PlanetNTF

Is there a way to solve the software engineer talent shortage?

The world has been undergoing a digital transformation. Any business in any industry — be it a professional wrestling organization or a chemical manufacturing company — is now expected to have a digital presence. A website, a mobile app on two platforms, and enterprise software are the bare minimum.

Then, add on the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, when remote work compelled businesses to digitize their processes practically overnight. Not only did employees begin working remotely, but a lot of IT infrastructure had to be shifted to the cloud. Instead of relying on human labor, artificial intelligence was called upon to help automate and optimize business operations. The majority of all tech operations in a given organization are software supported, and this leads to a lack of skilled IT experts to solve challenges.

Companies have job openings staying unfilled for months — there simply are not enough developers looking for jobs.

In this digital economy, almost every company has to act now like a tech company, which means they all need software engineers. So it should come as no surprise that demand for IT jobs is growing. US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that software developers’ employment will grow 22 percent by 2029, compared with 3.7 percent for all occupations.

But companies can’t find talent to fill all of these IT positions. There are just not enough qualified and affordable software engineers available to fill the hundreds of thousands of tech jobs openings.

In 2021, there was a global shortage of 40 million skilled workers, and by 2030, this is estimated to grow to a shortage of a whopping 85.2 million. This results in a risk of losing trillions of dollars in revenue, around the world.

How can organizations overcome this shortage? There are several possible solutions:

1.Outsource Overseas

Traditionally, this has been a popular option, because outsourcing’s primary benefit is access to a skilled workforce in a country with a lower cost base. However, the global pandemic has disrupted this model. In order to save money, many businesses let go of their international IT teams. The economic uncertainty and disrupted supply chains instilled caution. Now, outsourcing is becoming a question of risk management: is it safer and more cost-efficient in the long run to depend on an overseas services provider, or automate those services using AI?

2. Invite Foreign Talent

Tech companies have come to rely on closing the gap by hiring skilled IT specialists abroad and bringing them to the US on H-1B visas. Tens of thousands of foreign software engineers have helped companies to fill positions for which they couldn’t find domestic workers. But the program’s future is currently uncertain. The previous US administration banned issuing new visas, while President Joe Biden has returned the U.S. to the visa levels previously established.

3. Upskill Existing Talent

Some companies decide to train their existing employees. For example, they send junior developers to professional development courses to gain the needed knowledge and a promotion. Others find non-traditional hires and train them internally on the job. Or some take advantage of teaming up with coding bootcamps that promise to turn any non-coder into a competent IT employee. The drawback with this workaround is the cost and the timeframe: All of these training options require at least weeks — more often, months.

4. Adopt Low Code or No-Code

It’s now clear that organizations that embrace low code see faster paths to digital transformation. This is because low code empowers citizen developers (business users) to spin up solutions quickly, as well as solve problems they are closest to. Not having to involve scant developer resources to keep projects moving, enables companies to focus on and invest in employee, customer, and partner experiences — as well as respond to ever-changing market conditions. Employees are the engine that drives many organizations, and if they can be enabled to work faster, not harder, then organizations have a better chance of winning the race.

Here’s an example. A professional entertainment organization wanted to help its referees be more productive while doing their routine daily work, like checking schedules, ordering supplies, or watching video replays. The entertainment company holds more than 450 live global events annually, and decided to choose a plug-and-play solution rather than competing in the job market for dozens of programmers and developers to build apps from scratch.

The organization chose HCL Volt MX as its low-code development platform. Now, referees have several applications to help them, while the company is able to quickly build cutting edge multiexperience apps, that run on any device, with a bare-bones IT team. The low-code platform automates many complicated tasks — like DevOps, back-end integrations, and security — and drastically reduces time to market.

And a chemical manufacturing company? It signed up for HCL Volt MX as well. Facing revenue loss from delayed shipments and sluggish procurement approvals, the company was looking for a multichannel digital application to streamline its sales and delivery process.

Using the low-code platform, the company built an open-to-buy (OTB) application, which was an inventory management system. It’s inhouse IT team isn’t overwhelmed with maintaining and updating it because the low-code platform helps will all of those tasks. The app has overachieved its business objective by streamlining the approval process on multiple channels, and the business is booming.

Business demand for IT is soaring and companies are struggling to afford and find top talent. But there are options to work around the problem, and low-code or no-code development platforms offer perhaps the most cost-effective and time-saving way to do it.

