Packaging applications play a vital role in the software management industry. It’s a process that can help personalise applications and allow them to function optimally. In essence, it’s about making customised features for the main components of an application. But, the landscape is changing, with newer formats, new workflows, and newer focuses.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the major trends within the industry.
PACE Suite
Pace Suite is an intelligence application that helps build an optimal software environment. In recent years, PACE Suite has grown in popularity, with pace packaging seen as a way to cut improve efficiency and ultimately, improve quality assurance. The PACE Packager Hub has become a common workflow solution to manage teamwork, processes, and even customer servicing.
PACE Suite uses automation to achieve a high-quality packaging service. Automating the processes means that there will be both fewer errors as well as achieving a faster release. Customer support by professional packagers is also a huge benefit, outsourcing such a time-intensive service that is crucial to brand reputation.
New Generation Package Formats
For years now, MSI, ConfigMgr, and App-V have dominated in regard to package formats. But recently, MSIC and Intune have been making up ground, showing there may be a shift in which package formats will be most common in the future.
With a streaming-based implementation, MSIX is far ahead when it comes it being a modern application. It has better disk space optimization, better safety of deployment, and more air-tight security.
This isn’t to say there aren’t limitations, though. MSIX perhaps isn’t ready to fully replace MSI packages, but it will only be a matter of time before they do.
Quality assurance
As mentioned with the PACE Suite focus, quality assurance is increasingly valued. The installation process is vital in having error-free software, and this testing is all the more important before the package is made. Using tools and automation to achieve better quality assurance is a trend that will continue.
Automation
What most of the above trends are grounded in is automation. The automation of IT processes has, of course, become a central trend in most industries. Automation was soon employed for application processes, but now it’s being leveraged for the packaging, too.
Automation is less used for companies that take more control over their own packaging, whilst those that outsource and rely on SaaS are reaping more of those benefits. In the long run, it is safer to use automated packaging solutions, as well as is quicker to reach the stage where it’s ready for deployment. This is particularly common with low-code developers, of course.
Automation also creates standardisation, making it cleaner and easier to update. It can centralise the work too when dealing with multiple packages, as opposed to having many different unique processes for each.
Final Word
Companies are always looking for ways to cut corners, cut costs, and improve efficiency. It gets a bad rap, but it’s the key driver of innovation and competition. Better consumer-packager interactions are important for customer satisfaction and will remain a focus just as much as automating the workflow.
