Is Your Business Ready for Subscription & Recurring Business Based Model?

Posted by : Andy Simmons

Dec 05 2018 Comments : 0

Subscription-based businesses are everywhere now. Do most of your home-cooked meals revolve around Blue Apron or Home Chef? Have you created a playlist on Spotify? Do you read The Athletic daily? All of those businesses are just a few of the leading catalysts for today’s model of paying for access to content and product. Book publishers and periodicals in the 17th century were believed to be the first to implement this model. Today, there are a bevy of businesses and websites that follow this standard, and it continues to be a way for businesses to capitalize on revenue growth. In 2016, the subscription-based market boomed by more than 100 percent over five years. The biggest retailers who followed the model produced more than $2.6 billion, up from $57 million in 2011. So, why have businesses who abide by this standard suddenly become so prevalent and successful? For starters, clients...

School Tech: Helping Kids and Parents Stay Connected

Posted by : Gwen Gude

Sep 02 2018 Comments : 0

When you start to see more and more yellow school buses on your morning commute, you know that it is back to school time for all the students and teachers out there. There are many apps available to make going back to school an easier transition for both parents and students. The following apps are available for both Android and iOS.   iHomework If your student struggles with staying organized, this is the app for him and her to keep all assignments and due dates in a place that is always with them, their smartphone! iHomework is basically an agenda/planner that keeps everything organized and reminds students of important deadlines. As a parent, you can also download the app to keep track of your child’s progress on assignments and projects. Students can also track their grades on assignments through the app, which charts their progress in the course allowing them to take ownership of...

New iOS Update for Enhanced Security of Your Personal Data

Posted by : Stu Miller

Jul 18 2018 Comments : 0

If you’re an Apple iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch user, you got a notification earlier this month for a software update. So what all is included with this new iOS update? Ultimately, the 11.4.1 software update focuses on improving security and minor bug fixes. A security feature that is now available for your Apple devices is the USB Restricted mode setting. This setting prevents your personal data from being hacked through the use of USB devices by private companies or law enforcement agencies. If the USB Accessories feature is on, it allows USB accessories to connect to your device when it has been more than an hour since your iPhone was locked. To turn off this feature, click on Settings, then Face ID & Passcode, then scroll towards the bottom of the screen and you will see the toggle for USB Accessories.    

We're Moving!

Posted by : DevDigital

Jun 19 2018 Comments : 0

We’re moving! We are a little sentimental about leaving our beloved office space at the historic Berger building; however, with the ongoing success and growth at DevDigital, we need a bigger space to reach the needs of our team and our clients. The Berger Building is a historic landmark on Rosa L. Parks Blvd. in downtown Nashville and has been operating as a space for local businesses to operate since 1926. In 2012, we felt very fortunate to move into a building that is on the list of the National Register of Historic Places. At that time, we had only six employees and had not yet discovered the potential of the basement space below (if you’ve attended a DevDigital party, you’ve surely checked out the “best kept secret party room” in Nashville.) Speaking of the “best kept secret party room” in Nashville, in the past six years we have hosted TONS of celebrations and emptied hundreds of...

Data Madness

Posted by : DevDigital

Mar 26 2018 Comments : 0

  Around a quarter of Americans fill out a NCAA March Madness bracket to be a part of the exciting college basketball tournament. However, the average American is not necessarily an expert in predicting the outcome of games. How could one predict that No. 3 Tennessee Vols would lose to a No. 11 team in the last seconds and not even make it to the Sweet Sixteen?! Most will rely on the following when completing a bracket: choose their favorite teams, choose the team with players they enjoy to watch, or choose a team based on their national ranking going into the tournament. Although your bracket may already be busted, there is some technology that you can lean on next year to help you have the winning bracket amongst your family, friends, and colleagues!   This year, Adobe launched #HackTheBracket to give March Madness participants a free tool to help them predict the winners of each...

Technology is Driving Rapid Economic and Market Changes

Posted by : DevDigital

Jan 22 2018 Comments : 0

Never in our history have we witnessed the power of technology on the global markets and our individual lives. Gartner, one of the largest Technology research firms in the world, provides a unique view of the top 10 changes expected changes over the coming years in the chart below.

What The Market Data is Telling Us

Posted by : Peter Marcum

Jan 10 2018 Comments : 0

I like analyzing data. I spend lots of time managing our financials as well as all of our operating data. I also study the market data. The reason I watch all this data is because it helps me make informed decisions about the future of our business.  Over the last couple of years the more informed I’ve become the more I’ve realized I need to be informed about things outside of my normal scope. I am sure every business owner can get caught up in watching the data relative to their world while missing the big picture of changes happening all around them. Sometimes, and more often a lot of times, it is the bigger picture of sudden changes that have the greatest impact on your business. And sudden changes are just cumulative effects of small changes that have been happening over time.  So I’d like to share just a few macro changes that are beginning to affect our business and I am sure...

Launching the Venture

Posted by : Stu Miller

Dec 27 2017 Comments : 0

The Owen Graduate School at Vanderbilt held a “Launching the Venture” session on 12/16/17.  This forum gives their MBA students the opportunity to show their entrepreneurial ideas to a panel of judges.  DevDigital’s Stu Miller (on the left) was honored to be chosen as one of the judges.  Michael Burcham (on the right),  Professor in the Practice of Management, led the class and the presentations.  Michael is the CEO of Narus Health - a healthcare organization whose care management services and technologies support individuals with serious medical conditions, their families and the medical community engaged in their treatment.  Michael was also the founding President & CEO of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center from 2010-2015. Seven concepts were presented to the panel: Uppraisal, designed to eliminate failures in the appraisal process required for mortgage loans; Flat Mundo which...

After 10 Years It Is Time to Reinvent Ourselves

Posted by : DevDigital

Dec 27 2017 Comments : 0

We’ve looked at our history of developing technological solutions for Tennessee businesses over the last ten years, and we’ve peeked into the future.  What we saw was a lot different than what we’ve done in the last ten years. Customer expectations for return on investments in technology is much higher, and the view of technology is no longer one of expense rather it is now being viewed as an investment.   The change in view changes a lot of things including: What value is the technology creating for customers? How can that value be measured? What value is the technology creating for operations? How can that value be measured? What value is the technology creating for employees? How can that value be measured?   Therefore, if you begin to view technology as an investment, then it becomes an asset that is expected to create a return. What is the return expected? That...

Selecting Tech Projects

Posted by : Michael Woolf

Dec 14 2017 Comments : 0

I’ve shared the concept of the CoreX (developed at Electronic Arts) in previous posts at the Product Development blog at DevDigital. The basic idea is that a project is best served when the team identifies a CoreX  (the “Core Experience”) to guide them through development. Here’s a recap: A CoreX can be broken down into two key parts: The Razor and The Slogan. The Razor defines the product internally (the way the team defines it) and The Slogan presents the visceral essence of the product to your audience (how the audience experiences it). If you’re familiar with Simon Sinek’s “Golden Circle” concept, The Razor is somewhat analogous to the How, the Slogan to the Why. The Slogan keeps the team focused on how it wants the audience to feel about the product, but internally, it is imperative to have is a solid Razor. This means that you a predominant and measurable standard by which to...