If you want to find out more about our industry-leading low-code platform, Volt MX, schedule a demo now. 

Let’s get the obvious part out of the way: COVID-19 had ― and continues to have ― a profound impact on the world, and businesses have scrambled to adjust. The next and less obvious part is how businesses should create post-COVID (or living-with-COVID) plans that account for the new realities facing every industry and enterprise.

While 2020–2021 will surely be remembered as an epic slog, there were some lessons learned for smart business leaders that emerged from the chaos of the pandemic. Enterprise management should focus on supporting teams in their varied work-life balances and directing their energy forward, instead of trying to recapture what existed before “social distancing” became ubiquitous.

To do so requires an honest account of how much has changed: work, working relationships, work-life balances, communication, workflows, online experiences, consumer habits, data security, app development, and so on.  Some change resulted from simple desperation and need, while many transformations were already underway and COVID just accelerated them.

Regardless, enterprises need to pivot away from simply reacting and begin adopting strategies that will form the foundation for a successful business approach for tomorrow. Here are four ways your organization can thrive in an era post-pandemic.

Make Remote Work Work Even Better

We can’t talk about business and COVID-19 and not have remote work at the top. It’s obvious but important: the shift toward working from home will forever change how the company office is utilized by staff and implemented by companies.

A recent Gartner survey of CFOs revealed that 74% plan on permanently moving previously on-site employees to remote post-COVID.  A Pew Research Center study of workers found that 54% want to continue working from home after the end of coronavirus, and it’s been estimated that by 2025 some 70% of the workforce will work remotely 5 days a week. Time will tell what the exact numbers will end up being, but remote work has transformed from an occasional perk to a legitimate way of life for both employees and organizations.

So how can enterprise companies plan for that reality?

By adopting communication tools that connect teams in profound ways, and make finding, sharing and analyzing data effortless no matter the device nor the location. That means persistent and secure chat, video conferencing, and email capabilities, and a collaborative enterprise platform that drives productivity.

Embrace the Benefits of Low Code

The potential value of low-code development fits perfectly into the situation many enterprises find themselves in today: looking for fast ways to generate solutions and be innovators in the digital transformation journey.  Low-code app development accelerates the entire design process from early prototype development to launch and testing.

Gartner forecasted the worldwide low-code development markets to total $13.8 billion in 2021, up over 22% from 2020, driven by the combination of an already burgeoning technology with an increased demand for faster app creation and customizable software.  It can only grow from here.

COVID forced organizations to respond to problems immediately, and find solutions in nontraditional ways and places.  Empowering organizations with a platform that helps them design apps will quicken the development process, save time and money, and boost creativity within the enterprise.

Deliver Consumer-Grade App Experiences  

As more people engage with the world through digital spaces it’s crucial companies provide immersive experiences that are tailored to the precise needs of the audience.  A McKinsey study found that during the pandemic 80% of customer interactions were digital in nature, and consumer expectations will only continue to increase and become more fine-tuned and nuanced.

As online journeys have matured, the fundamental understanding of what constitutes a satisfying user or customer experience has sharpened.  The immersive optionality of Amazon, the customized nudge of Netflix, these platforms have re-shaped people’s basic standards of what an online visit can ― and should ― be.

There’s no doubt more people are shopping, searching and spending online, and they aren’t waiting more than a few seconds for a video to load or link to appear. If they’re not engaged they’re as good as gone.

Experiences need to be made immersive, intuitive and customized for the user.  They should incorporate the latest in voice recognition and AI-technologies, and accessible on mobile devices, wearables, you name it.  Create a dynamic digital experience that your customers will find exciting and worth their time, or watch them click on the link of a competitor.

Security Is Stability 

The success of your strategy depends largely on how secure your operation is. You can have a cutting-edge collaboration platform for your teams, a mind-blowing website interface, and the fastest low-code app software in the world and if the security is questionable it’s going to eventually fail.

Many factors contribute to a less-secure enterprise environment: more remote working, higher dependency on sensitive data travelling to shared networks, newfound accessibility issues and constantly evolving and malicious cyberthreats.

The bottom line is that organizations need to do everything possible to protect company, staff and client data. Invest in secure infrastructure and prioritize platforms that have proven track records of enterprise security.

The past year has been disruptive in many ways, and also illuminating.  Be the company you want to be, not the company you think you were.

