Welcome To the World of No-Code Low-Code Automation
In the previous episode of the Citizen Development Now newsletter I discussed who can use no-code low-code platforms, what kind of applications you can build with no-code low-code, and how you can become more competitive using no-code low-code. This week I will discuss the technology of the future, 5 tips to advance your digital transformation journey, a practical example: no-code low-code software (NCLC) and the legal industry, and 3 popular NCLC use cases in the legal industry.
The technology of the future: low-code automation
The introduction of low-code no-code automation has been a pure relief for most industries. Low-code no-code automation breaks down barriers and empowers teams of any skill level to manage IT operations seamlessly. The concept of low-code/no-code automation is rapidly gaining traction across just about every industry. In fact, Gartner states that 75% of large enterprises will be using not just one but at least four low-code development tools by as early as 2024.
What makes low-code automation so critical today?
It’s completely understandable that 75% of large enterprises will be using at least four low-code development tools by 2023, particularly when you consider the many business benefits this type of automation has to offer. Some benefits of low-code/no-code automation are:
To get the most out of these benefits, it's important to know what to look for in your ideal no-code low-code platform . For companies it’s important to look specifically for products that offer the following key, fundamental features:
Fast time to market
One of the primary benefits of no-code low-code automation is its ease of use. With this ease of use, there is little to no learning curve. This ensures that your advanced automation tools can be up and running as soon as possible
Prebuilt workflows
Again, the ease of use plays an important role here. With the already prebuilt workflows, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. The more prebuilt, plug-and-play templates, the better. This will contribute to rapid deployment and quick returns.
Seamless integration
Easy integration with other tools and software is very important for complementing and elevating your existing infrastructure. A platform that integrates easily with other tools and software will enable you to orchestrate complex workflows that involve multiple systems.
Scalability
Most organizations list growth as a long-term goal. There’s no point in investing in an automation platform if it’s not capable of supporting your needs as your company expands. Organizations should look for a solution that can comfortably handle a significantly high volume of incidents, workflows, and activities on demand.
Self-service capability
Not only can low-code/no-code help bridge the talent gap by making automation accessible to varying skill levels, but it can also help free up the IT team by empowering end users to fulfill IT requests independently, without requiring the involvement of the service desk.
5 tips for IT leaders regarding automation
As mentioned before, automation and business processes are almost inseparable these days. Whether your organization is in the earliest phases of an automation initiative or an “automate everything” organization or somewhere in between, I’ve written five pieces of advice to help.?
Begin incremental, become strategic
A key piece of automation’s appeal is that it can very much be done incrementally: An automatic e-mail here, an automated web app vulnerability scan there – at whatever pace your capabilities allow for. On the other hand, Your strategy should be agile and flexible enough to pivot when things aren’t going well. This makes the incremental approach a good fit.
Treat ROI as cumulative and compounding
Successful organizations obsess over ROI for a reason: If you spend a lot of money on hiring, technology, training, or any other dimension of your business, you want to be able to see (and hopefully celebrate) the results. The advice? Take the long view with automation ROI, especially if your implementation is incremental.
Develop automation and data skills everywhere
Automation is everywhere (or soon will be in) in the modern organization. The advent of things like NCLC tools that make it easier for automation to spread and even start outside of IT doesn’t diminish this need – it accelerates it since long-term automation success will depend on a wide variety of people who understand the inputs and outputs of increasingly automated workflows.
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Treat data management as more than a technical matter
An often-overlooked challenge in automation is the efficient, secure, and ethical management of data – especially for enterprises in highly regulated industries like financial services. Prioritizing security, compliance, and removing potential data biases is crucial. Good data management is about creating clear guidelines and upskilling employees for increased data literacy.?
Understand how data flows through your organization
Someone has to have that higher level view, and understand where the potential bottlenecks of the automated system are. Make sure there is one place where this can be seen, and one place for the organization to go for the resolution of any new challenge.
