The growing Internet of Things movement continues to be one of the key technology trends over the past decade, and the numbers don’t lie: Gartner estimated that 8.4 billion devices would be connected in 2017, and it expects that IoT will grow to over 20 billion connected things by 2020. Concurrently, there are approximately 4.7 million developers in the world who can create these types of devices. This number has been expanding at a rate of around 3% per year, and that modest growth is expected to continue.

Based on these statistics, there is an evident increasing gap between the number of devices needed and developers available on the market, as the numbers of IoT devices and developers aren’t growing at the same pace (far from it). This results in an intriguing paradox: How can the few millions of software developers meet the demand for the billions of connected devices in the years to come?

The solution: Software development must become more efficient and user-friendly to make the IoT user experience comparably efficient and user-friendly. From your smart television at home to your connected car’s dashboard/infotainment system to your work email, all the way to the devices in hospital rooms across the world, well-designed and fully functioning IoT connectivity plays a critical role in a growing number of technology products we currently use in our everyday lives. Making software development more efficient will address the disproportionate growth between devices and developers and will result in getting IoT devices to market faster. In a world where everybody wants flashy and sleek-looking user interfaces (such as the ones found on their mobile devices), by leveraging more efficient software development, companies will be able to meet the ever-growing usability requirements while also delivering the stunning user experience that consumers and business users expect.

Today’s mobile phones, tablets and gaming systems have set the standard for user interfaces, and now users expect other everyday products to offer a user interface that is as comprehensive and easy to use. This is often easier said than done, as the in-vehicle infotainment systems in today’s passenger car can have over 100 million lines of code — a number that’s expected to triple in the future as the functionality of automotive software increases.

For developers, this device-versus-creator growth gap will lead to unwelcome outcomes such as prolonged development timeframes and work cycles, subpar product quality or an outright failure of a project. As a result, consumers and business users will face heavy delays in being able to get their hands on a product, as well as poor data security. This becomes a serious issue in industries such as health care, where the information and data within the IoT medical devices are highly sensitive and need to be kept confidential at all costs. And examples like these will be the consequences that become a reality if the unbalanced growth of IoT devices and developer continues to expand.

So, what can we do? It is unrealistic to expect developers to suddenly write 20 times more code than before — a skill that takes years to learn and even longer to master. Looking ahead, we will see the industry demand a more diverse workforce skill set increase. Currently, the development process includes both designers and developers — separate people with different specialties and levels of expertise. The designers create the look and feel in the form of a mockup first, which is then handed off to translate into an actual thing by the developers.

However, looking ahead, we will see an uptick in the availability of technology and tools that allow the design and creation steps to be completed by one person or different teams using the same development framework, thus making the software development process more efficient. This will reduce the development cycle, and that saved time can be used to focus on security, efficiency and help the IoT evolution continue with new innovative technologies, ranging from high-performance all-electric vehicles, to 3-D wound imaging, to eye-tracking and hand-gesture controls for people with disabilities. Furthermore, as the process becomes more efficient, not only will the consumer see their products come to market faster, but they will also see a decrease in the price of products or services.

In short, the number of IoT devices and the number of developers are not growing at the same pace, and to keep up with industry demand, software development must become more productive, dynamic and cost-effective. In 2018, we will see an increased industry demand for more diverse workforce skill sets that will allow developers to do more with less. This trend will allow products to get to market faster, reduce their costs and decrease their susceptibility to security hacks — three outcomes that benefit developers and users alike.