For more information on an industry-leading low-code application development platform that lets your organization create engaging app experiences and drive business value — fast — you need to look at HCL Volt MX.  

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are bringing powerful benefits to the app development process, signaling one of the next new phases in the digital transformation of the workspace.

Competing In the Age of AI, a book by two Harvard professors detailing the potential of artificial intelligence on business operation, begins with a stunning example: Created in 2014, Ant Financial Services Group had seen such explosive growth to its dizzying array of business services that by 2018 had a valuation of $150 billion dollars.

How could a company handle such tremendous development in such a short amount of time?  By building around a digital core that features artificial intelligence.

The potential power of AI on business operations is obvious: According to a study by Forrester, 71% of respondents claimed that AI could improve business efficiency, while 59% said it can improve scalability.

But it’s way more than potential these days.  It’s a reality.

A research study by Accenture found that 84% of C-suite executives believe they must leverage AI to achieve their growth objectives, while companies already strategically scaling AI reported a 3x return on investment.   What’s more, the same research shows that 3 out of 4 of those same executives believe failing to adequately scale AI in the next 5 years could put their entire business at risk.

Embracing a modern approach to app design and development is crucial for any company striving — not only to operate at peak efficiency and productivity — but to drive innovation and attract top talent with the core-business apps of tomorrow.

How are Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning connected?  

Often used interchangeably, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are interconnected technologies.

AI refers to the larger project of creating computer systems that can predict and simulate human behaviors, accomplishing tasks typically associated with human intelligence and thought.

Machine learning is one of the many branches of AI, dealing specifically with computer programs designed to gather data, identify patterns and make decisions on their own or with token human assistance.

Many artificial intelligence systems are powered by machine learning, which aims to improve at a task on its own without having to be programmed for that specific task, saving untold amounts of coding time and analysis.   ML tools are some of the most in-demand AI-powered tools for businesses, based on their capacity for translating massive data sets into pragmatic next step solutions.

These solutions are everywhere.

Virtual personal assistants — think Siri and Alexa — use machine learning AI to continuously “learn” how to respond better through the constant gathering and applying of data.

ML is what redirects your GPS to a faster route while you’re driving, recognizes a face when you post on social media, filters out your spam emails and refines your search engine results.

And it’s present in everyday life in all types of other ways: from how banks determine possible fraudulent activity, to the way retailers customize the customer experience, and even in how healthcare is delivered to patients.

The aim of AI isn’t simply to automate repetitive tasks through simple learning; it’s to respond intuitively, not with clumsy predictability but instead with hyper-specific insights based on accumulated knowledge. In finding patterns and pinpointing regularities in data, AI algorithms can develop a specific skill that predicts and reacts according to the moment.

Developers and designers already recognize these technologies as hugely influential tools that are saving time and cutting costs for the forward-thinking companies that have embraced them and are looking for ways to apply them to app development.

The challenges facing app developers in the future

As digital transformation restructures how businesses approach traditional work, new methods of app development are putting AI into the spotlight, showing off the benefits of increased integration of AI into software design and delivery.  Which is needed, because developers today are under intense pressure to produce.

Developers today face an onslaught of challenges: 

• Time pressure to produce and maintain complex web apps  
• Cost concerns of testing, fixing and updating these apps
• Matching the interoperability and interface needs of a diverse workforce and customer base who use a range of software and devices
• Constantly meeting raised expectations for performance and design which demands responsive innovation

Designers have to balance the demands of creating apps that satisfy various employee and customer needs while accounting for pragmatic pressures of the development process.  All within an enterprise context that is embracing customizable content production on dynamic platforms that are ever-evolving.

A shift toward multi-experience development platforms (MXDPs) that allow companies to more quickly scale and deliver their apps is mirrored in how the apps are being built.

Speed and flexibility are crucial, as developers must be able to adjust in hours instead of days, with a range of tools that allow for intuitive collaboration.

Why businesses are adopting AI and ML tools into app development

The need to meet these demands — and be positioned for success going forward — has companies integrating AI into their operations more and more.  This increase in adoption is driven by access to high-quality learning models, and the necessity of steering away from investment in slow and expensive infrastructure for data management.

And the pace of adoption is only increasing.  A recent Forbes article said that more than half of organizations would spend between $500,000 and $5 million on AI technology and talent — up by more than a third over last year.

Projected spending on AI technologies will be $98 billion by 2023, according to IDC — a yearly growth of almost 30% between 2018 and 2023.

