IT outsourcing trends in 2021

2020 was a deranged time, not only for the global population but also for businesses of all sizes. Change is the name of the game. Unless they planned for catastrophic changes in the economy, all companies force to adapt or die, which means technology trends that change and evolve to meet the changing needs of consumers, users, supply chains, and systems.

These necessary changes in core business and technology are moving further out and even affecting software outsourcing. Companies have had to retool their teams to meet the demands of companies looking to move quickly in a completely new direction or keep the business alive.

But what about next year? Will the pandemic slow down the IT department's work, or will things settle down, and the company can go back to business as usual? It's hard to say, but we think there's a good chance things will be back to normal next year.

Let's take a look at four trends that are likely to see significant growth in 2021. There's no guarantee that these are absolute trends, but they have already shown up in recent years and have a pretty big advantage over other technologies. While we're at it, let's take a look at some of these trends.

1 |Working from home

Let's start with the obvious. In the track of the pandemic, more and more companies ask their employees to work from home. In fact, according to Global Workplace Analytics, at least 25-30% of employees worldwide are expected to work from home several days a week by 2021. That's a significant number which means changes in IT.

Companies whose employees work from home must do their best to protect their data which is even more challenging when employees work on home networks that are not as secure as the corporate LAN.

For this reason, you may need to hire a third party to secure your home network, which means moving to a hybrid cloud with a focus on security. Alternatively, your staff could use an on-premises cloud solution to connect to your corporate network via a mutually secure connection.

Are your IT staff capable of building such an ecosystem? If not, you may need to think about outsourcing

2 |Edge computing

Edge computing is not going away, and by 2021 the technology will continue to grow but will be used in even more business areas. What is edge computing? Edge computing shifts the task of processing data to mobile devices and IoT, rather than sending raw data to a central data center for processing, allowing remote locations to consume data in real-time without the delays associated with data transfer.

Let's take an example. Suppose your company works with a software company that has developed technology to determine whether a person is wearing a face mask. In a traditional system, cameras are placed around the building, and video transmits to a central server for processing. It takes a long time before the data is available.

With edge processing, the video images are processed directly by the cameras, and the results get transmitted to a central server for use. The difference is huge (especially when it comes to streaming video).

As edge processing becomes more expected next year, IT staff will need to have the skills to implement it. What your current team can't do, a company like BairesDev will soon be able to do for you.

3 |Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can make your business innovative and efficient; AI predicts your customers will buy, uses autonomous vehicles and robots, implements more voice assistants, adds facial recognition to security, unstructured structure data, adds bots to your website, and adds intelligent features to the software you produce. The usefulness of AI has yet to diminish.

The problem is that AI is not always the most accessible technology to integrate into your system. Unless your development team is familiar with TensorFlow, LISP, Python, Java, C++, or Prolog, it is unlikely that your company will integrate AI.

Nevertheless, it would help if you weren't put off considering AI. The longer you wait, the further behind you will be. And in 2021, where and how will be using AI could grow exponentially.

4 |Mobile and web applications

The majority of consumers worldwide choose mobile as their first platform. More and more people are abandoning traditional platforms (desktops and laptops) and opting exclusively for mobile devices. This trend will continue in 2021. According to Stat Counter, mobile now accounts for 50.88% of the market, while desktop accounts for 46.39%. As more and more people work on the go, mobile's market share will continue to grow.

What does this mean for your business? First and foremost, is your website mobile-friendly? Does your company offer a mobile app? If you are unsure whether your business website is mobile-friendly, it is best to check as soon as possible. If your business doesn't already have a mobile app, it's high time to jump on board.

As more and more people are giving up their desktops, you want to make sure you keep your business. A mobile website and mobile app is the best way to go. If your development department can't provide this, you need to consider outsourcing.

Conclusion

If you've minded your own business so far, it's time to take action. If you don't incorporate these trends into your business, you may find yourself at the end of the curve. Considering how agile companies need to be to keep up, falling behind can have disastrous consequences you can contact software outsourcing companies to be in trend.