Twenty years ago, business software was virtually non-existent. Companies had a few productivity apps, but that was just about the limit of their foray. Many firms were still doing things with pen and paper.
Today, though, the landscape is entirely different. Software is enabling businesses to automate millions of rote tasks every day. And powerful cloud networking tools are making it possible for employees to sync with head offices on any device, anywhere in the world. In 2023, it’s almost impossible to imagine an economy without these tools.
Moreover, the improvements seen over the last twenty years seem like only the beginning. Looking to the future, it is clear that artificial intelligence and other exotic technologies are going to enable firms to do things previously thought impossible.
This blog post explores some of the key trends, challenges, and opportunities in the business software space. We look at what’s taking off right now, the various roadblocks, and how firms can take advantage of emerging software-based capabilities over the coming years.
Trends
Software trends seem to arrive with uncanny regularity. Every couple of years, the industry experiences either breakthroughs or entire paradigm changes. Recent experience is no exception. There seems to be a new topic in the media every day.
Cloud And 5G
Cloud and 5G would be the biggest trend of the decade in any other industry. But in software, it’s not. Still, these two technologies are transforming the way business software is developed, deployed, and consumed.
Why? Essentially, it’s because cloud computing offers firms scalability, while 5G networks provide them with the high bandwidth and low latency they need to connect IoT devices. Together, the cloud and 5G enable business software to run faster, smoother, and more securely across different devices and locations. According to McKinsey, 70 percent of companies will employ hybrid or multi-cloud management technologies, tools, and processes by 2023, while 5G will deliver network speeds that are up to 100 times faster than current speeds on 4G LTE networks.
AI And Software 2.0
The biggest trend we’ve seen is the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI). New god-like capabilities are opening up economic applications previously thought impossible for software. Machines can now learn, speak, create, synthesize, evaluate, and even empathize with human emotions.
Interestingly, many of these properties are “emergent.” Developers didn’t code or expect them, but they just happened once systems reached certain critical size thresholds. A billion nodes in a neural network generate unimpressive results, but a trillion seems to yield something incredibly human-like.
The applications of AI and software 2.0 in business are without limits. How companies use them depends on their capabilities. For instance, you can imagine them using them for:-
- Customer service
- Rote task automation
- Cognitive work
- Personal assistance functions
- Sentiment analysis
- Data analysis
- Speech recognition
Given the recent explosion in AI’s capabilities, it is more challenging to think about what it can’t do than what it can do.
Metaverse And Virtual Reality
The metaverse and virtual reality are also two trends creating additional possibilities for business software and interactive experiences. These technologies enable consumers to step into new digital realities, interact with them, and derive meaning from their experiences. AR/VR refers to technologies that overlay digital information or images in the real world (AR) or create a fully simulated environment (VR) for users to experience using headsets or glasses. The combination of these technologies makes it possible to radically transform the way people live and enable them to socialize, work, and play in an entirely virtual economy.
The metaverse is still in its infancy, despite having been talked about for some time now. Whether it will take off will largely be the choice of consumers. However, like video games, interest may compound significantly over time. Once people get used to the idea of living in virtual worlds (and when the quality of those worlds improves), the hype train may get started once more.
Challenges
Of course, businesses face significant challenges, too. While software offers the potential for dramatic increases in productivity, companies also run the risk of falling into various pitfalls.
Security And Privacy
Security and privacy remain significant challenges that business software will need to continue to address. Even today, the threats are extreme. In the future, AI-powered hacking will make them even worse.
Furthermore, the “attack surface” at major firms is greater than ever. Exposure to hackers occurs on all fronts, particularly via IoT implementations where security architecture is less advanced.
Businesses also need to consider how their software protects the privacy and security of their users. Cybercriminals looking to skim data can make vast sums of money, just from simple details. According to Forbes, security violations remain one of the biggest challenges for enterprise software developers, while data breaches can cost companies millions of dollars in fines and reputational damage.
Talent Shortages And Skills Gaps
Another significant challenge is the talent shortage and skills gap currently affecting the software arena. While there are millions of people who can code, only a few understand how to marry systems in a business context and build them to drive productivity.
Furthermore, individual firms are usually unable to attract the diversity of talent they require to succeed. Software developers must master multiple languages, tools, and frameworks, which takes time. Moreover, the useful set of tools changes rapidly over time. Outdated workflows can result in delays of many weeks, months, or years.
The growth of AI tools is also creating more issues for firms. With technology advancing rapidly, many firms are unable to find people with the expertise to keep pace with changes. It feels impossible.
According to Gartner, there will be a gap of 1.4 million developers by 2023, while the demand for developers will grow by 22 percent from 2019 to 2029. Firms will have to bid up wages, or simply do without these key individuals on their teams.,
Opportunities
Despite these apparent downsides, there are still significant opportunities for businesses in the software space. While all tools have downsides, the upshots regularly outweigh them.
Low-Code Platforms
Take low-code platforms, for instance. These are software development tools that enable users to create software applications without having to write code or have programming skills. While there might be a developer shortage, these tools effectively hand power back to you, allowing you to create incredible software without having to know how to write it in detail. Many AI-powered applications let you provide them with a short prompt and, consequently, you get precisely what you want.
Interfaces are also improving significantly. Drag-and-drop tools let you place elements for apps and web pages where you want, without having to define features, boundaries, or any other part of the page. As such, low- and no-code solutions are democratizing software development.
Software-As-A-Service (SaaS)
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) also represents a significant opportunity for growing firms. This type of cloud computing provides software applications over the internet on a subscription or pay-per-use basis. Firms can use it for field service management, accounting, word processing, SEO, chat, CRM, and thousands of other purposes.
The reason it is appealing is that you only pay for what you need and it’s scalable. It eliminates the requirement to bring software in-house, allowing you to pass full responsibility over to the vendor.
It’s also convenient. Cloud-based services mean your team can access productivity tools, regardless of their location. You don’t need to assemble everyone in the same office.
Lastly, you don’t need to purchase or manage servers (which can be time-consuming and technically challenging). The cloud provider does that for you (usually by running their software on AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Cloud).
Artificial Intelligence
AI is the elephant in the room. This technology can perform human-level tasks with ease and continues to grow in power every year.
AI has a nearly infinite number of applications, as discussed above, and, therefore, represents the biggest opportunity in the field.
For instance, AI can help businesses enhance productivity by automating email responses or social media posts. It can also improve product quality and customer satisfaction. Systems can take large quantities of data from varied sources and amalgamate them into a single line of reasoning, or effective code. Agent-based AIs can then use this information to carry out specific instructions or provide insights into how you might carry them out in the real world.
AI is now moving beyond productivity. It is likely the software will eventually run businesses, performing various C-suite functions. Some firms are already considering replacing their CEOs with AIs, a move previously thought impossible. That’s because the software is less prone to bias and can take in more data from more sources, allowing it to rely on evidence, not intuition.
Cloud Computing
Lastly, we have cloud computing, an opportunity many firms still need to realize. Businesses that run on the cloud avoid the need to set up their own systems or install applications on their devices. They can also access the latest software advances via automatic updates, the moment they release to the public.
