2016 was a year of major changes in the enterprise software solutions market. We saw the rise in popularity of containers, SaaS providers improved their competitive capacity, and machine learning became a reality for large enterprises. So, what can we expect from enterprise computing trends in 2017?
Today’s competitor, tomorrow’s partner
In 2016, we witnessed some (un)expected partnerships in the industry:
- G Suite and Slack teamed up;
- Box announced support for users who are storing Google Docs, including a new app developed with IBM’s help;
- Microsoft and SAP took their partnership to the next level by offering HANA database in Azure, and by providing an Office 365 integration for Concur, Fieldglass, and SuccessFactors
In 2017, we are very likely to witness more similar announcements from companies that were once direct competitors as the market continues to get more crowded. The good news is that customers will benefit from these “unusual” partnerships and we’re likely to see more innovative and efficient products in the making.
Machine learning will crossover into the cloud
In 2017, enterprise software companies will continue to benefit from advantages brought by improved intelligent systems that have the ability to provide everyday services to end-users. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft will launch new APIs that allow developers to further improve intelligent capabilities of their new apps. Keep an eye on machine learning in 2017 – this is going to be one of the major cloud battlegrounds for platform providers and app vendors.
Low-code development will find its way to major vendors
Low-code application development tools, such as Google’s App Maker designed for G Suite users, MS PowerApps for Office 365 users, and Project Visual Code by Oracle, represent new ways to automate and improve business processes. In 2017, one of the biggest challenges will be to motivate customers to actually use these new tools. That shouldn’t be much of a problem though, considering that these tools are designed to make it simpler and easier to create applications for end users.
Bots will rule online
Is 2017 going to be the bots’ year for both enterprise and consumer users? Well, automated conversation solutions have often been portrayed as being extremely useful for end consumers. At the same time, they include useful enterprise functions, such as providing answers to the most common questions, helping out with repetitive functions and more.
Containers will go mainstream
We noticed that enterprises are already driven to using containers, thanks to their ability to improve efficiency and optimizing infrastructure. The so-called “containerized apps,” which represent traditional enterprise apps shifted into containers, will easily find their way to new customers in 2017. The useful mix between microservices apps and migrated traditional apps will continue grow in popularity. According to some estimates, we can expect an overwhelming majority of these containerized enterprise apps to be microservices-oriented and -based by 2020.
