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How AI Will Change Software Development and Applications

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Dec 14 2020

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Powerful AI Development to Revamp Software Development Processes

AI’s impact is everywhere. Machine vision, smart predictions, virtual assistants, autonomous vehicles, and more. And software is the backbone of all such advancements, which are making our lives better. So, how can this be untapped by AI? AI Development is redefining the software field- accelerating the development of customized software and enhancing the whole development lifecycle. It is no longer about writing if-then-else statements. Instead, it has become more about choosing the right data set to feed neural networks which would solve a given problem without much human intervention.

Companies must prepare themselves for a big shift in the field of software development where AI assists human developers to code, program, test, and deploy. Take a look at what role AI is playing in the development process and what benefits it is extending to the developers.

The Role of AI in Software Development

AI and Machine Learning based tools are making project managers, business analysts, software engineers, and testers more productive, enabling them to produce high-quality software products and applications at a significantly lower cost. A report from Deloitte states that AI-led software development could make developers 10 times more productive.

Considering AI will shape the future of software development, most businesses today are focusing on AI for development. According to TeraData research, 80% companies are investing in AI to augment human capabilities and drive business outcome.

A Growing Need of Custom Software Development

Customers’ demands are changing rapidly, giving momentum to customized software development across industries. For example, Amdocs Academy, a leading software company known for its bespoke solutions for telecom, realized the emerging need of its clients to upskill employees without resource inefficiency. For that, they developed an AI-based engine named as ‘Amdocs Academy’ that re-engineers the study material for each employee based on their knowledge gaps. It also allows customers the ability to see performance metrics of their employees.

The development of custom software is a critical element for companies to achieve desired efficiency and innovation with respect to those rapid behavioral changes of customers. Given the promising benefits, the market for custom software development is large, and it is continuing to rise. But most of the outdated programming languages and practices pose major challenges to software development efforts like shortage of talented developers and buggy production. Moreover, it has been found that approximately half of software application projects run late and over-budget.

AI software development brings improvements in the application development process to overcome such challenges. It is projected that AI-enabled tools can draw an impressive $2.9 billion in business revenue by 2021.

Areas Where AI can Help Develop Software Faster

Software developers are leveraging AI techniques like Machine Learning and Deep Learning to improve every stage of software development process, right from ideation and planning to automated error management. Consider the following examples.

Ideation and Planning

The role of a software project manager is quite challenging. It can begin with identification of project requirements from various stakeholders. Then, translating them into user stories and development tasks. In addition, there is always space for change in requirements that must be accommodated. This is where AI techniques come into the picture. By analyzing data from previous projects, a deep learning model can estimate tasks involved in a project and stay true to the obligations as defined during the contract where humans often make mistakes. Even more, the system can predict risks and delays.

Design and Development

Design and development of software is the major stage of software development lifecycle, where human intelligence cannot be simply replaced. As technology keeps evolving, one can see the growth in No Code or Low Code platforms, which can slash down the time and efforts of developers while designing applications. An example of AI based tool is Artificial Intelligence Design Assistance (AIDA), which helps software developers in creating software design by pulling data such as names of project stakeholders, geography, customer needs, products, and type of business. AIDA suggests and applies code for design components, colors, and layouts, which would be in synchronization for a given project.

Fully Automated Software Testing

Manual testing takes time, and with agile methodologies, continuous testing does not always seem practical. With such practices, bugs are found in the code even after the project has been released to the market. Trained AI and ML based algorithms can find bugs by analyzing opensource codebases. Using pattern recognition algorithm, an AI development system can predict and suggest wherever it finds improvements in code and even auto corrects the erroneous code. For example, a bug detection tool at Facebook, predicts defects and suggests fixes that are correct up to 80%.

Software testers use testing template with set of parameters, and then apply the code to an AI based tool, which transforms code into functional test cases and fixes specific bugs. This entire process will speed up the debugging process and enhance the delivery time and quality of software.

AI enabled Coding Helps Teams Build Apps Faster

As developers write code, AI powered coding tools provide recommendations for competing lines of code. Rather than replacing human developers, AI will act as a tool that programmers can use to harness knowledge, streamline processes and, writer better code. The intelligent applications like Tara, Kite for Python, and Deep TabNine, can help developers with important coding tasks to improve the speed and accuracy during the coding process.

Another tool, known as Mendix Assist, with AI features, helps new programmers to learn how to create apps in real-time. It is important to note that coding a complex project with multiple stakeholders is a time-consuming task. AI coding tools reduce the workload of development teams and increase efficiency. At the same time, the tools allow developers to pay attention to logic, design, and development of other creative solutions.

Application Deployment

Most often, software defects come into light only after the application is deployed in the environment in which it is supposed to run. But AI trained algorithms help predict deployment failure before getting into the deployment environment. And this becomes possible by evaluating data such as insights from prior code releases and application logs. The process can fast track the root cause analysis and recovery in case of failure. By leveraging AI, developers can safely run applications while in production with optimal environment configurations.

Unfold the Benefits of Using AI in Software Development

In the coming time, AI will become an inevitable aspect of software and application development. Combining intelligent AI tools and technologies like Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing, software developers will be able to code efficiently and release software faster. Big technology players have rolled out AI based software development tools, offering developers plugin features to enhance developers’ productivity and efficiency. And several AI companies (startups majorly) are offerings AI tools on a limited free trial basis. All this promises a massive adoption of AI- led software development methods, which will produce quality software at a lower cost.

Briefly, AI-enhanced software development is a good example of software development transformation rather than the replacement of developers. If you’re looking forward to customizing your business application or building a software from scratch, get in touch with us. We are a leading digital agency with expertise in custom AI-driven application development.