Atlantic Business Technologies, Inc.

Category: Development

Here, you’ll find insights on programming languages, frameworks, and techniques that shape the web and software landscape. Whether you’re a developer looking to refine your skills or simply curious about how things work behind the scenes, this space offers practical knowledge and thoughtful perspectives.

  • Google cares about site speed, and you should too! 

    Building a high-performance website starts with site planning and architecture. Unfortunately, for many development projects, site speed is overlooked because the responsibility spans across different roles and page speed wasn’t always a Google quality standard.

    As of July 2018, Google announced a new ranking algorithm known as “The Speed Update” where Google will look at how fast your mobile pages are and use that as a ranking factor.  Even though this update focused on mobile experiences, if history is any indicator, the expectation will extend to desktop experiences as well.

    While site speed should be baked into an entire development project, you may need to find ways to retroactively fix it.

    Why do you need to fix this immediately?

    As Ricky Bobby says, “if you ain’t first you’re last.”

    Would you rather be proactive or reactive? The former gives you a competitive advantage, and it’s one we recommend. Google rewards sites that apply best practices when it comes to site development.

    Ignoring site speed is becoming more hurtful than ever. First of all, your users expect your site to load quickly. Site performance plays a major role in engaging and retaining users. If you run your business on the web, performance is crucial. If you can’t retain your users then they won’t convert, which ultimately has a negative impact on your revenue.

    Don’t take our word for it. Take a look at what Google has to say about site speed and how poor site performance impacts paid and organic visibility.

    Fast websites generate more revenue.

    Google Ads Impact

    According to Google studies, sites that load within 5 seconds vs 19 seconds:

    • Drive double the mobile revenue. Mobile users are impatient! They are much more likely to convert on a fast page
    • Gain 25% in ad viewability. Google takes your landing pages into consideration; they are more likely to serve your ads if your page speed is fast.
    • Have 60% more page views, increasing retargeting opportunities. If your website loads quickly, people are more likely to stay on your website and browse around.

    Google Organic Impact

    • 1 second delay in load time loses 11% pageviews. Fast websites get more organic entrances and keep users on the site longer.
    • July 2018, Google announced page speed will be taken into account for their ranking algorithm. And page speed is only gaining importance as user expectations increase.
    • 3 Marketing insight leaders emphasized the importance of page speed. Hubspot, Backlinko, and Optinmonster, listed site speed as a top-ranking factor for Google.

    UX & Conversion Rate Impact

    As organic rankings and engaging ads bring traffic to your website, page speed will facilitate conversions by enhancing UX.

    • 1 second delay in load times loses 7% of conversions.
    • 53% of mobile ad clicks immediately exited when load times exceeded 3 seconds.
    • 47% of consumers expect a page to load in 2 seconds or less.
    • As page speed increases from 1 to 5 seconds, the probability of bounce increases by 90%.

    Atlantic BT’s Proven Quick Wins

    1. Reduce the number of third-party scripts
    2. Caching and minification
    3. Optimize images
    4. Lazy load images
    5. Serve content from a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
    6. Remedy redirect chains

    Need help with page speed?

    If you’re interested in learning more about the impact of page speed and see how you can fix it, we’re here to help. We’ve brought many websites up to speed, including our own! Learn more about our Site Speed Quickstart, or reach out for a free consultation.

  • Machine Learning as a Service: It doesn’t have to be complicated.

    As I was watching the AWS re:Invent 2019 keynote addresses and product releases, I was struck by a realization, namely, that machine learning isn’t some science fiction future yet to come – it’s already here, if you know where to look and how to use it.

    Machine Learning is increasingly available, but some approaches are easier than others.

    Our clients are starting to ask more and more about implementing machine learning into the solutions we provide for them. They do this because they have heard of the increasing ability of machine learning to enable automation of tasks that, until recently, could only be performed by human intelligence. The cost and time required for humans to perform these tasks meant they were often too expensive or couldn’t be offered in real-time – for example, document translation services.

    What you may not know is that many services leveraging machine learning (ML for short) are already available. For example, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is continually developing and expanding a broad range of technology services – we watch their annual re:Invent conferences very carefully to learn more about their new offerings. In fact, AWS re:Invent 2019 introduced or expanded twenty ML based services!

    We categorize ML solutions into two models.

