With an ongoing shortage of software developer and data science talent globally, companies are scrambling to reduce the strain and demands on IT departments with limited resources. low-code/no-code technology helps bridge this IT gap by automating processes without taxing the IT department.
Pushing Digital Transformation
New research from Boston-based Creatio, which develops a low-code platform for process management and CRM, appears to indicate that organizations are using low-code/no-code to push their digital transformation initiatives forward. In fact, according to Creatio’s first State of Low-Code/No-Code Report low-code tools enable business users develop agile process improvements and innovations over time.
The survey includes responses from 1,000+ IT, digital and business leaders from various industries and more than 90 countries spanning the Americas, EMEA and APAC and while it shows that the use of these kinds of platforms is growing, there are problems.
It showed, for example, that business leaders are lining up on the promise of low-code/no-code as an enabler of digital transformation, but a lack of experience with low-code platforms is the biggest obstacle to low-code adoption, according to 60% of respondents.
It also showed that only 6% of low-code development is done by business users without any IT involvement. However, the advantage here is that this situation provides a significant opportunity for a continued shift to a no-code development approach that enables enterprise applications development of any complexity without the need for coding skills or specific training.
The advantages are obvious. The key benefit to low-code adoption is accelerated time-to-market (38%) followed by reduced app development cost (34%) indicating that innovation is prioritized over cost reduction when it comes to driving competitive advantage.
Low-code tools are currently being adopted primarily for custom app development inside separate business units such as sales and marketing, service, human resources, or finance.
Only 6% of low-code development is done by business users without any IT involvement, signaling a significant opportunity for a continued shift to a no-code development approach that enables enterprise applications development of any complexity without the need for coding skills or specific training.
Related Article: Are No-Code and Low-Code Developer Tools a Security Risk?
IT Staff Shortages
Does this also suggest that low-code/no-code environments are not gaining the traction that was expected? Blair Hanley Frank is principal analyst with technology research and advisory firm ISG. He explains that every enterprise has a host of small problems facing each of their business units that stem from a lack of IT and software development staff. These problems are big enough to hurt the business overall, but small enough that it is hard for senior leadership to justify spending valuable development time on them.
“Low-code platforms are supposed to help deal with that problem by enabling rank-and-file employees to build the solutions they need in a relatively straightforward manner. But these problems do not solve themselves, and enterprises must commit to assisting their employees with these low-code platforms to truly see benefits,” he said.
The biggest issue is that the rank and file users who are supposed to become citizen developers already have day jobs. If higher priority work comes up for them, that is the end of software development on their project, at least for the time being. Managers need to determine when this work is critical and allocate workloads accordingly when push comes to shove.
Furthermore, it is important for enterprises to distinguish between small and large scope projects. “It's easy to send emails from a particular inbox to a Teams or Slack channel,” he said. “But building a custom mobile application that talks to an existing database is a good deal more difficult. Both of those tasks are possible with existing low-code software on the market, but the amount of support a business must give to someone non-technical trying to execute on either is significantly different.
Moving Low-Code/No-Code Forward
The pandemic forced many organizations to digitize and integrate more of their operations at a faster pace, which has resulted in a surge in no-code and low-code popularity. Because of low-code, organizations can go from utilizing low-code for one-off projects to turn it into a strategic, sustainable operation. Yet, no-code and low-code can only live up to the hype if businesses scale these development tools strategically to harness their power, Tejas Gadhia, head of Low-Code at India-based Zoho, said. While the global crisis will subside, its impact will remain. Businesses must move from a reactionary position on low-code, to one that makes their businesses more resilient and better equipped to innovate at speed.
There are several ways businesses can leverage low-code as a long-term viable solution:
- Incorporate low-code/no-code from the start: As your organization looks to maximize speed to market, consider factors like privacy or security, and look closely at how low-code can support the needs.
- Turn low-code into a formal, self-sustaining function: That means crafting a vision, setting clear goals, and putting a team in place to execute methodically. One big issue is low-code solutions need to earn the trust of organizations. To do this, starting at a smaller scale is important. Roll out the platform to a few teams to build simple applications first. These are called long-tail apps, or situational apps. For example, an app for managing event registration, or scheduling, or resource allocation. As these apps are built and trust is earned by all stakeholders: business users building apps, IT team oversight, and business users accessing apps. Over time, more micro apps are built, and apps built on the platform grow in scope and complexity.
- Consider creating “fusion developer teams”: Fusion developer teams are made up of code-first developers, low or no-code developers, and IT pros focused on delivering apps. Think of them like any “pod” in an agile framework, only in this model, they strictly work on bringing more apps online, and making sure the apps are integrated as necessary. The fusion developer team acts as a self-sustaining organism within the overall org. It drives the priorities and development of all the apps, and is the difference between scattershot, one-off uses of low-code, and turning it into a sustainable growth engine for the organization.
Replacing Engineers
Low-code and no-code tools are beneficial in that they leverage the talent and domain expertise of people who are not software engineers, Chris Nicholson, CEO of San Francisco-based Pathmind, said. These are people who have earned the status of civilian engineers. “You don't need to code much, or at all, to use them. But you do need to learn other things, like how to use the tool through its GUI, and how to think rigorously about what you are trying to automate,” he said.
“Low-code and no-code tools still give orders to computers, and computers do whatever you tell them, even when that's not exactly what you want.”
However, the learning curve is not as steep as it is with becoming a full-blown software engineer. That means you get more people building things to address more needs. The fact that the maker of the low-code custom app is also a domain expert, say, in marketing, means the app is more likely to be useful to that team.
There is currently a heavy reliance on software engineers and, with the overwhelming growth of software and digitization, they are bogged down with handling their organization’s complex tasks. low-code and no-code development enables less-technical colleagues — often referred to as citizen engineers — to take over at least the foundational work, which then gives room for experienced developers to focus on high-return digital transformation initiatives.
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Low-Code/No-Code Growth Driven By Digital Transformation - CMSWire
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