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SIX TRENDS TO TRANSFORMING BETTING BIG BOOST VIDEO THE BANKING ON TECH-LED el 00 TECHNOLOGY p. 22 ECOSYSTEM p. 34 INNOVATIONS p. 51 VOL XXXW No 11 1 NOVEMBER, 2020 DATAQUEST Low CODE, DQ YEARS HIGH IMPACT Here's a business solution maturing just when it's needed most. It lets non-techies do coding, and thus brings great flexibility and agility, saving cost and time 68 pages including cover Special Subscription Offeron page 62 NOVEMBER.2020 COVER STORY ENTS "IT IS A DARK HORSE 08 1 COVER STORY IN THE ENTERPRISE 14 TECHNOLOGYDOMAIN" LOW CODE, MEGHASHYAM SIMHA Global Head —Digital, 3i Infotech HIGH IMPACT Here's a business solution maturing "USE OF LOW-CODE just when i€s needed most. It lets PLATFORMS IS LIMITED non-techies do coding, and thus ONLY BY IMAGINATION" brings great flexibility and agility, ASHISH VARERKAR saving cost and time Head —Cloud Practice. LAT Infotech "LOW CODE ENABLES DEMOCRATISATION OF APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT" SUNDAR RAMASWAMY Senior VP and Head of COE, Digitalprocess Automation, Happiest Minds Technologies "LOW CODE MAKES THE ORGANISATION MORE NIMBLE AND AGILE" VIRENDERJEET Senior Vice President- Sales & Marketing/ Products. Newgen Software "LOW CODE IS A SILVER BULLET TO ADDRESS MYRIADOF CHALLENGES" 21 SUMANREDDY MD, Pegasystems.India 4 1 November,2020 www.dqindia.com A CyberMedia Publication DATAQUEST COVER STORY AanchalGhat* [email protected] Low code, high impact Here's a business solution maturing just when it's needed most. It lets non-techies do coding, and thus brings great flexibilityand agility, saving cost and time COVER STORY he COVID-19 pandemic has forced distancing already making it popular in business organisations, and and mobility restrictions, pushing everything its demand can only go up in future. online. This has led to a spurt in digitisation.A Low-code application platform (I-CAP) supports rapid typical organisation faces a curious situation: Just development and greater technical agility to adapt to as IT teams are under immense pressure of increasing market needs with reduced human error at a decreased workloads and decreasing timelines, some of the non- cost. In its most recent low-code Magic Quadrant, Gartner technical employees with analogue specialisations have has predicted that more than half of development over the little work left to do. next few years would be done using low-code solutions. What if there was a way such members of the The enterprise LCAP supports enterprise-class organisation, the ones without any clue about coding, could applications that offer high performance, scalability, high join hands with the tech people? It would not only solve an availability, disaster recovery, security, SLAs, resource HR problem, but would also lead to better solutions as the use tracking. technical support from the provider. and API access to and from local and cloud services. Low code developers would get insights from the business side. As it happens, such a possibility has been developing over the helps not only with coding but also with the quick setup past few years, and with the pandemic push, it is finally and deployment. enjoying its moment under the sun. "Simply put, low code helps customers build applications Called 'low-code development platform', it is a user- more quickly. Based on Forrester Research, investment friendly way to do coding, create software applications— in the low-code market segment is expected to reach withoutany skill requirements,because its user interface USD 21.2 billionby 2022, exhibitinga compound annual is graphical. This means, a non-technical person —any growth rate of approximately 40%. This demonstrates the citizen, actually —can develop customised applications growing imperativefor IT leaders to find better solutions easily, thanks to low code. Within an organisation, various for tackling their backlogs and meeting the changing non-tech teams can easily develop their own solutions demands of the business. IT is overwhelmed with the using low-code platforms (or its cousin, 'no code'), leaving demand for digitisation and low-code shows promise for the tech team free to do more complex, traditional,'hand helping solve those problems," says Mark Weaser, Vice coding'. Low code thus imparts flexibilityand can spur President APAC, OutSystems. creativity —apart from saving time and money. Suman Reddy, MD, Pegasystems, India, adds: "The Such solutions have been around since 2011 in COVID-19 pandemic created an urgent requirementfor rudimentary forms, and in recent years the market for it is digital services across the public and private sectors. picking up. (It also means this technology is nascent, and We have witnessed multiple sectors digitally transform evolving, and thus not withoutits glitches.) Low code is to survive and sustain the drastic market shift. Given the already at the forefront of many critical areas, like COVID- benefits of rapid development and deployment — lower 19 testing, PPP loan processing, remote meal delivery and costs, faster delivery, and greater accessibility, low code workplace safety. The pandemic-induced conditions are is a silver bulletto address a myriad of challenges." SIMPLY PUT,LOW CODE HELPS CUSTOMERS BUILD APPLICATIONS MORE QUICKLY. BASED ON FORRESTER RESEARCH, INVESTMENTIN THE LOW- CODE MARKET SEGMENT IS EXPECTED TO REACH USD 21.2 BILLION BY 2022. — Mark Weaser, Vlce President APAC, OutSystans DATAQUEST I A CyberMediaPublication November,2020 19 COVER STORY GIVEN THE BENEFITS OF RAPID DEVELOPMENTAND DEPLOYMENT- LOWER COSTS, FASTER DELIVERY, AND GREATER ACCESSIBILITY, LOW CODE ADDRESSES A MYRIADOF CHALLENGES. — Suman Reddy, MD, Pegasystems, India TRADITIONAL PROGRAMMING VS LOW-CODE more effective for an organisation that takes a strategic DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT approach to rationalise its existing application portfolio Traditional programming involves designing and coding with defined business case. " using softwarelanguages such as. Net,Java or Python;and A similar calibrated approach is advocated by Sundar for each aspect such as experience, backend, services, Ramaswamy, Senior VP and Head of COE. Digital Process specific coding is required,explains Ashish Varerkar,Head Automation,Happiest Minds Technologies, who says low —Cloud Practice, LAT Infotech. "Compare this with the code programming "is still a new technology that is far major shift being offered by low-code platforms in form from reaching the maturityand scale that the traditional Of a visual way Of development thereby simplifying the programming applications have achieved". entire coding value chain —it is virtually drag-and-drop of According to Ramaswamy, low-code programming is relevant elements of coding. APIs have made seamless preferred for use cases that need rapid deployment at integrationof multiplecomponents as easy as plug-and- small scale with medium complexity and risk within the play. Thus, one need not have even technical/coding skills organisation where traditional programming development to write a code or develop a programme." effortswould not be considered on account of low priority Meghashyam Simha, Global Head —Digital, 3i Infotech, and inabilityto deliver on time. "Traditionalprogramming agrees: "Traditionalor bespoke application development and development approach will still be the first choice at is much easier when the requirementsare simpler. But the moment for enterprise wide, high complex and risk today's requirementsare generally complex and involve applications. While this may be the current situation, it multiplestreams of development.This approach requires is expected that low-code programming will in a few a lot of resources working on differenttechnologies and years' time catch up and possibly overtake traditional ends up with different codebases depending on the programming for all application development scenarios." chosen technologies. All these make it an expensive proposition,and further,time-to-marketis dependent on WHO CAN BUILD WITH LOW-CODE? various factors like estimation issues, coding errors, and Being digital-first or pure-play is no longer a niche and testing challenges." innovativething. a prerequisitefor businesses, public "On the contrary, in a low-code scenario, all the above- services, and governments. Low-code models that were mentioned development can be done within the same traditionallydesigned for lay are now being development environment, with a smaller number of fashioned with enterprise needs. To automate the redundant resources and it takes at least 50% less effortto develop and most boring tasks in the work pipeline:auto-machine the same set of applications," he adds. learning solutions are the best-case study because they However, traditional development leverages existing offer to take the dumb data processing, basic feature technology frameworks and does not attract recurring engineering, and even model deploying off of the hands. costs like in the case of low-code platforms, Simha Raghunandan Dixit, Senior Director of Business points out, adding, "Essentially, a low-code platform is Development and Strategy, Business Automation, 10 1November,2020 www.dqindia.com A CyberMediaPublicationI DATAQUEST COVER STORY APIs HAVE MADE SEAMLESS INTEGRATION OF MULTIPLECOMPONENTS AS EASY AS PLUG-AND- PLAY. ONE NEED NOT HAVE CODING SKILLS TO WRITE A CODE OR DEVELOP A PROGRAMME. — AshiSh Varerkar,Head —Cloud Practice, L&T Infotech PersistentSystems, says, "Low-code platformsare making members of the organisation. Low code is also gaining it much easier to design and develop new solutions. grounddue to the investmentand backing of some of Business leaders, sales professionals and application the biggest names in the game. Google and Amazon now users can developquick businesssolutionsusing low- offer various low-code tools. They were recently joined code platforms.The Low-Code No-Code Movementis in the space by AWS with its launch of Honeycode,a to reduce the dependency on certified or highly skilled managed service that allows users to build mobile and individuals. " web apps. The beauty of low-code platforms,as Reddy pointsout, An example of low code usage at a scale is Schneider is that anybody with an idea or vision can build applications. Electric, a European multinationalcompany providing "It democratises application development and allows energy and automation digital solutions for efficiency business users, developers,and IT users to build and and sustainability."To continue innovatingfor customers, change, despite having little to no coding knowledge. Schneider needed to boost agility and efficiency in its They are able to collaborate, innovate, and deliver critical business processes, capabilities, and operations. By applications from one inclusive environment. These enable deploying low-code platform, the company transformed its organisations to build apps faster and smarter." IT landscape by setting up a 'Low-Code Digital Factory', which doubled its development speed, producing more USE CASES OF LOW-CODE PLATFORMS than 60 new apps in about 40% of the time than previously Low code initially benefits business professionals who would have been needed," Weaser says. want to build apps withoutthe complexities of traditional Another example Weaser offers is of Edelweiss Group, softwaredevelopment.Its positive impact reaches all an investment and financial services company based IN A LOW-CODE SCENARIO, ALL THE WORK CAN BE DONE WITHIN THE SAME DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT,WITH LESS RESOURCE AND IT TAKES AT LEAST 50% LESS EFFORT — Meghashyam Simha, Global Head —Digital, 3 