There are many similarities between the fashion industry and software development: both are trend driven. While in fashion a change of trend is simply a change, in the world of software a change of trend is an update that you cannot allow yourself to let go. Everything evolves so quickly that you can not afford to stay behind.
In order to be up to date, it is important to be aware of the latest trends and to be trained in the necessary skills to be able to offer your customers all the new features and processes available. In this article we will look at the current trends in software development that we believe will be available also over the next few years.
Mobile Applications
The mobile ecosystem has undergone a radical change in the last five years, experiencing an exponential growth at an unexpected speed. According to the latest reports, the global revenue for mobile development will grow to $101 billion by the end of 2020.
Your smartphone is capable of performing all the tasks for which you have until now needed a television, a newspaper or even a computer. Everything available in the palm of your hand, becoming an essential accessory in our lives:
- 85% of people prefer native mobile apps to websites.
- Almost 79% of smartphone owners use apps every day, saying they use them at least 26 days a month, versus 52% for tablet users.
- 42% of all mobile sales generated by the top 500 merchants came from mobile applications.
These statistics show not only an increase in the number of users of mobile devices but also that these devices are used for shopping, finding places close to the user, planning weddings, contacting other businesses and much more. And this is only possible thanks to the development of applications oriented to mobile devices.
DevOps
DevOps is an emerging set of principles, methods and practices that emphasize collaboration and communication between software developers and other IT professionals while automating the software delivery process and infrastructure changes. The purpose is to ensure that the software creation, testing, and implementation process is as fast, frequent, and reliable as possible to benefit the business.
Devops is the natural evolution of what would have been the role of a systems administrator a decade ago, says Jason Allen, CTO of Yello talent acquisition software company. He also added:
A system administrator role in itself is a broad set of skills, and in devops it is, in some ways, even broader. It is still needed to keep servers running, deploy applications built by development teams, keep systems tidy, build networks, work on storage devices – all those things, plus the additional responsibility for development and scheduling, networking and security, cloud computing, and the constant search forms to improve the development process and faster software implementation.
The main benefits that software development companies enjoy when adopting DevOps:
- Higher frequency of implementations.
- Greater collaboration between departments.
- Increased number of customers using our software / services.
- Improved quality and performance of our applications.
- Reduced time to market.
- An increase in revenue.
Internet of Things (IoT)
The concept “Internet of Things” basically means connecting any device to the internet with an on and off switch. This includes all kinds of devices, from cell phones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, portable devices and just about anything else you can think of. This has facilitated consumer life and is currently among the technologies with the highest growth curve.
All industries, from fitness and healthcare to manufacturing, retail and point of sale to smart home automation, have expressed their enthusiasm for the possibilities offered by IOT. Analyst firm Gartner predicts that the total number of “things” related to the consumer, trade and industry will increase to 26 billion units by 2020, representing an almost 30-fold increase over the 900 million things in 2009.
- IBM is pushing many IOT implementations in both production and personal use.
- Farmers already implant biochips in their livestock to be able to control their location and monitor their crops using smart sensors.
- Many production processes can be optimized by having a detailed picture of the tools and equipment state and the whereabouts.
If you want your applications to move forward and impact the way everyone experiences the world around them, then you should focus your developments on building “connected applications“.
Big Data
Big Data comprises the collection of data from traditional and digital sources, inside and outside the company, representing a funete of discovery and continuous analysis. It is a very important competency for organizations of all sizes and is a critical market differentiator to position yourself ahead of your competition.
With the help of Big Data, software development companies will be able to obtain data from any source at their disposal and analyze it to find a solution that can save them money, increase their revenue, and help them achieve many other business goals:
- It helps in the construction of new applications, providing the company with billions of real-time data on its products, resources or customers that will help build a product that is totally viable and adapted to the market.
- Discover new sources of competitive advantage, helping the company to adapt to changes in the market faster than its competitors.
- Increasing customer loyalty, because rapidly updated data enables companies and other organizations to respond more quickly and accurately to the demands of their customers.
In order to stay in the modern market world, Big Data is the right choice for your business to remain competitive.
Cloud Computing
In simple terms, cloud computing is defined as storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet, rather than storing them on a computer’s hard drive. Nowadays, more and more organizations are shifting their services, storage, email and applications to the cloud because it provides them with daily operations and allows them to access the same information from various electronic devices.
Cloud storage has experienced a significant increase in demand, with recent studies showing that:
- 82% of companies have a hybrid cloud strategy, which has remained stable since 2015.
- Private cloud adoption rose from 63% to 77%, driving adoption of the hybrid cloud from 58% to 71% year after year.
- 95% of organizations surveyed are running applications or experimenting with this infrastructure as a service.
- 17% of companies in acuteness have more than 1,000 virtual machines in the public cloud, compared with 13% in 2014.
- The private cloud showed even greater growth with 31% of companies running more than 1,000 virtual machines, up from 22% in 2014.
Cloud computing is huge in demand, estimations show that it will generate approximately $127 billion in 2017 and about $500 billion in 2020. Therefore, if you plan to develop software, keep in mind the concept of cloud computing .
Single page application (SPA)
According to Wikipedia, “a single-page application (SPA), also known as a single page interface (SPI), is a web application or website that fits into a single webpage with the goal of providing a more seamless user to a desktop application“.
Nowadays, no user wants to wait for a page to load for a long period of time, they want everything to be served quickly. A recent study conducted through Internet concludes that people prefer to stay and move around the same page rather than having to click on several pages before finding the information they are looking for.
With SPA all interactions are handled on a single page, including complex logic and data manipulations that help you create a receptive page, which will generate a good amount of traffic.
Docker
Docker is a tool designed to facilitate the creation, implementation and execution of applications through the use of containers. Containers allow a developer to package an application with all the parts it needs, such as libraries and other dependencies, and send it in a single package to the client.
By doing so, the developer can focus on writing code without worrying about the system in which it will eventually run. It also allows you to take advantage of using one of thousands of programs already designed to run in a Docker container as part of your application.
For operations personnel, Docker provides flexibility and potentially reduces the number of systems required due to their small size and lower overhead.
Amazing facts about Docker:
- 2% of customers had adopted Docker in May 2015 and the percentage a year later grew to 10.7%, representing almost 30% growth in market share in 12 months.
- 2/3 companies adopted Docker within 30 days after initial production use and the remaining converters are converted within the 6th day.
- Customers who adopted Docker have a 5x container count within the next 9 months.
Conclusion
These trends in software development change rapidly and you must keep up with them if you want to stay ahead of your competitors, so you can offer a competitive value to your customers and you can equip yourself with the skills they seek.