 6 p.m.
At Peter's workshop "Simplifying Full Stack Serverless Development with tRPC in NextJS" visitors will have the opportunity to learn how to use the power of the T3 stack and tRPC to create scalable full-stack serverless applications.
DaFED is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating educational workshops and networking events for designers, developers, and all tech and innovation enthusiasts.
Discover the benefits of using tRPC in NextJS and learn how tRPC can facilitate the creation of secure and efficient serverless APIs without burdensome infrastructure management.
The workshop is free, and you can find more information, registration, and a link to the live stream at https://dafed.org/
Over the past few years, Data and Artificial Intelligence have become the most trending technology used across all industries. Yes, technology (singular) because Data and AI need to work in synergy to generate the best results.
By the time the term 'Data' was coined, there was already so much of it that IT professionals and computer scientists quickly realized that sorting out and parsing all the data and, at the same time, analyzing the same data would be impossible for humans. They knew that if anything could help, it would be AI algorithms that would be able to derive valuable real-time insights from that much data.
The merge of these two disciplines created a technological boom changing businesses left and right. But how exactly?
AI for Business
Unlike a decade ago, the internet is now filled with data providing important information about consumer habits, likes, dislikes, personal preferences, and activities. This type of data, when paired with AI technology, can help businesses:
- boost efficiency with various process automation solutions
- improve consistency and speed of service
- use customer insight and review to inform decision-makers
- discover new opportunities for new products and services
- it can detect fraud threats
- optimize supply chain operations
We could list the benefits of AI for business for days. However, many people would still need clarification, a concrete example, about how to get a taste of some of these benefits and how they can improve their business operations with AI.
Here at Quantox Technology, we believe in a practical approach and the power of learning. With more than 550 IT experts, our team has some of the best mentors in the industry, ready to convey the usage and possibilities of their products in the simplest way.
Quantox E-commerce AI Solution Use Case
The Quantox team was introduced to an e-commerce client that needed an AI solution to simplify one part of their working process. Our client had an online furniture store where they sold design furniture and artwork. So naturally, they've set up a webshop with thousands of furniture listings where you can filter your search based on your preferences. For example, you could filter furniture by type (beds, couches, sofas, tables), color, manufacturer, material, and many other specifications.
That meant every product needed a string of descriptive words in their specifications for their search filter to work. For example: If you wanted a black table, you would get a listing of any product that mentions the words "black" and "table." But if you wanted a "Sanne Protin black dining table," if labeled correctly, you would get only one result.
THE PROBLEM
However, the client's problem was not labeling products correctly, rather than the labeling process being money and time-consuming. At that time, their products were being labeled manually, meaning they needed to pay people to input labels individually.
OUR SOLUTION
To fix this problem, the Quantox Data & AI team proposed they create an automatic labeling system that will save them valuable resources. We created an AI system that takes an ad as an input and returns "labels" as an output, meaning product type, color, manufacturer, and material. In terms of business, the result was a significant decrease in the labeling cost and time to obtain the labels, which generally sped up the entire listing processing, had a considerable impact on their business, and positively affected their business efficiency.
Translating Human Problems to Data Problems
1. ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
So, we were building this system. It's a simple task for a human but could be difficult for a computer. To successfully transfer this business problem into a data problem, we must ask the right questions.
What would a human do if they had the task of labeling the products?
The trick is to answer these questions in as much detail as possible. For example, some would say, "well, a human would read the description," but the correct answer is, "the human would look at the listing." That means our internal conversation would look something like this:
Through questions, we slowly realize that humans would look at the image and type in what they see. For example, they see a black table, so they would type that it's a table and it's black. They could also read the description to see who the manufacturer is and what material was used.
2. DRAWING THE RIGHT CONCLUSIONS
The answers to our questions told us our system needs to be able to emulate human behavior. Mainly it needs to be able to "see" the images and recognize objects on them, but also recognize text, read it, and understand the meaning of it too in order to extract the vital information needed for labeling.
Well, what can "identify" objects in AI? Computer vision certainly can.
And how can a computer read and understand text just like a human? With Natural Language Processing, of course.
3. THE DATA AND AI MODELS
As always, we needed data to apply to our AI algorithm, so we took around 20 thousand pre-existing labels to train our AI models. The diagram below shows how data trained our models and how it was deployed, monitored, and maintained.
On the left side, you'll notice a very important box saying, "hold out a fraction aside." This means we took a small fraction of data from the 20 thousand label batch (about 10-20%), which is the data we did not show to our model. The reason is simple - we wanted to test our model on that data after it's trained. This way, we can see how our model performs on data it hasn't seen before.
In the middle, you can see that we have two separate models. One that works with images and one that works with text. Each model is tasked to learn different things, and finally, that information is combined to output the desired information.
The task is simple: "Build a system that says: This listing is selling a lamp, and the color of the lamp is beige-brown-yellow-ish."
We'll learn how this simple task can quickly become a bit more complicated for a computer.
The listings are given as "image+text" pairs, and we're free to choose from a wide arsenal of AI techniques as long as the solution delivers the desired information that is correct for the majority of the time. In the following sections, we describe some methods we opted for.
Our dataset contains around 20 thousand examples similar to this one, containing images of various furniture types: couches, sofas, tables, wardrobes, etc. In addition, the data includes information about where the object is on the image and the product being sold. We used 15,000 examples to train our AI algorithms (training data), while the other 5,000 we used as test data.
Here's an example of what a typical listing looked like.
Disclaimer: The product shown in the photo is for illustration purposes only and does not represent the actual product of our clients. It is used solely to explain and demonstrate the capabilities of our AI models.
QUANTOX COMPUTER VISION MODEL
Our computer vision model was supposed to extract information from the image. We expected it to localize a lamp and tell us that it is, in fact, a lamp. To do so, our algorithm needed to perform two tasks: object localization and image classification.
A bounding box consists of 4 numbers representing the coordinates of the box itself:
X_upper_left, Y_upper_left, X_lower_right, Y_lower_right.
Our model, in essence, is a model that tries to predict these four coordinates in an image and assign the label "lamp" to this listing. It does it in such a way that the predicted coordinates should mostly overlap with coordinates provided by humans. At the same time, the product label ("lamp" in this case) should match the human annotations in most cases.
