The low-code market has exploded in recent years, offering a wide range of tools and platforms that promise faster and more efficient software development. However, with so many options to choose from, it might be challenging for organizations to identify the right options that meet their specific low-code needs. While low-code platforms offer an intuitive visual interface and pre-built components that reduce the need for extensive coding skills, they vary in terms of functionality, customization options, pricing, and many more facets.
In this blog, we'll take a closer look at the growing low-code market, the benefits of low-code platforms and how organizations can overcome the challenges they face in accelerating their low-code journey.
Driven by the increasing demand for rapid digital solutions and the need for organizations to quickly adapt to changing market conditions, the low-code market has experienced significant growth in recent years. We noticed that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of low-code platforms, as businesses had to quickly pivot to remote work and focus on digital transformation.
In the wake of the initial COVID-19 surge, low-code demand has remained on a sharp growth trajectory. Our experiences suggest that several key factors are fueling this trend.
By reducing development time, improving collaboration, and lowering development costs, organizations can achieve a more rapid time-to-value for their solutions and see a faster return on investment.
On top of that, we’ve experienced that low-code platforms can help organizations increase their agility and respond more quickly to changing business needs, which can lead to improved customer satisfaction and revenue growth.
When it comes to setting your first steps in low-code or even further accelerating your low-code transition, we’ve observed that it can be overwhelming to choose from the many low-code platforms available on the market. However, it's important to remember that low-code is not about choosing one specific platform or technique but about establishing a low-code mindset that aligns with your IT and business strategy. You must ask yourself “What exactly would we like to achieve with low-code?” while keeping in mind how low-code fits in the overall automation strategy of the enterprise. A common misconception is that many people often refer to low-code purely as low-code application development (LCAD). At RoboRana, we believe that it goes way beyond that. In addition to LCAD, low-code also includes technologies such as RPA, IDP, chatbots and so on. By embracing a wider range of low-code technologies, even more efficiencies can be unlocked.
One of the initial steps we encourage organizations to take is assessing the organization's current processes and identifying areas that could benefit from automation and optimization. This could include anything from manual data entry in certain systems to repetitive scanning of paper documents. Each low-code vendor has its unique specializations, with some tools prioritizing internal applications, while others may focus on RPA, Process Mining or Case Management. It’s important to compare those different platforms and explore how they can be combined in order to build a versatile low-code ecosystem.
Low-code is not a one-size-fits-all solution and specific platforms may be better suited to certain tasks and processes. That's why you should keep in mind a holistic approach by leveraging different low-code tools to achieve maximum efficiency.
Another key determinant of a successful low-code implementation is the way low-code is rolled out across the organization. We believe that this should be accomplished through the joint efforts of both the business and IT teams. The business side has a clear understanding of their operational needs and can provide valuable insights into the requirements for a digital solution. Meanwhile, IT possesses the technical expertise to build the low-code solution. By breaking down silos, these multi-disciplinary teams, also called fusion teams, promote innovation and produce better outcomes for the organization as a whole.
A further step in this cross-functional collaboration might be the establishment of a low-code Centre of Excellence. This team of experts provide guidance, best practices and governance for low-code projects. This CoE also drives the low-code strategy and ensures that low-code solutions are built in a secure way that aligns with the organization's overall goals and objectives.
To finish off, here’s a practical example of how low-code could be adopted enterprise wide.
In an effort to lighten the workload of employees in the purchasing department, a production company is kickstarting its journey with low code. In collaboration with some purchasing staff members, the IT team has identified a vendor onboarding process as low hanging fruit to streamline and optimize in an agile way. After carefully researching available platforms, they opt for a specialized LCAD platform to develop an external application where vendors can manage their own data. An RPA tool is chosen to automate some repetitive UI tasks for updating vendors' data in the organization’s own ERP system. The purchase staff and IT experts work together as a fusion team in order to fully streamline the process. The solution has shown promising results and inspired the purchasing team to tackle other routine processes. This success has caught the attention of other departments, prompting the organization to create a dedicated low-code Centre of Excellence which oversees a cohesive low-code strategy
At RoboRana, we help laying your low-code puzzle. We believe that low-code is not just a technology or a set of tools, but a mindset that can transform the way organizations operate. By leveraging the full potential of low-code, organizations can become more agile, efficient and ultimately become autonomous enterprises that are fully equipped to navigate the challenges of the digital age.
