COVID-19 has forever changed how we approach work. When the pandemic began, Dogtown Media said goodbye to its Los Angeles-based development headquarters for the past decade. We left this office, moved the entire team to remote work, and don’t have any intention of going back. The future of work has changed, and we’ve changed with it. Here are the trends that I believe we can expect to see soon.

Remote Work Will Provide More Opportunities for Job Candidates

Moving to San Francisco used to be a prerequisite for working in the high-tech industry. Today, this is no longer the case. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to figure out how to build cohesive remote work teams fast. And with this new change comes new opportunities.

Organizations will hire more remote workers than ever before now that they know how to get things done outside of an office environment. This is great news for many employees — it means they have better access to more job opportunities. But it also yields some other pertinent benefits worth mentioning.

Knowledge workers can now move to places they want to live, not somewhere they have to work. We can already see this occurring: A recent survey of tech professionals discovered that an average of 30% of respondents had left major metropolises such as Seattle and Los Angeles for greener pastures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Don’t think this trend will continue? Another survey found that 81% of tech workers are either considering or making plans to move to more affordable cities.

The financial incentives certainly play a role in this exodus. Remote workers earn $4,000 more per year than their in-office counterparts, and 30% save $5,000 more per year due to less commuting and eating at home. Moving to smaller, cheaper towns allows these employees to stretch their dollar even further. But if we put money aside, the advantages are still substantial. By choosing where they live, remote workers attain better control over their personal lives. Whether you want to get outdoors more or start raising a family, this is certainly an appealing factor.

Office Models Will Adapt to the Future of Work

On the other side of the equation, remote work also offers a significant financial benefit for organizations that embrace it: Companies can save $11,000 annually for each employee who works remotely half of the time. With that said, it’s no wonder that a Gartner survey of 127 business leaders found that 82% of respondents plan to maintain a hybrid or remote work dynamic after the COVID-19 pandemic ends.

While the same survey elucidated that 47% of business leaders plan to let employees work from home permanently, it also found that another 43% of respondents plan to implement a flexible hybrid work dynamic going forward. For example, some organizations will ask their team members to come into the office two or three days a week instead of five. This will transform how companies structure their headquarters and satellite offices.

Many enterprises are already restructuring how they’re organized. For instance, outdoor retailer REI recently sold its newly-constructed headquarters building to Facebook to pursue a more distributed work model. Known as a hub-and-spoke office model, this paradigm allows companies to shed office space and slim down headquarters while maintaining optimal productivity.

In a hub-and-spoke office model, a smaller headquarters (the hub) and satellite offices (the spokes) serve as locations for employees to congregate, communicate, and collaborate. Instead of long commutes, team members can meet at the hub or spoke that’s most convenient for them. This lean approach eschews large underutilized offices in favor of lean spaces that can accommodate employees who come in two or three times a week and work the rest remotely.

Every Work-Related Industry Hit by COVID-19 Will Reinvent Itself

COVID-19 has proven that change is the only constant in our lives. Although, for many industries related to work, adapting is easier said than done. Co-working and commercial real estate were hit particularly hard during this pandemic. Fortunately, both will bounce back — but it won’t happen without preparing for the future of work.

As companies move towards more flexible hybrid work dynamics and hub-and-spoke paradigms, office-on-demand models will make more sense for many organizations instead of overpaying for underutilized real estate. WeWork and other co-working spaces will be the biggest beneficiaries of this trend. They can provide these businesses with turnkey solutions and an intimate office footprint where team members can work together. In such scenarios, “hot desks” that employees coming in and out can use for the week will replace dedicated workspaces.

Commercial real estate will likely hurt for some time due to all of these pandemic-induced work changes. But it will eventually reinvent itself. This industry will pivot more to mixed-use buildings; a proportion of space will be reserved for industrial or work-related endeavors while the rest is used for residential property. With that said, I’m sure the day will come when a remote work employee has to attend a meeting at one of their company’s “spoke” offices, and it happens to be located a few floors down from their loft!

The Future of Work Is Closer Than It Feels

Several promising COVID-19 vaccines are being expedited to roll out to healthcare workers and the general population. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has even alluded to the possibility that we may all return to a normal semblance of life by this summer. But although COVID-19 may soon be in humanity’s rearview, its effect on how companies get things done will be everlasting.

COVID-19 has accelerated the future of work to an unprecedented pace. This means that we fortunately won’t have to wait long to see the fruition of these predictions. Are you ready?

Want to leverage emerging technologies like 5G, AI, and IoT in your organization? Get in touch with my team for a Free Consultation.

Original Article Featured in Forbes.

We live in a time of uncertainty. It has been a year since the global Covid-19 pandemic started, but there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. Has your business adapted to this “new normal” yet?

Before the pandemic, Dogtown Media, my mobile app development firm, had a mixture of in-person and remote team members. Today, my entire team is fully remote. But this didn’t happen without some trial and tribulation. Here are the most important takeaways my team has learned about making remote work actually work, which will hopefully enrich your organization and make it more adaptable than ever before.

