IT Outsourcing Trends in 2018

There have been a lot of changes and developments in the outsourcing software development industry in the ending year 2017. Many outsourcing companies have developed in terms of size, impact, and potential for growth; geographical mobility across the globe; increased ability in delivering different packages of IT services. In addition, the amount of transparency in projects and innovation of project development has improved.

However, despite these past software outsourcing trends, there are still a lot of challenges the industry faces. 2018 is a year where we expect to see solutions to these challenges and even more. Technology is a dynamic science thus poses a challenge to the outsourcing industry. There are a lot of upcoming developments in the IT world, and for software development companies will need to stay in the market and their reap benefits. Therefore, they need to move together with the IT outsourcing trends 2018. Developers will have to pull up there socks in not only their areas of expertise, but also in the adoption of the new outsourcing software development trends. Here are some of the IT outsourcing trends, expected in the coming year:

SHORTAGE OF THE DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES POOL

Most businesses and organizations have discovered how technology impacts their profit-making operations. This is especially when competitors adopt technology that facilitates their operations, creating a threat to them. A lot of organizations are in search of technological services to remain up to date with their market standard. Yet most of these companies in-house workforce lack the required tech skills. While hiring the IT services in their home country is expensive. Thus, they are forced to outsource from other countries.

On the other hand, the graduates who have undertaken IT courses produced yearly, are fewer as compared those demanded in the market. This leaves a big gap between the required work pool of developers and the one that is available. Therefore, among other outsourcing trends expected in 2018, the amount of qualified software developers needs to be increased through tertiary training of individual interested in taking ICT programs and other outsourcing services.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, data analysis and software engineering will be the most trending jobs in next two years.

Also, such ICT training should be provided to the older people in the IT industry. IT related industries are known to be biased when it comes to recruiting developers whereby only young individual is seen fit. Also, other people who have been in the industry should as well enroll for ICT courses. This time, to upgrade their skills from the outdated to the 2018 software development outsourcing trends.

HIGH DEMAND FOR THE BIG DATA SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS

Between the year 2016-2017, the big data software market has taken a big leap in the outsourcing software development trends. This is as a result of business companies’ need for accessibility, agility and more insight in analysis of greater and fuller view of their customers. The big data software tools allow analysis and storage of large amounts of data whether structured or unstructured. Also, it is faster as compared to the older methods of analysis.

The immense use and purchase of big data software have been as a result of its high demand by organizations. The use of big data software allows the business markets to expand due to the accessibility of information on customers. Also, it facilitates the creation of single platforms where the buyers and sellers can: exchange data resources, analytic application and other resources in real time events and from streaming of a variety of data.

Every business owner who concerned about their enterprise’s future is looking forward to adopting the automated software. This is because, they analyze a larger, more diverse and complex mixture of data and data models faster and more efficiently. This is a shift from the traditional methods of data analysis. Being a new technology there is yet a small number of developers with the knowledge of developing big data software applications. So in 2018, developers who are not well versed in using the modern big data tools, will be left behind in the coming of 2018.

Therefore, the big data software is going to be more adopted in 2018. This will then require a bigger resource pool for big data software developers. The outsourcing companies will need to train more developers who are knowledgeable in using big data tools such as Apache Hadoop, Sqoop, Microsoft HDInsight, and Hive.

ADOPTION OF USE OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

In the year 2017, blockchain has become one of the most interesting trends in the technology world. The technology is offering convenience in payment transaction services by getting rid of the middleman. This makes payments and business contracts very easy. Blockchain has attracted the attention of a lot of companies especially financial firms. Banks are now trying to create their own online currencies for easy use of the blockchain technology. Also, other organizations are developing numerous ways to facilitate the use of Blockchain technology such as digital currency loan platforms and other applications. Therefore, financial firms are not the only individuals who have shown interest in blockchain. Healthcare organizations, media, telecommunication industries and legal firms have also stepped up in investing and using of the new technology.

Even with regulation on the use of blockchain, in some countries, start-ups and other investors continue to explore the potential the technology brings with it. For instance, countries such as Japan and other companies, have fully embraced the use of Blockchain technology. They aim at the creation of standard payment methods by use of similar payment currencies. Companies will, therefore, show even more interest in coming together for use of one standard of blockchain based currency and other solutions.

In addition, other than bitcoin, Ethereum is another substantial cryptocurrency. Ethereum has shown massive improvement in terms of its value, in the year 2018 it is likely to attract more users and creation Blockchain-related applications platforms such as smart wallets.

Generally, with the increasing need to adopt Blockchain technology by most firms, a lot of developers with Blockchain experience will be in demand. However, very few institutions in the world offer Blockchain courses thus, there will be a great shortage of trained professionals on the new digital currency technology. As well, sites offering knowledge about Blockchain technology are still few which still limit the number of developers for outsourcing companies for blockchain software development projects.

SPECIALIZATION OF IT EXPERTISE BY OUTSOURCING COMPANIES

As we enter 2018 one of the custom development trends will be the emergence of other technology trends as well as more sophistication of the existing technology. Organisations will become divided and focused on their own areas of specialization such as blockchain technology, big data, auto-mobility, bio-engineering among others. Such emerging technology will require experts to work on the projects that will create applications and other software solutions for each of these different domains.

For instance, if one outsourcing company is specialized in providing blockchain technology services while another provides both blockchain and automotive software development services, the first company is more likely to have more expertise in the Blockchain domain. Therefore, a customer with a specific project requirement like the creation of crypto-currency is more likely to approach the outsourcing company who specializes in the provision of Blockchain services only.

Outsourcing companies with narrow specialization are likely to have a deeper understanding of the few IT solutions they offer unlike a company with a wide range of services to provide.  With time the research methodologies for different technology scope, become more sophisticated. Clients who require specific IT solutions will be more willing to work with developers who are solely oriented in their domain industry. It is thus up to outsourcing companies to decide on which scope to specialization in whether it is automotive, embedded software development, ITC solution development, mobile applications or other more.

Therefore, the prediction is that outsourcing companies with a narrow specialization are likely to get favored job-wise, by clients in the same industry domain they offer for. This will leave companies with wide specialization out of the benefits of the outsourcing industry in 2018.

IN CONCLUSION

Technology has become vast and its roots are penetrating every available industry from legal firms, financial institutions, business enterprises, media, entertainment business to telecommunication. Therefore 2018 will be an interesting year as almost every of these industries will be starting new projects that will require IT expertise to accomplish them both in time and as required. Such success can only be found in an outsourcing company that has been in the industry for years, offers professional and skilled developers and views you not just as a customer but also as a partner.

We at Existek are looking forward to the coming year to offer our excellent software development services to companies whether large or small scale or requiring simple or complex project solutions. We provide our clients with qualified and experienced developers who are experts on working on specific tasks thus will fulfill your project requirements effectively. Contact us if you are looking forward to starting a new project in the coming year.