In the world of technology, “change is the only constant”! What is trending today might get outdated tomorrow. Keeping up with the fast-changing trends in the industry is indeed a daunting task for a software development agency.
However, recognizing a technology’s potential to make a long-term influence on the industry can enable you to differentiate between trends and fads. As 2017 is nearing a close, are you wondering which software development trends are capable of keeping you ahead of the game?
You are at the right page for our software development experts are predicting that the following 5 evolving trends will dominate 2018 and are worth your investment.
#1 AI adoption becomes absolute necessity
Today adopting artificial intelligence (AI) has almost become a competitive necessity. Smartphones, voice-activated virtual assistants, Big data will all have big time as a consequence of this AI adoption. Therefore, the demand for data scientists and Chief Data Officers (CDO) will explode in 2018 and beyond.
AI and machine learning (ML) are helping companies to transform their businesses in three key ways:
- Digitizing the customer experience.
- Changing value proposition by developing smart or AI-enabled products.
- Automating large-scale processes managed by employees.
AI is having significant impact on the business world and the early adopters of this technology are reaping substantial gains. JP Morgan, for instance, has successfully implemented a few AI and ML-led solutions to manage its contract portfolio with commercial clients. And the machine manages this laborious task with speed and more accuracy than its human counterparts.
Malcolm Frank, Cognizant’s Executive Vice President of Strategy and Chief Marketing and also one of the authors of the book What to do When Machines Do Everything, suggests:
“Don’t plough the ocean. A grand plan to go digital and adopt AI at one stroke is going to fail. Start small.”
So, the least you can do is just get in touch with an outsourcing software development agency in India and invest in AI-powered website design solutions. You can also talk with our experts to transform your ideas to reality.
#2 Internet of Things moves closer to the edge
Today almost everything, from cars to roads, smart home appliances to deep sea oil rigs, is turning into a data-generator. Even your toothbrush can collect data about your brushing behaviour and share it with your dentist to ensure better dental health.
These connected devices collect colossal amount of data pushing IT companies to explore cheaper and faster methods of processing data. Here comes edge computing in the picture! We believe it is going to play pivotal role in 2018 to enable IoT devices to perform faster real-time analytics especially in a place with poor connectivity.
Edge computing, usually means processing data at the “edge” of the network or near the device using a mesh of micro data centers. This enables companies to save time and money required to port all the data to a centralized data center.
Moreover, the ability to analyze data closer to the source will have the following benefits:
- Minimization of latency.
- Reduction of load on the internet.
- Improvement in privacy and security
- Reduction in data management costs.
However, the cloud will continue to play a crucial role in IoT, collecting critical data and performing analyses on this enormous set of information in order to glean insights that can be disseminated back to the edge IoT devices.
Don’t you think that the combination of cloud and edge computing will enable you to better manage and analyze your data in 2018?
#3 Blockchain developers in high demand
You must have heard a lot about blockchain this year, thanks to the meteoric rise of bitcoin. However, we believe that this technology is endowed with the capacity of revolutionizing nearly every industry. And in 2018, we would begin to see more ventures at this disruption through business-class blockchain platforms.
In 2017, we saw many technology giants introducing their own blockchain platforms and IBM is the leader among them. Amazon, Oracle and Microsoft are also close behind as more and more companies are joining the bandwagon for enterprise-level blockchain dominance.
IBM is also collaborating with food distributors, government regulation agencies and banks for leveraging blockchain.
Wondering, what this would mean for the software industry? Businesses, irrespective of the industry they are operating, would start to invest in app development on blockchain platforms. This in turn would catalyze the demand for blockchain developers.
Blockchains being distributed databases are useful no doubt but its benefits come at a price. This is because building distributed applications is very hard. Developing and testing them are also way too difficult.
Blockchains applications can help you build new and more efficient business processes; however, you have to overcome certain challenges before you reap the benefits. Do keep an eye on this evolving technology!
#4 Cybersecurity reaches a tipping point
You won’t disagree that 2017 has been a terrible year for private information on the web, remember WannaCry? Every enterprise, organization and government institution has security on top-of-mind, which infers that demand for security solutions will rise.
Businesses would need to take cybersecurity initiatives both internally and externally.
Internal initiatives could be focusing on building security into their software. For instance, our DevOps teams are focusing on automating security testing into our software development lifecycle. This helps them to ensure that vulnerabilities are not introduced during development stage.
Venture capitalists are supporting cybersecurity startups with capital as external cybersecurity initiative. According to cybersecurity market report, global spending on cybersecurity products and services will exceed $1 trillion cumulatively over the next five years, from 2017 to 2021.
So, you can make out that funding might not be a problem, but there is a lack of cybersecurity talent. There, software development specialists who would want their skills to stay in-demand in the future must try their hands in cybersecurity, another green pasture besides blockchain.
43% of all cyberattacks are targeted at small and medium sized businesses.
Moreover, cybersecurity data also reveals that out of total number of cyberattacks, 43 percent are targeted at SMEs. So, as a small and medium sized business owner, your first step would be getting your business website developed by software development companies who follow security by design.
In other words, they integrate security right from the design phase and ensure that each phase of development includes security analysis.
#5 Virtual Reality to go mainstream
High-end commercially-available VR headsets have caught lot of eyeballs in 2017 but didn’t witness much adoption. Although, Facebook’s Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive were the leaders in full-power VR systems, sales of less than 1 million units have been reported between the two.
What would it take for VR to go mainstream? Technology journalist Daniel Terdiman had affirmed that for VR to truly become part of most people’s lives, the following things must happen:
- Lower prices
- Better and more comfortable gear
- Universally appealing content
In 2018, however, both Facebook and HTC are making big moves to expand the market. Both the companies have considerably slashed prices on their flagship VR headsets. They would be much lighter and also start at much lower price for attracting new customers. Facebook revealed that Oculus Go will start at $199.
Moving on to the gear, the higher-end systems offering the best experience are also the most cumbersome. However, experts are visualizing VR systems that would be hard to distinguish from a pair of spectacles and you can expect to see some of them in 2018.
Although, much of the early focus of VR was to attract hard-core gamers, they are still not enough to support the entire VR ecosystem. Therefore, we are expecting to see more of animated, immersive VR storytelling in 2018 in an attempt to bring wider audiences to this technology.
We have great news for a Star Wars fan! Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire is a fully-immersive VR ride that merges virtual and physical elements into an adventure game. This game would help you to become a part of the Stars Wars universe and the story as well.
So, it’s time to collaborate with developers to give wings to your ideas and make your VR app a reality in 2018.
Wrapping up
AS 2018 is just round the corner, our software developers have put on their creative caps and are focusing on these trends. Although trends are volatile, we firmly believe that these five trends are here to stay and deserve your attention for you to stay relevant in your industry.
Are you on the same page with us? Either way, we would love to hear from you, please begin a conversation by leaving your comments below. You can also talk to our software development experts with your ideas.
Nice Blog! i agree with your point of view In the world of technology, “change is the only constant”! What is trending today might get outdated tomorrow. thanks for sharing
Awesome post. Thanks for sharing this incredible content which illustrate the realistic and new generation technological trends in its updated version of explanations. Thank you.
Enjoyed reading this post. Keep up the good work!
Awesome post. Thanks for sharing this informative content which illustrates the realistic and new generation technological trends in its updated version of explanations.