July 16, 2020

A better relationship between business and IT thanks to low code

Thanks to low-code software development, applications can be developed with a minimum of code, without the necessary knowledge of a programming language. This brings a lot of advantages, according to Jan Ickroth.

Easier and more agile

Low-code software development is quickly gaining popularity and that makes sense. It gives organizations the opportunity to deal with IT differently. Companies can organize their IT architecture differently – often more simply – thanks to low code and it is an interesting capability that matches the digitization trend. Agile responding to changes in the market and developing new business initiatives becomes a lot easier with a low-code platform.

Extend lifespan

A low-code platform also makes it possible to extend the lifespan of older applications. These so called “legacy applications” are often still useful at its core, but the user interface is outdated. With low code you can easily add a new interface to existing systems.

Keep the core clean

This way of working also helps you keep your core systems very clean: the “keep the core clean” concept. This means that you no longer build custom work within standard applications, such as ERP, CRM or HR systems. Customization is often expensive and difficult to maintain. Instead, you go and “extend” them through low-code apps. This way you can optimally support company-specific processes – often the real differentiators – and at the same time keep your core systems clean.

New cooperation pact between business and IT

But low-code software development also has another kind of benefit: it improves collaboration between business and IT. This is mainly due to the speed and transparency. Thanks to low-code, you can give an initial insight into how a new solution will work and how it meets the (customer)need at a very early stage. This means that the business is much more involved than before and that the willingness to jointly find a good solution is growing. A new cooperation pact is emerging, as it were, in which business people are enthusiastic about what their IT colleagues are performing and are very satisfied with the result.

Manageability

An additional advantage of a low-code platform can be found in the field of governance and control. A low-code platform, once it is set up, provides a standardized process for building and deploying applications. This also ensures that, as an organization, you have a very quick insight into the state of affairs and planning for every application in the making. The manageability of applications – including risk management – becomes a lot easier.

Shift of roles

Low-code software development also represents an important evolution in the field of roles and profiles. In traditional IT we speak of developers, engineers and architects on the one hand, and business analysts and project managers on the other. This changes with a low-code platform: the ‘techies’ are more concerned with business logic and the people from the business are more interested in technology. As a result, the technical content of a project can drop considerably, in favor of more business-related capabilities. And that makes the dependence of your organization on specific technical skills a lot lower.

Curious?

Curious what low-code software development can mean for your company? Register for the digital low-code event of the year MendixWorld V2.0, which takes place on September 1st, 2020.

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