What is website development?
Web development is the work involved in developing a Web site for the Internet (World Wide Web) or an intranet (a private network). Web development can range from developing a simple single static page of plain text to complex Web-based Internet applications (Web apps), electronic businesses, and social network services.
What comprises website development?
Web development includes many types of web content creation. Some examples include hand coding web pages in a text editor, building a website in a program like Dreamweaver, and updating a blog via a blogging website. In recent years, content management systems like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla have also become popular means of web development. These tools make it easy for anyone to create and edit their own website using a web-based interface.
I'm new to website development, where do I start?
While there are several methods of creating websites, there is often a trade-off between simplicity and customization. Therefore, most large businesses do not use content management systems, but instead have a dedicated Web development team that designs and maintains the company's website(s). Small organizations and individuals are more likely to choose a solution like WordPress that provides a basic website template and simplified editing tools.
What is the difference between website design and website development?
In essence, web design refers to both the aesthetic portion of the website and it’s usability. Web designers use various design programs such as Adobe Photoshop to create the layout and other visual elements of the website. Web development takes a website design and actually make a functioning website from it. Web developer use various design programs such as Adobe Photoshop to create the layout and other visual elements of the website.
What are the benefits of having an excellent and well-maintained website?
Companies want to streamline their internal departments and functions, operations, sales and project management, etc.
Companies want to take advantage of a web based application's flexibility and versatility, by moving away from the traditional desktop application platform to the web application platform.
Companies want to gain more clients or better service their current clients by offering convenient services and solutions online
Companies want to build new web applications to offer innovative services or solutions to online users and businesses.
What is website security?
It is an action or application which ensures that a website data are not available to cybercriminals and cannot in any way be exploited by hackers. In this sense, website security is an ongoing process and an essential part of managing a website.
Do I need website security for my site?
Absolutely, yes. Having a secure website is as important as your brand's online presence as having a website host. If a website is hacked and blacklisted, for example, it loses up to 98% of its traffic. Not having a secure website can be as bad as not having a website at all or even worse. Stolen data especially confidential ones can get you in trouble and besmirch your brand name.
What is a website application firewall?
By deploying a WAF in front of a web application, a shield is placed between the web application and the Internet. While a proxy server protects a client machine’s identity by using an intermediary, a WAF is a type of reverse-proxy, protecting the server from exposure by having clients pass through the WAF before reaching the server.
How does a website firewall work?
A WAF operates through a set of rules often called policies. These policies aim to protect against vulnerabilities in the application by filtering out malicious traffic. The value of a WAF comes in part from the speed and ease with which policy modification can be implemented, allowing for faster response to varying attack vectors; during a DDoS attack, rate limiting can be quickly implemented by modifying WAF policies.
Why is it important to have a website firewall?
A web application firewall monitors and filters traffic to and from your website, blocking bad actors while safe traffic proceeds normally. With a team of security researchers continuously updating virus definitions and threat profiles, you gain peace of mind that your protection remains up to date.
What is an SSL certificate?
Security Sockets Lock (SSL) is considered the backbone of security across the World Wide Web. As a backbone, it provides privacy, critical security and data integrity for both your websites and your users' personal information. It essentially protects any type of information as it travels across the world's computer networks.
Why is it important to have an SSL certificate?
The primary reason why SSL is used is to keep sensitive information sent across the Internet encrypted so that only the intended recipient can access it. This is important because the information you send on the Internet is passed from computer to computer to get to the destination server.
How can a website benefit me?
A website benefits you in a lot of ways. From making your brand known to communicating with your customers via your FAQ page and allows your leads and potential customers to view your products or services. Websites offer great returns of investment in terms of the digital marketing aspect, thus helping greatly start-up businesses.
What is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is the most popular online tracking and analysis software used today. At a very basic level it provides a lot of information about your website visitors and users, their origin and their behaviour so you can monitor, measure and improve your online presence.
Why would I need Google Analytics for my website?
Google Analytics can track all your multi channel online marketing activities, including some offline. If you understand and take action on the data, this will help make your website more visible and drive more revenue by improving your online presence.
What is required for mobile app development?
Mobile application development is the process of creating software applications that run on a mobile device, and a typical mobile application utilizes a network connection to work with remote computing resources. Hence, the mobile development process involves creating installable software bundles (code, binaries, assets, etc.) , implementing back-end services such as data access with an API, and testing the application on target devices.