GOAL: Maximize the overlap and assign the correct label.
Now that we know what the model should do let's see how it does it.
WHAT ARE CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORKS?
Each image was run through a convolutional neural network (CNN) tasked with learning the features of the image. Neural networks are made of neurons. Neurons group into layers. Layers hold numbers used to process our data (by multiplication and addition). Those numbers represent the knowledge of our network. Intelligence even, if you will.
The CNN model we created contains 53 convolutional layers. Each layer transforms the image by applying a convolution operation on the image. Convolution is actually a whole lot of additions and multiplication following the pixel grid of the image and some additional rules.
What that means is, at a high level, we plug an original image into the CNN, and it goes through each of these layers sequentially. The output of each layer is a slightly modified version of the original image. These modifications can highlight contours and shapes of interest in the original image or blur and make insignificant contours and shapes disappear.
We program the network to tweak the convolution operation and figure out what these shapes are on its own. Then, we let the network try multiple times until the results are satisfactory according to a predetermined criterion. This process of tweaking the layers (or, more technically, tweaking the parameters of the convolutions) is known as training the neural network.
When the image passes all 53 convolutional layers, we add another two layers, which we construct in such a way that we can read what the network thinks the bounding box is and what is the object residing in that bounding box. Finally, we read predictions from these final layers. They're tweaked similarly to convolutional layers during training. When this lamp was successfully detected, we cropped out the predicted bounding box, extracted the dominant colors, and gave it its first label - a "lamp."
QUANTOX NATURAL LANGUAGE MODEL
Now that we know how the computer vision part of the solution works, the question arises: "Why do we need text at all? Isn't computer vision all we need because we got the colors and the product?"
Well, not exactly. What if the lamp was labeled differently, for example, "torch"? In this example, it isn't, but there could be a lot of other instances where labels can be nothing more than misleading synonyms. We can't simply rely on one-word descriptions of the product coming from some people we don't even know who labeled these listings. They might have labeled it for a different purpose, who knows. That's why we're complementing the information we extracted from images with the data from text. We're shrinking the margin of error and trying to output results that align with the industry's terminology as much as we can.
Plus, the computer vision model can detect a lamp and might even detect some sort of cat on the bottom of the lamp. Of course, it's essentially wrong detection (because it's not a cat, but a llama), but the text helps us deal with these cases as well, and now we'll see how.
So, let's get technical. Now suppose that our computer vision model detected both a lamp and a cat.
Now we have two detections: a lamp and a cat. Certainly, a cat is not for sale, nor is it a real cat. It's a cat-shaped pedestal for the lamp, which is probably not even a cat but a llama. This is just to give you a sense of ways these models can be wrong. We need to filter the object detection algorithms' outputs by analyzing text. Remember that the listing description states:
"Created and designed by the famous 20th-century art deco designer Jean-Michelle Jarre, this nightlight can be a great addition to your living room or bedroom for only $99.99".
Our goal is to search for the words "lamp" and "cat" in this text and find a match. But we would fail if we want to match the exact string of words. There are no words "lamp" or "cat" in the description. But there is the word "nightlight." You'd agree that refers to the lamp. Of course, you would, but how do we build an AI system to figure that out?
That's the goal here. And the tool is, again, a neural network. Specifically, the neural network performing the task of "word embedding," unlike the former network performing the task of "object detection."
The neural network's inputs are text sequences, and the final output is a numerical representation of the input word. Literally, a sequence of numbers. How many numbers? We can decide that, but the common practice is higher degrees of 2, such as 256 or 512.
So yes, sequences of numbers, like the lottery, but with one crucial property. When two words of similar contexts, such as "nightlight" and "lamp," are represented numerically, they have similar representation, again by some predefined criteria. However, when words of vastly different contexts are represented numerically, these representations are different, such as "lamp" and "truck," for example.
So we create a neural network consisting of layers, except they're not convolutional. They're different types of layers, each connected and the final layer from where we can read predictions. Like most NNs, this one also has to predict something, and by tweaking this network, it learns which words frequently co-occur, effectively meaning that the network learns which words are contextually similar. Its knowledge is represented in its layers, which we then extract from the network and use as our "numerical representation of the words themselves."
When this is trained, we get a numerical representation of all the words from the listing description and all the words from the object detection model, namely, "lamp" and "cat." Now we measure the similarity between the word "lamp" and all the words from the description individually and then repeat the process for the word "cat." The similarity score is a cosine (remember trigonometry?) between the numerical representations of two words for which we calculate the similarity. This cosine similarity ranges between 0 and 1, 0 meaning not similar, and 1 meaning identical.
Now relying on the fact that the listing descriptions are highly likely to mention the product itself or at least some products' synonyms, we can expect that whatever the product is ("lamp" or "cat"), it will have a high similarity score with whatever the product is in the description.
- In this case, the words "lamp" and "nightlight" have, say, the highest similarity between all the combinations, so we say - "THE PRODUCT IS THE LAMP."
- The word "cat" will have minimal similarity with the words in the description because the description never mentions animals, cats, dogs, pets, or anything within that context, and context is learned in the neural network, so "cat" will end up omitted. That's how we know - "THE PRODUCT IS NOT THE CAT."
Now let's see the results.
THE RESULTS
When all this is said and done, and the models are trained and validated, it's time to put them to the test and see how they behave on the data they weren't trained on. Remember that the test data contains the "text + image" and the "location + object" parts. We hide the "location + object" part, obtain the predictions from it, and then compare them with the actual location and object.
When predicting a product, we achieved 91% accuracy on the training set of around 5k examples. As for colors, the number is at about 70% on the same dataset, but it is a pessimistic estimate based on sampling and employing the naked eye to method to say "this is right" and "this is wrong." The reason for that is that people see colors differently. In the case of our lamp, one person can say "beige," but the other person might say "light yellow." Suppose you convert the color names into an RGB system. In that case, they can differ vastly, so if we calculate the Euclidean distance between "beige" and "light yellow" in the RGB coordinate system, we can wrongly conclude that the model made a wrong prediction. In fact, both the model and the person labeling are right. We believe the actual number is much higher than 70% since the errors mostly come from the edge cases where you can argue it's the same color.
