The Gartner Catalyst Conference takes a deep dive into technology trends and topics that are the most challenging to IT leaders, offering a dynamic live context where you can ask questions, vet ideas, and proactively problem-solve with Gartner and your peers.
Catalyst allows business and technical professionals to examine the latest emerging trends and learn how to improve productivity with cloud-native apps and platforms, blockchain, enterprise apps and app architecture, AI and advanced analytics, data management and integration, DevOps, and a whole lot more.
How does low-code fit into all of this? From business users to enterprise architects, businesses are looking for ways to solve the puzzle of building multi-experience solutions, incorporating the latest emerging trends, and managing end-to-end app development. Mendix was at Catalyst this year and presented three demos that show how these puzzle pieces fit together.
One platform…
For the first demo, we showed how business users and professional developers can build a solution that connects cognitive services running in Azure to Mendix by using prebuilt template applications and modules found within the Mendix App Store. They can use the out-of-the-box feedback loop to pass more technical items downstream, easily collaborate with team members, and use native mobile functionality to open doors to a new stream of business.
For the demo, we showed how using a template application and building blocks allows users to quickly and easily create slick mobile workflows with little to no knowledge of application development while at the same time being able to easily assign items to the technical team to handle the more complex technical items. We also showed how users can easily build technical items by extending the platform using custom Java actions and then bundling them into drag-and-drop activities within the Mendix platform.
We started the demo by showing how makers can use Mendix Studio to create an application by leveraging UI building blocks to create a mobile workflow that allowed end users to access the native functionality of their mobile devices. Next business users then provided real-time feedback that IT could investigate, turn into stories, and then add to active sprints without the need for going through the usual extended feedback process. Then IT could access the application created by the business within Mendix Studio Pro and complete the final process of connecting to a cognitive service running within an Azure instance simply by downloading a module from the Mendix App Store. This allowed the developers to create the connection simply using Java actions created within Eclipse to provide extended functionality to the Mendix platform. Then users were able to easily test/debug the application locally by simply scanning a QR code on their mobile device and testing the application they just created.
The second demo was around integrating with IoT devices and using HoloLens in order to gather information and interact with these devices. The scenario we dreamed up was one that we believe afflicts many offices around the world: warm beer found in the office cooler during Friday happy hour. Someone used HoloLens and a Mendix application to ensure that the beer was at a proper consumption temperature, but they came across a massive problem…..the beer was warm! Turns out, someone had placed their warm coffee in the cooler. After removing the coffee, the user leveraged the HoloLens/Mendix application to interact with the IoT devices and reset the sensor warnings to ensure all beverages were at the desired temperature for Friday happy hour!! Crisis averted.
We structured the third demo around DevOps and how Mendix handles the entire CI/CD pipeline. While on-site, the Mendix team had in hand an entire DevOps process built around Azure and easily integrated within the Mendix platform. This included a template and step-by-step procedure on how to configure the pipeline within Azure and deploy the Mendix application to an Azure instance. In addition to that, the team was also in possession of a full CI/CD pipeline built within the Mendix framework (coming soon to a Mendix IDE near you!). Each of these solutions contained scripting, automated deployment, unit testing triggers and reporting mechanisms that make the operations lifecycle smooth and seamless and empower DevOps teams to integrate with their existing IT framework or to create a fully governed solution within the Mendix platform. Now that is what I call full stack development within a low-code platform!
…To rule them all!
These demos are a prime example of how Mendix is able to incorporate emerging trends (cognitive services/HoloLens) and build multi-experience solutions (mobile, browser, augmented reality) all while involving all parts of the process (from business to developers) in easily creating beautiful applications while using many of the out-of-the-box functionality (template applications/App store modules) provided within the Mendix platform!
All those technology trends that I mentioned above (cloud-native apps and platforms, blockchain, enterprise apps and app architecture, AI and advanced analytics, data management and integration, DevOps) highlights the power of the Mendix platform and that low-code isn’t just about developing applications faster (although, that’s nice). As you can tell from the demos above, the power lies in being able to enable not only IT but the business as well to quickly create applications that fit many use cases, the need for multi-experiences, and the ability to ensure it is fully automated and governed so that an organization is not creating more technical debt.
A true catalyst
Not only did we provide some amazing demos, but we also gave away some great Mendix gear, like T-shirts, the famous Mendix socks, and the ability to win a HoloLens!
With giveaways like that, it’s easy to understand why the Mendix booth was so popular at Catalyst, and with demos like those mentioned above, it’s easy to see why Mendix is listed as a leader in Gartner’s Multiexperience Development Platform Magic Quadrant. Click the banner below to read more.