Platform engineering hampered by development needs

Many organizations rely on platform engineering to introduce automation, self-service capabilities, and streamlined workflows into software development.

But a new report from Forrester for digital experience specialist the Qt Group finds that 63 percent of embedded software from organizations with a platform engineering strategy is still created using custom, ad hoc solutions.

This is despite 65 percent of respondents seeing their platform engineering as the foundation upon which embedded software is built, with ongoing efforts to enhance capabilities and increase automation and use case coverage. 93 percent of company leaders also support platform engineering strategies.

The top business benefits they associate with platform engineering include improved end-customer experience (68 percent), enhanced compliance with industry standards and security (56 percent), improved brand identity (57 percent) and workflow efficiency (54 percent) due to streamlined workflows that help maintain a consistent look and functionality across products.

However, 49 percent of developers struggle to balance reusability of standardized, high-quality components. 51 percent say it's hard to work across devices, operating systems, hardware and form factors, 44 percent say embedded systems lack unified UI/UX design processes for accessibility and inclusivity, and 41 percent say cross-functional collaboration is hard across design, development, testing, and deployment.

In addition 43 percent say they struggle to maintain self-service capabilities with the need to adapt platforms to various use cases, hardware, and software solutions.

"We have noticed a gap in the market between the perceived maturity of platform engineering strategies and actual benefits derived from them. Too much work is still being done manually to address the specific needs, whether it be in sectors like medtech, automotive, or industrial automation," says Juhapekka Niemi, executive vice president at Qt Group. "Platforms should be designed to support change, integrate with evolving technology, and work across a variety of hardware and software platforms. Leveraging a flexible, scalable, and quality-assured framework is key -- as is using optimized cross-platform components that are easily deployable. This has been Qt's guiding principle for many years, and it's why we've seen many customers leverage the Qt Framework as the cornerstone of their platform strategy."

Because embedded development requires diverse specialized skills, 50 percent of respondents say talent shortages are the top barrier to better platform strategies. Other key issues include difficulty integrating legacy platforms (49 percent) and cultural resistance from product teams (34 percent).

Over 52 percent of embedded teams with a platform engineering strategy prioritize dedicated, best-of-breed tools that seamlessly work together with existing tech. Yet just 35 percent prioritize all-in-one, end-to-end capabilities.

You can get the full report from the Qt Group site.

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