1. Practice being proactive and adaptable.

Things change fast these days. To adapt to this frenetic pace, you and your team members should adopt a proactive, flexible mindset. With several companies suddenly turning to remote work, many employees have been forced to contend with suboptimal workspaces and unexpected parenting responsibilities. The only way to move forward effectively is to set your expectations properly and account for the different potential scenarios that could occur.

Reacting without a plan usually leads to chaos. So plan ahead for various possibilities. Regularly take some time to map out goals and define outcomes with your team. This gives both you and your team a “north star” to guide you. Doing so greatly increases your chances of staying operational and progressing in the right direction, even if things don’t go exactly your way.

Speaking of things not going your team’s way, that’s okay — it happens. Adopting a proactive, flexible mindset doesn’t only mean to make plans; it also means making plans with the assumption that they could change. If you practice this and stay adaptable, you’ll be better positioned to navigate and pivot in the months ahead. So while others are waiting for the “right time,” your team will be transforming obstacles into opportunities.

2. Revamp social structures to catalyze remote work collaboration.

Remote work tends to amplify a lack of clarity. This can make it difficult for team members to navigate their tasks at hand. Fortunately, an easy way to fix this is to revise your current social structures in place. For instance, many organizations employ large, siloed teams to get things done. But with remote work, I’ve found that smaller, cross-functional teams with defined objectives work better.

Another structure you should reassess for remote work optimization is how you hold meetings. In this era of remote work, a lack of check-ins could mean that many of your workers are wrestling with more ambiguity than you know. Establish a clear cadence of scheduled daily and weekly meetings with your team. Strive to strike the right balance of communication to give your team guidance on goals and allow them to consult with you about any questions or concerns.

Meetings shouldn’t be the only communication structure in place: Quicker collaboration is sometimes required. You must have other communication avenues open. With a plethora of options available, such as Slack, Microsoft Teams and email, your team will feel freer to conduct simpler, less formal conversations about time-sensitive matters.

Lastly, it’s vital that you build in social interaction opportunities. Remote work conversations shouldn’t only revolve around work. Always take some time to catch up with your team members. Don’t be afraid to bring some levity to the table. This goes a long way toward establishing trust, transparency and camaraderie. Whether you’re doing in-person or remote work, all three of these factors are key ingredients to catalyzing meaningful collaboration.

3. Empower your team with the tools they need to succeed.

To properly equip your team members in the era of remote work, you must pay special attention to how they leverage technology in their workflows. You should mentally walk in their shoes to understand each tool they use to achieve business outcomes. Doing this allows you to assess each component’s efficacy. The main goal here is to identify and address any gaps in access and adoption. This helps keep your employees engaged, which in turn fuels the right results for your business.

Whether it’s a communication platform like Slack or a workflow tool such as Jira Basecamp, examine each piece of your team’s “productivity puzzle.” No matter how basic each element seems, don’t underestimate the friction or advantage it brings to your team. If you identify any weak links in your tech stack, either train your team to improve productivity or try another option.

Remember, your tech stack should empower employees at every level to work efficiently from anywhere in this “new normal,” but don’t forget to keep data security and privacy top of mind. Doing so now may seem like more work, but it only serves to protect your business in the long run.

4. Put your team’s health and safety first.

Remote work isn’t always easy. It’s critical that you prioritize your team’s health and safety during these tough times that we’re all living in right now. Nothing, including projects or deadlines, takes precedence over this.

When the pandemic started, we decided to go completely remote right away. We honestly didn’t know how this would impact our company, but that didn’t matter. What did matter was that all of my team was safe and that they didn’t have to risk their lives just to come to an office.

During emergencies, all great leaders practice empathy. Let your team know that their mental and physical health will always matter more than work. Give them the support they need to maintain both aspects. If you put your team’s well-being first, the right results will follow.

Want to leverage emerging technologies like 5G, AI, and IoT in your organization? Get in touch with my team for a Free Consultation.

2021 may have just begun, but it’s already shaping up to be a promising year for Dogtown Media. We were recently recognized as one of the best iPhone app developers by Digital.com! Thanks to our clients, team, and community for your support — we couldn’t have done this without you!

iPhone App Development to Meet Your Unique Needs

Mobile app development is a fast-growing and rapidly-changing industry. Whether they’re trying to reach new customers, improve user experience, or engage with an existing audience, businesses from a variety of sectors turn to iPhone app developers to deliver a product that lets them stand out from the crowd.

Since Apple’s App Store launched in 2008, development companies have sprung up all over the world. Each offer their own unique features and services. With such stiff competition, it’s an absolute honor for us to be featured as the best of the best by Digital.com. Let’s take a moment to learn more about their meticulous evaluation process for this prestigious award.

