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Tag: Low-code development platforms

3 Notable Software Development Trends for 2026 and Beyond
The software development market is a highly dynamic environment. We can see more and more companies investing in software to support their business processes and customer interactions, which contributes to the year-to-year growth of the software development market size.

In addition to the software market growth, we can also note the emergence of new software development trends, technologies, and practices. AI-enabled development, low-code development, and talent density maximization are just a few notable tendencies impacting how software is designed, built, tested, and deployed in modern companies. Keeping up with them is crucial for any company seeking to optimize its software delivery process and stay competitive in the rapidly evolving software development landscape.

In this article, experts highlight three essential trends you should be aware of in 2026.

AI-Enabled Development

By applying AI throughout the entire software development lifecycle, development teams can reduce manual overhead, increase software delivery speed, and ultimately, reduce development costs. 84% of respondents to the 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey say they use or plan to use AI tools in their development process, while 51% of respondents report using AI tools daily.

Here are the software development activities in which AI tools are already used most commonly:
- Documentation generation
Teams are using AI tools to automatically generate software architecture diagrams, API specifications, user guides, and other project-related documentation. This allows developers to not only reduce manual overhead and make documentation processes less exhausting, but also reduce manual errors in software project documentation, thus minimizing the risk of misunderstandings among project stakeholders.
- Code generation
Development teams today also extensively use AI tools to automatically generate lines of code and even larger code functions, which significantly accelerates the overall development speed. What is more, as AI tools can automatically scan both AI-generated and human-written code for vulnerabilities and provide context-aware suggestions, the use of AI can reduce the overall risk of vulnerabilities at the code level, and 63% of developers participating in the Global State of DevSecOps 2025 survey by Black Duck agree on that.
- Software testing
QA specialists also increasingly rely on AI tools to streamline various aspects of software testing, which was traditionally considered a tedious manual process. Modern dedicated AI tools can analyze project documentation, such as software specifications, to automatically generate relevant test cases, convert manual test cases into automated testing scripts, and even create testing datasets, thereby significantly reducing the time and effort involved in software quality assurance.

Low-Code Development

The growing popularity of low-code development platforms, which provide convenient drag-and-drop interfaces and pre-built components to enable building apps with a minimal amount of manual coding, is another notable trend impacting software development. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global low-code development platform market is expected to grow from $37.39 billion in 2025 to $264.40 billion by 2032.

What makes low-code development popular is that it significantly streamlines application development and deployment, reducing software time to market and cutting development costs. Low-code development also enables companies to reduce their dependence on skilled developers, as even non-IT employees can build full-scale apps via low-code tools, becoming so-called “citizen developers”, which can also contribute to development cost-efficiency. Among business executives participating in the Low-Code Perspective 2025 survey from Mendix, 48% believe their companies benefit from low-code by building applications faster, while 45% state it helps their companies reduce development costs.

Talent Density Maximization

Gartner’s experts state that maximizing talent density is another essential trend influencing the current state and the future of software engineering. In short, it means that modern companies prioritize top-performing developers (also called “A-players”) among all available talent when building and managing development teams. The growing need to attract and retain top talent efficiently prompts companies to enhance their traditional staffing processes, and implementing AI-enabled automation technology is a common way to do it.

As stated in the 2025 outlook of the tech hiring market conducted by 4 Corner Resources, “From resume screening to candidate matching, automation is becoming a core part of the recruitment tech stack.”

This means that beyond using AI-enabled recruiting tools to automatically scan job search sites for best-fit candidates, companies can utilize them in many other ways, such as to automatically generate and send personalized outreach messages to candidates to engage them efficiently, accurately score them during interviews in real-time, and even create tailored onboarding plans based on the candidate’s position, skills, and location to help new hires adjust to their roles faster.

Along with the growing AI adoption, we also see an increasing number of companies using alternative staffing strategies to leverage the required talent. Given the global shortage of skilled IT workforce, which makes sourcing top performers challenging, many companies decide to complement their in-house teams with skilled professionals from outside organizations, either by augmenting external talent into internal teams or hiring external talent as independent contractors. 65% of tech leaders who participated in the 2025 Tech and IT Job Market Outlook survey from Robert Half said they increased the use of contract talent in the second half of 2025.

