Technology has been evolving rapidly over the past few decades at an extraordinary speed most of us never thought possible. Technology currently has infinite uses and has impacted and improved the lives of global citizens, whether at home, work, in classrooms or leisure activities. 

During 2020, businesses had to come face-to-face with the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects it had on all our livelihoods. For some, going through an intense digital transformation was the only way to allow employees to work remotely and maintain productivity in response to the lockdowns restrictions.

Software developers were at the forefront of this change, and their teams had to start incorporating functionality that enabled social engagement. Some of them had their work cut out for them, having to quickly adapt in such an agile environment to their customers' new and growing needs.

Now that we’re in 2021, more people have grown to appreciate the importance of software development. There are a number of trends that have been seen in the software development industry. We’ll discuss some of these below and the future outlook.

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Rising demand for developers

The increasing demand for digital solutions by businesses around the globe meant companies had to hire developers to transform their business models, particularly through e-commerce. Developers increased in demand by 25% between 2019 and 2020, and job portals around the globe are continuing to see a rapid recruitment boom.

While other industries and sectors started to teeter on the brink of collapse, software development continued on an upward trend during the pandemic. This trend is expected to continue over the next decade as new opportunities continue to come out of this industry.

In fact, what is evident is that developers who upskill themselves in various emerging technologies will benefit most from this trend. The top skills that will be in demand going into the future will be IT automation, and AI and machine learning. With the number of tech startups also on an upward trend, the future looks promising for software development.

A hybrid and flexible work environment

Due to the pandemic, businesses everywhere were forced to both digitise and digitalise. Software developers had to respond to this call and became more flexible by collaborating on projects more remotely than ever before.

Where developers were used to running projects mostly in person, they had to now adapt to a hybrid work approach. This has seen a reduction in meeting lengths as teams aim to become more efficient in the wake of increasing workloads.

Things are constantly changing, as the year 2020 has shown. This has necessitated the use of an agile approach on workstreams. With the emerging in-demand coding skills, self-teaching is becoming another major trend in the industry to keep up with the rapid transformation.

Growth of the Cloud

As software teams are now working remote-first, most development projects have now moved to the cloud, incorporating social and collaborative tools. Value stream management software will help drive agility right now and going forward. The cloud computing market is forecast to grow 18% in 2021, with the trend set to continue over the next five years.

The focus on cloud-native skills will gain more importance going into the future and this will be supported by virtual colocation infrastructure which allows for scalability to cope with the increased agility. The scalability offered by the Cloud is allowing developers to adjust to ever changing demand. 

Sectors such as tourism, travel and hospitality experienced reduced demand. Scalability allowed some to reduce their server needs without bearing the full costs of a physical data centre. 

Agility and the shift to cloud infrastructure has led to an increased demand for full-stack developers to support the flexibility requirements and increasing software development needs. If you haven’t already migrated to the Cloud, then this is the best time to start looking at some options that can benefit your organisation.

Low-code and no-code adoption

As organisations scrambled to adopt digital solutions in 2020, developers were left with higher workload. This led to an increase in low-code products that could be quickly deployed and free up developer capacity.

These low-code solutions are easily scalable and components can be reused on multiple clients. This is particularly useful given that the demand for developers is surpassing the ability of recruiters to fill vacancies. One example of these solutions is the Bubble platform.

Low-code and no-code allow for rapid development and deployment of web apps primarily. People with great ideas will benefit mostly from these developments, speeding up their implementation. Going forward, this market segment is expected to continue on a positive uptick, powered by the Cloud.

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AI and automation

Trends currently show that AI and machine learning will be at the forefront of software development automation going into the future. This will particularly be of benefit in test automation, helping to identify problems faster through natural language processing.

AI helps make more informed decisions as it can provide predictive analytics, ultimately improving user experience. You may need to start thinking whether you think you might need to find a software developer to help incorporate AI to speed up business processes and get ahead of your competition.

5G is here to stay

What is certain is that 5G was one of the most talked about topics in 2020, mostly for all the wrong reasons. Now that the dust has mostly settled, 5G is set to contribute to the rapid growth of software solutions.

5G is expected to have a 15% share of the global mobile industry by 2025. The outstanding speeds that can be achieved using this mobile technology, among several benefits, provide endless possibilities for developers. 

For those looking to incorporate AR and VR in their business, the speeds provided by 5G will be a perfect fit as they are resource-intensive technologies. In addition, the growing trends of progressive web apps and IoT will continue in 2021 and beyond. Their development and use will be enhanced even further by 5G technology.