    I like to think of these services in two broad categories: “Ready-to-Use” and “Build-Your-Own” models. Why do I make this distinction? It comes down to what machine learning involves.

    Think about what “learning” entails for a human: years of experience, from crawling to graduate school; feedback in forms ranging from trial-and-error to peer review; and the sheer repetition involved to internalize what we learn.

    The process with machines is fundamentally the same. It takes large amounts of raw data, intense processing, and guidance to develop the algorithms. For humans, this takes years of full-time processing by the human brain. For machines, the effort required is comparable – developing effective machine learning is no small task!

    For this reason, the ready-to-use models are the ones that excite me the most. In these cases, the data gathering, algorithm development, and validation have all been done for you.

    Think of all the login captcha images you’ve identified over the years. You were “training” a machine learning algorithm.

    Which Machine Learning services are easy to implement?

    Being an AWS Certified Partner, we use many of the ML enabled services from Amazon Web Services. These are just a few:

    • Comprehend – topic, sentiment, and relationship analysis of text.
    • Transcribe – automatically convert speech to text.
    • Translate – natural and accurate language translation.
    • Polly – turn text into lifelike speech.

    As you can see from these examples, these are broadly applicable services that could be developed from widely available data sources and input for training the models. Being broadly applicable, there’s a good chance one of these could be useful for your business. Fortunately, these services are ready to use and integrate in your applications.

    If you have a very specific task for a limited use case, you will likely need to use the Build-Your-Own model. As with building anything, you need the appropriate tools and techniques. Amazon Sagemaker is a tool designed for just that purpose. Frankly, building your own ML model is a complex topic beyond the scope of this post.

    If you would like to learn more about how to leverage the Ready-to-Use services, watch for my next two posts in this series revolving around these topics:

    Ready to learn more?

    If you’re interested in learning more about how you can apply machine learning, reach out for a consultation to get started.

  • How Much Does it Cost to Build & Maintain a Web Application?

    How much does a custom web application cost to build and host? If you are reading this article you are probably trying to figure out if the application you need can be built at an affordable cost. Use this guide as a web application cost calculator. While there are many variables that can impact cost, the key factors generally fall into three categories: 1) size and complexity, 2) refinements and constraints, and 3) hosting and maintenance. 

    Start with the basics: how to determine size and complexity.

    To determine the size and complexity of your application we need to first define what it’s going to do. The specifications for modern software are often defined by ‘user stories’. These user stories are a simple way to describe discrete functionalities your application should provide, from an end-user perspective, and are often used by developers to define and estimate the effort required to build an application. 

    Let’s use Facebook as an example of a web-based application that most people are familiar with. While Facebook may seem relatively simple to use, it is actually a massive web application with many different functionalities for different users. Describing it in user stories would take a very long time, however, if we stick to its most basic functionality we can use it as a good example. Here are some examples of web-based user stories:

    • As a user, I need to register and create a profile
    • As a user, I need to verify my email address to complete my registration
    • As a user, I need to find friends to connect with
    • As a user, I need to request to connect with friends I find
    • As a user, I need to add pictures to my timeline
    • As a user, I need to post status updates to my timeline
    • As a user, I need to browse my feed from other friends
    • As a user, I need to be able to react (like, love, hate, cry, etc) to posts on my feed
    • As a user, I need to be able to comment on posts on my feed
    • As an advertiser, I need to compare the performance of my campaigns
    • As an organizational social media manager, I need to manage roles for my page

    I think you get the idea. Defining this application in user stories would take a very long time, and producing each piece of application functionality takes a lot longer! With the table below we will try to ballpark the relative size of your application using the number of user stories. When you are thinking of your user stories also think of the relative complexity of each user story. For example: ‘As an advertiser, I need to compare the performance of my campaigns.’ is not the same level of effort as ‘As a user, I need to be able to react to posts on my feed.’ 

    We normally apply a ‘level of effort’ attribute to each user story to help scope the application. In development ‘low’ might mean 5-10 hours, ‘medium’ 10 to 20, and ‘hard’ 50 to 100. Any user story more complex than that should be broken down into smaller stories. For example ‘As a user, I need to manage my profile’ is not an acceptable user story and should be broken down into even smaller pieces.

