Practical Considerations for Enterprise Low-Code

• Low-Code Development

• Transcript

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  (dramatic music)

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  <v ->Hi, I’m Sheryl Koenigsberg,</v>

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  Director of Product Marketing here at Mendix.

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  And today we’ll be talking about the state

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  of the low-code industry.

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  I wish we were all together in Rotterdam,

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  but I am in Boston today in the US.

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  And I’m going to travel virtually across the pond

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  to my colleague Nick Ford in the UK.

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  Nick, would you introduce yourself?

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  <v ->Hi, Sheryl.</v>

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  My name is Nick Ford,

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  and I’m the VP of Product and Community Marketing

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  here at Mendix.

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  And speaking to you from my kitchen in the north of England.

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  It’s great to be here.

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  <v ->Wonderful.</v>

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  Well, we have a lot to talk about.

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  Let’s get right to it.

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  So Nick, as you and I have spoken in the past,

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  you’ve been in this industry

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  for pretty much your whole career.

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  As rapid application development and low-code

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  have developed, you’ve followed that.

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  And yet, we’ve talked about how low-code seems

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  to be having a moment right now,

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  why is that?

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  <v ->Well, it’s a number of factors.</v>

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  I mean at the very highest level,

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  it’s about digital transformation.

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  Every company is becoming a software company.

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  But take COVID for example.

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  Extreme as it is,

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  and I hope everybody at home is looking

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  after themselves during this time.

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  But COVID has forced many organizations overnight

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  to move their workforce from working in offices,

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  manufacturing units, retail units,

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  to working from home or not in the case of some.

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  But that puts an enormous pressure on processes,

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  on software and automation.

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  Take Mendix with over 1000 employees,

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  it was difficult enough for us

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  but we were born in the cloud.

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  We have Mendix, most of our processes are automated,

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  but still it’s challenging.

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  Imagine those companies that don’t have that,

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  that their systems are behind a firewall

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  or running on hardware inside their existing organization.

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  It’s difficult, it’s been hard.

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  And as a result, many organizations have either accelerated

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  their digital transformation journey,

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  or they’ve begun to embark on a journey.

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  Which leads to a demand for software development.

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  Actually, in the case of COVID,

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  absolute rapid software development.

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  How can we build those systems almost overnight

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  to support this new remote workforce.

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  That presses an enormous burden on software development

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  and software developers

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  and the IT department a lot of the time.

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  And it’s simply a capacity problem for the most part,

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  there just aren’t enough software developers to go around.

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  And therefore organizations turn to products

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  like low-code platforms to help them solve those problems.

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  <v ->Okay, so let’s talk more about the capacity problem.</v>

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  ‘Cause we saw signs of this even before March.

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  <v ->I mean yes, of course.</v>

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  I mean this is a problem we’ve been chasing for many years.

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  COVID has been a forcing factor for many organizations.

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  But if I look back over my career

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  from the fourth generation languages of the early 90s

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  to the code generators

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  and rapid application development environments

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  of the mid 90s,

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  we’ve been chasing down building better software faster

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  for many years.

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  Customers, employees require better engagement,

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  better applications, better experiences

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  when they engage with software.

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  They want to work with the technology

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  and tools of their choice.

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  Be it web or mobile or PWA.

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  And we want the data delivered to them

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  in a format of their choice.

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  And they’re prepared to move

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  if they don’t get the experience they’re looking for.

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  So as a result, software is eating the world.

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  And inevitably, I think low-code will eat the world

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  as organizations seek to find the better, faster,

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  more efficient ways of building the applications

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  that they need to support their customers and employees.

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  So they turn to low-code as a as a tool for doing that.

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  A tool for empowering perhaps a different workforce

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  a new workforce.

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  Those that are closest to the business problems

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  and understand those problems well enough.

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  And empowering them with the tools to be able

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  to solve their business problems through software.

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  And broadly, we have a capacity problem.

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  There just aren’t enough software developers to go around.

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  So bringing a low-code platform into an organization

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  to facilitate the cross development collaboration

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  between citizen developers for example,

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  and pro developers is something that’s on the minds

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  and the agendas of most enterprise organizations today.

