A Smallish List of Parse Migration Guides

As all the developers may already know, the news on Facebook shutting down its most popular backend platform-Parse in January 2017. Although it was the biggest shock to entire developers community, the official declaration came with an inspiration to all the parse users to migrate to best Parse alternative like MongoDB by almost the end of April (28th April) this year, but they need to get ready with the self-hosted Parse server by July 2018 and thereby launch a new app by the end of July 2016.

For your reference, we have compiled the list of Parse migration guides with alternative infrastructure. Let’s take a look at that:

1.Parse official guide from Parse.com

Here’s a migration guide from Parse.com which comes as an official migration guide provided by Parse itself, which follows a basic structure of migration. It helps you to migrate your database from Parse and setting up to parse server.

2. MongoDB

It guides you to migrate your app database from Parse to MongoDB Cloud Manager and AWS Elastic Beanstalk. It provides MongoDB Cloud Manager screenshots, in case you feel like opting for AWS instead of choosing Heroku, that would guide you to migrate from Parse more easily. There are many blogs which will help you deploying AWS Elastic Beanstalk and MongoDB for setting up Parse server on AWS.

3. AWS

Push notification, a significant feature of Parse has become a pain for all parse users to look for a perfect provider of this feature. Amazon SNS can be the best option for all those Parse users who wish to continue with ‘push notification’ feature. You can check those blogs which would help you knowing the costs and methods of migrating to Amazon SNS from Parse Push. 

4. Azure

Azure also provides you the feature of push notification when you migrate your existing Parse database to Azure. This infrastructure provides also provides parse hosting services.

5.  mLab

 Heroku mLab with mLab is one of the best infrastructure providers that are suggested by Parse. It provides easy ways, in step by step through screenshots and codes, to migrate from Parse to the MongoDB database. Here, you will be also provided with the guide in details to deploy your existing Parse database to Heroku.

6. Julien Renaux

It is a complete guide to Parse server migration that helps you migrate your app database to MongoDB and Digital Ocean. As a developer and/or system admin, you might know about this cloud hosting provider, Digital Ocean. This guide provides you unofficial ways to transfer your app database from Parse to MongoDB and Digital Ocean.

7. Learn App Making

This gives you guidance on migrating, to Parse server with mLab and Heroku, of your app database. If you don’t want to consider the guide provided by mLab for migration and deployment, you can certainly go for this guide that provides you step by step procedure of migration in details, through 8 screenshots.

8. YouTube

Instead of reading a lengthy content on how to do Parse migration you can just watch the tutorial videos on migration guides of Parse database to some good infrastructure providers like mongoDB, Heroku, AWS, etc.

9.Community on Slack

Parse community on Slack is an open source for deploying Parse migration.

Migrating your complete database could be painful but avoid panicking and use any of the above mentioned Parse migration guides. Happy migrating!

What Are The Tactics Used By Uber To Expand In Asian Markets

Taxi mobile apps are revolutionizing the taxi business and solving various problems for customers and taxi drivers. Taxi drivers have to no longer wait for the passengers, customers can find out how far the taxi is, smooth and fast payment, easy navigation and more.

Taxi booking services have numerous benefits and with increasing number of taxi service providers offering the service with the help of an app, it has become important to adapt this kind of solution to survive in the market. 

Uber, the US-based taxi booking app is also stretching its wings in the Indian and Asian markets to get the maximum benefit out of the increasing number of taxi service providers. Uber’s business model brings in more comfort to, privacy and help drivers to serve users effortlessly. You can also develop Uber app clone, which is cost-effective and matches most of the requirements of business planning to offer taxi booking app.

By seeing the demand of cabs, Uber has initiated its taxi booking service in Asian countries and is focusing on the top cities of Asian market to provide and achieve maximum benefit. With so many taxi booking services, making its unique place in Indian and the Asian market is a big challenge.

However, Uber studied the market and found different ways to withstand the competition in the Asian market.

