Tag: BUSINESS

Being the lifeblood of the worldwide commerce and economy, truck logistics management software definitely deserves a special mention in the world of software app development. Indeed, there are numerous logistics management tools for Uber-like apps for trucks to enrich your product with. Let’s find out more about innovative transportation management systems logistics apps that are created to connect shippers and customers, offering cost-effective capabilities.

A Basic Gasp at Logistics Management App

People dealing with modern logistics businesses demand a complete control, bank-level security and an array of specific industry-driven features to plan, control and execute a product’s flow. Therefore, any logistics and supply chain business software solution should offer robust supply chain management system, which can grow at a rapid speed. But, at the same time, the logistics management software should be consistent, lightweight, responsive, and easy to use. But how to combine them all in one single app? Simply put, that is the main issue logistics app development vendors have to deal with.

Below, we have hand-picked the must-have options to implement into a good on-demand delivery logistics app, which can offer you the ultimate access to all business aspects. This list will be useful both for the business owners looking for a company to outsource their logistics software and for a product development vendor dealing with the transportation industry.

So, let’s get started.  

A good Uber-like app for trucks, what is it like? Key features.

By embracing cutting-edge technologies and offering new services to keep up with their customers, a good Uber-like app (similar to the way Uber connects taxi drivers with passengers, or Uber Freight matches carrier with shippers), should bridge the gap between shippers and truckers, therefore, eliminate the need for a middleman. That’s the main idea of an Uber-like app for the transportation industry. However, in the long run, that is far more than this since the logistics business management systems solution any shipping company would want to install should be intuitive, responsive, feature-packed yet not too-overpacked.

Meanwhile, here are the key features to implement in your logistic management system app:

• A product/customer centered core. The key feature is definitely that a good logistics industry management software should be both product and users tailored. The app should take into account the concept of the on-demand service of matching the driver to the customer. For instance, if the company stores or transports perishable and fragile commodities, a customer needs an ability to indicate what temperature, humidity or pressure are needed for his cargo and to ensure that these requirements are supported.
• All-in-one app for truck logistics management software. The trucking industry app should greatly combine options for shippers and drivers and a powerful dashboard for admins.
• A robust and scalable management system. To achieve success, the software solution for the logistics industry should be robust and scalable at the same time, being able to instantly adjust and adapt business models. In other words, it should be able to grow as the network of available carriers and customers grow and what’s more, it should do this without any bugs or problems on its way. So, make sure that the next logistics software solution comes with the ability to receive and fulfill as many shipment orders as you want without any glitches.
• Real-time tracking capabilities. Modern software solutions in the logistics industry should offer real-time capabilities, including real-time inventory control and visibility, so that both the customers and the administrators can see everything in real time, without any delays. Time is money, keep this in mind.
• Push Notifications. It’s become the norm to notify the users about some changes or news via not only emails, but via the logistics industry app’s in-built push notifications.
• A wide choice of payment options + advanced financial management capabilities.  A powerful logistics app should come with multiple payment gateways, being suitable for different customers.  Meanwhile, make sure to add the comprehensive financial management capabilities, which you will need to grow a changing, complex business.
• Data security. Your customers have to rely on you; therefore, a good service must encrypt all the data it uses and gets. So, it should definitely come with numerous data security-related options integrated into your management system, not to mention several factor authentication, data encryption, privileged data sharing, account theft prevention into your product.
• Ease of use. Not all of your customers are that technology-savvy, so the software for logistics management should be intuitive, easy to use and to navigate.
• Interactive mapping. It’s possible to integrate Google Maps, Bing Maps and Yandex maps, as well as OpenStreet Map.
• Predictive analytics. Predictive analytics, when carefully designed and implemented can seriously help your business. It allows you to Identify all future outcomes based on the gathered data and offer the best results for your customers, based on their needs, preferences, mood or even the time of the day. Moreover, you will be able to recognize performance issues before they cause any problems.
• Compatibility and crossbrowserness. The cutting-edge logistics software should be running equally well on major browsers and devices.
• Seamless integration with third-party services. Since no software is perfect and complete, seamless integration with reliable third-party services lets you stay above your competitors.
• Advanced report capabilities. Adding powerful reporting capabilities to your logistics management solution will help you gain the most accurate insight on each part of your procurement process.
• Cloud-based structure. Storing all data offline is so 20-century, consider transforming all data to the cloud.
• Business processes automation. Business processes automation, including automated vendor-managed inventory management, becomes critical as it saves lots of time and money for all parts involved.

