The App Development Chasm of the Post Digital era

Mobile is now an anchor of people's digital identity. It's more than the trend of pervasive connectivity along with embedded computing in everything that surrounds people. Yes! The changes being embraced with the app development trends 2024 are an absolute continuum.

On one hand, there are extensive opportunities for innovations in launching new business models or enhancing goods/services. The number of startups have gained momentum that was impossible without mobile app development.

For instance - Uber, Square (payment processor), Airbnb, and many more. On the other end lies the persistent challenges of disruption. For instance, the collapse of retail mainstays like bookstores and the confined newspaper industry.

App Development Trends

Here is a pick for the trendiest app development technologies that are making 2022 more exciting. These App Development Trends 2022 are making people and businesses a vector and not a victim of COVID setback--

1. The return of custom App development

Custom App Development solutions have consistently evolved as an important vogue. It was never out of style due to the extensive adoption of personalized user experiences. The top digital transformation trends are driving all the app development service providers to customized app adoption some of which are mobility, Internet of Things, Consumer-facing external API's, Analytics, and new app patterns & styles that swiftly makes businesses highly capable to market faster with creating a lasting impact on consumer's minds.

Today, even ready-made app solutions are offered with customized features, plugins, and a custom tech stack. Custom app development solutions are now blooming as a USB for applications that give you an edge. Forging with the high response to unique app development concepts launched in the market like Airbnb, Udemy, Spotify, Netflix, and other such original app concepts. It's solely because of the custom app development benefits that these successful app concepts differentiated from the rest.

What's more interesting is that, Even a successful idea or a personalized user experience you loved so much is immediately copied by the industry competitors as time goes and your brand becomes a buzzword. Indeed! Customized App Development solutions have become a need of an hour for all industry leaders to consider it as a top priority on their investment rollcall.

2. Cloud-first approach

Cloud has changed the overall advancement of app development solutions. Cloud technologies are been experiencing a rock-solid adoption in the global market A disruptive benefit of the cloud platform is that- businesses can now easily consume when needed, de-position when not needed, and lower the investment uncertainties of demand & supply.

A disruptive benefit of the cloud platform is that- businesses can now easily consume when needed, de-position when not needed, and lower the investment uncertainties of demand & supply. As a result of which cloud solutions become potentially cheaper and highly agile for businesses to pay for only what is used and easily pitch and reach global customers from anywhere at any time.

Strong drivers of Public Cloud technologies -

• Greater workload flexibility

• Energy-efficient app infrastructure

• Optimum server utilization rates

Offering an edge to conveniences, migrations to Public Cloud can result in saving the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) to more than 30-40%.

The best about Cloud Solutions for App development is that it can reduce CO2 emissions to 59 billion tons every year.Businesses of the post COVID times are beginning their cloud journey to get a highly sustainable business solution, adapt with an unprecedented extent of innovation to leverage high ROI along with contributing to make this planet greener.

3. Mobile Apps Developing Trustworthy Customer Experiences

It's through the unique consumer experience that businesses are deriving new direct touchpoints with their precious customers. Making the consumer feel the app development is specially designed for them has now become a new normal of the post-digital era. App development trends have brought innovations to embedding trust in the app design through transparency, utility, and consistency.

The hyper-personalized customer services have been on the topmost list of essentials for every business surviving in the global economy. AI-assisted solutions, Machine Learning enabled tech stack, purpose-based search options, personalized notification & reminders, and other such transformations are used to make it a reality.

Digital transformation trends for the customer-first approach are driving up the standards for businesses to become buzzing industry leaders and make a difference in their respective industries.

For example, McDonald's has adopted a Cross-cultural app design to give a highly personalized feel to every customer based on their culture, demographics, likings, and nationality. It's called the internationalization of app design.

Most importantly, the effects of the COVID pandemic have been to accelerate and amplify the consumer experiences at a massive scale along with reducing the cost of investments. The App development innovations have intensified the influence of strong customer experiences for every business as a mandate to survive in the post COVID economy.

4. Native Mobile Apps

App development for a specific device or a platform is of high applicability especially in consumer-oriented businesses like retail, airlines, and more. Such type of companies invests heavily in Native apps App performances become highlights for all dominant industries with the evolution of the Native Mobile apps performing better. It's because of its separate version and a particular code set for each platform.

