5 Ways No-Code Apps Help You Exceed Digital Transformation ROI Expectations
Aug 18, 2020, by Sean King
Organizations are struggling to achieve successful digital transformation
Businesses in all industries are under increasing pressure to find new, innovative ways to navigate the changing competitive landscape. However, successfully reimagining processes and digitizing workflows to benefit from automation requires organizations to deal with their short-term needs while also implementing long-term strategic plans.
In this context, it is not surprising that both business and IT leaders are looking for solutions that support faster, more efficient development. And despite business uncertainty, many organizations are continuing to invest in digital transformation initiatives. However, recent research from Accenture suggests that "only 22 percent of industrial companies researched achieved a return on their digital investments that exceeded their expectations."
The biggest reason for digital transformation failure? Inability to successfully move from pilot project to production. The reality is that many organizations are unable to scale projects due to IT backlogs resulting from the time it takes to write custom code and the cost and complexity of integrating new solutions with legacy systems.
This leads to delays and, ultimately, the failure of many transformation projects. So, how do you solve this problem and achieve a meaningful return on your digital transformation investment?
Increasingly forward-thinking business leaders are looking to no-code app development tools to change this. Point-and-click application configuration is faster and better supports innovation, aiding organizations of all sizes to achieve digital transformation. Gartner predicts that by 2024 visual app configuration will account for more than 65% of all app development activity, overtaking traditional coding.
Benefits of No-Code Application Configuration
1. Reduce the strain on IT resources
Advanced app configuration platforms allow organizations to democratize app development. Business leaders, analysts, and other process experts can prototype and perfect business solutions without writing a single line of code.
Empowering business professionals to create and iterate their own applications allows individuals to apply their expert departmental knowledge directly to developing digital solutions while also freeing IT departments to work towards more complex long-term projects where their specialist programming skills and knowledge are essential.
2. Accelerate development cycles
Advanced app building platforms accelerate development cycles in two ways. First, through democratizing access and ability to build apps, empowering business analysts and process experts to step up and create custom solutions.
Managers and business analysts are free to take development into their own hands, no longer reliant on inundated IT departments, and empowered to create and maintain solutions to their unique business problems.
This leads us to the second benefit, free from shouldering the burden of app development and change requests, IT departments can transition to longer-term and more strategic priorities. Professional developers should still govern the security and QA of applications delivered by business professionals to avoid 'shadow IT', but now can direct most of their time towards the complex and transformational projects that deliver the biggest business value. This no-code approach allows organizations to develop for both the short and long-term simultaneously, speeding up development cycles.
3. Build truly custom solutions
Sophisticated app configuration platforms, such as Flowfinity, provide point-and-click toolsets that app builders can use to build truly custom solutions. The near limitless combination of data fields, forms, and workflow functionality allows business analysts to produce apps that meet exact stakeholder requirements, with no need to compromise.
This configuration process is significantly quicker than coding, what would previously have taken months or years can be completed in days or weeks. Not only are prototypes and production applications delivered fast, but the configuration process lends itself well to iteration. As new opportunities and efficiencies emerge, app builders can quickly refine their applications to meet changing needs.
4. Ensure data integrity & security
Business professionals can innovate in a safe environment as the central control of access, permissions, and integrations remain with development professionals. This ensures data integrity and security, with citizen developers given the freedom to create new workflows without creating vulnerabilities.
App configuration platforms also reduce the chances of shadow IT emerging. Business professionals who are free to safely create custom business apps are less likely to search for workarounds, in turn reducing the potential for costly security incidents to occur.
5. Unleash more innovation
No-code toolsets are fundamentally inclusive and iterative, they encourage business users and professional developers to engage in fast, iterative development cycles that encourage innovation. Anyone is free to test their ideas, refining, and scaling solutions as they go, and this environment of experimentation can help new opportunities for growth or competitive advantage to emerge.
No-code provides business analysts and process experts with a toolset fit for any enterprise, moving ideas to implementation.
Results
To meet present and future business challenges, and to remain competitive, organizations should look to advanced no-code toolsets to drive a successful digital transformation and exceed digital ROI expectations.
Create a culture of innovation, by providing business analysts and department leaders governed access to development resources promotes both increased innovation in the short-term but also allows precious IT resources to engage in driving the long-term strategies. When organizations chose no-code development toolsets, they create the conditions to transform faster, generating new opportunities to grow.
To experience how easily you can create, automate, and integrate business process applications using Flowfinity no-code tools try it for free or contact one of our experts for a consultation.