Needless to add, all of the listed above features are really essential part of any modern robust logistics-centered tracking software app. But they can bring even more value in perfect cooperation. For instance, by means of advanced analytics, you can determine the best time to ship your cargo to avoid leaving trailers unattended and you can save lots of time, both your’s and customers’ by automating all of your business processes. Makes sense, right?

Definitely, there might be lots of other capabilities your ultimate dispatch software should include. And if you do want to take your projects from average to amazing, enrich them with a robust logistic management software solution.

By the way, Unicrew can help you with that. We’ve completed a number of modern transportation logistics management apps. Have a look at our case studies for more info.

Key Takeaways

A good logistics software solution can seriously enrich your business, making both you and your customers happy. Not only that it helps to manage the product’s flow and lower expenses by means of embedded advanced analytics, but it helps you find other ways to grow, eliminating possible risks and pitfalls. Plus, when it comes to your customers, it helps them take advantage of novel functionality while feeling themselves special. So, to succeed in the long run, make sure to invest in a custom logistics management software, which includes the listed above options. Use this list as a reference not to miss any of important features.

Looking ahead, why not hire a team of sharp, entrepreneurial individuals who can deliver software solutions capable to redefine the movement of goods around the world? Unicrew has solid experience in custom trucking software development. We’ve created some really successful projects and are ready to provide custom Uber for trucking app development solutions for you. So, don’t waste a single minute of your business, claim your feature-packed truck dispatch software solution right away!

Often, business customers expect software development teams to be mind-readers, being able to create a product based on unspoken, malformed, or even unknown requirements. Wrong or missing requirements, in their turn, can bring wrong or incomplete products regardless of how good the subsequent phases initially were.

Ultimately, to deliver a top-notch product, any software development company definitely needs a detailed requirements document as it lays a foundation for software engineering activities. Therefore, it might be said that the proper software requirements engineering document is like a magic wand for any software development team and the customer.  

Fancy writing software requirements specification that will make your team and the customer fall in love with? We’ve got you covered. Use this guide to be able to write a well-crafted software requirements specifications document and to evaluate whether the written document is of good quality or it lacks some critical information.

But at first, let’s take a more in-depth look at development project specifications:

What are the specifications?

Typically, software requirements specifications (SRSs) are the written tech documents that offer the basic company’s understanding of a customer system’s requirements and dependencies before any actual design or development work. Indeed, an SRS should be developed during the first stages of any software development process. To put it simpler, the SRS for the software development project fully describes what the product should be capable of doing and how it will be expected to perform.

These are the main types of a software requirement specification document:

• Business
• Stakeholders
• Product, which can be:

Functional ( when it specifies a behavior/function, for instance, to show the name, free space, or format of the flash drive connected to the USB port.)

Non-functional (it describes how, how well or to what standard every particular feature should be provided. For instance, security and access requirements or the needed interfacing with users and other systems.)

• Quality

Wondering why is there any need it SRSs? Consider these two points:

• A software requirements specification acts as a two-way insurance policy that guarantees that both the customer and the software vendor clearly understand the required scope of work and needed functionality.
• Essentially, it also enables software developers to consider user requirements before the designing of the system commences, reducing the development effort in the long run.

How to write specifications?

By default, a software requirements specification includes functional and nonfunctional requirements, without any kind of design suggestions. There are nine most common themes to address when creating an SRS:

1. Interfaces
2. Functional Capabilities
3. Performance Levels
4. Data Structures/Elements
5. Safety
6. Reliability
7. Security/Privacy
8. Quality
9. Constraints and Limitations.

Software requirements specification should be devised in such a way that it’s pretty simple to write, review, and maintain them. By default, this kind of software document should be not only complete and accurate, but also efficient. Moreover, it should be 100% unambiguous. In other words, each of the requirements it possesses should have only one interpretation. Moreover, both the developer and the client should be able to easily understand it.

There are many different methods in requirement spec writing.  Cost and time are the key criteria when determining which method to use.  However, that is not all when it comes to a good software requirement document. As a matter of fact, developing a software requirements document is a long, time-consuming process. Below, you will see some solid practices on how to properly write a good SRS document for a software product, and how to properly gather and analyze the requirements the software project should include.

