Gartner announced that low-code development technologies would rise to a value of $13.8 billion in 2021 and that the future would be defined by low-code architecture.
According to the Research VP for Gartner, Fabrizio Biscotti, though low-code development isn’t new, it is at the core of many of the most important transformations in the digital landscape, including hyper automation.

The values of it have been growing more evident for years. With low-code applications, companies can form more agile development teams, capable of producing new solutions at speed, while keeping costs low. More importantly, low-code solutions have endless versatility.
Companies can implement low-code applications to handle everything from automated troubleshooting to asset management.

So, why is now the perfect time to embrace low-code application development?

One study from Forrester found that customers achieved an average ROI of around 288% by implementing low-code intelligent automation platforms. The benefits came from increased end-user productivity gains, higher business impact, and cost savings. Essentially, low code platforms replace the complex, heavy BPM suites that required excessive maintenance and investment in the past.

The low-code environment represents the future for business leaders in a rapidly changing world, where companies are trying to keep up with accelerated digital transformation.

Now more than ever, companies need to be ready to adapt to new demands and needs at scale. Since the pandemic boosted digital transformation by around 7 years, every business leader has had to rethink their strategy for digital agility.

There’s more pressure on IT developers and leaders today than ever before to dramatically increase time to value. The consequences of the pandemic have further validated the potential of the low-code proposition. Not only can low-code solutions deliver on the promises of hyper automation, but they can even support remote work functionality, with workflow support and asset tracking.

One of the major benefits of the low-code environment for today’s businesses is access to a new generation of innovators. The most impressive things happen in businesses when people work together. Unfortunately, finding, and empowering professionals with developer education today is much harder than it seems.

Low-code applications empower everyday employees and business users to become citizen developers. Users can detect problems and come up with solutions using workflows, like setting up virtual agents to automatically alert them when a change happens in customer trends or automating the search for problems when troubleshooting an error. This way companies can react fast when new use cases must be developed and implemented making them agile to business changes and customer requests.

With such technology, anyone can create their own automations and strategies to improve workplace performance, reduce the IT team’s strain, and open the door for further innovation. According to experts, the chances are that citizen developers are already lurking behind the curtains in most businesses, as most people are growing increasingly accustomed to interacting with all kinds of applications and technology.

Many citizen developers start with basic tracking apps and workflow tools that allow them to address issues like inventory management, approval processes, or even logging workflow hours. Some people even have apps on their phones today that allow them to manage entire IoT environments and smart devices around their homes at the touch of a button, through low-code connections.
Bringing low-code applications into the business landscape is the first step to creating a dynamic environment where everyone can contribute to the ongoing optimization of the business.

For instance, if a business user working on an asset tracking tool sees a way that they can make a process more efficient than the current strategy, they can make this process improvement directly in the platform layer.
Low-code applications, therefore, empower team members to create the kinds of tools they need to perform at their best while reducing the common expenses associated with innovation in a business. Gartner believes that by 2024, low-code application development will be responsible for over 65% of all application development activity.

Since the pandemic, most companies have begun to realize that technology and digitization is the future of productivity and performance. Unfortunately, innovation has long been something of a slow process in many business environments. Getting everyone on the same page before a change can take place takes weeks or months. IT has often been a siloed component from the rest of the company.

Modern low-code applications open the door to a more agile environment, where IT and the rest of the company work seamlessly together. IT staff and business users can work cohesively on requirements, rapidly building and deploying new ideas. By allowing stakeholders in the business to provide feedback on requirements, companies also empower staff to take more ownership over the applications they contribute to.

Low-code empowers the people in the modern workplace to embrace the ideals of agility, by constantly innovating. This means that it’s easier to keep up with the constant change and disruption of the current market. At the same time, it reduces the gaps between groups in the business that can lead to confusion, lack of adoption, and poor company culture.

Low-code applications embrace an agile delivery methodology that involves bringing every part of the company into the development lifecycle. This allows for new perspectives and insights from front-line workers, back-end groups, and endless other collaborators. Everyone can work together on addressing common problems in an environment where collaboration is more crucial than ever.

Low-code will even allow companies to create apps that scale according to the scope of the business and evolve with the business development strategy – so that they’re always on the cutting edge. Your agile solutions can be easy to change, and ready to extend across multiple channels and devices at the pace that makes sense for you. It’s a new world for digital transformation and discovery.

The benefits of process development with low-code applications are everywhere in today’s digital environment. As we continue to step forward into an unknown future, low-code solutions will give teams the power to bring people together on a constantly improving strategy for success. However, there are further benefits to discover within the low-code application environment too. For instance, as mentioned above, this technology has incredible potential in the world of hyper-automation.

Having the opportunity to automate tasks through a single low-code application can help companies to save thousands of hours per year for each employee. For instance, a low-code application could ensure that front-end employees can all track customer information through a single platform, making it easier to proactively deal with issues and manage service performance.

Low-code solutions can also help to redistribute employees to the area where they can have the biggest impact on things like customer care and business development. Step-by-step guided workflows and simple automations help to bring everyone together towards bigger benefits for the customer and the business overall.

According to Gartner, many of the major SaaS vendors on the market already offer capabilities with low-code development technologies built-in. As the software-as-a-service landscape grows increasingly compelling, and vendor platforms continue to grow, the low-code market is likely to see a massive growth spurt.

The quest for hyper automation will be among the major trends pushing the adoption of low-code applications and SaaS technology in the years to come. Low-code solutions will allow companies to embrace automation technology, AI, and LCAP technology to automate complicated processes and empower companies to accomplish more.

In a world rushing towards concepts like hyper automation and citizen developers, low-code technology seems like the perfect steppingstone towards a new future. Thanks to this technology, companies will be able to create entirely new cultures around technology and open the door for the quick and seamless optimization of countless processes.

Cloud-based platforms, new SaaS developments, and innovators in business technology are all building a stronger foundation for low-code solutions to evolve on top of.

Almost every company can benefit from exploring the possibilities of low-code applications. However, it’s the companies that jump in now that could see the biggest advantages. We’re on the cusp of a digital revolution where hyper automation and low-code technology will pave the way to success. The quicker you find your footing in the new world, the faster you can start to see results.

Reach out to Bulb Technologies today to discover how our low-code hyper automation platforms can help you to achieve your business development goals.