Infotech DATAQUEST I A Publication www.dqindia.com November, 2020 1 11 COVER STORY LOW-CODEPROGRAMMINGIS PREFERRED FOR USE CASES THAT NEED RAPID DEPLOYMENTAT SMALL SCALE WITH MEDIUMCOMPLEXITY AND RISK WITHIN THE ORGANISATION. — Sundar Ramaswamy, Senior VP and Head of COE, Digital Process Automation, Happiest Minds Technologies in Mumbai. "Like others, the company was faced with Virender Jeet, Senior Vice President (Sales and the challenge of too many different applications and Marketing / Products), Newgen Software, adds: "Low-code technologies used for loan processing —making its whole platforms support anything from simple, departmental process and system complicated. To better manage its to complex, mission-critical application requirements large number of customers (over 1 it was vital for of an organisation and help develop solutions that are Edelweiss to increase its scalability quickly across various scalable, agile, and resilient. It can enable developers products, continueto innovateand launch new products across teams to configure applications that can handle with shorter time to market." large volumes of data and perform complex operations "By deploying low-code platform,the group was able with high reliability." to launch 'Business Loan' in eight weeks by leveraging "Take banking, for example. It can enable banks to readily available modules from OutSystems Forge, which rapidly build and deploy an online solution for account enables easy customisation and shortens deliverytime — opening that can improve employee productivity and the developmentcycle of app is complicated and usually enhance customer experience while adhering to security takes up to 40-50% of the project time." standardsand regulatorycompliances." Low-code platforms will certainly make a mark in LOW-CODE MAKES AUTOMATIONMORE AGILE programming or application engineering landscape, Businesses are increasingly adopting various digital believes Varerkar."There is a thrust even now particularly transformationinitiativesto solve the unique challenges in the integrationspace from automationpoint of view. of the "new normal". Utilising low-code automation, Also, with dependency on infrastructureto build software businesses can automate the repetitivetasks related to on such platforms being as low as access to a browser designing simple application without high-end coding. only, the reach of low-code platformsis likely to grow. It LOW-CODE PLATFORMS MAKE IT MUCH EASIER FOR BUSINESS LEADERS, SALES PROFESSIONALS AND APPLICATION USERS TO DEVELOP QUICK BUSINESS SOLUTIONS. — Raghunandan Dixit, Senior Director of Business Development & Strategy, Business Automation, Persistent Systems 121 November. 2020 www.dqindia.com A CyberMediaPublication I DATAQUEST COVER STORY LOW CODE CAN ENABLE BANKS TO RAPIDLY BUILD AND DEPLOY ONLINE SOLUTION FOR ACCOUNT OPENING THAT CAN IMPROVE EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY AND ENHANCE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. — VirenderJeet, Senior Vice President (Sales & Marketing/ Products), Newgen Software looks likely that about 25-30% of work can easily migrate the speed of the COVID-19 spread, it is more crucial than to such platformsin coming future." ever that those organisations act fast. " Dixit also highlights the fact that with drag-and- It is clear that in this New Normal,digital-firstand drop featuresand the abilityto buildapps faster, cloud-first transformationhas become even more urgent, enterprise-grade applications can be deployed in weeks, he says."WhileCOVID-19 has caused many disruptions, which give businesses great agility and a platformto it also presents opportunities for digital innovation experiment and evolve. and differentiationinitiatives.As a result, demand for applicationsis increasing. Four percent of respondents WILL LOW-CODE AFFECT THE PROGRAMMERS? from IT organisations in Southeast Asia have 25 or more Low code is meantto supplement the effortsof good, applications scheduled for delivery in 2020, and 27% of old, traditionalprogramming, not to take its place. On the respondents said that they have plans to deliver 100 or contrary, as more and more non-technical team members more applications during 2020." are empowered to create and edit websites themselves, According to a research by IDC on low-code landscape developers can concentrate their time and effort on doing in Asia-Pacific, 28% of enterpriseleaders in India more complex, value-add tasks. After all, it's these kinds list faster integrationof customer feedback to speed of problem-solvingtasks (as opposed to updating content software releases as the main business goal, notes and design work)that drew many to coding roles in the Weaser. "Addressing these challenges and enabling first place. Indian developers to successfully shift their priorities is Due to the traditionalways of workingwith developer where modern, visually-driven,Al-supported platforms bottlenecks, larger companies often deliver at the speed of excel. By utilising the technology, it speeds up innovation, their technology infrastructure.Adopting enterprise-grade boosts agility, while providingbenefits for both IT and platforms that democratise tasks means that even larger business users alike. This new technology will not replace companiescan move at the speed of their customers. developers. Instead, it will help be more productive and This is crucial in situations like COVID-19 when customer will help them work more closely with the business to behaviour and expectations are changing every day. meets its changing needs and challenges." "Some developers have viewed low-code as a threat to While the business potential of the low-code platform their role or to software quality," admits Weaser. "But as is rich, now as well as in the post-COVID world,equally low-code platforms have matured, several