When Web Applications were introduced for the first time to the digital world, most businesses were hesitant on adapting it as they did not see it as an effective channel to improve their traffic, sales or overall marketing. Fast forward to 2016, now everyone knows the importance of a web application, and the role it plays in enhancing a business amongst the competitors in the digital world.
From a simple source of information, to a big player to revolutionize the world, Internet has grown fast and is now a base for most of the businesses around the world. With the extensive use of web applications (a set of programs implemented with the help of a browser), most of the small, mediocre and large businesses interact with their clients. Web applications have come a long way to become an integral part of a business. Development of such web applications, which play a major role in client interactions is a challenging task in the present world. Technological revolution, tech savvy customers and the changing trends have had a major impact on the nature of development of these apps and has taken it to a new level.
Hardware diversity
The earliest versions of web applications were primarily focused on an ordinary personal computer and they never had to face any challenges with respect to their build and design. Now, however, the technological advancements have led to the availability of various gadgets that make use of web applications for the same purpose. Thus the focus has now shifted to the performance and compatibility of a web application across various platforms such as Smart Phones, Smart Watches, Smart TV etc. With more devices coming up in the future, web applications need to be less complex and more responsive, to be compatible for all the devices.
Security
According to a recent study, 86% of the web applications tested, had several issues related to authentication and confidentiality. With Cyber crimes increasing day by day, most web applications tend to become vulnerable to security threats. These vulnerabilities, if not taken care of by the companies, will lead to more security breaches among the web applications which is sure to affect a customer's mentality towards such companies. In the present world, application security is the most important factor for the success of a web app. With the impression 'desktop only', no more in the picture, security threats have multiple paths to breach sensitive data. Thus, it is important to have your web application secure enough to stay away from issues related to SQL injection, cross-site scripting, confidentiality, access control, authentication, etc.
IoT
The rise of Internet of Things has taken app development to a different level. According to a report by Technavio, IoT is bound to grow by 31.72% by 2020. That is an enormous growth considering the number of devices present in the world. More and more objects will become 'smart' and the platform for an application to run on, will be a huge web of such smart devices connected together to form a network. A website application will be a part of a network of smart objects connected to the internet, and communicating with each other. As more devices or objects get added on to the network, the compatibility and the capability of the application will be put into severe test. As a web application development company, your application should be capable enough to adapt to the constant changes in technology.
Citizen Development
Gartner defines a "citizen Developer" as an end user who creates new business applications for consumption by others using development and run time environments sanctioned by corporate IT". Based on low or zero code configurations, Citizen developed applications have found their way up the market, courtesy of expensive costs of custom developed application and inabilities of an IT organization in meeting the requirements. Developed by the end-user himself, citizen developed applications rely on pen APIs by many software vendors which provide vital application data to build new business applications. As a web application development company, it is very important for you to manage the risks inherited from citizen developers by educating them about where they need to be careful, and offer them platforms to work on. An unplanned burden is a sure shot when there is an end-user building applications without any help or knowledge from an IT organization.
