CIOs Anticipate Greater Use of Low-Code Platforms

A recent study conducted by  market research firm Vanson Bourne for WEBCON revelas that a majority of CIOs surveyed (85%) said low-code applications were either very important or mission critical for their organizations; and 84% expect importance of low-code to increase over the next 12 to 24 months. This comes as 64% of IT organizations struggle with constantly changing business requirements, the growing volume of software (49%), and the insatiable demand for new applications (84%).

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the way people work and interact with technology. One trend that had been gaining ground for several years and took off during the pandemic was the rise in low-code development. With a potential recession on the horizon, companies facing tight budgets, and a shortage of skilled developers, low-code platforms have become the de facto choice for building applications quickly and efficiently.

The new study found that the vast majority of CIOs agree that delivering low-code apps is less costly (89%) and faster (90%) than custom-code, and that applications built with low-code tend to offer greater flexibility and are better suited to meeting business needs (93%) than commercial (COTS) software.

The study also points to potential challenges and considerations companies need to consider when adopting low-code and citizen development.

• According to the study, most companies have two or more low-code platforms in use. These systems are primarily used by professional developers (67%) followed by citizen developers (41%).
• While a majority (70%) of companies plan on using citizen development in the future, only half (50%) of those using citizen development today believe it’s working well.
• More than three quarters of CIOs (80%) felt that the current pace of app development is lagging needs, and needs to improve.

The surveyed CIOs note application delivery can be a complex and time-consuming process that includes requirements analysis, implementation, coding, system configuration and end-user training, with each stage taking months to complete. CIOs are counting on a platform approach in adopting low-code to minimize both the time to complete these stages, as well as the variety of tools and applications required.