The Benefits of Node.js for Building Real-Time Applications

Integrating real-time features in your business app has become a necessity in this era of digitization. Real-time apps act as a silver bullet for the businesses who struggle to gain customer attention. To build one, it’s necessary to choose the right solution or online platform that could save your precious time & money.

In the last decade, Node.js emerged as one of the most popular runtime environments to build user-centric real-time applications. From Netflix to eBay, numerous popular brands have used Node.js to embed real-time features in their business apps. This blog sheds light on: 

1. Key Reasons for Using Node.js to Build Real-time Applications
2. Business Benefits of Integrating Real-Time Features in Your Mobile App
3. Must-have Real-Time Features for Your Business App
4. Most Popular Real-Time Applications Built with Node.js
5. Well-Known Companies Offering Node.js App Development Services

Key Reasons for Using Node.js to Build Real-time Applications

Below are prominent reasons that make Node.js a perfect fit to develop real-time mobile apps

1. Scalability

The single-threaded event-driven architecture of Node.js makes it capable of performing multiple tasks and processing numerous requests quickly without clogging the RAM. Node.js is built on a V8 engine powered by Google that compiles source code written in Javascript into machine language within a shorter time span. Furthermore, the non-blocking I/O feature of Node.js handles asynchronous requests without blocking a thread due to which it is considered as the most suitable runtime environment for building real-time apps.

2. Cost-effective

Node.js enables developers to execute similar source code on both client and server. You don’t need to hire separate teams of developers to build the frontend and backend of your real-time application. Writing source code in a single language and executing it on both client and server will not only save a lot of time but also help you build your mobile app within minimal cost and resources.

3. Flexibility

Node.js is equipped with multiple in-built libraries, plugins, and ready-to-use codes that allow developers to build an app without consuming a lot of time. Due to its flexible nature, it enables businesses of all sizes to reduce the time-to-market of their applications. Since Node.js is lightweight and easier to use, it also helps app development teams accelerate their overall development speed.

4. Modularity

The microservices-based architecture of Node.js helps developers to modify existing apps without any hassle. Node.js supports modular design through which one can easily break the app design into smaller modules and integrate additional features & microservices into the basic app functionality. Updating the existing modules and adding new ones on a regular basis could play a significant role in improving the responsiveness of your application.

Business Benefits of Integrating Real-Time Features in Your Mobile App

Reduced Cost 

Sharing large amounts of data with your workforce & clients utilizing real-time apps will not only lessen infrastructure usage but also saves a huge amount of time. Reduced reliance on infrastructure will result in reduced expenses. 

Improved Customer Loyalty

Data transparency is something that helps businesses to improve customer relationships. Clients will be able to track and monitor work reports in a transparent manner with real-time apps which will help your business gain customer loyalty.

Quicker Access to Data

Whether it's a small scale organization or large enterprise, the speed of access to data is one of the major benefits of integrating real-time features into business apps. Sharing data in real-time will enable the entire staff of your organization to access the information within just a few clicks.

Enhanced Inter-team Collaboration

Mobile apps embedded with real-time features like instant messaging, live video streaming, and push notifications to play a significant role in streamlining inter-team communication and optimizing the internal business process.

Must-have Real-Time Features for Your Business App

Here are some must-have real-time features that you must add to your business app to make it a sheer success:

• Push Notifications: To make clients aware of the meeting schedules, latest market trends, and any other project updates. Apart from that, push notifications could also be used to stimulate user engagement, increase conversion rates, target the right users, track actionable metrics, and enhance brand consistency.
• Real-Time Messaging: To enable smooth and flawless communication between clients and stakeholders. Unlike emails where both sender and receiver have to wait for notifications to download from the server, you can communicate with your clients in real-time using this feature.
• Live Video Streaming: To share valuable information with your clients via live video broadcasting. Moreover, you can also use live video streaming as part of your training program to train new joiners.   
• GPS Location Tracking: To share the geographic coordinates of your real-time location with your clients. This feature also enables you to provide up-to-the-minute arrival details to your customers.    

Most Popular Real-Time Apps Built with Node.js

Uber

Uber is a U.S. based company that offers food delivery services, ride-hailing services, freight transportation services, courier delivery services, and many more to people all over the world. In the current scenario, the company provides ride-hailing services in more than 83 countries and over 855 cities worldwide. In order to handle numerous user requests and queries in real-time, they required a scalable solution. So the company decided to use Node.js to build a solution that could process enormous user queries quickly and efficiently.

eBay

Headquartered in California, eBay is a multinational e-commerce company founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995. The principal web engineer at eBay, Senthil Padmanabhan, revealed in an interview that the company decided to build the front-end of the application using Node.js for two major reasons: first was to manage a huge number of eBay specific services within a short time span and the second was to make the website as real-time as possible.

PayPal

PayPal, one of the best online payment services, was initially built in Java to manage millions of transaction requests on a daily basis. As the year passes, it became difficult for the company to fulfil the increasing demands of its high-tech user base. Jeff Harrell, the head of engineering at PayPal, revealed in an interview that the company decided to swap Java with Node.js to decrease the load time of webpages. Apart from that, high performance, low development cost, improved productivity, and reduced development time were some crucial goals that the company wanted to achieve using Node.js.  

Netflix

Netflix is one of the most famous video streaming platforms that handle millions of video streaming requests from users all over the world. The company leveraged Node.js to build the user interface of the platform and to provide a smoother experience to the users. In an event, Alex Liu, Netflix’s senior software developer, revealed that they’ve seen positive results after adopting Node.js and would continue to use it in the future for further website enhancements.

Well-Known Companies Offering Node.js App Development Services

FATbit Technologies

FATbit Technologies was founded in 2004 with a vision to provide the top quality Node.js app development services to businesses of all sizes across the world. Their team of 150+ professionals specializes in developing both Android and iOS apps for diverse industry verticals like healthcare, education, media & entertainment, fitness, etc. The primary services offered by the company include web app development, MVP development, digital marketing services, CMS development, and many more.  

Teravision Technologies

Teravision Technologies is a renowned name among the top Node.js app development companies with over 18 years of experience in the IT industry. They boast a dedicated team of 160+ experts who are well versed in building futuristic applications for their clients. From UNICEF to Silverpop, they have worked with several reputed brands since 2002.

HQ Software

Founded in 2001, HQ Software is a reputed mobile app development company located in Europe. Bolstered with a team of  85+ IT professionals, the company has successfully completed over 250 web and mobile app development projects since its inception. Since 2001, they’ve been recognized by the top research and review agencies like Clutch, ITFirms, GoodFirms, INC. 5000, etc.

BairesDev

BairesDev is a leading mobile app development company headquartered in San Francisco. They have more than 1300 employees distributed worldwide with offices located in Latin America, Europe, and the U.S. The company offers services like web & mobile app development, cloud management, UI/UX design, software testing, infrastructure management, staff augmentation services, etc.

Conclusion

To conclude, real-time applications are beneficial for both businesses and individuals. This blog serves as a source of valuable information on various aspects of real-time mobile apps. However, while creating one for your business, you may face numerous challenges in the process. In such a situation, a consultation can be sought from a top-quality Node.js app development company.