Current software technology trends that are ideal for the future.

The global economy that was in the downfall owing to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is slowly gaining momentum. Since the end of 2020, there has been a positive shift in multiple industries. One of the most notable among them has been software development. This is a field that has been instrumental in creating futuristic tech solutions that meet the evolving needs of the end-users. There has been much advancement in the software development process as a whole.

However, there are a few technologies that are more successful and popular than the rest. These are fruitful in making processes simpler and improving the overall end-user experience. If you are involved in the global trade of tech solutions, here are 7 software trends that you should be aware of:

Internet of Behaviour
As you are aware that the Internet of Things is a network that connects a series of devices that can exchange data and information which is stored on the cloud. With the help of this, providers of software development services are able to assess the behavior patterns of the end-users. This is otherwise known as the Internet of Behavior.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) Engineering
AI Technology has been instrumental in turning machines to think like humans with the help of algorithms. It is being extensively used in software development processes globally to create the best products/services. AI engineering is the process of it all. It involves language processing and neural networks that create such applications. Writing programs specific to extracting data and analyzing it for the purpose of creating AI-based tools is the best way to describe it.

Distributed Cloud
Distributed cloud is a cloud computing service that can spread across geographical locations and make it easier for companies involved in global trade to create a centralized system. It speeds up the whole governance process as they are more technologically advanced than the normal cloud services. There is no dearth of data that can be stored and the security is also not compromised.

Shift-Left Approach
The Shift-Left Approach is a part of software testing. It is a process that involves testing software right from the early stages of development rather than once when it is ready. This identifies any early defects and also saves time as any errors can be fixed earlier than later. Furthermore, it improves the quality of the product, creating more satisfied customers.

Hyper-Automation
Hyper-automation involves automating any repetitive tasks. Using RPA, Artificial Intelligence, and process mining, such tasks are carried out without human intervention. It can be used on a number of tools and helps in phases such as discovery, analysis, designing, development, testing, and monitoring, among others. Using bots for the process to interpret human speech, and text characters in lieu of natural language processing and optical character recognition is the key to hyper-automation.

Privacy-enhancing Computing
Information/data that is shared online is always at the risk of falling into the wrong hands. Securing it is possible with privacy-enhancing computing. It keeps the data confidential and organizations can manage it better with this trend. Users can share their personal information without any fear of it getting hacked on third-party hardware.

Low code development
Programming technology is another aspect that has seen much advancement over the years. Low code development is one such trend. It is a platform that uses a graphical interface as opposed to the conventional coding method. It automates the whole process and breaks down the silos in order to create the best solutions. The idea is meant to save time and build more.

In addition to software trends, supply chain trends have also taken over the logistics industry. It is one that is closely related to global trade as a whole. So using AI Technology, distributed cloud, and the Internet of Behaviour, the demands of the customers can be predicted better and can be managed effectively to avoid any late deliveries.

Companies offering software development servicesare at risk of becoming redundant if they do not upgrade themselves. It is best that they are aware of the latest tech solutions and incorporate them into their processes so as to create futuristic solutions. This ensures that their prospective customers get whatever they want. They have to do it now to secure their future in this competitive market.

Powering the Digital Next CPG Enterprise with Platforms of Intelligence

CPG organizations have accelerated their digital transformation in the last 12 months

To begin with, new consumer segments have emerged, there is a growing demand for new products, the buying behaviors have changed and the fulfillment channels have shifted from physical to digital. There has been significant growth in e-commerce for CPG over the last 12 months as online grocery services ballooned from 13% to 30% in the US. Forecasts indicate that by 2022 e-commerce in the grocery category alone will be 3X higher than pre-COVID-19 levels[i]. Most significantly, CPG companies have accelerated their digital transformation and are moving to the direct-to-consumer (D2C) model. Consumers are using in-app ordering, home delivery, order-online-and-pickup-in-store (or pickup curbside) and have begun to depend on chatbots and voice assistants. Consumers want CPG companies to provide these tools.

Pandemic shaped the consumer behavior and CPG organizations are focusing on D2C

The pandemic has had a financial impact on consumers resulting in a change in buying behavior. These consumers want cheaper products and some are wisely switching to individual-use products; others, driven by health-related concerns and anxieties around shortages want to stock up; still, others have opted for local products, and there is a noticeable uptick in organic products.

