Possibilities Unlocked

What Does API Stand For? Examples and Uses

Defining Dev  |  Technology  |  big data  |  system integrations

Looking for something specific while ordering food, shopping online, or booking a flight on your apps and wondering how it brings up what you need when you need it?

US Air Force Chooses Aviture to Lead Contingency Quarters Application Development

Company News  |  News

Aviture will be responsible for developing the Contingency Quarters Management Accountability Platform, or CQMAP. This application will modernize current protocols with a GovCloud-based solution that works online and offline, enabling services managers to assign airmen to their quarters faster than ever before.

Continuous Delivery Strategy: Definition, Tools, And How to Get There

devops  |  product development  |  software development

Welcome to Create Impact, a new series from Aviture focused on the topics that inspire our engineers to innovate. In each article, an Aviture team member will take you on a deep dive into a subject they’re passionate about, showing you the thinking behind cutting-edge engineering advances, the latest UX trends, development theories, and other unique topics that enable Aviturians to embrace the Art of the Possible for our clients.   In this post, Senior Solution Architect Joel Elixson explores how continuous delivery can revolutionize the software development process. He defines continuous delivery, explores how to overcome barriers to widespread adoption, and shows how the right tools and culture are crucial for spurring innovation.

Minimum Viable Product: 3 Examples of this Most Valuable Phase

minimum viable product  |  proof of concept  |  software development

When you have a big, bold idea with the potential to grow your business and revolutionize an industry, the temptation is to immediately jump to the end result.   Yet having a fully fleshed-out, perfectly made, exceptional product or service takes a significant amount of time and money to accomplish. Going from idea to “in market” is a process that can take years of brainstorming, development, configuration, reconfiguration, and testing. Skip any step in that process and the end result may not be everything you want it, or your customers need it, to be.   To make sure your developers, investors, and ultimately your users/customers are happy, it sometimes helps to take an intermediate step between bold idea and the final product: a minimum viable product (MVP).

Quickly Assess your Agility in Scrum

agile  |  software development

So you’re doing Scrum. Great! But are you Agile?   “Wait a minute,” you might say. “Isn’t Scrum an Agile framework? How can you be doing Scrum and not be Agile?”   Well…it’s actually quite easy.

Accessibility Services in Tech: Have You Considered These Features?

User Experience  |  User Interface  |  accessibility

Making your products and services as accessible to as many people as possible isn’t only the right thing to do; it’s good business sense.   Too many companies continue to approach accessibility as an afterthought within the design of their websites and applications. This excludes many prospective members of the target audience who may have the intent to purchase a product or service but find it difficult to do so. It can frustrate current customers who feel they aren’t adequately able to use what they’ve invested their money in.   Making a website or application that’s accessible is crucial when designing your tech. But knowing how to evaluate your current efforts is somewhat tricky and can be even more difficult than starting from scratch.   Here are a few things you’ll want to consider.

The Engineering Insights You May Have Missed, All In One Spot

UX  |  company culture  |  software development

Create Impact is a series from Aviture focused on the topics that inspire our engineers to innovate. In each article, an Aviture team member will take you on a deep dive into a subject they’re passionate about, showing you the thinking behind cutting-edge engineering advances, the latest UX trends, development theories, and other unique topics that enable Aviturians to embrace the Art of the Possible for our clients.   2021 saw Aviturians exploring a number of topics that got our readers excited. Here's a compilation of some of the most popular insights.

Software Implementation Planning: Get the Scoop

agile  |  product development  |  software development

"Human nature is to need a map. If you’re brave enough to draw one, people will follow." — Seth Godin   Wise words from author and business executive Seth Godin. In the daunting context of implementing a new system or software for your business, his words ring even truer — a solid roadmap ensures things run as smoothly as possible throughout the process. We’ve curated a quick and handy guide to help you gain a handle on how to approach software implementation planning.

How to Measure Tech Debt (Both Types!)

Technology  |  software development  |  system integrations

Tech debt is one of the biggest obstacles facing organizations who seek to modernize their operations, but its relative invisibility is precisely what makes it so hard to tackle.   Without a thorough accounting of the technological debt that a company has accrued over the years, old and outdated systems and programs can have an outsized negative impact. Tech debt can act as an unseen albatross around the neck of even the most successful organizations, preventing engineering teams and the business from reaching their unseen potential.

From AI to Z: The Engineering Terms to Know in 2022

Data engineering  |  software development  |  virtual reality

Every year brings new terms to add to the tech lexicon and familiar terms given new spins as they make their way to the general public.   2022 is no different. As we look ahead to what the world’s top engineering minds are focused on in the near future, we’ve identified key takeaways about the rise of artificial intelligence, the metaverse, and all manner of tech advancements. Buckle in, because these are the AI to Z of engineering terms to know for 2022.

Top 3 AWS re:Invent Expo Announcements Point to the Cloud’s Future

Cloud & Hybrid  |  Cloud Migration  |  Cloud infrastructure

Welcome to Create Impact, a new series from Aviture focused on the topics that inspire our engineers to innovate. In each article, an Aviture team member will take you on a deep dive into a subject they’re passionate about, showing you the thinking behind cutting-edge engineering advances, the latest UX trends, development theories, and other unique topics that enable Aviturians to embrace the Art of the Possible for our clients.   In this post, Chief Engineer Brandon Suponchick takes us through the biggest highlights of AWS re:Invent, the annual event from the world’s leading cloud provider. Brandon explores how things like private 5G networks and serverless data warehouses will transform cloud computing in 2022 and beyond.