How Digital.com Digs Deep for Insights

Originally founded in 2015 as Review Squirrel, Digital.com has quickly become a trusted source of information for small businesses to find the best tools and services to solve their needs. By analyzing public sentiment through social media and scoring companies’ products and services, the website has established a solid reputation for finding unique insights into what would work best for small businesses across a multitude of industries.

Digital.com’s list of 2021’s best iPhone app developers originally had 160 candidates for consideration! To narrow it down to the top 15 companies, Digital.com’s team spent 40 hours researching and analyzing companies with gleaming reviews on the internet. During this time, Digital.com evaluated three criteria: the service lines offered by each company, the sizes of firms they’ve worked with, and the industries they focused on.

Each candidate had to be capable of providing a wide range of services such as mobile app development, marketing, and design. Candidates also had to demonstrate a consistent track record of successfully helping both large and small businesses. Last but not least, each development firm had to be versatile — that is, could they help businesses in a variety of sectors? With Dogtown’s previous work ranging from machine learning to the Internet of Things (IoT), Digital.com knew that we were a top contender.

Above all else, Digital.com emphasized firms who made the complex capabilities of emerging technologies easily accessible: “Making your service or software accessible to iPhone users requires an efficient and expert iPhone app developer,” says Christelle Feniza, Communications Manager of Digital.com. “This review guide was designed to help small business owners find top firms that can tailor services to meet their industry and needs.”

Thank You for Your Support!

Besides being recognized as one of the best iPhone app developers of 2021, we’re also grateful to have been recognized as a top mobile app developer in Los Angeles by Digital.com! These awards come off the tail of recently being featured as one of the Clutch 1000 List of Best B2B Service Providers for the third year in a row, so we couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come in this new year.

Thanks so much to Digital.com for awarding Dogtown Media with this prestigious honor. And we’d also like to take a moment to thank our clients, team, and community again. We’ll continue to work our hardest to make you proud!

ABOUT DIGITAL.COM

Founded in 2015, Digital.com reviews and compares the best products, services, and software for running or growing a small business website or online shop. The platform collects twitter comments and uses sentiment analysis to score companies and their products.

By 2030, the United States is expected to have a tech talent shortage. This year alone, 4.3 million jobs in America’s technology sector are projected to go unfilled — that equates to lost revenue of $162 billion. Luckily, Ted Lieu, California’s 33rd Congressional District Representative, has a solution for the state: Inspire our youth to innovate with the Congressional App Challenge.

Held last Thursday, the 2020 Congressional App Challenge featured sixteen students from ten high schools across Los Angeles County. Altogether, they submitted eleven amazing mobile app concepts. And Congressman Lieu invited Marc Fischer, Dogtown Media’s Co-Founder and CEO, to participate as a judge in the competition!

About the Congressional App Challenge

The United States House of Representatives established the Congressional App Challenge in 2014 to “connect today’s Congress with tomorrow’s coders.” The event encourages students from all corners of the country to get more hands-on with their STEM education by creating and submitting mobile app concepts. The winner receives national recognition and also has their work featured in Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Building!

For Congressman Ted Lieu, the event is a special occasion that connects him back to his own education: “As one of just four computer science majors in Congress, I believe it is essential to encourage and nurture a generation of technology-savvy students who will continue to innovate our economy and advance our technological edge. The App Challenge provides young students throughout my district an opportunity to pursue their creative and technical talents. I encourage all eligible students to participate.”

Since its first year, the Congressional App Challenge has grown exponentially. In 2019, 10,211 students submitted mobile apps. To put this number in perspective, that’s a 373% increase from 2016! This event also now outpaces Silicon valley in terms of diversity: Compared to America’s tech innovation hub, participants are five times more likely to identify as latinx, four times more likely to identify as black, and two times more likely to identify as female.

On the other side of the equation, the Congressional App Challenge is also increasing STEM’s visibility in politics. Since 2016, 54% more Congress members have become involved in the competition and the mentions of STEM and computer science in congress have grown by over 2000%.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s reception was completely remote. Dr. William Goodin, Industry Relations Coordinator at UCLA’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, and Mr. Howard Stahl, Santa Monica College’s Department Chair for Computer Science & Information Systems, judged this year’s submissions alongside Marc.

And the Winners Are…

Dylan and Winston Iskandar of Mira Costa High School and Chadwick School were selected as this year’s winners! Inspired by the ‘new normal’ we all find ourselves in during the COVID-19 pandemic, the duo developed a mobile app called “GroceryBuddies” that connects volunteers with at-risk individuals so they can help them run errands and get groceries. You can learn more about it in the video below:

Jake and Kate North of Stanford Online High School came in second place with their mobile app concept, “Ideos.” “MyChemistry,” a pocket-reference tool for chemistry information that was developed by Rachel Fox of Agoura High School, came in third place:

And “MaskCheck,” an app created by Jayden Bulexa of Beverly Hills High School that helps to educate people about and enforce mask-wearing, received an honorable mention:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8cHHSW9wPY&feature=youtu.be

Each of these entries was incredibly innovative. “As a recovering Computer Science major, I am inspired by all these students who have committed themselves to creating these innovative apps,” Congressman Lieu said.