Providing easy riding facility with COD

Uber has done some changes in its technology and service to serve the Asian market in a more efficient way. Seeing the maximum use of cash, Uber introduced Cash-On-Delivery option for riders, where riders can make payment in cash on reaching their desired location. Credit card and mobile wallet payment options are also provided for convenience. 

Third party application integration

Uber released an API that allows its service to be integrated into third-party applications. Since then, there have been many companies that integrated Uber API in their apps. For example, Starbucks, TripAdvisor, Expensify, OpenTable, Tempo etc. To get a clearer picture on how Uber integrates into third-party apps, let’s take an example, Starbucks has integrated ‘Uber button’ in its app which offers rides to the customers to Starbucks coffee shop. Once you click the button, you need to specify which Starbucks you want to visit.     

  

UberAuto for booking auto rickshaws  

Seeing that auto rickshaws is one of the important modes of transportation in India, Uber introduced UberAuto for booking auto rickshaws. UberAuto is one of the options among others in the types of Uber vehicles, the user needs to select UberAuto to hail autos and pay in cash on reaching the destination.

Price reduction and partnering with popular service providers    

  

Uber first entry was in Shanghai and it launched UberBlack, as its premium service, however, it was not successful due to high cost compared to the other cab services. In response to this Uber announced price reduction in order to gain market share. Another strategy Uber used was it linked its service to some of the China’s popular service providers, for example, it partnered with China’s popular payment solution provider, it partnered with Baidu, China’s web giant, for mapping support. 

Focus on City-by-City Expansion

It’s not necessary that what works in one city can work in another as well. Because of difference in politics, regulations, and interests, Uber focused on City-by-City expansion and adapt launch plans that suit each new market. It first understands the market and based on that offers the service in that particular city.

Today, the most reliable way to start taxi booking app or if you are looking to develop Uber-like the app then ‘Uber clone script’ is something that will help you to create Uber-like taxi booking app and at the same time help you to go some extra miles, ahead your competitors.

How Can A Uber Script Help You Run Your Own Taxi Business?

Uber has established itself as a tried and tested business model, and entrepreneurs are now looking at the business model for tasting the success of their own. There are many other taxi booking software that is also growing in number - and if you've your own taxi or car rental business, you need to get one for yourself today!

Having an Uber clone app for your own taxi business can lead to exponential growth for your company. 

Whether it be managing and controlling the fleet effectively or developing your custom taxi app solution, a Uber clone app can be the answer you need to take your business to the next level.

The Uber clone script from Mobisoft called Taxi Pulse can be made to suit the requirements of your fleet and become the perfect solution for you.

Custom Building your Uber Clone App

The developers at Mobisoft have spent a lot of time developing Taxi Pulse. It is a top notch taxi booking software meant to deliver to the needs of your business. Uber is already operating in over 400 cities in 70 countries, and Taxi Pulse is just the thing you need to extend and grow your taxi business. 

•  You will have easy control over your fleet and track each and every vehicle. 

• An Uber clone app is ideal for connecting drivers and passengers together without any       delay. 

• The rating system helps to weed out unruly drivers and also block unwanted passengers.

•  Everything is based in the cloud, so there is no extra infrastructure to develop.

• Easy admin control and with tracking of daily reports and transactions. 

How does an Uber Clone App Work?

Taxi Pulse contains the full package of passenger app, driver app, and the admin control interface. Cabs can be booked easily with a few simple options in no time. Drivers will get the notification of the fare on their app along with the location. The passenger can select his choice of vehicle and get their approximate arrival time and fare.

Once the ride starts both the passenger and driver apps are updated. The route is displayed using Google Maps on both the apps. After the ride, passengers can either pay in cash or use cashless methods of payment. In the end, both drivers and passengers can rate each other on the experience. 

The need of a Taxi Booking Software

The way we used to hire taxis has changed. Consumers are not ready to wait for the services to be delivered. Now few hand gestures on your smartphone can hire you a cab sitting right in your home. You cannot expect your taxi fleet to drive around, looking for passengers on the road. That is a thing of the past!

If you want your taxi business to survive and thrive in today’s market, you need to build a custom Uber clone app with Taxi Pulse. It makes things easy, fast, reliable and consistent. It is also the way the world operates today. Passengers can book cabs in seconds and wait while the car arrives at their doorstep. 

