Software Development Trends to Watch for in 2019

Software development is constantly changing with new technology and methods of implementation. 

In 2018, blockchain, IoT, and AI were trending technologies in the IT industry, but still felt largely unproven.

Now in 2019, these technologies have come up with much better use cases. 

It is essential to analyze the benefits of different software innovations to move ahead with the pace of change and to build new business models. 

Below are the emerging trends in software development in 2019. 

Low Code Development Will Enhance Time-to-Market Pace

The term "low code development" became popular in 2014 when it was given a specific name, but this type of development actually began in 2011. The software for low code development allows both technical and non-technical professionals to develop enterprise apps with automatic code generation, visual programming, and drag-and-drop modules. 

Low code development platforms will generate revenue of more than $10 billion in 2019, almost twice of what they produced in 2018. 

Senior Project Manager of Polcode, Dominik Ras, explains, “the low code not only opens the door for non-technical people, but it also increases the pace of development process, thereby lowering TTM (time to market).” 

As well, low code development allows enterprise software developers to have a clear structure of progress and well-defined goals. 

Artificial Intelligence Will Drive Development 

Artificial intelligence made considerable progress in 2018. 

Last year brought many subtle use cases of AI such as the Gmail email response prompter, automatic voice calls to book appointments, transcription of voicemails, digital assistants, and self-driving cars on the road. 

AI is disrupting different segments of businesses including hospitality, e-commerce, and health care with voice user interfaces in 2019.  

2019 will also experience more examples of AI convergence with blockchain and IoT. Coca Cola is considering implementing AI to analyze the company's large amount of data and support new product development.   

The research performed by IDC also says that 30% of enterprises will use conversational speech tech for customer engagement programs by 2022. 

Blockchain Will Gain Traction in Various Sectors 

Introduced initially to disrupt the financial industry, blockchain has now reached multiple industries such as IT, insurance, health care, retail, and supply chain. 

Source

Apple and JPMorgan are also exploring blockchain use cases beyond monetary value transfers. 

Experiencing the potential of blockchain, many blockchain development companies have emerged to build blockchain solutions for businesses. 

This year businesses will notice a lot of investments in blockchain for emerging use cases like supply chain management, identity management, and data distribution with smart contracts. 

Stable coins and security tokens are significant revolutions to watch out for in blockchain space in 2019. 

Progressive Web Apps Will Become Popular

Progressive web apps (PWAs) provide the look and feel of a native mobile app. They allow users to have all the capabilities and features of a mobile app without needing to download it. 

By improving user engagement and increasing conventions across multiple industries, progressive web apps can run on tablets, mobiles, and other devices without friction. 

BMW experienced load times 3-4 times faster, 26% more mobile users and 30% higher click-through rates after launching their website as PWA. Gartner published a report on Progressive Web Apps in 2017 where PWAs will have more impact on mobile app strategy in the coming years. 

Businesses across the world are expected to adopt PWAs continuously throughout 2019. 

Cloud Computing Will Expand Its Models 

The evolution of cloud computing will continue in 2019. Enterprises are using the hybrid and serverless cloud architectures to reduce operational costs and support various applications. 

Cloud service providers like Google Cloud, AWS and Azure, are introducing a serverless paradigm for computing. Apart from these platforms, open-source frameworks have also revolutionized the way enterprise-grade applications are deployed on the cloud. 

Application containers will gain a lot of traction for building enterprise apps in 2019. Developers can develop and deploy applications faster and independently with managed containers. 

Microservices Will Become Mainstream

We will experience microservices maturing from a trend to the mainstream in 2019. The adoption of microservices will continue to grow and become a must-have strategy for application developers. 

The stats by IDC reveals that 90% of applications will use microservices architecture to enhance the ability to debug, update, leverage, and design third-party code by 2022.  

More Businesses Will Use JavaScript

A survey run by StackOverflow found that 71.5% of professional developers are using JavaScript. This number will continue to grow for programming languages. 

Backing up the claim, GitHub also describes JavaScript as the programming language with "the most contributors in public and private repositories, organizations of all sizes, and every region of the world."

According to these statistics, JavaScript will dominate other languages in the frontend and backend and will be used for building hybrid mobile app applications.

Invest in Valuable Software Development Trends

Software development continues to develop and change each year. By researching the latest trends and keeping your process relevant, your business has a greater chance at success. 

If you are looking to build a scalable digital solution for your business, you should approach a software development company that works on the latest technology trends and implements the above technology stack.