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  <v ->So when you talk about it like that,</v>

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  it almost sounds as if low-code is really good

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  for efficiency apps and things that people might be doing,

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  as you say to solve their own problems.

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  Are those generally the types of solutions

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  that you’re seeing getting built with low-code?

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  <v ->Yes, we’ve seen definitely an increase in the demand</v>

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  for workflow solutions, departmental solutions,

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  even personal productivity.

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  But low-code is much more than that.

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  All in one low-code platform experiences

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  should be able to deliver solutions

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  that provide for both the wide and the deep use cases.

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  So strategic mission critical applications

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  deeply integrate into your core systems.

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  And that places a specific set of demands

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  and a need for a specific set of capabilities

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  from a low-code platform.

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  Not just the support from multiple different personas,

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  from citizen developers collaborating

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  with rapid application developers,

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  and pro-developers sharing a common model

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  with common development environments.

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  But also that ability to provide highly available solutions

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  that run in different geographical regions, for example.

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  So when I look at enterprise low-code,

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  I look for a platform that is equally as applicable

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  for those wide use cases as it is for deep.

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  Which means an organization can take one platform

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  to address a whole portfolio of applications.

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  <v ->Are there any Mendix customers</v>

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  in particular you think about when you think about

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  really enterprise and critical applications

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  getting delivered through Mendix.

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  <v ->Well, there are many,</v>

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  from banks to insurance customers.

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  But let me just take one example,

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  the Netherlands Postal Service.

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  They deliver over 7 million letters

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  and one and a half million parcels every day across Europe.

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  They’ve developed a mission critical order management system

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  that handles the logistics of the movement

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  of those parcels and letters.

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  It comprises something like 70 different microservices,

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  utilizes artificial intelligence

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  and is used by 30 or so sorting offices

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  around the Netherlands.

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  I mean it’s deeply integrated into their core business

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  and in that respect very mission critical.

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  Using architectural patterns that can only be achieved

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  with an enterprise low-code platform like Mendix.

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  <v ->So I’d imagine that customer requirements</v>

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  around low-code have evolved as the types of applications

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  that they’re delivering are evolving.

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  How have you seen that change?

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  <v ->Well, we’ve seen it change significantly.</v>

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  I talked to you earlier about the wide and deep use cases.

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  And that places a specific set of demands

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  on a development environment.

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  Whether that’s a low-code development environment or not.

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  Departmental simple workflow solutions

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  or deeply integrated strategic mission critical systems

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  have different needs that go way beyond simple drag and drop

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  for UI, logic and data.

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  <v ->Alright, so this might be a really basic question.</v>

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  But I think maybe you need to help me understand low-code.

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  Because when we talk about low-code,

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  I think about the drag and drop of the UI development.

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  And I think of the visual display of logic.

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  I think that as low-code,

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  ’cause those things usually take code.

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  But you’re suggesting it’s a bit broader than that.

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  <v ->Absolutely, I’d think you mean like a pyramid</v>

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  with four layers.

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  At the very top of that pyramid,

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  you have this sort of convergence of low-code,

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  drag and drop development and multi-experience.

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  So that’s the ability to be able to build those experiences

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  we talked about earlier,

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  to bring together different different personas

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  from citizen developers

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  and pro-developers collaborating through a shared model

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  to build those applications

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  with dedicated IDEs to support their specific needs.

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  You’re not going to provide even

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  a rapid development environment relevant

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  for a pro-developer won’t work for citizen developer.

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  So you need multiple IDEs that are combined

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  with a single model that share that model

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  and are able to collaborate inside the platform itself,

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  but with very specific technologies.

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  And then you need a huge amount of abstraction

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  and automation to cater for the to and fro-ing

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  between those different skill sets

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  with governance and control and management

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  that goes along with that.

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  So the top of the pyramid is supported by huge amounts

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  of abstraction very much focused as you say,

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  at the drag and drop low-code development

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  you typically associate with these kinds of platforms.

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  <v ->Alright, next.</v>

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  So let’s talk a little bit more about multi-experience.

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  What is multi experience exactly?

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  And why are our customers starting to flock to it?