    Micro (< $50,000) Small($50,000-$200,000) Medium($200,000-$1M) Large($1M+)
    10-15 “low effort” user stories 25-50 “low effort” user stories 50-100 “low effort” user stories 200+ “low effort” user stories
    5-10 “medium effort” user stories 10-25 “medium effort” user stories 25-50 “medium effort” user stories 50+ “medium effort” user stories
    1-2 “large effort” user stories 2-5 “large effort” user stories 10-20 “large effort” user stories 25+ “large effort” user stories

    What’s next? Identify application refinements and constraints.

    With any web application development, you must not only consider what your basic functional requirements are, but also include user expectations and behaviors, i.e. usability, and other constraints such as mission criticality and regulatory requirements in your industry.

    Gain a competitive edge by considering user delight.

    With any application you build, you are most likely facing competition in one form or another – in many cases direct competition, but even if not that, you are competing with your users’ expectations of what an efficient and pleasant web interaction feels like. That being the case, you want to refine your application to not only beat the competition but to also be a joy to use. Therefore, you will probably want to pay attention to usability in the design of your application. Software developers often have a basic idea of usability when developing software, but there’s a big difference between a software interface that basically functions and an efficient experience developed by a UI/UX professional. Here are a few classic UX design failures to illustrate the point.

    Good usability is best built into the design and informed by user research. To add a UX professional or team to your software project might add another DevOps chain5-10% (could be more depending on the nature of the application and how important the experience is). That said, this 5-10% can save you much more down the road in avoided rework and enhanced customer satisfaction and retention.

    Criticality, security, and regulatory requirements directly impact application cost.

    Is your application critical to the daily operation and success of your business, or that of others? Does it deal with health and safety or finance? Does it deal with an industry with regulatory requirements, such as PCI or HIPAA? Do federal accessibility requirements apply? If you answer yes to any of these questions, your application needs to be developed with special requirements in mind.

    All of these considerations will increase your budget significantly; not only through the additional requirements, but also due to the need for testing. All well-developed software is tested continually through the development process with both automated testing and human testing and peer review. Software that is extremely sensitive or critical would have additional layers of testing and security added throughout the process. Normal software development would include a 20% cost for testing and security but on critical or extremely critical software that might grow as high as 40% of the total cost.

    Ensure a smooth run with ongoing application support.

    Designing and developing the application is just the start. Once it is built, it must be operated from somewhere by someone (hosting), and all software needs periodic maintenance such as security updates. 

    What about hosting?

    Hosting alone could be an entirely separate article but we’ll take a quick swag at it based on what you found above. For most web applications we recommend a cloud environment for scale and redundancy. Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure to name a few. Processing cycles, storage, bandwidth, backup, disaster recovery, and other details all add to the cost. With a disclaimer on accuracy for your particular application, here are some ballparks below. 

    Micro  Small Medium Large
    < $100 / month $100-$500 / month $1,000-$5,000 / month $5,000-$100,000+ /month

    Don’t forget application management.

    Applications have an ongoing cost of ownership — all software, especially critical applications, need security updates, periodic maintenance, updates to supporting software and technology, and perhaps testing of backup and disaster recovery. To keep your application secure and performing well, these need to be performed as preventive maintenance, not as an emergency response after problems occur.

    To make sure all these happen, you will want some level of application management, whether that’s internal or through a managed service provider like Atlantic BT. Because you have a custom application your best bet in choosing a managed service provider will be a company that can both manage the hosting of your application and the ongoing application development and support. It’s very rare that you “finish” developing your application. Normally, you continue to evolve and improve your application over the course of the time it is in production. Choosing a managed service provider that has a continuous DevOps chain from development through hosting will ensure efficient, continuous operation.

    The costs of managed services around a custom application could range from 5%-20% depending on how well it was built originally and how many features and requests you want to continue to add as the application is used. 

    Are the numbers starting to make sense?

    This web application cost calculator will help guide you in the right direction for a ballpark estimate. More importantly, it tells you how to approach estimation in general for software development and lifecycle maintenance. If you want a more refined estimate, contact us for a free consultation. We can help you with everything from a quick idea over a phone call to structured requirements-gathering and a detailed estimate process. 

  • Common pain points and solutions in web development.

    “My web development process is slow and pricy.”

    “My application is unreliable. It crashes constantly.”

    “My website is slow and users are complaining.”

    “My CMS is limiting things we need our website to do.”

