“Low-code/no-code (LCNC) are a part of a continuum that has evolved over time to unlock substantial value today” – Accenture’s Raghavan Iyer
Businesses today are deploying LCNCs to create value and drive innovation across sectors. These software development environments enable people with little or no professional coding experience to build and modify applications, allowing enterprises to deliver new capabilities quickly and easily on demand without having to rely on their IT teams. In fact, Accenture research shows that 60% of low-code/no-code users expect their usage of the platform to increase.
In an interaction with CXOToday, Raghavan Iyer, Senior Managing Director, Innovation lead – Integrated Global Services, Accenture Technology explains how the shift to LCNCs has made technology more accessible to people across the organization, enabling better synchronization between IT and business departments to build solutions that are more aligned to business needs. Additionally, adoption of these platforms are also helping address the skills gap in the IT industry as it allows organizations to go beyond their traditional pool of technology talent.
- Why are LCNC platforms touted as the future of IT?
Low-code/no-code (LCNC) platforms enable non-IT professionals with minimal coding experience to develop applications for their unique purposes. These platforms have seen increased adoption in recent years, becoming essential tools for both programmers and non-programmers. According to Accenture’s Technology Vision 2021, more than a third of the executives surveyed reported that they have invested in LCNC.
With higher adoption, we foresee big cloud providers consolidating and developing LCNC platforms, and smaller companies may develop niche, tailor-made software solutions that cater to specific industries. Business users are already using LCNC tools alongside more traditional custom development approaches to create new software applications.
While no-code makes coding accessible to beginners and non-coders, low-code adopts a more hybrid approach to coding. It therefore allows professionals a utility which is time-saving and easier to integrate than complex codes and will become an alternative for professional coders.
2. What are the factors driving the adoption of LCNCs?
The pandemic brought about an era of compressed transformation, compelling organizations to innovate and solve challenges faster than ever before. As they adapt to and navigate the new normal, enabling enterprise-wide access to the right technologies is key to creating and delivering digital-led experiences for their customers and employees.
There are three critical factors driving the adoption of LCNC: accelerated transformation, expanding interest in LOB applications, and organizational transformation. Recent years have seen the rise of multiple LCNC platforms in the market both by the hyperscalers and the pureplay improvement stages. This is because LCNC makes it feasible for enterprises that require a host of business applications to respond to the ever-evolving market requirements and drive successful digital transformation. Gartner research states that 70% of application development will be low code by 2025, and spending on low-code development technologies is expected to grow to almost $30 billion.
The growing talent gap in IT has also resulted in an increased demand for LCNCs as it allows businesses to look beyond traditional technologists and onboard diversified talent. Even without strong coding knowledge, citizen developers can build their own applications independently and therefore help professional developers to focus more on specialized areas.
3. LCNC tools have been typically leveraged for function-specific use cases up until recently. How has it evolved from there and what are the new use cases?
Low-code/no-code (LCNC) are a part of a continuum that has evolved over time to unlock substantial value today. Overall, we see that the ease of use, ability to integrate with existing solutions/technologies, and accelerated value creation are three key factors driving the adoption of LCNC. For example, Microsoft’s Power Apps allows users to create new software services easily by combining data, applications, and artificial intelligence (AI) without having to write a single line of code. With this platform, G&J Pepsi was able to build and implement transformative digital applications across its inventory and merchandizing departments at a faster pace and scale. Within the first year, employees with little/no professional developer background created eight applications, helping the group save $500,000. This is just one of the use cases that demonstrates the powerful capabilities of LCNC. As more companies aim to transform their digital enterprise, these software development environments will become increasingly sophisticated.
4. What are Accenture’s capabilities in low-code/no-code?
Accenture is home to a large community of practitioners and capability practices on LCNC spanning across hyperscalers, core platforms and pureplay development platforms including Microsoft Power Platform, Mendix, Outsystems, Appian and Unqork. We work with our clients and their own citizen developers and IT staff to build competence and identify potential use cases.
At Accenture, we are all in on LCNC. Our own citizen developers have been able to create apps that help ensure compliance with travel policy, speed up the accounts payable process, and even track other apps — all time-intensive tasks that were done painstakingly by humans before. In fact, we recently earned the Guinness World Records title for having the largest photo album of Microsoft Power Platform certified Accenture professionals displaying their digital certificates. These certifications are a testimony to the success of our ongoing efforts to build expertise and to innovate on LCNC. We are continuously driving adoption across LCNC platforms such as Salesforce Lightning, Oracle Apex, SAPs AppGyver, Workday’s Extend, and Google’s AppSheet, among others.
5. Low code marks a significant shift in culture for IT departments. What should CIOs be prepared for to ensure the success of LCNC initiatives
The need for businesses to be more agile and responsive to customer needs has resulted in a shift towards democratized technology. The adoption of LCNC has further accelerated this trend, empowering people with little to no software development experience to build, modify and update applications. These platforms leverage people closest to where the innovation needs to happen, and therefore allow enterprises to deliver new capabilities on demand and at scale.
As LCNCs bring computing power into the hands of ordinary users, companies need to carefully plan a course of action to harness it. This calls for management and alignment between the citizen developer community, professional developers, and the core IT department – in terms of security, compliance, and governance requirements.
It is critical for IT teams to keep track of where and when new developments are taking place to tackle the challenge of shadow IT. In many ways, IT needs to evolve beyond its traditional role to act more as promoters and collaborators of innovation. Since LCNCs take a more democratic and open approach to innovation, they can also bring forth unique security concerns. Hence, strengthening the security posture that permeates the whole organization will be key to preventing cyberattacks.