These are the main steps you have to do to have a good SPS at the end:

• Requirements elicitation
• Analysis of the requirements
• Validation
• Documentation

Elicitation

Do you know any important gathering techniques? They may vary depending on the situation and constraints, but using a combination of them to supplement each other will help in achieving complete requirements.

Most of the requirements documents elicitation consist of the following stages/methods:

1. Brainstorming
2. Document analysis and review of existing documentation
3. Focus groups
4. Interface analysis and external interface analysis
5. Interviews
6. Observation/job shadowing
7. Prototyping (storyboarding, navigation flow, paper prototyping and screen flows)
8. Requirements workshops
9. Surveys/questionnaires.

As a matter of fact, developing a software requirements document is a long, time-consuming process. Below, you will see some solid practices on how to properly write a good SRS document for a software product, and how to properly gather and analyze the requirements the software project should include.

Analysis

When it comes to specifications gathering and analysis, this process is rather tough as every specifications feature should be checked from all possible ways.  Just to the record, there are cases when different requirements have different terms to refer to the same object.

Another important thing to keep in mind upon gathering requirements is that a good SRS should be tolerant towards incompleteness and complexity. Pay attention to the ultimate features of the product, such as the type of software being developed and the approach used in its development.

Don’t assume that you understand everything, even if it does look apparent. A simple requirement, for instance, “create a blog” might mask all kinds of underlying assumptions, requirements. You need to clarify everything it might concern:

• On what framework it should run?
• What are the fields for a blog post?
• How are authors managed?
• Which features does it need? Maybe calendar or categories?
• Is there a need in the comments section?
• How are the posts displayed?
• How should it be optimized?

To tell you the truth, there are dozens of questions to ask before getting started with such a simple matter in terms of web development as a blog design.

And now, let’s check the most crucial steps you need to follow if you deal with spec requirements analyses.

Key steps to follow when analyzing software requirements product specification:

1. Determine what the software system has to do (detect all these features).
2. Identify requirements by questioning like, Why, What, Who, How etc.
3. Analyze how complex application would be and its impact on testing.
4. Convert the spec business requirements into architectural and design requirements.
5. Determine all things that you would need to test.
6. Prepare, distribute, and analyze surveys.
7. Determine the development lifecycle since the whole process of spec writing depends on this. For instance, projects using an iterative lifecycle include requirements development at every iteration whilst the agile methodology will need to perform requirements management on an ongoing basis.

Validation

Validation is a crucial stage for any requirements specification document. That is the stage when you need to check and validate all of the stated requirements for a software system. Ensure that it meets all specifications and fulfills its intended purpose.

In short, there are TWO main questions you should ask yourself at this stage:

1. Does the product do what it is supposed to?
2. Does the software meet all the requirements?

If yes, well done. If no, check what has gone wrong and think about the possible ways out. Once you’ve validated that the requirements specification paper satisfies needs and agreed upon expectation, proceed to documentation.

Documentation

There are special templates for requirements specification documents. Choose which one suits your project the best or create your own. By default, templates can help you document everything in a consistent and straightforward way.

In short, these are the key steps to follow:

• Create an SRS outline and choose the required template
• Make sure to insert a complete description of the software’s purpose and functionality in your spec.
• Finally, evaluate your SRS.

SRS document evaluation

There are some tips to evaluate any SRC document. By keeping them in mind, you will be able to check if the particular software requirements PDF document you’ve just got is a good one or whether there are some issues that can cause trouble.

Here are the key criteria to evaluate if the SRS document is clear and realistic:

• It accomplishes four major goals:
  • Provides feedback to the customer
  • Offers the problem division into component parts
  • Can be used as an input to the design specification
  • Is the parent document for testing and validation strategies.

• Every of its requirement is 100% unambiguous. No double meaning is allowed. Make sure everything is pretty straightforward.
• It can be easily modified. Yep, that’s a really important issue since the user requirements might change and therefore, a good SRC should be created with this in mind. So, make sure that it’s pretty easy to modify the changes, consistently maintaining the structure and style of the SRS.
• It is consistent. Ensure that the subsets of individual requirements defined do not in any way conflict with each other.
• It is atomic. The specification offers such a detailed division of its components, so it’s impossible to separate the existing division into components.
• It is prioritized. Every requirement should be prioritized, so that the team knows what is of first priority and what can be done later.