THE DEPLOYMENT
Once we've run all data through our models and our models were trained and tested, we deployed the model in production. This means that we need to save the models in some sort of model storage, which could be on some location on our server, on our client's server, or on a cloud storage service of choice. In this case, it was the client's server.
Specifically, we used Flask to create a Python API and Docker for deployment. When the API is called, it triggers a forward pass through the neural networks, which returns some predictions. The application then processes those predictions as described above and returns a response. Finally, the client integrates with our model by calling our API from their application, which gets them the desired information.
They can then process the information however they see fit, e.g., display them in some sort of drop-down menu on their front end or have radio buttons to help their users filter their search when buying furniture. Here's a diagram describing the solution's architecture at the highest level.
And that's it. We described the process of training a computer vision model, a natural language processing model, we touched neural networks a bit, shining a light on what it means to train the neural network, what are "As" and "Is" in "AI," and how the information obtained from these networks is used in practices to improve the user experience when shopping for furniture online! A lot of math and engineering for such a seemingly simple task, right? However, the work pays off when implemented correctly, especially in the eCommerce industry, where there's a great deal of data and many different types of applications for AI solutions.
Data, AI, and Quantox - a Perfect Recipe for eCommerce Growth!
Transforming your eCommerce business paradigm in 2023 can make your business stand out from the competition by increasing revenue, conversion rates, and the overall popularity of your brand. Integrating AI technology in your eCommerce business gets that much easier with Quantox Technology team of experts that have been providing Data and AI services and eCommerce solutions for years and have a proven track record of success. Our team will take the time to understand your unique needs and develop a customized solution that fits those needs. So, are you ready to unleash the potential of AI for your eCommerce? Let's Talk!
Propel Your Business and Find Your New Team Of Developers @TES Affiliate Conference
Lisbon | February 22-25, 2023
Are your software projects delayed due to a lack of developers?
Are you finding it hard to hire and retain good developers?
Are you trying to reduce costs and increase the flexibility to scale your project?
Are you looking for a partner you can trust?
Quantox Technology is coming to Lisbon with 50 developers available right now!
Complete software development from scratch and all-round IT support services.
Pinpoints!
- 16+ years of experience
- 550+ experts in the diverse technology stack
- 13 offices & 7 countries
- 250+ successful projects
- Super-quick scaling
- ISO 9001 and 27001
Boost Your Business!
- Thorough understanding and approach
- Flexibility & adaptability to each client and change
- Managed team & scaling resources to your project
- Efficiency, excellence, and trust
See You @ TES Affiliate Conference!
3 days, 2000+ participants , 75+ speakers, 200+ exhibitors, 80+ countries
The Oitavos Hotel, Cascais/Lisbon, Portugal
Quantox Booth Location: MMT6
And Meet Our People!
Schedule a Meeting
Alek
If you are looking for a man who will answer your questions about potential partnership opportunities, look no further. Alek is our CDO with solid skills in leading teams and running projects developed over the years. Do you have projects that need reinforcement, and engineering support or do you need a partner for brand-new software solutions? Talk to Alek and find out more.
Schedule a Meeting
Dan
He is your guy if you have a major project planned or ongoing but don't know quite yet how to ensure your software development is running smoothly. As our COO, with more than 15 years of experience in the IT industry, Dan can understand you and optimize your software development process.
Schedule a Meeting
Welcome where ideas are made possible!
How to connect artificial intelligence and shooting stars?
Well, you can find the answers to these questions from our Dušan Pavlović, Data Scientist in Quantox Technology, who will give a lecture PER DATA AD ASTRA on 23th of March at the Geekstone Meet-Up Event.
Dušan will demonstrate such a connection and talk about how computer vision, deep learning, and research on meteors - shooting stars - overlap.
One of the topics is how relatively easily you can apply your knowledge of neural networks to solve the problem of automatic detection of meteors in astronomic data made by radio detectors. This problem is one of the most complex ones in this field and our understanding of different problems in the Solar System depends on it.
As someone who studied astrophysics, being an author and the host of the science podcast "Radio Galaxy '' while engaged in the physics of meteors and meteorite astronomy for years, Dušan will show one of the examples of how to apply Data Science to scientific data!
The lecture will be held in Serbian and the entrance is free!
Thursday, March 23, 2023
6:00 - 8.00 PM
Science and Technology Park
Fruškogorska 1, Novi Sad
Save the date and welcome to the World of Data!
Register at the link
https://www.meetup.com/geekstone/events/292131441/?isFirstPublish=true
The traditional spring CS:GO tournament is upon us!
Serbian IT companies will gather from the 3rd to the 6th of April at the CS:GO Vol.4 charity tournament.
Motivated by the important topic and achieved results from the previous year,
we decided to stay with the same goal - in 2023 the IT community will be playing for Serbian maternity hospitals and better conditions for the youngest and their mothers!
Companies can register up to 3 teams and donate the financial funds to the common fund. As in previous years, the start for one million dinars is provided by Quantox.
After the closing of applications, by public voting and filling out an anonymous survey, we will together decide which maternity hospital we are helping this year!
We hope that the HIT CS:GO crew will expand this year with new companies and teams that will compete, have a great time and show that the greatest victory is humanity.
Register your team by the 31st of March.
Link for team registration and more information: https://hitturnir.com/
It's time to play even harder!
Meet us on 29 - 30 March
We are looking for an exchange of experience and ideas that improve the digital world and shape our future!
Gathering together Haufe experts and IT companies, partners, and clients, the Haufe X360 Summit takes place at the Kameha Grand Hotel in Bonn from the 29th to the 30th of March.
Lecturers from Haufe and Acumatica - the platform on which Haufe is based- will discuss planned system innovations and software improvements.
We are looking forward to hearing from great people, meeting other Haufe partners, and sharing experiences and ideas.
The Quantox Crew will be there!
- Dušan Milojević / Head of Managed Services
- Thomas Priemel / ERP Consultant
- Darko Šarenac / Partnership and Business Development Manager
You can meet our people and find out more about our services, advanced digital solutions, and models of cooperation. We are happy to have a chance to network with new potential clients and all new partners ahead!