direct benefits significant is the fact that it opens up the coding to all. to developers have emerged. Our latest research report It lets non-specialiststoo have a taste of the fun and highlights the importance of ingenuity and adaptability excitement of programmingapplications and turning in the current dynamic environment.Yet the data reveals their vision into reality. It has the potential to become a that the bulk of survey respondentsindicatedthat their citizen-led movementand radically alter the landscape average applicationdelivery time is about three to six of programming. months, which is considered an eternitythese days. Given Withinputs from Shubhendu Parth DATAQUEST I A CyberMediaPublication www.dqindia.com November,2020 1 13 COVER STORY I LOW-CODE PLATFORM Shubhendu Parth [email protected] "IT IS A DARK HORSE IN THE ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGY DOMAIN" MEGHASHYAMSIMHA Global Head —Digital, 3i Infotech Early this year, we saw Google acquire AppSheet, customer-facing, middleware, back-end, integrations—in bringing no-code development to the Google cloud. a faster, easier and secure way. Does this mean low code and no code is emerging as a And the industry found its answer in low-code mainstream software development solution? developrnent.Withdigitalisation,the numberof applications It is clearly established that low code is a strategic move for in organisations is multiplying fast and low-code development all organisations, with the intent of making their applications is offeringan approach that enables full-stack development to be more development—and support-friendly,by rrw,'ing in a single platforrn,one that can integrate with internal away from coding and instead to make it a more function- and external systems and provide autornated software oriented, low-skill activity. From private enterprises to lifecycle. Organisations have started seeing the benefits government entities embracing low-code development, it of this centralised approach to manage their portfolio is undoubtedlyentering the mainstream, which is evident of applications, to better manage innovations, to better in some of the recent acquisitions. In essence, it is a clarion connect with other digital initiativeslike RPA and chatbots, call for organisationsto embrace a low-code platform and to ultimatelybeat competition in the process, thereby before their competition does so, and be ready to face the increasing the demand for low-code development. post-COVID scenario with confidence. So, how would you compare traditional programming So, can we expect the enterprises to adopt it in a with a low-code development environment? big way? Traditionalor bespoke application development is much There used to be a time when customerrequirements easier when the requirementsare simpler.But todayS were revolving around typical portal development or an requirementsare generally complex and involve multiple application development for backend or a stand-alone streams of development.Let us take an example of applicationdevelopmentfor desktop use. It would have developing a new portal and a mobile app. Traditionally, then translated into development of these individual portal development will go in one stream, and the app, applications using specific technologies either based on assuming a hybrid approach for Android and iOS mobile the customer's preferences or the vendors suggestions. app, willgo in anotherstream. In case the mobileapp needs As technologies evolved, usability of information got to be developed with native technologies, it will again be diversified demanding organisations to make content in two separate streams. The back-end development will available across multiple platformslike smartphones, be anotherstream to enable the workflows,business tablets, wearables, smart speakers, and Chatbots, and logic, integrations, analytics and so on, as well as API web-based technologies became dominant as the best development. This approach requires a lot of resources Way to develop applications to satisfy the ever-growing working on different technologies and ends up with different list of platforms. Organisations will have to build multiple codebases depending on the chosen technologies. All applications to cater to all the platforms to reach out to these make it an expensive proposition,and further,time- all types of customers — from baby boomers to Gen to-market is dependent on various factors like estimation Z. This led to the questionof how to providean omni- issues, coding errors, and testing challenges. channel approach to informationaccess, while developing, On the contrary, in a low-code scenario, all the above- deploying and maintaining all the related applications — mentioneddevelopmentcan be done within the same 14 1November, 2020 www.dqindia.com A CyberMediaPublication' DATAQUEST A LOW-CODE PLATFORM IS MORE EFFECTIVE FOR AN ORGANISATION THAT TAKES STRATEGIC APPROACH TO RATIONALISE EXISTING APPLICATION PORTFOLIO WITH DEFINED BUSINESS CASE. development environment, with a smaller number of testing and production, with full dependency analysis, resources and it takes at least 50% less effortto develop with no downtime and automated rollback capabilities. the same set of applications. Advanced platforms also offerAPIs to manage deployments At the same time, traditionaldevelopment leverages and to govern users. existing technology frameworks anddoes not attract recurring costs like in the case of low-code platforms. With the pandemicincreasingthe thrust on digital Essentially,a low-code platformis more effective for an transformation, will low code platforms have a bigger organisationthat takes a strategic approach to rationalise role to play in automation? its existing application portfolio with defined business case. The pandemic has forced millionsto leam and work from