The Bottom Line

Software requirements specification outlines the practical usage of the particular product or service, condition or capability to which a system conforms. By default, an SRS document is created when entire requirements are elicited and analyzed. There are many different methods in requirement spec writing. Poor requirements might have a crucial impact on the end results of systems or projects. Therefore, to ensure that your project has the proper SRS document, use this guide. It covers some tried-and-true techniques for creating good requirements for a software product and for evaluating the quality of the SRC.  

Think it’s high time for you to switch to a great customer relationship management system to improve your business process? But don’t know how to choose the proper one and the technical partner who can help you with that? This CRM Customisation Guide has got you covered.

In short, the structure of this CRM guide is as follows:

What Is Customisation And What Are The Ways To Customize?

CRM or customer relationship management system is a great option for any modern business. When it comes to CRM customization, it means that you simply add new or altering existing CRM features to make it a better fit for the needs of every certain business. Instead of using numerous SaaS systems for every activity, you have a completely customized CRM solution.

There are different ways to customize, here are three most typical ones: 

1. Custom table grids: you adjust the table to your specific needs. For instance, you can move, reorder, delete, and manage column titles. Choose which columns go first, which you don’t need, determine how to display the dropdown menu.
2. Custom fields: you can add custom fields to the existing CRM software solution, to gather additional important information that default forms fail to allow.
3. Advanced custom settings: some specific features which are developed from scratch and added to the existing CRM system to meet your specific requirements. These may include custom dashboard widgets, custom menus, form layouts, opportunity lines, and etc. You can also create or modify workflows to run in accordance with the way your business works. In most cases, advanced custom settings include managing different API integrations.

Before we go further, interesting is to mention that you can meet both customiSe and customiZe and these words are the same term meaning the same. The only difference is that a word “customise” is used in a British way of spelling whilst Americans prefer “customize”.

Why Should You Consider Using A Customized CRM?

It’s for sure that you can hardly find two businesses that would have identical workflows or operations. Companies may use similar options, still, one business might need specific features tailored to its ultimate needs. So, you might want to create new functionality to help you efficiently explore the market, change your user interface and navigation methods to improve your customer relationships management. That’s why to take maximum the CRM has to offer, it should be either developed from scratch or fully customised. Of course, it’s great to have your solution developed from scratch, but not always it’s the best way to go. Intrigued, right? Consider the following: there are many benefits expert CRM customization has to offer, not to mention:

• It does not require a lot of investments
• It’s pretty fast to implement
• It caters to thousands of customers across a wide range of industries
• It can save you lots of human and time resources in the long run.

Basically, these are the most widespread cases when you need to customize the CRM system:

• You find a good CRM system, but it lacks some of the features you business would benefit from. For instance, you want to be able to track leads and engage proactively with your customers.
• You want to achieve a more closely fit with your organization’s industry
• You have a web accounting platform, but you need to generate quotes and place orders on the go.
• You need to better understand your customers, identify inactive clients and find out the reasons why they have become inactive.
• You want to automate the major everyday activities of your business.
• You want to improve your user engagement by personalizing and targeting messages and implementing several data distribution channels.
• You want to be able to set different privileges for your team members. Such security roles would help you manage your business in a more effective and secure manner.
• Your business needs extra options to improve data management.

Thus, to get many benefits which may help you win against your competitors, opt for a customised product. By the way, you can implement many customizations without developer agencies by using tools that are part of the particular service. There are many famous services which offer you such a possibility and now, we will reveal them.   

The Big Names In The CRM World

Today, there are a bunch of great customer relationship management systems available. When it comes to the big names in the CRM world, we have to mention the following ones: Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Infusionsoft, HubSpot, Salesforce, ProsperWorks, FreeAgent CRM, and Base CRM.

Every of these services is unique in its ways, but all of them offer numerous customization options and come with the inbuilt optimisation tools. Moreover, they configure business demands, and have a proven experience in the area. Plus, every of the mentioned above solutions can be applicable to multiple industries.

What Should Any Good Customized CRM System Offer?

By default, any CRM platform helps businesses manage their workflows and control expenses. Plus, major CRM capabilities help businesses manage interactions with new and existing customers. However, there are many other technology features a good customised CRM solution can offer. Wondering which ones?

In general, any good customized CRM system does the following:

• Places the customer at the core of the company and its concerns.
• Keeps all data easily manageable, centralized, securely archived and linked to each other in an intuitive way.
• Assists sales, marketing, customer service technicians and admin personnel to become more efficient in their everyday activities.
• Retains customers by giving them a higher quality of service that is uniquely adapted to their needs.
• Helps you configure business rules and optimise your business process flows, setting all your activities and preferences to the way you need.

