Five best practices for building a modern app

What would we do without software applications? Today, we depend on them to communicate, calculate, write, learn, buy, entertain, and plan. They have transformed our experiences via the web and smartphones and are now creating new digital experiences through wearables, voice assistants, and chatbots.

The year 2019 set a record with 204 billion mobile app downloads for that year. 1 I guess 2020 will see even better adoption from Gen Z as they start using computers and owning smartphones.

That’s why every business—from the largest enterprise to a two-member startup—is investing in modern, engaging software applications. But what is a “modern app,” and why is it important for your business? Let us look at five components that shape how such an app is created and delivered.

Being “born” digital: Applications that are created, delivered, and maintained on the cloud are entirely digital. The cloud becomes the reliable backend of such an app, which provides easy access to computational power storage, and networking. The cloud also allows these apps to manage variations in data volumes and drive the reliability of operations.

Custom-built private data centers are not only expensive but also ineffective in delivering new dimensions of speed and reliability of operations. Until recently, virtual machines were the key components in cloud architecture to run applications, but today many cloud infrastructure-as-a-service providers also offer Kubernetes containers to enhance speed and agility of applications.

For businesses that have already invested in private data centers, I would recommend shifting to a public or hybrid cloud architecture to be able to bridge gaps in infrastructure seamlessly.

Putting open source first: The open-source community is leading the way in offering innovative software development that is free. By being a part of this community, developers need not reinvent the wheel to code applications.

Free app development frameworks, the low cost of ownership, better code, and access to the larger community of developers are some of the compelling advantages of open source. In a recent survey on open source, it was revealed that 68 per cent of respondents felt that the open-source community is friendly and inclusive.

As developers increasingly embrace open-source software, disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence will also become more widely used. The open-source market is forecasted to exceed USD32 billion by 2023.2 Apps that embrace open-source software can be developed faster and cheaper while also being more secure and resilient.

Going cloud-native: Architectural principles such as modularity, containerization, microservices, and API-driven communication need to be at the core of app development. These principles are key to driving an app’s agility, quality, and security. Known as cloud-native applications, they are loosely coupled, scale easily, and are designed for both cloud and on-premise infrastructures.

Leveraging automation: Automation of the app development process can fast track development and minimize cost and effort. Today, a few cloud infrastructure providers offer automated tools to spin up servers and infrastructure as needed. They also offer automated workflows that simplify the steps needed from app coding to roll out. Although many developers love automation, they also must have the ability to turn off automation and code underlying processes when needed.

Staying DevOps independent: What if DevOps was inbuilt into a developer’s app development process, and he/she did not need special skills and teams to drive agility and shorter development cycles? This aspiration can become a reality if developers choose the right cloud provider. Whether developers are rapidly prototyping a new app or creating and maintaining a fully scalable app for the world to enjoy, it should be as painless and straightforward as possible.

Today, in an era where Gen Z, a mobile-first generation, has become the largest audience cohort for most businesses, prioritizing the app experience has become key. It is especially more significant when we consider the fact that just the Apple app store has over two million downloadable apps currently. For new apps to stand out in this ocean called the app economy, they need a resilient and reliable cloud platform to cater to the modern, digital expectations of speed, scale, and simplicity.

By Prabhakar Jayakumar, Country Director, India – DigitalOcean