Learn the top digital modernization trends in 2021 and know how it can dictate your business directions.
For several decades, organizations and their CIOs relentlessly embraced the digital era. They formulated digital transformation strategies, acquired technologies, implemented culture change, and so on.
Everybody races to accelerate digital efforts. While some organizations ride with the nirvana of success, others struggle because of competition and volatile market forces. Therefore, organizations should have calculated strategies to cater to the digital-native market.
Aside from strategies, it is significant to keep up-to-date with the trends. However, it is imperative not just to follow the hype but to have an in-depth understanding of these trends.
In this guide, let’s examine the different trends in web development. Also, refer to the statistics and recommendations to have an in-depth understanding of these trends. Lastly, leverage the potential of these trends as your organization adapts to the new normal.
Mobile responsive web design is no longer an option; it is a top requirement. As the Internet turns into an amorphous network of smart devices, it drives and affects businesses’ online presence.
Businesses can save a lot of money by employing bots instead of humans. It dramatically increases productivity by eliminating social support to serve repetitive inquiries. The global chatbot market is expected to reach $1.25 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 24.3%.
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is an open-standard Google-backed project. It is designed for pages to load quickly on mobile devices. It was on Google listings as part of its mobile search results. As a result, it requires business leaders to develop websites that load instantaneously and run seamlessly on mobile devices.
Voice search optimization is a new trend breaking into search engines. Consumers now rely on digital assistants like Siri, Cortana, Google Assistant, Alexa, and Echo. These technologies revolutionize the familiar voice searching methods and provide ease and convenience among users.
Traditional software development starts with user requirements. At first, developers focus on building the design. Then, they begin with backend and frontend development. Lastly, is the API development, as it is the tricky part since both ends can’t work in parallel.
The back-end team starts working on the API, and once it is complete, they forward it to the front-end team. Then, the front-end team performs testing and builds SDKs. After which, they test and double-check if the API’s integration is working.
It takes a lot of time. With API-first design, developers began with the API development and followed by building the software product on top of it. It saves a lot of work while laying down the foundations for others to build on.
This approach is brought by the growth in global connectivity and increases APIs’ adoption for each application. And with the rise of interconnectivity among IoT, mobile devices, smart home devices, gaming systems, wearable tech, and computers, it offers a lot of convenience for the user.
But all of those connections can get a bit uncertain if the developer starts building the application in the wrong place.
People are getting impatient, and attention span is no longer a frill but a necessity. The global attention span is narrowing as we continue to live in an age of distractions and hurried lifestyles. Hence, organizations are always on the lookout for something to grab the attention of the users.
It is where beautiful motion UI comes into play. At first, Motion UI is quite complicated, but according to Jonas Naimark, “Despite having so much potential, motion is perhaps the least understood of all the design disciplines.” He argued that although Motion UI is the newest member of the UI design family, it already cemented its place.
So how does Motion UI work? Take a look at the traditional squeeze page fishing for emails. Motion UI transforms this static page into animation. For example, conventional enticing phrases turn into an animation. As you scroll down the page, it changes and adapts to keep the visitor engaged.
Cybersecurity threats are no easy feat. Hence, software developers are into artificial intelligence (AI) that helps counter such threats. For instance, algorithms embedded in customer support systems to predict fraud and unusual systems behavior are on demand.
Why can AI help in the cybersecurity world? In the past, cybersecurity breaches are often reported late and are deemed historical events. With the help of AI, it can detect possible intrusion, thereby limiting the possibilities of attack and network failure.
In 2016, a team at MIT developed an artificial intelligence system that detects 85% of attacks before they occur. They can right away solve a problem the moment it appears. Further, with the help of AI, they have a better chance of mitigating the damage and implementing actions for future attacks.
Progressive Web Apps (PWA) use the emerging web browser Application Programming Interface (API). It works with a traditional progressive enhancement strategy for users to experience a native app-like environment and cross-platform web applications. PWAs are trending as a useful design pattern, but it is not a formalized standard yet. PWAs are similar to AJAX or other similar practices that besets a set of application attributes. It includes the use of specific web technologies and techniques.
PWAs allow consumers to transact online across devices, connections, or even operating systems. Statista’s global survey in October 2019 shows that, some e-commerce decision-makers revealed that 11% already have PWAs while 24% are planning on investing in it. Additionally, 29% of companies did not have plans to invest in PWA.
With the current global crisis and the demand to adapt, this is an interesting aspect to consider. In the same survey, 14% stated that they don’t know what a PWA is. Has the current pandemic changed these statistics?
On the other hand, how do you differentiate a traditional web app from PWA? There are three main features:
Businesses should deploy web applications over a secure network. At present, a secure website is not only a best practice but a necessity. It establishes that your web application is a trusted portal, especially if it involves monetary transactions. PWAs follow the secure context of features such as geolocation. Also, service workers are available only once users load the app using HTTPS.
