The Growing Demand for Faster Digital Transformation: How OutSystems is Enabling Businesses to Keep Pace

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Digital transformation is no longer just a buzzword; it’s a strategic necessity for businesses aiming to remain competitive in today’s fast-paced market. From enhancing customer experiences to improving operational efficiency, companies across industries are under increasing pressure to innovate quickly and adapt to the digital economy. However, many organisations are struggling to accelerate their transformation efforts due to legacy systems, slow development cycles, and high implementation costs.

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The solution? Low-code platforms like OutSystems, which empower businesses to build applications faster, modernise outdated systems, and drive digital innovation at an unprecedented pace.?

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In this article, we’ll explore why the demand for digital transformation is growing so rapidly, the key challenges businesses are facing, and how OutSystems is enabling organisations to meet these demands.

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Data Insights: The Accelerating Pace of Digital Transformation

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1. The Pandemic as a Catalyst ?

According to a McKinsey report, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital technologies by three to four years in many industries. Companies that were previously hesitant to adopt digital tools have now embraced digital transformation as a core business strategy.

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2. Demand for Speed ?

A survey by IDC found that 73% of CEOs believe their organisations must become significantly more digitised within the next two to three years to remain competitive. The pressure to innovate faster and adapt to changing market conditions is at an all-time high.

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3. Rising Customer Expectations ?

According to Salesforce, 88% of customers expect companies to accelerate digital initiatives, with faster, more personalised customer experiences now becoming the norm. Businesses that can’t meet these expectations risk losing customers to more agile competitors.

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Why Businesses Are Struggling to Keep Up with Digital Transformation

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1. Legacy Systems and Technical Debt

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Challenge: ?

Many organisations are weighed down by legacy systems that are difficult to modernise. These outdated technologies create bottlenecks, increasing costs, and slowing down the development of new digital solutions. At the same time, technical debt—accumulated over years of patchwork fixes—adds further complexity, making it difficult to implement digital transformation initiatives quickly.

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How OutSystems Solves It:?

OutSystems helps businesses incrementally modernise their legacy systems while reducing technical debt. Its low-code platform allows companies to build modern, scalable applications on top of existing infrastructure, enabling businesses to transition smoothly without the need for a costly and disruptive overhaul.

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Expert Insight:

Jane Roberts, CTO at Insurance Innovators ?

“We were stuck with an outdated claims management system that made digital transformation seem impossible. OutSystems allowed us to modernise incrementally, replacing key processes with new digital solutions while still integrating with our legacy system.”

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Best Practice: ?

Start with high-impact areas where legacy systems are causing the most friction—such as customer portals, payment systems, or back-office operations—and use OutSystems to develop modern applications that can easily integrate with your existing technology stack.

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2. Slow Development Cycles

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Challenge:

Traditional development models are slow and resource-intensive, making it difficult for businesses to respond quickly to changing market conditions. With long development cycles and complex coding requirements, businesses are finding it increasingly hard to keep up with the demand for faster digital transformation.

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How OutSystems Solves It:?

OutSystems dramatically reduces development time by providing a visual, drag-and-drop interface that allows developers to build fully functional applications without writing complex code. This means businesses can prototype, iterate, and deploy applications in a fraction of the time it takes using traditional development methods.

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Data Point:?

According to a Forrester TEI report, enterprises using OutSystems reported a 50-75% reduction in development time, enabling them to launch new digital initiatives much faster.

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Best Practice: ?

Leverage OutSystems for rapid prototyping of customer-facing applications, internal tools, or mobile solutions. By accelerating the development process, businesses can quickly test new ideas, gather user feedback, and iterate based on market demands.

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3. The Need for Agility in a Fast-Changing Market

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Challenge: ?

In today’s market, agility is essential. Businesses need to be able to pivot quickly in response to emerging trends, customer feedback, or disruptive technologies. However, traditional IT infrastructure and slow development cycles make it difficult for many companies to adapt to these changes in real-time.

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How OutSystems Solves It:

OutSystems is designed for agility. Its cloud-native architecture allows businesses to scale applications on-demand, while its low-code environment enables rapid updates and iterations. This flexibility empowers businesses to continuously innovate and adapt to market shifts without the delays associated with traditional development.

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Expert Insight: ?

Michael Lee, VP of Digital Strategy at Retail Solutions

“Before we adopted OutSystems, making even small changes to our ecommerce platform took weeks. Now, we can respond to market shifts in real-time, rolling out new features in a matter of days.”

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Best Practice: ?

Use OutSystems to build flexible, scalable applications that can evolve as your business grows. Focus on creating modular solutions that can be easily updated and expanded to meet changing business needs.

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The Business Impact of Faster Digital Transformation

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1. Increased Operational Efficiency

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Faster digital transformation enables businesses to automate manual processes, streamline operations, and eliminate inefficiencies. OutSystems allows organisations to build automation tools and internal applications that improve workflows and free up resources for higher-value tasks. Businesses using OutSystems have reported a 50% increase in operational efficiency, according to Gartner.

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2. Enhanced Customer Experience

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As customer expectations for seamless, digital-first interactions grow, businesses that can’t deliver risk losing market share. OutSystems enables companies to rapidly build customer-facing applications, such as mobile apps and self-service portals, that offer personalised, real-time experiences. Enterprises using OutSystems have seen a 40% improvement in customer satisfaction, according to a Salesforce survey.

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3. Faster Time-to-Market

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Speed to market is critical in today’s business landscape. Companies that can bring new products, features, or services to market faster have a distinct competitive advantage. OutSystems reduces development cycles, allowing businesses to launch new solutions faster and more efficiently. Companies using OutSystems have reported a 60% reduction in time-to-market, enabling them to stay ahead of competitors.

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Actionable Advice: How to Accelerate Your Digital Transformation with OutSystems

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1. Start with High-Impact Projects: ?

Begin by identifying the areas of your business that will benefit most from rapid digital transformation—such as customer engagement, internal operations, or mobile solutions. Use OutSystems to quickly build applications that address these high-priority areas.

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2. Focus on Integration: ?

Ensure that the applications you build with OutSystems integrate seamlessly with your existing technology stack. This will allow you to modernise incrementally while maintaining business continuity.

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3. Adopt an Agile Development Approach: ?

Use OutSystems to implement agile development methodologies, enabling your team to continuously iterate, test, and improve applications based on real-time user feedback.

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4. Leverage Automation: ?

Automate manual processes wherever possible to reduce costs and free up resources for innovation. Use OutSystems to build automation tools that streamline workflows and improve operational efficiency.

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Conclusion: Accelerating Digital Transformation with OutSystems

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The demand for faster digital transformation isn’t going away—it’s only increasing. As customer expectations grow, technology evolves, and markets shift, businesses need to be able to innovate quickly and adapt to new challenges. OutSystems provides the tools needed to accelerate digital transformation, modernize legacy systems, reduce development time, and stay competitive in a fast-changing world?

By leveraging OutSystems, businesses can break free from the constraints of traditional development models and unlock new opportunities for growth and innovation.

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Is your business keeping up with the demand for faster digital transformation??

We’d love to hear your experiences and challenges.

Share your thoughts in the comments or reach out to learn more about how OutSystems can help accelerate your digital transformation efforts.