DEVOPSdigest

Industry experts offer thoughtful, insightful, and often controversial predictions on how DevOps and related technologies will evolve and impact business in 2020. Part 5 covers application development including Low Code and No Code.

Start with 2020 DevOps Predictions - Part 1

Start with 2020 DevOps Predictions - Part 2

Start with 2020 DevOps Predictions - Part 3

Start with 2020 DevOps Predictions - Part 4

LOW CODE/NO CODE: GROWING ADOPTION

With the growing adoption of Agile and DevOps and the need to release software value to production fast and with high quality, organizations will grow their adoption of no/low-code technologies around many software methods from testing, development, environment virtualization, generating infrastructure with low/no-code and more. This will boost significantly the average time of software development and, more importantly, its delivery.
Eran Kinsbruner
Chief Evangelist and Author, Perfecto at Perforce Software

Low code and no code user interfaces will continue to make major inroads among non-developers who are more focused on achieving an end result than they are on how it's done. By abstracting the technical layers of a software platform and presenting its features in a more easy-to-use, often drag-and-drop UI, users experience all the benefits more quickly, without having to be steeped in software languages and architectures. This is not to say the seasoned developer will be overlooked. Access to command line interfaces will still be available. In 2020 the majority will choose the low code solution, and this will be true whether on-premises or in the cloud, where abstraction will allow for microservices (containers and orchestration systems) to run across multiple clouds simultaneously.
Travis Depuy
Product Evangelist, xMatters

LOW CODE/NO CODE: GAINING TRACTION AT ENTERPRISE LEVEL

The adoption of low-code/no-code platforms is currently very popular in the mid-market. In 2020, low-code/no-code technology will gain traction at the enterprise level, as large organizations begin building apps using low- and no-code platforms to create more value in end-to-end processes and ultimately extending that value to customers, partners, and suppliers. As business climates evolve and CIOs look to replace legacy technology, they'll rely on low-code/no-code platforms to configure agile applications faster, with significantly reduced risk, resource, and time requirements.
Christian Thun
VP of Engineering, Agiloft

As the 2020s begin, enterprises will embrace more agile platforms with no code development becoming a standard part of DevOps, getting new applications to the finish line faster. CTOs and CIOs will recognize that no code is not limited to "citizen developers" creating lower-end applications, but instead is evolving to produce a growing volume of sophisticated enterprise-grade applications and microservices. Going forward, monolithic applications will be phased out in favor of more flexible, no code developed components to accommodate enterprises' need to provide more customized applications without costly staff time. Efficiency will further improve, as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are integrated into development and delivery of these applications. By the mid-2020s, automated microservices creation, using AI-driven, no code components, will be a routine IT operation, making enterprises more successful and responsive to customers.
James Hanley
CEO, Crowd Machine

LOW CODE/NO CODE: API FIRST

In 2020, it will be important for companies to build IT departments that can implement an agile methodology to deliver solutions that solve business problems faster. As companies continue to undergo their digital transformations and work to create a more positive experience for their customers, there is a growing need for low-code platforms and solutions that also allow citizen personas to gain insights and help solve these business problems without IT. It will be the responsibility of the IT department to leverage an agile methodology that can deliver these solutions faster and iterate quickly through a build, test, tweak and deploy process. Lastly, think APIs first. They will be essential to connecting these systems, applications and their data across the business to ensure a smooth experience — both internal and external.
Manoj Chaudhary
SVP and CTO, Jitterbit

LOW CODE/NO CODE: STABILIZING UPGRADES

A common trend among reviews from low code/no code users on IT Central Station is the business rules and process capabilities of these applications are second to none. However, the upgrade process needs to be smoother as some organizations can take a long time to go from one version to another, as these applications are frequently upgrading. Vendors who can stabilize their upgrades will be champions of this competitive market in the coming year.
Russell Rothstein
Founder and CEO, IT Central Station

LOW CODE/NO CODE: GREATER VULNERABILITY

In 2020, more companies will move away from manually writing code and use software tools to create applications and websites. The idea of using code for programming has become increasingly contentious, with many calls for something newer and less primitive. These voices have given rise to more companies offering software tools to create applications and websites without manually writing code. The future of these applications will probably lead to users becoming as secure as the company providing the tools, which means vulnerabilities in those tools can be exploited on a much wider scale than ones on a manually created site.
Ernesto DiGiambattista
Founder, ZeroNorth

LOW CODE/NO CODE AND CONVERSATIONAL FRAMEWORKS

Human interaction with Machines will continue it's acceleration towards simplification by abstracting the complexities of code writing. We are seeing a move across the board towards more intuitive and easier to learn development frameworks in web development, machine learning & AI and infrastructure management. Low Code, No Code and Conversational frameworks will become the norm for applications moving in 2020 and beyond.
Radu Miclaus
Director of Product, AI, and Cloud, Lucidworks

NO CODE REPLACES LOW CODE

The low-code trend will be overrun by no-code solutions that enable citizen developers and allow highly skilled IT professionals to focus on larger issues at hand:. Low-code solutions will become less attractive as full no-code solutions continue to surface and enable developers to focus less on rote, repeatable problems (like SaaS vendors enabling customers to make extensions on their platforms or automated security integration) and more on sophisticated projects that are not able to be automated. As no-code solutions empower more citizen developers to automate some of those simpler problems, we will see a new generation of software innovation emerge as high-value developers narrow in on the more complex issues that burden the broader technology ecosystem.
Nikfar Khaleeli
VP of Products, Blue Cedar

AUTOMATED TESTING ENABLES LOW CODE AND NO CODE

Each year, we hear rumblings from some in the industry that no/low code solutions will increase, while others say the opposite — that everything will move to code. I say, why not both? In domains like test automation, lower-skilled teams can record tests quickly, whereas developer-focused teams can write tests-as-code next to their applications. In 2020, we will begin to see automated testing solutions that enable organizations to blend these two models to fit their team's skill sets.
Oren Rubin
Founder and CEO, Testim

CD-AS-A-SERVICE

DevOps Teams will continue to replace existing systems with a new breed of CI/CD solution where engineers won't write a single script, update a single plugin, restart a single slave, work late nights or weekends debugging their failed deployments. Instead, engineers will adopt Continuous Delivery as-a-Service where deployment pipelines auto-verify and rollback code, thus allowing engineers to get their life back after 6 and spend weekends with their family and kids.
Steve Burton
DevOps Evangelist, Harness

EMBEDDED INTEGRATION

The lines between application development and integration will blur as apps are compelled to have integration embedded under the covers, not as an afterthought. Business services can involve complex interactions with cloud apps and data that require ordering, have dependencies or may even need to be reversible on demand. You can handle these sophisticated jobs with advanced integration orchestration to manage app interaction.
Ann Marie Bond
Senior Manager, Product Management, Software AG

Go to 2020 DevOps Predictions - Part 6, covering testing.