Software House Tips and Insights

IT and Business Articles to help you understand and get involved in the Software Development process. Latest web and mobile software development trends and insightful ideas, as well as our everyday experience and expertise.

In the ever-evolving world of Software as a Service platforms, businesses must leverage cutting-edge technologies like AI (Artificial Intelligence) and automation to remain competitive. Automation streamlines operations, while AI brings intelligence to decision-making processes. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll dive into why automation and AI are critical for SaaS businesses, how they connect, and what tools and strategies can help optimize business performance. At Sailing Byte, we specialize in integrating these technologies to create efficient, scalable, and intelligent solutions for businesses.

Ensuring that your domain’s mail settings are properly configured and regularly monitored is essential for safeguarding your email communications. Without proper monitoring, your domain is vulnerable to a range of threats, including phishing, spoofing, and unauthorized use of your domain.

The ability to gather and interpret data is crucial to maintaining a competitive edge. Whether you're tracking customer behavior, software development, or the success of your paid advertising efforts, understanding how to gather and use data is essential for growth. In this article, we will explore why data collection is so important, how Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can be leveraged to measure success, and how Evidence-Based Management (EBM) practices—like those we use at Sailing Byte—can lead to smarter, more strategic decision-making.

In today’s digital landscape, ensuring the security of your Laravel applications—whether headless or non-headless—is crucial. Laravel, a popular PHP framework, is known for its elegance and robust feature set, but like any framework, it is susceptible to various security threats.

Introduction to DevSecOps

By Łukasz Pawłowski on 20 September 2024

In today’s fast-paced software landscape, security must be more than an afterthought. DevSecOps bridges the gap by embedding security into every phase of development, ensuring faster, safer, and more efficient application delivery. Learn how this approach fosters collaboration, automation, and a proactive security posture across the CI/CD pipeline.

Choosing the right software house is crucial for the success of your web development projects. Our guide outlines key factors to consider, such as assessing experience, client testimonials, technical proficiency, and communication skills. Discover how to find a reliable partner that will ensure a high-quality application and a smooth, collaborative development experience.

When setting up or running your business you have most probably been told numerous times that a business plan is one of its most important aspects. It gives you and other team members guidance against current tasks and works as a "schema for everything". But they are often big and unreadable - what if there is a way to simplify it?
Countless times the developers (including us) receive a question: ‘How much will so and so cost?’ Apart from the obvious lack of sufficient details in this question, there is also the case of pricing models. There are various types of scopes of work. You may want to just develop a product, which usually is pretty straightforward work. However, your project might involve many stages and subproducts and you may also need the ongoing post-development maintenance processes. Today we want to introduce a hybrid pricing model.
When you want to have a piece of software built you mostly look at the end result, which is a functioning product. However, when receiving a breakdown of the costs, many business owners question the part of product development called testing. Today's article will tell you all about testing and why we will never advise you to skip this particular part. 
It is important to understand what a domain extension is before we get into the number that exists. A domain extension is an entry that comes at the end of a web address. It is meant to specify a category of the internet or a code of a country.
One of the reasons you should have a name for your business is to be identified by customers. Without a business name that makes your enterprise recognizable, you may not meet the objective of making profits through sales. A business name makes you stand out among other businesses online. It is also important to select a name because it secures a stake in the market. Y

Personal domain for online representation

By Łukasz Pawłowski on 13 December 2023

If you think personal domains are only best for celebrities, it is a misconception. They are not meant for a particular person or class of people. They can be used by anyone who understands their importance. You may think that you do not need a domain. It may be true unless you have a company or a business big enough to require a domain to start a blog. Purchasing a personal domain is important. Apart from the affordability of a personal domain, it is also important for personal branding.
State-of-the-art IT solutions are in high demand among entrepreneurs. This should not come as a surprise. The possibility of gathering various types of data may turn out to be extremely beneficial from the business point of view. Today’s article touches on two solutions that may truly boost your business endeavors - API and Big Data.
The topic of how to best protect your email domains has been keeping many awake at night for years. Because we all already know that email protection is necessary and almost the most important among all precautions.

How to store your passwords securely?

