An article by the vice president of system integration company NTT DATA, Raj Rao, on Wired.com highlights the challenges that software developers face in the age of "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD). With the proliferation of different devices, they can no longer get away with designing their software for a single browser or platform. This extends to business software solutions and the field of custom application development, as the BYOD attitude is increasingly ingrained in companies who allow or even encourage employees to access company information from their preferred devices.

This means that developers are forced by the market to ensure that their products are available on several operating systems and platforms, mobile or otherwise, or risk losing out to competitors who do a better job of working on cross-platform convenience. Rao notes that analytics have become a widely used resource among both developers and testers to detect their software's usage trends and reach conclusions about which areas to emphasize.

But the author also points out that just reading and drawing conclusions from existing data is not enough in the tech world, which is constantly in flux, with device and OS makers updating their products all the time and consumer preferences changing just as often. Future tendencies are notoriously hard to predict, and it is dangerous for a developer to try to guess how the market will respond to the release of a new smartphone, tablet or OS.

Small and medium-sized software companies need a powerful database tool to adequately process abundant information and detect emerging trends. A certified FileMaker developer can help businesses do just that by introducing them to software that works across a variety of platforms, allowing users to transition seamlessly from one to the other, whether they are at the office or working remotely. FileMaker training is also available for companies to learn how to expand their databases and never lag behind the competition.