AI and automation: An untapped opportunity for software developers
Australia is firmly establishing itself as a leading software development hub, driven by a strong technology ecosystem that includes globally recognised brands like Canva and Atlassian, and solid government backing for innovation and digital growth.
As AI and automation increasingly become a focus of Australian business leaders, the nation is in the box seat to usher in a new era of software development and a new generation of developers.
However, the development opportunities around the convergence of AI and automation are still emerging and many are yet untapped.
One of the key challenges in traditional software development is the labour-intensive nature of coding and testing, which often leads to long development cycles and high operational costs. For instance, developing an enterprise grade application or software can take several months or even years to complete, depending on its complexity – a less-than-ideal situation when there is intense pressure to innovate and rapidly bring products or services to market.
For developers, AI-powered automation can turn months of development into weeks, days or even minutes. This is because AI-powered automation can sort, analyse and automate routine and repetitive coding tasks, allowing developers to focus on more complex and creative aspects of software design. This helps streamline workflows, reduce errors and improve productivity, making the development process more efficient and cost effective.
AI and automation are also playing a crucial role in addressing the skills shortage that has long plagued the Australian technology sector, with recent research highlighting a gap in specialised areas such as full-stack development, cybersecurity and data analysis.
In particular, where organisations face skills shortages in AI and automation development, tools such as the UiPath Studio Web - a web-based tool that enables users to build and test cross-platform automation across business, are crucial for improving the scope and efficiency of an enterprise delivery program.
This is great news for developers because, rather than business users approaching them with problems that require time-consuming and often routine coding solutions, the users can create their own workflows that feed into a broader enterprise strategy – which is led by the software development team. Tools like this can help to significantly elevate the role of software developers by providing additional governance and controls to balance end user development ideas with true software development.
There is also significant value for organisations to consider automated tools that support their entire software development life cycle, including testing.
For example, agentic automation possesses the intelligence and judgment to autonomously plan and execute intricate workflows. Agentic AI leverages the power of LLMs, machine learning techniques, and enterprise integration to accelerate decision-making and boost efficiency across organisations. AI agents can now handle complex, dynamic tasks that previously required human intelligence.
This includes automatically analysing vast amounts of data and code during the testing process to identify potential vulnerabilities and alert their human software development colleagues.
AI and automation will continue to lead the next generation of software development in Australia through tools that simplify the automation and development process and, in effect, broaden the talent pool of traditional developers in Australia.
These solutions are helping to push the industry toward a more efficient and innovation-driven future with unlimited possibilities of which we have only just begun to explore.