Aviture Provides Engineering Expertise to Big Red Keno

Company News  |  News

The two Nebraska-based companies have joined forces to make keno throughout the state smarter, more fun, and more secure than ever. As a result of this partnership, Aviture will support Big Red Keno during a transformative time for the state and for gaming in Nebraska.

Why Innovation Strategy Consulting Firms are the Way of the Future

Business Innovation  |  Digital Transformation  |  innovation  |  product development  |  vision casting

We’ve dispelled the myth (and many others) that innovation only happens in a “Eureka!” moment. Lightning doesn’t need to strike for you to cultivate innovation, so why is it so difficult for some organizations?

What Is Virtual Reality’s Meaning for Businesses? Examples and Definition

Internet of Things  |  augmented reality  |  virtual reality

Is 2022 the year virtual reality finally takes off in the mainstream?   Some of the biggest companies in the world certainly hope so. Facebook recently declared its intention to go all-in on virtual reality with a media distraction campaign/name change to Meta, a moniker meant to evoke the concept of the metaverse, where people congregate and interact in virtual reality environments.

Design Systems Definition: What They Are and Why They Matter

UX  |  User Experience  |  User Interface

Welcome to Create Impact, a new series from Aviture focused on the topics that inspire our engineers to innovate. In each article, an Aviture team member will take you on a deep dive into a subject they’re passionate about, showing you the thinking behind cutting-edge engineering advances, the latest UX trends, development theories, and other unique topics that enable Aviturians to embrace the Art of the Possible for our clients.   In this post, Frontend Engineer Chris Kollars explores design systems and their importance to creating a cohesive user experience. He explains how to define design systems, how they differ from and interact with component libraries and style guides, and why they are crucial for unifying your team around brand-based best practices and experiences.

How to Define Sentiment Analysis and Apply It to Your Organization

artificial intelligence  |  machine learning  |  sentiment analysis

What’s the best way to know how people really feel about your business, product, or service?   Sales are certainly one metric. If your sales increase, that’s a sign that people appreciate what you’ve put in the market. But this metric is imperfect, as it could also suggest that you have a product or service that’s so valuable, people are willing to overlook minor or even major inconveniences.

The Best Business Dashboards: Examples to Inspire from Different Industries

Data engineering  |  analytics software  |  business analysis  |  business dashboard  |  data strategy  |  system integrations

We’ve written at length about the power of strategic system integrations, especially when effectively visualized in a client or business dashboard. After all, what business leader isn’t looking for some version of a single source of actionable insights to improve their operations?

Gamification Defined: How to Use Play to Boost Profits and Win Customers

UX  |  User Interface  |  gamification

We’re long past the point where gaming is considered a niche culture.   According to the Entertainment Software Association, over 226 million people in the United States played video games of some kind in 2020. That’s more than two thirds of the entire population of the country. Some of these might be the prototypical hardcore gamer playing online via a console or PC, while others take a few minutes per day to indulge in a free-to-play mobile game on their phones.   Is it any wonder, then, that aspects of gaming have seeped into so many other areas of life?

Understanding the UX and UI Difference to Get the Best Results

UX  |  User Experience  |  User Interface

Welcome to Create Impact, a new series from Aviture focused on the topics that inspire our engineers to innovate. In each article, an Aviture team member will take you on a deep dive into a subject they’re passionate about, showing you the thinking behind cutting-edge engineering advances, the latest UX trends, development theories, and other unique topics that enable Aviturians to embrace the Art of the Possible for our clients.   In this post, Director of Customer Experience DJ Jahn explores the differences between UX and UI, common misconceptions about each, and how incorporating user-centric strategic and design practices into every step of the process can provide an exceptional product that wows the end user.

Cloud vs. Hybrid: What’s the Right Setup for You?

Cloud & Hybrid  |  Cloud Migration  |  Cloud infrastructure

When it comes to data integral to your business and software, you basically have three storage options to choose from:

System Integration Questionnaire: How to Know When It's Time to Integrate

Data engineering  |  data strategy  |  system integrations

It’s a well-known, deeply felt fact for every company: technology silos impact your operational efficiency.

How to Do a Usability Test

UX  |  User Experience

You’ve got a brand new product, app, or update coming in the near future. Your engineering team is ready to fire on all cylinders to bring it to the masses. The time is now.   But hold on for just a moment. How sure are you that people will use your product or service the way you intend?   Assumptions are the enemy of technology. They can lead engineers, departments, and entire companies down the wrong fork in the road, wasting time and resources and delaying innovation.   This is precisely where usability testing comes in.

Taking Ownership of Tech Solutions…Even When You Don’t Own the Tech

Technology  |  software development  |  thought leadership

Welcome to Create Impact, a new series from Aviture focused on the topics that inspire our engineers to innovate. In each article, an Aviture team member will take you on a deep-dive into a subject they’re passionate about, showing you the thinking behind cutting-edge engineering advances, the latest UX trends, development theories, and other unique topics that enable Aviturians to embrace the Art of the Possible for our clients.   In this post, Aviturian and Decision Logic Chief Technology Officer Matt Mixan explores why strategic guidance is crucial for software consulting, allowing you to move beyond bug fixes and toward real long-term solutions.

Aviture Attains Key AWS Cloud Partner Designation

Cloud & Hybrid  |  Cloud Migration  |  News

The software consultancy has become an approved member of the AWS Public Sector Partner Program, which will enable Aviture to provide key services to space, healthcare, government, nonprofit, education, and Foreign Service Institute (FSI) customers. The distinction, which requires an extensive application and advanced expertise related to the needs of the public sector, enables Aviture up to offer unprecedented support to partners and initiatives.

