Top 5 Strategic Trends in Enterprise Software Development to Follow in 2019

It’s hard to follow all the trends in the enterprise software development industry since everything is changing very fast. But if you want to achieve a competitive advantage at the market, you have to make sure that your enterprise app provides you with all the cutting-edge features.

To make this task easier to complete, we want to share five enterprise software trends that you should be aware of in 2019.

1. Stable Growth Trend for AI and Machine Learning in Enterprise Software

With advanced modern technologies, such as AI and machine learning, enterprise software can allow reaching a whole new level of performance. Smart enterprise apps, for example, can help your employees to get easy access to critical customer data. Such data as past invoices, previous transactions, and payment terms can be delivered to any user of your enterprise system which will provide an opportunity to meet customers’ needs better and close deals efficiently. AI-based apps provide useful features for staff management as well. For example, smart apps can automatically develop an optimal schedule for employees.

According to Gartner, 40% of new enterprise applications implemented by service providers will include AI technologies. And these numbers are not groundless. Many organizations already leveraged from implementing AI algorithms in their enterprise applications and the trend is not going to subside. The reason is that having business data processed and analyzed by efficient BI tools and reporting apps, organizations can handle business operations as effective as never before.

2. Cybersecurity is Still a Big Concern for Enterprise Software

Believe it or not, the trend for ever-increasing security issues for enterprise software is still a thing. Alert Logic, a cybersecurity expert providing SaaS solutions, notes that in 2018 almost 18% of the companies have faced at least one security incident. Also, the survey has shown that protecting data loss and leakage (67%) is the biggest concern for cybersecurity professionals, followed by threats to data privacy (61%) and breaches of confidentiality (53%).

Source: Cloud Security Spotlight [PDF]

The continually increasing amount of new software vulnerabilities is the part of the reality which we have to accept. The number of specialists trying to protect sensitive corporate data does not significantly exceed the number of brains working day by day to find new weak points in your environment. One of the possible protection measures is not to overestimate your level of control and invest in third-party verification of your cybersecurity. External penetration testing of your apps can be an excellent option that would allow estimating the effectiveness of the existing security measures.

3. Cloud-based Enterprise Software is a New Norm

The trend for cloud-based apps is continuing to grow. Nowadays, almost every firm that provides software development services offers this option to clients. Besides security concerns, such kind of apps provide benefits for the companies that use AI-based apps that has periodic peak loads. For example, machine learning algorithms use high CPU power which is required only occasionally. In such a case, on-premises infrastructure will remain idle most of the time which makes this option not so cost-effective.

Cloud computing provides significant improvements for used solutions and allows achieving great business agility with relatively low costs. But, like any other technology, each cloud-based apps solution has its weak sides. Along with the growth of this trend, the risk of data leaks is increasing. The reason is that employees who use their own devices and email accounts for work can increase the probability of leaking sensitive corporate information. Therefore, along with the trend of constantly growing importance of cloud-based enterprise technologies, increases the need for organizations to educate the staff about the associated risks. Also, modern apps should provide users with personalized experience and remain engaging enough so that staff members won’t be tempted to prefer less reliable and secure enterprise apps.

4. High Demand for More Personalized Solutions

According to the latest trends, more and more end-users are looking for enterprise software solutions that are designed and developed with the specifics of the industry kept in mind. Such an approach allows avoiding the necessity of further costly software customization and corresponding time losses. Instead of that, software development companies deliver personalized solutions and offer painless further enterprise app modernization to support the needs of their clients in full accordance with their current and future business needs.

The trend for configurability of the enterprise software allows providing more control over their apps and helps to achieve better software specialization with little effort. Additionally, such state of affairs reduces the need for extensive IT department within a company which is dedicated to maintaining the current app.

5. The Growth of IoT Devices in Logistics

According to Forbes, we are on the threshold of a new era in supply chain management known as Logistics 4.0. Things could not go differently anymore since some industry-specific problems cannot be solved without the implementation of cutting-edge technologies. For example, currently, a full 30 percent of all perishable produce and products never make it all the way from the farm to the table. One of the solutions that will definitely become a trend in the future is the use of IoT devices in logistics and development of appropriate enterprise software.

With the help of IoT devices, logistic companies can collect and process data on temperature and humidity. This data can be gathered during the whole cycle of shipment and along with the info on each shipment’s location provide timely and reliable info. Analyzing received indicators with the use of enterprise software, a shipping company can define if the temperature exceeds acceptable limits.

Currently, the number of connected IoT devices is around 25 billion. According to the info from the Statista website, this number will increase to about 75 billion by 2025:

Source: Statista.com

The trend towards global computerization keeps its pace, and its influence doesn’t pass by the logistics field. Collecting and analyzing real-time data from ships, tracks, and pallets, companies will be able to digitalize the value chain completely and be aware of all core indicators at all times. With the help of AI algorithms, enterprise software for logistics can become even more efficient and provide advanced features.

Conclusions

The trends in enterprise software development are changing rapidly, and monitoring all of them can become a hard task. Some of them remain the same from year to year while another was a part of science fiction just yesterday, but currently can be adopted by any company. Let’s consider the main benefits if using the most trendy technologies in your enterprise apps:

• AI and machine learning allows cutting costs and increase the overall productivity of your organization thanks to free time that employees can receive by automating routine processes
• paying due attention to cybersecurity, companies can keep critical clients’ data safe and maintain a competitive advantage
• cloud-based solutions help to increase the flexibility of a company and allows achieving a decrease in operational costs
• personalized software solutions delivered by software development companies can significantly reduce time and money losses on modernization
• the use of IoT devices and apps that can gather and process info received from them can significantly improve the work of logistic companies

If you’re still in doubt if your current enterprise software solution complies with modern cybersecurity standards or think that it lacks some technologies that can provide you with the competitive advantage, you can get an instant, free consultation from our specialists.

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