#lowcodeautomation

Business enterprises are more dispersed than ever. Not only are many people still working remotely a full year into the pandemic, the digital age has given companies a lot more data to manage. Combined, that makes business processes challenging to execute. But what if creating a new, automated application users need to do their jobs no matter where they're located was as easy as drawing a workflow diagram? That's exactly what low-code technology does.

Enterprise software development is undergoing a quiet revolution — and it’s a revolution everyone saw coming. The old way of developing applications — specialist developers writing code line by line — just isn’t working anymore. Under rising pressure to replace software and develop new solutions faster than ever before, organisations are often left feeling paralysed by their own IT. Low-code is that revolution.

One of Europe’s oldest banks delivers new FinTech products 10x faster and reduces onboarding from one week to 10 minutes with a low-code automation platform. Bankhaus von der Heydt is using Appian to automate back-office operations and grow its banking business.

Bureau of Labor Statistics expected 1.4 million computer science–related jobs to become available in 2020—but only 400,000 computer science graduates to fill those roles. Enterprises can’t hire their way out of this problem, so IT teams need a more efficient way to quickly build powerful applications. That’s where low-code and no-code development platforms come in. Low-code and no-code capabilities let development teams rapidly build applications using visual design tools and a drag-and-drop interface.

The new normal in the next decade will be very different than the bygone era. COVID has impacted the world in a way seen only as recently as a century ago. It was different then and it is different now. This new normal can unlock significant value in the digital space. Applications and platforms need to be developed at a velocity faster than changing habits of consumers.

Nothing catalyses change so much as a crisis, and with 2020 in the rearview mirror, many businesses are looking to refine their operations by going digital. Digitisation brings many advantages — seamless remote access, unification of operations and insurance against future change, just to name a few — but it can be fraught with difficulties when implementing.

Technical debt is a part of software development. Some technical debt is inevitable—but too much can overwhelm developers, draining resources and infringing on IT’s ability to innovate and solve business problems. Business leaders recognized that software is central to digital innovation.

Research commissioned by Appian shows automation is helping more than half of financial services organisations to build apps quicker than competitors. A new global survey by Financial Times company Longitude has shown 63% of financial services organisations in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region reporting that "investments in automation have helped them gain a significant competitive edge in the market."

As AI continues to expand the future of what’s possible, the need for human ingenuity at its core is vital. Former chess champion Garry Kasparov provides a fresh take on bridging the gap between people and technology.

In retrospect, 2020 was a year of unprecedented change. No one could have foreseen what the last 12 months would bring. But in Europe and the Middle East, Appian has adapted to make the most of the situation, building solutions to help customers keep their customers and staff safe and engaged. Here’s a recap of Appian's top 10 moments from a year like no other...