Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation, commented on the retail industry’s achievements in 2019 and provides insights into the future of the industry in 2020 in the December 30th, 2019 episode of the NRF podcast.  He stated that 2019 was an amazing year for the industry with a lot of accomplishments. Regardless of multiple uncertainties in the political environment, such as the impact of the US-China trade war or US-Canada-Mexico relationships, retailers have found ways to become successful.  According to Mr. Shay, in 2020, the industry will keep transforming digitally and adapting to new political and economic fluctuations. At the NRF 2020 conference this year, hundreds of industry leaders will discuss retail trends. For those attending the event, we have outlined the top retail technology trends to help prepare for the big show.

E-commerce is actively overtaking retail. In 2018, NPR, an independent media organization, carried out a poll that displayed that almost 70% of Americans ordered products online.  More and more customers rely on online shopping. By 2040, it is expected that the volume of online purchases will approach 95%. People find it convenient. They do not have to stand in lines. With just one click, the order is on its way to the destination.Because online buyers are hugely active, the competition between e-commerce businesses is quickly growing. This is why companies are trying to find effective ways to minimize the time between when the customer makes an order and when they receive it. At this point, warehouse automation can be very helpful. So, today we are going to discuss the following topics:Key challenges in warehouse operations management Warehouse automation as one of the best ways to overcome these challenges Successful cases of automated warehouses  Summarized benefits of implementing warehouse automation

NRF 2020 is taking place on January 11-14th in New York at Javits Center and will bring together the best minds within the retail industry. The conference will provide insights into the retail industry, introduce new technologies, trends, and services. NRF 2020 will allow for networking opportunities and making new connections.  

Summer Internship Program (SIP) is all about growing our own talents in-house. We have created it as a platform to offer opportunities to the next generation of budding software engineers. This is not only of a benefit to interns but is also a way of building a pipeline for future leaders, and thus enriching the whole industry with new talents.SIP started at the end of August 2019 and lasted for 12 weeks. After thorough assessments, six talented interns joined Innovecs for 12 weeks to learn from our leading Engineering experts and develop their projects in InnoCamp. The internship process involved an initial bootcamp, mentoring, and enrollment in an ongoing education program. It also included a project assignment that interns were responsible for and a final project presentation.The SIP’s key feature is about making it possible to implement the ideas of our current employees with the trainees being involved in the process. Among the 10 most promising ideas, we have chosen three to make them real. All in all, six interns have worked in pairs to develop and represent these projects set to enhance the level of employees’ engagement in the company:Café Credits: a service for cash-free purchases at InnoHub Bar — a local office café. It allows people to buy real items at the bar by paying with virtual credits, that were awarded to employees in terms of employees’ engagement program. For example, you can use 3 credits to buy a coffee and an éclair. Intern Campus: an application to manage interns’ achievements and awards in terms of the internship program. It also includes additional features such as feedback, status, mentorships, and allows us to monitor the general success of each intern. Career Path: an innovative product which helps employees who are looking towards professional growth opportunities to plan their career within a company. It empowers HR specialists with a tool to create career maps and add position requirements and skills.Each team consisted of one Front-end and one Back-end intern developer. To ensure effectiveness during the work process, they were guided by individual mentors and the idea creators in the role of a product owner. As a result of their successful internship at Innovecs, trainees have received offers to join the team as Intern Software Engineers.https://innovecs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/carpath.mp4 This is what our interns say about the program:

On December 12th, 2019, a final event of the HR Brand Award was held in Kyiv, Ukraine. It ended with the announcement of winners of the annual leading HR initiatives contest. Innovecs project “Innovation Vector” was awarded as one of the best HR projects in Ukraine due to the huge impact on employees’ development and involvement – main accents in HR goals today.The world does not stand still. In order to live up the global market’s expectations and outperform the main competitors in their niche, companies nowadays must operate in accordance with the highest international business standards. Additionally, turnover time and innovative approach are the factors that challenge the leading organizations all over the world. Thus, companies need to work faster and more efficiently whilst benchmarking with their competitors, and offer innovative solutions and products – both internally and externally. Therefore, to withstand the staggering pace of the market and showcase its uniqueness, Innovecs has launched a project called “Innovation Vector: We grow and we raise”. The main objective of this initiative is to create an educational environment that will motivate new talents to develop their skills and employees to grow their professional expertise, which is valuable for the company and for the whole market as well.