Summit Agenda and more info can be found at the link
Petar Slović, Chief Innovation Officer @ Quantox Technology, will give a lecture at a workshop organized by DaFED at the Rectorate of the University of Novi Sad on March 1, starting at 6 p.m.
At Peter's workshop "Simplifying Full Stack Serverless Development with tRPC in NextJS" visitors will have the opportunity to learn how to use the power of the T3 stack and tRPC to create scalable full-stack serverless applications.
DaFED is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating educational workshops and networking events for designers, developers, and all tech and innovation enthusiasts.
Discover the benefits of using tRPC in NextJS and learn how tRPC can facilitate the creation of secure and efficient serverless APIs without burdensome infrastructure management.
The workshop is free, and you can find more information, registration, and a link to the live stream at https://dafed.org/
Propel Your Business and Find Your New Team Of Developers @TES Affiliate Conference
Lisbon | February 22-25, 2023
Are your software projects delayed due to a lack of developers?
Are you finding it hard to hire and retain good developers?
Are you trying to reduce costs and increase the flexibility to scale your project?
Are you looking for a partner you can trust?
Quantox Technology is coming to Lisbon with 50 developers available right now!
Complete software development from scratch and all-round IT support services.
Pinpoints!
- 16+ years of experience
- 550+ experts in the diverse technology stack
- 13 offices & 7 countries
- 250+ successful projects
- Super-quick scaling
- ISO 9001 and 27001
Boost Your Business!
- Thorough understanding and approach
- Flexibility & adaptability to each client and change
- Managed team & scaling resources to your project
- Efficiency, excellence, and trust
See You @ TES Affiliate Conference!
3 days, 2000+ participants , 75+ speakers, 200+ exhibitors, 80+ countries
The Oitavos Hotel, Cascais/Lisbon, Portugal
Quantox Booth Location: MMT6
And Meet Our People!
Schedule a Meeting
Alek
If you are looking for a man who will answer your questions about potential partnership opportunities, look no further. Alek is our CDO with solid skills in leading teams and running projects developed over the years. Do you have projects that need reinforcement, and engineering support or do you need a partner for brand-new software solutions? Talk to Alek and find out more.
Schedule a Meeting
Dan
He is your guy if you have a major project planned or ongoing but don't know quite yet how to ensure your software development is running smoothly. As our COO, with more than 15 years of experience in the IT industry, Dan can understand you and optimize your software development process.
Schedule a Meeting
Welcome where ideas are made possible!
A new milestone in the IT world! Building the future with strong partnerships!
Quantox Technology and Sandberg Capital have signed a partnership for the further expanding growth of the company, bringing it to a higher level! A €20 million investment is aimed at making a significant leap for Quantox’s future sustainable development, talent acquisition, and strategic global expansion.
Sandberg Capital is a Slovak private equity company established in 2014 with an AUM exceeding €340 million. It focuses on investments in small and medium businesses in the Slovak Republic and the region of Central and Eastern Europe, including among investors institutional ones, such as the European Investment Fund.
This partnership is one of the top 5 investments in the region so far, signed with companies from Serbia.
With Sandberg’s support, Quantox Technology plans to make successful breakthroughs in new markets, building even stronger client relationships with greater freedom and creativity in creating new software solutions.
“By entering into a partnership, we want to broaden our expertise and further strengthen our position as a leading IT employer in the region. Also, this investment will enable us to have a greater presence in the European and US markets, which will mean a lot to our clients by increasing the range of services in delivering high-end digital solutions and providing comprehensive IT support”
Vuk Popović, founder of Quantox Technology
The company’s focus remains the same – discovering new perspectives and empowering the Q team. The partnership is an additional lift that will bring Quantox even closer to long-term growth, sustainability and stability.
“Given Sandberg’s multiple investments in the IT sector, we see an increasingly strong push for digitalization across the economy. At the same time, we perceive a severe shortage of IT professionals that may be preventing companies from growing and achieving their strategic goals. The investment in Quantox reflects our long-term strategy of partnering with ambitious entrepreneurs in sectors that directly or indirectly help with the digital transformation of the economy,”
Michal Rybovič, Partner at Sandberg Capital.
Matej Klenovsky, Investment manager at Sandberg Capital, believes that Quantox and Sandberg share a similar growth mindset and have the same ambitions and perspectives for future achievements.
“Quantox, in addition to employing a large number of IT professionals and having a great ability to attract clients from various industries, is truly committed to the development of the local IT community. We believe that this company is more than ready for the next step and we are eager to follow them along the way, giving support through our experience, knowledge, and capital.“
Matej Klenovsky, Investment manager at Sandberg Capital
Both partners will be focused on strengthening Quantox’s business – establishing a local presence, expanding the spectrum of services to respond to clients’ demands from all parts of the world, and improving internal processes and organizational structure.
“We are extremely grateful for the trust and support of our new partners – this is a kind of confirmation for everything we have done so far, as well as the opportunity to be even better and grow together. Following the shared vision for Quantox, we strive for global expansion and adoption of new knowledge, skills, and experiences while preserving the values and culture of the company itself”
Vuk Popović, founder of Quantox Technology
With 16 years of experience, Quantox is recognized as a reliable partner in the world of digital technologies. After three successful acquisitions in the last year, this is an important step and kind of “wind at our back” that will lead us closer to our vision – to grow in expertise, nurture people as the priority value and become one of the most trusted and efficient partners in the digital world.
Quantox was advised by Grubišič & Partners – Corporate Finance as financial advisor and Four Legal as legal advisor and Sandberg Capital was advised by ESFA as financial advisor, EY as financial & tax due diligence advisors, and BDK Advokati as their legal support.
A new digital era is at our doorstep. By supporting clients worldwide and developing IT potential in our region – we continue making ideas and vision possible!
Proud to announce that our team has received another reinforcement! We are introducing Marko Nikolić – the New Head of Finance at Quantox.
With many years of experience in various senior positions and expertise in the financial sector, Marko brings a unique set of skills. He is highly creative, innovative, and well-versed in the latest financial trends and strategies.