For the CPG industry, these changes in consumer behavior are difficult to spot. This is because the primary owner of the consumer relationship has always been the retail partner, blocking a direct view of the customer. CPG businesses are therefore unable to change products, processes, and supply chains in response, as quickly as they should. D2C commerce holds the potential to change the status quo. It will enable CPG organizations to leverage data and analytics to build consumer intimacy, strengthen loyalty, shape new products, manage inventory, optimize supply chains, reduce operational costs and meet the demands of consumers who want supply chain visibility.

Invest in improving collaboration between CPG and Retail for D2C success – Kevin Gokey, VP & Global Chief Information Officer at Church & Dwight

To understand how CPG companies are positioned for the future and the transformation projects they will focus on, we conducted a joint webinar with Kevin Gokey, VP & Global Chief Information Officer at Church & Dwight, and Praveen Gururaja, Director, Retail and CPG, Microsoft, as guest speakers.

Both Gokey and Gururaja agreed that the pandemic provided a new growth opportunity in the form of D2C. However, Gokey cautioned that “The operational excellence that got us to where we are today won’t take us into the future.”

One part of the solution, said Gokey, is to make significant investments in improving collaboration between CPG and Retail. He believes that omnichannel growth will make it necessary for CPG to develop joint business plans with retail marketplace platforms like Amazon and retail chains like Walmart.

Automate, digitize and connect current processes using the cloud to accelerate digital transformation – Praveen Gururaja, Director, Retail & CPG, Microsoft

The second part of the solution is to use technology to build D2C, understand consumer behavior, spot trends, manage inventory, change products, and lower operational costs. Praveen Gururaja pointed out the need to automate, digitize and connect current processes. This can be achieved – quickly and effectively – using cloud services to optimize brand performance through consumer connectedness and omni-channel commerce. Cloud creates an intelligent and collaborative enterprise by connecting suppliers, headquarters, warehouses, and field sellers, to improve sales execution and customer satisfaction; it delivers sustainability and operational excellence by creating the connected factory of the future that runs on digitized supply chains and logistics, and it accelerates innovation aimed at transforming traditional products while moving towards a service model for new and sustained revenue streams.

Microsoft’s Azure stack fits in perfectly to fulfill these needs. It provides the scalable infrastructure that CPG organizations need and it allows them to leverage the underpinning tools to exploit their data. These tools include:

A data lake to ingest and leverage consumer, supplier, and partner data
Analytical engines to improve functions such as trade promotions and deliver advanced capabilities such as in-store dynamic pricing across electronic shelf labels
Automation for routine processes such as those used to scrape the web to identify counterfeit products and to achieve goals such as a reduction in low-end manual labor
Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify revenue growth and upsell opportunities
Security to ensure data privacy and compliance with GDPR, California Consumer Privacy Act, etc.
Video analytics to understand in-store consumer demographics, path-to-purchase, manage assortments and replenishments, and several other difficult-to-monitor factors
While the technology exists – and has become affordable – the real challenge, said Gokey, lies in persuading the organization to use the new technology. Getting employees to be data literate and skilling analysts in data sciences is difficult. This is an area that requires immediate attention if CPG organizations want to extract the promised ROI from digital, cloud, data, and analytics.

ITC Infotech has a strong pedigree in the CPG industry and has been serving several Global Fortune 500 companies with digital solutions. During the pandemic, CPG companies have told us that they see acute changes in customer expectations along three vectors: (a) customers want their needs to be met where they are, whether or not on digital or physical mediums; (b) they want brands to meet their evolving needs, so solutions need to adapt quickly; and (c) they want to be protected from the uncertainty of their surroundings which translates into prioritizing consistency, predictability, and reliability.

To meet these expectations, enterprises need real-time connectedness like never before. To make this real, enterprises must move away from what has largely been a siloed, project-oriented approach towards a platform-oriented approach that unlocks agility. They must understand how consumer needs are changing daily, discover new consumer segments and adopt new strategies.

We build platforms of intelligence for deploying intelligence at scale across the CPG value chain powered by Microsoft technologies and services.

Our decades of experience and expertise in CPG, along with our domain accelerators, have been leveraged by several global enterprises to build their capabilities and services and realize business value at speed and scale. Our platform of intelligence framework helps CPG companies realize tangible benefits.

Finally, it is the partnerships that CPG organizations create that will spell success.