Innovecs is working on effective strategic planning and goal setting that is important both for our clients and employees. Professional management is one of our values. That’s why we invest in consistent innovation in our work and management processes.

Microservices architecture is not a new thing in software development. However, today this approach to building applications is actively gaining traction. In 2018, Camunda conducted research and surveyed 354 companies to determine the value of microservices adoption for fulfilling digital transformation initiatives. Around 63% of respondents mentioned that the transition to microservices helped them improve user experience, employee efficiency, and save on development and infrastructure tools. The respondents also identified top reasons why they had switched to microservices:Additional reasons for switching to the microservices Today, developing a monolithic program comes with various challenges. For example, the more complicated the composition of the monolith is, the more difficult it is for developers to properly maintain it. Let’s take a look at a scenario where there are many teams working on the same monolithic program. If team B fails to deliver high-quality code, it blocks the other teams from pushing their error-free code to the environment. So, all teams wait till team B fixes the code and tries to deploy it again. All teams are dependant on each other, which results in constant delays in delivering features.Additionally, adopting new technologies while having a monolith application can be a very slow process. For example, if you want to apply a new framework, you must rewrite all the code, which can also become a huge challenge and lead to crashes. To minimize these risks, software companies have started actively using microservices application structure. However, this “monolith → microservices” transition may come with its own challenges. So, in this blog post, we are going to cover the following topics:The peculiarities of microservices architecture and some examples Benefits of microservices and drawbacks that can occur along with these benefits Successful cases of switching to microservices structure

Kyiv International Economic Forum (KIEF) is over, and we are ready to share the results of Innovecs’ participation and our impressions. KIEF is an international platform that brings together people who are eager to make changes. It is aimed at discussing global business, economic, and entrepreneurship opportunities and trends, and their connection to societal matters.This year, KIEF has gathered over 2000 attendees and 100+ speakers from more than 30 countries. We were happy to take part in KIEF and be present among people and companies that change the Ukrainian business and economic landscape.For 8 years on the market, Innovecs has reached much including the development of the best management practices, creation of innovations, understating of internal operational and employee-oriented mistakes and ways to solve them.At the forum, we have talked about the challenges of tomorrow and the skills needed to meet them. We understand that the future of Ukraine depends on people and companies who are open to consistent innovations and think globally. We want to be part of the future and impact it positively.  

InnoCamp, an educational development program for IT specialists based on international business practices and powered by Innovecs, congratulates 20 students as they graduate the Front-end Track in InnoCamp.More than 90 hours of training were completed throughout the course, devoting time to the development of both soft and hard skills:Technical expert classes and workshops were taking place from Monday till Thursday covering technologies such as HTML, СSS, JavaScript Advanced, React.js, Redux, and Webpack. Soft skills training included the development of creativity, effective communication, critical thinking, collaboration, and productivity.The track also included IT-oriented English classes and career training.Each training was thoroughly supported by Innovecs experts, who set the benchmark in training standards gained from their extensive knowledge in international practices. All graduates have been awarded a certificate of front-end track completion in the end. The students with the best final test results will get an opportunity to become interns in Innovecs.

Digital Summit took place on October 21-22, 2019 in Boston and brought together the best minds of the AdTech and MarTech industries. The list of speakers included experts from companies such as Facebook, Tripadvisor, Verizon, LinkedIn, Getty Images, and others.  The conference covered topics such as branding, content marketing, email marketing, customer experience, and many others. It provided the opportunity to participate in debates with the speakers and share our own knowledge in the industry.  Although Innovecs has considerable experience in AdTech and MarTech, it strives to keep up with the latest technologies that would help to realize its clients’ needs and deliver the best solutions. This is why, Innovecs’ representative, John Colon Jr, VP of Sales – North America, did not miss the opportunity to attend such an event. His mission was to discover new trends and approaches in AdTech and MarTech and share the Innovecs’ expertise.