home, and this has forced organisationsto look at a But is it easy or difficult to manage a low-code platform, solution that can quickly and efficiently provide the ability to particularly since there might be different versions of seamlessly enable work from home without compromising the softwareand applicationsthat may be developed on security. In these times, the low-code platform is turning using varied platforms? out to be a dark horse in the enterprise technology domain, Collaborationamong the developmentteam members is as it provides ways to overcome operationalchallenges especially importantfor low-code platformsto offer full- and at the same time to be future-readyfor any similar stack development and full-lifecycle agile approaches. pandemics. The demand for such platformsis evident in Low-code platforms offer built-in features for different the fact that the demand for the low-code development developers to work on different modules at the same platformis surging across the globe, with the low-code time, with a shared deployment plan. Various features marketsize being valued at IJSD 83.5 billionby 2028 are available to developers to compare and merge, and according to a recent research report. to resolve conflicts. Version control is core to any low- code platform where all versions are centrally managed It is said that low code will do to application development within the platform's repository, so that downloading or what social media did to traditional media by enabling rolling back is possible at any time. As differenttypes of the users. What are your views? applications are all developed within the same environment Citizen development is certainly a movement that will while using built-in features for agile execution and trigger the next wave of application development. version control, it becomes easier to manage releases in However, it is still in its early stages, as organisationsare low-code platforms. yet to adopt and standardiselow-code platformsfor org- wide use. Organisations need to define the policies around What about development, test, and production? How wider usage, and provide guidelines for adoption and train do we test the application or software? employees; thereby leveraging low-code platformsto the A true low-code platform allows full-lifecycle development best extent. The best outcome that can be expected out and deployment, which involves agile execution, continuous of this movement is to see innovations in the organisations getting accelerated. At the same time, this is limited to integration and continuous delivery/deployment, monitoring and user feedback. Such DevOps-led system offers comparativelysimpler applications,as citizen developers automated staging across environments for development, cannot be expected to develop complex applications. DATAQUEST I A CyberMediaPublication November,2020 115 COVER STORY I LOW-CODE PLATFORM Shubhendu Parth [email protected] "USE OF LOW-CODE PLATFORMS IS LIMITED ONLY BY IMAGINATION" ASHISH VARERKAR Head —Cloud Practice, L&T Infotech How do you compare traditional programming with a platforms offer limited scope for customisation or may low-code development environment? pose challenge in compatibility with existing systems. Traditional programming involves designing and coding Thus, while they are shaping up in the right direction, using traditional software languages such as .Net, Java or low-code platforms aren't there yet and need more time Python. Also, for each aspect such as experience, back- to comprehensivelyaddress all the aspects. end, services, specific coding is required. Compare this with the major shift being offered And what about multiple project environments like by low-code platforms in the form of a visual way of development,test, and production? Also, can one development,thereby simplifying the entire coding value deploy artifacts from one environment to another? Since the low-code platformas a concept is still in the chain —it is virtually drag-and-drop of relevant elements of coding. APIs have made seamless integrationof multiple evolving phase, there is no single standard format or components as easy as plug-and-play. Thus, one need approach that developers can follow as a thumb rule. not have even technical/coding skills to write a code or Hence, working on multipleenvironmentsusing low code develop a programme. is still considered subjective. There are platforms that Low-code platforms enable ease in functional roles allow moving from low environment to higher environment and related objectives as well. For example, a business while certain low-code platforms do have DevOps, test analyst who would generally require numerous reports and production built-in.There are some platforms which to be generated but would find Excel a bit tedious, allow users to build in their own environmentsand then a low-code platform can come in handy since these move to another environment. reports can now be generated easily in a visual drag- and-drop format. The pandemic has created a sudden need for the Also, low-code platforms are now available that are digitisation of organisations and the service delivery customised to specific industries which take care of mechanism. Do you see low-code platforms playing a typical requirementsof key components from an SDLC bigger role in driving automation? perspective. Hence, specific use cases relevant to a Absolutely! Low-code platforms will certainly make a mark particular industry can be addressed more closely and in programming or application engineering landscape. comprehensively by the use of low-code platforms. There is a thrust even now particularlyin the integration space from the automation point of view. Also, with What about project management? Can one easily dependency on infrastructureto build software on such manage different versions of software