In my previous blogpost, I tried to explain digital transformation and low-code app development platforms using a simple example. In this blog post, I want to focus on the mindset that organizations should adopt to get the most out of a low-code platform.
Pick any organization young or old, small or big and there will be no shortage of opportunities to improve operational efficiency and customer experience. However, the scope, complexity, and functional requirements for these opportunities can vary greatly. Let's look at some examples.
A bank wants to transform its mortgage loan origination process and has a goal to reduce the loan origination time significantly. A low-code platform, in this case, will require strong business process management and process optimization capabilities to streamline the mortgage loan origination process.
The same bank may want to create an application to investigate and resolve customer cases related to fraudulent credit card charges. This can result in significant cost savings for the bank. In order to deliver this application, a low-code platform will have to support robust case management capabilities to manage the ad-hoc nature of fraud investigations.
A much simpler application could be for the HR team to track employee anniversaries and automatically order anniversary gifts for them based on their tenure and interests. A low-code platform, in this case, should be easy enough so that a non-technical HR Manager can create the application with little or no help from the IT team.
The point that I am trying to make is that there are many different and diverse application development needs in an organization and a low-code platform should provide the functional breadth to address this diversity. There are substantial benefits of building many different applications on one platform, such as:
- Faster application development:Every new application is faster to build as it benefits from reusable components that are already built for existing applications.
- Significant cost savings:New application do not need new licenses and typically require much less efforts.
- Better collaboration between business and IT:Best practices can be deployed across the organization to achieve better collaboration between Business and IT to drive organic innovation.
- Connected applications:Every application is connected with every other application so you get a unified view of business rather than a fragmented view of business.
So, how do you make sure to get the most out of your digital transformation platform?
First, look beyond the project at hand. Most companies fail to do this and end up buying many different products to solve different use cases. This creates the same old problem that has plagued enterprises for years: multiple disconnected applications that do not talk to each other.
Second, be ready to make some compromises. Most vendors will tell you that they can do it all. It's not true! Some products will be better for a specific use case than others, so you will have to make some compromises in order to standardize. However, it will pay back handsomely in the long run and with some creativity, you will be able to workaround some specific use cases.
Finally, look for core capabilities that you will need across your applications and make sure you get them out-of-the-box in the low-code platform.
In my next post, I will write about some of the key capabilities that you should look for when considering a low-code platform to drive digital transformation.
Prittam Bagani
Director, Products