Final Thoughts

The software development landscape is constantly evolving, driven by the emergence of new technologies and innovative approaches. AI-enabled development, low-code development, and talent density maximization are notable trends shaping how companies build software solutions, and understanding them is critical to remaining competitive and efficient in the current software development landscape.

An experienced software development and consulting partner can help a company navigate these and other trends and successfully capitalize on them. Such a partner can provide strategic guidance on how to implement AI, low-code, or other technologies in SDLC, provide pre-vetted developers who have the needed skill sets to augment your team, and offer comprehensive application development services to help you build high-quality business software.
December 12, 2025
Are ERP-Centric Enterprises Being Left Behind?

Many large enterprise companies are rife with departments that depend on customized ERP software applications. These systems accommodate vital business tasks ranging from inventory management to ordering capabilities to accounting programs to CRM platforms—all of which were custom-built to fit the enterprise’s specific needs and meet the KPIs of each unique organization. These applications tend to sustain grades, patches and reworks, sometimes resulting in multiple redesigns over the course of decades, and these often are not properly documented. To make matters worse, these ERP software systems also tend to be written in outdated programming languages such as ABAP for SAP and PL/SQL for Oracle, making them a challenge to update.

For example, 91% of respondents in a recent ASUG survey of 110 SAP companies said they use custom code, and 41% of those applications were created at least six years ago. The majority of these companies said that the existence of these custom code environments has become a hindrance to digital transformation and is holding back innovation.

These conditions create the bloated and overly complex legacy environments that are now commonplace in the enterprise market. Widespread, customized core business systems have made digital transformation particularly daunting for enterprise companies. They require significant developer resources, excessive time commitment and ample expense to strip down and redesign these custom systems for the cloud.

A Lack of Developers—and of Developer Interest

U.S. Department of Labor statistics from December 2020 indicated that there will be a shortage of 40 million skilled workers worldwide, amplifying these issues further. That figure is predicted to grow to 85.2 million by 2030. What’s more, new developers entering the marketplace gravitate to more contemporary programming languages such as JavaScript and Python, as opposed to wanting to revamp archaic code used in most ERP solutions, such as ABAP.

For this reason, large enterprise companies in a range of verticals are lagging behind when it comes to upgrading mission-critical software applications to the cloud or to a more modern architecture. These organizations are well aware they stand to gain significant productivity benefits from digitally transforming their systems so that, for example, inventory data can be accessed via a mobile device or shared from anywhere on a cloud-based platform. Yet these large organizations are stalled in their efforts to modernize. Some companies have gone as far as to scrap their current systems and start reprogramming their software applications from scratch—a hugely expensive, lengthy and laborious endeavor that’s also full of risk.

Leveraging Low-Code to Simplify Enterprise IT Environments

One method that has shown progress in unraveling these overwrought environments is to apply automation through low-code integration. Ideally, an effective low-code development solution will automatically convert existing business processes to modern, cloud-native applications, allowing the organization to maintain the business logic it has built into those applications over the years, while drastically reducing the time commitment, costs and potential disruption associated with traditional, long-form integration. In SAP environments, for example, using a low-code rapid application development solution can separate the application layer from the core SAP system, automating a large portion of the migration while preserving a “clean” SAP core.

With many organizations under pressure to keep budgets under control in what continues to be an uncertain economy, these large-scale companies are looking for ways to modernize their operations on a more controlled schedule. When enterprises use low-code solutions—and furthermore, don’t have to search for developers of these more archaic languages—they’re free to approach digital transformation in a far more incremental and cost-effective way.

For instance, the 12 million users of SAP’s solutions are being compelled to upgrade to the modernized version of its product, S/4HANA. Yet the American SAP User Group (ASUG) research shows that only 33% of these organizations have taken on the challenge so far despite the looming end-of-life of the current prevalent version. This is because lacking a low-code development solution, companies are being pressured to convert and rebuild all their business processes in one fell swoop. Few organizations have the resources to absorb such a drastic and risk-prone undertaking.

