Software Development And Marketing: A Harmonious Relationship

While corporate America continues to devote more and more resources to technology, analytics, security, and product development, the demand for skilled software designers is steadily increasing.

Not too long ago, if you wanted to call in a to-go order at a nearby restaurant, you would have had to pull out a phonebook (or open a web browser), look up the restaurant’s number, and actually phone in an order. Today, we can open a restaurant’s app on our phones, place an order, schedule a time for pickup or delivery, watch the delivery person inch closer to your house in real-time via GPS, and manage our rewards – all from our smartphones.

A massive amount of design and development goes into the software that makes convenient apps like these possible, intuitive, and efficient. A Master of Science in Software Development (MSSD) degree instills in students – or continuing education professionals – an armament of skills and hands-on experience that can impress employers.

Software design is in one way or another deeply interwoven into nearly every economic trend in 2017. Even industries that were traditionally skeptical of digitization are jumping onto the proverbial bandwagon when it comes to establishing a web presence, utilizing data analytics, and recalibrating their marketing campaigns to target customers where they are – online.

Some digital trends are more likely than others to excite hungry software developers because of the large amounts of development these trends will require to come to fruition. Development and marketing columnist Jim Yu covers the most active of these trends in his MarketingLand.com blog article, “The Modern-Day CMO: 7 Trends That Will Drive Digital Marketing Success”:

  • The majority of the buying process is now online.
  • Digital marketers are shifting their time, money, and resources to channels that attract and engage the right kinds of customers.
  • Marketers are better armed with insights from analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms.
  • Digital asset optimization is being used to draw customer searches toward company content.
  • Digital marketing revenue is being increased through the implementation of marketing technology stacks.
  • Businesses will gravitate toward marketing revenue centers. There, they will align with other organizations through common key performance indicators (KPIs).

The marketing technology stacks Yu refers to are essentially lists of software and services mapped out in a way that provides a polished, systematic guideline for marketing workflow.

Full-featured, efficient software is needed for each category of a company’s marketing technology stack, according to digital marketer and entrepreneur Ryan Ruud’s blog post, “A Marketing Technology Stack: Uncovered.” Software developers are responsible for developing, maintaining, and upgrading all of the software and services used for planning market strategies, attracting, converting, and nurturing customers, closing the deal and making a sale, and finally analytics and automation of processes.

More Than Just Programming

Software development refers to more than just games and office software nowadays. Programmers are needed for mobile apps, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, vehicles and industrial machinery, point-of-sale systems, customer rewards programs, navigation technology, entertainment, and AI algorithms customer designed for an infinite number of purposes.

Current students of an MS in Software Development degree program would be wise to learn as many applications of software development as possible, and as many programming languages as possible. Employers are looking for developers and programmers with a wide range of experience.

“[Recent] job postings suggest a rise in demand for developers and software engineers who can do more than just develop software,” says organizational performance expert Jean Martin in “3 Labor Market Trends All IT Leaders Need To Respond To,” on NetworkWorld.com. “This reflects leaders’ growing interest in IT staff who can develop holistic business solutions and waning interest in IT staff focused on narrowly defined (and easily outsourced) tasks.”

In short, a master’s degree is imperative to getting the right kind of development job, but just as important is a demonstration of ability and a sense of comfort around a number of development-related fields.

Onward and Upward

The benefits of software solutions are becoming more and more difficult to ignore for even the most stubborn businesses. “How Harley-Davidson Used Artificial Intelligence To Increase New York Sales Leads By 2,930%,” a 2017 case study on Asaf Jacobi’s Harley-Davidson dealership in New York City, appeared in Harvard Business Review.

Jacobi’s dealership was barely selling two motorcycles per week and was struggling to stay afloat. After meeting the CEO of AI firm Adgorithms, Or Shani, Jacobi agreed to a test run of Shani’s software. He then proceeded to sell 15 motorcycles the first weekend. After only three months, Jacobi’s sales leads had increased by nearly 3,000 percent.

The Jacobi Harley Davidson story is just one of many examples of how software developers are revolutionizing the entire marketing industry. Programmers will soon be sorely needed for cloud computing solutions, IoT interfacing and security, gaming consoles that are becoming powerful enough to replace PCs entirely, machine learning and deep learning algorithms for artificial intelligence functions, augmented reality and virtual reality programs, natural language processing (NLP), messaging bots, and of course, the growing data business.

Perhaps the major avenue for software developers will be in messaging bots, which are just beginning to make their foray into mainstream usage through Slack, Facebook’s Messenger, and several other messaging services. Bots are small AI programs within messaging apps capable of doing simple tasks, such as sending someone money, ordering movie tickets, booking a flight, or making dinner reservations.

“Slack expects that developers will use Botkit and the Slack API to write bots for the applications workers regularly consume,” explains tech writer Clint Boulton in his “How Messaging Bots Will Change The Workplace” on CIO.com. “But the future for these bots is far more interesting. As natural language processing improves, bots would ‘listen in’ on Slack users’ messaging conversations with colleagues and engage the worker, rather than the other way around.”

Maryville University’s Master of Science Degree in Software Development

Maryville University’s online MS in Software Development delivers a top-ranked, competitive education in development for computer programs, web applications, and cutting-edge technologies. Data structures, web applications, object-oriented coding, agile systems analysis, and advanced topics are thoroughly covered in this online post-graduate program. Graduates will be prepared to handle any marketing software development project that comes their way.

Contact Maryville University to learn more about software development and other online programs.

Sources:

The Modern-Day CMO: 7 Trends That Will Drive Digital Marketing Success – http://marketingland.com/modern-day-cmo-7-trends-will-drive-digital-marketing-success-162609
A Marketing Technology Stack: Uncovered – http://ryanruud.com/marketing-technology-stack/
3 Labor Market Trends All IT Leaders Need To Respond To – http://www.networkworld.com/article/3163004/leadership-management/3-labor-market-trends-all-it-leaders-need-to-respond-to.html
How Harley-Davidson Used Artificial Intelligence To Increase New York Sales Leads By 2,930% – https://hbr.org/2017/05/how-harley-davidson-used-predictive-analytics-to-increase-new-york-sales-leads-by-2930
How Messaging Bots Will Change The Workplace – http://www.cio.com/article/3027442/collaboration/how-messaging-bots-will-change-workplace-productivity.html

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