Why should I consider investing in a mobile app development?
Having a website for your business is good, giving customers a place to visit for information about your products and services. However, investing in mobile app development will let you virtually put your business in their pocket. Mobile apps allow customers to access all they need about your business in one tap, anywhere and anytime.
How are web applications developed?
Web application development is the creation of application programs that reside on remote servers and are delivered to the user's device over the Internet. ... Front-end development for web applications is accomplished through client-side programming. Client refers to a computer application such as a web browser.
What are website applications?
Web Applications are dynamic web sites combined with server side programming which provide functionalities such as interacting with users, connecting to back-end databases, and generating results to browsers.
What is the life cycle of a web application?
Web Application Lifecycle is the process of developing a web application and involvement of the multiple teams that are engaged in the development process. Each organization may set forth its own unique style of operating. The most common models include SDLC (System Development Life Cycle) or Agile Software Development Model.
SDLC
SDLC is the traditional process of developing software or web applications by including research to identify and define the application requirements, information analysis, architectural design and specifications blueprint, team involvement, programming, testing and bug fixing, system testing, implementation and maintenance.
Agile Software
Agile Software / Web Application Development is the iterative development process and development process practices that focus on collaboration of people involved and provide a better procedure to allow revisions and evolution of web application requirements. Agile methodology includes research, analysis, project management, design, programming, implementation, frequent testing, adaptation and maintenance
What is web application development process?
Web Application Development Process organizes a practical procedure and approach in application development.
What is a mobile app?
A mobile application, most commonly referred to as an app, is a type of application software designed to run on a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet computer. Mobile applications frequently serve to provide users with similar services to those accessed on PCs.
What is the difference between native versus cross platform app development?
Native apps are developed exclusively for a specific platform. These apps are developed in a language compatible with the platform. Cross-platform apps are compatible with multiple platforms. Due to the market share of Android and iOS, most cross-platform apps are limited to these two operating systems. These apps are developed in HTML and CSS since these standard web technologies are platform independent.
How do I validate if I need a mobile app?
If your main target is to stand-out in terms of business marketing and accessibility among your customer, then building a mobile app should definitely be a go.
What is graphic design?
Graphic design is defined as “the art and practice of planning and projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual content.” In other terms, graphic design communicates certain ideas or messages in a visual way. These visuals can be as simple as a business logo, or as complex as page layouts on a website.
What are the types of graphic designs?
Website design involves creating engaging and intuitive web pages for users. This includes overall layout, color scheme and navigation.
User experience (UX) design is focused on ensuring a website or application is easy and satisfying to use. These designers emphasize value, usability, adoptability and desirability.
Motion graphics design—or animation—brings visual elements to life through special effects, TV shows, video games and movies.
Where is graphic design used?
You will find graphic design in company logos, printed materials like brochures, posters, signs, greeting cards, postcards, business cards, billboards and ads. Advances in technology have brought us the digital environment complete with websites, online ads, virtual brochures and presentations, and so very much more.
What tools does a graphic designer use to create designs?
Graphic designers use hand-illustrated designs as well as computer-aided designs thanks to a wide range of software with nearly endless digital design tools. The availability of software like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop have become staples of the graphic designer.
What is Microsoft Dynamics?
Dynamics 365 is a new, cloud-based business management platform from Microsoft. It has a suite of business applications that you can purchase licenses for separately, or in combination. Business apps available for Dynamics 365 include: sales, marketing, customer service, field service, project service automation, and a number of enterprise resource planning apps.
What is the difference between Dynamics AX and Dynamics 365?
Dynamics 365 is a product with combined CRM and ERP systems and includes a Dynamics AX suite. While Dynamics 365 and Dynamics AX are quite similar, Dynamics 365 is a web- and cloud-based system, whereas AX is mainly a desktop-based application, with some web and mobile add-ons.
Why should I choose Microsoft Dynamics 365 over other business management platforms?
Improved productivity
Microsoft Dynamics 365 seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Office, which means you can get more of your work done from within Outlook, Word and Excel (the Office programs you’re already familiar with). It's easy to share data and insight using Office 365 and Dynamics 365.
