Top Application Development Trends in 2019

The State of Application Development Report 2019

Is IT Ready for Disruption?

Over 3,300 IT professionals around the world share their insights in our most comprehensive research report on the state of application development.

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Question 1 of 3

Roughly, how many applications does your organization plan to deliver this year?

35% Plan to deliver 1 to 9 applications this year

Like you, 35% of organizations plan to deliver up to nine apps this year. Even these low numbers could prove a challenge for smaller development teams.

27% Plan to deliver 10 to 24 applications this year

Like you, 27% of organizations plan to deliver 10-24 apps this year. Not an easy task to deliver a new app every two weeks!

15% Plan to deliver 25 to 49 applications this year

Like you, 15% of organizations plan to deliver 25-49 apps this year. Not an easy task to deliver a new app almost every week!

8% Plan to deliver 50 to 99 applications this year

Like you, 8% of organizations plan to deliver 50-99 apps this year. Up to two per week is seriously hard work, even for large development teams!

15% Plan to deliver 100 or more applications this year

Like you, 15% of organizations plan to deliver 100+ apps this year. With a production line like this, perhaps you're a software provider or system integrator?

From the survey:

Larger companies had the most ambitious targets. 42% of companies with over 10,000 employees said they planned to develop 50 or more apps in 2019.

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Question 2 of 3

What is the most important type of application that your organization needs to deliver this year?

34% Apps that are used directly by customers or business partners

You're in good company, 34% of respondents said apps used by customers and business partners were most important.

31% Apps that support internal processes, operations, including analytics

You're in good company, 31% of respondents said internal apps were most important.

20% Apps that replace core legacy systems that run the business

Like you, 20% of respondents said legacy replacement was most important. They told us that 65% of their app dev effort goes on maintenance, rather than innovation.

9% Apps that involve AI/machine learning

Nine percent of respondents said apps that involve AI/machine learning were most important. They also told us these dev skills were the hardest to hire.

5% Apps that involve IoT

Five percent of respondents said apps that involve IoT were most important. They also told us IoT dev skills were hard to hire.

2% Other

Just 2% of respondents selected "Other." Amongst their answers: APIs, blockchain, e-commerce, ERP, and robotic process automation received several mentions.

From the survey:

In addition to telling us their two highest app dev priorities, respondents answered over forty questions regarding app dev challenges, recruitment, training, and what they're doing to speed-up application delivery.

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Question 3 of 3

What is the size of your organization's application development backlog compared to last year?

50% About the same

You're part of the majority. Fifty percent of organizations say the backlog is about the same as last year.

39% Backlog has improved

Well done! Like you, 39% of organization said their backlog had improved.

11% Backlog is worse

Commiserations! But, you're not alone. Eleven percent of organizations said their backlog is worse this year than last.

From the survey:

Compared to last year, we found that app dev demand is higher than ever. So, despite everything that IT teams are doing to speed-up delivery, for most organizations, backlogs remain stubbornly long.