By Łukasz Pawłowski on 1 November 2023

In our last article, we talked about what to do to have secure passwords, and we have come to the conclusion that, in general, long passwords are safe. Today we will talk about different methods of storing passwords, as some ways are better than others.
Let me ask you a simple, yet not-so-obvious question: who is the most crucial in the success of your software product? I have asked the same question many times and the answer I hear is never the same. Who should it be?
The idea is one of the most crucial factors in product creation or business running. If it is good, you are one huge leap closer to success. However, I also always stress that ideas alone are worth nothing if they do not resonate with the market.
Many people think that product life consists of creation and constant growth in popularity. They imagine it as a constant development that never ends. It is not entirely true.
It is official, cybercrime has become the world's third-biggest economy. Keeping up with cybercrimes and implementing appropriate cybersecurity from the start of the software development process is now more important than ever. That is why today’s article answers the question of how to ensure the security of the software using DevSecOps. 

Passwords are indispensable part of using computers and mobile devices connected to the internet. We are using them on regular daily basis, almost everywhere: to our emails, bank accounts, cloud storage, account access; in work and at home.

Some passwords are easier to guess than others. What should we do to keep our accounts and data secure? Here are some ideas.

Object-oriented programming and functional programming are different approaches to code structure and selected philosophy and understanding of code for developers. Once chosen approach is fairly hard to change on the project later so it should be considered at the very beginning of the project - with understood implications on whole business.
The Product owner role may be associated with the product ownership due to what the name indicates. However, is it truly what this role entails? Or is there more to the Product Owner than some may think?
Should your business use ready-made or custom software to fulfill its needs? Both choices have their own consequences and you should always consider pros and cons for your specific business case. And this will apply both to your internal tools and for external SaaS services you are providing to your clients.
Speaking of Agile methodologies, a few roles are differentiated within the Agile team.  Who are Product Owner, Project Managers and Product Managers and what do their jobs involve? Let me answer those questions in today's article.
Agile methodologies evolve constantly since the introduction of Agile software development. There are many ways in which Agile teams can work to deliver the best possible product to their clients. Today, I would like to take a closer look at three of the most interesting Agile methodologies, which are Scrum, Agile, and Kanban.
In Agile methodology, the work on product development is divided into smaller increments. Why? Because it provides a wide array of benefits. However, to enjoy them all, first one needs to learn how to properly conduct those manageable pieces, so they stay truly manageable!
Today, I will present the best methodology to ever grace the Earth. It may be a subjective opinion, but you are free to form your own judgment based on the below facts. None of what follows is a lie!
Application programming interface often refers to a software intermediary that enables two applications to communicate with each other. In other words, it is the mechanism that allows interaction between two applications by use of a set of rules. API integrations happen when a particular application requires access to data (or rather information) stored by another application.
Are all software development companies the same? Do you simply choose the cheapest one? Or are there perhaps some aspects you should consider while making a choice? What are those? Let's go through the process of choosing the best software development company for your product creation.
We wrote many articles about the work of software development companies and hiring them for specific projects. However, company owners who have constant needs for software development may sometimes wonder: can I hire my own team of developers?
Kiedy zakładamy własny biznes, jedną z podstawowych rzeczy, oprócz pomysłu i planu biznesowego jest finansowanie. Dlatego dziś chciałbym skupić się na niezwykle ważnym aspekcie dla nowopowstających przedsiębiorstw, czyli dofinansowaniach.
On our blog, we have already covered many aspects of building professional websites and apps for businesses. However, we have not yet answered the most crucial question: does every business need a professional website?
We talk a lot about app and website development as well as the developers. A front-end developer deals with the interface and a back-end developer takes care of the functionality. 
Agile is one of the most prominent methods of software development. It allows for quick and easy implementation, management, and changes to the given piece of technology. There is yet another crucial part of the agile approach called agile retrospective. Today, I will shed some more light on its details and nuances.
When you hear the word application, what probably comes to your mind is a mobile application. However, in the web development world, there are other types of apps. Today, I would like to write a few words about web applications.
Websites are created with the use of various programming languages. If you were to check a particular website source code, you would see nothing else but text. Letters, numbers, and symbols are all programming languages.
Nowadays, any piece of software, whether it is a website, an app or any other project, needs several pieces of technology to allow proper functionality and look. Web development processes evolved. To understand them better, I would like to devote a few words to the stacks meaning in website development, web applications and mobile apps.
According to statista.com, there are over 3000 apps added daily to Google Play Store. Of course, we need to consider that most of them never get successful due to various reasons. However, successful apps can generate quite an income. In today's article, I would like to take a closer look at the business aspect of app creation.
API seems to be more and more apparent whenever we search for applications, tools, or even a company of developers to build a piece of software for us. What is API? API is an abbreviation for Application Programming Interface. 
Have you ever thought of how it would be to build an app? I am sure it crossed your mind several times. Maybe you did not have the specific app idea in mind but for sure you imagined yourself as an owner of one.
Nowadays, 'agile' is the word heard almost around every corner in the software development world. 'Working in Agile', 'Agile approach', 'agile project management'. These and many more expressions reach our ears very often.
Most technology users nowadays expect a lot from the software or apps they use. Ease of navigation, quick response, and functional layout are only a few of the features the end users look for. However, if there was one main functionality one could expect from an app or a system, it would be for it to work.
Anytime you type in the URL address of a website, you use DNS (Domain Name System). Thanks to DNS, the association of domain names with the appropriate IP addresses takes place. In other words, DNS servers assure that any website can be found on the internet.
You perfectly know when you are dealing with a great website. Whenever you enter one, you can see that all elements are well laid out and the colors are pleasing to the eye. The website is fast but does not overwhelm you with the amount of text or moving elements. The whole is just like a harmonious set of jigsaw puzzles.
For many Internet users, a domain is simply a few letters they type into the browser URL bar to find the website they are looking for. Broadly speaking, it is correct, but an Internet domain has many more interesting aspects that I would like to introduce to you today.
In the modern world governed by automated processes and remote work, security is of utmost importance. As we all know, some things are out of your control, but certain precautions can save your website and, more importantly, your business. One of the most important things to do to avoid tragedy is to create backups.