Superior Flexibility
You don't need to purchase a whole CRM system. This is good for start-ups because Dynamics 365 is cloud-based and its features are grouped into apps that match the functional areas of your business, you can start by just purchasing one or two single apps – whatever you need right now.
Embedded business intelligence
All the system’s applications offer built-in insights, workflow optimization and predictive analytics delivered via an easy to use web-based, mobile friendly user experience. Thanks to the cloud and machine learning, it connects you to what matters and helps turn insight into action.
Unmatched growth potential
No matter how large your business becomes, Dynamics 365 has what it takes, including a catalog of third-party apps designed to meet unusual or industry specific requirements. In short, it allows your business to grow and evolve without all the complexity, added cost and inflexibility you often run into with other systems.
What intelligence tools are available with Dynamics 365?
Microsoft has embedded very powerful intelligence tools that come as part of your license subscription: Power BI for analytical insights, Cortana Intelligence, which includes machine learning and artificial intelligence, and the IoT suite, which allows you to connect machinary and other assets to Dynamics 365 over the internet.
What is the common data model that’s frequently mentioned with Dynamics 365 and how does it work?
The common data model is the backbone of Dynamics 365, basically the cloud database that it’s built upon. Engineered based on Microsoft’s years of experience with its enterprise customers, this database includes hundreds of business applications, including Dynamics 365, Office 365 and more. To users like you, this means it will much cheaper, faster and easier to integrate and deploy new software in the future.
Is Office 365, Power BI, ClickDimensions or Adobe Marketing Cloud included with Dynamics 365?
Although they are designed to integrate with Dynamics 365, Office 365, Power BI, ClickDimensions and Adobe Marketing Cloud are all separate purchases.
What is web hosting?
It is a service of storing data that keeps websites up and running for users. Every single website that is online has a host server, and almost all use a web host to manage that storage. Not all web hosts provide the same level of quality, though. Uptime, and data speed and quantity of transfer are the best measures of a host’s success.
What is shared web hosting?
A shared web hosting service is an agreement whereby each user gets a certain portion of total available resources. Multiple domains are hosted by the same server, which means that the server’s capabilities are split between multiple domains.
What is a domain name?
A domain name is the actual name of a website, and every single website has a domain name. To obtain one, you need to purchase it through a domain registrar. Domains can cost anywhere from a few dollars a year to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, based on the contract and popularity of the domain.
What is bandwidth and how much do you need?
Bandwidth is the amount of data that is accessed while viewing a website. Every time a user views a website, data is transferred, and the measurement of that transfer is bandwidth. In general, images, audio files and video files are higher in bandwidth than text. Some web hosts offer unlimited bandwidth, and some place a cap on it.
What is disk space and how much do I need?
Disk space refers to the total space available for a user to store files on at any time. Files may be any type - HTML, images, videos – and at any single given time, the total file size may not exceed the disk space. How much disk space you need is dependent on what type of media and interactions you’ll be hosting through your site.
How will I know how many people visited my site?
You can find out how many people visited your site through a number of different third party resources, such as Google Analytics or StatCounter.
How do I obtain a dedicated email account?
When you purchase an account with a web host, one of the services you receive is a certain number of dedicated email accounts for any domain hosted on that account. Some web hosts give you one email account, or 20 email accounts, or unlimited email accounts.
How to buy a domain?
All you need to do to buy a domain name is to find a good domain name registrar.
Should I buy a domain?
Yes. They aren’t that expensive, and a good domain name can become the basis of a great brand.
What is a cloud service?
The term "cloud services" refers to a wide range of services delivered on demand to companies and customers over the internet. These services are designed to provide easy, affordable access to applications and resources, without the need for internal infrastructure or hardware. From checking email to collaborating on documents, most employees use cloud services throughout the workday, whether they’re aware of it or not.
How do cloud services work?
Cloud services are fully managed by cloud computing vendors and service providers. They’re made available to customers from the providers' servers, so there's no need for a company to host the applications on its own on-premises servers.
What are the benefits of using cloud services?
The ability to scale
Because the cloud service provider supplies all necessary infrastructure and software, there's no need for a company to invest in its own resources or allocate extra IT staff to manage the service. This, in turn, makes it easy for the business to scale the solution as user needs change—whether that means increasing the number of licenses to accommodate a growing workforce or expanding and enhancing the applications themselves.