Cloud Computing Network Security: Get the Basics

Cloud & Hybrid  |  Cloud Migration  |  data strategy

The #1 concern of companies thinking about migrating to the cloud? Security.   After all, every few weeks we see headlines about some company that has suffered a data breach. And in almost all these scenarios, the organization in question was reliant on the cloud for the storage of their data.   Does this make the cloud inherently unsafe, or privy to data breaches in a way that on-site data storage wouldn’t be?   Absolutely not!

Uses for Augmented Reality are Everywhere — Whether You See Them or Not

Internet of Things  |  augmented reality  |  software development

The buzz around augmented reality is that it’s one of those promising technologies that always seems to be just on the verge of going mainstream but hasn’t quite gotten there yet.   But this reputation is not really fair; in fact, augmented reality (AR) is an increasingly common part of modern life that continues to thrive and evolve even if it’s not visible to you at all times.

socat to Me: Connecting a Public and Private Subnet in AWS

Technology  |  software development  |  thought leadership

Welcome to Create Impact, a new series from Aviture focused on the topics that inspire our engineers to innovate. In each article, an Aviture team member will take you on a deep-dive into a subject they’re passionate about, showing you the thinking behind cutting-edge engineering advances, the latest UX trends, development theories, and other unique topics that enable Aviturians to embrace the Art of the Possible for our clients.

Iterative Innovation: Technology Convergence Definition and 5 Examples

Internet of Things  |  Technology Convergence  |  software development

The internet of things has grown so all-encompassing that you probably don’t pay it any attention.   You drive your car without thinking about how it seamlessly weaves intelligent traffic analysis, internal system monitoring, physical processes (i.e. push gas pedal = go), internet connectivity, and Bluetooth-based music playback all at once. You log in to your work computer without truly noticing how amazing it is that you can use one device to check the weather, look at emails, listen to music, write a report, browse social media, and make banking transfers.

The Best Example of a Product Roadmap for Your Next Technology Project

agile  |  product development  |  product lifecycle  |  software development

Every new product begins with a vision. It’s an enticing picture: your idea brought to life, delivering value for your users, impacting your industry for the better, and innovating with every iteration. This vision of the future must begin with a plan to get there: your product roadmap. In this blog, we’ll share our best example of a product roadmap, including what it should (and shouldn’t) include, ideas for tailoring your roadmap to larger-scale projects and initiatives, and the role of a technology partner in helping you achieve your product vision.

Understanding Mental Health and Creating a Workplace of Psychological Safety

Technology  |  software development  |  thought leadership

Welcome to Create Impact, a new series from Aviture focused on the topics that inspire our engineers to innovate. In each article, an Aviture team member will take you on a deep-dive into a subject they’re passionate about, showing you the thinking behind cutting-edge engineering advances, the latest UX trends, development theories, and other unique topics that enable Aviturians to embrace the Art of the Possible for our clients.

What Embedded Systems Do and What They’ll Do for You

Internet of Things  |  embedded systems

You don’t always need an application or device to do everything. Sometimes you just need it to do one thing really, really well, again and again and again.

Why Computer Vision? What It Is, Its Uses and How It Will Aid Your Mission

Data engineering  |  artificial intelligence  |  machine learning

The world isn’t made of 1’s and 0’s (unless you subscribe to the theory that we’re living in a simulation a la The Matrix, in which case, who hurt you?).

Business Analysis for Software Development Spurs Sustainable Impact

Business Impact  |  agile  |  software development

How do you engineer a technical solution without first understanding the problem you’re trying to solve?   You may as well blindfold yourself and try to go about your day as you normally would. Inevitably, you’ll run into some roadblocks.

Why Automating Data Collection Is More Important Than Ever

automation  |  big data  |  data strategy

Every manual task is an opportunity missed.

Technology Is Only as Good as the Problem It Solves

Technology  |  software development  |  thought leadership

Sometimes, the smartest engineers in the room can make some incredibly not-so-smart decisions.

Predictive Analytics for Healthcare: The Next Big Thing Is Here

Health Tech  |  big data  |  predictive analytics

More than any other field, healthcare is perhaps the area where predictive analytics is poised to make a massive difference in operations.

How to Define Proof of Concept for Your Tech Solution

proof of concept  |  software development

In the lifespan of a tech venture, there is both a beginning and an end.   The beginning is an idea. It’s ethereal, conceptual, something that exists only in our minds, doodled on the back of a napkin, or sketched out on a whiteboard.   On the other end of the tech spectrum, after all the hard work and development, is the end product. It’s the idea shaped into reality, tried and tested and put through the wringer in order to come up with viable hardware or software that addresses a need in the marketplace going unfulfilled.   But there’s one key stop on the journey that every tech idea should go through, long before you go into production, before Q & A testing, even before development and prototyping:   Proof of concept.  

The Internet of Things Definition: What It Is, What It Isn’t

Smart Tech & IoT  |  Technology

Chances are, even if you aren’t in the tech industry, you’ve heard the term Internet of Things (IoT).

The 5 Crucial Elements for Building an Effective Data Strategy

Technology  |  data strategy

Your data is one of your most strategic, valuable assets.

3 Crucial Ways Customer Data Platforms Drive Value for Your Business

Data engineering  |  big data

Knowing the habits and behaviors of your business’s target audience is key to providing an experience that converts prospects into customers and customers into evangelists for your company.   Enter the customer data platform.

