Exploring no-code/low-code: what problems does it solve?

Microsoft

Four months into a new year and in 2023 and we’re already seeing tonnes of change…

...change which has extended to our working lives too. The World Bank has declared that we are facing the most severe recession since the end of World War Two, and we have already seen the start of the fallout in the banking sector.

The challenges of data silos and remote collaboration

The post-pandemic return to office uplift has been as slow as anticipated while the same World Bank report finds that 42% of employees are still opting to work from home. This brings its own challenges for organisations as they look for solutions to break down siloes, as well as being fully enabled to share fast access to data and insight across these teams working remotely and disparately. All this is coupled with a younger millennial workforce who are demanding faster analysis of unstructured data, and more modern solutions powered by automation and artificial intelligence.

The solution

Microsoft have seen the ongoing trend of an over-burden on software development teams and have estimated that there is a worldwide shortfall of four million software developer positions, one million being in The US (United States) alone.

Not only is there a shortfall, but also a huge struggle for existing teams to keep up with demand, and therefore organisations have had to prioritise their most urgent processes. The result of this is low coverage - but also some difficult decisions - as leadership teams have had to second guess those processes of highest priority.

This trend has seen the rise in process and task mining technologies (more on that here) as C-Level are looking to make these decisions backed by quantified data as opposed to second guessing.

Keeping in mind the expected growth of the gaps in the software development field, Microsoft has proposed a solution that does not involve searching for or training more developers. Instead, they aim to provide no-code technology solutions that require a lower skill set. This will enable business users and subject matter experts to take ownership of their own challenges and solve them more efficiently, thereby bridging the gap caused by the shortage of developers.

Countless benefits

The advantages that come with no-code are enormous, allowing for employee-led digital transformation (with the necessary guardrails around security and governance set from Central IT). This enables problems to be solved at scale, as it’s much faster to build out and therefore faster to see value realisation.

All this is coupled with the ability to plug into ERP, CRM, HR, and WMS to simplify the user experience for employees and customers alike. You can discover more on that technology here.

What’s next?

There are many things to think about prior to your first low-code development project. Considerations primarily include governance, security, scalability and best practices to set up a long-term strategy allowing for high value realisation and a return on investment.

Although each case is unique, there are numerous best practices that can be implemented through consultation to ensure the immediate and long-term success of a no-code strategy.