    These are just a few examples of problems our customers have expressed to us. Many times, we work with customers to recommend new technologies, expand functionalities of their existing website, or do the research necessary to enhance UX.

    An overview of some of our web development projects.

    Our Raleigh-based website development company has been around for over 20 years. We’ve tackled all sorts of projects, from WordPress websites to custom .NET applications complying with strict cybersecurity guidelines. Take a look at some of Atlantic BT’s top web development projects and learn more about our problem-solving methods. 

    Customization to expand the functionality of WordPress.

    Conduent had several business lines and were ready to ramp up marketing campaigns for these segments. The problem was, their WordPress website was built with a page builder plugin. This editing interface had limited templates, making the landing page creation process up to 3 weeks long. They relied on agency support, creating complicated feedback loops and some lag time.

    Atlantic BT was able to step in with a solution to reconstruct the editor. We built a new editing interface that empowered employees to easily create landing pages. This meant creating a page based off a template, then selecting components to complete a page layout.

    The new flexible editor meant reduced spend in agency dollars (to reallocate towards marketing campaigns) and reduced turnaround time in creating new pages.

    Building a custom application for a university.

    North Carolina State University summarized course offerings in a syllabus application. The university needed to find a way to standardize syllabus management for faculty and make it easier for students to review. 

    Atlantic BT worked closely with the NCSU development team to architect a solution. The chosen JSON-based configuration method would provide the desired flexibility and ease of configuration. Paper testing a prototype proved the design was a success.

    Customizing a proprietary .NET application.

    CAHEC, an organization helping to provide affordable housing in NC, relied on a proprietary .NET application with limited functionality. They needed a partner to help customize, update, and build new features to accommodate their business process.

    Atlantic BT was able to step in and collaborate with their .NET development team. Together, we were able to enhance their software, clear their backlog, and create needed functionalities.

    Building complex eCommerce functionality in Magento.

    Bob Barker, a leading supplier for detention facilities, relied on a patchwork system of third-party tools, making it difficult for customers to review past orders or find essential data.

    Atlantic BT recognized Magento Enterprise as Bob Barker’s best option as an eCommerce platform. We were able to unify systems, allowing them to manage inventory and update their website in a single place.

    See more client success stories.

    If you’re interested in learning more about our client projects, browse our work to see the many challenges we’ve helped solve.

  • Web development challenges & solutions.

    “My eLearning website conversions are stagnant or dropping.”

    “My technology is older and outdated, and I don’t know where to begin reassessing them.”

    “I need help finding technology to support our content strategy.”

    “I’m ready to overhaul my website, but I want to find a partner that has a proven process for this complex project.”

    We’ve had clients come to us with a variety of asks. Take a look at how Atlantic BT has tackled some of these challenges.

    Strengthening UX for an eLearning Powerhouse

    Global Knowledge provides training and technological education to the employees of Fortune 500 companies and small businesses alike. The business was juggling many challenges – including offering over 4,100 courses online, maintaining the website, and training the employees managing it.

    Atlantic BT stepped in to enhance the website’s UX, guiding users to relevant courses and streamlining the checkout process to reduce cart abandonment. New information architecture, a custom checkout feature, and a .NET framework set the e-learning business up for success.

    Financial Group Invests in Their Future With RFP Research

    Many businesses use RFPs to find partners that meet their requirements. But what happens when a business is new to the RFP process?

    Atlantic BT was able to partner with CAPTRUST to help them break down existing needs, determine what features would be needed in the future, and outline requirements for future projects.

    We recommended they use a WordPress multisite to achieve their goals, then helped craft an RFP to set them up to find a development partner.

    Helping the City of Raleigh build for the future.

    RaleighNC.gov needed to showcase the city’s services and amenities by providing accessible information to residents, businesses, and visitors. They served a wide variety of personas with unique goals. Furthermore, they would have to accomplish all these tasks while staying within strict government guidelines.

    Atlantic BT began by holding workshops with the team to architect a user role and authentication model, create a content workflow, and structure information with a smooth navigation.

    We then built a new Drupal 8 website that would meet all business requirements. Drupal was a robust, scalable, and secure option that also provided controls with design and brand compliance. 

    Interested in learning more?

    View our work to see more of the complex challenges Atlantic BT has helped solve, or learn more about our web development services.

