IT Management
The true meaning of low code this Christmas – and beyond
Have you ever thought how an app might help you at Christmas?
Perhaps not. And admittedly, tech can’t help you deal with grouchy family members, fights over Monopoly, or overcooked Brussel sprouts. But it might just help you remember to stock up on batteries.
At least, that’s what our recent consumer research of over 1,500 respondents across the UK and Ireland found. 83% of those we surveyed stated they would find apps useful to help them manage specific pain points at Christmas, from managing their budget (37%), to sending Christmas cards on time (21%), scheduling family visits (21%), and ordering food on time (21%).
There’s a gap here, though. While the stats above show many want these apps – and 53% would build their own apps and digital capabilities if they could – 45% are unconfident in their coding skills or have no knowledge of code at all.
The promise of low-code
Of course, the potential implications of this go far beyond just Christmas. We as individuals waste so much time on minor tasks that add relatively little value to our daily lives, or, indeed, our jobs: there’s far too much admin and minor dot-connecting that eats up time but provides minimal fulfilment. If we could create tools to better manage these tasks, that would give us far more time to focus on what really matters. But the skills to do so have been lacking.
Luckily, the technologies that can help us do this are just starting to take off. Low-code technology, for example, allows businesses to create custom applications with significantly less code than is usually required in app design, lowering the barrier to entry for tech development. That means many more employees can sit in the driving seat, rather than wait for someone else to build a solution for them.
As our world becomes more and more digital, technologies like Low Code have the potential to completely change how we go about our lives.
Low-code at scale
If low-code tools can provide benefit at an individual level, then what they can do at scale across a business – or the entire economy – is completely transformative.
Let’s think big, for a moment. We face so many challenges as a global community: the ongoing climate crisis is perhaps the greatest risk humanity has ever faced; structural inequality continues to plague our institutions and organisations and create social discord, while a lack of governance is creating more questions, rather than answers.
Each and every one of these problems can be helped with the right kind of technology. Whether it’s apps that allow businesses to grow sustainably, organisations to hire diversely, and help leaders create the right solutions for businesses, the scope is huge.
Of course, when these apps start to scale, it’s not just a case of individuals creating what they need and working as free agents – that’s only going to create siloes and people pulling in opposite directions. As businesses grow there’s a need for businesses and IT experts to control, guide, and advise. But there’s no need to request and wait for IT to do absolutely everything themselves, and that offers considerable freedom for creators – but only if you can do low code automatically in a business compliant way, meeting the governance requirements of business.
The low-code endgame
Your frame of reference may not go much further beyond Christmas at this point – and that’s completely understandable: I’ve not started on my Christmas list yet, and it’s starting to get urgent.
But looking into the new year ahead and beyond, the potential of low-code is huge.
With so many apps and solutions that need to be created, we need people to build them. And with low-code, many more people can start playing a role in creating the future we all want to see.
Read here for more information on the potential of low-code
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