Marc was also astounded by the level of creativity and quality that these young mobile app developers brought to the table: “It’s an exciting honor to witness the next generation of innovators harness the potential of STEM to improve our lives. I thank Congressman Lieu for the opportunity to help inspire, educate, and foster a passion for technology in our youth.”

It’s absolutely amazing that there’s so much young tech talent in the Los Angeles County area alone! We can’t wait to see what 2021’s participants have to offer.

It takes a lot to succeed in business. Having an exception mobile app can certainly help; it’s the reason why we’ve striven to deliver cutting-edge digital products to each and every one of our clients through our innovative mobile app development process. You can count on us to make things easier for you while maximizing the potential of your ideas. What’s important to us is how we can progress and prosper together.

In light of our committed work, B2B research firm Clutch has featured Dogtown Media as one of the best B2B service providers in California! Alongside this amazing accomplishment, Clutch has also recognized us as a top app developer in California!

Thanks to Clutch’s unique industry data analysis methodology and in-depth client interviews, we were awarded a 4.9-star rating! We’re absolutely filled with gratitude to our clients who chose to review our services despite their busy schedules.

Here are some of our most recent client testimonials:

They built an intuitive and simple design, and the team works quickly to address bugs and solve problems.” – Senior Ops Manager, Hospital Innovation Lab

“They were great about touching base with us to make sure we stayed on task.” – VP of Heart and Vascular Services, Healthcare Provider

“Dogtown Media analyzed key stakeholders’ concerns to make the platform as beneficial as possible.” – Founder, Mobile Sales Training Company

Here’s what Marc Fischer, our CEO and Co-Founder, has to say about our award: “It’s an honor for us to be acknowledged for all our efforts! We will continue to work hard for our customers and gain more recognition in the future. Thank you to Clutch! Thank you to our clients who trusted us to push their businesses to reach their full potential.”

All of our designers and app developers in Los Angeles and San Francisco are overjoyed to be featured as both a B2B Leader and Top Developer in California! Rest assured that we value each review that’s been given to us, and we take the necessary steps to improve our services to our customers. Check us out on Clutch and contact us to inquire about our services!

There’s no shortage of hype surrounding 5G. Per the June 2019 Ericsson Mobility Report, “No previous generation of mobile technology has had the potential to drive economic growth to the extent that 5G promises.” Now, this potential is finally becoming a reality. 5G is poised to disrupt practically every industry. But the fifth generation of cellular technology may not be here as soon as you think. A few obstacles stand in the way of 5G’s arrival. Still, opportunities abound for ambitious entrepreneurs.

How 5G Will Usher in a New Era for Numerous Industries

Qualcomm claims 5G will reach initial download speeds of 1.4 gigabits per second. That’s about 20 times faster than 4G. Latency, the lag you experience when issuing a command to your smartphone, is also important to consider. A lag of a few hundred milliseconds is common with 4G. 5G will trim this down to a couple of milliseconds, making data transferring much more reliable.

This unprecedented speed and reliability will change the landscape of technology. 5G will open up a multitude of avenues for developers to build new mobile app features. It will also enable new capabilities in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).

By allowing algorithms to expand their training datasets and run analyses concurrently, 5G will foster faster innovation and growth for AI and machine learning applications. The enriched insights and heightened precision that this produces will immensely improve the orchestra of sensors that IoT relies on.

Various sectors will benefit from these advantages. Smart cities and connected autonomous vehicles will become more viable. Virtual reality goggles will dwindle in size to resemble the devices we’ve seen in science fiction. We’ll be able to experience augmented reality in real-time. And manufacturing supply chains around the world will be able to optimize every step in their process.

5G will also transform healthcare applications. MRI machines and blood pressure monitors will be able to transfer data without delay. Surgeons will be able to operate remotely with no latency between their movements and those of a corresponding robotic arm. 5G will also save you a trip to the doctor’shttps://www.dogtownmedia.com/app-development-services/healthcare-app-developer/ office; telemedicine is expected to grow at an annual compound rate of 16.5% from 2017 to 2023, thanks to this technology. All of this adds up to better experiences and outcomes for patients.

Tempering Expectations

To reach the reality described above, we must address a few substantial challenges. Building 5G applications simply isn’t practical yet. Only the most prominent telecom companies have access to 5G kits, and only a handful of phones are 5G-enabled. In fact, 44% of telecom companies that responded to a survey by JABIL don’t have the proper tools for testing and managing 5G applications.

In a survey of 204 executives working at telecommunications companies with over 1,000 employees working on 5G network development, Jabil found that 53% of respondents believed 5G’s sheer complexity would be the greatest challenge to overcome. This problem becomes more convoluted when you consider that mobile carriers are providing different iterations of 5G as they try to capture market share as quickly as possible. Consequently, developers can’t define what 5G actually is; we’re stuck playing a guessing game.