A rapid application development program acts as a bridge for companies that are looking to modernize their businesses, allowing them to upgrade their applications incrementally, according to their own schedules. Low-code can be a catalyst for technical debt-ridden enterprises, allowing them to simplify complicated legacy environments and get down to the business of innovating their systems.

October 6, 2021
Unlocking Enterprise Blockchain Potential with Low-Code Capabilities

Since the rise of Bitcoin more than a decade ago, companies have been trying to harness the potential of blockchain technology for enterprise applications. Industries that used to operate in silos are becoming increasingly connected, and the lines of where one ecosystem ends and another begins are blurring. In this connected age, blockchain can provide organizations with new opportunities to share and collaborate with their partners, other industry-players, government organizations and even academia.

On a more tangible front, integration would ultimately help establish new end-customer experience possibilities and establish new revenue streams. Especially, as we continue to navigate forward in the midst of COVID-19, enterprises are looking for innovative ways to adapt their business to best operate in the new world. Beyond that, supply chain operations are more critical than ever before. Across industries, maintaining a steady flow of essential goods, protective equipment and much more is critical to the health and safety of our frontline workers. Blockchain can help manage this flow and mitigate risks, helping deliver on that need for instant agile flexibility.

Understanding the Opportunities

Use cases are innumerable and it’s impossible to ignore the ongoing COVID-19 crisis as we discuss the potential applications for any technology. In the short-term, blockchain provides an added layer of transparency and data accuracy — minimizing the risk for any potential fallout from supply and value chain disruption during this time. With this transparency and data accuracy comes improved tracking of important supplies and materials such as PPE and ventilators, streamlined patient consent and triage capabilities for overwhelmed hospital staff and much more.

With that, the applications will only continue to expand as industry operations return to normal in the hopefully-near future. Government agencies can develop a seamless international credit bureau, for example. As it stands, different countries have different processes and standards for credit scores or distribution of stimulus funding. With blockchain, governments could potentially develop a universal credit system that allows for international travelers and frequent movers to reap the benefits of their positive credit scores, no matter where they are.

Manufacturers can use blockchain to truly optimize their supply chain operations — understanding as much information about a purchase order throughout the lifecycle of a product or part. Take a heavy equipment manufacturer, for example. Blockchain provides access to data that will allow them to understand how their equipment is being used by their customers, when each particular piece of machinery will need maintenance, how to optimize predictive and emergency repair and replacement services, and more — all while understanding and contextualizing what the impact of these external operations will have on its own internal supply chain as well. In today’s world, this information is especially valuable for manufacturers who are shifting their focus to help support the development of PPE and other COVID-19 response essentials.

Within banking and financial services, cross-bank and cross-border transfers are exponentially streamlined with blockchain integration. Instead of requiring validation and authentication from intermediaries, blockchain allows for instant transfers, with the same level of security and assurance. From a functionality standpoint, this also brings an added layer of convenience for both the end-user and the banks involved. These same conveniences provide a crucial layer of service during times of crisis as well. Through blockchain integration, stimulus allocation can be instantly approved and deposited into bank accounts for all citizens, regardless of existing banking preferences like direct deposit.

Similarly, in the education sector, blockchain can make it easier for student records to be transferred between universities and other academic institutions — whether a student plans to transfer a few credits, transfer full-time or study abroad.

These are just a few of the many use cases for enterprise blockchain. So, what’s keeping them from becoming mainstream?

Acknowledging the Barriers of Entry

While the benefits are undeniable, adoption has been slow. But there is definitely interest, and adoption can soon surge. Gartner reported back in 2018 that business value added by blockchain adoption is projected to reach a whopping $3.1 trillion by 2030. But, only 10% of businesses will undergo radical blockchain-driven transformation by 2022.

Why is adoption slow to start? Companies are dipping their toes into the water, but studies have shown that a majority of enterprises are holding back due to regulatory uncertainty (48%), trust issues (45%) and an inability to bring partners together to build a network (44%). Other studies have reported that the “very high” difficulty in platform selection, a lack of in-house expertise on use case development and questions about privacy are the top barriers of entry.

