Today, low-code is all the rage
The global low-code development technologies market is projected to total $13.8 billion in 2021, representing a 22.6 percent increase from 2020, according to Gartner. When we think about the potential of low-code, it’s easy to understand why such big growth is expected. When IT and non-technical business users can join forces, a whole new world of possibility and productivity emerges.
But the truth is there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to low-code. What works for one organisation isn’t going to necessarily work for another. The right approach has to work for all of an organisation’s users. A low-code solution that’s “too complicated” can frustrate citizen developers, while one that’s “too basic” won’t allow IT teams to work on more complex tasks and workflows.
Understanding what low-code approach is ‘just right’ for your business
Say “low-code” and the first thing that comes to mind is application development, but there are so many more ways that low-code can add value to organisations – which is why finding the right fit for your business is so essential.
When evaluating low-code solutions, one of the most important things to consider is context. Executives and managers must take a hard look inwards and probe with targeted questions – What does our existing IT infrastructure look like? Where is the business in our digital transformation journey? Honest answers to such questions will help you determine the best fit. For instance, is low-code or no-code app development the best approach or does leveraging low-code automation to accelerate business workflows present a better option?
When it comes to automation, many organisations tend to take a siloed approach. Automation initiatives are often carried out within a specific department, business function or geographical location. However, a disjointed approach to automation not only reduces the value of automation and makes it difficult to scale, it also challenges IT due to their often limited bandwidth to perform the complex coding work required for enterprise-wide automation.
This is why citizen developers are so valuable, and hence the driving force behind low-code. Companies need to engage business users and IT experts in their digital workflow automation efforts and fortunately, citizen developers are growing in numbers. According to Gartner, half of all new low-code clients will come from buyers outside of IT by the end of 2025. Additionally, 41 percent of employees outside of IT customise or build data or technology solutions on average.
However, a recent study found that 48 percent of IT respondents said a top challenge with their automation technology was that employees lack the technical skills to navigate their platform. Furthermore, 38 percent recognise that their users struggle to understand how automation actually works.
So, organisations are faced with the task of finding a low-code solution that will make IT as well as non-technical users happy and productive. The tool must be sophisticated enough to handle the high-end demands of coding professionals and simple enough for business line managers. To this end, when
adopting a low-code platform, it’s worth considering things such as will it enable enterprise-wide automation and scalability? Will it be intuitive and easy to use? Will it provide strong integration capability with our current technology?, and so on.
The benefits of the “right fit” platform
This kind of user-centric platform will enable everyone to contribute to digital workflow automation and so, the transformation will yield numerous benefits. Foremost, it’ll enable your organisation to unleash the full potential of the workforce with low-code automation, maximising existing resources and reducing the reliance on IT for automation development. Nontechnical stakeholders will be able to put their expert knowledge of business processes and operations to good use and help rapidly design, automate and transform digital workflows and other complex processes. With citizen developers able to fully contribute to automating workflows, team members with a more technical background will be able to focus on tasks that demand more complex programming.
As the automation initiative develops, your organisations could also reap the benefits of connecting the line of business to the CTO office. With the right approach and automation platform, business analysts and citizen developers can genuinely collaborate with IT specialists and professional developers for faster, more successful and more scalable results. Ultimately, enhanced collaboration and improved productivity contribute to a better customer experience.
About the Author
Omid Aslani is Director of Commercial Product Management at Kofax. Kofax enables organizations to Work Like Tomorrow™—today. Our Intelligent Automation software platform and solutions digitally transform information-intensive workflows. Customers realize faster time-to-value and increased competitiveness, growth and profitability by combining Kofax’s cognitive capture, RPA, process orchestration, analytics and mobile capabilities while increasing business resiliency and mitigating compliance risk.
Featured image: ©Beeboys
