With over 12 years in the technology sector, Mr. Gautam Nimmagadda has taken a keen interest in expanding coding horizons from techies to technology novices which led to the establishment of a no-code digital transformation app. His expertise lies in product ideation, product building, process optimizations, to name a few. Gautam holds a master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Iowa, US and a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science from Osmania University. In his role as a dynamic entrepreneur, Gautam captains leadership, customer engagement, strategizing solutions, and strong business acumen while building a world-class team at Quixy. When away from work, Gautam is a curious reader and is also a former numismatist.
Before we delve deep into the subject matter, here are a few numbers. A report published by Gartner predicts that by 2024, around 65% of new business applications will be created using no-code/low-code platforms. Based on another research done by Brand essence Market Research, the global no-code/low-code development platform market will reach 65 billion US Dollars by 2027 (indicating a CAGR of nearly 26%).
The aforementioned numbers reflect the potential of no-code development tools in expediting digital transformation. By enabling citizen developers (business users who build applications using no-code development tools for business use) to create cloud applications without writing a single line of code, no-code platforms are:
- Empowering enterprise agility,
- Achieving quicker development turnaround times
- Accelerating business innovation
- Increasing the Quality of the digital solutions
But more importantly, they are democratizing application development in a big way.
What does “democratization” of application development mean?
Business users should be able to build and configure their software and not dictate their work around a thousand code lines. Application development concepts should be easy to understand for business users so that they can:
- Automate manual processes to boost productivity
- Integrate customer journeys across channels and deliver an omnichannel experience
- Optimize complex systems using predictive analytics to minimize downtime
This is the essence of democratization. It entails delegating responsibility, tools, and accountability for developing digital capabilities to business divisions rather than IT. The pandemic has given this trend a headstart, reinforcing the need to digitalize how businesses operate and serve their clients remotely. Application development that was once done under dedicated IT teams’ expertise is now becoming “democratized.” This democratization of digital delivery has been made through the accelerated adoption of hyperautomation and no-code development tools. Many businesses are rethinking the delegation of roles and responsibilities between IT and non-IT departments.
When the ability to build business applications expands beyond IT and goes into the hands of individuals experiencing the challenges first-hand — for example, business analysts, administrators, and marketing specialists — the speed with which a company can achieve digital transformation skyrockets.
Even for firms with ample IT resources, it is nearly impossible to function with the speed and responsiveness that this moment necessitates. Every new difficulty must be routed through technical employees, or every new application necessitates dedicated engineering resources. Enterprises can unlock a variety of benefits by empowering line-of-business people to construct business apps without writing a single line of code, including:
- Building a flexible workforce that understands business and programming logic and can respond quickly to product iterations.
- Achieving rapid innovation iteration cycles.
- Freeing up more experienced programmers to handle projects of greater strategic value and ensuring that their specialized knowledge gets its due.
- Developing applications that don’t strain IT resources or jeopardize security and governance.
How is no-code democratizing automation?
Most businesses are becoming “Software Development” businesses with a democratized focus on automation. To automate any company process requires a great deal of experience and technical know-how. No-code platforms, on the other hand, have made it easier for citizen developers to construct automated processes without requiring much technical knowledge. Using the drag and drop functionality, non-programmers can create streamlined workflows (automation sequences) by choosing from a list of pre-configured steps and putting them in a logical flow. Ready-to-use workflow templates can also be used for specific triggers or actions.
Automation can greatly reduce the process pains. With no-code democratization, the entire organization can work together to go paperless, as teams from various domains may create intelligent automation applications for their mission-critical priorities. They don’t have to rely just on low-code or hand-coded apps, or on technical staff.
One of the better examples of a no-code automation application is Intelligent Document Processing (IDP). Organizations can use IDP to process barcodes and invoices to speed-up supply chain operations, convert physical documents into machine-readable formats with searchable text, and automate document creation to deliver customized in-depth reports.
There are cutting-edge no-code platforms that can automate help desk support, CRM, travel & expense management, loan management, organizational training management, to name a few.
How is no-code democratization changing the operating models of enterprises?
There has been a significant evolution in how other executive functions operate and relate to citizen developers.
- General managers of business units are welcoming the idea of making citizen developers a part of fusion teams (multidisciplinary teams that blend technology and other types of domain expertise).
- Corporate functions that are essentially bureaucratic are willingly transferring application development accountability to citizen developers.
- HR managers who traditionally focus on role clarity encourage role flexibility and staff rotations across teams.
Information security that traditionally oversees checkpoint-based compliance is helping citizen developers work autonomously and with the right digital judgement.
How is no-code democratization enabling the CIO role evolution?
CIOs have had a wide range of operational responsibilities, but now they are training and enabling citizen developers to acquire priority-specific digital skills. They are coordinating the efforts of no-code developers both within and outside of IT, and they are sharing responsibility for technology and business outcomes with other business leaders. Leading CIOs are collaborating with CxOs to create a new enterprise-wide technology delivery model that combines business domain, technology, governance knowledge, and shared accountability for business and technology outcomes.
Companies rapidly recognize the need to serve customers digitally, manage digital channels, and create integrated cross-channel experiences. This can be accomplished through democratizing digital delivery and empowering customer-facing citizen developers.
Conclusion
The issues that businesses confront are numerous and diverse, but the solutions can often be found in existing data and functionality, as well as in the thoughts and observations of individual employees both inside and outside of traditional IT. These experts can use no-code programming to put that data and functionality to work on an unprecedented scale while maintaining the security and governance that businesses require. We’re in the midst of a historical time of economic and social upheaval, yet the future beckons— so let’s democratize and expedite application development with no code.