Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2024. Read them in this 16th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Generative AI’s Role in Software Development, Cybersecurity Woes, and Pro-Code Adoption
By Shiva Nathan, Founder and CEO, Onymos
2023 was a busy year for the technology industry. Companies began experimenting with generative AI, others grappled with cybersecurity issues, and many enterprises sought to optimize their development processes.
Conversations around these same topics will continue to drive tech trends in 2024 – both in good and not-so-good ways.
AI/ML Budgets will skyrocket
Generative AI has been in the spotlight since the beginning of 2023. Code generators and large language models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, have the potential to be transformative, but these technologies are still in their infancy. Corporate, venture, and government spending in the AI/ML space will increase as these organizations race to get ahead of their rivals or look innovative. Enterprises will expend a great deal of effort on AI experiments without clear use cases or specific end goals. Many new “AI products” will ship too early, without proper testing.
A Myriad of Cybersecurity Challenges Will Plague Enterprises
Because AI/ML products need to be trained on such vast amounts of data and the frequency of security incidents involving vendor compromise, organizations will become more conscious of data ownership.
Firstly, when it comes to data, ownership, access, and privacy the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model itself may be tech’s biggest security challenge. Enterprises will need to prioritize understanding all of the SaaS solutions they are deploying within their business and how those solutions are using their data. What they will find might surprise them. When third-party software and service providers have access to an enterprise’s data, that not only exposes a new attack surface for threat actors, but their so-called partners might use that data for their own projects, like what we saw happen with Zoom and its controversial terms of service update.
Secondly, the “Internet of Threats” will continue to expand, spurred on by the increased usage of IoT and IoMT devices. These devices are attractive targets for attackers due to the volume of sensitive data they process. The complexity of these systems makes them difficult to secure effectively. Awareness of these issues is growing rapidly, and in 2024 we will see more enterprises performing comprehensive audits of their IoT ecosystems and their access points to identify vulnerabilities.
Lastly, the journey to passwordless will continue. For years, the technology industry has been touting that a passwordless future is right around the corner. That future has yet to come to fruition despite incremental progress being made. While the industry itself understands that cybercriminals are growing more sophisticated and that the effectiveness of the traditional “email and password” combination is lessening, users themselves have been slow to adopt new login options. In the year to come, we will see software and application providers continue to integrate new login methods (like Fido passkeys) into their offerings. Enterprises, in particular, will begin to make greater use of them.
The Adoption of Pro-Code Will Rise as Limitations of Low-Code/No-Code Tools Become Apparent
We all know the benefits low-code/no-code provides enterprises, but it also has a laundry list of limitations. After over a decade of development, low-code/no-code tools are still not preferred by software engineers working on complex tasks. It certainly has not replaced them. That’s why, in 2024, we will see enterprises begin to encourage their development teams to adopt pro-code technologies, including AI ones, that offer more flexibility and customization options compared to low-code/no-code. These technologies prioritize and enable experts – software developers, not non-technical users – to tailor them to their specific needs and rapidly build complex applications.
Looking ahead, enterprises must consider several factors if they want to achieve success and optimal efficiency in 2024. It is essential for them to recognize the fundamental importance of human input and involvement in software development, despite the initial potential demonstrated by generative AI. Regarding cybersecurity, enterprises must assess their entire security landscape, encompassing third-party software vendors, data ownership, IoT ecosystems, and login methods. Additionally, they should strongly consider new pro-code technologies that emphasize developer enablement and DevX.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A seasoned technology executive and entrepreneur, Shiva Nathan draws upon his experience as a software innovator to empower businesses to reach their mobile-first digital goals. He currently serves as the Founder and CEO of Onymos, creator of the world’s first Features-as-a-Service platform. As the former head of Intuit’s Platform & Services organization, his organization defined the cloud-hosted services-based unified technology platform that Intuit’s line of products like TurboTax and Quickbooks leveraged. He has also held technical and leadership positions at Oracle and CA. He understands what it takes to build robust, powerful apps that serve a broad customer base-and how to avoid the roadblocks that can get in the way.