Your driver saves on fuel and does not have to roam around aimlessly around the town looking for fares. It benefits both ways and helps your business to get more loyal customers.

People, who once get the taste and convenience of taxi booking solutions, seldom go back to the old ways of hiring a cab. It is in the interest of your company and taxi fleet to get Taxi Pulse customized and running for your enterprise.

Parse Ceases Operations – And That is Actually Good News!

Today, more people spend time on their mobile devices than sitting in front of their laptops and personal computers. With access to ultra-fast Internet connectivity, surfing the cyberspace on the go is no longer a luxury. This was enabled by high caliber services such as the MBaaS capabilities of Facebook’s Parse.

But things have changed now.

With Facebook announcing in January 2016 that Parse will be shutting down for good, it makes Parse migration mandatory for developers who are invested into this platform. The service will be operational for a year and after that all support related to Parse will cease. However, our take is that Parse migration might actually be a good news for all stakeholders.

 

Parse Migation

The Facebook Strategy

Facebook has decided that its apps are the way forward. This belief may hold some weightage considering the recent earnings declaration by the social networking giant. It appears as though Facebook apps are doing a pretty good job of aggregating content from across the cyberspace to monetize the site. And, this is not at all surprising since the social networking platform has access to all its members’ data and activities.

When Facebook acquired Parse in 2013 for a whopping $85 million, this backend as a services was the mainstay of the site until 2015. However, from then to now, a lot has changed with Facebook’s strategy.

It is now focusing energetically on Messenger, which it believes will be the chat app of the future and attain the same heights of success that WeChat has experienced in China. For some, this particular strategy may sound strange as Facebook to them is merely a social networking platform.

The Big Change

Facebook is in the process of metamorphosis. It has shifted focus and reallocated resources from web-based social networking to its mobile-based messenger app. And, with this shift in focus, the platform is offering enterprise-friendly services, like customer communication bots, with the aim to make itself more appealing and attractive to businesses.

Today, since more people use mobile and handheld devices than laptops and PCs, they are opting for apps to interact as well as to read digital content and use online services. Rather than browsing the web, consumers today prefer reading social media messages and notifications. Furthermore, using a mobile device to browse the Internet is more convenient as people can do this on the go. However, the browsing experience is not optimal. As a result, people just return to social media where they can conveniently access contextualized web links that are recommended by friends and well-known brands.

Seizing the Opportunity

The moment Facebook acknowledged the change in consumers and users’ web browsing habits, it decided to shutdown Parse, making Parse app migration a reality. And, we have to concede that Parse helped app developers build applications that compete with Facebook and its apps.

Facebook has tweaked Messenger to make it enterprise-friendly, but whether businesses will accept and use it as a communication tool is a different ballgame altogether. Enterprises will have to handover their customer data as well as personalized user experience to Facebook and its apps.

But there is good news for app developers. They will be able to seamlessly distribute their content while getting access to more an a billion users. In return, developers will lose control over their data and customer experience. If companies and developers are willing to take this hit then Parse migration would be a wonderful experience. 

The Good News

Those, who believe that single messaging app from Facebook will be the heart and soul of Internet activity, are highly mistaken. The digital world is seeing an array of non-messaging apps, such as those used for on-demand services, retail, dating, enterprise apps and gaming. However, all these non-messaging apps have one thing in common. They rely on messaging to create the perfect user experience, drive user engagement and retain users.  Applications which cannot replicate these features are quickly forgotten and discarded, and new ones take their place.

This clearly shows that though Facebook is trying to wrest control of Internet engagement, it may not be that successful. The digital world wants and needs a plethora of messaging and conversation apps, and by shutting down Parse and making Parse app migration a necessity, Facebook has done mobile app developers (and users) a huge favor. Rather than relying on a single company that believes in pushing content and Internet experience into its own app, developers now are free to choose other platforms to ensure their users get the experience and content they want.

