Low Code Development: A Digital Transformation Catalyst

Low Code Development: A Digital Transformation Catalyst

If there were any doubts that digital transformation is vital for business enablement, the pandemic has swept them aside. The question is no longer: “should a business workflow be digital”, instead it is: “why is it not digital, yet?” and “how quickly can we make it digital?” The best companies want to go one step further: i.e., move beyond simply “digitalizing” their workflows to actually doing “digital transformation” by reimagining the workflows to take full advantage of digital technologies.

As companies scramble to digitize their business workflows, there is growing realization that the current application development paradigm – relying exclusively on expensive developer resources – simply can’t scale to the mammoth challenge in front of IT. 500 million new apps will be developed over the next 5 years, which is more than the total apps developed in the last 40 years! (Source: Microsoft). But, on the supply side – as anyone who has tried to hire recently knows – there is a severe shortage of qualified developers as evidenced by tech unemployment rate of 2.4%, and an average of 850K quarterly job openings. There is a clear demand and supply imbalance, which is likely to persist. We need a new way to design and develop business applications to keep up with the digital transformation imperative. Fortunately, there is a way.

Low Code/Zero Code

Low code/zero code development, also known as drag-and-drop coding, uses visual design elements to build applications with zero or minimal code. The concept has existed for many years, but was limited to trivial applications. However, the technology has evolved significantly and in combination with advances in cloud, APIs, data connectors, microservices, document processing, Robotic Process Automation, AI/ML etc. it is now possible to build fully functional and visually pleasing applications for a variety of business workflows with zero or minimal coding. Whether it’s a business application for invoice exception handling (Accounting), drug and alcohol testing compliance (HR), field workforce management (Sales and Service), these applications can now be developed with minimal coding.

The benefits are obvious:

1.?SPEED. As someone who’s spent many years preaching Agile and CI/CD to speed up getting from concept to business value, Zero/Low code’s promise to speed up development by up to 10x is especially attractive.

2.?Better QUALITY is another benefit because of two reasons:

a.?It eliminates scaffolding type coding errors inherent in lower-level programming languages.

b. It promotes early and frequent check-in with business users to avoid a mismatch of expectations.

3.?LOWER COSTS: Not only are development times up to 10x lower, companies don’t need their highest qualified/skilled developers for these apps. Through an intelligent mix of lesser skilled + citizen developers with part-time consultation from traditional high-skilled developers, companies can significantly reduce their labor costs.

Zero/Low code has arrived. It is imperative for IT departments everywhere to work towards defining a comprehensive strategy for leveraging Zero, Low code. There are several questions and considerations:

  • What capabilities to look for in a Zero, Low code platform?
  • What roles do APIs play in a Zero, Low code environment? Hint: APIs are a must.
  • Should companies standardize on one platform or multiple?
  • Which applications are suited for Zero, Low code tools?
  • How secure are Zero, Low Code applications?
  • How does RPA relate to Zero, Low code?
  • How tightly should IT control who can write zero-code applications? Should IT encourage or discourage citizen developers?
  • Is there a danger of uncontrolled sprawl of low code applications and how can companies manage it?

I plan to tackle these in future blog posts. Let me know your thoughts.

Carol Martinak

Information Technology; Management, Enhancement and Advancement

3 年

My initial response, broadly, is "yes", but dangling the carrot of "10x ... lower costs" sends up a little red flag (imho and my heart-of-hearts). APIs will lead the way - but if they are thrown together in a slapdash, cost-cutting manner way we will only be increasing technical debt that will come back to bite us in the you-know-what. I think it is better to be "agile" on the cost-cutting expectations and re-focus newly freed assets on the ability to enhance other areas that need tending to such as quality and security. Great article as food for thought. ??

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