DEVOPSdigest

We live in an on-demand world. As "new, now, next" becomes the default expectation in every industry, success in the digital era often means disrupt or be disrupted. With the speed of innovation ever on the rise, customers expect the latest, greatest features and updates at their fingertips. That means businesses have to ship and deliver more features and products than ever before, faster than before — making it harder for often-overburdened technical teams to keep up with the rapid pace of change as they innovate and execute.

With developer resources in high demand, no-code, low-code solutions promise to clear up backlogs and spark innovation by building up a citizen developer workforce.

And, it's not just hype; there are real benefits. Right now, research suggests IT teams spend less than half of their time innovating for the business. No-code, low-code enables developers to wire up cloud communications capabilities quickly, and collaborate more efficiently with the non-technical members of a team, which allows them to spend less time and effort on maintenance. That means, instead, they can focus on the deeper work needed to push the business forward.

And, with software engineers listed among the hardest-to-fill-jobs in the world, easing the burden on developers isn't just a staffing issue that's solved by adding headcount, or investing in costly learning and development programs to break through backlogs of IT projects. Instead, businesses are turning to low-code and no-code solutions to bring more people into the world of software development and reskill those who are already in developer roles. Automated flows, via a drag-and-drop interface, make it possible for non-technical teams to try their hands at building their own communications workflows: no coding experience necessary.

Empowering those "citizen developers" via no-code, low-code does more than accelerate app delivery and clear up backlogs at a faster clip; it enables diversity of thought. Besides accelerating app delivery and clearing up backlogs at a faster clip, no-code, low-code enables businesses to broaden out beyond their go-to groups of developers and engineers and pull in creative, thinkers from every corner of the organization.

When users who need a specific type of functionality are the ones who design the workflow that delivers it, creative solutions can be discovered and released more quickly — instead of queuing up and stalling out in the already-overfilled development cycle.

With on-demand communication expected on a multitude of channels anytime, anywhere by more and more consumers, there's no end to the ways low-code, no-code can drive efficiency for modern enterprises — from SMS alerts, to voice and messaging apps. And that's a good thing. After all, the less you need to "ask your developer," the better — because, they have better things to do.