The Year is about to get over and technology has transformed the way enterprises work. 2017 is vital for businesses and brought numerous changes in the enterprise landscape of technology. Enterprise Mobility Exchange reports that Cloud Computing and Mobile solutions have greatest impact on Digital transformation in 2017. However, according to a recent survey, 63% revealed their organization struggles engaging with their customers through mobile devices. The challenges are numerous. Nonetheless, mobile development continues to be important in the coming years. Let us see the major Mobile app development trends that are to stay in 2018.
Rapid App Development
Enterprises are searching for ways to mobile in less than weeks to maintain competitive edge over others. However, app development takes time depending on the functionalities needed and the apps are heavy in size. This made companies like Capriza and Kony to come up with rapid visual development platforms to build apps that are lite and require no code and APIs to build. Though these platforms exist before 2017, they have seen an immense demand for app development platforms this year and they are expecting a much larger pie in next year’s market share. Other than this, Open source mobile development platforms such as Ionic Framework enable companies to develop hybrid apps for iOS, Android and Windows with a single set of code.
MarketsandMarkets forecasts the Mobile Application Development Platform (MADP) market to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 30.1% Year-on-Year (YoY) from $1,919.9 million in 2014 to $7,151.2 million by 2019. Additionally, North America is expected to be the biggest market in terms of market size, and Europe and APAC are expected to experience increased market demand during the forecasted period.
AI and Bots
Mobile users are moving towards messaging apps for required information purposes rather than browse and explore for information on mobile apps and sites. Per the Opus Research, $4.5 Billion is expected to be invested in enterprise intelligent assistants by 2021. Chatbots may save businesses millions of dollars billion per year cross industries. Firms such as Oracle, Amazon and Microsoft are heavily investing in AI powered Chatbots that automatically respond to the user immediately with the information user is looking for. These chatbots connect with backend ERP’s for providing necessary information and help enterprises strengthen their relationships with customers.
Oracle’s Survey of CMOs, CSOs, senior marketers, and sales executives from France, the Netherlands, South Africa, and the UK says that 80% of the respondents are using chatbots or planned to use them by 2020. Forty-two percent of participants are embracing automation technologies, 48% are already using automation technologies, and 40% are planning to implement automation by 2020.
Instant Apps
Ever felt that you have a massive number of apps unutilized on your smartphone? Statistics say that phone users on an average interact with nine apps on a daily basis out of ten’s of apps downloaded which are less often used and takeup storage space. App Stores are overcoming this issue with Instant apps, which users can directly use without downloading and installing for one time usage.
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality is in its early stage and is going to be hot in 2018. Businesses are understanding the value of Augmented Reality Mobile apps and the benefits they could get in. Apps for Mixed reality headsets are permitting business customers to build prototypes for their products and attain pioneering advances in 3D design, productivity, and collaboration. AR allows products and services to be presented visually in detail for clients; AR market is expected to touch an astonishing $108 billion by 2021, a recent report published by Digi-Capital says.
Location based Technologies
Through location based services that use beacon technology, Companies can track employee attendance, site workers can be aware of important instructions if they are visiting a precarious place. Location based technologies make the communications relevant to their employees by providing the right information at the right time and ensure safety.
Offline Apps
Network coverage is vital for many field workers who operate in remote locations. However, connectivity is sometimes unpredictable.And field workers work with clients and cannot be at dismay by the network issues. Designing solutions with this reality is a critical yet often overlooked requirement. Ensuring that applications perform in an offline state in addition to addressing performance and session persistence in areas with limited coverage all need to be taken into consideration to attenuate downtime or disruption events.
Cloud Based Apps & IoT
Mobile apps with cloud interaction are revolutionizing the smartphone industry. These mobile apps directly fetch data from cloud and take minimum space in your smartphone internal memory. Building a Cloud based app will not only help to large business, but also to a small group of users. Cloud based apps consume less internal memory and the cloud-based mobile app traffic has seen a sharp rise.
Cloud apps will drive 90% of total mobile data traffic by 2019, and Mobile cloud traffic will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 60%.” – Cisco Research.
The rapid adaption of Cloud based apps aroused the developer’s interest in IoT. From smart homes to smart offices, IoT apps have seen a tremendous growth in 2017 and is expected to continue. Though it might took some more time for IoT to fully take off, it is here to stay. With increase in demand for connected things, developers will have to keep innovating to meet diverse needs and to develop apps for smart devices too.
Marketsandmarkets’ analysts predict that IoT will grow from $157.05 billion in 2016 to $661.74 billion by 2021, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 33.3%. This will impact mobile app trends as IoT devices are controlled by smartphones.
See: Enterprise Mobile Conferences To Attend in 2018
Conclusion
Whatever the challenges may be, the future for mobile apps certainly looks promising and challenging with endless innovative possibilities however, make sure you choose an ideal enterprise mobile solution that meet your needs.