The Hype Cycle for the Future of Enterprise Applications

As early as 2019, IDC^[1] outlined a possible future path for Digital Transformation, defining the new era as “Multiplied Innovation”, where technologies like Blockchain, IoT, and AI would rapidly spread and together revolutionize markets.

This prediction has come true—or rather, is coming true—as companies are during a race to adopt the most innovative technologies, given their significant potential to improve performance.

The endpoint (or the beginning of a new historical phase) of the entire Digital Transformation journey will be Autonomous Systems. Autonomy is a mantra well-known to CIOs and Software Managers, as since the spread of digital technologies, they have aimed to create enterprise applications to automate as many processes as possible. Today, they want to integrate AI to make systems intelligent and support staff in every activity. 

Choosing the right technology to adopt is no easy task, as it will have a medium/long-term impact, especially considered by Gartner  that, “80% of IT systems in companies are between 4 and 20 years old”^[2].

One key aspect to consider when selecting technology vendors is whether their products and services align with the evolution outlined by industry experts, which is driven by market demands. 

The Hype Cycle

The Gartner® Hype Cycle™ for the Future of Enterprise Applications, 2024^[3],is, in our view, very clear in describing the technologies the market is focusing on and what enterprise application leaders should prioritize. 

Gartner states, "Applications are moving from being mere tools that support process execution to becoming systems of intelligence that deliver algorithmic process optimization and AI-based decision making. Because of these developments, enterprise application leaders are challenged to take the long-term view on their CRM, digital workplace, ERP, and supply chain management portfolios. They know that they need to start introducing innovation today without disrupting the foundational capabilities already deployed to secure the future of their enterprise applications strategy." 

From our perspective and experience in developing enterprise applications, we can identify several trends in the Hype Cycle: 

• More Intelligence, since Gartner states "Intelligent Application time to Plateau^[4] is 2-5 yrs”, because "AI is the current competitive play for enterprise applications, with many technology providers now enabling AI in their products via inbuilt, added, proxied or custom capabilities."
   
• More Digitization and Automation, since Gartner states "Digital Twins time to Plateau is 2-5 yrs", and also "Hyperautomation, time to Plateau is 2-5 yrs” and “This innovation has seen a resurgence in interest and demand since the fervor for generative AI (GenAI) that launched in November 2022."
   
• More Decentralization:Gartner states “Cloud ERP for Global Enterprises Time to Plateau is 2-5 years” and “Cloud-Native Time to Plateau is 5-10 years” since “Cloud-native means something created to optimally leverage or implement cloud characteristics.” 


• Simpler Customization, since Gartner states “Time to Plateau is 2-5 years for No-Code Platform” and “No-code platform is a class of development technologies targeted for and used by business users (aka citizen technologists) to create business solutions without interacting with any code.”

Introducing Innovation Today with Low-Code

While No-Code Platforms will only become widespread in the coming years, today, No-Code technology allows for the creation of tactical, not strategic, applications—especially since they are not very complex and, above all, No-Core systems. 

Low-Code platforms like WebRatio Platform, on the other hand, are already a well-established reality. The positive impact of Low-Code on development is widely recognized, as it enables corporate IT to create true enterprise applications, even highly complex and Business-Critical ones. 

Developing new applications or modernizing existing ones with WebRatio Platform means moving precisely in the direction of greater digitization, automation, intelligence, decentralization, and simplicity of customization described above, as demonstrated by recent updates in AI and the latest intelligent solutions developed. 

Access to the interviews about the WebRatio Platform’s Low-Code >

Sources

[1] https://www.pcmag.com/news/idc-multiplied-innovation-will-feed-digital-transformation-over-the-next

[2] Gartner Peer Community, What is the average age of your IT systems?

[3] Gartner®, Hype Cycle for the Future of Enterprise Applications, by Tad Travis, Stephen Emmott, 1 August 2024. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and HYPE CYCLE is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

[4] Plateau of productivity, where “Real-world benefits of an innovation are demonstrated and accepted. Tools and methodologies are increasingly stable. The final height of the plateau varies according to the innovation's applicability.” Ad Gartner states.