and applications platforms being as low as access to a browser only, the developed using a low-code platform? reach of low-code platforms is likely to grow. It looks likely Low-code platforms come with an in-built versioning that about 25-30% of work can easily migrate to such depending on requirementand situation at hand such platforms in coming future. as vanilla version or pre-production version. Adequate collaborationmechanisms are also enabled by low-code Experts point out that low code will lead to the platforms. However, there are situationswhere low-code democratisation of application development by 16 1November, 2020 www.dqindia.com A CyberMediaPublicationl DATAQUEST COVER STORY I LOW-CODE PLATFORM WHILE THEY ARE SHAPING UP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, LOW- CODE PLATFORMS AREN'T THERE YET AND NEED MORE TIME TO COMPREHENSIVELY ADDRESS ALL THE ASPECTS. extending the development capability to 'citizen But do we have enough use cases for low-code developers'. How do you look at it? automation? Low-code platforms are developed and designed to enable There are many use cases that call for perfect fit of low- citizen developers on a large scale. Yes, there would be code platforms.For instance, one may want to integrate occasions where technical expertise or interventionis data from the CRM system to a line of businesses —this can required while developing programs using low code, easily be turned around using a low-code platform.Thus, however, a considerable part is still easily manageable by the use of these platforms is limited only by imagination and any user. As mentioned earlier, it allows a business user to in coming times one will witness its increased penetration develop programs as per specific needs and thus giving and use in the overall scheme of things. them greater controlof the process. Do you also see low-code and no-code platforms It that the reason why we are seeing a sudden changing the way programming is done and the way spurt in demand for low-code platforms among programmers work in the days to come? enterprises? Low-code and no-code platforms will coexist with With ecosystem dynamics shifting towards quicker go- existing software-based coding platforms. Also, from to-market, go-live or time-to-value scenarios, low-code the quality and design perspective, it will increase the platforms can address these asks perfectly, as they not maintainable quotient. Other complementing aspects only simplify the overall process but also accelerate the include standardisation and interoperability. final outcome expected from software development. Thus, overall, low-code and no-code platforms Additionally,in situations where existing core platforms will positively impact the future of programming by such as ERP are deployed, an evolving need will be to also ushering the best of end-user experiences and driving integrate multiple satellite functionalities as per business new standards of software development excellence demand. Since low-code platformsallow business users and at the same time giving rise to democratisation to develop programs as per their specific needs, I would of the entire value chain with business users taking say that its influence is certainly on a rise. centrestage in development. DATAQUEST I A CyberMedia Publication www.dqindia.com November,2020 17 COVER STORY I LOW-CODE PLATFORM Shubhendu Parth [email protected] "LOW CODE ENABLES DEMOCRATISATION OF APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT" SUNDAR RAMASWAMY Senior VP and Head of COE, Digital Process Automation, Happiest Minds Technologies Why is there a sudden spurt in demand for low-code can now take part even more closely in the application platforms among enterprises? Does it mean they development process. For example, teams that deal are more inclined to keep application development with customers directly can now efficientlytranslate the in-house? functional requirementsof a customer need into an IT In the last few years, companies were increasingly application leveraging low-code platforms with limited or embracing digital transformation initiatives to stay no IT team involvement. Closer collaborations of business competitive.COVID-19 has only pushed these initiatives and IT teams using low-code platforms enable accelerated higher on CXOs' agenda as companies needed to have a application development, enhanced functionality in strong digital presence for business continuity and growth. existing and new applications and increased automation A company's traditionalIT organisationand their partner within and between applications. ecosystem are not equipped to manage the speed and agility required for these transformations to occur. New tools On the development front, how easy or difficult is it to like low-code platforms enable that agility by increasing the manage different versions of software and applications pool of developers that can engage in this transformation, developed using low-code platforms? by enhancing the productivity of the current IT organisation Low-code platforms are increasingly getting matured and ecosystem of partnersand by enabling complex and and integrating tools and functionalitiesthat enable for difficult processes to be automated and digitised. enterprise-wide large scale development and deployment. With proliferationof these platforms in a company and It is often said that low-code platforms are enabling increasing use of developers with little or no formal organisations to swiftly address the rising customer programming experience, there is a risk of application demand. How does that happen? build-outsthat are hard to test and change as they may Democratisationof the applicationdevelopmentprocess not conform to programmingbest-practices, are security is enabled by low-code platforms. Business teams risks that increase