Businesses Turn to Low Code Platforms Following High Digital Transformation Failure Rate

Credit: Firmbee

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted industries and then forced companies to evolve to become digital businesses. According to a report by Caspio and Forrester, this led to almost 80% of organizations struggling during the pandemic. Organizations had to pursue and accelerate digital transformations for them to stay afloat in an ecosystem dominated by remote work. After all, the changes that took place during this period have become the new normal, with hybrid work continuing to be a prevailing work arrangement to this day.

Many companies that were able to adapt have gone on to flourish in today’s environment. Unfortunately, this does not apply to most businesses. In fact, the current digital transformation failure rate is around 70%. Transitioning from working with manual processes and outdated systems to leveraging sophisticated SaaS solutions can be a jarring process, especially for those unprepared to take the digital leap.

A commonality among many organizations that were successful in their pursuit of digital transformation is the use of a low-code platform. The uncomplicated interface of this system allows business users to customize solutions according to their needs. However, before a business applies a seismic shift to operations, it is advisable to identify where the failures of digital transformations originate.

Why Digital Transformations Fail

Switching to a business system that primarily operates with digital workflows comes as a challenge to many organizations. And a variety of factors act as stumbling blocks for migrations. New digital transformation statistics reveal that the biggest digitization challenges plaguing organizations are the lack of technical resources (59%), data silos (50%), current toolsets delaying digitization (49%), too entrenched in legacy systems (44%), and poor integration among used systems (43%).

Instead of finding ways to adapt, a lot of organizations attempt to make their ‘outdated’ setups work, which halts or delays transformations. As a result, laggards risk losing their competitive advantage, being disrupted by competitors, not satisfying customers, and their products or services being rendered obsolete. This contributes to why a mere 27% of organizations admit to successfully completing their digital transformation initiatives.

For companies to fully transition, they would need to update their tech stacks, build an end-to-end pipelines, create DevOps transition plans, assess the risks, and train their personnel to use the installed software solutions. At the heart of many successful transformations is the low code platform, which makes the process significantly more painless.

Low Code Platforms Accelerate Transformations

According to the Caspio and Forrester report, 60% of organizations leverage low code platforms to accelerate their digital transformation, and this has proven to be a wise decision. After all, companies that used these tools were twice as likely to experience growth. Moreover, a report by Appian shows that 84% of companies see low code platforms as a means to removing some of the burdens off IT departments.

The use of low code platforms enhances workflows in various business areas and yields a host of benefits. The numbers reveal that 71% of organizations experienced enhanced integration among systems, 59% were able to streamline business processes, 49% had better time-to-value ratings, 47% afforded better customer experience, and 41% improved their business intelligence.

Besides streamlining and possibly automating business workflows, low code platforms also reduce the strain of undergoing digital transformations, with 68% of organizations reporting reduced dependence on legacy or outdated systems. What’s more, some platforms enable businesses to customize solutions through wizards and drag-and-drop interfaces. This means users don’t need to learn how to code for them to build applications that address their exact business needs, lowering the cost of acquiring and maintaining new software.

With parts of the necessary tech stack produced by these platforms, organizations can more easily pursue their digital transformation initiatives.

Common Use Cases

While low code platforms grant solutions to various business aspects, there are certain areas in which they’re typically used. Going back to the Caspio and Forrester report, it was revealed that 71% of organizations use it to streamline collaborations, 67% leverage new business capabilities, 51% bank on improved data access to boost decision-making, 49% create new platforms like CRM or ERP systems, 49% improve their products or services, and 46% enhance customer experiences.

The breadth of enhancements that low code platforms bring to the table contributes to these systems’ growing popularity. A report by Straits Research projects the low code platform market size rising from $16.3 billion in 2021 to $148.5 billion by 2030 at an impressive annual growth rate of 27.8%. The need for enterprise-wide digital transformations fuels the global market, with organizations looking to boost revenue and offer better products or services.

More than half of organizations leverage these systems for streamlining workflows and improving data access because many low code platforms are equipped with artificial intelligence, another key driver of the global market. AI enables users to not only map out internal workflows and customer journeys but also automate, schedule, and receive reminders about digital tasks. It also improves business intelligence, allowing organizations to see data trends that reflect performance and productivity for various periods.

With all of its benefits established, a low code platform comes as an ideal solution to successfully undertake a digital transformation. The software can modernize traditional business operations and empower laggards to keep up with the competition, especially when it comes to remote, cloud-based operations.