Remote work shaped the economy in 2020 and likely for many years to come. The pace of digital transformation to address this new remote work world is staggering. But over the past nine months, as government organizations have forced countless employees to work from home, it has also become clear that not all digital transformation initiatives have been successful.
Digital transformation strategy
The pandemic has made it clear that there is no single digital transformation strategy that fits every company. Digital needs must be tailored to the market conditions in which companies operate. The most obvious impact of the measures against COVID-19 on digital transformation is the brutal acceleration of the transition process. Companies must renew outdated business applications to remain competitive in the aftermath. Digital transformation is no longer a long-term goal or a fictional abstraction, it is happening right now, in a very Darwinian model.
The new reality
This acceleration means that more process transformations are taking place through low-code/no-code tools rather than large-scale system transformations. A key factor for companies that want to adapt to the new reality is the modernization of business applications used by employees or customers. Not only unified access via mobile applications and on the desktop will be crucial, but also new levels of data abstraction (data intelligence) and the aggregation of tasks into workflows (work management).
Increasing demand for software
Every industry and business sector is currently in a state of flux. While companies that harnessed digital technologies to disrupt established models and markets are thriving, the rest of the business world is catching up and making tactical IT “quick fixes” to adapt to the changing world. But the ever-increasing demand for software is creating a shortfall of traditional Java or .NET developers across all industries and global markets. IT departments can often only provide the basic requirements to keep a business running smoothly, leaving business departments behind with their needs.
No-Code, no Problem?
But there is also good news – low-code/no-code platforms open the door to a new breed of developer. There is significant untapped potential in the workforce, and no-code tools can help close the gap between software requirements and the available workforce – aligning business needs with IT strategy and implementation.
Low-code/no-code platforms such as AgilePoint or Microsoft Power Platform enable both technical experts and ordinary users (“Citizen Developers”) to develop business applications, from simple to highly complex, and entirely without programming. A Citizen Developer is a user who builds applications following the development guidelines set by the IT department. Unlike professional developers, Citizen Developers have not received formal programming training, and developing applications is not necessarily part of their job profile.
Learn now from the successful
COVID-19 has forced many companies to immediately address their digital transformation strategies, which had previously been driven forward as long-term goals with moderate priority. But the “Digital Maturity Index” published by Deloitte showed that only digitally mature companies were able to respond with above-average flexibility to the crisis.
Low-code/no-code platforms offer the opportunity to quickly create, test and implement process transformations and innovative applications. Additionally, they enable existing workforces without programming skills to easily and quickly design new workflows and functionality. They can help organizations address the current business challenges associated with COVID-19.
The demand for low-code/no-code development platforms is growing rapidly. More and more organizations – and thus also developers without programming skills (citizen developers) – are convinced by the ease of use, flexibility, workflow functions and data integration possibilities of these platforms.
Your partner for low-code/no-code development platforms in Switzerland
1stQuad recognized the strengths of AgilePoint a long time ago, and is the leading AgilePoint partner in Switzerland. Several customers of 1stQuad are already using AgilePoint successfully today. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we use all products of the Power Platform Suite: Power BI data visualization, Power Apps software development, Power Automate workflow automation and Power Virtual Agents for creating chatbots. In September, Microsoft announced several new Power Platform integrations, including capabilities for creating automated workflows in Microsoft Teams.