His passion for finance and enthusiasm for achieving results and high goals make him the perfect person for this position at Quantox. With his expertise in the financial sector, Marko will bring fresh ideas that will help the company develop and grow even more.
What are the expectations, and what is the biggest challenge in working in an international IT company like Quantox?
My primary expectation is to grow professionally together with the company. The biggest challenge of working in a large company like Quantox is coordinating activities with many colleagues from several countries.
In what way will your experience contribute to Quantox in further business?
My experience is complementary to colleagues from the finance sector. I expect that it will contribute to the realization of new initiatives, such as, for example, the implementation of the new budget.
The events of the last few years have led to sudden turbulence in the global market. We see them even today, and they are, to some extent, the cause of changes in how many IT companies work. In your opinion, which strategies of financial adaptation to such changes have given good results, and which could be applied in Quantox – bearing in mind the spread of the company over seven markets?
Quantox has a concrete and straightforward business model, and we should stick to it – “back to basics”!
This can be a competitive advantage in the current global financial trends and can be used in both cases – to expand in the markets where Quantox already operates and to win new ones.
How do digitization and accelerated development of technology affect the role and work of the financial sectors? Do methods and approaches change, and how?
In the Finance and Accounting sector, a sudden jump in the application of Business Intelligence tools for reporting to management and investors was noticeable in the previous years. As a result, CFO-s and their teams had to adapt and improve their reporting. Modern platforms and programs help them in these endeavors; technology is progressing and taking an important place, so constant adjustments are also needed in this sector.
Many factors influence decision-making, especially now. What are the biggest risks, and what are the biggest opportunities you currently see for Quantox’s business?
I believe that the current global situation on the market is simultaneously the biggest risk – it can lead to a decrease in demand for our services – but also the biggest opportunity to expand into new markets under more favorable conditions than before.
What is your main motivation and inspiration in business – what drives you again and again?
I like to innovate, propose and create new things, and constantly look for ways to improve and upgrade that creation.
New Head of Managed IT Services opening new paths and opportunities for Quantox
Quantox is dedicated toward providing organizations with a solution for system monitoring and management that will help dispose of the break-fix approach. As a managed IT services provider, we aim to simplify IT management for other companies efficiently and affordably.
Dušan Milojević has the expertise and experience to make Quantox a leading managed IT services vendor in Europe, implement new IT technologies and build worldwide-applicable solutions with his team.
From Microsoft to Quantox – can you describe your career journey and what does it mean for you to further develop your expertise at Quantox?
I started from the university and Microsoft Academy, and then went through the positions of Consultant, Developer and Analyst. Right now my official role means leading three different teams for the implementation of various products. The biggest challenge for me to get the company as a leading vendor for managed services as Quantox is for custom development.
What are the goals of the managed IT services department and what do those goals bring to the overall business process of Quantox Technology?
The goals of the managed IT services department are to accumulate as much expertise and projects from various vendors like Microsoft, Salesforce, even IBM, and Oracle. The people in our department and their work are very strongly connected, no matter which team they depend on.
In the future, Quantox will expand its business areas and build solutions that can be implemented worldwide. So, the power this department gives to the company is being able to cover all needs that come from one customer. Custom development and managed services have a great tendency to work well together and bring new opportunities to each other.
After the first month at Quantox, what are your impressions?
I’m thrilled to be a part of Quantox. At the moment, I’m still trying to get all procedures lined up and getting to know the on-boarding team members while working with other colleagues on our first potential projects.
Why would a company need managed IT services and what parts of its environment would Quantox’s managed IT services department look after?
Companies in some sectors, like Fintech and Telco, use more than fifty systems in their daily business. All of those need to be integrated into one place, and that’s where we come in – we can fully cover all these processes with our team. Having a corporation as a client is a great opportunity that can lead us to long-term partnerships.
The IT industry is fast-paced and constantly evolving and at the moment we have many new technologies present at the scene. In your opinion, can those new technologies be implemented in the processes and what benefits would that bring?
Of course, we need to follow all new approaches and technologies. From the last conference in Munich, I’ve realized that we can integrate PowerApp with Business Central as an app that can be the solution for warehouse management with fewer costs instead of building the app by itself from scratch. We also plan to get RPA (robot process automation) part of the integration team and start working with machine learning. Quantox’s managed service department is pretty good at keeping up with the latest technology trends.
What do you think is the most interesting part of your job, and what are some of the biggest challenges Quantox managed IT services department may be faced with?
The most interesting things about working in Managed Services will be the projects and the possibility of having a proven team working for one of the biggest customers in their branches globally. However, the biggest challenge will be to put Quantox on the managed services market for this part of Europe which is our goal for the next two years.
What is your main drive, motivation, and inspiration in business – what drives you over and over again?
What drives me forward is having new opportunities on a daily level – new employees, technologies, countries, projects, and approaches. I also firmly believe that people can improve their skills only if they step out of their comfort zone, which is what my team and I are doing right now.
QLab is Born!
Having ideas is great - getting know-how is a step to another level!
QLab Accelerator aim is to support fresh ideas, build strong teams and make innovative startups possible. And we are starting from our own house!
Quantox launched an internal call for Quantox people with the most promising start-up ideas with a goal to support it and transform it into marketable digital solutions.
From professional guidance and mentoring support, specialized business & start-up knowledge, through networking and funding opportunities - QLab is designed to give major support during the idea development from scratch.
By joining the contest and submitting their ideas, our people have a chance to get an opportunity for a 3 months educational program this summer, specially designed to turn their brainchild into a successful product, and get a chance for funding.
The most promising concepts and teams will be chosen for the program to gain essential business, expert, technical knowledge, and guidance from experienced mentors from all core fields, needed to kick off their start-up idea. Furthermore, the best idea on the final pitch will get a grant of 10.000 EUR to provide a smooth start and push for further development.
Lead by the mission to be a generator of internal knowledge, skills, and ideas to create value and make a leap in the digitalization era, and create an environment that encourages quality and innovative approaches to digital challenges, Quantox decided to start QLab Accelerator as an innovative tech nest for all those who aim to go further.
