Over the coming years, the world of technology and application development is likely to see disruption as artificial intelligence and blockchain technology evolve. Furthermore, data management and analytics trends will also advance over the coming years.
To quote the research firm, Forrester, “The software you deploy, and especially the custom software you create, will increasingly be part of your competitive edge.” This highlights that as the business landscape continues growing, web application development will play a crucial role in determining a company’s market position.
In order to stay ahead of the curve, companies will need to understand which enterprise application development trends are likely to rule the future, and then figure out how to incorporate them into their organizational structure. In this article, we’ll give you an overview of some of the most important enterprise application development trends to watch out for.
Application Security
As information and data is increasingly being stored and accessed through web applications, security poses one of the major threats that the industry must tackle. According to a recent study, 69% of all web applications are vulnerable to security threats and malware attacks that can compromise sensitive information. Furthermore, 25% of all web applications are also vulnerable to some of the most critical security risks classified under the OWASP Top Ten.
What’s more shocking than the statistics representing data risk is the fact that most of the security risks listed in the OWASP Top Ten have been around for over a decade. Yet, 25% of all web applications are still vulnerable to them. This highlights just how often too little consideration is paid to security when setting up web applications.
So why do companies and businesses keep producing web applications that have such obvious security risks? To put it simply, it’s because most businesses don’t consider it to be a top priority and web applications are made under a strict budget and deadline. As such, functionality always takes precedence over security as the developers believe they won’t be subjected to a threat. Furthermore, in some cases, web application developers don’t receive adequate training in securing their applications against threats.
However, this simple act of negligence has led to the continued prevalence of data breaches that can bring businesses down to their knees, shaking their core foundation and opening them up to both financial and legal losses. As awareness about security risks and the importance of data security continues expanding, the coming decade will see a shift wherein application developers and businesses consider security to be a high priority.
Artificial Intelligence
According to Gartner, in the coming years, over 40% of all enterprise applications will include some form of artificial intelligence capabilities. Two industries that currently most benefit from (and thus widely incorporate) AI into their application development are Finance and Healthcare. In both of these industries, AI can help offer customer behavioral insights and analysis. In the case of Finance, AI can aid in the identification of transaction fraudulence. In Healthcare, AI can improve disease diagnosis.
Universal Applications
If you’ve been following the trajectory and growth of Apple’s iOS solutions, you would have noticed something interesting. Over the past couple of years, Apple has rolled out iPad Pro, Apple TV, Apple Watch, and their regular suite of Apple iPhones and computers. All of these tools and devices work on the iOS system, and thus you can use the same applications on almost all of these devices.
People use a variety of screen types and devices on a daily basis — tablets, cellphones, computers, TV, and even watches. As such, in the coming years, application developers will have to find a means of creating applications that can seamlessly work on all of these different platforms. Generally speaking, an application only works on the device that it’s intended for. However, developers now have to come up with means of making the same application device agnostic (work across various different screens and devices) because users are demanding easier integration of their device functionalities.
Progressive Web Applications
The concept of Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) was first proposed by Google in 2015. Since then, the concept has considerably gained in popularity. PWAs can basically take advantage of all the latest technologies and trends to bring the very best functionalities and features of mobile sites and applications to the end-users. As a result of that, they are a lot faster, more reliable, and a lot more interactive.
Progressive Web Applications are websites that feel and behave just like native mobile applications. Even though they function based on the features available on the web browsers, they are as user-friendly as native mobile applications. They can even work offline, send push notifications, and the pages load instantly.
Ever since mobile applications started gaining traction, businesses have been torn between whether to develop a native application or a mobile web application. Native applications are useful because they’re a lot faster and provide great user experience, but they’re also expensive to develop and maintain and you need to develop separate apps for different operating systems. Meanwhile, web applications are easier to build and can be integrated into all platforms, but they don’t provide the kind of seamless user-interface provided by native applications.
Progressive Web Applications essentially marry the best of both native and web mobile applications. They are as user-friendly and efficient as native applications but they are as easy to develop and maintain as web applications. As such, they are likely to take over both native and web applications as the favored form of applications.
Wearable Devices
In recent years, wearable smart devices like fitness bands, watches, etc., have become extremely popular. Gartner predicts that the sale of smartwatches will likely exceed 81 million units by the year 2021. Following on the success of smartwatches, various other industries are likely to start developing their own forms of wearable smart devices.
Blockchain Applications
Blockchain is essentially a method of collecting data into a universal public ledger. Since information is placed in thousands of computers across the globe, it is truly democratized. Furthermore, transactions conducted over blockchain platforms are verified using complex algorithms, thus eliminating all intermediary agencies and enhancing security and accuracy.
Blockchain is still in its infancy, and even though it’s something most people are aware of, its utility hasn’t yet entered the mainstream consciousness. While blockchain-led applications likely won’t become popular in the immediate future, it’s still something you should watch out for if you like playing the long game.
Conclusion
These are just some of the major enterprise application development trends that you should watch out for. However, in addition to these, there are dozens of other trends as well because the world of technology and application development keeps growing and changing. If you want to ensure that you don’t become a victim of disruption but rather profit from it, you need to start figuring out how these application development trends can be incorporated into your organization.