The technology trends we witnessed starting in 2020 are expected to continue to grow in the long run. One thing for sure is that life will never be the same again as before the pandemic.

Are you future-looking and thinking of jumping onto one of these trends for your business? If you were searching for software development experts, then look no further. Whether it’s app or web development, e-commerce solutions, AR and VR, or getting insights from your data, to name a few, talk to Digital Grind. We’ve got you covered.

Since the beginning of the digital age, circa the mid-20th century, society has slowly begun to harness the power of information technology. When computers became more portable and cheaper to manufacture, this meant that more people could access them. Mobile phones and device miniaturisation are continuing to make web accessibility more possible today.

Current statistics show that about 15% of the world's population is considered to be living with some sort of disability. While this is a significant proportion of the human race, it’s quite apparent that most technology is designed with the 85% in mind. 

Not only that, the web should be fully functional for every single person trying to access it, regardless of their software, hardware or location. Meeting this goal ensures accessibility isn’t exclusive to the majority.

What is web accessibility?

Web accessibility refers to the design and development of websites that are accessible to people living with disabilities. While there are various types of disabilities, there are some that make it difficult for some to access certain types of web content. 

Such individuals at times have to use assistive technologies to access it. Examples of these include screen readers, text-to-speech, screen enlargement, voice recognition and word prediction technologies. However, these technologies only work if the principles have been applied by the website creators.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are some web accessibility guidelines provided by the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). The current version of these guidelines is WCAG 2.1, although the newer versions 2.2 and 3 are still under draft.

Why web accessibility is important

People living with disability face a variety of disadvantages in their day-to-day living; one of these is web accessibility. When some individuals aren’t able to fully access the web, particularly due to its design, they are considered a part of the digitally excluded.

Disability inclusion aims to address the barriers posed by information and communication technology as this infringes on some of their basic rights. A person living with disability has a right to access any web service just as much as an able bodied individual.

Improving accessibility for your website helps to address any discrimination that it can potentially pose on people living with disability. Web accessibility means “that people with disabilities can equally perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with websites and tools.”

The four principles: POUR

There are four principles that should be the baseline for the design or development of a website to ensure accessibility. They can also be applied to any other information technology as well. A website should be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust:

• Perceivable: When it comes to perceivability, this means that the content and user interface elements can be identified using human senses. Generally, vision is the primary one, since websites are usually meant to be read. Secondary senses include sound and touch.

A website or app should be built in a way that ensures that there is alternative access through other senses that may be diminished or missing. This is why there are video captions for those who are partially or completely deaf, for example.

• Operable: A website’s user interface components (e.g buttons and controls) and any of its interactive parts should be accessible through multiple input tools. The site or app should not have interactions that the user is unable to perform.

The website should also allow for errors, making sure that the user has ample time to fix them. One example of operability is that a website should cater for those who might use only a keyboard, for example, and cannot use a mouse. 

• Understandable: This refers to a website having consistency in formatting and having predictable patterns. Users should also be able to understand and remember how to navigate the website or app.

In addition, it should provide feedback to users, helping them with any errors. In fact, any potential errors a user may experience should be mitigated against through contextual help. 

• Robust: For this principle, a website needs to be able to be interpreted well by multiple platforms, devices and other technologies, taking into consideration the functional limits of each of these. Users should have choice with regards to the technology they desire to use to interact with a website or app. Also, the coding needs to be clean to prevent errors.

How to become AAA compliant

There are currently three levels for web accessibility guidelines, according to the WCAG. These are levels A (basic), AA (intermediate) and AAA (optimal). The majority of organisations aim to achieve AA status. Compliance level AAA encompasses the standards of all three levels.

• Level A aims to meet 25 criteria and is relatively easy to meet. However, these websites are usually difficult for people living with disabilities to use. In general, requirements include the ability to navigate using only a keyboard and having alternative text for content. 
• Level AA has 38 criteria that the majority of people with or without disabilities have the ability to use. It includes criteria such as having a colour contrast of at least 4.5:1. In addition, alternative text should have meaning.

To become Level AAA compliant, you have to meet all 61 success criteria as provided by the WCAG. To help you, the WCAG provides a checklist. 

AAA sites are mainly aimed at maximising users and the criteria is very strict. This compliance level is aimed at enabling access to individuals with audiovisual impairments.

Some of the AAA criteria include having a colour contrast level of at least 7:1. In addition, there should be sign language interpretation of media content. Having a variety of accessibility tools is commonplace on AAA sites.

If you are considering a level of compliance you would like to meet, first try and figure out who your target users are. For example, if your website or app is meant for elderly users or those living with disability, then AAA compliance is the way to go.

