As said by Darwin, it is neither the strongest nor the most intelligent that survives, it is the one that adapts to change.
This quote is equally applicable to the continuously evolving world of enterprise application development. This is because web application development has seen many changes lately. From HTML 5 becoming the new standard to the cloud getting matured and offering even more business advantages, the list is perhaps endless.
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The thing is, recent technology trends have changed enterprise application development largely, and companies need to adapt to these changes or else they will fall behind. Here is a list of some important technological trends for enterprise application development:
Lately, there has been a strong push towards web applications that act more like native applications. However, this shift towards faster and more powerful applications requires a change in development methods.
The trend requires a shift of the applications to the web, more specifically to the browser. Presently, most web applications are server-side based whether it is banking or airline reservation systems or weather applications. As such, the main processing takes place on the server while the browser sends requests. This approach slows down the application performance. With the increasing demand for desktop-like web apps, more enterprise application development will shift towards the client side, with the use of modern JavaScript frameworks.
Until now, a powerful application was given more preference over a well-designed and intuitive interface. It’s changing now. Users now desire to have applications that they can access from their smartphones and tablets; they want them to be powerful, yet easily understandable.
Most consumers have become accustomed to clean and intuitive interfaces thanks to corporations like Apple, and now they want that same user-friendly interface in their business or enterprise application.
The reason for this strong urge is the alternative options they have in hand. With the development of cloud-based technology, consumers can easily move from company-supplied applications to third-party cloud solutions.
Earlier, companies developed applications that had all the features and capabilities baked right in. The scenario is changing now. As more and more end users are adopting cloud software products, compatibility and integration have risen in importance.
Application development has become less about: What features it incorporates; and more about: How it integrates with other applications and services.
nowadays, the web has extended from desktops to many other devices and the concept of a typical user has vanished completely. Users want to access their application from their mobile devices as well.
This, obviously, requires a shift in enterprise application development. Businesses are required to not only adapt their current applications to this new demand, but they must also permanently change their strategy to account for mobile devices.
A trend that’s already in place, is going to take a much higher leap now. We will see more and more businesses moving their application development to the cloud.
Instead of installing and monitoring their own hardware, more companies are preferring to opt for platforms installed on cloud hosts for development.
As data and applications will get centralized on the cloud, delivery will become XaaS i.e. Everything-As-A-Service; plus as new, smarter and thinner hardware comes up, devices will no longer be client heavy or dependent on location. Instead, they will rely on applications running in highly flexible cloud environments. Resultantly, the complexity and functionality of the applications will reside on the cloud only, thereby reducing the cost of development, and adding simplicity to the deployment process.
HTML5 really takes off in the enterprise this year. While it is being used in the developing world for quite a long period, it is only now that it has been picked up for business use seriously. As businesses better understand the advantages offered by the new HTML 5, its usage is going to increase considerably in the enterprise world as well.