To make matters worse, the vast majority of developers don’t have access to 5G infrastructure. Besides new software and devices, 5G requires hundreds of thousands of cell sites. Installing this infrastructure easily amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars in costs.

So when should we really expect 5G to become mainstream? According to 60% of Jabil’s survey participants, that should happen by 2021. 20% think it will occur in 2022. And 11% are patiently waiting until 2023 for 5G to become ubiquitous.

Fortunately, there is a silver lining to all of this.

How Entrepreneurs Can Get Ready for 5G

Regardless of when 5G arrives, entrepreneurs can take steps now to prepare for this new mobile era:

1. Practice with Simulations

You may not have access to true 5G network capabilities. But that doesn’t mean you can’t replicate them. For instance, Dogtown Media, my mobile technology firm, has used tools like the Raspberry Pi device and DIY kits such as Framework to simulate 5G’s rapid data transfer capabilities in a development environment. Beyond this, Qualcomm and some telecom consulting companies now offer services that enable developers to simulate 5G experiences.

These substitutes are usually much slower than the real thing. But they still give you a great way to practice.

2. Plan for Two User Experiences

5G adoption will be piecemeal. Major telecoms aren’t incentivized to make the costly infrastructure investments necessary to bring this technology to rural areas immediately. So a large amount of the U.S. population will have to make do with slower networks.

To bridge this digital divide, development teams should plan on creating 4G and 5G experiences of their products. By tailoring your offerings to this reality, you can capture more of the market share.

3. Brace Your Budget for More Work

All of this extra work to make two user experiences requires more time, effort, and money. So plan ahead accordingly by increasing your development budgets by 20% to 50%.

Users who travel across coverage areas may instantly downgrade or upgrade to different networks as a result. To accommodate this and provide a seamless experience, technologies must be flexible and capable of automatically detecting connectivity. This creates even more work for your development team.

5G has tremendous potential to create new value chains, unlock new business opportunities, and fundamentally change how we interact with technology. There’s no doubt it will bring radical transformation. But getting to this point still requires significant investment and serious work.

Don’t let this dissuade you from preparing for this new mobile era. While many people are patiently waiting for this future to come, others are working on making it a reality. At Dogtown Media, we’re creating the mobile future every day. Get in touch with my team for a Free Mobile App Consultation. If you can dream it, we can build it!

Original Article Featured in Forbes.

Our society has been disrupted by the novel coronavirus. Around the world, airline flights have been grounded, communities have slowed to a crawl and countless lives have been affected. In the U.S. alone, we’ve harbored more than 2 million COVID-19 cases. It’s no wonder numerous companies (such as Twitter and Square) are encouraging or asking employees to work from home. Despite how scary times like these can be, business must go on.

Working remotely offers a promising avenue to keep teams functional and businesses in business while infectious diseases are dealt with. The mobile app development firm I co-founded consists of a team distributed across different time zones and continents. Remote work allows our team to stay resilient and adaptive to ever-changing circumstances. Here’s how you can start moving toward a productive distributed team that can roll with the punches of any unexpected event that comes your way.

1. Plan For The Unexpected, And Adapt To New Conditions

If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail. Obviously, hoping that the virus stops spreading doesn’t count as planning. But neither does handing your workers laptops and telling them to work from home. Start planning your remote work strategy by evaluating and analyzing exactly how things will be done. Think about your daily tasks and those of your employees.

It’s important that you also account for different scenarios. To increase your chances of remaining operational, plan for as many employees as possible to work remotely. Categorize which duties necessitate a physical presence in the office, and then challenge these assumptions — experiment to see if there are methods that would allow employees to do these remotely as well.

2. Establish Communication Protocols

To truly optimize your remote work strategy execution, you should be able to keep your team members in the loop and abreast of new circumstances. Take some time to set up communication protocols that allow for seamless collaboration.

Consolidate all contact information so that everyone can be easily reached. Agree on primary communication channels. Slack and email work wonders for my team. Discuss how customer-facing employees are expected to interact with clients and leads.

Last but certainly not least, it’s vital that you establish how and when your team can meet and coordinate. Meetings often take up a big bulk of many employees’ days. Luckily, the rise of teleconference software means meetings no longer have to be in person. Zoom is our go-to platform. And it seems that many others are turning to remote conferencing; Zoom has reportedly already added more users in 2020 than in all of 2019.

3. Streamline Your Software Stack

To simplify remote work for your team members, give them the right tools to succeed. For this step, focus on auditing your available software. Then close any identified gaps in access and adoption.

Assess the comfort level and effectiveness of the applications your team uses every day. This includes communication software such as Slack, as well as workflow tools like Jira and Basecamp. Each piece of your “productivity puzzle” should aid in coordinating deadlines, holding team members accountable and keeping work transparent.