Difference Makers: Meet Andrew Rogers, Director of Product Strategy at Carson

Difference Makers  |  Events  |  carson  |  thought leadership  |  webinar

Welcome to Difference Makers, a webinar series spotlighting people and organizations driving a culture of innovation across the country.

What is Machine Learning? Myths and Reality

artificial intelligence  |  machine learning

The following article on machine learning was written by an algorithm.   Not really.   You’d be forgiven for believing that little lie. Machine learning has become a point of fascination for so many industries. The idea that a machine can be “taught” brings with it any number of potential solutions for life’s once-intractable computing and business problems. Seen in this light, would it really be all that shocking to read a blog that was written by an algorithm that “learned” how to mimic the style of a human author?

Cloud Migration Strategy: 11 Questions You Should Be Asking

Cloud Migration  |  Cloud infrastructure

When developing a cloud migration strategy, having all your bases covered ahead of time is essential to achieving success. By asking 12 key questions, you’ll set your business up for the successful transition of data and systems to the cloud.

The Complete Guide to User Experience: What It Is and How to Succeed

UX  |  User Experience  |  User Interface

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart (an incredible old-timey name) is most famous for a particular quote.   In the case Jacobellis v. Ohio, he and the other Justices on the court were being asked to, in essence, determine what constitutes obscene content, something that is notably subjective and difficult to pinpoint. In response to this seemingly difficult assignment, Justice Stewart came up with a rather simple, straightforward criteria:   “I know it when I see it.”   We bring this up because you could say the same thing about user experience, or UX.

Difference Makers: Meet Mandi Wooledge, President and COO of Decision Logic

Difference Makers  |  Events  |  decison logic  |  thought leadership  |  webinar

Welcome to Difference Makers, a webinar series spotlighting people and organizations driving a culture of innovation across the country. 

Data Lakes vs. Data Warehouses: The Easiest Explanation You’ll Ever Read

big data  |  software development

On the surface, trying to parse the difference between data lakes versus data warehouses seems complex.   Both act as repositories of data collected by your organization. Both can be utilized for apps and programs and analytics that enable you to optimize your business processes. As such, it’s easy to get them confused.   But do you want to know a secret? The difference is actually really straightforward, and we’re going to provide the easiest data lake/data warehouse explanation you’ve ever heard to help you remember.

Difference Makers: Meet Amy Johnson, Co-Founder and CEO of LifeLoop

Difference Makers  |  Events  |  LifeLoop  |  thought leadership  |  webinar

Welcome to Difference Makers, a webinar series focusing on spotlighting people and organizations driving a culture of innovation across the country.

The Case for 'Going Green': What is a Greenfield Project?

Cloud & Hybrid  |  Digital Transformation  |  Technology  |  innovation

You may have done an audit recently and seen or heard the term “greenfield project” tossed around when discussing new software solutions. Whether you’re ready to make your systems more cloud-compatible or are looking to delve into unexplored territory, a greenfield project might be just the right fit for you. We’re going to take a look at the parameters of a greenfield project and help you understand the benefits, risks, and potential impact it can have on your business.

How to Sell a Digital Transformation Strategy to Your CEO

After covering why digital transformation is valuable for every organization (including the differences between smaller-scale digitalization projects vs. a full-blown transformation), we thought it was time to talk specifics — like how to get started.

User Experience vs. Customer Experience: Differences, Definitions, and More

User experience vs. customer experience: is there a difference? It’s a common question, but ultimately both play important roles in attracting and retaining clients for any business.  

Difference Makers: Meet Tammi Bosilijevac, Managing Director of ReRuns

Difference Makers  |  Events  |  ReRuns  |  e-commerce  |  nonprofit  |  thought leadership  |  webinar

Welcome to Difference Makers, a webinar series focusing on spotlighting people and organizations driving a culture of innovation across the country.

Artificial Intelligence Definition: What Makes It More Than a Buzzword

Smart Tech & IoT  |  Technology  |  artificial intelligence

One of the biggest buzzwords in the tech industry over the past decade has been “artificial intelligence” — also referred to as “AI.” In fact, when looking at innovation initiatives, it’s almost difficult to find a press release that doesn’t mention AI. Case in point: startup companies on the forefront of innovation that have been using AI received more than $7.4 billion in funding during Q2 2019.  

What is a Digital Transformation? Why Now is the Time to Invest in Innovation

Not too long ago, we covered the differences between digitization, digitalization and digital transformation.

Data Encryption: Definition, Pros and Cons, and How It Affects You

Data engineering  |  Technology

What We'll Cover: 1. Data encryption definition and applications. 2. Various pros and cons of using data encryption. 3. The value it can bring your business.   The move to cloud services has exploded as people continue to work from home. However, with this rise, there’s been an equally big uptick in something not as nice or useful: cyber-attacks. The Cloud has allowed businesses to keep things running, but as people take laptops home and internal servers are moved online, cyber attackers aren’t slowing down. There have been 4,000 cyber attacks a day since March of last year. 

Digitalization Trends Going Into 2021: What to Keep Your Eyes On

News  |  Technology

2020 has been a rollercoaster of a year. While the landscape of how we work has changed this year, there’s a lot of exciting developments that have also changed. With all of this rapid innovation, it’s important to come out of the gate swinging in 2021, and knowing the digitalization trends that are leading the pack can help set you up for success. We’ve curated a list of some of the things we think you should be keeping your eyes on.

Innovation Examples to Inspire Your Technology Roadmap

Business Impact  |  Business Innovation

Business innovation is bigger than technology.