It is possible to turn ideas into reality with proper support and experienced people behind you. We believe in the ideas and knowledge that make a difference!
We truly believe in the potential of this program to discover remarkable solutions from our people and we are thrilled about the possibility to expand it beyond the internal hub in the future.
It’s not just about ideas.
It’s about MAKING IDEAS HAPPEN!
Dare to innovate, we are here to support you!
In our vast experiences dealing with projects and project management, we have learned that it is best to KiSS. No, don’t worry, that isn’t a romantic come on, it is simply a witty acronym that stands for Keep it Simple Stupid. Complicated projects with multiple moving parts that all depend on one another rarely succeed, from what we’ve seen.
Start From Creating MVP
Our advice is to get to an MVP (minimally viable product, or the least amount of features your product or project needs to get started) as soon as possible, and launch. Once you are actually launched it is quite easy to work towards incremental improvements continuously throughout the life of a product. One of the biggest mistakes that we have seen in our experience is people who have an unclear vision for their projects, which doesn’t make for a clean and concise MVP.Another mistake that often hampers projects is when companies try to do too much and create too many features prior to launch so that your product is sitting around while competitors can easily take advantages of gaps in the market. Ambition is definitely good, but too much ambition can also be a killer.
How To Get From Idea to MVP?
How do you get the perfect MVP? It’s not that hard. Think about your product or project. List the features that are essential to it’s functioning, and get those features working flawlessly. Leave out anything that is extra, or not essential to the product you want to create. Those most basic features are the ones to launch within your MVP. After launching, think about any bells and whistles you would like to add to enhance or change your project.Remember, the thing that matters most is having a functioning product that does what you want it to do, not having the most elaborate product out there on the market.
Quantox- Keeping Software Development Simple Since 2006!
Quantox operates with the help of Kaizen mindset, meaning we achieve great results by first completing smaller, but equally important tasks. Each one of us, but working as a team, has a clear task to complete that will enrich your project and lead to project realization faster and without hassle. Task by task, we'll take your project from idea to MVP, launch your product and keep on improving it with new features and possibilities. Do you want to see simple and clear project development process? Let's Talk!
So, you have a project and you are going to create a request for an exterior company to get the job done. Keeping your project request clear and detailed will help you a lot down the line, and will also save you money. Project requests set the precedent for the entire project, and it is helpful to start it off on the right foot.
Disadvantages of Not Having a Clear Project Request
If you end up presenting a project with a confusing description and scope of work, it costs your team time, costing you money. There are a few ways that this will drain your pockets. First of all, all of the back and forth communication it will take to clarify your work request just isn’t worth it, when with a clear work request your project can get started right away. Each minute you spend communicating and clarifying is the time that is not being spent working on your project. What is even worse, is the second way that an unclear project proposal can cost your company money: unclear project requests can lead to drafts of your project being created that are completely misguided or simply not what you are looking for.
Advise With Your Team
In creating clear project requests it is also important to get your whole team’s input early on in the process, before making the request, rather than presenting them with a nearly finished project and getting their input then. This will also save you a lot of time and money because your team is smart and probably has great ideas that would improve any project your company is working on. Using their ideas early on will keep you from having to revise projects over and over to incorporate innovative employee ideas.Start your project off right with a clear and concise request that will lead the way to the project you are envisioning.
Quantox- An IT Solution Company To The Point!
Creating project request and presenting it to an exterior IT company is not an easy task, but with Quantox it can be a lot easier. The project managers working in Quantox know that the best developed ideas are presented in the clear and concise manner. So, when you're ''stuck'' and can't seem to organize your project, our PM's are there to help you determine the scope of work, requirements, timelines and deadlines of your project, thus helping you save money. You have a great idea, but don't have all the details ''polished-out''? Let's Talk!
Project documentation is an important part of any project, but especially those that create systems that will be used by people whether inside or outside of your company, which are either created by people outside of your company or will be used by outsourced employees. Proper project documentation can set the precedent for the way your company will manage that project once it is complete and the way that other related projects will get managed in the future.A job certainly isn’t over when a project is completed, especially in the sphere of web and technology.
Most projects in this sphere are development projects that will get used in the future either internally within a company or externally by consumers. These projects will need to be supported since your internal teams will need to learn new systems and get used to using them. You can really prevent problems down the road by having great documentation.When you use project documentation, it is best to use whatever best practices are suitable for your industry, because then it will be easier for your team to learn the new system, and any new team members who come on should be able to learn it easily, as long as they are familiar with your industry best practices already. In addition, should your team run up against any obstacles in the months or even years after the project was completed, having proper documentation can save your company a lot of money and time.
Without documentation, your company will have to spend money and use people’s time to figure out any issues, but with the project being clearly explained, you should see nothing but smooth sailing in your future.
Quantox Professional Project Documentation For a Smooth Sailing!
At Quantox we keep our organisational skills at the highest level. By having professional project documentation, but also company profile documentation and Quantox people documentation, we armed every Quantox member with a reliable source for solving problems and built bridges between our own people.
Outsourcing with Quantox gets that much easier when we present our documentation, leaving no questions unanswered. Still, error prevention may be the best outcome of our diligent record keeping of everything we do for our clients. Do you want to learn more- Let's Talk!
What Is The Difference?
When hiring someone for work that is not going to be done within your company, it can be hard to tell whether you should hire a freelancer or use an outsourcing company. What is the difference? Freelancers are typically individuals who provide specialized services on their own time while outsourcing companies have full-time employees who can provide many types of services under their direct supervision.
Why People Prefer Outsourcing Over Freelancers?
Many professional companies and people prefer outsourcing companies because there is a single contact person that can give you access to a wealth of services. When you go with freelancers, you will have to contact different freelancers for different services, which will not only make your Rolodex quite large but can get confusing and often leads to scheduling conflicts that cascade if anyone freelance misses a milestone that the others were relying on having completed in time. This becomes especially problematic if you have a lot of projects happening simultaneously.