Every time a potential client contacts us regarding our services, we are delighted that, yet another business decided to trust us with their project. No matter if it is an app, software, or any other piece of technology they would like us to work on, one of the most important initial questions we will ask is regarding their budget. 

Nowadays, online activities pose many threats. As a responsible IT business, we are aware of the threats the Internet poses and do our best to protect our customers from most of them.

What factors contribute to the fact that we find something pleasant, attractive, or likable and how it can affect your business? Why too revolutionary products fail and how you should indroduce novelty to users, so they stay with you?

Apps are the most ubiquitous tools of the modern world. No company can stay relevant or competitive without one, whether it’s for internal use or customer-facing purposes.

What is the key to a successful business? If your answer is 'a good idea', you are only partly correct. Not in thinking that a good idea is meaningless but in thinking it is the most important. 

What if I told you there was a way to monitor your SaaS software and catch any errors that user can encounter, with full data, and be able to fix it?

The years 2013 to 2016 were a stagnation period for PHP, causing a drop in interest in this technology. But all the work done since 2014, resulting in PHP7 and PHP8, allowed it to catch up with other programming languages, causing PHP to once again become a good project stack choice and a valid option for backend developers to be interested in.

End of life - v1 systems

By Łukasz Pawłowski on 15 September 2021

We would like to announce, that we are ending support period for appcore v1 and sailingcms v1.

At Sailing Byte, we help businesses streamline operations through software solutions. We provide custom software development, website development, application management and support, IT consulting, and more.

Everyone knows that “it takes time and effort to make an organizational change”. Unfortunately not everyone knows exactly what it means.  You have to ask yourself some key questions before introducing any change of process (“how we work”). 

This article will explain the basic concept of Technical Debt and propose a solution that may help to deal with it in a most convenient way. 

When starting new IT project, you will encounter different approaches to pricing it, and it will depend on project predictiveness, software house and project size. This article will explain the differences between the "Fixed cost" valuation and "Time and material" agreement.

This one short article will show you how to manage preparation to various meetings by properly understanding their purposes. 

This article should help you to master the process of bringing maximum value of Scrum Events: Sprint Planning & Sprint Review.

Are tasks describtion on our monthly reports not clear enough? Maybe this short article will help you!

You Want to know how to become an awesome Product Owner ?

Why do we say that Sprint is a heartbeat of a product developement ? 

Do you have any problems with Incident classification that we have introduced in SLA packages? This short article should dispel any doubts connected with that issue.

In this artlcle you will find clarification about permission issues with logging to Sailing Byte’s CMS. 

Agile frameworks & tools - summary

By Kamil Bocheński on 12 March 2021

You may be confused why the same aspects are constantly mentioned as both positives and negatives during summary at the end of every article about Scrum, KanBan & Scrum-Ban (you can find those articles in "Konwladge Base"). There is a purpose to it and that purpose is to always consider “it depends'' as the best possible FIRST answer to every question.