A service worker is a script that allows intercepting and control of how a web browser handles its network requests and asset caching. With service workers, web developers can create reliably fast web pages and offline experiences.
A manifest file is a JSON file that controls how your app appears to the user. Also, it ensures that your progressive web app is discoverable. Inside the manifest, it details the name of the app, the start URL, icons, and all of the other information necessary to transform the website into an app-like format.
Software developers are now building PWAs because of its several advantages. PWAs are:
To help with your organization on how PWA works, refer to the PWA developer guide.
The rise of 5G connectivity fuels the already trending Internet of Things (IoT). From researchandmarket.com, “5G and IoT enabled smart machines to represent a $1.7B global opportunity by 2025. The device-level SLAs will be crucial for ensuring enterprise and industrial QoS requirements. Also, 5G is a must for in-building private wireless networks in support of ultra-reliable IoT applications. Additionally, edge computing application revenue in 5G will exceed 46% of infrastructure spending by 2025. Lastly, driven by edge computing, micro-data centers represent a $2.5B opportunity globally by 2025.”
The number of connected devices is set to increase from 700 million to 3.2 billion by 2023. This promising duo is fueled by market demand, which is also another factor contributing to this trend. As a result, everybody wants to be part of the global 5G networks.
As 5G networks start to rule the cellular mobile communications, IoT providers continue to improve these connected devices’ performance and reliability. There, the commercial success of any IoT product is ultimately tied to its implementation.
Position your company in the middle, be the link between 5G and your target IoT devices. Remember, 5G networks are ten times faster than current LTE networks. Its data-transfer speed is the primary performance key since application growth is dependent on how quickly it can communicate. The increase in rate fuels the market demand and allows IoT devices to communicate and share data faster. Hence, there will be a surge of optimized websites that acts as the middleman between 5G and IoT.
5G is not just speed, but also it has broader network reliability. Users have more stable connections. It is crucial, especially for critical operations that involve devices such as locks, security cameras, and other monitoring systems that depend on real-time updates.
Businesses should invest in 5G-compatible devices to leverage 5G. As the innovation continues, expect that high-speed connectivity, very low latency, and more excellent coverage are the primary keys in IoT. Nearly all IoT devices apply to different industries such as agriculture, health care, and other industrial applications.
Despite the hype of IoT and 5G networks, it is vital to consider stringent IoT practices. Prepare for your current and future IoT campaigns with extensive requirements analysis and consider success stories to benchmark. This way, you can execute a better execution of your IoT projects.
According to Statista, “In 2020, estimates suggest that the consumer market for immersive technology will bring in around 6.3 billion dollars in revenue around the world. The largest segment of the market is virtual reality, which will account for less than half of that total. At the same time, mobile augmented reality and augmented/mixed reality headsets will bring around 3.7 billion dollars combined.”
This is the last trend that this paper will tackle―immersive technologies. Both industries and the market invest in technologies like Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Virtual Reality (VR). However, as the trend skyrocketed, so as the confusion about the differences between these technologies.
Immersive technologies are technologies that integrate virtual and real-world elements. Yes, AR, MR, and VR have similarities, but there are differences as well.
Let’s start with Augmented Reality.
Augmented reality (AR) integrates virtual objects into a real-world environment. Users experience AR via smartphones, tablets, heads-up displays, or AR glasses. On the other hand, Virtual reality (VR) is different as it is a fully immersive experience where users enter a virtual environment. It uses VR headsets and other VR devices to enter a digital environment and leave the real environment. The third one is Mixed reality (MR),an improved AR technology wherein it places virtual objects into the real world. Users then interact with it and get responses as if these are real objects.
With the threat of Covid-19 lurking around, VR and AR change the way we perceive sports. As real sports events are set aside, immersive sporting events started to trend. Your organization can explore these technologies as they enter mainstream ways to reach fans and generate new revenue streams.
These trends are not solely focused on technologies. Immersive technologies work around the idea of people-centric smart spaces. It is essential to consider that acquiring these technologies is not enough. Top management should consider how it affects an organization's culture and the market.
The year 2020 was quite difficult in some fields and industries. However, IT companies could adapt quickly by implementing workstyle innovation from working from home setup to a hybrid working environment. Thus, with the current situation, as most businesses are looking for remote solutions for their businesses, 2021 will be an exciting year for the IT sector.
These web development trends will help struggling companies to bounce back. For example, IoT can create remote working tools through web development. Indeed, many small web tools are being developed over the past few years, but the recent crisis allows companies to explore all possibilities.
It is not just purely web development now; there are also many new technologies to help businesses build better websites in 2021. Thus the demand for web developers and software professionals is expected to rise in 2021. Above all, these trends also fuel innovation in web development that will create another set of technologies that can genuinely make future trends.
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