Can you imagine a world without technology anymore? It seems like those old days without being a Google search away from the latest news or a click away from connecting with your next business partners across the globe are forever gone. For better or worse, we’ve entered a new stage in the world’s history, where IT plays a central part. And it is exciting to know that the most innovative tech devices and products probably haven’t been invented yet.
From my experience working in a bespoke software development company, I know that technological advancements have a huge positive impact on our lives. It was thanks to tech solutions that businesses stayed connected despite the 2020 lockdowns. While many industries undergo digital transformation right now or planning to do so soon, let’s see the top 10 trends that revolutionised the software development industry so far:
Cloud Solutions
Cloud was definitely one of the major disrupters within the software development industry. Software solutions will continue to migrate to the cloud in 2021. However, there is still room for further optimisations, e.g. in industrial production or key supply chain management. In the near future, more and more companies from the iT sector will probably share platforms to improve their product and service quality. For software development, this means: Individual solutions lose popularity, while Agile communities play an increasingly important role. This is because cloud solutions offer many advantages such as scalability, flexibility and cost-efficiency for both businesses and clients.
Increased Data Security
We realised just how important data security is when the whole world switched to remote work during the lockdowns. Investigation reports show that cybercrime skyrocketed in 2020 with phishing attacks and ransomware targeting lucrative industries such as healthcare, finance, banking, or trading platforms. Inevitably, as more businesses switch to cloud solutions, this also creates increased vulnerability for data breaches. Therefore, software developers and data protection specialists have to deal with how they can effectively protect systems from unauthorized access and potential hackers.
AI and RPA
Companies in all industries strive for efficiency and lower operational costs. Automation and the use of Artificial Intelligence in software development will therefore continue to pick up speed in 2021 and drive our work processes forward more quickly. We can say that Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is still a revolutionary trend as it makes it possible to automate simple manual work processes based on algorithms.
Hyperautomation
Staying on the topic of automation, we can’t miss the trend of hyperautomation. As the name suggests, this trend focuses on advanced process automation to drive even more businesses value through efficiency and error minimisation. Moreover, word has it that automation will reach a proficiency level covering knowledge work and not just minor tasks such as scheduling, progress tracking, or making predictions in the years to come.
Collaborative Automation
The future concept of work will not prioritise machines and AI intelligence over human experts. Replacing people completely would mean living in a robot-ruled society, which, I hope, is far from what we all want. Thus, future efforts will aim at merging the collective power of both humans and machines to utilise their strengths and reach exponential productivity. The most probable scenario is that robots will overtake menial and repetitive tasks in developing custom software solutions, while humans will concentrate on the more complex ones, requiring higher cognitive abilities and imagination.
Microservices
Microservices were a big step forward. They allow the experts to connect heterogeneous architectures with one another to increase productivity and service availability. Like any other new trends, microservices have both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, they allow ultimate team collaboration even if the members don’t use the same tech tools, e.g. programming language or database. Thanks to their flexibility and smaller structure, microservices are also great for scaling and easily maintaining applications. However, on the other hand, one can easily lose track of the technical features around individual microservices, which adds up some degree of confusion and highlight the need for proper orchestration.
Anywhere Operations
Anywhere Operations refers to a model within the IT industry that provides customer support everywhere and lets company employees work from anywhere. Influenced by globalisation and the remote work model provoked by Covid-19, this trend is likely to continue even after the pandemic ends. Gartner, a leading global research company, predicts that around 40% of companies will adopt anywhere operations as their to-do approach by 2023.
Analytics Everywhere
Data is king, and anyone working in the IT industry acknowledges this fact. But even if you stringently keep track and organise your business data, e.g. software product performance, business growth, users feedback etc., you still need to gain insights from it to make it meaningful and valuable. This is where analytics everywhere steps in. On a global scale, we produce billions of data each and every day. Data analytics is so crucial for its understanding, and that’s why it is now a central integrated part of each product, ranging from CMR software, payroll systems, smart devices etc.
The 5G Revolution
This list of revolutionising trends within the IT industry won’t be complete if we skip 5G as it the most innovative mobile network yet controversial topics in recent years. Most users nowadays use a mobile device to access the Internet. What 5G will do is ultimately accelerate connectivity speed and network capacity + reliability using low-bandwidth latency and highly secure cellular connectivity. Apart from mobile users, 5G has lots of promising use cases such as self-driving cars, smart factories, gaming and IoT systems.
Ultimate Service Personalisation
During the last decade, personalisation gained lots of attention and it was certainly not undeserved. Businesses increasingly switch their strategies towards user-centricity, personalisation and intuitive design that creates flawless user experience. Keeping in mind that whether you provide services or products, you still have to tailor the customer journey in such a way that is delightful, appealing and meaningful, all according to their specific needs.
Aleksandrina is a Content Creator at Dreamix, a custom software development company, and is keen on innovative technological solutions with a positive impact on our world. Her teaching background, mixed with interests in psychology, drives her to share knowledge. She is an avid reader and enthusiastic blogger, always looking for the next inspiration.