Companies are gravitating towards AI-technologies because they speed up development, integrate efficiently and safely, and make scaling effortless.  AI algorithms can automate many painstakingly arduous tasks that previously would have sidetracked developers for hours upon hours, freeing up time to focus on more high-value tasks.

Increasing velocity through a streamlined process

Creating velocity in both app development and adoption depends on a fast design process. From concept to prototype to iteration to approval, app development has to move quickly while maintaining peak standards. AI-powered machine learning infuses design software with new tools that gives developers newfound freedom to create and test with speed and precision.

AI gathers and processes data on a whole new level, automates development and puts ML-tools to work.  These tools aren’t pushing talented developers aside, but rather extending their capabilities by providing better source code analysis, automated help with code production, and rapid prototyping.

New low-code design software, aided by AI, lets designers build and integrate more easily with a variety of relevant digital technologies such as intelligent chatbots, wearables and conversational apps.  Thus, app development software meets the needs of audiences that are embracing textured, interactive and customized online experiences.

So, while lots of coding still requires laborious, line-by-line work by developers, AI-powered low code software is cutting down on expensive design bottlenecks.  This not only saves time and money, it reroutes developer energy to the constant innovation of new online experiences rather than the maintenance of old ones.

This includes the development of platforms like MXDP’s, the utilization of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), and the embrace of design ecosystems like intelligent development environments and OpenAI.  These tools are changing how businesses operate, and how customers engage with them.

ML-powered algorithms and AI-driven analytics provide not only deep insights into how apps are being used — and can be improved — but they also connect to other tools that are revolutionizing how businesses design innovative systems.  Developers are using AI to build apps that fit into a modern business ecosystem and solve modern business operation challenges.

The next step in the ongoing digital transformation of the enterprise workspace is continued integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Resistant companies that disregard AI do so at their own risk.  Embracing and integrating AI into core business operations might not result in a valuation of $150 billion within five years but ignoring the clear signs of change could result in no business operations in five years.

Learn more about our industry-leading low-code app-dev platform, HCL Volt MX, which features an AI-powered built-in test recorder that generates test cases to be executed on the cloud as part of the continuous integration/continuous delivery, or CI/CD, pipeline. 

When it comes to growing your business, achieving scale at the right time is essential — and one of the trickiest and most expensive challenges there is. Low code helps scale your IT systems and resources and this allows your business to grow and innovate in a sustainable way. Achieving scalability allows companies to serve their audiences better, no matter the size, and increase sales and productivity without suffering in other areas. Low-code development is making this more attainable than ever.

Organizations that use low-code platforms, which increase developer productivity and speed to market, ensure that they can expand and grow as necessary to meet the needs of the business.

Here’s how low code can help scale up your ops and resources to drive business and economic growth:

1. Build once, deploy anywhere

A major feature of HCL’s low-code platform is its seamless cross-platform deployment, which gives developer teams the flexibility to scale as needed. By designing apps with a universal language, they can deliver dynamic user experiences over multiple devices and operating systems.

Your existing developers don’t have to become overnight experts in iOS, Android, or other operating systems to quickly build and deploy impactful experiences from a single code source. Low-code platforms help businesses to deploy with complexity and speed — and achieve scale in the process — for a wide variety of applications, from native apps to PWAs, from wearables to kiosks and beyond.

2. Integration without limits

By removing backend complexity, the Volt MX platform unlocks existing data and business processes, giving developers the ability to connect diverse systems and datasets with ease and efficiency. This not only drives scale but can reduce time-to-market by more than 60%.

This low-code platform also bridges functionality to legacy systems. Seamless integration with these often complex and antiquated systems allows companies to extend their capabilities and drive value from their existing investments. Not having to do extensive and expensive data migrations, or rewrite millions of lines of code, means that your developers can focus on your organization’s app user experience and the customer or audience demands. If you are looking to scale, isn’t it better to focus on the market needs rather than on hand-knitting together ancient databases?

Seamless integrations and bringing your backend processes and data forward in an elegant app, helps businesses maintain efficiency and extend the lifespan and productivity of their existing systems. In turn, this fuels ROI while creating more opportunities to properly scale.

3. Improving IT processes

Scaling is only possible if the IT systems and processes required for optimized operations are functioning smoothly. Those processes must be constantly maintained, debugged, and upgraded — and low-code makes this easier.

