Milind Govekar, distinguished vice president at Gartner, says the technological and organisational silos of application development, automation, integration, and governance will become obsolete. Application development instead will shift to assembly and integration.
Gartner predicts that by 2025, 70% of new applications developed by organisations will use low-code or no-code technologies, up from less than 25% in 2020.
Low-code and no-code (LC-NC) technologies are paving the way for citizen development, and a new function: business technologists who report outside of IT departments and create technology or analytics capabilities for internal or external business use.
Mendix CEO, Tim Srock, the four pillars of digital transformation are increased efficiency, increased agility, better customer experience, and an overall better value proposition.
“When you investigate digitising processes to achieve efficiency or building better customer experiences through new and innovative offerings, it becomes essential to have a platform strategy that includes IT modernisation, he continued.
He opined that LC-NC platforms allow businesses to modernise their existing IT systems and become more agile and responsive to customer needs and market conditions.
He went on to add that the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation initiatives among most businesses and now every organisation needs to think and act like a software development company, especially if they are looking to capture opportunities within new markets.
Asia's receptivity to LC-NC
“Up until a few years ago, new trends within the realm of digital transformation were initially initiated in the West. It would take a few years for the APAC region to catch up,” commented Vincent Lim, VP and head of APAC at Mendix.
He added that as the number of application developers and technology players continues to increase within the market, especially in China, the time lag for technology transfer or adoption, between the West and APAC has significantly reduced.
The biggest benefit that LC-NC brings to organisations
Srock says customers are no longer willing to wait for a company to update its customer experience, particularly when they can move to a more modern competitor at the click of a button.
He opined that those organisations need to ensure they combine technical expertise with the knowledge of what constitutes a great customer experience.
“Low-code/no-code platforms allow organisations to combine the expertise of business and IT and the knowledge of the entire enterprise to build applications that can deliver unique customer experience,” he added.
In his opinion, he considers this ability to collaborate one be one of the biggest benefits of adopting LC-NC.
Avoid vendor lock-in when it comes to LC-NC
Asked about the risks of vendor lock-in when it comes to low-code/no-code, Srock is adamant that vendor lock-in is not an issue citing the ability to transport applications.
Wary about business concern about putting all their eggs in one basket, Sock says it is in the best interest of low-code platforms, for instance, to develop a more collaborative attitude towards application development.
“Ultimately, organisations want their low-code/no-code partner to integrate openness into their platform strategy. For instance, our strategic partnerships with AWS and SAP have allowed us to combine our capabilities and gain a competitive edge within the low-code/no-code marketplace,” he continued.
CIOs have oversight over differing platforms
Srock says that irrespective of the platform used to build applications, enterprises should be able to monitor all applications within the organisation.
Specific to Mendix, he described ‘Data Hub’ – a visual dashboard that brings together all the data endpoints within the enterprise to give the CIO an oversight of all the applications developed within the organisation.
How should the CIO and CISO work together to ensure any application developed because of LC-NC are scalable and secure?
Srock acknowledged the importance that app development platforms be fundamentally secure. He went on to confirm that Mendix has 15 certifications with third-party researchers conducting audits on an annual basis.
“Organisations also need to ensure that each application is secure and allocate the right access control to the right people. This is usually defined in the organisation’s IT governance strategy. Our platform allows CIOs and CISOs to work closely together to meet their organisation’s unique requirements in full transparency,” he continued.
Asked three questions, CIOs should be asking any LC-NC vendor, Lim suggested identifying if the platform is cloud-native as well as being mobile-native.
“Finally, it is therefore important to evaluate the history and future prospect of the vendor, including customer references. Apart from their ability to execute, organisations should also ask about the low-code company’s roadmap and vision,” he opined.
Click on the podchat player and listen to Srock and Lim elaborate on the business and operational value that low-code, no-code brings to organisations.
- How would you define digital transformation in the context of applications?
- In the grand scheme of digital transformation, where does low-code no-code (LC-NC) fit in?
- LC-NC has been around for some time now (As early as the 1970s but who can keep track). What is different about the LC-NC platforms of the 2020s?
- What is the biggest benefit that LC-NC bring to organisations looking to accelerate their digital transformation in 2022?
- How can an organisation avoid vendor lockdown when it comes to LC-NC?
- How can an organisation avoid the build-up of Shadow IT if they decide to open up LC-NC outside IT?
- How should the CIO and CISO work together to ensure any application developed as a result of LC-NC are scalable and secure?
- For organisations looking to tap LC-NC, what questions should they ask the platform provider?
