Despite the challenges of 2020, we’ve learned that adapting a client’s business to market shifts can be simple and straightforward when they are on the latest solutions. In 2021, we want to continue this progressive approach to technology, enabling our clients to launch new features, keep up with security threats, and run their organization more efficiently.

The digital world is in constant flux, and it can be difficult to keep up with all the new tools and evolving platforms that make businesses thrive. The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a rapid series of changes in addition. Industries that had not previously imagined remote working models have been challenged to adapt a distance working model in just a few weeks. This created demand for new software, especially for industries that have been slow to go digital.

This year, we predict the proliferation of easy-to-use AI and automation software, especially tools that will help the enterprise adapt their working methods. Organisations will also capture more data than ever before, which means security issues will be key for the entire IT industry.

1. Rapid Development (No-code and Low-code)

No-code development tools are becoming a standard when not all businesses have the luxury of a dedicated, in-house development team. No-code (or low-code tools) are advanced software platforms which lead to web tools or mobile apps that can be designed and launched by a team of 1 or 2 people.

Polcode uses these tools for the early stages of project work, so that we can quickly present our clients with preliminary examples with a Proof of Concept or simple MVP solutions. In this way, our clients can test several business models ultra-fast, and then choose the one that suits them best and develop it into a mature product.

In projects for clients, we have found tools such as Grafana or Tableau to be our favorites, as they help us prepare reports and analyses deliverables faster.

2. Deeper Integrations

There is a growing popularity of applications created with a distributed architecture, whereby popular solutions are integrated together, rather than creating each service from scratch. Increasingly, integrations play a key role in developing solutions.

Polcode has taken significant steps to expand our offer by including external service providers. For instance, we are now an official tech partner of Twilio, which means we can implement novel VoIP or automated messenger solutions (e.g. AI and chatbots), as well as generate digital customer support or call centers on-demand for our clients.

3. Privacy-focused Technologies

Last year, the world saw an enormous amount of newsworthy data leaks. In 2021, protection of personal data online still has much room for improvement. New technologies like cookieless browsing for the open web will help protect users from having personally identifiable information flying out wherever they go.

Last year, Polcode introduced more procedures aimed at increasing application security, as well as securing customer data. This is a continuous process, as each new threat presents a new challenge that must be addressed. For instance, we use special tools that allow our developers to never store sensitive data on their computers. In terms of remote work, we’ve made improvements to our infrastructure as well. Our VPNs keep client data secure in transit—giving each developer the confidence to work calmly from the safety of their homes, without worrying about a leak.

4. Remote Work Customizations

The pandemic has significantly affected the way companies operate. While at the beginning of 2020, we thought we were just beginning to transform our work model, suddenly within a few weeks many industries were forced to move to the Internet. Not all tools and processes are adapted to this yet, and many employees are reluctant to return to the standard office model.

At Polcode, part of our team has always worked remotely, so we had no problem to immediately move to the cloud in March 2020 and continue as normal moving forward.

Now, we use our experience in cooperation with clients. We find each client needs tools that help them perform their work effectively, by solving issues that they have never encountered before. Customizing their day-to-day tools, paired with additional security, gives them the flexibility to perform their work effectively, regardless of location or time. In addition, we’re noticing much more demand for automation tools. For industries slow to catch up to the speed of digital, automation features are a breath of fresh air to end-users who traditionally have to do repetitive tasks on their computer at work.

5. More AI and Data Science

In 2021, we will still have to deal with intensive development of technologies related to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. We can expect more tools that will slowly take over the tasks so far only intended for people. In 2021, we will continue to see what AI can achieve. For example, GPT-3 from OpenAPI allows programmers to create tools that are able to effectively generate simple articles on a topic selected by the user.

AI will also support developers in their daily work. There are already programs based on the aforementioned GPT-3 which can generate simple interfaces of applications or websites in HTML and CSS.

There are endless applications for AI and machine learning to help developers. At Polcode, we have been creating algorithms that support data analysis and decision making for several years.

Technologies related to Data Science are constantly moving forward and we can be sure that in a few years the amount of stored data will increase. Therefore, from 2020, we are actively developing our expert teams around Python—the base language for a majority of Data Science and Machine Learning applications.

6. Cloud Computing Maturity

As predicted, more and more infrastructure is moving to the cloud. Storing large amounts of data, securing it and providing maintenance eat up time, money and resources that most organizations simply do not have.

Thanks to public clouds, most of the Internet tools and applications that help in remote work easily withstood the increased traffic that occurred at the beginning of last year.

However, the cloud is not only about storing data and serving it to users. Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Azure offer a comprehensive marketplace of useful developer tools that we can implement in a matter of hours in our projects.  Cloud applications built on these platforms mean that we rarely build features from scratch. Tools like AI image analysis, Internet of Things, voice recognition, voice control, blockchain technology are all readily available thanks to the public cloud.

Bonus Trend: Shifting Green in 2021

Think of this as more a trend for the next decade. According to a recent Gartner report, the public cloud market will grow by over USD 306.9 billion in 2021 alone. And this increased demand for servers and computing power will start to affect our environment. It is estimated that between 2007 and 2020 the demand for electricity through cloud services has doubled. Consequently, most IT giants are increasingly looking for ecological solutions.

At Polcode, we try to keep an eye on the development of the public cloud and adjust our choices, not only in terms of the tools we offer, but also bearing in mind the environmental impact.