MAY - 202319 LOW & NO CODE PLATFORMS IN AN ENTERPRISE SCENARIO. A PRACTICAL GUIDE ON HOW TO ENSURE BUSINESS VALUE & COMPLIANCE WITH IT PROCESSES AND STANDARDSCXO NSIGHTSIntroductionIn today's rapidly evolving business landscape, it is crucial for organizations to respond to changes by providing digital and system supported solutions for emerging business requirements. This puts tremendous pressure on the CIO and the IT organisation since traditionally, it is them to provide those solutions. Truth though is, that in most non-tech companies, the IT department does not have the capacities and/or capabilities to implement those requirements. Approaches of implementing (custom) software with external partners can be expensive and time-consuming, often hindering a company's ability to adapt quickly. As a response, business units are increasingly turning to low code platforms. Low code platforms provide a simplified development environment that enable non-technical business-users to build applications with minimal, simplified coding or by just dragging and dropping pre-build components into a single process. Popular low-code platforms are Microsoft PowerApps as well as UiPath Software Robots. The benefits of those platforms are very intriguing to the business:· The "development environment" and language is comparable to the Microsoft Office Suite. Business user immediately feel home and it takes no time to get the first apps up and running· Build in functionalities like screen recording and replay are similar to the good old macro recording in Excel. The only difference is that the record & replay is not limited to excel but covers any kind of user interaction on the screen.Problem Statement:With those offerings it is obvious why business users love low-code platforms. Firstly, they enable the business to rapidly develop and deploy applications, ensuring a high level of agility in response to ever-changing market conditions and customer needs. By simplifying the development process, low code platforms empower not only developers but also non-technical users, such as business analysts and subject matter experts, to create tailored solutions to address specific business requirements. Last but not least, the democratization of development fosters a culture of innovation. It encourages the business to experiment with new solutions and explore disruptive new processes quickly at no or low cost.Sounds too good too be true? Unfortunately, yes. The benefits of low-code platforms are often outweighed by the technical debt low-code platform are introducing to the organization:While low code platforms offer simplified pre-build components, they do not provide the same level of customization and flexibility as traditional programming. Complex business requirements or company-specific use cases usually necessitate inefficient workarounds or additional use of components. What could have been one line of code suddenly is a whole workflow. This decreases maintainability and stability of the solution.Low code platforms must often interact with existing IT systems and infrastructure. Integration can be complex, particularly if the low code platform lacks robust support for APIs, data formats, or communication protocols required by legacy systems. Business user usually opt for GUI-based integration scenarios. This inevitably results in major problems since interaction with the GUI is not predictable as well as changes to GUI and process will certainly break the application.In addition to that, ensuring governance and information security is challenging. Low code platforms can introduce new risks, as non-technical users might inadvertently create vulnerabilities or overlook compliance requirements. The best example for this is the usage of personal credentials for system logins or un-hashed storage of passwords. BY ANDREAS KURZ, DIGITAL OFFICE HEAD OF BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE, ALFAGOMMA GROUPAndreas Kurz
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