Outsourcing Companies Are Better For Project Continuity
Another reason why businesses prefer to use an outsourcing company is that it mitigates risk. If a freelancer gets sick or has some type of family emergency – that’s it - your project becomes delayed. Your work will not get done until they are better and back to work. However, if the person working on your product from an outsourcing company is ill one day, there is typically someone else there who can pick up the slack and keep your projects going full steam ahead. Thus, outsourcing companies tend to give you more complete coverage and usually get a job done faster.
Reputation Matters!
Lastly, with freelancers, there is no surefire way to vet them. Sure, there are online review sites, and they may provide you with references before you hire them, but if you choose an outsourcing company, they have already gone through the hiring process. Thus, they know their employees well, and typically know that they are quality workers who will finish the job in a timely manner because they have a reputation to uphold. Hiring a random freelancer off Fiverr may sound like a smart way to save money until you examine all the unintended consequences and learn to leave those risks on the shoulders of an outsourcing company with shoulders broad enough to carry them all for you.
Quantox- A Full-Service, Risk Free and Trustworthy IT Outsourcing Company!
If you don't need only one Java Developer or a web designer, but a whole development team, you should consider outsourcing a company like Quantox. You'll have access to all necessary staff members- from developers, to analysts to QA specialists. It you have any questions about IT outsourcing, we are glad to answer them and help you reach an inofrmed decision. Let's Talk!
When you hire an outsourcing company to get a job done, you may feel comfortable knowing that they have the experience to deal with your project, so creating some type of official agreement may not be on your radar. However, agreements are actually quite important, no matter how much you trust the company you are hiring to get the job done. It helps to protect yourself as the client and them as the vendor, should anything go wrong during the job, as small as that possibility may be.
Benefits of Having a Written Agreement
First of all, having an agreement is really the only way to make sure everyone truly understands the project at hand. It usually spells out the scope of work entirely, with specific details, so both parties know what is expected of them, and that includes you.
The company you hired won’t be waiting for a month to start the project because you didn’t know you were supposed to send them some photo assets, and they will be able to provide the results you need when you need them.Agreements can also help to avoid miscommunications during the work process, and also can avoid conflict when miscommunications do happen during the project timeline. If a miscommunication does occur, you can just refer to the agreement and quell the worries of both parties since the job will be spelled out plainly in the agreement.
Finally, agreements help to create a timeline and actionable checklist that the team working on your project can work from and check to make sure that all the work agreed upon is done in a timely manner and at the level of quality that you have requested.Basically, having an agreement always ensures that both the client and vendor are protected and covered, and prevents things from going wrong due to mistakes and miscommunications. While things hardly ever go wrong, agreements make it easy to smooth things over on those rare occasions.
Transparent Outsourcing Collaboration is Promised With Quantox!
Here at Quantox we understand how important it is for you to feel that your intellectual property is truly yours. Not only will we protect your idea from plagiarism, we will also ensure that every word of our written agreement pertaining to the development process is fulfilled.
Don't take our word for it- our promise are our signatures on the project detail and development process contract. Let's Talk!
Employing people in-house is the most costly option, and beyond the obvious costs of salary, benefits, and training there are many other expenses that come along with the challenge to continually motivate your own staff. Outsourcing is a good way to save some time and money by utilizing a fully managed team of personnel who already have exactly the kind of expertise you require.
Outsourcing also gives you the opportunity to save money by only utilizing the people you need for the specific tasks you wanted to take care of right now while letting someone else worry about all of the HR challenges and ancillary costs that come along with maintaining a world-class workforce.The main barrier companies have when starting to outsource workflow is the fact that choosing the right outsourcing company to work with can be a challenging and confusing ordeal in itself. However, if you follow some common sense tips, choosing an outsourcing company can be made easier and establishing a streamlined workflow that saves you resources while improving your results is an attainable goal.
When starting to think about choosing an outsourcing company, always get references from trustworthy brands in the industry. Just as you would get a reference for a good dentist from a friend you trust, an outsourcing reference about the team that seems to have everything together is the key to knowing the difference between an option that merely looks good and one that actually is great.Once you have a potential company in your sights, do the research necessary to get to know the company and the individuals you will be working with on your own projects.
Make sure the company has a good track record and can articulate a recent easy to verify trail of satisfied companies who have already had similar projects to your own perform. Most importantly, get examples of work they have already done.
Many outsourcing company sites will proudly display some of their clients, and they may even have a case study or two on their sites to show how using their services can positively affect your bottom line – but always be careful to vet those items by speaking to the actual clients being quoted and making sure they are recent examples rather than old work done by someone else who left long ago.
It is also important to make sure that any outsourcing company that you are considering is able to come up with a clear plan that has concise milestones for your needs. It’s one thing to be able to talk the talk, but can they walk the walk? Displaying the ability to set a plan in place is a good sign that they can also complete the work assigned. All too often you’ll notice the same people who failed to show you a workable plan are the ones who are unable to complete the work as well.
Benefits Of Outsourcing Quantox Technology!
There is plenty of work to be done in preparation of your project, and that phase of the relationship is also an excellent opportunity for you to evaluate the team you are hiring and the way they work with you.
Once you have the right people in place, from a company like Quantox, the scalability of an outsourced option gives you tremendous advantages over in-house employees, because unlike the arduous process to hire one person in your office, the outsourcing path opens up the possibility to acquiring a limitless pool of qualified experts at virtually any task you want to accomplish. Let's Talk!
In sports and virtually every other form of competition, the cliché is that speed kills, because getting to the goal first provides an undeniable advantage for one competitor over the other. That same principle applies to all forms of web development and it is becoming increasingly essential thanks to recent changes by Google and others to the way organic web traffic is allocated.
Even more importantly, the expectations of your customers are tied directly to the speed of your site, apps and digital products.
No Lag—No Inefficient Coding
In the dial-up era, it was common to wait for a page to load due to lag times caused by low bandwidth. This was also a blessing for inefficient developers because the slow loading times and resources squandered by their code were often covered up by the even slower download speeds available to customers. Now, with many clients having access to 1GB connections and mobile providers continually improving throughout while spreading the reach of public WiFi, even the smallest lag or latency is infuriatingly obvious to your potential customers or clients.