A practical example: NCLC has found its way into the legal industry
One of the industries where NCLC is gaining a lot of popularity is the legal industry. More and more companies in this industry are starting to see the benefits of NCLC and that is more than logical. According to Gartner :
By 2025, legal departments will increase their spending on technology threefold.
Yes, you read that right. Threefold! The spending on legal technology has already increased 1.5 times from 2.6% of in-house budgets in 2017 to 3.9% in 2020. The prediction is that legal technology spending will increase to approximately 12% of in-house budgets by 2025, a threefold increase from 2020 levels.?
By 2024, legal departments will replace 20% of generalist lawyers with nonlawyer staff.
From 2018 to 2020, the percentage of legal departments with a legal operations manager (responsible for technical staff) grew from 34% of legal departments to 58%. But this is not the only thing that is changing. Some departments at large enterprises are increasing the percentage of in-house specialist full-time employees (FTEs) to replace law firm expertise and control costs.?
By 2025, corporate legal departments will capture only 30% of the potential benefit of their contract life cycle management investments.
Legal departments that choose to follow a “big bang” approach and implement advanced contract life cycle management (CLM) solutions and features will limit success and ultimately accomplish only a fraction of the expected value. To get the best return on CLM investments, build a deliberate, practical plan for CLM technology adoption by investigating, documenting, and prioritizing desired business outcomes and the necessary operational capabilities to achieve them.?
Which three NCLC tools are most popular in the legal industry??
Legal technology is empowering people in the legal industry, not replacing them. Legal tech exists to empower employees in this industry to do their job to the best of their ability. There are a lot of possibilities when it comes to NCLC solutions for the legal industry. Down below you can find the three most popular applications in the legal industry.
Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) Generator
The first popular application in the legal industry is the NDA Generator . An NDA (confidentiality agreement or confidential disclosure agreement) is a binding contract where all signing parties make a mutual agreement to keep specific information confidential. This can be confidential information regarding employment or service, purchase or sale, invention or patent, etc. NDAs are crucial, but a time-heavy and complex responsibility for legal departments.
Customer Knowledge Base
The second popular application in the legal industry is the Customer Knowledge Base . Providing clients with relevant information, answers, and guidance on a wide variety of legal topics is a key responsibility amongst law firms and departments. In most firms, this service is provided through a reactive business model, where clients requiring information or support are required to go through various channels to gain access to a legal professional or customer service team. This process is time-consuming, repetitive, inefficient, and not scalable. Through the creation of a Customer Knowledge Center, your firm establishes a digitized self-service solution based on recurring and relevant issues, questions, and topics amongst your client base. Become proactive in your customer support, and elevate and optimize your customer experience with a Customer Knowledge Center.?
Know Your Customer (KYC)
The last popular application that will be discussed in this newsletter is the Know Your Customer . Know Your Customer (KYC) is a process of performing background checks and verifying the identities of the companies and individuals you are looking to do business with. A KYC method ensures the identity verification, potential risk profiles, financial profiles, and any potentially illegal activities of your proposed clients. This is crucial for any law firm or department to mitigate any customer risk. Performed manually, background validation and checks are time-consuming, lengthy, and complex processes involving various employees collecting, searching through, and validating large amounts of external information and internal policies. Digitizing and optimizing customer identity verification, thus, is a top priority for legal firms.
Wrapping up
No-code low-code application tools are indispensable and more and more industries are starting to see this. Automation only works optimally if IT leaders are well prepared for the process. This applies to both large and small companies. The ultimate benefits of no-code low-code automation tools are endless. This newsletter lists the three most popular applications in the legal industry. In total there are hundreds of different no-code low-code applications to be found around the world of automation. Legal tech makes companies work smarter and innovate faster.?
Automation tools are integrated into business and I’m sure they will never disappear. I’m still very excited to see what the NCLC future will bring us. subscribe and stay tuned for the next newsletter to learn more about citizen development, low-code no-code platforms, and digital transformation.