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  <v ->Well, this is my view on multi-experience.</v>

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  It’s the next generation of application

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  that moves beyond the simple menu and page interaction

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  that we often see today to an immersive experience

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  that spans multiple channels.

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  From mobile to web to PWA to voice activated device.

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  And multi-experience development is how you build a solution

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  that delivers to the user an experience.

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  The data that they want when they want it,

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  when they need it,

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  and the choice of format that they want.

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  So that places again,

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  significant demands on just

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  a simple drag and drop environment.

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  When you think about catering

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  for not just developing the correct experience

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  to meet the channel,

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  but also ensuring that those experiences

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  span multiple different touchpoints.

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  So dealing with complexities of those environments requires

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  you to create a specific set of tools.

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  So multi-experience is really about moving

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  beyond the traditional application

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  into really delivering and focusing on the needs

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  of the consumer, the employee to give them exactly

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  what they want when they want it

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  in the format and choice of channel that they require.

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  <v ->Okay, and that’s because it has additional layers</v>

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  in the pyramid underneath it

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  kind of supporting the development of it.

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  <v ->Yes, that’s right.</v>

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  When it talks about the the huge amount of automation

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  and abstraction earlier.

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  There were four layers in the pyramid.

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  The next layer down is is composability.

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  So that’s about reuse.

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  Think of a marketplace, an ecosystem of partners,

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  developers, external providers,

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  building reusable components that can be used

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  to assemble applications.

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  So that could be something as simple

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  as just a basic widget

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  or it could be a package business capability.

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  An example might be Twilio is a PVC.

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  Which is a set of headless services delivered as API’s

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  for contact center management that can just be embedded

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  into your application and simply integrated and used.

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  So the composability element of building applications

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  accelerates development,

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  allows you to use best practices

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  and to leverage technology from either external sources

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  or packaged capabilities that might be developed internally.

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  So think about a microservices architecture

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  with a set of reusable microservices that are delivered

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  as part of this composability layer.

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  And then below that,

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  it could be anything from a simple template,

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  a building block for a user experience,

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  or a complete application that you assemble

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  into a final solution on behalf of your customer

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  or your employee.

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  So composability is a very important layer

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  in the enterprise low-code platform.

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  <v ->Okay, I’m gonna take that down at reusability on steroids.</v>

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  So that’s great, that’s great.

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  So next on your pyramid I see we have data virtualization.

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  I think sometimes data is kind of the ignored part

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  of app dev, right.

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  That it’s just assumed to be difficult,

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  time consuming, complex and there’s just nothing

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  you can do about it.

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  But it seems like

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  we have a different point of view on that.

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  <v ->Yes, we do absolutely.</v>

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  Application development is data integration,

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  you can’t build apps without data.

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  And for most low-code platforms provide access

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  into data sources that historically has been through

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  either supporting a native local SQL database

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  or providing access through JDBC, for example.

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  Or ODBC to a data source or even through services.

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  But the low-code platform of the future needs

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  to go beyond that and to automate

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  and abstract the integration of data in the same way

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  as we’ve done with code.

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  It can’t be quick to develop the code

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  and slow to integrate with the core data services.

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  So we’re launching a new product

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  just this week called Data Hub.

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  Which is basically broadly a data virtualization platform,

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  which will enable an enterprise organization

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  or any organization for that matter,

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  to surface their data through a carefully curated catalog.

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  And that catalog will allow anybody to search for the data

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  that they need to understand its provenance,

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  its lineage, who created it,

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  the security aspects of it,

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  whether it is a trusted source of master data.

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  And once they’ve found that data,

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  they can simply drag and drop it into their applications

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  as virtual data entities.

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  So imagine building a data model,

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  where you simply drag and drop a data entity

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  from a third party service onto your canvas

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  and start building applications as if that data were native.

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  So this means that anyone can start to build applications

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  that pull data from multiple disparate data sources

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  without really having to understand

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  the underlying protocols used to access the data.

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  So incredibly important part,

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  I believe of the future of low-code platforms

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  that go beyond just simple services

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  and direct integration into SQL for that matter.

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  <v ->Okay, so what you’re saying is,</v>

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  I’m using a Mendix IDE and just like I go in my toolbox,

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  I find say, a ListView and drag it into my application.

