Enterprise application delivery is evolving day by day and enterprises have discovered that traditional development methods do not address the needs of modern business. Many leaders continue to be in denial about the power of digital trends that are radically transforming the business landscape. But in the world of adapt or perish, enterprises have to make changes and take steps towards transforming their architecture to create provisions for future trends in application delivery.
The new normal
Let's take a look at six trends that have urged enterprises to take action. Each of these trends is not an independent phenomenon but a group of closely related phenomena that not only influence but also act as a catalyst for the others.
- Mobility: In the last few years, not only have the number of mobile devices surpassed PCs, but users now turn to their mobile devices first. Ever since mobile apps entered the enterprise scene, they have ushered in new forms of collaboration, communication, and business efficiencies. The number of devices managed in the enterprise increased 72% from 2014 to 2015 and now, 3+ devices are used daily by an employee for work activities. With the diversity of screens and form factors exploding, enterprise mobility has become the key strategy for every business to empower and manage employee mobility in order to meet security, agility, and productivity demands.
- Consumerization: The distinction between expectations for consumer and enterprise applications has rapidly narrowed due to the impact of consumer-originated technologies on enterprises. 90% of enterprises say that the use of a consumer or individual services used for work is pervasive today including Dropbox, Google, Skype, Linked In, Facebook, and other social networking sites. 49% of these sites are used with IT approval, and 41% are not. To achieve the greatest user adoption and long-term success, there is a conscious effort to move away from a purely utilitarian approach to one that strives to deliver an experience for that meets the same standards evident in consumer products.
- Containerization: Perhaps the biggest story in the development and DevOps circles over the past couple of years has been the explosion of containers, with Docker driving the path toward developer and enterprise adoption. Docker’s express growth is already revolutionizing continuous delivery. The influence of containers continues to grow and it is beginning to move beyond mere optimization to transformation on the way IT builds and delivers applications. Several enterprises are looking at containers as an alternative to virtualization and cloud computing, at least for the need of long-tail business applications.
- API Growth: With the dawn of cloud computing and the proliferation of apps, companies are exchanging data and services at an ever-growing rate. APIs can increase agility by de-coupling and exposing business processes. The past few years, however, have seen such explosive growth that the API space is evolving more rapidly than ever before. In 2015, as many as 40 APIs were being added per week to the Programmable Web directory, and the total number of APIs stood at around 15,000. The key thing to consider here is that these numbers are based on publicly available APIs and do not reflect any private or internal API growth at all, of which some estimate may even outnumber the public total. The future RESTful APIs will not only drive the exchange of data but also influence enterprise architecture.
- Data Deluge: The amount of data being generated globally is growing at a rate of 40% per year. Add to that the complexity of an ever-connect world of the Internet of Things. Forecasts indicate that there will be 20.8 billion connected things (IoT) by 2020. As enterprises capture more data from more sources, they are bound to experience greater growth rates for both structured and unstructured data. Since data forms the crux of business applications, enterprises will have to prepare to manage data integration from disparate internal and external systems.
- Microservices: Microservices are small, single-purpose applications that collaborate using APIs to deliver services. Even though microservices have been used for a while, the increasing popularity of cloud computing, containerization, and APIs have made microservices more reliable. In many organizations, developers are already employing microservices architecture whether management knows it or not. Early signs indicate this approach to code management and deployment is helping companies become more responsive to shifting customer demands. Microservices is poised to take the scalability and continuous delivery to the next level in the years to come
It is time to face this new dynamic and begin to plan for your organization’s digital transformation. You need a fresh perspective to give you and your team a powerful voice in setting business direction. In the age of the customer, tech
professionals must work with business executives to use technology to drive growth and delight customers.
I would be glad to understand how your organization is planning to deal with these trends. Also, please add to these trends if you feel that I have missed out on anything.
Organizations across the globe rely on WaveMaker to navigate the new normal use. Our Rapid Application Development or RAD Platform is the most open, extensible, and flexible low-code platform that complements your existing enterprise application delivery. You can get started with a free, 30-day on-premise or online trial.
