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INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Software for Business
Key trends driving enterprise
software Innovation in 2019
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for experienced internal IT teams, as the
business essentially works with dedicated
specialists at the platform level. Arguably,
the SaaS model enables businesses to install,
adapt and configure solutions far more
efficiently, and to thereby keep up with the
rapid pace of innovation and change that
affects every industry today. In South Africa,
businesses are following the global shift
towards cloud-based software models, with
research by World Wide Worx indicating that
90% of companies had increased spending
on cloud computing last year.
Gareth Hawkey, Group CEO at redPanda
Software
I
n South Africa, savvy business leaders
are looking to embrace leading edge
technology to drive growth and
innovation, which requires a fresh and brave
approach to traditional processes – with
investment into new solutions. Gareth
Hawkey, Group CEO at redPanda Software,
looks at the key shifts taking place and
consider what C-Suite executives and other
decision makers should be exploring this year.
Widespread shift to cloud environment
Internet of Things and AI moving
software ‘to the edge’
While ‘line of business’ applications are
moving to the cloud, there is an important
trend happening adjacent to a growing
need for edge computing and edge
devices. With this model, computing gets
physically closer to devices. Why? Because
with the speedy growth of the Internet of
Things (IoT) and increasing automation,
there are millions of connected devices
that are generating huge volumes of data
and processing it in real-time. All of this
requires massive computing power and an
alternative solution to simply sending all of
this data back to a cloud environment.
As businesses look to move towards more
agile, cost efficient and responsive operating
models, their approach to enterprise
software is becoming fundamentally
different. Instead of running on-site servers
with licensed software, business leaders are
increasingly embracing full cloud solutions. For software developers, there is a growing
consensus that they can improve upon
application performance and deliver an
enhanced end-user experience by allowing
for dynamic content to be generated for
each end user at the edge.
Instead of paying for expensive software
licences as well as the hefty maintenance
costs of on-premise servers, businesses
can leverage agile Software-as-a-service
(SaaS) solutions and enjoy far greater
flexibility. This model eliminates the need This, for example, will allow for Augmented
Reality applications whereby a digital image
and digital information is superimposed upon
the physical environment. Looking ahead,
the global edge computing market size is
projected to reach US$ 3.24 billion by 2025.
www.intelligentcio.com
This shift will have major implications for
specialist software development – particularly
as adoption of AI and automation grows.
Embracing low code development
With so much innovation and technology
development happening across industries
and sectors, there is a massive need for
quick and agile software development.
As it stands, this need is not being
fulfilled, as there is a limited pool of
software developers across the markets
that require them. Indeed, there are
currently mammoth demands on software
developers to create custom applications
in volume – tailoring them to unique needs
within enterprise environments.
According to Forrester Research, the
total market for low-code development
platforms will grow to US$15.5 billion by
2020. The growth is being fuelled by the
need for flexibility and ease within the
coding environment, while still allowing
for the ability to add in custom code when
needed. Although the concept is still fairly
new around the world, there is growing
interest in low code development in South
Africa – where the shortage of IT skills and
experience has been well documented. n
BUSINESSES
ARE FOLLOWING
THE GLOBAL SHIFT
TOWARDS
CLOUD-BASED
SOFTWARE MODELS.
INTELLIGENTCIO
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