What can software outsourcing trends expect in 2021?

Software outsourcing is the answer to the challenges of today's technologically advanced society. More and more companies are now opting to build and maintain their infrastructure and software off-site to gain a competitive edge.

Outsourcing software development is a great way to create your business applications without setting up and maintaining developers, IT departments, UX designers, and project managers. It says that the software outsourcing market will continue to grow next year. On the contrary, it expects to be very dynamic - what software outsourcing trends do you foresee for 2021?

Why are companies outsourcing software development?

According to a Global Industry Analytics report, the value of IT services that companies outsource to external providers could exceed $220 billion by the end of 2020. This market's value expects to grow by about 5% per year between 2020 and 2024. This market's value intends to increase by about 5% per year between 2020 and 2024. Why is software development increasingly being outsourced? There are many reasons, but the most common is efficiency (see our services). The finished software is designed and delivered according to the client's guidelines. Other reasons include

• Lack of internal resources or skills to develop the software in-house.

• There is a desire to increase the flexibility of the company.

• The company is building its internal structure over a long period.

• The need to transfer key personnel to more strategic business areas and the relatively high turnover of personnel in the IT department

Software outsourcing has many advantages. By outsourcing your software development to a company on the other side of the world, you can find a partner who not only suits you technically but can also guarantee a reasonable price. It's also easier to diversify your business, and outsourcing can help you go digital or even the product itself, which can be a catalyst for digital transformation. By 2020, the most outsourced software development tasks will be application development and management cybersecurity and implementation of all systems and research and development.

What software outsourcing trends can we expect in 2021?

The year 2020 has brought many surprises. Pandemics, regulations, remote working, and specialized tools have led to changes in software development. We, therefore, believe that these changes could have an impact on the software outsourcing market in the coming year.

| The Cloud is a necessity.

This year, a record number of companies have moved their data to the Cloud. According to a Gartner report, companies will spend around $1 trillion on developing cloud infrastructure by the end of the year. Data in the Cloud not only means access to cutting-edge technology and data security but also cost optimization. With no need to expend resources, IT services can use at a lower cost. 2020 was one of the most critical years for many companies to build and implement a cloud strategy. In 2021, these solution providers' demand will be as high as this year, but companies. Popular cloud solutions, such as AWS and Azure, already offer many big data and data analytics tools, IoT integration, process automation and containerization, data migration, etc., are already available. AI and ML integration services are also gaining importance.

| Further developments in artificial intelligence

The year 2020 will undoubtedly be "data-driven." But be prepared for the next year to be "AI-driven" and for more and more actors to find business success in artificial intelligence development. We have already seen the introduction of AI tools by external companies as part of software development outsourcing.

Artificial Intelligence has become a tangible set of specific tools for many companies, thanks in particular to the Cloud, and set to develop even more rapidly in 2021: PwC estimates that the impact of AI on the global economy will exceed $15 trillion by 2030 and that IT solutions will become increasingly sought after and innovative.

Companies that can provide process automation tools will play an essential role in outsourcing software development. Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used internally in several areas. There is, therefore, a particular need for outsourcing service providers who can implement and automate these processes. One example is the e-commerce sector: in 2020, the pandemic led to a significant increase in online sales transactions, among other things. Besides, more than 65 customers were affected: coupled with the Internet of Things (IoT), AI has entered the world of online shopping to personalize the shopping journey, from finding the right product to payment.

In addition to AI, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is also playing an increasingly important role. In a nutshell, Robotic Business Process Automation is the use of software robots that can carry out repetitive activities in many industries in a fully automated manner. RPA projects are implemented in many companies, including the Stepwise SLS project.

No discussion of IT would be complete without mentioning NLP development, reinforcement learning, and open-source frameworks. These are absolutely the future as a counterbalance to the big companies and players and could double the size of IT solutions in many industries.

Native Apps and Progressive Web Apps development are always at the top of the list.

Native apps create for a specific mobile platform, such as iOS or Android, which means that they must write the same app in different programming languages for each operating system, i.e., for each specific OS: Java and Kotlin for Android, and Swift and Objective-C for iOS.

Because native apps need to develop for each platform, they usually require a separate development team and are the apps that are most often outsourced.

Given the rapid growth in the number of users who use their smartphones for all aspects of their lives, including shopping, banking, and communication, the demand for native apps will continue to grow dynamically. The benefit of native apps over web apps and hybrid apps is also having an impact. Native apps are faster, more efficient, have better support for built-in features (such as push notifications), provide a more responsive user experience, and have a more transparent code structure. It also uses modern languages such as Swift and Kotlin, making them very easy to develop.

Progressive Web Apps are playing an increasingly important role, as they are applications that use innovative network solutions to provide users with almost the same feel as dedicated mobile applications. Among the technologies that will play a significant role in creating applications for all mobile devices simultaneously, Flutter, provided by Google, leads the way.

Which programming languages will be the usual popular in the future?

When it comes to software outsourcing, 2021 will also see a change in the technologies that will receive the most attention. Interestingly, more and more experts predict a massive uptake in Rust, a language that is attracting the attention of many giants, including Microsoft and Intel, as early as 2020. Many companies are currently using Rust technology

It should appear as no surprise that the number of external services designed to protect business networks and critical data increases every year. Cybercrime costs the global economy three times as much as natural disasters, so the demands and restrictions on data security continue to grow, which will not change in 2021. Software outsourcing is a significant change that is about to happen and will align software development with the latest requirements. There is increasing talk of a new reality of limited trust or zero convictions. All-access is granted only to authorized users and data packages only after faith. A level of risk prevention has been established.

According to the report "Software development in Ukraine, Poland, Belarus and Romania in 2019", Eastern Europe is becoming increasingly attractive as a location for outsourcing services to countries that account for 70% of the global demand for software outsourcing (the United States and Western Europe). Due to highly skilled professionals, expertise, experience, and competitive prices, more and more companies outsource software development to Eastern European companies rather than India, Brazil, or South Africa. Besides, countries that are shifting their business activities to outsourced software development are changing their laws. For example, three years ago, Belarus legalized blockchain-based companies.

IoT is no longer a technology of the distant future

The IoT market continues to grow. The upward trend is likely to develop even faster in the future, especially because 5G technology in Europe is already available to almost everyone. Smart homes are not just an innovation; entire smart buildings are on the horizon.

Data engineering as the most desired profession in the next few years

Data engineering is an essential field for companies to develop their business globally and grow steadily. Data engineers are responsible for preparing the entire data chain and implementing it in technology. Also, there is a strong focus on virtual machines and data modeling in the compute engine and the data itself. Access to the best-prepared information is already proving to be a competitive advantage for companies, as it allows them to draw conclusions in real-time and react immediately.

| Conclusion.

Software outsourcing in 2021 will essentially continue the development of the trends started this year..From the beginning, many activities and processes have been cloud-based and have grown along with GCP development. In this way, top software development companies in India can succeed in a market dominated by corporates and, at the same time, offer a competitive service.

I'm Olivia Cuthbert and I am a Sr. technical consultant and writer working for PixelCrayons. I am passionate about exploring and writing about innovation & technology and have been in this field for 4+ years.