If there is room for improvement, provide training and practice to get your team up to speed. Alternatively, consider other applications to replace the weak links in your software stack. This may seem like more work, but it’s better to take care of this now.

Remember, your software stack should give your staff the ability to work efficiently from anywhere, even on their personal devices if need be. That last part is especially crucial. Clarify which “bring your own” devices are acceptable. Keep data security top of mind, and encrypt all information and interactions via a virtual private network (VPN). This can help ensure your business assets are adequately protected when employees access them remotely.

4. Cultivate A Remote Work Company Culture

When going remote, some team members may feel a sense of isolation. Company culture can go a long way toward combating this issue by reinforcing cohesion.

If your company is new to remote work, it can take a while for employees to adjust. Create a supportive environment that nurtures progress toward this goal. Give your workers extra time to learn the skills and tools they need to succeed. Help them by periodically sending out educational content and opportunities regarding remote work.

In meetings, make sure everyone’s voice is being heard. Open inclusion and participation are two prime avenues to accomplish this. Each team member should regularly have the opportunity to discuss their opinion, whether it’s about the pace of a project or personal dilemmas stifling productivity.

Lastly, don’t forget to be human. We all desire connection. Unfortunately, one of the biggest downsides to remote work is the disconnect it often causes. Bring levity and lightheartedness to your meetings. Everything shouldn’t be serious all the time. If you have new team members, gamify some meetings, and introduce icebreakers so that they feel comfortable building relationships. These endeavors may seem silly, but they can be key to establishing trust and catalyzing meaningful collaboration.

Embrace Remote Work — It Could Strengthen Your Business

Situations like the novel coronavirus can be scary for everyone. And they can be detrimental for businesses. Preparing your company for remote work can let you eschew many of the issues that could arise from future disruptive events.

Plan ahead now to stay resilient in ever-changing circumstances. Even if the current situation doesn’t change, at least you will be organized, flexible and ready to rise to any future occasion that threatens your business’s operational continuity.

While Flexjobs found that it makes up less than 5% of full-time jobs in the U.S., I believe remote work is the future of work. This figure will likely grow with time as more businesses embrace the benefits of working remotely. And if you want your company to be a part of this future, it’s important that you adapt with the times.

Want to leverage emerging technologies like 5G, AI, and IoT in your organization? Get in touch with my team for a Free Consultation.

Since we first opened our studio’s doors in 2011, Dogtown Media has been on a mission to redefine and reinvigorate the mobile app experience. Over the years, we’ve striven to build the best products possible for each of our clients. It’s always a pleasure to receive recognition for our work, and this most recent accolade is no exception: Expertise has recognized Dogtown Media as one of the best mobile app developers in Torrance, California!

Expertise is an organization that makes it simple to find the best local experts for your specific project. Finding the right professional for a job can take substantial time and effort. Expertise streamlines this process by taking care of the research efforts so you can easily understand the most important factors in hiring someone for your endeavors.

The team at Expertise has identified the top leaders in over 200 different industries across numerous major US cities. Each month, they help over 10 million customers find the best-qualified professional for their needs. How do they do this? With a proprietary research and selection method — the very same one that they used to find the best mobile app developers in Torrance, CA!

After identifying a broad pool of active mobile app developers, Expertise narrowed it down with more than 25 variables across five domains:

• Reputation: Each candidate must have a rich history of happy clients and excellent recommendations.
• Credibility: Candidates must be well-established in their industry with licensing, accreditation, and previous awards.
• Experience: All selected candidates must have years of practical experience and education in their craft.
• Engagement: Nominees must be responsive to clients and available for new business.
• Professionalism: Candidates must consistently provide high-quality work and flawless customer service.

With this information in tow, Expertise’s team conducts a manual review to finalize the winners. It’s an absolute honor to make it through this rigorous process and be considered one of the best at what we do!

At Dogtown Media, we’re always focused on pushing ourselves. Our team has grown in size to tackle bigger projects. And we’ve delved deep into emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the Internet of Things to bring our clients new product capabilities. But our motto has never changed: If you can dream it, we can build it!

Besides being dubbed a top mobile app developer in Torrance, CA, we were also recently named a top U.S. mobile app developer by TopDevelopers.co. We were also fortunate to be lauded as one of California’s leading app developers by Clutch!

Thanks so much to Expertise for recognizing us as a top mobile app developer in Torrance, CA! We’d also like to thank our clients, team, and community — we couldn’t have done it without you!

Original Article Featured in Forbes.

Leonardo da Vinci designed a robotic knight more than 500 years ago. The term “artificial intelligence” was reportedly coined at Dartmouth College in the 1950s. Modern, commercial virtual reality first appeared during the arcade boom of the 1980s. According to Business Insider, the internet of things (IoT) is as old as the first wearable headsets from the late 1990s.

Notice a pattern? Most of the technologies we consider to be cutting edge today have actually been around for years (or centuries, in some cases).