  • Accessibility and Section 508 Compliance: Planning, Testing, and Design

    There are many different pieces to obtaining digital accessibility, and it can be an issue that needs clarification. Atlantic BT can help you feel confident that your site is in compliance with the latest accessibility regulations to reach a larger, more inclusive audience for your company.

    But let’s take a step back and think about why it matters. Digital spaces are essential to the way we live our lives. “We” is a collective, inclusive word. So digital solutions wind up affecting the lives of every person who has access to the Internet. It is clear that designing web experiences for all users, regardless of ability or potential needs, is a crucial component of modern web design. Not to mention, it is also the law. Web accessibility is an element of your website that can not be ignored.

    Why Should You Care About Website Accessibility?

    Americans With Disabilities Act

    While the ADA does not explicitly mention websites in its language, it does prohibit discrimination based on disability in places of public accommodation. As many organizations have discovered, the ADA has been applied to lawsuits over inaccessible websites. Perhaps one of the most famous was the National Federation of the Blind’s lawsuit against Target in the mid-2000’s, which led to Target settling the case for $6 million.

    Section 508

    Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, is another law that many of our clients have their eyes on. Organizations that are subject to Section 508 have a clear requirement to meet accessibility standards. As of January 2018, these organizations are now required to make sure their websites meet the guidelines laid out in Level A and Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0).

    Appeal to a Wider Audience

    Aside from the law, there are benefits to making your website more inclusive.

    • Provides key services to people with disabilities
    • Increases the audience or customer base an organization can reach through its website
    • Often makes sites easier for all users

    And the need for accessibility continues to grow. According to the CDC, more than 20% of adults in the United States have a disability. That number is only likely to go up as the population ages.

    How We Create Accessible Websites

    Making accessible websites requires careful planning for success. Of course, not all of our clients have the same accessibility needs, so each is handled on a case by case basis. A typical project looks something like this:

    Make an Accessibility Plan

    During our discovery phase, we identify what accessibility requirements a client has. We will additionally scan for issues that we will need to mitigate later on. For example, a lot of old sites have videos and PDFs that no longer meet accessibility guidelines. Whatever the specifics may be, sticking to the initial audit ensures we know what goals we need to meet.

    [pull_quote]Technology’s value lies in what it allows people to do. By designing inclusively and making digital products accessible to all users, we make our technology more valuable. We bring this perspective to every project which makes our products that much stronger.[/pull_quote]    – Gordon Chadwick, User Researcher, CPACC

    Design a Site Everyone Can Use

    With requirements in hand, our designers apply styles that both function and delight. We’re long past the days when people thought designing an accessible website meant designing an ugly website.

    [pull_quote]Accessibility isn’t just about blind users and screen readers, it is about everyone. Designing for all people encourages exploration of new ideas and solutions that lead to a better product overall.[/pull_quote]  – Maris Hall, User Experience Designer, CPACC

    Develop Using Best Practices

    Building accessible sites doesn’t mean bolting on tons of features, it means following best practices for front end development. Clean, well-structured code is the foundation that allows screen readers and other assistive technology to function.

    [pull_quote]When you start paying attention to the needs of all of your users, you begin to see how wonderfully diverse your audience is and you start looking for ways to give everyone a seat at the table. Since I’m usually working on implementation, I make sure the sites I build provide a good experience for users of assistive technologies like screen readers or magnifiers. [/pull_quote]   – Mark Andrews, JavaScript Developer

    Test and Verify

    Testing is how we ensure that the work we did meets the goals we set during the planning stage of a project. Since meeting success criteria is of critical importance, our testers have several different ways to verify that we hit the mark. Testing methods include:

    • Automated Testing – We use automated checkers to identify accessibility issues in your code.
    • Expert Reviews – Certified accessibility professionals review behavior on your site.
    • User Testing – Go straight to the source and test with users who have disabilities.

    [pull_quote]There is a wealth of information on the web and everyone should have equal access to it. I make sure that we’re making that a reality by accounting for accessibility as we build things instead of after they get released.[/pull_quote]    – Yolanda Hyman, Quality Assurance Manager

    Start Feeling Good About Accessibility

    It’s easy to understand why accessibility is important. However, uncovering potential issues and implementing changes can be a complicated process. Atlantic BT is happy to guide you through requirements and implement the necessary changes to make your website not only compliant, but accessible and inviting to all users. Reach out today for a free consultation or to get in touch with one of our accessibility experts.