Software development heavily relies on innovative solutions and progressive technologies. The industry is growing rapidly, it has opened up vast opportunities for software development services companies to deliver value to their clients and generate better revenue. That is why businesses in the industry are constantly on the lookout to leverage the latest trends and stay ahead in the market.
As software packages are frequently used in almost all aspects of a business these days, improving and innovating software technology with modern technologies can help to make lives easier for the end-users.
Experts also believe that there are still a lot of uncharted areas in the software development industry, which can be explored better with emerging technologies. Consequently, companies are adopting advanced solutions to transform the software development lifecycle.
Here are some of the most lucrative software development trends that will be crucial for driving business growth in 2021 and beyond.
Internet of Things (IoT)
IoT has had one of the most significant impacts on the day-to-day lives of users. The Internet of Things connects physical objects, such as devices, appliances, gadgets, and vehicles, to the network via APIs and sensors to exchange data over the internet.
IoT services aid enterprises in leveraging the technology to boost their digital presence to their existing operations, services, or products, it can lead to massive opportunities for software development by integrating various technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data, and more.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI has evolved from being a multi-disciplinary branch of computer science to a disruptive technology that allows businesses to perform tasks in a much effective way. It enables machines to carry out rule-based jobs without any human intervention, which creates more room for companies to use their manual resources.
Artificial Intelligence solutions along with Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing, etc., will continue to improve development, agile test automation, automation-testing software, and make software development technologies faster, reliable, and more efficient.
Blockchain
Blockchain refers to a peer-to-peer network that was brought to the limelight when it was used by cryptocurrencies. It has great implications for enterprise systems and can offer decentralization and better transparency to software development companies.
Besides, blockchain can also help to boost security features and improve trust by blocking unauthorized access, which is vital for the growth and success of a software development business. It can act as a propeller in quality assurance too when developing enterprise software applications.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is a growing concern for businesses across industries and it has led to the development of robust solutions powered by emerging technologies like AI to meet the shortfalls of the previous systems.
As cybercriminals target business data and sensitive information via DDoS attacks, phishing attacks, malware, and ransomware, software development companies are looking for robust solutions to integrate the best possible security features when developing an enterprise application. Emerging cybersecurity technologies can find and fix software security bugs before they are deployed.
Progressive Web Apps (PWA)
Native apps deliver superior performance and user experience on mobile devices. Yet developing native apps separately for all the popular platforms can be very costly for the software development company. That, when coupled with the long-term maintenance costs and managing different codebases, can require a significant investment from the business.
This is where Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), which are built using common web technologies, have emerged as a viable solution. They are fast, responsive, secure, and deliver similar user experience and performance.
Low-Code Development
Low-code development has been a key trend in the market of late, which allows software development businesses to minimize hand-coding efforts and improve operational efficiency. Low-code development platforms provide graphical user interfaces to developers to draw and configure flow charts representing the business logic, which is then used to generate code for implementing the logic.
It is also seen that low-code platforms help to accelerate digital transformation alongside software development and maintenance, and even helps to reduce the backlog of IT development projects.
Staying on top of these software development trends and functions is important for businesses to drive optimal growth. It will still require executing the development project successfully, which can be a challenging task when the project is complex.
However, with proper training on how to employ the emerging technologies in software development, companies can proactively mitigate security risks, adhere to IT architecture and coding guidelines, and realize all their goals effectively.