What is new is how these technologies work in concert. As the co-founder and CEO of a mobile app development firm, I see that they have immense individual potential, but they are collectively poised to transform the world. Thanks to recent advances in computing power and developer stacks, I believe that transformation is finally within reach.

These once-nascent technologies are converging into a digital framework for the future. The IoT, VR, AI, machine learning, sensors and other advances are seemingly making the impossible possible. For example, we already have vehicles that can successfully navigate rush-hour traffic — imagine what networks of smart devices will be able to accomplish in a few decades. Calling it a brave new world is an incredible understatement.

Can humans keep pace with machines?

The rapid pace of change is exciting, but it’s also anxiety-inducing. The technological convergence will be as disruptive as it is constructive, especially when it comes to the workplace.

Current talent shortages are proof that disruption is already underway. Considering that Korn Ferry estimated in their 2018 Future of Work study that the labor-skills shortage in tech, media and communications would reach 4.3 million workers by 2030, finding talent that has mastered science, technology, engineering and math will probably not get easier. As work increasingly focuses on marshaling technology, I predict that the talent gap will only grow.

My own industry — mobile app development — reinvents itself on a quarterly basis. Much of what I do involves attempting to predict what will come next and then preparing accordingly. That requires a 360-degree perspective to ensure a holistic view, but much of my focus is on my staff members.

When you work in an industry with low unemployment, hiring is a huge challenge. With a tech-driven sea change coming, I believe companies should focus on retention in order to adapt successfully.

Put your team ahead of the curve.

When my company wanted to master machine learning development, we knew that simply hiring someone with the expertise wasn’t an option. Based on our existing skill sets, it made sense to focus on computer vision for our first project. That initial strategy led us to create a hackathon.

Admittedly, this project was way outside our wheelhouse. But even with this steep challenge, it ended up being a resounding success thanks largely to how we prepared our team. If you want to create a culture that is flexible and agile for the tech challenges to come, incorporate what worked for me:

Focus on fun.

Trying to reframe “work” as “fun” is a slippery slope, but it’s undeniably exciting to work on something that’s innovative and groundbreaking. When challenges arise, try to contextualize them as opportunities for collaboration, invention and experimentation — even if that means they create a lot of stress.

But you don’t have to take my word for it: 2015 research from the University of Warwick showed that the happy people studied were up to 12% more productive. Considering that, to many, any productivity increase of more than 3% is significant, this suggests that happy employees are incredibly valuable. We kept our machine learning experiment fun by presenting it as a friendly competition rather than an urgent initiative. That seemingly minor difference led to tremendous results.

Value diversity.

Diversity in the workplace gets a lot of lip service, but I have witnessed how heterogeneous teams can produce better results. We have some team members who are amazing with back-end technologies like cloud infrastructure, others who create apps and interfaces on the front end and a final group that is great with IoT frameworks. Individually, none of these skill groups is equipped to innovate or accelerate. When teams combine skills, however, they can overcome the obstacles of working in isolation.

A 2018 McKinsey study found that companies are more profitable when their teams are diverse. These gains are so significant, the study suggested, that companies with the most ethnic and cultural diversity on their leadership teams were “33% more likely to have industry-leading profitability,” which could extend to other forms of diversity — like skills — as well. Even if we don’t have the perfect person on our team, I believe that the right combination of existing skills among employees can replicate that contribution without the need for a new hire.

Invest in improvement.

Adapting is generally a lot easier when you’re not operating on a shoestring budget. Preparation and contextualization help a lot, but you simply need to invest in change at a certain point. For example, my company consistently invests about 25% of its revenue into innovation. That includes research and development, creating systems for the future and improving our own internal processes. If these efforts are going to be effective later, they need financial support now.

Not surprisingly, talent is an area that requires investment. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce encourages businesses to invest in training and education initiatives to teach the youth of today the skills of tomorrow. Compared to the cost of hiring an engineer in a hyper-competitive labor market, education investments are often modest and can pay huge dividends. Find ways for your company to look at hiring and talent development as long-term initiatives.

It’s plain to see that a technological convergence is coming. At the same time, it’s apparent that no one knows exactly how high-tech advances will affect business, culture and the future as a whole. Companies cannot plan for something they cannot predict, but they can begin preparing for the uncertain. An agile workforce allows companies to pivot long before it’s necessary — by starting now, you’re much less likely to stumble down the road.

Want to leverage emerging technologies like 5G, AI, and IoT in your organization? Get in touch with my team for a Free Consultation.

The hype surrounding 5G has been building for years. Now, it’s finally becoming a reality. The fifth generation of cellular network technology is being rolled out in cities across the United States and around the world, and phones are slowly but surely coming equipped with 5G capabilities.

Without question, the opportunities this new technology presents are immense and exciting. But for developers looking to innovate 5G solutions and apps, it feels more like limbo than a revolution. And for business leaders making bold claims about what they’ll do with 5G capabilities, this poses a serious problem.