Digitization, Digitalization, and Digital Transformation: What’s the Difference?

Digital Transformation  |  digitalization  |  digitization

Digitization, digitalization, digital transformation.   (Say that three times fast.)   Alliteration aside, despite how often these terms are used interchangeably, they each have a distinct meaning — and an impact on your business. Below, we’ll define each and talk through how they all drive impact for your organization.  

System Integrations: How a Combined Dashboard Can Drastically Improve Your Business

Data engineering  |  big data  |  data strategy  |  modernization  |  system integrations

Many businesses deal with out-of-date systems, separated spreadsheets, and siloed data. Without strategic system integrations in place, these segmented technologies negatively impact your team’s decision-making ability and as a result, cost you money. In fact, according to IBM, surveyed organizations estimate that poor data quality is costing them an average of $15 million per year — with even greater long-term impacts such as reputation damage, missed opportunity, and loss of revenue. As a business leader, you’ve heard of the value integrated data can bring your organization. You may have considered merging systems before but need better examples of the ROI. System integrations take time — does the cost justify the outcome? The answer is a resounding ‘yes.’ Here are just a few examples of the benefits merging your systems brings to your business.

Why User Experience Is Important: 4 Ways a Great User Experience Grew These Businesses

Air Force  |  Technology  |  UX  |  carson  |  decison logic  |  guardian

Designing a great user experience is more than just updating your website or application's user interface — it encompasses everything your users interact with. In addition, every dollar invested in UX results in a return of $100 — generating an ROI of 9,900%.   In a world where customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable, it pays (literally) to prioritize UX.   Understanding why user experience is important will have a positive impact on your business — the same as it did for these four companies. 

How a New Client-Facing App Won Carson Group a $63 Million Client

Application  |  Aviture  |  Scaling  |  Technology  |  UX

With a younger generation quickly entering the financial market alongside older generations, it is becoming more and more important that a financial institution can capture clients from both demographics. Systems need to be updated to remain appealing to current design standards, but they also cannot alienate any one client group either. As new technology is introduced across the industry, the bottom line keeps getting pushed. If your business cannot adapt, it can seriously damage a competitive edge.

As Cloud-Computing Continues to Grow, What Can That Mean for Your Business? (Chart)

Cloud infrastructure  |  Scaling in the Cloud  |  Technology

While the cloud industry continues to mature, it is becoming more accessible to businesses in every industry - as well as more necessary. When the world was hit with the pandemic earlier this year, changes were needed to almost every business sector with how data was accessed. Cloud solutions were paramount to making those changes happen quickly and effectively and will continue to be essential into the future.  

AvitureConf: How We Hosted a Conference Week Completely Remote

Aviture  |  Company News  |  Culture

Our "Castaway Week" is one of the most important culture weeks we host for our Aviturians every quarter. It's a way for everyone, including anyone working remotely out of state, to come to the Omaha headquarters for a week of team building and fun. However, with the ongoing restrictions of COVID-19, we already had to make some changes. After holding our first remote Castaway Week in April, we knew we wanted to do something a little different this time around. After some brainstorming, a group of Aviturians put their heads together and decided to rebuild our culture week from the ground up - in a process that can be applied to not only our company, but yours as well.

Aim High: A Mobile App Revolutionizing the Air Force's Recruiting Process

Air Force  |  Application  |  Aviture  |  News  |  Technology

Aviture is excited to announce the release of the brand-new Aim High Air Force recruiting app! The app is a “sister app” to AirForce.com designed to draw in non-traditional recruits while expanding non-traditional networking around candidates and recruits. The Aim High app opens communication channels using rich “social-like” content to communicate with families and friends of recruits in ways that create a positive network, leading to recruiting success and career retention.

Three Ways Working Remote Has Made Us More Empathetic

Aviture  |  Culture  |  News  |  Working Remotely

Over the past two months, many companies have switched to 100% remote work environments. We gave some insight into how we stay connected with our fellow Aviturians in a virtual setting with some helpful tips from our full-time remote employees.

Continuous Connection: Remote Work Tips from our 'Castaways'

Aviture  |  Culture  |  News  |  Working Remotely

Working from home isn't just doing the same thing in a different location. There are a lot of natural rhythms that happen in an office that just don't happen when you work from home. For example, in an office, you might walk to the kitchen with a coworker to grab a cup of coffee. But if you're working from home, you simply close the Zoom window and get back to whatever it was you were doing.

Innovating for the Cure

Health Tech  |  JDRF  |  Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)  |  community

Aviture was incredibly honored to be the 2020 Presenting Sponsor for the JDRF Nebraska-Southwest Iowa Chapter’s annual Promise Gala. Funds raised at this year’s event totaled over $1.7 million, exceeding last year’s total and an incredible continuation of the upward trend in donations by our community for this cause.

Lessons Learned, Still in New Zealand

Aviture  |  Aviture Values  |  Culture  |  News

Aviturian Molly Misek departed for a year-long sabbatical across the globe on January 4th. To stay in touch, she's sharing blogs about the world she's experiencing ... all through the lens of Aviture's six core values. Below is her second blog about life in New Zealand.   ----   Hello again! As the months go by I’ve gotten officially settled into travel life — perhaps too much so. I’ve just gotten back from a four-day solo camping trek that rocked my world (in good and bad ways), so I’m a bit late on this update.

