How Low Code Enables Digital Transformation For Enterprise
A Leader’s Guide To Using Low Code To Achieve Key Business Goals
Today’s business leader needs a digital transformation strategy to future-proof their enterprise. On this resource page, we unpack how low code development platforms, like OutSystems, are the linchpin of digital transformation in large organisations – and how you can easily apply these insights to drive success in your own.
1. Key challenges and opportunities of digital transformation
Systemic changes will occasionally be necessary to ensure the growth of your enterprise, but they come with substantial challenges. Thankfully, digital transformation needn’t be one of them. Before we dive into how you can quickly and efficiently integrate digital technology into every aspect of your business, here’s why it’s essential to do so.
The benefits of digital transformation
Speed
A digitally mature business can keep up with market changes more easily than one that relies on legacy systems.
Agility
A digital transformation strategy, when combined with tools like low code, helps you transform your business continuously and remain future proof.
Visibility
In a digitally mature business, it’s much easier to get visibility over, and insight into, business operations.
Innovation
Low code platforms help you drive digital product innovation, quickly, efficiently and at scale.
Customer and employee
Digitally transformed businesses can offer customers and employees cutting edge digital services and processes, backed by the latest tools.
Increased profits
80% of organisations that have completed digital transformations report increased profits, according to a study by SAP Centre for Business Insights & Oxford Economics.
Related: Get the details in our blog post, 5 Business Benefits of Digital Transformation.
Implementation challenges
Change-resistant culture
Employees may resist the shift towards a fast-paced culture of innovation and constant change.
Legacy systems
Operations may be over complicated or hindered by legacy systems that counteract your digital transformation strategy.
Lack of change management
The skillsets to undo change resistance and manage the transition from legacy systems might not exist within your organisation and may need to be sourced externally.
Thankfully, low code development platforms are a powerful tool that can help you unlock the maximum benefit of digital transformation, while minimising the risk of every challenge.
Related: Is South Africa lagging behind? Find out how the country compares to approaches to digital transformation in the rest of Africa, in this blog post.
2. How Low code development platforms can help
A low code platform can transform your enterprise along 3 lines: digital operations, digital experiences and your digital core.
To implement any digital transformation strategy efficiently, consider how you can leverage the power of low code in these key areas.
Digital operations
A low code platform can help you eliminate friction points from internal processes – translating to increased productivity and visibility. With the rapid application development that low code makes possible, you’re able to create solutions like mobile and web-responsive apps, forms, fast integrations and workflows that streamline operations. Meanwhile, built-in dashboards and productivity insights take care of cross-business visibility that enable constant refinement.
Digital experiences
Low code platforms help you deliver customer experiences that match modern consumer expectations. From customer mobile apps, to self-service customer portals – low code puts rapid prototyping, pixel-perfect design and scalability at your fingertips. Get the details in our blog post. How Digital Transformation Affects Customer Experience.
Digital core
Your legacy systems may be holding you back. Low code platforms help transform your business core into a dynamic, digital, future-proofed ecosystem – without needing to burn it all down to the ground and begin again.
Related: Gartner predicts that by 2024, 65% of app development activity will be powered by low code. We unpack whether it’s powerful enough to tackle enterprise-level IT challenges in our blog post: Low Code ERP. What You Need To Know.
3. The three stages of digital transformation
These milestones mark key stages in your journey to digital maturity – and access to rapid application development through your low code platform will underpin your success every step of the way.
1. Laying Your Foundation
The objective here is to build confidence in low code as a tool and pave the way for more extensive digital transformation projects. Lay a strong foundation by putting together your first project team to deliver a solution to a digital operations or experiences use case, using a low code platform.
2. Creating A Centre Of Excellence
Once your initial project team has comfortably delivered on a number of projects, it’s time to scale the use of low code. Establish self-sustaining low code capability in your organisation by enabling more teams, integrating low code with other internal platforms and including governance as a focus area.
3. Becoming a Full Digital Enterprise
With a Centre Of Excellence in place, it’s time to grow low code across multiple lines of business. A full digital enterprise leverages low code across all use cases – digital operations, digital experiences and digital core.
Related: Get expert tips and resources to shepherd your enterprise through every stage of its digital transformation journey in our blog post. How To Become A Full Digital Enterprise.
4. Facilitating adoption in your organisation
Your digital transformation strategy is only as effective as it’s implementation. Thankfully, there are ways to drive adoption in your organisation, efficiently and effectively.
Ensure board and executive team alignment
Work together to outline a vision for the future, and implement a digital transformation strategy that gets you there.
