Leobit
They like to say every business is a technology business. It means that to stay afloat and engage customers, most companies need to innovate. An insurance agency without an online portal and AI-powered bot is no longer competitive. Its more tech-advanced peers will lure customers away. The same goes for other businesses.
That’s why everyone should follow the latest software development trends. The software development trends for 2022 include DevOps practices, blockchain revolution, AI, cloud, human augmentation, and new programming languages. Besides, remote work continues to shape emerging technology trends and working approaches.
We have run thorough research to learn more about software development trends for 2022. Check out our findings to know what latest software trends to follow.
#1. Growing Impact of DevOps Best Practices
DevOps practices underlie many latest software development trends. 36% of tech professionals admitted using a DevOps or DevSecOps model in 2021. What makes this approach so good?
By bringing software development teams and IT operatives together, DevOps allows quicker software releases. This approach enables fully automated continuous integration and deployment. It helps software vendors to speed up the product release through more automated and synchronized work of tech teams. Given the dynamicity of the modern market, a time and productivity advantage is a huge plus.
Apart from work optimization, DevOps best practices contribute to other software development trends for 2022. The rise of the DevSecOps model is one of them. DevSecOps ensures an increased focus on the security of developed systems. To withstand the pace of faster development cycles, DevOps teams run security tests concurrently with the engineering. Thanks to such development technologies, the days when the security review happened before the launch are gone.
Serverless computing, microservices architecture, and Kubernetes are other emerging technology trends tied to DevOps best practices. Even though serverless computing has been for a while, 2022 will see its proliferation. Businesses that have hesitated about investing in serverless systems witness the advantages they cannot ignore. Serverless systems liberate organizations from infrastructure management. Microservices give large teams additional flexibility since engineers can access any unit they need and scale each segmented service separately.
Leobit offers engineering services to companies worldwide and works on projects of different complexity, from mobile apps to embedded software.
Benefits of DevOps Software Development Trends for 2022
- Faster product development and deployment
- Continuous integration and continuous delivery
- Increased level of security thanks to the DevSecOps model
- Security vulnerabilities are considered from the early stages of application or service development
- Efficiency and reliability through the shift from infrastructure management to serverless computing
- Additional scalability of applications thanks to microservices adoption
#2. Blockchain Beyond Fintech
Distributed ledger and other Blockchain technologies have already manifested themselves in the financial sector. Recently, Leobit upgraded an invoice factoring trading platform by integrating Guardtime KSI Blockchain to ensure personal data protection. We also used the Blockchain suite in some of the fintech projects for our customers worldwide.
After the Blockchain revolution in fintech, blockchain has entered related fields. According to Deloittes’ research, 80% of participants expect to see new revenue sources from blockchain technology, digital assets, and cryptocurrency.
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Although banking still leads in blockchain adoption, telecommunications, media, & entertainment, health care & life sciences, retail, and manufacturing will also see a leap in blockchain spending in the following years.
Here are some alternative uses of Blockchain new software development technologies:
Self-sovereign identity
Blockchain and other DLT platforms enable users to establish ownership of their personal data. They can create tamper-proof digital identities to prevent counterfeit or stolen accounts. Companies apply it for contact tracing, electronic voting, and electronic health records. It’s also possible to use self-sovereign identity to prevent professional fraud, verify university diplomas, cross borders without paper documents, and more.
Transparent Supply Chain
Blockchain is one of the latest software development trends applicable in solutions requiring product tracking and traceability. It can make the global supply chain more transparent to reduce illegal or counterfeit products. Distributed ledger technology provides the provenance of items (e.g., diamonds or wine) and helps track assets and shipments.
Reliable data sharing with third parties
Third parties cannot freely exchange data because of tech limitations and privacy concerns. Software development trends for 2022, including Blockchain, facilitate interoperability. Permissioned DLT new software development technologies allow organizations to securely exchange information since they can grant trusted third parties only the required level of access. This blockchain capability can enhance any platform that connects users with restricted access rights.
Benefits of Blockchain Software Development Trends for 2022
- Secure internal or external transfer of personal data
- Reduced risk of massive data leakage and breaches
- Opportunity to create tamper-proof digital identities of users
- Blockchain and DLT new software development technologies enhance product-tracking and traceability
- Simplified financial and performance reporting
- Enhanced auditability of intercompany transfers accounting
- Managed data-sharing permissions for third-party and secure data exchange
#3. AI For NLP, Bots, and More
This year, artificial intelligence software trends get a narrower use than before. The narrow AI model means that a learning algorithm runs a single task instead of mimicking complex thought processes. As a result, AI becomes applicable in a wide range of services. Overall, AI software development trends for 2022 center around natural language processing, AI bots, video editing and generation. Popular software trends solutions include image recognition and language translation tools.
The ability to accurately interpret information gives companies ample opportunities for value creation. They can partially replace the human workforce with AI bots and increase productivity. Researchers state that 85% of businesses plan to combine human expertise with AI, NLP, machine learning, and pattern recognition to make workers 25% more efficient by 2026.
2022 will also make AI use and benefits of artificial intelligence more responsible. The EU already proposed the Artificial Intelligence Act to regulate the companies adopting AI. Mind this if AI is among the new software development technologies you want to implement.
