The web development landscape has been a turbulent battleground for trending technologies and best practices for several years now. Developers have had to embrace new methods and best practices in order to meet the surging demand for mobile responsiveness, increased website speeds, and integration of artificial intelligence into websites and web applications.
Our first steps into 2020 show that these trends will continue to influence the website development industry, alongside several other trends that have emerged in response to online behaviors and the evolution of modern business requirements. TechArk, a Norfolk-based web design and software development company, has taken a detailed look at three of the most important emerging trends in web development today: integration of voice search capabilities, AI driven chatbots shaping and challenging customer service standards, and the vital role AI will play in the future of cybersecurity.
The Rising Influence of Voice Search On Search Engines
There has been a clear shift to the use of voice for interacting with mobile devices, especially in the 18-24 year old demographic. In a 2018 survey, consultant firm PwC asked respondents how often they used their voice to interact with voice assistants in various tasks, and their answers show the growing power of voice in technology.
Source: PwC Consumer Intelligence Series: Voice Assistants Survey, 2018
With users increasingly reliant on mobile devices and in-home voice-activated devices to access search engines, developers have focused on creating capable AI-driven voice recognition algorithms. This focus on voice-based technology has also pushed website development professionals to ensure the sites they are building are optimized for voice search capabilities. This requires a number of steps to be taken in the development process.
- Because most of the voice searches are being executed on mobile devices, a website must be built to be mobile responsive.
- In order to maximize a website’s placement in voice search results, leverage tools like voice search recognition APIs.
- Research best practices for achieving the coveted Google zero position, placing your content in the featured snippet box for answers to user search inquiries.
- Design page layouts to support content that provides value and that answers questions your target audience might be asking in a natural, conversational way, as this is more in-line with the voice searches being conducted.
- Structure pages of the website around the now voice-driven customer journey from query to conversion.
Let Chatbots Handle the Frontlines of Customer Service
The reliance on voice searches and natural language inquiries fuels not only the growth of speech-based search, but has also been a key factor in the rise of the chatbot as a tool developers can deploy to handle customer inquiries in sales and customer service. This is especially useful with more and more consumers using voice-search on both mobile devices and voice-activated home-assistants such as the Amazon Echo. In this conversational commerce realm, chatbots become crucial tools for converting sales and retaining customers beyond the normal operating hours of the business. The buying experience becomes more targeted and personal, as the big data behind the chatbot ensures customers receive the shopping experience that’s right for them, while helping businesses better manage inventories and save money by minimizing personnel costs.
Cybersecurity Experts Lean On Artificial Intelligence to Shift Tactics from Reactionary to Preventative
Consumers are not the only ones taking advantage of the constantly online culture that comes with modern technology. The rise in data breaches and leaks shows that hackers don’t keep to a schedule, and cybersecurity professionals are looking to better secure company data by leveraging AI in the website development process in order to shift the cybersecurity response standard from reactionary and historical to preventative and constant. The modern shift from onsite IT management to cloud-based technologies makes this shift to automated and preventative AI systems focused on site security more affordable and scalable for businesses large and small, and we should expect to see more managed IT service providers including automated cybersecurity systems in web development moving into and beyond 2020.
On the Cutting Edge of Web Development Technologies in 2020
Whether you’re a small business located in or around the Norfolk metropolitan area, or an enterprise operation with multiple locations across the world, TechArk’s global team of experts can help. Our team of graphic design, software engineering, and digital marketing experts can support your organization in discovering the solutions your organization needs to compete in an ever-evolving online landscape. When it comes to web development, we’re ready to provide future-proof solutions that will take your organization into 2020 and beyond.