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  Now I can go into a catalog of all the data

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  that my organization is making available to me,

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  and I can drag and drop that into my application.

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  <v ->Absolutely right.</v>

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  So a searchable catalog of secure and trusted data sources

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  that you can simply search via browser,

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  find the data source you want.

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  And Inside a browser or actually inside the platform

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  and find a source you want and drag it into application

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  and start using it.

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  It’s as simple as that.

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  <v ->Well, that sounds a lot easier for developers.</v>

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  Now, what if as a developer I wanna actually share the data

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  that’s being created in my application?

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  <v ->Yes, I mean with data you can both consume data</v>

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  and obviously expose data.

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  So in the same way as you consume data,

  [00:15:23.970]
  we’ve made that super simple

  [00:15:24.980]
  from within a Mendix application.

  [00:15:26.920]
  I can right click on a data entity or group of data entities

  [00:15:30.330]
  or in fact an entire application if I so wish,

  [00:15:33.150]
  and expose the data from that application automatically

  [00:15:36.070]
  into the data catalog.

  [00:15:38.070]
  Where you can obviously augment that

  [00:15:39.620]
  with the metadata of your choice.

  [00:15:41.980]
  So both simple to consume and to expose.

  [00:15:45.210]
  And obviously if we’re looking

  [00:15:46.690]
  at exposing external services,

  [00:15:48.310]
  then there’s a way to register those service

  [00:15:50.080]
  in the catalog as well.

  [00:15:51.240]
  But yeah, both consume and expose.

  [00:15:53.470]
  <v ->Alright, so instead of right click, Print to PDF,</v>

  [00:15:56.110]
  I right click expose to Data Hub.

  [00:15:59.800]
  <v ->Absolutely, we’ve reduced integration</v>

  [00:16:01.910]
  to right click to expose data,

  [00:16:04.820]
  and drag and drop to consume data,

  [00:16:06.710]
  as simple as that.

  [00:16:08.200]
  <v ->Wonderful.</v>

  [00:16:09.790]
  All right, let’s talk about the foundation

  [00:16:12.060]
  of the pyramid here.

  [00:16:13.210]
  And that is around platform services and cloud.

  [00:16:16.500]
  So take us through that one.

  [00:16:18.290]
  <v ->Yes, I mean the bottom of the pyramid is critical</v>

  [00:16:20.870]
  as you’d expect.

  [00:16:21.870]
  It’s the abstraction and automation

  [00:16:24.920]
  on which the rest of the low-code platform exists.

  [00:16:30.160]
  So incredibly important in that respect.

  [00:16:31.950]
  Our customers want to build both tactical wide

  [00:16:35.350]
  and deeply integrated solutions

  [00:16:37.380]
  or portfolio of applications.

  [00:16:39.170]
  Some will be say deeply integrated their core systems,

  [00:16:42.330]
  some will potentially be relatively tactical,

  [00:16:45.210]
  some may be only live for a small number of months.

  [00:16:48.910]
  In order to achieve that,

  [00:16:50.700]
  you need a platform that supports a high level

  [00:16:53.640]
  of cloud portability.

  [00:16:57.230]
  So in turn, that means you need

  [00:16:59.470]
  a stateless cloud architecture

  [00:17:01.510]
  and a cloud native architecture.

  [00:17:03.930]
  Which enables an organization to decide

  [00:17:06.100]
  on their target deployment environment

  [00:17:08.540]
  at the point of production,

  [00:17:10.120]
  and that actually may well change.

  [00:17:11.890]
  So the ability to be able to lift and shift

  [00:17:13.580]
  your estate of applications from one cloud provider,

  [00:17:17.210]
  or one deployment environment to the other,

  [00:17:19.520]
  it’s critically important.

  [00:17:20.960]
  That can only be achieved at scale with a platform

  [00:17:24.417]
  that supports true containerization.

  [00:17:27.677]
  And enables you to automate the deployment

  [00:17:31.560]
  of those applications regardless of the target environment.