North of North Island, New Zealand

Aviture Values  |  Culture  |  News

Aviturian Molly Misek departed for a year-long sabbatical across the globe on January 4th. To stay in touch, she's sharing blogs about the world she's experiencing ... all through the lens of Aviture's six core values. Below is her first blog describing the first leg of her journey from LA to New Zealand.

Launching the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs: Aviture + UNO’s Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization

Omaha  |  UNO  |  community  |  entrepreneurs

Aviture is proud to partner with the University of Nebraska Omaha’s Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO) to help support and launch the next generation of entrepreneurs. The global organization’s mission is to inform, support, and inspire college students to be entrepreneurial and to seek opportunity through enterprise creation.   

Introducing the Art of the Possible

Aviture  |  Culture  |  News

Starting today, Aviture will look a little different.

GUARDIAN Team Wins 2019 USGIF Military Achievement Award

Awards  |  News  |  Technology  |  geoint  |  guardian  |  innovation

Aviture is excited to announce that the GUARDIAN project, built on the AWS GovCloud in partnership with the Texas Air National Guard, has won the 2019 USGIF Military Achievement Award. The GUARDIAN Team includes Texas Air National Guardsmen Maj. Alexander Goldberg, Maj. Curtis Wilson, Maj. Michael McDermott, and Maj. Travis Williams.

Celebrating International Women's Day

Culture  |  nationalwomensday  |  womenintech

Happy International Women's Day 2019! The campaign this year is #BalanceforBetter, a call to action for "doing everything possible to help forge a more gender-balanced world." At Aviture, we strive to live this “Balance.”  Gender diversity makes us a better company and to encourage these efforts, Aviture has enhanced our maternity leave program to include additional time-off with pay and greater flexibility when returning to the office following leave.  Additionally, 70 percent of our new hires this year are women, including some of our senior leadership. To make this year’s International Women’s Day special, we recognize and celebrate women in technology by highlighting a few of the women of Aviture and why women strengthen and enhance our company.

Observables in Action: 3D Object Reconstruction

Technology

We recently had a project that included several unique and interesting technical problems to solve. One of those problems involved 3D scanning an object in order to create an in-memory representation of the surface of that object.

How to keep remote employees engaged: Castaway Week 101

Aviture  |  Culture

Great company culture isn’t built overnight. It’s the values, beliefs and spirit of your organization, and it takes effort and experimentation to grow. We’re proud of the environment we’ve cultivated at Aviture, but we are always striving for improvement and growth. Like many workplaces today, we are constantly trying to answer this question: How can we create culture that transcends the barrier of space between headquarters (Omaha, NE) and our remote employees (Austin, Chicago, DC Metro, Hartford, Las Vegas, Portland, and Phoenix)?

Advanced Redux Form Pattern: Derived (but Editable) Fields

React  |  Redux  |  Technology  |  UX  |  forms

Let’s face it, forms can be extremely complicated. There are all sorts of issues you run into with forms to provide a nice user experience. That’s why it’s really handy to have a library to help you out. If using React/Redux, Redux Forms is a great library to help you manage that form state in your Store. Having Redux Forms work with the store also opens up the possibility to customize behavior via your own reducers. This will let you take advantage of all the built-in functionality of the library but also handle your potentially complicating scenarios. I’m going to show you how to leverage this concept to build a specialized form that reflects a requirement we had for a project, a derived but editable field.

Implementing Gherkin, Cucumber and Protractor: A beginner's guide

Technology  |  automated acceptance test  |  automated testing  |  cucumber  |  gherkin  |  protractor

This is a follow up to my previous post Automated Testing and ATDD with Gherkin, Cucumber and Protractor: Getting Started where I discussed the path taken on my first project using BDD and how manual testing time and the # of bugs generated were both significantly reduced. With this post we'll be setting up a project to run automated acceptance tests with Cucumber and Protractor using human readable acceptance criteria written in Gherkin. Our feature tests will be hitting the ToDo MVC AngularJS example site.

How to Host a CodeFest/Hackathon, Part 2: Convincing Everybody Involved

Clean Coder  |  Culture  |  Events

Previous Posts in this Series How to Host a CodeFest/Hackathon, Part 1: Why Have a Hackathon? Answering Questions in Advance So last time I hopefully convinced you that you should at least consider having an internal company hackathon, or as we call it here at Aviture, a Codefest. But before we really get started, you have to flesh out enough of the details that you can get yourself excited, and so you can actually communicate the idea to everyone else! And believe me, they’re going to have a lot of questions. Here’s a couple big questions to ask yourself that should help you get the structure of the event settled:

Software 101: The Girls Inc. Experience

Aviture  |  community

Empower. Engage. Grow. Three things we aspire to do every day at Aviture. So, when I was introduced to Girls Inc. and their mission to inspire and engage young women to create a vision for a bright, healthy future, I knew Aviture could provide a perfect opportunity for them to explore their potential in technology.

KCDC 2017

Aviture  |  Events  |  Garage Speaker Series  |  News

How do already great developers become even better developers? They spend time learning with other talented developers, of course! And there’s no better place to soak up the latest industry tools, trends, and techniques than at the Kansas City Developer Conference (KCDC).

ASPIRE: Learn from the best, inspire the rest

Aspire-STEM  |  Technology  |  community

What was your favorite subject in school? If you answered “recess,” we’re right there with you. It’s true that playing games with friends is the highlight of most kids’ days, but the fun doesn’t have to be contained to recess. There’s a lot to learn as technology continues to change the business world and we want the next generation to be prepared. All of this is why educators and national leaders are focused on keeping subjects engaging, relevant, and fun with STEM curriculum. So, what is STEM?

