Enterprise software development will reach new speeds in 2021. According to recent studies, nearly 60% of development companies can deliver new software within four to six months. On the other hand, only about 7% of developers can deliver their new projects in under two months. This year, more enterprise development companies are expected to accelerate their software deployments. Indeed, new technologies such as artificial intelligence are streamlining procedures for development teams at every step in the process. As a software development manager, you need to know what factors are driving this efficiency. Read on to learn about how enterprise development will reach new speeds in 2021.

Rise Of Low Code

First, the rise of low-code platforms is pushing developers to new speeds this year. Many low-code development platforms use a drag-and-drop interface for users to build their applications. Notably, this allows developers to complete their projects without any coding knowledge. In addition, many of these tools are improving their features for both customers and employees. Simultaneously, they can handle larger amounts of data behind the scenes as well. As these platforms grow more robust, enterprises are starting to integrate them into the development process. Furthermore, most of these platforms are user-friendly for individuals without programming knowledge. 

Container Registries

In addition, enterprise development companies are increasingly adopting container registries to increase their development speeds. With these tools, developers can store their Docker images and container files for streamlined management. For example, many agencies are installing a JFrog container registry to support their Docker containers and Helm chart repositories. These tools provide fine-grained access control over permissions within your development team. This allows you to control who has access to your code and increase your security. Moreover, JFrog container registries support on-prem, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments for your business. With built-in CI/CD and vulnerability scanning on the cloud environments, many developers are using this tool to speed up their build process. 

Continuous Integration

Next, continuous integration (CI) is also accelerating the development process. Importantly, CI is the practice of integrating code into a shared repository as often as possible. Many development teams will integrate their programs several times per day. Typically, an automated build verifies each check-in once it is received. This allows teams to detect problems early on in the process and decrease their reworking time. Moreover, continuous integration enables you to automate your testing procedures and apply continuous deployment (CD). With CD, code changes are automatically prepared for release to production. Additionally, these changes are deployed to a testing environment after each build stage to speed up the process. In short, many developers are implementing continuous integration to decrease development time through early bug detection and automation.

The Switch To Agile 

Moreover, many developers are switching to the agile approach to increase development efficiency. Importantly, this development strategy is based on iterative development, adaptation, collaboration, and client feedback. Many agile development teams work in two-week sprints to deliver products to their clients. After each sprint, most agile teams show their prototypes to their clients and ask for feedback. Based on this feedback, they then put the application through another round of development, testing, and analysis to get achieve the results their customers are looking for. Often, this includes making UI/UX design changes, building new features, and making other changes. Talking directly to clients takes a lot of guesswork out of application development and helps development teams reduce time wasted on unneeded features. Surely, the switch to agile is fueling faster development in 2021.

AI-Based Test Integration

Furthermore, artificial intelligence-based test integration is also increasing app development speed. AI-powered test tools are crucial for teams to reduce time spent on manual testing. Many companies are launching new test solutions and app development tools, allowing enterprises with larger code bases to embrace CI/CD. Importantly, many of these testing frameworks are designed to bridge the technical gap in testing as they meet the release cycle. In addition, other testing tools use machine learning to reduce test cycle times and run the relevant tests. Indeed, many development teams waste time running the entire test suite, when they it's unnecessary. With AI to improve this decision-making and automate the process, developers can achieve faster iteration cycles. Absolutely, AI-based test integration is pushing application build speeds to new levels.

Enterprise software development will reach new speeds in 2021. First, the rise of low code platforms is allowing developers to reduce time spent coding. Next, continuous integration is increasing efficiency through automation and CD. In addition, many enterprises are adopting container registries to streamline file management and implement automation. Moreover, the switch to agile is allowing teams to waste less time building unnecessary application features. Furthermore, AI-based test integration is accelerating iterations. Consider these points to learn about how enterprise software development will reach new speeds in 2021.