Extensive coding, debugging, and testing is time-consuming and draining on the creative and problem-solving capacity of dev teams. It’s not surprising that enterprises are eager to embrace tools that allow their professional developers to focus on more important and higher-level tasks.

With pre-built modules and a visual UX featuring drag-and-drop features, Volt MX frees developers from hand-coding and gives them the autonomy to focus more on the digital solutions that will grow your business. Low-code platforms empower companies to focus more energy on higher-value projects, through automation that saves time, reduces cost, and allocates resources efficiently.

4. Expanding capabilities while creating excellent customer experiences

Many businesses adopt a low-code platform to help address challenges of digital transformation and achieve results faster than traditional solutions. For example, a major health insurer with premiums of more than $1 billion needed to expand its digital offerings to include mobile in order to meet customer needs.

Using Volt MX it launched a mobile app that extended the hours of customer service and delivered a new level of convenience and functionality to its users, all without overwhelming IT teams or swamping the bottom line. An extensible scalable mobile experience is helping this company to stay connected with its customers wherever they are. 

5.Solutions for urgent challenges

When a power and electric utilities company in Ireland needed a new system for its field service technicians and needed it fast, it turned to Volt MX. 

Maintaining the existing system meant bridging outdated legacy hardware and software to a mobile platform that could carry it into the future. With Volt MX the company was able to quickly update its mobile technology stack and deliver better efficiency for its workforce without suffering any slowdowns or service lags. It was able to urgently scale its operations and deliver better services to its customers. 

Helping businesses grow 

Growth can quickly become problematic if the resources needed to sustain it ― both financial and human ― overwhelm the entire enterprise and create a burdensome cycle. Healthy growth must be sustainable, and low code technology gives businesses a modern path to scalable operations.

Forward-thinking leaders know it needs to be a fundamental part of any future technology strategy. Are you ready? HCL Volt MX, an industry-leading low-code platform, helps you deliver enterprise mobile apps at scale. Try it out — free — with our trial.

See how low code can inject major savings into your business

When it comes to app development, time costs money. So does recruiting talent, performing maintenance, debugging and testing apps, upgrading infrastructure, and…. you get the point. If you’re not careful, costs accumulate faster than apps are designed and deployed, leaving your company in a vulnerable position.

However, if you have a dynamic multi-experience low-code platform that efficiently streamlines the app-development process, you can reduce spending and lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) with dramatic results for the entire enterprise.

That’s what low-code platform HCL Volt MX delivers for enterprises looking to innovate with a low-code solution: speed and efficiency throughout the app-development cycle that results in significant savings that can be funneled toward innovation and future strategy and investments.

Here’s are 4 ways low-code development helps to save money:

1. Helps avoid expensive recruitment costs

The competition for tech talent has increased dramatically in the past two years, due in large part to companies scrambling to accommodate employees and systems that can work remotely from the cloud. Don’t expect that to change: according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics,  employment of developers is projected to grow by 22% from 2019 to 2029, much faster than the average for all occupations.

Finding, hiring, and retaining developers remains a major issue for tech companies, which makes hiring your way out of project challenges a risky and expensive approach. Instead, companies should invest in their own developers by supplying them with tools that simplify their job and free them from burdensome and rote tasks that get in the way of their natural design and development skills.

2. Shortens development time

Low code injects blazing speed and productivity into the development process, in a number of ways:

• Rapid, visual assembly of pre-made components and templates eliminates a dependency on labor-intensive hand coding and hastens development time
• A platform like Volt MX enables quick and seamless integration with back-end data, pre-existing applications, and legacy systems; this accelerates time-to-market
• And, most importantly, experienced developers — freed from many of the operational burdens of development — can focus on addressing higher-level business goals and complex design ideas that ultimately boost the entire production cycle

3. Enabling an agile process

Low code lowers costs while modernizing high-maintenance apps.

For a major health insurer paralyzed by a siloed development process, a major change was needed to bolster its presence in the mobile space. 

The company adopted the Volt MX low-code platform and found success across a spectrum of outcomes, including a new agile methodology and the reallocation of IT resources that resulted in saved time and huge cost savings.   

4. Meeting ever-changing business needs more quickly 

Low code can respond with lightning-fast solutions that save money in the long-term.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, a Vermont-based power company needed a tool to connect its employees and make up-to-the-minute health information easily accessible to the entire company. It turned to Volt MX and within a week had a health and safety app that helped monitor the overall health of the entire workforce, in a timeframe, and at a cost no legacy system could come close to.

