Looking at the direction of software not from a business use case, but from the end users’ perspective.
Forecasts about enterprise applications, emerging technologies, and cloud spending indicate a healthy outlook. But what does the hunch say.
Emerging Technologies
AI has gained traction and perhaps the most profound infrastructure since the introduction of electricity. AI is expected to be used as an augmentation system in most workflows. Rather than targeting corporate white-collar roles, it has the potential to upend the social infrastructure of education and healthcare.
Every software application will have AI assistants, and Embodied AI will expand AI to all industries.
Crypto/Web3 can have more potential uses in B2B and supply chain management rather than financial instruments. Just look at how SAP Blockchain showcases the most compelling use cases for the industry.
Mixed Reality/Metaverse (Virtual and Augmented Reality) will gain traction as a niche business application, rather than being limited to games or recreation. MR can power high-resolution video conferencing, embedded learning and development, remote operations control panels, and medical therapies.
Peter Diamandis validated many of my assumptions regarding disruption in education and healthcare industries.
Business Software
ERP, CRM, SCM, and PLM are four cornerstones of any enterprise (as per Pawan Goenka). With efforts to diversify global supply chains away from China, Manufacturing Resource Planning will gain prominence. Business applications, especially ERP, need to be implemented across industries.
Upstarts in business software have ample opportunities to drive digital transformation, with a blue ocean of industry cohorts untouched until now. The emerging technologies will enrich business use cases. Rather than a slick user experience, business software is a distribution problem.
Open Source
I strongly feel that the locus of open source has shifted to hardware! Open source remains as tooling and infrastructure components in the software domain but has diminishing utility in the application space. It’s the era of open source to liberate computing hardware.
Year of Linux Desktop
Open source zealots have been waiting for the year of the Linux desktop, but computing has shifted with Linux everywhere. The Year of Linux on the desktop has also arrived with Google Chromebook, though zealots may disagree. Google has made Linux dominant with its infrastructure and products. Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon have also contributed immensely, not just IBM, to make Linux pervasive in computing.
Super-empowerment
Software can be the medium for super-empowerment for individuals and groups/orgs and not nefarious means.
Design & Creatives
Design encompasses a vast domain, from industrial to services and usage with computing. Generative AI has begun to make an impact for creative production.
Barriers to web design can be lowered by fusing GenAI with the page making and layout paradigm of Adobe InDesign and Scribus. Imagine a WYSIWYG React Live Editor and templates. The WordPress Site Editor shows what’s possible on the web. Yet, WordPress does not have a dedicated text wrapping feature in blocks. Canva realized the power of templatizing…
Templatizing
Canva pioneered the power of templating, and Adobe Express followed suit. Every kind of consumer and business software will benefit from the templating trend combined with AI assistants.
Marketing Technology
In the present era of the connected economy, assume the Internet to be a giant marketplace. Be it the open web or walled gardens dominated by social networking platforms, the Internet is a giant marketplace of ideas or other value-creating content. Most marketing occurs online, and think of marketing as modular components with a composable architecture. Instead of top-down, integrated marketing suites, you will gain more from a bottom-up and modular approach. Data privacy and liberation are major themes.
Service Dominant Logic applies prominently to the software industry, service or product.
Software needs to be sold well. Remember, business software is a distribution problem. From small-time, niche applications to SaaS, software sales benefits from following a services’ economy model, as shown by the size of AWS sales team. Sales will go through a sea change with AI, notwithstanding, amid a restructuring in Google.
Patterns of Connected World
Patterns of using the internet have changed. Entities on internet have not just to focus on market share but mind share. The algorithmic media consumption pattern favors the superstar influencers rather than commoner publishers.
Algorithms as social platforms keep shifting the Overton window.
The online business follows the offline business pattern of consolidation with oligopolies. Open source and API-first protocols aim to level the playing field for small players, but the meta patterns of economics unlikely to be dented.
There’s a reason why internet businesses need to advertise in offline media.
Data Sovereignty/Ownership & Web Apps
Data acts as fuel and blood with profound impact on legal frameworks, regulatory measures and business models. The recent NYT suit on OpenAI will set a precedent.
Web Apps
Amid the internet as a giant marketplace, websites have diminished mindshare compared to social media apps. On the web, think as web applications rather than standalone websites.
Analytics
Python libraries have empowered almost every business to be enabled in data science, business intelligence and analytics. Jupyter notebook is a breeze for interactive computing to being data-driven. Tools like Metabase (available as open source) and Domo have empowered BI usage, without much ruminating in RDMS tools.
Self-service tools like Alteryx and KNIME (available as open source) stand out with visual workflows. Data Science and Analytics tools will grow non-stop across industries. BI will increasingly converge with process mining tools like Celonis.
My Favorite App right now
My personal favorite software currently is the ReadEra app. Convenient and on the phone to check saved documents anywhere.
eforgings 
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