So, now you agree with us that you need a customised software. Wondering how to customise and who can help? Let’s find out more about that.

How To Customise And Avoid Common Mistakes?

The process is pretty simple and straightforward: you browse the reputable CRM solutions, check their reviews and CRM features, and finally find the one that fits your business the most. Once you’ve done that, you need to decide whether you want to customise by your own or address a professional development company. If you need the basic CRM features, for instance, marketing automation, consider choosing the company from the big list of best SRM systems. But if you decide to customise crm on your own, make sure you don’t make the common CRM customization mistakes.

Common Mistakes with CRM Customization:

• Your custom software is too complex and powerful: make sure that the solution you have meets all your business requirements, but doesn’t seriously overgo them. In this case, a too complex or a too powerful system will bring more harm than use as it will significantly lower your working processes.
• You have too many checkboxes: that can be too time-consuming as you will need to always put the
• Your system doesn’t show the parent fields in a child table: your employers will need to spend extra time on finding the parent fields upon adding the tables.

There are other common CRM mistakes you should try to avoid, so make sure to look for them before you decide to customize the CRM on your own.

Should you need something more specific and advanced, find a reputable IT partner and an expert CRM implementation. Luckily, there are many services which can help you with the SRM system customisation, for instance, Unicrew. We can customise your existing platform or create custom software solutions from scratch. Plus, we also offer CRM support services. No matter which industry you are involved in, we can deliver you the top-notch CRM software solution that will cater to the needs of your business.

The Bottom Line

There are dozens of reasons why you might want to customise your CRM software, but most likely you just want to find a solution that will help your business easily and effectively manage your workflows and sales cycle, keeping you ahead of competitors. And you have two ways to go: to find and use an already existing CRM customisable platform and customise it on your own or to ask a custom software development company to help you customize your business software.

What should I do to stimulate the business growth? With dozens of ready-to-use management software solutions out there, why should I opt for a bespoke business operations software? And how to find out that it’s the right time for my business to start thinking about the business operations software? How can business operations software streamline all of my website business operations and improve my business performance?

These are the most typical questions business owners ask themselves on a regular basis, right? Let’s try to find answers to all of them.

Basically, a good custom software platform is tend to improve your business operations and it saves time and money in the long run. We all know that. But, a bespoke business platform also takes time and money to be developed in the short run. So, how to find that you need a custom-made business solution and are there any bespoke solutions advantages apart from just cost savings?

We will check the main advantages a customer-centric software solution brings and you will be able to determine whether you need it for your business.

In short, a bespoke business operations software brings the following 7 advantages to your technology business:

1. Saves time and money by automating multiple business operations which usually require hours of work: Surprisingly, but that’s a fact: whilst it takes time and money to be developed, it brings time and money savings. You can optimize your business resources in a great way: your team members will spend fewer time on routine tasks, instead, all your business processes will be optimized and automated.
2. Keeps track of the day-to-day operations of your business: all your business management operations are managed and controlled within one platform. No more switching from one channel to another. You can keep, check, review and analyze all your documents and business important data within one platform.
3. Improves business operations: all operations and updated, optimized and always run without errors.
4. Improves Your Business’ Quality: you can now focus more on quality control rather than daily operations and activities. You can easily identify and correct errors and deficiencies, eliminate pitfalls and reduce risks.
5. Lives space for further development: by default, any bespoke software development team takes into consideration the future needs of your business, ensuring the bespoke software solution you get is sustainable and able to evolve with your needs over time.
6. Makes your customers happier: a customer-tailored software product is not only robust and straightforward, but also intuitive, user-friendly, and of course, effective.
7. Brings more profit and adds value: your custom software takes into account all of your business requirements and offers great customer experiences, and you have more happy customers, which lead to returning customers and novel customers. And therefore, due to the proper development process of your ultimate software product, you have the solution that adds value to your product and brings more profit.

The Bottom Line

With millions of software applications out there to stay competitive in our digital world you have to turn to custom software or, in other words, bespoke solutions. By default, bespoke solutions can bring at least seven ways to improve any business management system. The key advantages of bespoke software are that it brings cost and money savings to all of your projects, satisfies all your specific business requirements, helps you control and examine your day-to-day operations, and makes your customers happy, providing you with more profit and ways to grow. But to benefit at full, don’t forget that you need an experienced custom software development company. It’s crucial to find a great team of software developers, such as Unicrew that can deliver a top-notch software package for your ultimate business. We’ve already developed a lot of  software applications, both web based and desktop, and we can provide you with the shelf software that will make your business processes more transparent yet effective.