Prioritise your change efforts
As a business leader, you’re likely to have multiple initiatives on the boil. Narrow down your list of strategic priorities and try to coordinate them through the lens of a digital transformation strategy.
Identify and mitigate risks
All change introduces an element of risk – identify and plan for risks to proactively reduce their possible impact.
Engage key stakeholders
To attain your long-term objective, you’ll need the flexibility to pivot on a dime. Clear communication maintains stakeholder confidence in leadership when short-term disruptions arise.
Get company-wide buy-in to a low code development platform by following these 3 steps.
1. Demonstrate its value
Get your first project team to produce a working application, using low code, that simplifies everyone’s tasks – at the speed that only low code can achieve.
2. Appoint an adoption team
Change isn’t easy; this team will be responsible for facilitating roll out across the whole organisation.
Key roles to fill include:
- Executive sponsor. They secure funding and articulate and communicate the company vision that motivates the change.
- Adoption champion. This enthusiastic and resilient team member drives the success of the program and builds consensus for it.
- Adoption expert. They’re a low code expert who’s been on this kind of project before. They work with the Adoption Champion, providing advice and direction.
3. Resource your adoption team appropriately
Your key players will need the help of top talent to meet their goals. Ensure they have access to resources such as a tech lead, developers and a product owner.
Related: Learn more in our blog post, Digital Business Transformation Strategy: How To Approach It in Your Enterprise Organisation.
5. Assembling your digital transformation team (& how low code can help)
Effective use of a low code development platform is at the heart of successful digital transformation, so you’ll need a team who can leverage the full power of low code to help achieve your business goals.
These are foundation-level resources you need to turn your transformation dream into a profitable reality.
Tester
QA ensures your digital products are error-free and effectively solve business challenges and ease workload. Testers use manual and automated methods to do that.
Tech Lead
The tech lead supervises your developers and drives the implementation of their digital product solutions. They’re also responsible for establishing the connection between technical and business teams.
UX/UI Designer
Your UX/UI designer is responsible for mapping the customer journey and creating clickable prototypes that demonstrate the app’s value.
Front-end Developer
Your front-end developer implements UI and adds interactive elements.
Developers
They’ll design, build and test applications that solve complex technical and business issues.
Top 3 benefits of using a low code development platform to power your digital transformation strategy.
Fast time-to-value
Low code enables rapid application development with a low error rate. Now you can improve time-to-value and deploy your solutions fast.
Cost Savings
Improve ROI through streamlined operational processes, and by offering customers digital products that delight, quickly – all through the power of low code.
Resource optimisation
With a low code platform, junior developers can punch above their weight. You’ll lessen the pressure to find and hire scarce development talent, and free up your senior resources for more important tasks.
6. How strategic innovation consulting and low code can help
While low code powers successful implementation of your digital transformation strategy, strategic innovation consulting can help determine what that strategy will be. With the help of a reputable digital transformation service provider, and a low code development platform, you can…
Make your ideas a reality, fast
An experienced innovation consulting partner, and a low code development platform, helps you achieve your goal in less time than it would take through traditional means.
Create competitive business advantages
A finely tuned strategy, coupled with the power of low code, means your digital products solutions will offer rapid time-to-value. These help you stay ahead of the competition, and be agile enough to respond quickly to market changes.
Ensure smooth implementation
Low code unlocks rapid application development that relies on fewer human resources than traditional methods. When coupled with a digital transformation strategy, you have all you need to ensure a smooth transition to a new, digitally mature business mode.
Solve complex business problems with solutions built for enterprise
Strategic innovation consulting and low code collectively gives you the roadmap and tools to develop and implement a digital transformation strategy that’s tailored for your enterprise.
Related: Find out how ExoSystems can help you digitally transform your enterprise company in less than 6 months, in this blog post.
Start your digital transformation today, with ExoSystems
With digital transformation now firmly on your to-do list, transforming your enterprise organisation may feel like a colossal task – but we’re here to help. As a strategic partner, we’ll help you transform your business model to be agile, future-proof and digital. How? By combining strategy with a powerful low code development platform, you’ll achieve your digitisation goals quickly and efficiently.
Contact us and book a meeting to discuss your business challenges – and brainstorm bespoke solutions – in real-time.
Block F, St Andrew's Office Park, Meadowbrook Ln, Bryanston, Johannesburg, 2021, South Africa
Copyright © 2021. Platform Evolution (Pty) Ltd - OutSystems Partner in South Africa - Registration No. 2012/131005/07
Designed and built by ExoSystems