Hello, Fellow Tech Enthusiasts!
As January unfolds, let’s reflect on Ralabs‘ journey and the broader IT landscape with our year-end review.
📊 Focus & Insights
- 2024 was a year of challenges, growth, and achievements for Ralabs.
We’ve captured the highlights in our latest report, Ralabs in 2024: Challenges and Achievements. Inside, you’ll find:
- 35% of clients adopting AI-driven solutions
- 20% reduction in technical debt across 50% of projects
- 15.49% financial growth
- $67,366 raised for Ukrainian humanitarian efforts
Access the full report here.
- Armed with 2024’s insights, we’ve already started preparations for Strategic Session 2025.
- I recently published an article on IT Outsourcing 2025: What Awaits the Industry After the Turbulent 2024 in Ukrainska Pravda, one of Ukraine’s leading media platforms. It explores key trends and challenges the industry will face in the coming year. Read the article here.
- We’re conducting a fintech market survey to identify key challenges and trends. Your input will directly shape a detailed industry report. Complete the survey here.
👩🏼💼 HR Updates
- 2024 was a strong year for our HR team:
- $26.3K was raised during Volunteering Days.
- 8 colleagues received well-deserved promotions.
- 39 technical and non-technical events were held.
- 36 talented individuals joined Ralabs.
- Our ESAT score for Q4 reached 4.54.
📈 Business Development
- We shared a detailed article on Overcoming Challenges in Payments and Transactions. You can read it here.
- In 2024, our business team strengthened relationships through client visits. These meetings deepened partnerships and collaboration, and provided actionable insights. We plan to expand these efforts in 2025.
- Our 2024 webinars were a success, with over 400 registrations. We’ve already hosted our first webinar for 2025, Mastering Software Quality Management. If you missed it, you can watch the recording here.
💻 Coding Insights
- React Router SDK Beta: Quickly add authentication and authorization to React Router applications using the new Clerk SDK.
- Meeting Cost Calculator: Calculate the financial impact of your meetings with this efficient tool.
- Srcl: An open-source React component for building web/desktop applications with terminal aesthetics.
- difft : A language-aware alternative to git diff for improved syntax handling.
- Onit: An AI co-pilot for your Mac, compatible with local LLMs, Anthropic, Google AI, and more.
🤖 AI Developments
- Meta Prompting: Meta prompting and few-shot prompting differ significantly in their focus. Meta prompting takes a structure-oriented approach, emphasizing how tasks are framed and organized, while few-shot prompting is more content-driven, focusing on examples to guide responses. Explore more in these comprehensive guides: Guide 1; Guide 2; Guide 3.
- Physical AI: NVIDIA’s CES 2025 showcase highlighted advancements in robotics and AI integration. Read more here.
- OpenAI Operator: OpenAI has released “Operator,” an RPA-like system capable of automating tasks such as navigating pages and performing actions. Currently available in the U.S., it is set to launch in the EU soon. Learn more here.
📚 Books and Reading
- In 2024, I shared 20 book recommendations, and I appreciated hearing your feedback throughout the year. My top three picks were The Book Thief, Empire, and Prisoners of Geography, what were yours? We’ve compiled the entire list of the recommendations here.
- For 2025, my first recommendation is The Great CEO Within (updated edition) by Matt Mochary—a practical guide to building a successful company from the ground up. The free version of the book is available here.
💡 Thoughts
- Agentic AI is shaping up as a powerful tool for integrating SaaS and creating new workflows, not replacing existing systems. As a SaaS expert from Belgium said, “A good UI can’t just be replaced by speaking,” and “not all software is going away.” This aligns with my view that software will adapt, not vanish.
A recent YouTube video sparked this discussion, highlighting the evolving role of CEOs. Some comments noted, “The primary job of a CEO (like Microsoft’s) is to sell the company to investors and enterprise customers,” which adds an interesting perspective.
For further insights, read this Forbes article on Agentic AI.
🔍 Other Noteworthy Mentions
- Lex Fridman recently had a very interesting interview with Volodymyr Zelenskyy: Watch here.
- Klarna’s plans for a 2025 IPO. Details here.
- Is it the new crypto wave driven by AI agents? Find out here.
- An insightful article discusses how fraud experts highlight the Four Key Pillars of Risk that threaten the trust between consumers and merchants.
- Developers now have more options for building on document databases. Microsoft recently launched a platform built on a relational PostgreSQL backend, offering new capabilities. Learn more here.
If you found this update helpful, please feel free to share it with others. My newsletter is also published as a blog on our website – Ralabs Blog. You can now read the previous updates if you want to.
Lastly, as a company with deep Ukrainian roots, we continue to seek your support for Ukraine during these challenging times. Every contribution makes a difference.
Stay safe and connected,
Best,
Andrew