Lowered costs
Many cloud services are provided on a monthly or annual subscription basis, eliminating the need to pay for on-premises software licenses. This allows organizations to access software, storage and other services without having to invest in the underlying infrastructure or handle maintenance and upgrades.
Increased flexibility
With cloud services, companies can procure services on an on-demand, as-needed basis. If and when there’s no longer a need for a particular application or platform, the business can simply cancel the subscription or shut down the service.
What are the types of cloud services?
There are three general types of cloud services: Software as a Service (SaaS) Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS).
Software as a Service
The most widely recognized type of cloud service is known as software as a service, or SaaS. This broad category encompasses a variety of services, such as file storage and backup, web-based email and project management tools. Examples are Dropbox, G Suite, Microsoft Office 365, Slack and Citrix Content Collaboration.
Infrastructure as a service
Provides the infrastructure that many cloud service providers need to manage SaaS tools—but don’t want to maintain themselves. It serves as the complete data center framework, eliminating the need for resource-intensive, on-site installations. Examples of IaaS are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Compute Engine.
Platform as a service
The cloud service model known as platform as a service, or PaaS, serves as a web-based environment where developers can build cloud apps. PaaS provides a database, operating system and programming language that organizations can use to develop cloud-based software, without having to maintain the underlying elements.
How are cloud services delivered?
They are delivered by public, private or hybrid (mix of both).
Public service
Services that a provider makes available to numerous customers over the web are referred to as public cloud services. The SaaS, IaaS and PaaS examples noted above are all providing public cloud-based services. The biggest benefit of using public cloud services is the ability to share resources at scale, allowing organizations to offer employees more capabilities than would likely be possible alone.
Private service
Services that a provider does not make generally available to corporate users or subscribers are referred to as private cloud services. With a private cloud services model, apps and data are made available through the organization’s own internal infrastructure. The platform and software serve one company alone, and are not made available to external users. Companies that work with highly sensitive data, such as those in the healthcare and banking industries, often use private clouds to leverage advanced security protocols and extend resources in a virtualized environment as needed.
Hybrid
A private cloud solution is combined with public cloud services. This arrangement is often used when an organization needs to store sensitive data in the private cloud, but wants employees to access apps and resources in the public cloud for day-to-day communication and collaboration. Proprietary software is used to enable communication between the cloud services, often through a single IT management console.
Do SaaS providers run on IaaS platforms?
Yes, many SaaS providers run on IaaS platforms. These providers maintain all storage servers and networking hardware, and may also offer load balancing, application firewalls and more.
What is the future of cloud services?
As the availability of cloud services continues to expand, so will their applications in the corporate world. Whether a company chooses to extend existing on-premises software deployments or move 100% to the cloud, these services will continue to simplify how organizations deliver mission-critical apps and data to the workforce. From content collaboration and access control for employees to app delivery management and virtual desktop solutions for IT, plus a vast array of options in between, cloud services are transforming how people work and the ways businesses operate.
What is a cloud?
A cloud refers to any type of software or service that isn't located on your personal computer or devices but instead runs on the internet. The files, images and videos that you save on cloud services are stored on the servers of third parties, companies such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage (cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. The term is generally used to describe data centres available to many users over the Internet. Large clouds, predominant today, often have functions distributed over multiple locations from central servers. If the connection to the user is relatively close, it may be designated an edge server.
What is Public versus Private Cloud?
A public cloud is a cloud service offered to multiple customers by a cloud provider. The term "public cloud" is used to differentiate between the original cloud model of services accessed over the Internet and the private cloud model. Public clouds include SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS services. A private cloud consists of cloud computing resources used exclusively by one business or organization. The private cloud can be physically located at your organization’s on-site datacenter, or it can be hosted by a third-party service provider.
What are the advantages of cloud computing?
It allows you to have reduced IT costs, continuity of business, collaboration and flexibility of work processes because essentially cloud computing lets you set up a virtual office providing accessibility and ease in connecting to your business anywhere and anytime.
Is the Cloud secure? And what type of security parameters are available?
Yes, Cloud generally employs a two-tiered security system. First, servers are usually located in warehouses that most workers don’t have access to. Secondly, the files stored on cloud servers are encrypted. This means that they are scrambled, which makes it far harder for cybercriminals to access.