It’s safe to say that digital transformation is speeding up every aspect of how businesses operate. Keeping pace means valuing time and not wasting opportunities to maximize the talent of your workforce or the systems of efficiency they use.

HCL’s Volt MX is an industry-leading low-code platform, recognized both in Gartner’s July 2021 Magic Quadrant for Multiexperience Development Platforms and in The Forrester Wave: Low-Code Development Platforms for Professional Developers, Q2 2021. Don’t waste time or money. Use a low-code platform that optimizes both.

Learn more about Volt MX and schedule a demo to transform your business.

Enterprise app development is evolving at an unstoppable pace and the stakes are high for organizations that want to adapt. To meet the relentless demands of the marketplace, organizations are incorporating low-code technologies that kickstart productivity and enhance efficiency throughout the development lifecycle.

Low code allows businesses to launch innovation to new levels. Without resorting to an army of developers, low-code app development can be done in-house, with professional developers using low-code platforms and taking the reins to accelerate innovation.

According to Gartner, 75% of enterprises will use a multiexperience development platform to build digital products by 2026, up from 20% in 2021. Additionally, Gartner predicts that by 2025, 70% of new applications developed by enterprises will use low-code or no-code technologies, up from less than 25% in 2020.

This explosive — and expected — growth in low-code adoption is powered by the need for flexible innovation that isn’t wasteful or time-consuming. The capabilities of a low-code platform such as HCL’s Volt MX makes peak productivity the norm, and expands how teams across the organization solve problems, integrate data streams, and collaborate on innovative new products.  

How low code saves time

1. Low code saves time on debugging. In a recent study, researchers from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, found that programmers spend an average of 48% on debugging — and that they stop coding to debug about once every eight minutes.
2. Low code accelerates app delivery, leading to significant overall savings. A global consumer goods firm needed quality mobile apps that could deliver customized experiences to consumers around the world — and needed them fast. The company used Volt MX to reach localized markets in over 30 countries, with over 50% savings in app dev costs as a result.   

App development is in a transformational phase, evolving from an opaque process handled strictly by skilled developers to one defined by accessibility and speed. With a powerful tech stack that utilizes drag-and-drop features, pre-made reusable modules and a visual interface, Volt MX reduces or eliminates altogether many time-consuming processes.

By lowering the learning curve necessary to design and deliver functional apps, low code platforms frees developers from the burden of arduous hand-coding and staying on top of every single new operating system or platform. This creates space for experienced developers to focus on higher-level system architecture, strategy, and the needs of the business. The time, experience, and skills of the entire organization are better leveraged to build more apps in less time, resulting in a productivity boost that extends throughout the enterprise.  

How to boost productivity from within the enterprise 

Leveraging developer expertise is even more crucial in the face of a growing tech talent shortage that has made hiring new developers harder and more expensive. While the reasons are plenty, as this Forbes op-ed explains, the end result is that complicated design and development projects can’t be so easily solved simply by recruiting new developers.

According to a study from Korn Ferry, a global HR company, by 2030, there will be a worldwide talent shortage of more than 85 million people. That talent shortage could result in about $8.5 trillion in unrealized annual revenues.

While some organizations may be able to hire more and more new talent to tackle future challenges, those with fully productive developers using flexible architecture and robust integration and orchestration services will be prepared for those challenges without having to rely on recruiting new waves of personnel.

Low code makes that possible.

The Volt MX platform unleashes an efficient development operation without sacrificing any data integration or security protection. Plus, the streamlined app dev process maximizes the talent you have, letting you build the applications you need the way you want to. It also allows you to deliver your goods or services as fresh solutions across the full range of devices and data environments.  

Faster, simpler, smarter

Finding a low-code platform that combines an efficient development environment and an enterprise-grade backend of services is tough. Especially when you factor in the range of other capabilities necessary in today’s competitive landscape: a cloud-native system, integration without limits, data that’s easily unlocked, accessibility across devices and channels, and governance at scale.

HCL’s Volt MX is an industry-leading low-code platform, recognized both in Gartner’s July 2021 Magic Quadrant for Multiexperience Development Platforms and in The Forrester Wave: Low-Code Development Platforms for Professional Developers, Q2 2021.

The unique blend of accessible tools and enterprise-grade backend support provide organizations with an ideal mix of modern features, putting dynamic apps into the hands of consumers, customers, employees, and partners — faster than ever.

