The software industry is going through a pretty interesting time at present. While on one side, you have people prophesying the mass unemployment of human coders because of the rise of AI coding solutions, there are others who see the use of software to integrate so deep into our daily lives that every one of us will eventually learn some amount of software development and maintenance. But these are scenarios of a distant future.
In this post, we will look at some of the top software development trends you need to watch out for in 2018.
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Increasing Importance of Cybersecurity
2017 was a tumultuous year for cybersecurity. The biggest reason being the huge confusion caused by the WannaCry ransomware. Millions of computers across the globe were severely affected by it. Many businesses could not even access their files after their computers were infected. WannaCry exposed how vulnerable corporations are to hackers and other cyber threats. This is why 2018 is expected to see more business investment in cybersecurity as they seek to make their computers and servers impregnable to third-party attacks. Businesses who look for custom software development by Praxent and other such top services have been giving strict instructions to the developers to ramp up the security of the entire system.
Blockchain Becomes More Prominent
The massive interest in cryptocurrencies in 2017 has sparked off a similar interest in blockchain technology. Many now believe that blockchain will end up revolutionizing and transforming every business on earth in the same way the internet has done in the past two decades. And in this year, the software industry will see more orders for solutions using blockchain technology from their clients. Big banks and financial organizations are already teaming up to build up their own private blockchain payment systems.
In addition, tech companies like Google and Oracle have also announced plans to create blockchain platforms. As a consequence, we should see the rise of blockchain-focused development teams within many software firms.
Progressive Web Apps
As the importance of web-based software solutions continues to surge, one should expect the trend of Progressive Web Apps (PWA) to also catch up. A PWA refers to a web application that looks like a normal webpage but which provides the user experience of a mobile application. Experts predict that web apps will eventually have more users as compared to the mobile apps since most people would rather avoid downloading a ton of apps on their phone when they can access an app through a browser. Google seems to have understood this shifting user behavior and have started the efforts to provide such an experience through Chrome.
Rise of Artificial Intelligence
As per various estimates, almost 40% of business organizations have implemented some sort of Artificial Intelligence solution in their enterprise. And by beating out their competition through the AI, they also end up making the competitor also adopt AI solutions to remain relevant in the market. This competition between businesses is what is projected to create a boom in demand for AI. And as far as software developers are concerned, more AI projects should be coming their way in 2018 and beyond as companies seek to leverage the power of machines to propel them to the top of the market.
Chatbots Are Becoming A Standard
Businesses are also deploying chatbots on their websites at a rapid pace. The demand for more ‘intelligent’ chatbots which can judge the user intent, provide possible solutions, and direct them to a marketing expert is increasing as more companies realize how crucial it is to find ways to convert their website visitors into leads and customers. Software developers will start seeing more and more orders for such ‘intelligent’ chatbots from their corporate clients.
Serverless Architecture
The demand for serverless architecture will definitely increase in 2018 and the years ahead. After all, what is there to not love about serverless architecture? A business that looks to execute a code can run it on the cloud through a third-party service and will only be charged for the time they use it. In contrast, if the business were to set up servers on its own, then they would have had to make a major investment. And this savings in cost is what makes serverless architecture hugely appealing for businesses. The software industry will also see a corresponding huge demand for custom applications that can make use of such serverless architecture.
A self-managing software is similar to the cell repairs that happens in your body when wounded. If you have been in an accident where a scratch occurred on some part of the body, you will have seen that the scratch heals itself and the new skin comes on in a few days. A self-managing software is similar to that. Such software will mostly be hosted on the cloud, with access to a humongous amount of data. It will use the data to create a baseline that will be considered as a normal. And any event that is above or below the baseline will be seen as something that requires correction. As a result, the software will initiate the steps required to return a process back to the normal level. A big benefit of such a software is its low maintenance need. The demand for such custom self-managing software will also see an increase in 2018. 
Mixed Reality (MR) is simply the usage of virtual reality in the real world situations. This effectively creates new environments where both real and virtual objects exist side by side. Games like Pokemon Go explored the concept of MR to incredible success when it launched a few years ago. Many e-commerce solutions are also investing in software that will allow users to test out the clothes virtually while sitting at home. This year will definitely see an increasing corporate interest in the possibilities of MR, specifically for marketing and promotional purposes. This will also mean that the software industry will have to start focusing on MR solutions more and more. Self-Managing Software