Does being on the Cloud give me more flexibility and mobility?
Yes, definitely. A recognized advantage of Cloud is its flexibility in accessing data.
Do I need to have a cloud strategy?
Yes. The absence of a cloud strategy leaves these teams with little guidance for cloud service adoption leading to silos of technology, non-standard solution implementations, non-optimized costs, and greater exposure to risk from poorly configured environments.
What is data back-up?
A data backup is the result of copying or archiving files and folders for the purpose of being able to restore them in case of data loss.
What is Back-up as a Service (BaaS)?
Backup as a service (BaaS) is an approach to backing up data that involves purchasing backup and recovery services from an online data backup provider. Instead of performing backup with a centralized, on-premises IT department, BaaS connects systems to a private, public or hybrid cloud managed by the outside provider. Backup as a service is easier to manage than other offsite services. Instead of worrying about rotating and managing tapes or hard disks at an offsite location, data storage administrators can offload maintenance and management to the provider.
Why is it important to have your data backed up?
The purpose of the backup is to create a copy of data that can be recovered in the event of a primary data failure. Primary data failures can be the result of hardware or software failure, data corruption, or a human-caused event, such as a malicious attack (virus or malware), or accidental deletion of data. Backup copies allow data to be restored from an earlier point in time to help the business recover from an unplanned event.
Can I back up Office 365?
Yes. Even though Microsoft hosts the infrastructure, this doesn’t replace your responsibility to backup business-critical Office 365 data.
Why is it important to back-up Office 365?
It is important primarily because the protection Microsoft 365 affords does include back-up on sensitive and confidential cloud information stored on Microsoft 365.
How do I get started to move onto the Cloud?
Cloud migration is the process of moving data, applications or other business elements to a cloud computing environment. Since this is integral for business continuity, the first and indispensable step in cloud migration is planning and preparing for migration.
What do I need to do to prepare for the Cloud?
Determine the exact benefits your business will get upon migrating to Cloud. After this, then you're now ready to choose a cloud environment which suit best for your business. Lastly, you are now ready to migrate to a cloud system.
Will my business or organisation need to hire more staff to move to do this transition?
There is no need to hire more staff as it is sufficient that there is one Cloud Manager who shall oversee the entire process of migration and ensuring that your data is also backed up and secured pending the completion of the migration.
How do I get access to my data in the cloud?
You can access data in your cloud whenever, wherever as long as there is an internet connection. You wouldn't need to carry around a physical storage device or use the same computer to save and retrieve your information. With the right storage system, you could even allow other people to access the data, turning a personal project into a collaborative effort.
What is IT Managed Services?
Managed IT services allow businesses to delegate their IT operations to an expert third-party organization that specializes in handling these responsibilities. These third-party organizations, known as Managed Service Providers (MSPs), are responsible for the entirety or portions of a business’ IT systems, as agreed upon in a Service Level Agreement (SLA). IT equipment is typically procured by the client, and depending on the SLA, Managed Service Providers may provide round-the-clock monitoring, issue resolution and reporting, and more.
What is the difference between having my own in-house IT team versus having IT Managed Services?
The main difference is the cost. For small to medium scale business, who cannot readily have in house IT's, having this option of shared IT Managed Services is a deal breaker. Through outsourcing managed IT services, SMBs are able to reap the benefits of receiving IT support at a significantly reduced cost in comparison to creating a comparable team in-house. Additionally, MSPs can also offer a wealth of experience from actively managing multiple client accounts that in-house teams would not collectively have.
What types of services are offered with IT Managed Services?
The most common types of services with IT Managed Services include systems management, operations security, support delivery, data analytics and cloud management.
How can I contact my IT Managed Services Team?
Usually, providers offering IT Managed Services don't have fixed contracts so it will be easy on the customers, business owners in this case to opt out. These providers may be contacted through their contact details provided in their website, if any.
Can IT Managed Services help me set up my businesses/organisations IT environment?
Yes, provided that your systems are already cloud native or cloud ready.
What is the difference between break-fix services and IT Managed Services?
Break-fix services are contingent in nature which according to research have done more harm than good to businesses. In an IT Managed Service, a business owner can rest on the idea that there is continuity in his/ her business processes and all the essentials are not overlooked and managed properly.