Maximize your efficiency and productivity with a low-code platform designed for today, and built for tomorrow.

Learn more about Volt MX and start your 30-day free trial today!

Would you pay for content from a streaming service that required you to read a detailed manual in order to find and then watch any shows you picked?  Would you use Instagram if it meant grinding through a series of hour-long tutorials on how to post a photo?  Could you comprehend ponying up the cash for a smartphone if you knew it would take months, maybe even years to figure out how to use it properly?

You no doubt answered “no” to these questions because you value your time, and you have a clear expectation of what certain products offer and will require in return.

For many years the gap between the enterprise app-experience and a regular consumer app experience was cavernous — enterprise software was not expected to be user-friendly, it was expected to be complex and robust enough to carry out functions on a large-scale.  But a shift has occurred, and a new paradigm has emerged.

A consumer-grade experience is now integral to building enterprise app software, what users expect, and is mission-critical for companies interested in maintaining a position of strategic leadership in their respective industry.

What is a consumer–grade experience?

Simply put, if you can intuitively operate a product with little or no training required, you are having a consumer grade experience.  You can open a box or download an app, press a button and bam. In a few minutes you’re on your way to using a product you have never used before.

Typically, a consumer-grade product or experience will offer the following features: 

• Simplicity: processes are streamlined allowing users to take action with limited steps
• Aesthetically–pleasing: users not only enjoy the experience more but are comfortable and confident when the visual presentation is appealing and engaging
• Intuitive: users become adept more quickly with a product or service if the user-experience patterns are familiar and the learning curve builds on a previous knowledge base
• Accessible: can integrate on multiple platforms without any loss of usability or engagement, can be connected to regardless of location or setting, and is usable by anyone

Conversely, a professional–grade experience — which enterprise software historically has been — is one in which the technical requirements demand training, onboarding and immersion before the product can be operated and adopted to its full potential.  It’s not opened and mastered instantly.

And that’s for a very good reason:  Enterprise software is incredibly complex!  Perhaps one day navigating an enterprise system responsible for operating a supply chain — to pick one example — will be as direct as ordering a pizza from your phone, but until then there’s a level of sophistication impossible to ignore.

Enterprise software has to handle enormous loads of data and integrate information across a sprawling network of systems, applications, people and channels. The complex nature of what’s required in an enterprise operation could only — until relatively recently — be properly addressed with complicated, professional-grade developers tools.

In short, enterprise applications were previously used begrudgingly, out of necessity to perform tasks no consumer grade software could handle.  That has changed.

The shift toward user choice of software within enterprise companies 

The evolution of enterprise software reflects how powerfully digital transformation has impacted the way these applications are bought, integrated and updated.  The early days of enterprise software was marked by a top-down approach:  software was purchased by the C-suites and pushed onto employees to learn and use, regardless of whether they liked or benefitted from the user experience at all.

As enterprise software has evolved and expanded over the past decade, so has the decision-making process for choosing software.  The top-down approach has been upended as companies have realized a powerful truth: if users, customers, and teams don’t like an app ‘s user experience or software, if it’s not intuitive, responsive and accessible, they will not fully embrace it. That can result in an avalanche of squandered time, stunted collaboration and diminished productivity.

Adoption is key to productivity and organizational success and reduces the risk of people going to “shadow IT” (unsanctioned and possibly risky technology) to get work done. The users, once an afterthought in choosing enterprise software, are now the ones driving adoption and looking for systems that include the dynamic user capabilities of a consumer-grade experience.

Take enterprise messaging tools, for example. Often, they were not pushed upon individuals by higher-ups.  They were selected and requested — demanded even — by teams who had either tried it for themselves or heard about it through word-of-mouth and were convinced it could improve workflow communication for their company.

Why consumer–grade UX is essential for mission critical apps 

Enterprise companies are aiming not just for peak performance but to establish and enhance their reputation for strategic leadership.  And rightfully so.  Gaining an edge in hyper-competitive industries is about productivity, sure, but it also hinges on continual innovation and internal cohesion that only an engaged and connected workforce can achieve.

Nurturing those qualities includes giving developers app platforms and software that they can master quickly and build seamlessly with.