How to Host a CodeFest/Hackathon, Part 1: Why Have a Hackathon?

Clean Coder  |  Culture  |  Events

Agitating for Innovation A little over a year ago, I sat down with Mark Griffis and Jerry Koske (Aviture’s President and CTO, respectively) to make my case that Aviture should have an internal hackathon. I had a Powerpoint presentation all ready to go, a head full of ideas about how awesome it was going to be, and some pretty high hopes for the end results. I came out of the meeting feeling luckier than ever. Mark and Jerry are just as nuts about innovation and exploration of ideas as I am, and I got the go-ahead to put the event together.

Style Guide Driven Development: Lessons learned

Aviture  |  Clean Coder  |  Culture

From the trenches, Our experiences with Style Guide Driven Development Style Guide Driven Development (SGDD) is a technique of developing your UI components in a living “Style Guide.” There is no one set definition but the basic idea is that you develop a separate page or pages outside your application that use the same CSS and HTML that your application uses. There is an excellent introduction to SGDD and its benefits at Smashing Magazine and we encourage you to check it out! This post will be about our experiences working with this technique, which suggest that on a green-field project, it is extremely difficult to know enough about your application to fully embrace SGDD out of the gate. We found that waiting for the UI patterns to emerge from your application and then creating a style guide was a better approach. Key to this recommendation is to develop and build all your UI components (style guide or not) with discipline, using known best practices.

Top 10 Reasons to Work at Aviture

Aviture  |  Culture

40 hours.

Automated Testing and ATDD with Gherkin, Cucumber and Protractor: Getting Started

Application  |  Clean Coder  |  News  |  Technology

Introduction This post is about my project’s experience implementing Acceptance Test Driven Development of our web applications, the process around automating our Given, When, Then (GWT) specifications, the path we took, problems that surfaced, and how we dealt with those problems. The motivation for automated testing was a corporate mandate. Most of the company’s previous applications were services APIs and I expect the main goal was to gain a higher level of confidence with those APIs.

A New Approach to Designer-Developer Collaboration

Company News  |  News  |  Technology

Static Images I’ve been on the prowl for several years now for the perfect solution to bridge that communication gap between designers and developers. I’m a “graphic” (read: print) designer turned web designer turned UX designer. Like many print-turned-web designers, I started with Photoshop as my primary communication tool. My first hand-off to developers involved static images made in Photoshop thrown over the fence with crossed fingers that a decent-looking screen would come out alive.

Garage By Aviture Speaker Series - Uncle Bob Martin, Clean Architecture

Clean Coder  |  Community Support  |  Events  |  Garage By Aviture Speaker Series  |  News  |  Speaker Series  |  Technology  |  The Garage  |  Uncle Bob  |  Uncle Bob Martin  |  clean code  |  community  |  software development

Uncle Bob Martin is coming to Omaha on January 20, 2016 for two workshops and an evening lecture. We're thrilled to help host this day of learning from an esteemed leader in the field. Register for the workshops on Eventbrite, and please navigate to the Splash page to register for the evening lecture.

PortCAS Demo at UNMC’s Innovation Week – A Public-Private Collaboration

Aviture  |  Events  |  Garage  |  Health IT  |  Health Tech  |  PortCAS  |  The Garage  |  UNMC  |  UNeMed  |  iEXCEL Expo  |  laparoscopic  |  medical  |  partnership  |  portable  |  portable laparoscopic surgical simulation platform  |  simulation  |  surgeon  |  surgical  |  training

Aviture hosted a day of demo-prep on Monday for the PortCAS team as they prepared for UNMC’s 2015 Innovation Week. Garage By Aviture representatives were proud to be part of the team building and bringing PortCAS to market, a public-private collaboration success story. The tool and software were on display all day Tuesday, October 20 at the UNMC iEXCEL Expo.

Garage By Aviture Speaker Series - Neal Ford, ThoughtWorks

Aviture Speaker Series  |  Company News  |  Events  |  Garage Speaker Series  |  Neal Ford  |  News  |  Speaker Series  |  Technology  |  The Garage  |  ThoughtWorks  |  architectures  |  devops  |  microservice  |  microservice architectures  |  software development

The Garage By Aviture is excited to announce its second Speaker Series - Neal Ford, Software Architect and Director at ThoughtWorks. The event is free but registration is required, please RSVP on the Event Page. Building Microservice Architectures His talk, Building Microservice Architectures, describes this architectural style, as exemplified by Netflix and Amazon, as the first post-DevOps revolution architecture. Ford describes the larger context, what problem is being solved, characteristics of microservice architectures, and engineering best practices.

Aviture Team Earns 14 Stars of Distinction at 2014 DI2E Plugfest

Aviture In The News  |  Awards  |  Company News  |  DI2E  |  Plugfest  |  Technology

Aviture sent a team to compete in the 2014 DI2E Plugfest. They were awarded 14 stars for achievements during Plugfest, the highest possible rating for the 2014 conference.

First Garage By Aviture Speaker Series Featuring Javier Lozano

.NET Insider  |  Application  |  Aviture  |  Aviture Speaker Series  |  Cloud infrastructure  |  Events  |  Garage By Aviture  |  Iowa Code Camp  |  Microsoft MVP  |  Scaling  |  Scaling in the Cloud  |  Speaker Series  |  Technology  |  javier lozano

On August 14th, Javier Lozano (@jglozano) gave a demo and led a discussion on “Scaling an Application on the Cloud.” Cloud hosting is an important topic in the entrepreneurial community given the drive to be scalable quickly without the initial cost and maintenance of expensive infrastructure, just one of the many technology decisions that teams will make along the life-cycle of their product and company.