threat vulnerabilities in the organisation and are hard to manage as they are built with minimal governance and standards. Organisations would need to tread a fine balance of democratising the application build-outfor greater agility with the governance controls for better manageability and serviceability. From a developer's perspective, do low-code platforms allow working on multiple environments like development, test, and production? Low-code platforms are becoming mature and providing the features and functionalitiesthat traditional programming platforms provide for easier development and deployment. For example, mature low-code platforms provide drag-and-drop and point-to-click tools for rapid 18 1November, 2020 www.dqindia.com A CyberMediaPublicationI DATAQUEST COVER STORY I LOW-CODE PLATFORM LOW-CODE PLATFORMS ARE BECOMING MATUREAND PROVIDING FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITIES THAT TRADITIONALPLATFORMS PROVIDE FOR EASIER DEVELOPMENTAND DEPLOYMENT development, reusable components across apps and HR team —as well as core business processes like claims pre-built UIs for standard use cases to help rapid builds, processing in the insurance sector and retums processing build once and deploy everywhere on web, mobile and in the consumer packaged goods sector. desktops across various OS —iOS, Windows, Android —as well as provide continuous development and integration There is lot of noise about 'citizen developers' for application versioning and change management as disrupting the market by democratising application well as for deploymentacross environments. development. What are your views, particularly on the quality aspect? How can one decide when to use a low-code The intent of low-code development is indeed for platform and when to go for a traditional democratisation of application development and the rise development approach? of 'citizen developers' to make application build-outs rapid Low-code programming is a new technology that is and pervasive across the organisation.However, realising still far from reaching the maturity and scale that the the full potential of this intent is very difficult and not likely traditional programming applications have achieved. to be realisablein the short to medium term. Low-code programming is preferred for use cases that IT applications are increasingly at the core of any digital need rapid deployment at small scale with medium transformation of businesses and critical for ensuring complexity and risk within the organisation where competitiveness in the industry.Having citizen developers traditional programming development efforts would not to build and deploy applications, even for a localised be considered on account of low priority and inabilityto requirement,will be seen to be risky and sub-optimal. deliver on time. Traditional programming and development Strong governance rules and guidelines will be needed to approach will still be the first choice at the moment for ensure well-meaning citizen developers can develop and enterprise wide, high complex and risk applications. deploy applications that can be leveraged enterprise wide. While this may be the current situation, it is expected that This is far differentfrom the way social media is managed low-code programming will in a few years' time catch up and been able to grow at the cost of traditional media. and possibly overtake traditional programming for all application development scenarios. So, how will low-code and no-code platforms impact the future of programming? Can you share some low-code automation use Low-code and no-code platforms will impact programming cases? in fundamentally three ways: Firstly they ensure a Low-code automation tools provide visual modelling larger proportion of the organisation will participate, environments that create representations of application directly or indirectly,in the developmentof enterprise behaviourin XML or other formats. The low-code platform applications. Secondly, they give rise to new development in turn can directly interpret these representations as methodologies and frameworks, and traditional working applications in production.Using this companies development methodologies like waterfall development have automated various processes of their back-office methodologies will no longer be used. And thirdly, they will enterprise functions — like invoice processing under lead to faster and more pervasive leverage of technologies finance and accounting or employee on-boarding by the and applications across all business process. DATAQUEST I A CyberMediaPublication www.dqindia.com November, 2020 1 19 COVER STORY I LOW-CODE PLATFORM DQ Bureau [email protected] "LOW CODE MAKES THE ORGANISATION MORE NIMBLE AND AGILE" VIRENDERJEET Senior Vice President - Sales & Marketing/Products, Newgen Software What role do you see a low-code application applications. Additionally, a low-code application development platform playing in the digital journey of development Platform provides tools for developing organisations? user interfaces. data models. and integrations Today, there is a sense of urgency in addressing the needs whileensuringend-to-end process automationand of a rapidly evolving market. To deliver speed, we need support for digital document processing. a paradigm shift from 'code-build-compile-integrate- deploy-maintain' to 'deliver-through-composition'.Low How does lowcode facilitate citizen and business code facilitates this transformativeapproach that does developers? Can it completely replace traditional not rely on heavycoding. Instead, it employs visual tools coding? to create and configure applicationsand provides a high- A low-code platform reduces application translation level programming abstraction. More importantly, it allows efforts through a model-driven, point-and-click non-IT staff to develop and