What will change between now and 2030? How will these concerns be directly addressed? To answer this, it is important to note that these barriers of entry derive from a lack of foundational understanding of blockchain. More education will come, and more experts will rise. That said, integration doesn’t happen overnight. Blockchain, like any other emerging technology, takes time to integrate at scale.

It’s understandable why companies are hesitant to go all in at the moment — as organizations are often strapped for resources, and the talent that is needed to build a blockchain platform from scratch is hard to come by. That said, those who don’t invest early are likely to be left behind by thriving early-adopters. Luckily, there is a solution to the challenges that are holding adoption back — one that takes away the need for resource expenditure and dedicated developer teams.

Leveraging Low-Code

Low-code development platforms allow enterprises to reap the benefits of complex code, without the need to dedicate valuable time and resources toward development from the ground-up. “Plug and play” customization allows them to address specific needs within their organization, and prioritize implementation on a smaller scale without the stress of diving head-first into an infrastructural overhaul.

Especially during our ongoing COVID-19 crisis, low-code eliminates the need for large dev teams to develop new software applications, allowing for a streamlined, timely transition as organizations dedicate their valuable resources elsewhere to help minimize the negative impact of COVID-19 on their workforce and their surrounding communities.

Beyond this epidemic, these benefits provide risk-averse C-level decision makers with an easy and confident investment opportunity, as well as disruptive tools that deliver on the growing need for constant innovation — in an era where agility and digital transformation are now a necessity. In fact, the main reasoning behind an organization’s low-code adoption is to accelerate said digital transformation and increase responsiveness to the business (66%, respectively).

Low-code directly addresses the aforementioned barriers of entry that come with blockchain investment — or any complex, resource-dependent software investment for that matter. With low-code, even non-developers can build high-tech applications. Devs are often expensive and good talent is often hard to come by. Because of this, the ability to get the same quality output with minimal input is extremely valuable.

Beyond the simple cost and scarcity of good talent, dev teams often have significant backlogs, which make it hard for them to keep up with industry and business demands. There are benefits of having a non-developer heavily ingrained in the development process as well, as they will have an overall better understanding of the function that the application will serve, and how it fits into the overall business structure.

Bridging Together Low-Code and Blockchain

Upon evaluation of the barriers of entry that keep blockchain from widespread adoption, as well as the glaring benefits that low-code programming brings to enterprises with limited resources and talent, the potential for low-code blockchain to minimize enterprise concerns and justify investment is obvious.

By reducing the need for dedicated network developers that would originally be required to build the blockchain platform from the ground-up, enterprises can build and maintain a trusted network with clicks, not code. Users will be able to create and share blockchain objects with familiar functionality — essentially interacting with the platform in the same way they would interact with any CRM data object.

The simplicity and ease of use of low-code blockchain makes it so that trusted networks can grow organically, faster. Integration across the entire partner network is simple and can be completed with just a few clicks — making it easier to bring new third-parties on board to join the trusted network, ultimately making the blockchain platform and user network exponentially more valuable in the long-term.

Blockchain adoption will undoubtedly pick up steam, aided by the low-code capabilities that now exist. The minimized risk and resource expenditure that comes with low-code will make blockchain adoption much more appealing to those who are currently skeptical. Additionally, once low-code serves as the entry-point for enterprise adoption, organizations will begin to expand upon the capabilities of their own blockchain networks — and ultimately drive further innovation.

Eventually, we’ll see new ecosystem partnerships forming, and end-customer experiences improving. Early leaders will become more comfortable with the idea of experimenting with new, previously unimaginable use cases of their own.

Looking Ahead to 2030

We are approaching a turning point with blockchain in the enterprise. Low-code development platforms will provide enterprises with the opportunity to adopt blockchain technology with minimal risk and proven ROI. As more enterprises build trusted networks through low-code blockchain, industry-agnostic innovation will elevate all participating organizations and deliver truly exceptional results — for both, the network partners and their end-customers as well.

The blockchain hype is justified. We have been searching for a way to manifest its potential without over-complicating the process of bringing it to life. Low-code does just this, without fault.

May 20, 2020