We live in a complex world, dependent on intricate ecosystems. The only way to make this work is to bind everyone in the partnership to the desired business outcomes. Partners must commit to owning the outcomes. ii

ITC Infotech is partnering with Microsoft to implement Platforms of Intelligence for CPG companies. We work with Microsoft experts to define the current state, future roadmap, and use cases. Our bespoke Azure AI/ML-powered intelligent platform empowers CPG leaders to build stronger consumer connect, mutually rewarding retailer relationships, and a streamlined supply chain built on the foundations of Azure Machine Learning, Azure Synapse, Azure Data Lake, Azure Cognitive Services, and more. The fact that we have our genesis in a CPG company differentiates us from other service providers and allows us to deliver better supply chain visibility, increased ROI, optimized costs, and improved sales for your CPG organization.

iOS App Development for Apple Hardware

The term ‘iOS’ is associated with Apple’s mobile operating system (OS) that works for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch hardware. Apple provides tools and resources for building iOS apps and assistants for its hardware accessories. iOS app development is done in native languages like Swift and Objective-C to create cross-platform native applications along with the usage of React Native (JavaScript) or Xamarin (C# & F#).

Everything must be present as a detailed sketch for mobile app developers that own reservations about iOS development. i.e., every developer requires a Mac computer because Macs are usually more costly than their Windows-based analogs. Before the app store is categorized, it is essential to take a rigorous quality survey once you are done with your app.

Suppose your targeted audience is among the one in hundreds of million Apple iPhone and iPad users around the globe. In that case, you may have a simple object to involve in an iOS app development process. So, it probably a big barrier to approaching and developing an iOS app that could be easy as (in some cases lighter than) developing for Android. Besides precise planning with the proper support, you can connect to the rank of iOS app developers.

Need of developing an iOS application

Today for developing an iOS app, you require a detailed sketch for a Mac computer that operates on the most advanced version of XCode. XCode is Apple’s IDE (Integrated Development Environment) to both Mac as well as iOS apps. XCode is the robust interface that you can use while writing iOS apps. XCode has tools like iOS SDK, frameworks, and compilers that you demand, especially developing, designing, debugging, and writing codes for iOS.

iOS programming languages

1)Objective C

It was stated at the beginning of 1980, Objective-C was the first programming language for every Apple product for almost a year. Originated from the C language, Objective-C is an object-oriented programming language focused on passing information to various processes (as struggled to process bidding in traditional C programming).

2)Swift

Swift is the latest “official” language of iOS as it has several similarities to Objective-C. Swift is created to practice a more straightforward syntax and is extra focused on security instead of a predecessor.

iOS App Development Tools

The base of Apple’s was meant to be practiced above the devices or gadgets developed in mobile applications and working on programming languages C++ and C#. The assurance of the application is primary care for which the platform-particular audience is unimpaired. On the positive side, the popularity of iOS is because of its functions, and it the most viable reason. All the companies work on iOS app development services, which are broadly praised for their excellent performance and bright experience.

Also, the value of the iOS platform is very appreciated for its Plan representation and optimal position. At first, Apple added XCode in its original iOS development toolkit, as there are many more options available for the same set of tools. Let take a look at the best iOS app development tools.

XCode

The most flexible and versatile iOS app development tool is XCode. Even this tool serves a combined development environment (IDE), particularly for macOS devices, simultaneously with some programming languages for building iOS applications that carry iOS, iPad, tvOS, and watchOS harmony. The work of XCode accompanies code checkers to highlights the bugs and latent ideas while the developers are touch-typing. It is filled with real-time installations and auto-complete utilities that enable developers to obtain the code in a shorter time.

AppCode

JetBrains was first introduced AppCode along with the idea of promoting iOS and Mac OS application development. It accompanies a mix of development environments, including several programming languages like Objective C, HTML, XPath, JavaScript, CSS, C++, and XPath. Moreover, it can even support some application testing units that are more supportive in Google testing systems. The AppCode tool should be a smart code assistants’ system that errors in application code as well as supports developers with code blender highlights.

CodeRunner

It is an iOS app development tool filled with unique code choosing features. This feature-rich element of this tool allows any Mobile application development company to make the iOS app code quickly. The tool is stable and easy to use, which makes it an excellent choice for iOS app development.

Fabric

Fabric is another best iOS app development tool that empowers developers to build complex applications to adhere to their goals in real-time. Multiple modular app development tools are applied to create high-performing applications and are easily combined into the app development ecosystem. It allows iOS developers to add more highlights to their applications without any difficulty. Fabric is a polished iOS app development tool that swiftly automates the app arrangement process.