Introducing the Garage By Aviture Speaker Series

.NET Insider  |  Application  |  Aviture  |  Aviture Speaker Series  |  Cloud infrastructure  |  Events  |  Garage By Aviture  |  Garage Speaker Series  |  Iowa Code Camp  |  Microsoft MVP  |  Neal Ford  |  News  |  Scaling  |  Scaling in the Cloud  |  Software  |  Speaker Series  |  Technology  |  community  |  javier lozano  |  speaker series  |  tech community

Aviture Inc. and The Garage by Aviture are proud to present the Garage By Aviture Speaker Series programming for the Omaha and Lincoln tech communities. The Garage by Aviture Speaker Series will be a quarterly offering of talks and presentations by great tech minds from across the US.

Aviture Joins in Supporting the JDRF Walk for T1D

Aviture  |  Aviture JDRF  |  Aviture for the Cure  |  Community Support  |  Company News  |  Culture  |  Events  |  JDRF  |  Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)  |  Omaha  |  Omaha community  |  community  |  company culture  |  heartland

Aviture and its employees are joining in supporting the Heartland Chapter of the national T1D research organization, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), for the second year in a row. Aviture’s President Mark Griffis has participated in the organization for multiple years as a board member and active supporter. The entire Aviture family also rallies around the cause, with employees and their families from HQ participating in the Omaha walk and other activities to help raise funds. We’re proud to engage in efforts in the community and support our friends and loved ones who face the reality of T1D every day.

Judging at UNL Entrepreneuring Days

Aviture  |  Community Support  |  Entrepreneuring Days 2014  |  Events  |  The Garage  |  UNL  |  community  |  entrepreneurs

UNL held its annual Entrepreneuring Days conference at Lincoln’s Embassy Suites hotel from March 18-20, 2014. Members of Aviture staff were excited to assist in judging the events. Congratulations to the competition winners and the honorees, and we commend the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for their support of small business and entrepreneurial development.

Aviture featured in B2B Magazine

Aviture In The News  |  Aviture Inc  |  Company News  |  big data  |  company  |  corporation  |  incubator  |  innovation  |  pivot  |  startups

President/CEO of Aviture, Mark Griffis, was featured in an article from the March edition of B2B Magazine, "Aviture pivots from big corporations to big data," excerpt copied here:

Aviture Hosts Hack Omaha, A Weekend Civic Hackathon

Aviture  |  Community Support  |  Events  |  Hack-Omaha  |  community

This past weekend Aviture hosted the third annual Hack Omaha, a three-day hackathon where data geeks, developers, designers, creatives, and open data enthusiasts came together to volunteer for a new kind of public service: developing public data into useful tools for citizens.

UCCS Colorado Springs Site License Agreement for Aspire-STEM Education Software

Aspire-STEM  |  Community Support  |  Events  |  community

Aviture is completing a site license agreement with UCCS for use of Aviture's Aspire-STEM™ educational product.  Aspire-STEM™ supports the national goals and objectives of the Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) program which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education.

Aviture Awarded Contract to Develop Next-Gen UAV Mission Planning System

Aviture  |  Company News  |  News

Aviture was awarded a contract to modernize the current Air Force Surveillance Intelligence Reconnaissance Information Systems (SIRIS), developing a next-gen system to utilize the latest visualization technologies and to align the architecture with existing and emerging Air Force and DISA (Defense Information Systems Agency) technology standards.

Aviture Wins Contract Supporting Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Program

Aviture  |  Company News  |  News

Aviture has been awarded a software consulting contract to support USSTRATCOM’s Critical Infrastructure Protection program.  The program focuses on the identification, preparedness, responsiveness and protection of the nation’s critical infrastructure assets.

The Garage by Aviture is Open

Company News  |  Garage By Aviture  |  News  |  R&D  |  The Garage  |  community  |  community involvement  |  innovation  |  local economy  |  startup incubator  |  startups

Aviture is pursuing funding to support R&D and incubator activities that foster growth and innovation within the local Omaha/Lincoln metropolitan areas in Aviture’s “Garage”. This incubation effort includes numerous strategic partnerships, community involvement, and funding from local investors.

Aviture Awarded Task Order Supporting USSTRATCOM Next-Generation Mission Planning & Analysis Tools

News

Aviture has been awarded a follow contract effort to support USSTRATCOM's Mission Planning and Analysis technical R&D Activities.  This effort continues risk reduction activities of next-generation technologies and processes related to USSTRATCOM's strategic deterrence mission planning systems.

Aviture Added to Agile Cyber Technology Team

Aviture  |  Company News  |  News  |  Technology

Aviture has been added as key teammate to the Agile Cyber Technologies (ACT) contract managed by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).  The contract will support rapid research, development, prototyping, demonstration, evaluation, and transition of cyber solutions for the Department of Defense (DoD).

DCGS DIB 4.x KeyTeammate

Aviture  |  Company News  |  News

With the award of the Distributed Common Ground Station (DCGS), Integrated Backbone (DIB) recompete, Aviture has been added as a key teammate to support further development and deployment of enterprise-level federated search solutions for the Department of Defense.

Aviture Hosts STEM Event @ UCCS

Aspire-STEM  |  Aviture  |  Events  |  News

This July, Aviture hosted a Science Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) event at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. The week-long event utilized Aviture's Aspire-STEM™ software solution that helps high school students approach computer science in a fun and exciting way.