Low-Code 20/20: A Clear Vision for Solving the Software Crisis
Mendix predicts low-code is the lynchpin to achieving rich user experiences, new revenue sources, and next-gen tech integration in the year ahead
BOSTON – JANUARY 14, 2020 – Mendix, a Siemens business and the global leader in low-code and no-code application development for the enterprise, today announced its assessment of key technology trends impacting low-code application development in 2020. With the dawn of a new decade, low-code has reached a tipping point because of the looming software crisis. There is simply too much software that needs to get built and not nearly enough software developers to build it. The crisis in software development is helping drive the vastly increased momentum and adoption of low-code in nearly every enterprise, and across nearly every vertical industry. Today’s users expect seamless, personalized experiences across all digital touchpoints. Organizations need reusable business functionality that scales across the enterprise. Employees require enterprise data so they can extract actionable business intelligence and generate new sources of revenue. Low code’s capacity to develop and deploy innovative solutions at velocity — supporting all of these needs — while enabling team autonomy, is how enterprises will deliver results on digital innovation projects in 2020.
Mendix predicts:
- Multi-Experience Takes Center Stage in 2020
Consumer demand for tailored, intuitive digital interactions across multiple touchpoints, including mobile, web browsers, and augmented reality, has already changed the customer service and support experience across industries. In the year ahead, the market preference for rich, digital experiences will expand as C-suite leaders prioritize multi-experience solutions to generate new sources of revenue.
“A new generation of customers and employees entering the workforce don’t want applications that simply save time. They want digital experiences that enable this time to be well-spent,” says Johan den Haan, chief technology officer at Mendix. “Enterprises will focus on delivering rich experiences for a wide variety of new use cases. They will leverage low-code capabilities to deliver the degree of polish, finesse, and fidelity that consumers now expect across devices.”
- Mandatory Support for Flexible Cloud Deployments
Global investments in cloud infrastructure and services will be a top priority for CIOs in 2020.1 With cloud computing now recognized as mainstream for enterprise software delivery, application development platforms must deliver value-added services on top of the customer’s cloud or clouds of choice. Regardless of whether a customer’s line of business requirements dictate the use of public, private, or hybrid cloud infrastructure, the successful software development vendors will be those who enable the seamless transport, provisioning, and deployment of applications across the customer’s cloud of choice. “Having the right architecture to support multi-cloud deployment options across on-premises, virtual private, multi-cloud, and multi-tenant public cloud installations will determine if a software vendor can help an enterprise to successfully undertake its digital transformation journey in 2020,” says Hans de Visser, vice president of product management at Mendix.
- Low-Code Takes on Customer Engagement and Revenue-Generation
In 2020, expect to see new profit centers in the enterprise as organizations use low-code platforms to extend core systems to deliver bespoke, data-driven, consumer-grade experiences to create new market opportunities. Research analysts estimate the current share of low-code-related development projects at 10–20 percent of enterprise activity—a figure that’s expected to spike up to 65 percent within four years.2
What’s driving this explosive growth? “The success of low-code exerts a centrifugal force within the enterprise,” says Nick Ford, vice president of product marketing at Mendix. “In the past, low-code projects were undertaken as straightforward use cases focused on operational excellence and cost savings. Now, we’re seeing low-code leveraged for large-scale customer engagement and B-to-B programs that drive higher levels of revenue.”
- Research into AI-Powered Development Tooling Accelerates
“Artificial intelligence’s ability to augment development capabilities is the most significant advance in software development moving forward,” says Gordon Van Huizen, vice president of platform strategy at Mendix. “This year, the research and development teams of leading software vendors are defining and prototyping new AI uses throughout the entire application lifecycle.”
Van Huizen predicts R&D teams will leverage AI to provide experienced developers with pair programming assistance, validate new code, correlate and integrate datasets while flagging anomalies, and reduce a platform’s technical complexity, enabling greater participation by nontechnical business experts and application administrators. Van Huizen adds, “Every software vendor is racing to bring new, creative AI use cases to market within the next three to five years.”
- Meet 2020’s New Power Couple: Citizen Integrator + Developer
In 2020, non-technical business experts will be empowered to solve enterprise-wide data discovery and exploration issues by leveraging a new breed of data management and integration tools. These tools will enable people working outside of central IT integration teams to become “citizen integrators,” enabling business analysts, business subject matter experts, and developers to directly find and integrate data into their daily workflow. This change will be driven without compromising global management or governance.
“Organizations who develop a mindset that drives true democratized integration will lead the creation of what Gartner analysts have described as the ‘Composable Enterprise,’” says Sheryl Koenigsberg, director of product marketing at Mendix. “Newly empowered Citizen Integrators will be able to find and reuse business functionality that enhance employee and customer experiences, and drive quantifiable value for the enterprise.”
For more information about Mendix’s 2020 Predictions, please visit https://www.mendix.com/blog/the-five-tech-trends-that-will-revolutionize-how-you-think-about-software-development-in-2020/.
Learn more about the Mendix Platform and Pricing and Availability.
Sources:
- CIO investment in multi-cloud infrastructure in 2020: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2019-11-13-gartner-forecasts-worldwide-public-cloud-revenue-to-grow-17-percent-in-2020
- Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms, published August 8, 2019; Gartner, Low-Code Development Technologies Evaluation Guide, published February 2019; see also: https://www.mendix.com/blog/the-2019-mxdp-magic-quadrant-application-development-goes-multiexperience/
About Mendix
Mendix, a Siemens business, is the only low-code platform designed to address the full complexity of enterprise software development challenges. Deploying point solutions to departmental problems solves things at a micro level—but if you want to make a significant impact on your business, you need to go bigger and build powerful portfolios that move the needle sustainably and strategically.
With Mendix, enterprises can take on more complex, transformational initiatives by engaging everyone in capturing requirements, forming ideas, and embedding value assessment throughout the lifecycle of the software portfolio.
Focus on the right problems while relying on governance and control to avoid unnecessary risk. Mobilize your organization. Build the change readiness muscle. And when the next big idea drops, turn it into an outcome quicker.
More than 4,000 organizations in 46 countries use the Mendix low-code platform. An active community of over 300,000 developers has created over 950,000 applications – and counting.