Test Your Website Load Time
Google had repeatedly expressed the fact that mobile load times are now a significant signal used in determining their search results, and that has even gone so far as to provide a simple tool to test your load times on desktop and mobile versions of your website. The tool is free and it assigns a 1 to 100 score for your site speed. Even more importantly, it makes simple suggestions of ways to improve your speed score, and it is critical to achieving a score of 85 or better for both Mobile and Desktop on nearly any website you publish.
What Is Mobilegeddon?
The so-called Mobilegeddon update Google made in 2015 underscored the importance of Mobile responsive design and echoed the significance of making sure your site loads lighting fast across any device that a viewer decides to use.
Quantox Smart Coding for Supersonic Speed!
Quantox helps many of our clients by cleaning up the antiquated code, refreshing the underlying database structures being used and making many other seemingly small improvements to incrementally optimize existing websites. We also use industry best practices and many proprietary methods to ensure that any new site we create for you is as fast as possible, to the delight of search bots and human visitors alike. Let' Talk!
Imagine if you walked into a brick and mortar store and were greeted by a salesperson who immediately asked, “What is your date of birth and credit card number?” A store like that wouldn’t get many sales or last very long, yet online site owners seem to think it is somehow more acceptable to create landing pages that abruptly demand all kinds of personal information from potential customers in a completely non-conversational way.Too often we are given site mock-ups or see sites designed by others that immediately request signup information from end users. Sure, having a signup button makes sense, or asking for a name and email address may be part of your business model, but the conversion ratios, time on site, bounce rates and other metrics can easily be improved across the board by engaging the viewer in a more conversational way.
The Right Time And Place To Ask For Personal Information
For example, instead of asking someone to enter their purchase information and then giving them access to a catalog of items for sale after they have registered, you will earn far more by allowing customers to browse your catalog as guests, let them choose the items that they want and only ask for payment details once they reach the cart page to complete their transaction.The psychology of this method is very simple. Once someone has already invested ten or twenty minutes of their time browsing items, choosing products or services, and building a basic level of trust with your brand by seeing how well your site satisfies their requests, they become far more likely to take action at the eventual point of sale. Exactly the same way a shopper is more likely to buy a pair of jeans at a clothing store after browsing the shelves, selecting the perfect pair, trying them on, interacting with a sales associate and then later being asked to pay at checkout by a cashier.
Make Spending Money an Afterthought For Your Customers
The best sites do a terrific job making the sale seem secondary. As online marketers we are all focused on improving the CTR, maximizing revenue and preventing traffic leaks – but as a customer that all need to fade from your attention and be superseded by the fun and excitement of finding the site you want most, getting the attention you deserve and feeling as though the money being requested is more of an afterthought than the central priority of the entire user experience.
Upgrade Your Sales Funnel with Quantox!
Quantox experts are available right now to look over your existing sales funnel and to make actionable suggestions that improve the flow of traffic from your landing page to your join form or cart transaction page. The results are easy to track, and as any experienced marketer can tell you it is almost always easier to earn more by properly monetizing the traffic you do have than by inefficiently marketing to a new wave of visitors. Let's Talk!
One of the more common buzzwords among developers these days is ‘responsive design’, which many confusingly misunderstand as ‘using a Wordpress theme that looks sort of OK on mobile devices or desktop screens.’ The fact is that responsive design actually requires quite a bit more than that, and the benefits of doing it right are substantial.
What is Responsive Web Design?
Responsive design is all about presenting online content on any device as if it were intended to work perfectly on that device primarily. When a customer views your website from their desktop computer, they could care less how it might look on an Android phone. If they use an old and antiquated version of Netscape at their browser, they want to see the site in all its glory, and how it would have looked if they chose Chrome instead becomes meaningless to them. When it comes to design, the customer is always right, and that includes their implicit choices of mobile carrier, platform, operating system, browser, hardware, and software each time they visit your website.Some great tools have been added to the development arsenal recently including HTML5, H.265/HEVC video codecs, letsencrypt.org SSL certifications, a slew of mobile diagnostic tools from Google and more.
How Does Quantox Make Your Design Ideas Work Anywhere, Anytime?
Utilizing these tools and many others, Quantox creates websites, mobile apps and offline marketing materials that give your brands a terrific uniform presence in a way that is completely agnostic to the choice of device or viewing methods your existing or potential clients prefer. To learn more, contact your Quantox agent and see some examples of what responsive design can actually do for your own bottom line. Let's Talk!
Some consulting companies will try to tell you that everything should always be outsourced (because it benefits them for you to outsource every task), but at Quantox our goal is to help you succeed so that we can be part of a long-term arrangement that earns you far more than we cost. That’s why we have created this simple checklist to help potential clients determine if a specific task is appropriate for outsourcing.
Project Complexity
The first factor is the complexity of the project or components you are considering. Small tasks that are not mission-critical are excellent opportunities for outsourcing because they can be cleared off your timeline and accomplished easily by a qualified third-party developer. Often, larger more complex tasks can be segmented into several smaller tasks, and an outsourced team of professionals can also carry out a significant group of those elements.Once you have established a strong degree of trust with a company, even the most complex modules can easily be outsourced unless they are a part of your own core competency.
Core Competency
Every company and employee of that company has a set of skills and talents that they bring to the table. If you are a terrific database designer, outsourcing database design will only serve to frustrate you because you would be asking someone else to do what you are best at accomplishing. The best use of outsourced labor is in areas where you have some familiarity but do not have a high degree of expertise.Quantox often works in a modular manner to provide what our clients need most while leaving the things they are best at to be done in-house as part of the overall timeline.
Milestones Matter!
Almost any large task can be segmented into smaller better-defined milestones. Outsourcing works well when you can monitor progress along the way and offer input at specified intervals. That allows you to steer the project toward your desired goals, maintain maximum efficiency, and the result is almost always a great product completed on time and under budget.The more well defined your timeline is, the more likely outsourcing is the right answer for you.
Leverage the Power Of Outsourcing with Quantox!
Getting great results from outsourcing projects to Quantox is as much a matter of setting achievable milestones ahead of time as anything else. That’s why we work diligently with you before any project begins so that we have a clear and concise set of deliverables, dates, and desires in mind right from the start. Let's Talk!
