The software development industry is growing rapidly. The growth will continue as more organizations embrace digital transformation. Companies are adopting different types of software development solutions required to shift to virtual environments and to stay competitive because of ever evolving software development trends.
IT spending is expected to reach 4 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide in 2021. That’s a growth of 8.4% from the previous year. This growth is partly driven by the post-pandemic widespread adoption of different types of software solutions for digital transformation.
Whether you’re a startup or a large enterprise, selecting the right type of software development is crucial for achieving your business goals. From custom software development to legacy application modernization, we’ll cover the most popular types of software development and how they can benefit your business.
Software development covers all the processes involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software parts. These processes range from software design, code writing, deployment, bug fixing to testing and quality assurance.
“Software development refers to a set of computer science activities dedicated to the process of creating, designing, deploying and supporting software” - IBM Research.
Software development is essential for business success. It enables companies to develop enterprise design systems and solutions for their clients. With different types of software development, you can bring feature-rich technology products to the market, enhance customers’ experience, and simplify the day-to-day running of your organization. Software development enables companies to create custom-tailored digital experiences to meet their needs.
These software solutions range from mobile apps development, e-commerce stores, web technologies, cloud infrastructure, business process management (BPM) software to enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, security programs, and customer relationship management (CRM) software.
Here’re the 10 different types of software development:
Mobile Development
Web Development
Enterprise Software Development
DevOps Engineering
Security Software Development
Software Tools Development
E-commerce Development
Cloud Computing
Data Science
Database Development
Mobile development is a type of software development that enables the creation of applications that run natively on mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, etc. Mobile developers have specialities - which are based on popular mobile operating systems.
According to Statista, Google Android and Apple iOS possess over 99% of the global market share of mobile operating systems as of February 2021. Consequently, developers usually specialize in either Android or iOS mobile development. However, developers can build applications that run both on Android and iOS devices from a single codebase with cross-platform application development tools.
Android Development
The following are some of the key technologies used to develop Android applications:
Java: Java is the key programming language used in Android development. It’s an object-oriented language, just like JavaScript and Ruby.
Android SDK: Android Software Development Kit provides developers with pre-packaged codes for mobile device functions.
Android Studio: It’s the integrated development environment for Android developers. It features top-notch capabilities such as auto-complete features, memory monitors, and code debuggers.
iOS Development
The core technologies you need are:
Swift: This is the programming language used in iOS mobile app development. The creation of a good iOS app requires proficiency in Swift.
Apple’s Xcode IDE: The Xcode IDE enables developers to create an excellent app. It also offers a great user experience.
Objective C: It’s excellent for developing native apps for iPhone and iPad.
Cross-Platform Development
Some technologies enable the development of applications that run both on Android and iOS devices. Cross-platform development is less expensive than native apps. In addition, it takes less time to develop.
The downside, however, is that native apps perform better cross-platform programs. Development platforms such as React Native, Xamarin, Ionic, and Framework 7 provide the codebases for developing cross-platform apps.
Web development is an area of software development that focuses on building websites - New web technologies and APIs enable developers to create more feature-rich web pages using plug-ins and web apps that feel native in contemporary browsers.
Front-end Development
The front-end development requires proficiency in the following programming languages: HTML, CSS, jQuery, and JavaScript. Knowing how to use graphic design tools is also necessary.
Recommended: Click here to read our (DOOR3) UI & UX/Front End Dev case study - bringing mission-critical business software into the 21st century.
Related: Front-End Development Trends and Best Practices
Back-End Development
Some of the technologies required for back-end development include Python, Java, PHP, SQL, Git, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. Note: A developer mustn’t know all the server-side programming languages listed here.
Enterprise software is a broad term for technology solutions organizations create for their operations. IT spending on enterprise software is projected to about 517 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, increasing 10.8% from 2020.
Enterprise software development enables organizations to develop solutions like automating processes and creating custom tools that satisfy their needs.
Legacy system migration is also a crucial part of enterprise software systems. While they may have been cutting-edge when first developed, these legacy systems can become outdated and slow over time, affecting business productivity and efficiency.
Legacy application modernization can help organizations stay competitive by improving outdated applications, integrating them with modern systems, and leveraging the latest technologies to improve business operations. This can result in cost savings, improved security, enhanced customer experience, and increased productivity, making modernization a worthwhile investment for any organization seeking to stay ahead in today’s fast-paced business environment.
Related: 4 Reasons to Conduct Legacy Migration: Unlock Potential
The tech stack and skills required for building an enterprise program depend on the needs of an organization. You need to determine the features of the software and the technologies required to create it. In addition, the choice of an operating system is another important factor.
Read the case study of how we created a modern design solution for an insurance flagship portal.
DevOps are software development practices and philosophies that focus on delivering software swiftly and efficiently through a customer-centric approach. DevOps engineering involves development, deployment, testing, quality assurance, and more.
This type of software development focuses on ensuring the delivery of high-quality software, enhancing the development process, and shortening the systems development life cycle.
Required capabilities include programming, proficiency in DevOps & Agile Principles, integration, scripting, ability to collaborate, QA testing, and more.