So, if you want to improve business operations and are at the moment looking for a bespoke software solutions provider, our application development company is here to help you. We’ve got the needed skills and resources to make your future product important to your customers.

P.S. If you are worrying when it’s the right time to opt for the bespoke software solutions, here’s an answer – right now. While you are just considering the possibility of turning to a bespoke software solution, your competitors are already taking advantage of these 7 benefits listed above.

The need for optimizing for the mobile-first index in Google grows apparent from day to day as more and more people use mobile devices to browse the Internet. That is why when it comes to having a decent ranking factor, we can’t stress enough to our customers the importance of having a beautiful mobile friendly website with a responsive design. Wondering which impact does that the mobile-first index have on your app?

Undeniably, with the Google’s mobile-first index, to remain competitive within Google search engine, your internet resource has to be ready for mobile-first indexing. So, do you need to make some serious changes to your site to accommodate the new ways customers are engaging with your online business? Of course, from the first glance, it’s easy to get distracted with everything mobile-first index features. But don’t panic, this post will teach you how to prepare your business for that.

In short, in this article, we will cover the following: 

So, let’s dive in. 

What Is “Mobile-First Indexing”?

Mobile-first indexing means that the mobile content is indexed and used for showing listings to both desktop and mobile users. To put it simpler, Google uses the mobile version of the web as the primary search engine index. So, we have to admit that mobile rankings do matter. Surprisingly, but it’s a fact: today a smooth mobile experience is critical even for desktop sites.  

How Will Your Business Benefit From “Mobile-First Indexing”?

In fact, being in the Google’s mobile-first index will bring a huge number of advantages to your business, with the most important ones: 

• You are shown first in the mobile search results: your mobile pages site is shown prior to those ones, which are not in the mobile-first index.
• Increased traffic: the bigger numbers of people see your service, the greater traffic you may count on.
• Increased time on page: if your site is well optimized and a fun to use, your customers will likely to spend more time on it.
• The reduced bounce rate of both web and mobile users: responsive mobile sites deliver an optimized browsing experience and a two-for-one value. Indeed, since the design of the sites with a great, responsive web design has been changed to perfectly fit the size of the mobile user’s screen, such sites do rank well on both mobile and desktop.  So, users adore your site, no matter whether they are visiting it via mobile device or a Mac.
• Boost on sales: the more happy customers you’ve got, the bigger sales you might count on.
• It might be said without exaggeration, if your website is not ready for mobile-first index, remember: another potential customer giving money to your progressive web competitor.
• Mobile-first indexing: How to find out whether your site is in?
• To check if your mobile app or a desktop version app is now in the Google mobile first index, you will need to do several things, not to mention:
• First of all, scan your internet resource for flaws. Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test, for instance, will help you reveal all of your site’s red flags for concern. If your mobile and desktop versions are green, it’s ok. If any of them is red, consider optimizing it.
• Second, have a look at your log files. If you see that there is an increase in smartphone Googlebot activity, your product is in.
• Mobile-first index: How to implement and what should your technical team know?
• Getting your websites ready for the mobile-first index is not that easy. There are several things your team should do to rank well on Google with the mobile-first index.

Mobile-First Index: How To Implement And What Should Your Technical Team Know?

Unicrew has handpicked the basic steps for your technical team to follow:

1. Get started with performing Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and checking Google’s recommendations on how to improve your site.
2. Get all of your content ready for mobile viewing. Just for the record, the Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test is a great developers tool, which can also help you visualize what your mobile version of the site looks like and what your customers view.
3. Add only relevant (related to your product) high quality content to your site and make sure that you have the same content on a page-by-page basis from your desktop to your mobile site.
4. Ensure your internet resource has a responsive web design. If not, consider switching over to a responsive theme. Luckily, today, there are numerous open source responsive themes for popular CMS, such as WordPress, for example. You can also ask for professional Unicrew custom development help. We will find the best suiting theme for your business and will help you transfer everything from your irresponsive site.
5. Structure all your data in a beautiful, comprehensive way. Ensure that metadata is present on both versions of the site and your site’s mobile content and desktop content is the same and the URLs within the structured data are updated to your mobile version on the mobile pages. 
6. Improve the mobile page load speeds. Currently, the page load speed should be 1-2 seconds (yes, the lower, the better). Note that even when some of your mobile pages fail to load fast due to heavy graphics, you should make them speed optimized as possible.
7. Eliminate Flash. Instead of Flash, which takes a lot of time to render, consider using HTML5 and JavaScript.
8. Find a good hosting. Indeed, it’s critical to make sure that you have a decent hosting provider who can easily cope with the potentially increased crawl rate.

