CONTAINER 5
Applications Unleashed

Meshed, Headless, Talkative

Where we are

After riding the generative AI hype train, it’s time to put the spotlight back on applications — the workhorses of enterprise innovation. Agile, lightweight apps are taking center stage alongside the next wave of modernized enterprise software, both custom-built and packaged. But the canvas is shifting. Today’s applications might not just live in the cloud; they could reside on edge devices, or even within robots. Of course, generative AI hasn’t left the stage — it’s now a must-have in every software engineer’s toolkit, boosting productivity and adding that ‘AI cherry on top.’ The challenge? Building smarter, greener, and resource-savvy applications ready to thrive in a tech landscape that’s anything but static. Time to unleash the apps and break the mold.

Thilo Hermann

Expert in Residence

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Applications Unleashed

Trends

Honey, I Shrunk the Applications

Next-generation agile applications, built on the concepts of microservices, API-first, cloud-native, and headless (MACH), make up an applications portfolio that is cradled by AI and delivered via developer platforms

When Code Goes Know

Pair programming with an AI assistant boosts coding productivity and quality; it also accelerates learning curves — if you know what you’re doing

Little Green App

Applications engineered to be less demanding in terms of resources and energy with superior performance are more sustainable, but also are of higher quality

Chat is the New Super App

AI-augmented chatting and talking in plain, natural language becomes the new app to rule them all

What's new

App = A Robot

Robots are no longer just machines — they’re programmable, intelligent agents, adding new dimensions and opportunities to the craft of software engineering

3 Steps to Take

Make AI an integral part of applications.
Rethink enterprise boundaries
Expand applications to embrace robotics.

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