Native apps are designed with capabilities to consider battery & memory consumption aspects to experience optimum speed for the specific device or a platform. The flexibility of accessing the Native apps and configure smartphone-specific functions makes personalization an easily achieved parameter for business success. Having an improved UX standard, Native app development works best for specific businesses. Such as WhatsApp and other industry leaders who invested in Native Mobile Apps.

5. Adding Intelligence to Apps

Everyone has heard of Artificial Intelligence but the way it is advancing today is a rich area of computer science that influences the development of intelligent devices that exactly work as humans do.

Right from media streaming gadgets, chatbots, personal gadgets, smart cars, and home appliances use AI. Additionally, businesses use this high potential technology to enhance management functions & customer experiences. Let's see which areas have been penetrated by AI.

• AI adds intelligence to apps with-

• AI-powered chatbot for customer support

• AI-powered automated decision making

• Predictive Analysis

• Improved customizations

• Automated marketing activities

• Improving and monitoring business processes

• AI and human cooperation for Hybrid workforce

• AI being boosting cybersecurity

The big question here is will businesses be the leader in adopting sustainable digitization powered by Artificial intelligence. Or will most of the business processes stay stagnant due to the threat of disruption?

The post-COVID times are going to face an extreme tradeoff between making the business AI-enabled or stepping back with the economic crisis.

6. Blockchain is a building blocks of user's trust

Trust has been a new consumer battleground for doing business. And with digitization taking the center stage, maintaining user's trust is highly challenging. GenZ consumers have developed more expectations about the level of transparency the goods/services and the brand should offer.

To suffice your consumer expectation and improve transparency and trust elements on your app services, there is one technology that acts as a critical component for this type of post-digital era trend. Blockchain technology has the full potential to revolutionize the user's trust and transparency of operations.

Right from the safety of goods to ethical manufacturing to anti-counterfeiting to the circulation of the economy, Blockchain technology solves a huge list of pain points for every app user.

Blockchain tech trends have a high potential to transform consumer goods/services and business operations drastically. This advanced app technology will revolutionize consumer trust with endless possibilities of brand transparencies.

7. Human+ Worker

Each employee is empowered by his/her skill set including continuously growing capabilities achieved through technology. Digital technologies have upsurged the operational performances in almost all areas of businesses. Essentially, it's the workforce that uses these technologies.

We call this a Human+ trend of the post-digital era. Digital technologies are at the forefront of business to maximize the value of employees. The post-digital trends have enabled app development with limitless innovations.

These innovations include integrating AI (Artificial Intelligence), sentiment analysis, XR) Extended Reality, and other app development solutions for Human+ work processes.

8. Extended Reality

Extending the implementation of Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, or Mixed Reality is collectively called XR (Extended Reality) which seems farfetched but has made vital strides in 2019 and beyond. The growth of the XR market is forecasted to reach $160 billion by 2023. Continuous innovations are making the XR wearables more and more compact and user-friendly for users.

The best part is, The XR trends are focused on increasing the processing capabilities of App development to offer an immersive experience to app users. Extended Reality solutions have essentially gone beyond gaming.

It is gradually gaining significance in the wearable industry, interactive learning, on-demand experiences in Retail, Enterprise solutions, sensational entertainment experiences, construction & Real estate, Healthcare, and defense. The post-COVID world will see vivid applications of XR in varied industries.

9. App development breakthrough in Security

With the juggernaut of digital transformations penetrating the app developments to the ultimate global levels, businesses are becoming more resilient against the savage of cyberthreats.

Today, cyberthreat incidents that cripple one enterprise can exponentially grow to threaten the whole business ecosystem, the whole industry bar, and beyond. It's high time for every business to equally prioritize cybersecurity just as they have advanced with interconnectedness to deliver the best products/services and personalized user experiences.

The App development trends have also marked collaboration on security across the holistic ecosystem. Today, the 'Security' features in app development solutions extensively offer the distribution of responsibilities and receive alert flags with tight security from the inside out of the businesses.

These situations have given rise to innovations in the security arena. For instance, IBM developed the 'Application Security Opensource Analyzer' tool to help web and mobile app developers automatically scan the code and identify the vulnerabilities in the open-source packages.

According to Accenture- 87% of the businesses and tech professionals believe in rethinking the approach to Security in a way that defends the whole business ecosystem and not just themselves in order to be truly resilient.