At Innovecs, we pay significant attention to the estimation of the general scope of workload before embarking upon the client’s project. For this, we have customized the entire cooperation process with the client by enriching it with the Discovery stage which entails the discussion of all the client’s expectations and objective estimation of resources and efforts needed to meet all technical requirements. Bottleneck Night: Estimation VS Reality is the event aimed at sharing the Innovecs’ experience in the effective project estimation. It takes place on November 6th in InnoHub, the Innovecs’ innovative media environment. If you provide the client with the correct time and effort estimations, chances are you will meet their expectations on the project outcomes.

Global Gaming Expo took place on October 15-17, 2019 in Las Vegas and brought together the best minds of the gaming industry. The conference covered topics such as sports betting, payments modernization, iGaming, eSports, financial compliance, tribal gaming, security, and more. It provided the opportunity to participate in debates with the speakers and share own knowledge in the industry. The list of speakers included experts from companies such as Worldpay Gaming, MGM National Harbor, American Gaming Association (AGA), IGT, Ernst & Young, William Hill, and many others. Although Innovecs has considerable experience in the gaming and entertainment industry, it strives to keep up with the latest technologies that would help to realize its clients’ needs and deliver the best solutions. This is why, Innovecs’ representative, Rocky Osborn, Senior Vice President, Global Business Development & Client Success, did not miss the opportunity to attend such an event. He has outlined three major peculiarities of the event:the focal point of G2E is the hundreds of exhibitors from around the world showcasing the latest products and technologies that will transform the gaming industry in the years to come; the event also provided thought-provoking keynote speakers and education sessions each day designed to educate and inspire. G2E’s Innovation Lab had themes focused on disruptive technologies, new uses for technology, and emerging trends. lastly, G2E provided networking opportunities to reconnect with current friends and colleagues and to make new ones that could become business partners in the future.

What: Digital Summit When: October 21-22, 2019 Where: Boston, MA at The Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel Organized by: TechMedia Digital marketing has become an integral part of any business operations since it helps companies to be recognized in the online world. It is a powerful tool for developing brand awareness and reaching the right audiences. To get useful insights into digital marketing, many events are organized around the globe annually with the aim to bring together the best marketing minds under one roof. Digital Summit is one such event and is taking place on October 21-22, 2019 in Boston, MA at The Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. It is a 2-day conference featuring 45+ sessions delivered by marketing experts from companies such as Marvel, Nike, Facebook, Microsoft, Home Depot, Pandora, TripAdvisor, LinkedIn, MGM Resorts, and others.    Why should you attend Digital Summit? This well-structured conference will have lectures and workshops covering all types of digital marketing, including content, SEO, social media, and advertisement. It is a great chance to network with marketers from the top companies, adopt their experience, and share your expertise.

Innovecs invites teenagers, school and college graduates, students, and everyone interested in the IT-sphere to attend Open Day. Open Day is a free event that has the purpose of revealing the truth of modern IT and helping to come up with the future profession. What: Open Day When: October 17th at 16:00 Where: Innovecs (Vatslava Havela Boulevard, 6Z) Price: Free Registration: https://teeko.io/event/innovecs-open-day At Open Day, you will have a chance to get answers to the following questions:What is IT all about? Why does everyone want to become a part of it? What skills and knowledge do you need to work in IT? How to become a developer and is it worth it? What kind of background do you need? How does Innovecs look inside and why is it so important for us to engage new people into the sphere?  Open Day Agenda 16:00 – Welcome word 16:15 – Olga Prykhno, COO/CFO at Innovecs 16:30 – Vasyl Tymoshenko, Designer + Middle Software Engineer 17:00 – Ivan Dovhal, Full-stack Senior Software Engineer 17:30 – Maksym Chugunov, QA lead Automation Engineer 18:00 – Gleb Kozyryatskyy, Lead Java Software Engineer 18:30 – Pizza and office tour Register for the event and get ready to learn the whole truth about IT.