deploy applications, making application development environment, facilitating the organisation more nimble and agile. citizen/business developers.Using the development Newgen's low-code digital automation platform can guidelines and frameworkset by the IT team, itpromotes help organisationsin the rapid developmentand delivery the democratisation of application creation, enabling of applications while saving a considerable amount of business-user application development and allowing IT time for both IT and business developers.Organisations programmersto spend more time on complex, mission- across industriescan rapidlydigitise, develop,and deploy critical tasks. applications and respond to dynamic business needs with Instead of replacing traditional coding, businesses speed and agility. can utilise the benefits of low code methodology along with traditional programming.Organisations can leverage Do you think a low-code application development low code to rapidly build applications, establish the core platform is helping organisations solve complex functionality,and continue to develop more complex mission-critical processes? If yes, what are the processesdepending on their evolving requirements. advantages of usin g low-code application development platforms for this? And how is low code different from no code? Does an Low-code platforms support anything from simple, organisation require people with specific skillsets? departmental to complex, mission-critical application No code is primarilyfocussed for citizen development requirements of an organisation and help develop modes, with pre-built templates, ready-to-use codes, and solutions that are scalable, agile, and resilient. It can a drag-and-drop interface. Similar to low code, it requires little to minimal IT dependency. However, low code is enable developers across teams to configure applications that can handle large volumes of data and perform better equipped to handle more complex applications complex operations with high reliability.Take banking, (including mission-critical applications), offers more for example. A low-code platformcan enable banks to controlto both citizen and pro-codedevelopers,and rapidly build and deploy an online solution for account supports the building of customised applications that opening thatcan improveemployee productivity and cater to specific functionalities.The configurabilityand enhance customer experience while adheringto security integration capabilities of a low-code application platform standards and regulatorycompliances. make it a more suitable choice for an organisationin the Low-code platforms are modelled for building secure long run. 20 1November, 2020 www.dqindia.com A CyberMediaPublicationlDATAQUEST Aanchal Ghatak COVER STORY I LOW-CODE PLATFORM [email protected] "LOW CODE IS A SILVER BULLET TO ADDRESS MYRIAD OF CHALLENGES" SUMAN REDDY MD, Pegasystems, India What's the importance of low code to enterprises and have production-ready apps created in hours and will addressing rising customer demand? not be required to wait for days or months anymore. This The pandemic has got enterprises scrambling to adjust enhances customer experience to promotea better,more to an extraordinary level of disruption while scurrying for satisfactory digital experience. solutions that willnot only ensure business continuity but provide customer satisfaction. It has become critical for How is low code making automation more agile? enterprises to come up with quick and robust solutions. Low codeoptimises efficiency by giving business users, The COVID-19 pandemic created an urgent requirement developers, and IT what they need, when and where for digital services across the public and privatesectors. they need it. It accelerates application development by We have witnessed multiple sectors digitally transform defining core app elements quickly and easily. to survive and sustain the drastic market shift. Given the Some low-code solutions handhold business users benefits of rapid development and deployment — lower with no coding experience, while others offer complex costs, faster delivery, and greater accessibility —low code capabilities that cater to professional developers. is a silver bullet to address a myriad of challenges. A These solutions preserve the exact siloed approach recent Forrester report fortifies the market sentiment and to development that low code was intended to states that the low-code market will double in size to USD eliminateand further complicate the management of the 14 billion by 2024. Low-code platforms create Citizen entire application. developers, expanding their ability to either collaborate Pega's low-code solution reconciles these Siloed with IT departments to develop critical apps more quickly tasks and brings users together in one inclusive, intuitive or develop those apps on their own. Enterprises can authoringenvironmentthat serves all skill levels, making automation agile in function. Business users become active participants in the developmentprocess, reacting in real time to evolving business needs. Developers, freed from legacy code maintenance, have the tools and 0 10100 time they need to focus on more complex, high-value tasks. All work is done within organisational guardrails set by the IT team to protect against future upgrade and compliance issues. 1-0 1.0 ...o So, who can build on low-code? Anybody with an idea or vision can build applications on low-code technology. It democratises application development that allows business users, developers, and IT users to build and change, despite having littleto no coding knowledge. They are able to collaborate, innovate, and deliver critical applications from one inclusive environment.These enable organisations to build apps faster and smarter. DATAQUEST I A CyberMediaPublication www.dqindia.com November. 2020 21