The secret sauce of digital transformation
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION has become an integral part of business growth today. However, modernization can feel overwhelming. In fact, digital transformation is beyond simply deploying new technologies. Rather, it is about maintaining a mindset of customer focus, and bringing the organization together in an approach, free of silos and, thus, empowering teams to work collaboratively. Furthermore, these processes keep changing rapidly at short notice.
Unfortunately, the skills gap is a major sticking point that jeopardizes digital transformation success. International Data Corp. (IDC), for instance, finds that for around 60% to 80% of organizations in the Asia Pacific, the digital skills shortage is a key hurdle in achieving strategic business agility. Naturally, low-code technology has gained more visibility as a result, as this technology makes it easier for those with limited experience to build both web and mobile applications.
TENETS OF DRIVING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONFor digital transformation to succeed to very important aspects or laws, I would like to term it as — being able to transform the core of any operations in your organization and the other being that transformation is inversely proportional to the separation from the customer. Utilizing cutting-edge methods and technologies inevitably boosts customer engagement — not just in terms of being able to swiftly address any issues that emerge at key touchpoints, but also in terms of safeguarding trust and effectively protecting customer data.
Improved internal collaboration is also crucial in the grand scheme of things, as digital transformation is doomed to failure if employees are not in sync. Low code offers huge potential here, as it can help IT teams and the business teams produce more custom applications faster. Furthermore, this improves digital culture — ensuring that instead of forcing new tools onto your teams, they get a say in how software looks, feels, and works.
Finally, digital transformation must ultimately make processes more efficient. User-friendly workflows and tools are at the heart of low-code technology — enabling employees to spend less time on mundane, repetitive tasks, which allows them to create business value instead. This then positions the business to unlock considerable value, as internal systems and procedures are made simpler and more transparent.
AGILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY IN DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONThe thing about digital transformation is that without clarity about where the business intends to go, bottlenecks will emerge. Messy internal operations and processes will snowball into overgrown spreadsheets, excessive shelf-ware, and shadow IT. To overcome this, organizations need to ensure their modernization initiatives offer agility and factor in sustainability.
Taking advantage of scalable and agile solutions will ensure modernization is aligned with business goals.
Low code can be this secret sauce, offering the scalability required for businesses to be nimble and lean. If this can be adopted by business users as citizen developers, the results can be dramatic, as they know best what they want in the process.
For businesses looking to equip themselves to navigate disruption and be more sustainable, low code can provide the requisite impetus. Not only does it facilitate easy-to-use, sleek apps to be built and deployed quicker, it also enables easier maintenance of said apps, especially by citizen developers. This reduces waste and ensures resources are used as efficiently as possible.
Armed with this enhanced agility, businesses can meet company goals while keeping up with client demands, market advancements, and regulatory changes. A further boon to business’ sustainability agenda is that low code also ensures they are equipped to navigate the toughest corporate requirements. In fact, top applications are more likely to be run on low code by businesses who have the strictest standards for continuing audits and independent security certification, as well as the lowest tolerance for downtime and data loss.
Furthermore, manually generating API is time consuming, especially for legacy systems that weren’t designed for that in the first place. Low code can create interface code that is easily updated when user preferences change. Through low-code API generators, businesses can create APIs from scratch using existing application code.
THE FUTURE IS LOW CODEWith the speed and scope of digital transformation today, conventional software development cannot keep up. Most businesses grapple with a lack of adequate personnel and skills necessary to develop and maintain these efforts.
Unlike traditional backend programming, low-code development platforms use pre-designed templates and a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface. With this more visual approach, organizations can overcome the talent shortages they face. KPMG, for one, finds that these benefits are reasons behind why three quarters of major organizations across sectors employ at least four low-code development tools.
At the end of the day, driving the business into the future hinges on going beyond merely forcing new software onto teams. Instead, putting business benefits and people first by leveraging a flexible low-code development platform ensures that the business can make the most of available resources, positioning the organization to be adaptable as it grows.
Mohan Madhurakavi is Kissflow chief evangelist for digital transformation.
