Enterprise software is changing rapidly in response to emerging technologies and continuous demand for improvement. With time, these applications become more and more sophisticated, increasing the ROI dramatically and helping enterprises boost their bottom line.
According to Statista, in 2023, the revenue in the enterprise software market is expected to exceed $281 billion. By 2028, the number can skyrocket to $376 billion.
Staying on top of enterprise software trends is key to making the most out of this quickly rising industry. A small delay in sourcing, adaptation, and onboarding could put you behind the competition.
Let’s take a closer look at enterprise software trends to watch out for in 2023.
What Is Enterprise Software?
Enterprise software, also called enterprise application, is a program designed to streamline the operations of large organizations, businesses, and government entities. The goal of enterprise software is to automate manual tasks, improve productivity, and help the company succeed.
The common types of enterprise software are:
- Sales software – sales applications automate key processes, improve team collaboration, track sales reps’ performance, provide sales reports, and more. An example of sales software is a customer relationship management (CRM) tool.
- Marketing software – marketing teams require enterprise software to track customers across various touchpoints, identify their needs, automate marketing communication, generate leads, design and manage promotional campaigns, and much more.
- HR software– the more employees an enterprise has, the harder it becomes to manage them efficiently. Enterprise HR software can help automate payroll processing, streamline employee training, create efficient HR reports, help with compliance updates, and more. In fact, the enterprise technology market is expected to reach $76.5 billion by 2031.
- Financial software – managing finances requires sizable resources. Report automation, budget planning, forecasting, production planning, revenue management, and other elements can’t be streamlined without high-quality tools.
- IT – when it comes to enterprises, IT plays a major role in keeping them active, compliant, and safe. IT enterprise software can become an integral part of successful cybersecurity measures.
While it’s possible for organizations to leverage off-the-shelf software, this is rarely profitable. Off-the-shelf programs don’t have the capacity to meet the unique needs of the company. They are prone to integration and support issues that lead to downtime which enterprises can’t afford.
That’s why large businesses and government entities choose custom-designed enterprise software that suits their unique requirements. Only custom enterprise software can maximize efficiency and streamline decision-making in the capacity required for large companies to stay ahead of the competition.
Top Enterprise Software Trends That Deserve Your Attention in 2023
As the demand is growing rapidly, so is the supply. Enterprises need to pay close attention to this growing industry in order to take full advantage of new opportunities. Even if your software is currently in top shape, in just a few months, you may need to tweak it.
1. AI Is Taking Huge Steps Forward
AI has been an integral part of many enterprise activities for several years. While its presence is stable, the quality of AI-powered and ML-driven functions is increasing every year. The year 2023 marks the emergence of ChatGPT which is likely to revolutionize customer service software for enterprises and SMBs. However, it’s not the only innovation that requires close attention.
Artificial intelligence helps organizations overcome a variety of challenges they are facing today. Besides highly personalized customer service, AI can drive productivity by providing in-depth analytics in record time.
It can help gather, organize, and analyze all types of data from employee surveys to customer demographics. These analytics help enterprises make data-driven and data-informed decisions.
Since many sources predict an economic recession, enterprises rely on AI to cut costs and make actionable predictions. Meanwhile, growing labor costs make automation even more appealing. As a bonus, AI can help address labor shortages in some industries as well.
2. Competitive Edge Requires More Attention
A highly competitive environment coupled with the looming recession makes the competitive edge a serious pain point for all enterprises without exceptions. Enterprises from many industries are willing to invest sizable amounts in software that helps them stand out from the crowd.
If your company isn’t using software to drive innovation, it’s likely to fall behind. That’s why, it’s imperative to focus on the latest software development options and opportunities. Even the most popular software developers may not provide the competitive edge an enterprise needs.
The process requires full dedication to industry research and continuous evaluations of the company’s needs. Examples of enterprise software that can help gain and maintain a competitive edge include:
- CRM with real-time customer insights and predictive analytics
- Supply chain management (CRM) platforms that drive inventory optimization and logistics.
- Business intelligence (BI) tools that help make data-driven and data-informed decisions.
When you opt for custom enterprise software development with a competitive edge in mind, you need to be ready for research, close communication, and continuous tweaking. The goal of this software isn’t just to help you do something that other companies can’t. It’s the ability to do this quickly and efficiently.
3. Cybersecurity Turns into a Critical Issue
By the end of 2022, the global average cost of data breaches reached $4.35 million. These numbers continue growing. The huge ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline that happened back in 2021 forced enterprises to review their cybersecurity measures. However, these efforts didn’t bring the desired results.
As hacking software and techniques are becoming more and more sophisticated, enterprises are searching for high-quality security software. If you don’t have this type of software yet, you could be leaving yourself exposed and falling behind the competition.
Enterprise IT software that monitors systems, identifies risks, and mitigates threats is likely to become an integral part of enterprise operations. While smaller businesses are outsourcing this aspect of the IT strategy, enterprises prefer to keep it in-house.
4. Responsive User Interface is Taking Center Stage
As more and more people are spending more time with mobile devices instead of working on desktops, enterprise software needs to be accessible at any time and anywhere. No matter what devices employees are using, they have to be able to access the program.
