Firms change tack to check high IT costs

The cost that companies incur to digitise their operations is falling as more software developers shift to a software language that runs on both Android, desktop and iOS helping to reduce IT costs. Flutter development language allows developers to build one software that operates on both android phones, web and iOS meaning that businesses do not need to hire several IT people to achieve a task that can be done by just a few hires. According to Austin Gwa, a software developer at Megawholesalers Ltd, flutter helps one build everything at once and saves a lot of costs instead of having to build the same things twice for Android and iOS. A recent study by PWC shows that most companies on the continent are increasing their IT budgets to digitise their operations and avoid the impact of a global pandemic. Most businesses now have to invest in some of IT framework or online markeing, it could be outsourcing or by having internal developers and online marketers. Other cross platform development frameworks include React Native, Cordova, Ionic, Xamarin, Unity, PhoneGap, Corona and many others. Traditionally, IT departments would have to hire both android and iOS developers separately or hire expensive fullstack developers who can work on both platforms. Shift their operations These means that small companies can easily shift their operations online by incurring a small budget for digitisation. For instance, building both iOS and android would cost companies as much as Sh2.5 million. But now with just Sh200,000 or even half of that an SME can build a mobile application that can serve both Android and iOS customers. Even though Android customers are more than iOS customers, the latter tend to have a higher spending power hence the need to have both apps. The Covid-19 pandemic is forcing business of all types to move online by digitising operations. Even manufacturers are moving online to save costs and reach their customers. Work from home is also seeing companies cut costs by keeping most of their workers at home which calls for investment in IT resources. Flutter allows software engineers to do rapid iterations on software and also ensures that new updates propagate quickly. Free and open source “Flutter is Google’s SDK for crafting beautiful, fast user experiences for mobile, web, and desktop from a single codebase. Flutter works with existing code, is used by developers and organisations around the world, and is free and open source,” said Github, Microsoft owned software development environment. Kenya has one of the fastest growing developer ecosystem on the continent alongside Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria and Morocco according to Github. Microsoft is investing over $100 million to open its first development centers on the continent and was expected to employ 100 full-time African developers by 2019 and grow its developer pool to 500 by 2023. Notably, rapid growth in developer contributions is happening outside countries renowned for their large developer communities.

Firms change tack to check high IT costs

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