Through Hilary schmidt, International Banker

TTo the untrained eye, the world of technology, and technological development in particular, looks like a maze. Mastering the large number of innovations being deployed can be a daunting experience for those without sufficient technological expertise, and even for those who do in some cases. Organizations frequently face the distinct challenges of deciding which solutions to implement and which to ignore in their modernization efforts, or simply not falling behind their peers. Indeed, “following the Joneses” has never been so difficult.

And, of course, the coronavirus pandemic has only further accelerated the need for businesses to boost their digital capabilities, as employee and consumer behaviors have drastically changed and the world’s population has moved completely online. to meet many of its most pressing needs. Plus, hiring the right staff to implement often sophisticated technological solutions can be a fascinating challenge; it is no longer sufficient to entrust these tasks to the “office technician”. An implementation may require one or more fully trained data scientists, skilled developers, or even engineers specializing in machine learning.

But in the absence of such expertise, low-code and no-code platforms are quickly emerging as solutions designed to help those without the requisite technological credentials. These platforms provide the ability for virtually anyone with little or no experience with the underlying code to build applications, allowing more people to build the business solutions they want. A low-code development platform allows business and mobile applications to be built by people without deep coding skills, typically using a “drag-and-drop” user interface with preloaded templates that replace the need to write reams of code. Codeless development platforms take this concept a step further by allowing applications to be built without writing a single line of code and, as such, are open to anyone, regardless of their coding skills. In either case, however, the goal is to speed up the application development process, and in many cases this acceleration can turn out to be substantial.

Companies can thus overcome a number of in-house development challenges using low-code and no-code platforms, reducing the need to outsource and hire expensive skills outside the organization. . Website design is perhaps the most obvious example in this context. Hiring a developer to design a business’s website can be a substantial expense of time and money, while building a website using a low-code tool or without code that already has web templates and designs configured for the customer to browse through may end up taking only a few days, when the cost will invariably be much lower.

On the other hand, low-code and no-code solutions can help address the growing skills shortages faced by the tech industry, as application and platform development has become commonplace around the world and hence. in high demand. Low-code software platform company Mendix released its ‘State of Low-Code 2021: A Look Back, The Light Ahead’ research report in August and found that the global pandemic has dramatically accelerated interest and the use of corporate low-code. , which was already popular before the outbreak. As such, organizations in all industries are increasingly finding that the development of usual software cannot meet the growing demand.

Based on a survey of 2,025 IT professionals (information technology) including 1,209 IT executives (decision makers) and 816 software developers (developer audience) in six countries — the United States , China, UK, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands – between May 10 and June 21, 2021, the results are quite revealing: 57% of IT professionals surveyed said that the number of people needed for software development increased; 76 percent said demand for developers had peaked; 61% thought the cost of software development was increasing; two-thirds of software projects were delivered late; and despite tireless work, the backlog was increasing in 62% of organizations.

“These pressures have sparked enthusiasm among IT professionals for new solutions and different ways of working. IT departments are seizing opportunities to take software development out of the computer box: 64% of organizations have relied on non-technical staff to relieve pressure on IT during COVID-19, ”the report notes. “Low-code is at the heart of this effort. Low-code is already in some way in 77% of organizations, and 64% of IT pros agree low-code is their development workaround. Up to 59% of projects using low-code are a collaboration between IT and business groups, and a quarter (25%) report fewer instances of shadow IT than before. Indeed, the report found that 77% of businesses in the six countries have already adopted low-code, and 75% of IT executives said it was a trend they couldn’t get by. allow to miss.

Among the undisputed leaders of the low-code space is Microsoft with its Power Apps platform, which is proving extremely important to companies as diverse as Ernst & Young (EY), Walgreens and Toyota who use the platform. to automate processes, modernize legacy applications, and solve large-scale business problems. “From an innovation standpoint, we can use Power Apps to specify and build a solution and continually improve it, rather than waiting for someone else to do the job,” said Christopher Hitt, director Technical Field Operations Assistant at Toyota Motor North America (TMNA).

“Over the past year, Microsoft has stepped up efforts and investments to become the world’s most comprehensive low-code application development platform,” the based tech giant acknowledged in September. in Richmond, Virginia. “Ninety-two percent of Fortune 500 companies use Power Apps every month to scale quickly and deliver first-class, streamlined digital experiences to their customers, partners and employees on a secure, governable and scalable platform.

Among the customers most enthusiastic about low-code and no-code is the financial services industry, with finance professionals themselves now able to get involved in the development of solutions rather than having to hire additional employees and simply observe from the periphery. “There are a myriad of ways finance companies can implement low code / no code to resolve issues and needs,” wrote Val Steed, director of accountants at business application maker Zoho Corporation, in March. 2021 for CPA Practice Advisor, a technology and practice-management resource for accounting and tax professionals. “This can range from the creation of internal tools such as [as] a personalized project management system to customer portals or even personalized tax calculators. Also, when working with clients, it is important that your app is usable on different types of devices. Using low-code platforms, you can deploy to everything from mobile devices, desktops, and the cloud.

For example, Academy Bank, an American lender who is part of a family of banks with more than $ 3 billion in assets, used Salesforce’s low-code solutions to develop a tracking application to help the bank to process Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan requests. . “Trust and transparency with clients is paramount for Academy Bank, but their original application process was manual and not all associates in contact with clients had visibility into the status of the PPP loan process. ‘a customer,’ Salesforce noted. The whole app development process only took five hours. According to Jeff Berger, Salesforce Administrator at Academy Bank and Co-Head of the Kansas City Salesforce User Group, speed and visibility were the most critical things that made this loan application tracking application so successful. PPP. “It was essential that we put in place a system that would allow our clients to go through the application process as quickly as possible, as there was a limited pool of funds available. And due to the time sensitive nature of PPP, it was imperative that no client applications fell through the cracks, ”explained Berger.

Gartner recently predicted that by 2025, 70% of new applications developed by organizations would use low-code or no-code technologies, significantly more than the less than 25% recorded in 2020, while the technology consulting firm has also predicted at the start of the year. 2021 would see a 22.6% growth in the low-code development technology market to reach $ 13.8 billion in total. “While the development of low-code applications is not new, the confluence of digital disruption, hyper-automation and the rise of composables business has resulted in an influx of tools and growing demand,” said said Fabrizio Biscotti, vice president of research at Gartner. And according to Milind Govekar, fellow vice president of Gartner, the technological and organizational silos of application development, automation, integration and governance will become obsolete. “This will lead to the rise of Low Code Application Platforms (LCAP) and citizen development. “