During a web conference outlining IDC’s tech industry predictions for the coming year, analyst Frank Gens made several forecasts and recommendations related to enterprise application development teams. “What we predict is that by 2018, enterprises with [digital transformation] initiatives, which is going to be most of you on the phone, will at least double the size of your developer teams,” he said. “And it won’t stop here. It’s not just about doubling the size, it’s about what those developers are doing. We believe that two-thirds of those developers will be focused on business innovation, as opposed to today where less than a third of developers are often focused on business innovation.”
Gens also said, “Recruiting and retaining the best developers in your industry must be a top-five strategy for CEOs.” And he predicted a surge in cognitive computing, saying, “Our prediction is that by 2018, at least 50 percent of developer teams will embed cognitive services into their apps and services.”