KanBan first emerged in post II World War Japan as a very important component of “Toyota Production System”, a groundbreaking shift in approach to production process management in car development.

Concept of ScrumBan was first formalised in “Scrumban: Essays on Kanban Systems for Lean Software Development” written by a software engineering practitioner Corey Ladas in 2009.

Scrum as a complete framework for software development was first described and formalized by two American practitioners of software engineering Jeff Sutherland & Ken Schwaber in 1995. (Ken Schwaber Was one of the engineers that originally created “Agile Manifesto”).

Term Agile means to be “able to move quickly and easily.”  World of software development of 80’ and 90’ was far from being able to quickly and easily manage any changes. Every business need for new software had to follow a strict “Waterfall” path of development.

How to effectively inform Sailing Byte support on issues and requests?

Product Backlog consists of an ordered list of the work to be done in order to create, maintain and sustain a product. It’s managed by the Product Owner

What does each element of SLA Micro mean?

By Łukasz Pawłowski on 5 March 2021

On your monthly report you can find "SLA Micro" section with multiple elements, that may sound vague. In this article I would like to describe what each of the elements mean and why it is important.

How to "Agile?" - full script

By Kamil Bocheński on 2 March 2021

If you don't know exactly what does it mean to organize things in Agile way, what are Agilie "frameworks" and how to implement them then this article is for You! 

Easy introduction to CMS systems with help

By Łukasz Pawłowski on 13 February 2019

On February edition of CT Real Estate Today we are touching topic of choosing proper CMS system for your needs.

Why your business needs a website

By Łukasz Pawłowski on 21 January 2019

We were invited to write next tech article for CT Real Estate Today. You can find whole article why having a website is important for business.

We would like to thank YOU this Christmas and wish you happy New Year.

For all the time you spent with us - thank you. For all the emails, messages and phone calls - thank you. For all work that was done together - thank you.

Edukacja finansowa najmłodszych

By Łukasz Pawłowski on 13 November 2018

Wszyscy kochamy nasze dzieci, i pragniemy dla nich jak najlepszej edukacji. Chcemy, aby potrafiły dobrze funkcjonować w społeczeństwie w niedalekiej przyszłości rozumiejąc systemy i zależności, jakie w nim panują. Jednym z tych elementów są finanse i ekonomia.

Did you ever wondered if there is any easier way to just login once and have access to all your websites? There is a powerful and secure method that allows you to do this and keep you ahead of competition.

Have you ever tried to install website on server with old PHP version? If yes, you might've encountered problems, while doing so. But it's not also a problem with installing software - it's affecting usage and security of website. But you can be free of this fear, just read more about this issue.

How can I have fast core or plugin override?

By Łukasz Pawłowski on 25 September 2018

Did you ever wanted to extend plugin functionality? Or maybe you wanted to edit some functions, that were not working properly? Many CMS systems are using plugins, which are not always fulfilling our needs.

Did you ever wonder where does website cost comes from? How many people are involved in creating professional website? What is the cost of running web portal?

Laravel team released new version of framework. It is public now and has some awesome features! This free and amazing framework is used worldwide to help write stable and maintainable code.

Before building a website, one must know whether or not to use Content Management System (CMS). Two of the main features of CMS include user and group management that allow more security to the content writers who upload their content on CMS. This system also allows users, the flexibility to organize a rather haphazard form of data. It most definitely eases up on the workload while giving a high quality output. However this can have its advantages and disadvantages.

Our blog is designed to help you navigate the dynamic world of software development. Here, you'll find in-depth IT and business articles that offer valuable insights into the software development process. Whether you're looking to understand the latest trends in web and mobile software development or seeking actionable ideas to enhance your own projects, we provide the knowledge and tools you need to stay ahead.

We continuously cover the latest trends in software development, ensuring you're always informed about emerging technologies, best practices, and industry changes. From AI and machine learning to cross-platform app development and cloud-based solutions, our blog covers a broad spectrum of topics that shape the future of the digital world.

In addition to technical topics, we cover essential Agile practices and project management strategies, helping you manage teams more effectively and deliver successful projects. Whether you're a tech professional, business owner, or someone just getting started in the world of software development, our articles are tailored to offer actionable insights for a variety of readers.

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