Low-code app development technologies have found new prominence in the pandemic era as organizations of all sizes seek to do more.
What has emerged in 2021 is a growing need and demand for a class of development technology referred to as enterprise low-code application development. In its Magic Quadrant on the low code space in 2021, analyst firm Gartner called enterprise-class providers a key direction for the software development market.
Jason Wong, distinguished VP analyst at Gartner, sees the trend of enterprise low-code development as being reflective of what organizations are expecting.
"Customers are investing in low-code application platforms now for more important applications, not just smaller applications, but business unit applications, enterprise applications and, in some cases, applications that are serving the needs of customers and partners," Wong told ITPro Today. "So they want a company that's going to be around."
Enterprise low-code application platforms are also serving the needs of what Gartner refers to as fusion teams, according to Wong. Those are teams within enterprises that include business people as well as professional developers working in collaboration. While a simplified visual interface is a hallmark of low-code development, Wong noted that enterprise low-code application platforms increasingly also integrate command-line interfaces (CLIs) for custom sophisticated development as well.
With the continuing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and hybrid work, there is an opportunity for organizations to benefit from enterprise low-code application platforms.
As we enter into the new hybrid world of work, the use cases for low-code apps are dramatically expanding to meet growing business demands, said Josh Kahn, senior vice president of Creator workflow Products at ServiceNow.Â
"The fact of the matter is that there simply aren’t enough technical developer resources out there to create the software experiences needed," Kahn told ITPro Today. "The use cases we are seeing with low code this year are becoming more complex and mission-critical in nature."
Kahn said his firm is also seeing an increase in cross-enterprise workflows versus simple applications that are bound to a single department. For example,Argonne National Laboratorybuilt custom apps using low-code technology to handle tasks such as coordinating its emergency response teams, booking electrical vehicle charging stations and more, with over 165 apps in their queue awaiting approval, he said.
A key capability for enterprise low code that Gartner evaluates products on is their ability to support and enable collaborative app development.