Benefits of Artificial Intelligence Software Trends
- Large data massives processed automatically
- Comprehensive automation of multiple processes
- Data-driven recommendations for better business decisions
- Employees focus on more critical business tasks
- Enhanced productivity of organizations using AI
- More accurate translations and automated responses due to NLP
- Universal use across industries and software trends
#4. Cloud Continues to Replace Regional Data Centers
Cloud doesn’t belong to new software development technologies. Yet now, its adoption is becoming pervasive. Gartner calls cloud the centerpiece of new digital experiences and predicts $474 billion revenue in 2022. By 2025, organizations will deploy over 95% of new digital workloads on cloud-native platforms compared to 30% in 2021.
Worldwide IT infrastructure spending
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So if you still haven’t started transitioning to the cloud, it’s time to. Cloud is the basis of the delivery pipeline of any modern digital service, be it a streaming platform or autonomous IoT infrastructure. The emerging technology trends like 5G or Wi-Fi 6E mean more data streamed from the cloud and new types of data. The upcoming years will also see the arrival of cloud VR and AR, which will impact gaming, streaming, entertainment, and other related fields.
Benefits of Cloud Software Development Trends for 2022
- The only way to follow digital transformation software trends
- No investment in server software and hardware
- System scalability and flexibility
- Public cloud software trends democratize security
- Increased security through encryption, identify access management consoles, DDoS protection, and other emerging technology trends in cloud security
#5. Human Augmentation
By 2024, the human augmentation market will grow to $206.9 billion. It only starts to pop up as one of the emerging technology trends. Human augmentation is far from what you’ve seen in sci-fi movies, but it already can do a lot. Today, these are smart wearable devices powered by sophisticated software.
Modern human augmentation solutions are already adopted for enterprise and industrial use. Enterprise wearables (smart glasses, head-mounted displays, cameras, gloves, audio devices, and various sensors) enable experienced workers to mentor employees in the field. That’s how the new software development technologies like human augmentation reduce errors, increase the safety of workers, and improve productivity. Apart from manufacturing practices, human augmentation software trends affect aerospace and defense, healthcare, science, genetics, and other leading industries.
Benefits of Human Augmentation Software Development Trends for 2022
- Replicate human abilities to make up for the missing or lost ones
- Everyday tasks become easier for people with disabilities
- Allow enterprises to power workers with smart wearables for greater productivity
- Reduce human mistakes
- Bring healthcare services, like prosthetic care, to a whole new level
- Make the end-users more multitasking, strong, or durable
#6. New Programming Languages Gain Traction
The latest software development trends push the adoption of new programming languages. Even though trending programming languages don’t pop up every day, every several years something new gains popularity. Modern software trends show the growing impact of Groovy, Kotlin, Elixir, Go, Dart, Julia, Rust, and Swift, among other new software development technologies. Influenced by old-school languages, they offer a more convenient and quick approach to coding. Besides, the software written with such languages has better compatibility with new processors and improved performance.
Despite the spread of new software trends, time-honored programming languages still dominate. JavaScript, HTML/CSS, Python, and SQL are the most used languages of 2021.
Trending programming languages
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Benefits of Using Trending Programming Languages
- Latest software development trends and languages help you become a tech industry leader
- More approaches to programming and problem-solving
- Increased software development productivity and flexibility
- Preparation for the upcoming tech innovation
- Keeping up with the latest software development trends
#7. Remote Work Domination and IT Outsourcing
While we were waiting for the end of the pandemic, we got used to the remote (and liked it!). A recent GitHub report shows that companies have shifted towards remote work and don’t plan to go back to the office. The productivity returns to pre-pandemic levels while remote and hybrid work stays in place. Only 11% of respondents will return to office work after the pandemic. 47.6% prefer hybrid work, whereas 38.8% want to stay fully remote.
Work before and after the pandemic
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It gave the new rise to outsourcing since the physical location of the IT team lost its importance. As long as people can communicate and distribute tasks remotely, they can do the work. That’s why in 2022 and upcoming years, remote work will lead the latest software development trends. The global market size of outsourced services has already reached $92.5 billion. Companies outsource the software development process to reduce costs, focus on core business functions, enhance capacity, and reap other benefits.
Benefits of Remote Work Latest Software Development Trends
- Increased productivity and scalability of the software development process
- Optimized software development expenses
- Focus on core business activities
- Access to the global talent pool
- Reduced human resources onboarding costs
- Ability to quickly grow team based on the project needs
- No need to maintain or manage office
Final Thoughts
Software development trends for 2022 don’t differ much from what we’ve seen in 2021. The main difference is that the need for optimization, productivity, and innovation becomes more intense. The latest software development trends show that companies invest in DevOps best practices, leverage Blockchain for security, move to the cloud, and use narrow AI. Most importantly, they keep staying remote and outsource software development tasks to third-party providers.
If you consider IT outsourcing, Leobit full-cycle web and mobile application development provider can help. We offer engineering services to companies worldwide and work on projects of different complexity, from mobile apps to embedded software. Leobit will assemble a dedicated team based on your project needs and tech stack within the shortest time. We hire over 120+ software engineers skilled in the latest software development trends and keep growing.
Contact us for free consulting or project estimates.