Finding a comprehensive platform that can create digital experiences across all channels with a consumer grade user interface can improve critical areas of need: 

• A productivity boost from development tools such as low code that speed up app delivery for professional developer and empower less experienced developers or business users to problem solve on their own 
• Simplified integration of data that connects systems and processes easily — and can foster collaboration
• A bottom-up innovation pipeline which empowers designers by giving them software they like rather than software they merely tolerate
• A fully realized modern approach to app design that fuses the capabilities of enterprise software with the engagement power of consumer grade experience
• Embedded security that protects against system compromises and attacks

Give your workforce a platform that lets their design talent flourish without sacrificing any of the integration, scaling or security demands of an enterprise system.  Give them a consumer grade experience on a professional level.

In order to bring a product or service to light and do this for hundreds — or even millions — of users, you need to empower your developers to provide beautiful, meaningful, and innovative experiences and engage and interact with your users in new ways. The last great experience a consumer has is the one they expect next.

You need serious tools with serious capabilities. HCL Volt MX is an industry-leading low-code app-dev platform that empowers professional developers, enterprise architects and digital designers to rapidly deliver consumer-grade apps. HCL Volt MX lets you build, deploy and deliver beautiful, powerful, consumer-grade experiences and applications the way you want.  

Companies worldwide are developing new technology strategies and solutions, and there is a fundamental question that can keep CEOs awake at night: Build or buy?

Choosing whether to buy or build has historically depended on the type of tech that a company needs to implement. But in an environment in which more people than ever are working remotely and app developers need to cater to more user modalities (such as mobile, wearable, and desktop devices) than ever before, a clear shift is emerging in favor of buying.

The hidden costs of building

It’s understandably tempting to build new solutions — companies have teams of talented developers and want to maintain control over their costs as well as their technology. However, what initially seems like the cheaper, more reliable option can be riddled with hidden costs.

Organizations tend to underestimate both the time and money it takes to maintain security and operations when building new tech — plus it’s hard for development teams to control or push back against “scope creep” when those requests to add features or functions come from upper management or the head of IT. There are often many more building steps required before deployment than companies often realize when they first plan projects and solutions. 

The time and IT support that building internally requires can slow the deployment of new tech drastically. We are living in a time when time-sensitive information and updates are as important as ever, and remote working conditions make it impossible for IT teams to address company tech issues in person. Once an app or other technology solution is built, the journey is far from over — development teams have to maintain and update it to keep up with the needs and demands that can come from employees, partners, and/or customers.

Enterprise organizations bank on success by choosing to buy

A recent Forrester study interviewed five companies with revenue from $5 million to $6 billion and found the net financial benefit of buying new tech (over building) to be $1,686,884, with an average ROI of 207%. While building new tech might initially seem attractive because it may have fewer up-front costs, the numbers show that, over time, companies tend to save significantly by buying.

Gartner also pointed out that IT spending is predicted to drop 7.3%, while companies refocus that budget to software solutions. CIOs are investing in subscription products and cloud services, which lower upfront costs while setting organizations up with scalable, long-lasting solutions.

2020’s IDC Spending Guide showed that despite pandemic-induced setbacks, digital transformation is still a key priority across industries. Brands will continue to pivot toward bringing on and using external technologies like HCL Volt MX that deliver scalable, low code, integrated and omni-channel solutions with quick adoption time and reliable security.

Achieving digital success by choosing your technology wisely

In the rapidly evolving digital ecosystem, companies need to invest in multi-channel solutions that meet users wherever they are. More and more companies are realizing that to stay competitive and meet the needs of their audiences, that they need to use a multiexperience development platform, or MXDP, to solve challenge and create solutions. The complexity in building multiexperience apps, let alone updating and maintaining it, is far beyond the scope of most enterprise’s in-house capabilities. You would need an army of developers to make sure that your solution works across multiple devices, operating systems, and is constantly being updated. Buying becomes the clear choice when looking to adopt highly complex, secure tech that can run on–premises or in the cloud with a quick adoption and onboarding processes.

AI-powered data analytics and tools like smart chatbots are also factors to consider when adopting new technology. Maintaining advanced technical offerings is often beyond the scope of many remote IT team capabilities, so investing in a solution that promises this kind of operational support is a major factor of the current digital climate. 

When it comes to advanced tech solutions, it’s ultimately worth enterprise organizations’ time and resources to invest in a low code app dev platform that offers the control, flexibility, and scalability required. In order to make the most of digital transformation efforts, one thing is clear: More enterprise leaders need to embrace buying rather than building to make sure their digital transformation and consumer experiences are scalable and competitive.