So, choose a compliance level that suits the needs of both you and your audience. Start taking steps to understand what changes you need to make to your website using the chosen compliance level and watch your audience grow, while better serving your current users.

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Author: Brandon Busuttil, MD, Digital Grind

Your secret weapon in the battle for better business

No matter the size of your organisation, achieving and maintaining a high level of operational efficiency is part of the success journey. Usually, striving for efficiency means that the organisation becomes more profitable.

The most successful organisations are always trying to improve the way they operate and finding new and innovative solutions that improve performance. They know the importance of making sure they stay ahead of the competition - at every step of the way.

Generally speaking, continuous process improvement (CPI) seeks to determine if an organisation’s business processes are meeting company goals. There are various tools that are used to achieve this fast - but getting the improvement part right is a little trickier. We’ll get into this in a minute, but first, let’s look at CPI’s application in software development.

CPI in software development - The Dark Horse

For developers, CPI is an ongoing effort to improve products, services or processes through continuous testing and optimisation. This means that attention is put on making sure a business’ products are up-to-date, bug-free and secure. This process is done on a continuous basis as part of a developer’s maintenance protocols.

Changes are implemented either incrementally or in one fell swoop (also known as breakthrough improvement). The advantage of making incremental changes is that improvements are made almost as soon as they have been discovered. 

Once these have been processed, the next step is to ensure that you constantly go back to reanalyse all processes throughout the lifecycle of the project and make additional changes. This is one of the pillars of an agile environment.

Getting it right

One of the most popular CPI models used is PDCA, which stands for Plan, Do, Check, and Act. By carefully going through these steps, the ongoing cycle of continuous improvement can be achieved as the model controls and regulates the processes. 

One can also start by using business process mapping to visualise all the business processes that require monitoring and assigning responsible individuals. Below is a breakdown of the PDCA model.

• Plan: The planning phase is the initial element in the model that sets out to identify objectives and challenges within the particular project. The problem identified would need to be solved in alignment with expected outcomes. A number of possible solutions are identified, with the most favourable solution touted first.
• Do: The selected solution or solutions are then implemented, initially starting off on a micro scale. Data is collected for analysis purposes to measure the progress of the implemented changes. The main purpose of the Do stage is to ensure that the proposed solution is fully tested before it can be rolled out fully to the entire system. 
• Check: The checking stage involves taking the data collected during the Do stage to compare if it matches expected outcomes. The purpose of this is to assess whether the solution was successful and if additional improvements are necessary. Any useful information that can be gathered is recorded and the Do and Check processes are repeated.
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• Act: This phase involves actual implementation after all the pros and cons of potential solutions are laid out, based on the information gathered in Do and Check stages. Any feedback received is also considered. If the solution is not as successful as initially expected, an alternative is then considered. 

Once a workable solution is implemented, it’s time to focus on the next identified urgent areas to improve and the same cycle repeats.

Why should you use CPI?

There are a host of benefits when it comes to using CPI for your brand. These ensure that the quality and integrity of the software is kept at a high level. Here are five key benefits:

• Quicker feedback: With continuous testing, the development team is able to receive feedback on any issues that require their attention within a short timeframe. By monitoring all stages, early feedback means fewer defects are found in deployed products.
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• Cost reduction: The cost of development can skyrocket unexpectedly if errors are not monitored and resolved timeously. As fewer defects are found within products, there will be a reduction in the back-and-forth between the client and their developers, leading to the costs of development being significantly reduced.
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• Improved quality: Using CPI is one way of ensuring that the quality of the product is improved. The quality assurance process via the back-and-forth of process improvement results in better products with fewer errors. Ultimately, user experience is more pleasant leading to greater customer satisfaction.
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• Faster deployment: One major benefit of CPI is that any updates or upgrades to products can be deployed quickly, while being able to respond to industry changes more efficiently. Automated testing helps to make sure testing is constant and meticulously done. 
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• Better compliance: With continuous testing comes increased employee engagement and collaboration. As the development team becomes aligned to the software improvement process and overall organisational goals, it creates a culture of success and improved morale leading to better compliance.

CPI is a critical element of any software developer team, creating high quality products that stand the test of time while optimising business processes and achieving its goals. Standardisation is thus necessary in terms of implementation best practices.

Each improvement process needs to be thorough to maximise output and returns on investment. At Digital Grind, it's a part of who we are, as CPI and maintenance are implemented in our development projects. 

We strive to ensure that your brand receives quality outputs that are adaptable and enhanced on an ongoing basis according to evolving needs. Start a development project with us. Our team is always ready to listen.