The Bottom Line

Anyway, to gain a competitive advantage among modern technology businesses, applying “mobile-first indexing” techniques to your internet service, whether it’s a mobile-friendly site or a desktop app, is of paramount importance. So, make sure that your application is in the Google mobile first index. Should your ultimate site already have a responsive design, you just need to focus on your user experience. And we kindly remind you, Unicrew is a great customer-centric application development company, which can deliver A-level apps which will be ready for the mobile-first index regardless of the version of your site.

Marketing automation software handles routine marketing tasks automatically: sending emails, nurturing leads, managing social media activity, and tracking customer behavior across channels. All-in-one platforms combine these capabilities in a single tool, replacing multiple disconnected subscriptions. About 76% of businesses now use some form of marketing automation, and the average ROI reaches 544% over three years.

This article covers what marketing automation software is, how the leading platforms compare, the key benefits it delivers, the pitfalls to watch for, and when a custom-built solution makes more sense than an off-the-shelf platform.

What is Marketing Automation Software?

Marketing automation software is a category of tool that automates repetitive marketing activities: email campaigns, lead scoring, follow-up sequences, social media posting, audience segmentation, and customer behavior tracking. Rather than executing each task manually, the software works from triggers and rules. For example, when someone downloads a resource, the system sends a follow-up email automatically and alerts a sales rep when the lead reaches a qualifying score.

All-in-one marketing automation takes this further by consolidating multiple marketing functions into a single platform. Instead of using separate tools for email, CRM, analytics, and campaign management, an all-in-one solution handles them from one interface with all data in one place. This is particularly valuable for teams that need a unified view of customer behavior across channels without the overhead of integrating and maintaining multiple tools.

Marketing Automation Software Comparison

The marketing automation market has grown to $6.6 billion globally and is projected to reach $15.58 billion by 2030, reflecting how central these tools have become to modern marketing operations. Today there are dozens of both open-source and paid platforms available. Open-source solutions typically offer a defined set of basic features, while paid platforms include deeper customization, integrations, and enterprise-grade functionality.

Among the most widely used platforms are HubSpot (strong CRM integration, well-suited for teams of all sizes), Marketo by Adobe (enterprise-grade, built for complex B2B lead management), ActiveCampaign (known for its visual automation builder and multi-channel reach including email, SMS, and site messages), Brevo (an affordable entry point combining email, SMS, and CRM), and Salesforce Marketing Cloud (enterprise scale with deep data and AI capabilities).

If no off-the-shelf platform fits your workflow, integration requirements, or industry, a custom-built marketing automation tool is worth exploring. A custom solution can be integrated with your existing systems and built around your specific processes, rather than requiring you to adapt your processes to a platform’s constraints.

Key Benefits of Marketing Automation Software

Businesses that adopt marketing automation report a 77% increase in conversions and an 80% rise in lead volume on average. Here are the five core benefits driving those results.

Enhanced Productivity

Automation handles the repetitive work: scheduling emails, posting content, updating records, and triggering follow-ups. This frees your team for higher-value tasks. Businesses using automation report a 14.5% increase in sales productivity and a 12.2% reduction in marketing overhead, allowing the same team to run significantly more campaigns simultaneously.

Consolidated Data and Analytics

An all-in-one platform creates a single source for campaign reports, analytics, social media engagement, lead tracking, and customer behavior data. Instead of pulling data from five separate tools and reconciling it manually, your team can see everything in one place and make data-driven decisions faster, with no gaps from failed integrations.

Time Savings Across Campaigns

Automation lets you plan and launch multiple campaigns simultaneously: email sequences, social media posts, retargeting ads, and SMS campaigns can all run in parallel without additional headcount. Responding to leads within five minutes instead of five hours can increase conversion rates by 30% or more, and automation is what makes that response time achievable at scale.