This type of software development focuses on building programs like anti-virus, intrusion indicators, firewalls, etc., that protect networks and devices from cyber attacks. Here, ethical hackers and other cybersecurity professionals work together to create security solutions to guard organizations’ systems and data.
There is a wide range of skills and technologies required for security software development. These skills and tech stack are based on operating systems. For instance, skills needed to create security solutions for Linux servers are different from those required to develop a security program for Windows systems. However, source code programming languages like Perl, C#, C++, .NET, Java, PHP, Python, Ruby On Rails, etc., are essential.
This type of software development creates tools other developers use to build and test applications. Apart from streamlining development processes for developers, software tools help to standardize software development processes. It enables coders to create programs following the industry standards.
Software tools development requires high-end tech skills. Expertise in Java, Python, C++ and other advanced languages and technologies is needed.
E-commerce development deals with the creation of online shopping platforms - e-commerce websites or mobile applications. The trend of creating online stores is long-lasting in this era of digital transformation.
According to Oberlo, about 27% of the world’s population is projected to shop online in 2021. That’s a massive growth from previous years. At present, organizations are creating e-commerce platforms in order to cash in on the e-commerce industry growth.
Let’s take a look at what it takes to create an e-commerce website and mobile application.
The core skills and technologies needed are front-end and back-end development tools. HTML, CSS, Javascript, jQuery, etc., are used for front-end development. On the other hand, back-end development requires server-side technologies like PHP, Python, Java, SQL, etc.
Proficiency in Java, Android SDK, Android studio, and so on is required for building e-commerce apps for android mobile. For iOS devices, Apple’s Xcode IDE, Swift, Objective C, etc., are the core technologies used. Cross-platform tools like React Native, Framework 7, and Ionic are required to develop an e-commerce application that can run on Android and iOS.
If you want to create an e-commerce platform for your organization, click here to read the story of how we developed a shopping platform for FreshDirect, one of the nation’s leading online grocery brands.
Advancement in cloud infrastructure has revolutionized how individuals and organizations store and manage data. The traditional method of using only local storage for file storage has progressed to include cloud storage.
What is cloud computing? Cloud computing uses remote servers “housed” on the internet to save and manage files. This is unlike the traditional approach of using local servers or on-premise hardware for data storage.
“Simply put, cloud computing is the provision of computing services — including databases, networking, software, servers, storage, analytics, and intelligence — over the Internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale…,” - Microsoft.
Cloud computing software developers create the programs that run cloud applications like OneDrive storage, Dropbox, Amazon Web services, Microsoft Azure and GitHub. It’s a type of software development that requires high-end skills. Also, building and supporting cloud infrastructure is capital intensive.
Programming Skills: Some programming languages and frameworks needed include SQL, Python, XML with Java Programming, .Net, etc.
Understanding of DevOps principles.
Cloud Security: The nature of cloud computing makes it prone to cyber threats. Hackers scour the internet for vulnerable cloud servers. Security software development is a vital skill here.
Platform Expertise: There are various leading cloud platforms such as Amazon and Google. The knowledge of how one or more of the major cloud platforms work is necessary.
Other crucial skills include maintaining databases, managing an integrated environment, managing a network, etc.
Data scientists use scientific methods, algorithms, and other analytical processes to analyze and draw insights from structured and unstructured data. The knowledge and actionable insights that data scientists get from large data sets can solve problems.
It goes without saying that data is the new gold. Data scientists know how to find value in a set of data that would mean nothing to the everyday person. This analysis and manipulation of loads of data require software-aided analytical approaches.
The skills required to delve into data science are many. That said, here’re some of the critical skills and technologies needed:
Programming skills
Machine Learning
Knowledge of Statistics - proficiency in statistics and probability is vital in data science. It enables data scientists to analyze and draw actionable insights
Deep Learning
Big Data
A database is an organized set of data saved in a computer system, which can be accessed electronically in several ways.
Oracle defines a database as: “A database is an organized collection of structured information, or data, typically stored electronically in a computer system. A database is usually controlled by a database management system (DBMS). Together, the data and the DBMS, along with the applications that are associated with them, are referred to as a database system, often shortened to just a database.”
Database development is a type of software development that focuses on building databases and related applications.
Database Programming Language: Delving into database development requires proficiency in a database coding language. SQL is one of the top database programming languages. SQL is used to sort and query the data in a database. It’s an essential language when it comes to database development. In addition, it’s used to define and alter data structure.
Database Security: Databases contain sensitive information. As a result, security is a thing of concern. Therefore, a good understanding of database security is necessary.
Data modeling
What type of software development does your organization need for its next project? And how to select the right software development consultancy. We can help you decide!
Here at DOOR3, we help our clients develop different types of software developmet solutions tailored to their business needs. Check out our work here.
We offer:
Technology Consulting - whether you’re looking for a more modern software solution or you’re not sure where to start, you need a trusted technology consulting service to help you make the right decisions. We’re here to help!
Software Development - we provide modern software development services. Develop your competitive edge with smart, intuitive software solutions built to accelerate your enterprise. Get custom software development and modernizing solutions tailored to your organization’s needs.
User Experience Design - we’re a team of UX consultants based in New York City that specializes in creating business and consumer applications to engage real people. Contact us now!
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