Capitalizing on new technologies is crucial to remaining competitive as a business. In today’s digital world, that means staying current on the latest software trends, as these shape much of the most impactful modern tech.

Software development, like most tech sectors, is rapidly evolving. To help keep up with the growing pace of innovation, here are seven key trends business owners and tech leaders must know.

1. AI-Assisted Programming

Generative AI — made famous by tools like ChatGPT — was undoubtedly the defining technology of the past year. It’ll also be one of the most significant in the years to come.

While generative AI’s natural language and image-producing capabilities often take the spotlight, its coding ability is more practical in software development. As these tools improve, more devs will likely use them to automate repetitive programming tasks like writing basic scripts or checking code.

AI-assisted programming can free hours in devs’ schedules and reduce errors for more polished final products. As tech talent gaps grow more severe, businesses can’t afford to overlook that potential. Tech teams should consider how they can integrate generative AI into their workflows — and, more importantly, learn to check its results to use it effectively and ethically.

2. Growing Cybersecurity Concerns

The growing need for better cybersecurity is an older but still relevant software trend. While businesses have become more aware of cybersecurity concerns, cybercrime hasn’t gone away, so improved protections are imperative.

Dev teams must embrace security early in the design phase instead of applying it as an afterthought. Cybercriminals are also starting to leverage AI, so businesses must respond with AI-guided protections and testing against these more sophisticated attacks.

Security throughout the software supply chain is also coming into focus. With third-party breaches rising and merger activity tripling in some industries, addressing partner vulnerabilities is more important than ever. Businesses must perform thorough due diligence and limit other parties’ access privileges across the software supply chain.

3. Low-Code and No-Code Development

Today, virtually every company is a tech business to some extent. This shift has created skyrocketing demand for tech talent across all sectors, leaving many organizations with IT worker shortages. In response, the industry is leaning toward low-code and no-code development processes.

Plug-and-play development interfaces — especially for websites and mobile apps — have become increasingly common. Capitalizing on these tools is essential in remaining productive despite a competitive programming labor landscape.

Businesses with plenty of coding talent have a unique opportunity amid this trend. If these teams can develop low-code and no-code technologies for other organizations, they could profit heavily from this growing market.

4. DevSecOps

Another key software trend is a shift toward DevSecOps development cycles. This practice builds on the rapid, highly collaborative DevOps philosophy by adding security teams into the mix from the first stages.

DevSecOps addresses two significant concerns in modern software. First, it enables continuous improvement and higher functionality by emphasizing teamwork and ongoing reviews to create the best product possible quickly. Secondly, it ensures security by design by involving cybersecurity experts throughout the entire dev process.

Because DevSecOps is so rapid and intensive, learning to use it will require adjustment. Teams must experiment with it now to become confident in the practice for future projects. Failing to implement DevSecOps in the coming years will give more agile competitors an advantage.

5. Microservices Architecture

In the pursuit of more functional apps, software development is also trending toward microservices architecture. Conventional, monolithic architecture groups all features in a single service, but microservices break them into smaller, independently running modules.

The primary advantage of this new method is that you can change one feature without affecting the entire program. That segmentation leads to fewer errors and faster update timelines. It also improves scalability and flexibility, which is increasingly crucial as software trends shift more frequently.

Like with DevSecOps, switching to microservices architecture will entail initial disruption. This method may increase organizational complexity, so dev teams must learn to distribute specialized duties while communicating closely. Off-the-shelf containerization tools can also help.

6. Emphasis on UX

As the public uses more digital apps and websites, their expectations about these services are rising. Consequently, user experience (UX) is an increasingly central pursuit for software development teams.

A dedicated app or website is no longer enough to stand out as a business. These services must be highly functional and convenient, or they risk turning users away. Increasing loading times from just one to five seconds increases bounce rates by 90%, so everything must be as responsive as possible.

Good UX starts with optimizing apps and websites to run quickly, even on minimal hardware — and especially on mobile. Apart from these technical considerations, devs must pay close attention to user trends to see what kinds of formats and features they prefer. Ongoing feedback and adjustments are necessary to keep UX optimal amid changing demands.

7. Sustainable Software

Sustainability is a growing trend in many industries, and software is no exception. As the world relies more heavily on software, data centers’ energy consumption has come into the spotlight. Power-hungry innovations like AI and blockchain will make balancing performance and sustainability more challenging yet important.

If dev teams can create more sustainable digital solutions, they’ll stand out from the energy-intensive crowd. As that trend grows, those who don’t adapt may stand apart for the wrong reasons.

Sustainable software relies heavily on designing resource-efficient architectures. The less power an app needs to deliver the same performance, the better. Using renewable-powered data centers to support these services is also important.

Capitalize on These Software Trends to Stay Ahead

Today’s software trends will define the technology of tomorrow. Businesses must stay on top of these developments to adapt to shifting markets. That adaptation will mean some disruption in the near term, but if organizations can tackle it sooner rather than later, they can get ahead of the curve and ensure long-term success.