Top 5 Benefits of Low Code for Public Sector
What are the benefits of Low Code?
Not every public sector CIO is aware of the progress made in the low-code landscape over the last 10 years. Far from being a limited tool for specific purposes, companies are now producing full enterprise-grade solutions on low-code platforms like OutSystems. Examples include ERP and CRM replacements, mobile banking apps, insurance applications, and claim processing.
Version 1 has spent the last three years introducing low code to our public sector customers. Here are the top 5 benefits we have found for those organisations:
1. Accelerated Delivery
Above and beyond anything else, low-code platforms allow development teams to move. From simple workflows ready to go live in days, to larger projects in a few months, our customers have consistently found their projects move at a pace that can be both surprising and challenging. This means that customers get a fully customised solution, doing exactly what they specify that it should, in less time than it would take on any other high code or licensed software solution.
2. Leveraging Cloud Scalability and Security
Most organisations have moved towards cloud hosting for cost and scale reasons, but there are plenty of options and configurations in the market – it can be overwhelming. By leveraging the OutSystems Cloud platform as a service, hosted on AWS, customers can scale application servers, database servers, and storage capability to match the needs of their target user base, on an ISO27001-certified setup. Over 200,000 people have interacted with one of our OutSystems-based solutions over the last few years, and the infrastructure is designed to scale and perform securely – allowing customers to stay focused on the business need being addressed.
3. Addressing the Skills Challenge
Low code tools like OutSystems are visual development environments; screens and actions are built with drag-and-drop interactions on a dedicated IDE. Error handling is baked in, so developers get constant feedback if something is not wired up correctly. And debugging tools are also included, allowing instant inspection of a test case. Experienced developers can get moving from just a week of self-guided training, and already start looking at stories in the backlog. Our most advanced customers are building their own skillsets with internal team members mixed with our consultants, to manage the platform, build their own apps, and provide their own governance model for future direction.
4. Full Modular Lifecycle Management
Apps and modules have full version control and at least three environments – starting with development, test, and live. The flexible deployment process means that we can apply fixes and changes to some parts and not others, while the validation engine ensures that dependencies are managed through new releases. We can roll back versions if needed, apply hot fixes in emergencies, and distribute those changes back to source if required. All of this allows live environments to be supported while new changes are coming quickly through the pipeline.
5. Truly Bespoke Solutions
We believe across the board that all organisations have their own DNA – their own way of looking at a process, a language used internally that can be very specific to an area or team. Off-the-shelf solutions that involve customising on top of an ERP or CRM solution inevitably have a certain pattern or structure of solution that fits the software best. By implementing and iterating through an agile low code project, the end solution can match exactly the requirements, and make the user experience as intuitive as possible, on whichever device is required.
Our OutSystems Experience
Version 1 is proud to be an OutSystems Partner. As a long-term market leader, OutSystems are focused on constantly improving the developer experience and platform operation. This allows partners like Version 1 to focus on our customers’ needs and experiences – helping them achieve a faster ROI, and getting through more of the digital transformation backlog, with leaner, more effective teams.
