In today's lightning-fast digital landscape, innovation-centric Singaporean businesses are leapfrogging ahead of the curve through crucial digital investments and newfound resilience. Singapore's government, too, is taking the initiative to help industries strengthen their digital capabilities through the 2022 budget, by providing SGD 200 million in digitization aid as well as an additional SGD 600 million for businesses to embrace productivity solutions.
WhileSingapore aspires to be a "Smart Nation" and has provided various opportunities for enterprises to digitally transform, IDC discovered those very few organisations achieved the sought-after digital agility. This comes as no surprise due to the ubiquity of solutions available today; making it harder for leaders to choose the right technology, and an even greater challenge to hire and retain the right talent.
If the business can overcome these hurdles, they still need to focus on skill building as a priority to ensure that its current workforce can adapt continuously. As such, how can businesses jump on the digital bandwagon and accelerate productivity without being bogged down with these challenges? According to IDC, enterprises will demand more than 500 million apps by 2023. This beckons an even more fundamental question; how can businesses adapt to the massive scale in demand that IT teams cannot reach on their own?
The low code-no code answer
Low-code/No-code (LCNC) platforms have risen to the occasion and helped businesses convert their offline workflows and empowering businesses to close the digital gap. LCNC platforms enable businesses to design and develop applications using a user-friendly graphical interface with embedded functionality while reducing the high reliance on IT teams.
These platforms have empowered businesses with the automation of workflows and processes into a singular console and have encouraged non-technical business users to become citizen developers to build apps for their everyday business operations.
Businesses globally have acknowledged the advantage of LCNC technology - a cost-effective solution compared to traditional app development, with 29% of businesses building applications 40% to 60% faster than traditional app development. As such, the citizen developer approach has offered a close fit to business requirements and shortens the time-to-market cycles by simplifying the complex software development process.
Augment, not replace
Enterprises looking to adopt LCNC technology should view the technology as an augmentation to their current system instead of a replacement for the development process. However, the reality is that business users often find themselves at odds with IT teams, as their business feature needs aren’t prioritized.
Singapore enterprises need to pivot from viewing digital transformation as an initiative solely led by IT teams. Even the largest IT enterprises are short on resources to keep up the pace with every business demand. Successful digital transformation necessitates a collaborative approach through which everyone is involved.
Business users have a better understanding of their problems than any technology stakeholder would ever have. LCNC Platforms enable business users to translate said understanding into practical applications such as Equipment Requests and Budget Approval. Under appropriate IT governance, LCNC platforms can bring business and IT together and accelerate innovation and transformation.
Pressing the advantage
Digital transformation is a speeding train with no signs of slowing down in the times to come. Racing through it necessitates an inclusive approach that can only be brought about by enabling available talent to become citizen developers. Using Low-Code/No-Code, Singapore businesses can take leaps to meet the expectation of a Smart Nation, leveraging citizen development.
