How Low-Code No-Code Help CIOs Accelerate Digital Transformation

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The pandemic has thrown everything into perspective and digital transformation has taken the front seat during the process. And, in this article, we are going to help you understand how low-code no-code help CIOs accelerate digital transformation.

Digital Transformation is not a day’s job, but the challenges surrounding businesses today need urgent solutions. No business can afford weeks and months of development to come up with one solution. CIOs are under pressure to articulate quick answers and take decisions immediately. This is where low-code no-code comes into the picture.

Also read: The Future of Software is No Code and Low Code Programming

The main concerns in embracing low-code no-code

CIOs – much like everyone else – are used to following certain strategies and techniques. Suggesting that they completely change these strategies and embrace low-code no-code app development is a huge ask. This is why it is important to address all the concerns CIOs may have and explore how low-code and no-code help CIOs address their challenges. Their concerns include information security, shadow IT, delivering on-time, expenses, and more. Maintaining standards and ensuring employee satisfaction are also in the list of concerns.

CIOs need a solution that takes care of the challenges quickly without bringing unnecessary risks and expenses with it. This is why they must learn how low-code no-code helps CIOs accelerate digital transformation.

Also read: Myths about Low-Code No-Code Platforms

Low-code No-code – The answer to the Digital Transformation concerns

Low Code No-code help CIOs drive digital transformation. We have enunciated some of the biggest benefits of no-code that CIOs must be aware of:

Speed and Cost

This is probably the most significant and highly talked about benefit of no-code app development. It reduces the time from idea to application from weeks and months to minutes and days, which is exactly what the businesses need today. Costs obviously come down since fewer resources are required for a shorter duration.

Clear IT Backlog

The traditional process of app development for business processes is lengthy and resource-intensive. It takes a lot of time and effort to create a software solution from scratch involving several phases including planning, designing, development, testing, and deployment. The entire process usually relies on highly-paid and time-constrained resources.

At the same time need for IT solutions from the business departments is increasing at a rapid pace, creating a backlog for the IT teams that they are not able to address.

Low-code No-code platforms help clear these backlogs by enabling business users to build their own applications with no or minimal coding under the governance of the central IT team.

Also read: The Pros and Cons of Citizen Development

Agility and Responsiveness to Change

CIOs need systems that can adapt and respond to the ever-changing business requirements fast. Systems that are rigid or cannot be customized slow down the organization’s response to the business needs. Businesses in today’s world cannot afford that. Low-code and no-code platforms solve that problem. Applications built on these platforms can be modified or extended with ease in a very short time.

Ability to build comprehensive enterprise-grade solutions

While basic no-code platforms may have some limitations, advanced no-code and low-code platforms can be used to build simple to very complex business applications. Some examples of enterprise-grade applications that have been built on Quixy, an advanced no-code platform includes an insurance claim processing system, a container freight management system, and an end-to-end HRMS system.

Also read: 5 Reasons to Encourage Citizen Development at Work

Security and Scalability

Security is a genuine concern for any CIO and all serious low-code no-code players in the market understand the need for security, privacy, and compliance. These players ensure that the right controls are put in place at each step including application design, development, delivery, hosting, and maintenance to ensure that security and privacy are never compromised. And so that the customer can be assured about this, the platform providers get their security controls audited against the best security standards available in the market. These standards include ISO 27001 and SSAE18 SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA, etc

Being cloud-based, scalability is never an issue.

No Risk of Shadow IT

Low-code no-code implementation, if done correctly, enables users to build applications under the governance of the central IT team. IT teams must lay out policies and procedures to enforce this governance. Do’s and Don’ts should be clearly laid out. What is acceptable and what is not acceptable should be known to all. Roles and responsibilities should be clearly documented. Such governance by the central IT team eliminates the possibility of any shadow IT.

Fewer complications

Did you know that only 1 out of 10 IT projects is actually successful? That means the chances of success of the big IT projects are very bleak. This is because of many reasons that include inexperienced project teams, requirements that are unclear or too complex relative to the business’s needs, lack of involvement of business users throughout the project, the number of programmers working on the project, the number of integrations required, improper testing, and the complexity of the applications. Each failure and every single delay directly impacts business objectives.

Low-code No-code platforms address most of these issues. Business users are involved throughout the application development. With no-code, applications are developed by the business users themselves and therefore all issues related to mismanagement of requirements do not even arise. No-code requires no-coding while low-code requires minimal coding compared to traditional development. These platforms provide simple intuitive drag-and-drop visual interfaces to build applications and readymade adapters to integrate with 3rd party applications. Some platforms offer inbuilt test simulators to avoid separate testing efforts.

Better collaboration

The most successful projects are those, which have a collaborative team. If IT teams work separately from business development and other teams, the result often does not meet the expectations. Now, neither of the team is to blame here. The problem is the lack of collaboration. The product ends up not matching the expectations of the other teams and this leads to more changes, delays, and expenses.

No-code platforms have interfaces that invite collaboration. All teams can come together to set expectations and deliver accordingly. This sort of communication always yields better results.

As per this research from Gartner, Technology work has become radically distributed: Dependent on the industry, between 26% and 54% of employees outside of IT have moved beyond technology “end users” to become technology producers. These business technologists actively build or customize data or technology solutions. We found significant variations across industries, but on average, 41% of employees outside of IT are now business technologists.

How Low-Code No-Code help CIOs accelerate digital transformation

Now that we have highlighted solutions and alleviated the concerns surrounding low-code no-code app development, let’s look at how leveraging low-code no-code through citizen development can accelerate digital transformation.

• Reset the timeline expectations and make “fast” the new normal: The clock will not stop ticking and stakeholders must adapt to changes quickly. Once they understand how no-code development works, they will be more than happy to race with the clock – and succeed.
• Invite innovation from everyone: All team members are capable of innovation and no-code facilitates that. No longer can any business depend on a single “core” team to innovate and ideate. Because low-code/no-code helps collaboration of different experts and gives them the freedom to innovate.
• Integrate: Integration brings seamlessness in business operations. It removes application silos and creates software systems where data flows across departments with minimal or no data redundancy. Well-integrated systems provide accurate and more comprehensive data for business analysis and effective decision making.

Low-Code No-Code help CIOs but how do you measure the ROI?

Everything looks great so far, doesn’t it? But we are sure you have a question about ROI. How do you measure it in times like these? Here are a few easy steps that you can follow:

1. Pen down your digital transformation objectives
2. Agree on the outcomes to be measured to gauge effectiveness
3. Understand all the costs involved
4. Set milestones and timelines to review outcomes and check the effectiveness
5. Measure continuously and tweak the process as and when required

The time for digital transformation is now

The faster businesses learn how low-code no-code help CIOs accelerate digital transformation, the better because the repercussions of the pandemic are here to stay after the clouds clear. The momentum for low-code no-code development has accelerated and with so many benefits that are relevant to the current situation, CIOs cannot afford to ignore it.

Embracing the change and implementing the tips above will definitely help businesses overcome hurdles faster than expected and fetch rewards for the long-term without added expenses.

In short, low-code no-code development doesn’t just make the process quicker, it also increases the value of digital transformation. Isn’t that exactly what CIOs need today?

Quixy is a no-code app development platform that will help you accelerate digital transformation and leverage it without burdening your pockets or the team. With Quixy, you get the flexibility to build great solutions with ease! Sign up for a free trial and see the difference yourself.