Accurate Customer Relationship Management

Modern all-in-one platforms track contact behavior across every channel and update records automatically. Your CRM stays current without manual data entry, your sales team always knows where a lead stands, and messaging can be personalized based on actual behavior. Companies using automation in their sales funnels see 20% higher customer retention as a result.

Cost Efficiency at Scale

Consolidating multiple point solutions into one platform reduces both software spend and the overhead of managing integrations between them. The average company attributes a 34% revenue boost to marketing automation, and the average ROI reaches $5.44 for every $1 invested over three years. The efficiency gains compound as the volume of campaigns, contacts, and channels grows.

Potential Pitfalls to Watch For

Marketing automation delivers real results, but it introduces real challenges too. Understanding these before selecting a platform prevents common and costly mistakes.

Complexity of Setup

Even the best platforms have a learning curve. Setting up too many automated campaigns without a clear strategy creates overlapping messages, inconsistent customer experiences, and reporting that is hard to interpret. Automation amplifies whatever process it runs on: a well-designed funnel becomes more effective; a poorly designed one becomes a faster way to frustrate prospects.

Time Investment Required

Marketing automation is not set-and-forget. Building effective workflows, maintaining contact lists, monitoring performance, and adjusting campaigns requires ongoing attention. The initial setup phase can take weeks for a platform of any complexity. Teams that underestimate this investment end up with automations that fire incorrectly or go stale without anyone noticing.

Cost of Off-the-Shelf Platforms

Enterprise marketing automation platforms carry significant licensing costs, and pricing typically scales with contact count and feature tier. It is common to end up paying for functionality you do not use, or to discover that the features you actually need require a more expensive plan than you initially budgeted for.

The Need for Customization

Off-the-shelf platforms are built for general use cases. If your business has specific API integration requirements, unusual data structures, or industry-specific workflows, you will hit the limits of what a standard platform can do. This is the point where many businesses either accept compromise or explore building a custom solution.

Off-the-Shelf vs. Custom Marketing Automation

The right choice depends on your situation. Most businesses do well starting with an established platform. HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, and Brevo offer strong capabilities at manageable cost and are up and running quickly. For standard marketing workflows, they cover the majority of use cases without the complexity of a custom build.

Custom marketing automation becomes the better option when you need deep integration with proprietary systems, when recurring licensing costs become prohibitive at your scale, or when your workflow is specific enough that every major platform requires significant workarounds. A well-built custom solution costs more upfront but is built around your exact processes, integrates cleanly with your existing stack, and removes ongoing licensing overhead. If you have been running into the limits of off-the-shelf tools, that is usually the clearest signal that a custom build is worth exploring.

If you are considering a custom marketing automation platform, get in touch with unicrew. We design and build tailored software solutions that fit specific workflows and integration requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is marketing automation software and what does it do?

Marketing automation software automatically executes marketing tasks based on triggers and predefined rules: sending emails, scoring leads, segmenting audiences, posting to social media, and tracking customer behavior. All-in-one platforms combine these functions in a single tool with unified data and reporting, reducing the need for multiple separate subscriptions and manual data reconciliation.

What is the ROI of marketing automation?

On average, businesses see $5.44 in revenue for every $1 invested in marketing automation over three years, representing a 544% return. Most companies recoup their investment in under six months. Businesses using automation also report an 80% increase in lead volume and a 77% increase in conversion rates on average.

What are the most widely used marketing automation platforms?

The most widely used platforms in 2026 are HubSpot, Marketo (Adobe), ActiveCampaign, Brevo, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud. HubSpot and ActiveCampaign are strong choices for small and mid-size businesses; Marketo and Salesforce serve enterprise needs. The best choice depends on your team size, budget, existing stack, and integration requirements.

When does a custom marketing automation solution make more sense than an off-the-shelf platform?

A custom solution is worth considering when your business has integration requirements that standard platforms cannot meet, when recurring licensing costs become prohibitive at scale, or when your marketing workflows are specific enough that every major platform requires significant workarounds. Custom solutions cost more upfront but eliminate ongoing licensing fees and are built around your exact processes rather than the other way around.

Sources

• Backlinko: “15 Key Marketing Automation Statistics for 2026”
• Thunderbit: “Marketing Automation in 2026: 45 Stats and Insights That Drive ROI”
• Emarsys: “13 Marketing Automation Statistics to Empower Your 2026 Strategy”
• HubSpot: “What is Marketing Automation?”