During the COVID-19 pandemic when a big part of the global workforce started working remotely, enterprises discovered how much work needs to be done on the user interface. Many employees simply couldn’t access the right files or work seamlessly from home.
Today, enterprises continue focusing on user interface quality. Even though the pandemic subsided, millions of employees remained at home. Since remote work comes with many benefits, organizations adapted to the scheme by tweaking their software to fit the new needs.
In 2023, enterprise software is continuing to change. The focus on responsive UI is still strong. The goal is to make the process as seamless and fast for users as possible. When you develop your enterprise app, it’s imperative to pay attention to how well it works on mobile devices.
Soon enough, the majority of the workforce will be working from their mobile devices instead of bothering with laptops or desktops.
5. Advanced Automation is a Must-Have
For many years, automation has been helping enterprises reduce manual work, speed up operations, streamline department collaboration, and much more. The ability to automate various aspects of enterprise work helped many companies gain a competitive edge.
Advanced automation options are the new 2023 trends. From robotic process automation to intelligent automation, large companies want to delegate more and more tasks to software and free up their human resources to focus on high-level activities.
Labor shortages across many industries coupled with the era of the Great Resignation make the need for advanced automation even more acute. Software developers are meeting this demand.
6. Cloud-Based Product-as-a-Service (PaaS) Are Gaining Popularity
Product-as-a-service platforms are helping companies host, develop, and launch a variety of apps. While PaaS has been around for some time, it’s quickly becoming more and more popular. Since the demand for PaaS is growing, companies are adding this functionality to their offering.
One of the major issues with PaaS is security. With the rise of cyberattacks, anything that remains on the cloud may be considered vulnerable. If you use a variety of PaaS products, it’s hard to keep security efforts centralized.
In 2023, companies are focusing on cloud-based services that suit their needs perfectly. This way, they won’t need to juggle several cloud solutions. Handling multiple public cloud services can lead to security issues and related problems.
7. Modular Platform-Based Technologies Gain Velocity
IT specialists are looking closer at modular architecture and microservices to enhance mobility and flexibility for their products. Many companies are moving away from traditional solutions to a modular, platform-based technology model. This model helps with modernization, flexibility, and rationalization. All these three factors are part of the current IT departments’ focus.
These technologies help IT specialists be flexible and agile enough to provide the tech services demanded by enterprises. As more and more innovations require integrations, flexibility becomes the driving force behind a competitive edge.
8. Regulation Technologies Enter the Game
Regulation technologies or RegTech are becoming more and more important across many industries. Medical service providers are hardly the only organizations that require RegTech. Compliance is quickly turning into a serious necessity, and enterprise software has to keep up.
RegTech is a technology that assists businesses and organizations improve regulatory compliance management. The right approach to this software development and implementation can save companies millions of dollars in fines, lawsuits, and reputational issues.
The RegTech market is expected to reach $28.83 billion by 2029. That’s up from $6.5 billion in 2022. The industry is taking full advantage of machine learning, Blockchain, and cloud computing. For many businesses, implementing RegTech is likely to become a must-have in the nearest future.
9. Low Code Development Is Among the Top Trends
According to Gartner, low-code and no-code technologies are expected to grow by almost 300% by 2025. Application development will turn from coding to assembly and integration. Teams that plan to use enterprise software can get an opportunity to assemble it on their own.
With low-code application platforms, developing custom programs is expected to be easy. While this sounds exciting, low-code development comes with many nuances. It can be a while until it can replace complex enterprise software coding.
Meanwhile, the low-code trends are changing by the hour. If you are serious about implementing these technologies for your enterprise, it’s imperative to check these developments to take full advantage of the solution.
In the nearest future, low-code platforms will turn into irreplaceable assistants for enterprise software development specialists. They can speed up the process and provide many exciting development options.
10. IoT software Development Is Trending
The Internet of Things (IoT) is taking a large step forward. By connecting many devices together, it streamlines communications, optimizes operations, and speeds up many other processes. To take full advantage of IoT, enterprises are developing new software that puts IoT connections into action that can help them gain a competitive edge.
In 2023, to create engaging IoT experiences, developers are looking deeper into networking, security measures, and data storage. As with the rest of software development trends, security is a big issue. With a wide variety of devices connected together, it’s becoming easier for malicious actors to get access to sensitive data.
That’s why developers are likely to focus on security measures while working on something that helps companies stand out from the crowd.
11. Progressive Web Apps Are on the Rise
A progressive web app (PWA) is a program you can use in a mobile browser and get an app experience. For enterprises that are constantly searching for ways to improve user experience. PWA can become an excellent tool. It can run on any device and perform almost as many tasks as a native app can, including offline functionality, access to the camera, and more.
Unlike real apps, PWAs load quickly, don’t use as much device storage and provide a seamless surfing experience. These apps are also SEO-friendly and highly secure.
PWA is easier to develop and maintain than regular apps. That’s what is likely to make them even more popular in the future.
Staying on Top of the Latest Enterprise Software Trends Can Help Your Business
The world of software development is constantly changing. From artificial intelligence to no-code development, it can be hard to remain in the saddle. Companies that follow the latest trends manage to stay on top of their game and figure out what’s worth their attention before the competition does.
Not all enterprise software trends turn into something profitable. However, being aware of them can help you make educated decisions.