For many app developers, Parse app migration is a boon.  They no longer have to worry about fencing their users into the world of Facebook. Instead, they can now create apps for different platforms that allow users to enjoy a broader Internet experience and also get access to a wider range of content that was not possible before.

Get your Parse migration started today with Mobisoft Infotech. Our tech expertise is what you would need to maintain business continuity with no downtime during the Parse migration.

What Are The Ways To Promote Your Taxi Business Online

Taxi dispatch system has become popular among users as well as fleet management companies. Taxi management system allows you to book local cabs from any location and with better features it makes your traveling easy and secure.

Taxi software system also allows the passenger to track the location of the cab in real time. Taxi management software automates each and every process for customers, drivers as well as for fleet managers.

There are many benefits of using taxi booking software such as:

●     User-friendly experience for customer 
 
●     Maintenance of vehicle details 
 
●     Dispatch jobs to driver automatically, here as the user books the ride, the nearest cab is given an opportunity to serve the customer
 
●     Fare is calculated based on distance 
 
●     Payment gateway support

This is the time when companies need to overcome poor taxi management and take the advantage of technology to serve and manage in more efficient way. With this kind of software, it becomes easy for fleet management companies to increase satisfied customer base, thereby increasing the Return On Investment (ROI).

In the age of Uber-like services, online marketing has become the important part of the taxi business. In order to increase customer base and revenue, you need to spread your service and make it known to people across the city or area. For this, the internet could be of great help, as with more and more people using the internet, you can make yourself and your service visible to them.

Here are few tips on how you can make your service known and at the same time market your taxi business to the large customer base:

Website

Website of your taxi business is very important. A website with good content and well designed attract more customers. Choose the templates that easily go with your service, also make sure that your content is precise with some good punchlines in it. 

Blogging

Creating and writing is another way to communicate with customers and inform them about your service. You can write on the local matters or on difficulties people are facing, you can also promote your latest offers and deals, also give a chance to the people to share their thoughts by asking them on how they feel or what they think about the service like yours. 

 

 

Press Releases

Media often publishes content or news with some good reason. You can contact PR agencies  if you have something that is worth to be published. PR should be about the launch of the service or product, any new or unique feature introduced in an existing product or service. Contact a good PR agency and get an effective Press Release ready, which can attract an audience interested in your service. 

 

Social Media

With more and more people using social media, promoting your taxi business on social media has become a necessity. Make sure you have someone handling constant updates, information, and content on social media. The social media page of your business or service should display some content, offer or deals that attract new customers. Various social media options are available like Facebook, LinkedIn, twitter, Google+, Youtube, Pinterest etc.

 

  

                                                                                    Online Booking Service 

With online booking service, it becomes easy for customers to book a ride from anywhere and at anytime. With just a click!. Taxi businesses are moving from traditional booking service to more advanced taxi booking apps. Moreover, there are Taxi software free of cost available in the market. Your online booking service should be simple to use for both customers and drivers. If it’s possible to add some extra features or additional benefits in your service.  

Online Referral Programs

Get your new customers with the help of online referral program. Without much investment, you just need to offer some discount or cash benefit by including an option of ‘invite a friend and share a referral code’. It’s a very cost-effective method and attracts more people to use your service. For example, Uber runs an in-app referral program, that offers two-way benefit by incentivizing both the referrer and a friend to whom it is referred. Some of the services also offer unique referral program, such as the one offered by SideCar, in its referral program, a person or customer earns cash, each time a person invited by him/her becomes a driver and has given a 10th ride. 

Online Ratings and Reviews

Online ratings and reviews can also help you to promote your taxi business. As people always choose the best in anything, and with good rating and reviews, your taxi service will be given high priority by people. You can service or company that publishes rating and review about a local business. Another way is to provide rating and review option in your taxi booking app for customers and later publishing it on your website or on the app store, these rating and reviews will be genuine to make people believe in you and your service. 

Marketing your taxi business is the most crucial part. You need to plan the strategies you apply in your marketing, as each decision taken by you can make or break your image. Always remember the words by Joe Chernov, “Good marketing makes the company look smart. Great marketing makes the customer feel smart”.