Waiting to launch

It’s not surprising that companies like Walt Disney Studios and the New York Times have announced they’re getting in on the 5G action soon. They need to catch the attention of the public and stay competitive.

Some companies have gone even further, making big promises about 5G and assuring customers those changes will come within a short time frame — despite experts’ predictions. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson recently said he envisions 5G becoming a fixed replacement for broadband within three to five years, promising consumers faster speeds than most cable and DSL connections.

However, with the struggles 5G developers are facing, there is serious reason to be skeptical about this timeline. Mobile developers will innovate with 5G by way of apps, but the app ecosystem in its current state doesn’t have access to 5G infrastructure. That’s holding us back. We’re playing a guessing game because we can only simulate a 5G experience, not actually create one.

Only the most prominent telecom companies currently have access to 5G kits, which bars smaller development firms and entrepreneurs from innovating and building applications. These major players roll out 5G technology in highly populated urban areas, often near stadiums or in major downtowns, to reach the most people and get the most out of their PR efforts.

Until coverage extends far beyond those concentrated areas and impacts people outside of those limited spaces, the power of 5G technology will remain out of reach for most of us. And it’s critical for businesses to understand that this limited access to 5G is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what developers are dealing with.

Carriers are providing vastly different versions of 5G as they try to provide coverage to as many people as possible as quickly as they can. But they simply don’t have the capabilities to extend consistent, widespread coverage at this time. And because of this, developers can’t define what this new network actually is and build for it.

Beyond that, the significant costs of installing this infrastructure and software also present a barrier for innovators. For 5G to be effective, it needs hundreds of thousands of cell sites, new software and mobile devices, and up-to-date connective nodes and switches — all of which costs hundreds of billions of dollars.

To be clear, none of this is to say that the next generation of wireless isn’t coming — it is. In fact, almost 20% of all data traffic will be over 5G networks by 2023. But this transition will require a paradigm shift in the way we test and validate networks. At present, 44% of telecoms say they don’t have the tools for testing and managing 5G applications. More than that, the current generation of modems developed by Qualcomm and its competitors are expensive and largely unavailable.

To be sure, some providers are trying to move too quickly and producing no tangible results. AT&T phones, for instance, feature a “5G E” icon in the upper corner, but that icon doesn’t actually indicate a 5G connection. In many cases, 5G E might even be slower than 4G LTE networks, which doesn’t give users or developers any steady ground to stand on.

In the grand scheme of things, claims about 5G are not rooted in reality — yet. Business leaders making big, ambitious assertions about what they’ll do with 5G should heed the warning that 5G will be essentially unusable when rolled out if nothing has been developed for the network.

The great divide

The reality for developers is that building 5G applications simply isn’t practical. Not yet, at least. Until Apple makes serious progress in expanding its capabilities, developing iOS apps is out of the question. And only a few types of Android phones are 5G-enabled.

Most of the 5G running today is a non-standalone version that runs off a 4G core and doesn’t actually deliver most of the promised sophisticated network capabilities. So at this point in time, most investment opportunities in 5G are limited for business leaders, too.

Until accessibility increases, developers will have to make do with using tools like the Raspberry Pi and DIY kits like Framework to test ideas. Ultimately, though, even the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth systems we’re using to connect prototypes are much slower than the real thing.

None of this means developers shouldn’t be planning for 5G; the contrary is true. We have to create while keeping in mind that we’ll have a two-tier connectivity divide based on geolocation — and two types of user experiences as a result. One will seem dated and slow; the other will feel futuristic and completely different from anything we’ve built before.

Making it real

Moving from 4G to 5G networks will be significantly different than when 4G replaced 3G — because it’s not a replacement this time. 5G will build on 4G LTE by using updated software and complementing its predecessor rather than doing away with it.

Hurdles won’t disappear when 5G arrives, either. Just like you might use an extender to boost Wi-Fi coverage in certain parts of your house, developers and entrepreneurs will need to create technology to extend 5G networks if widespread use is ever going to be available. Coverage of 5G networks today essentially comes in hot spots, causing connectivity to be sporadic and undependable.

For this reason, it’s critical that the infrastructure to expand 5G’s reach exists, and it’s our job to build it. Budgets will have to be created with this in mind, and development teams should anticipate 20% to 50% more work depending on the tech stack in development.

In a 2017 article, The Economist coined the phrase “data-network effect” to describe the exponential growth of data that will take place as a result of 5G adoption. It’ll enable huge advances in AI, leading to the creation of bots that can do more than we ever imagined.

Experiences enabled by 5G will be deeply personal and fundamentally change the way we interact with technology when they come. The real-time cloud access capabilities of 5G could provide unprecedented advances in the use of AI in phones and wearables. But until we’re able to overcome the hurdles we face as developers and entrepreneurs in creating the apps that will drive those experiences, the promises of tomorrow will remain elusive.

Want to leverage emerging technologies like 5G, AI, and IoT in your organization? Get in touch with my team for a Free Consultation.