  [00:17:34.510]
  So a lot of low-code platforms are very capable

  [00:17:37.500]
  of deploying applications into

  [00:17:39.850]
  their own public cloud for example,

  [00:17:41.360]
  and provide complete DevOps capability

  [00:17:44.220]
  to abstract that away.

  [00:17:45.590]
  But what about deploying applications

  [00:17:47.370]
  that will may be in the public cloud

  [00:17:49.220]
  and then next in the private cloud.

  [00:17:51.130]
  What if you want to deploy your applications

  [00:17:52.810]
  into a private cloud running on a Kubernetes cluster.

  [00:17:56.260]
  From my mind and enterprise low-code platform needs

  [00:17:58.430]
  to go beyond go beyond the support

  [00:18:00.920]
  for just simply supporting that on public cloud,

  [00:18:03.870]
  but also automating the DevOps and CICD pipeline

  [00:18:07.250]
  that allows applications to deploy

  [00:18:08.680]
  to any target environment.

  [00:18:10.710]
  So that’s critically important.

  [00:18:12.190]
  And also cloud native,

  [00:18:14.180]
  that ability to be able to support a containerization

  [00:18:16.990]
  and cloud services as part of the native platform

  [00:18:20.205]
  for scalability, high availability.

  [00:18:23.790]
  Again, we believe is critically important.

  [00:18:27.120]
  So the foundation of this pyramid onto which

  [00:18:30.640]
  an enterprise organizations,

  [00:18:33.120]
  portfolio applications is deployed needs

  [00:18:35.870]
  to offer true flexibility for lift and shift

  [00:18:40.210]
  and deployments of all different shapes and sizes.

  [00:18:45.380]
  <v ->You know Nick,</v>

  [00:18:46.213]
  I think I speak for not just myself but the audience.

  [00:18:48.950]
  I could just ask you questions about low-code all day long,

  [00:18:51.340]
  and listen to how you think about it.

  [00:18:53.690]
  But I am going to just bring up one other topic,

  [00:18:57.220]
  one other announcement that we’ve made

  [00:18:58.700]
  at Mendix World around workflow.

  [00:19:01.340]
  Because I’m trying to understand where

  [00:19:03.460]
  what we’ve said around workflow fits into

  [00:19:05.770]
  this pyramid concept that you have here.

  [00:19:09.700]
  <v ->Okay, so workflow is an interesting one.</v>

  [00:19:12.320]
  Most low-code platforms or most low-code platforms

  [00:19:15.920]
  of any substance really are able to build workflow solutions

  [00:19:19.160]
  and Mendix is no exception to that.

  [00:19:21.580]
  But I think as the industry progresses,

  [00:19:24.450]
  what we’re starting to see mainly driven

  [00:19:26.810]
  by the sort of wide use cases I talked about earlier,

  [00:19:30.200]
  is the need for workflow to become much more embedded

  [00:19:33.200]
  into the fabric of the application itself.

  [00:19:35.870]
  The demands on workflow now from our customers

  [00:19:39.630]
  and often workflow to sit outside

  [00:19:41.750]
  a portfolio of applications,

  [00:19:43.550]
  but to be deeply integrated into the experience

  [00:19:46.270]
  that we talked about earlier.

  [00:19:47.950]
  So that demands a new generation

  [00:19:49.800]
  of workflow capabilities and solutions.

  [00:19:52.950]
  And we’re launching workflow offering.

  [00:19:56.437]
  So workflow for us is about

  [00:19:59.570]
  how we meaningfully provide out

  [00:20:02.840]
  of the box workflow capabilities,

  [00:20:05.300]
  but also the complete flexibility to be able to embed

  [00:20:08.681]
  those solutions deeply into their specific application

  [00:20:12.490]
  and have that one application supporting

  [00:20:15.110]
  the workflow models of each choice,

  [00:20:17.550]
  or how workflow is embedded across multiple applications

  [00:20:21.380]
  both in and outside the portfolio.

  [00:20:24.230]
  So I think what we’re doing with workflow,

  [00:20:26.170]
  and what you’ll see as we start to roll out

  [00:20:28.390]
  our workflow offering is very unique.

  [00:20:31.350]
  I think it’s what the industry is and has been looking for.

  [00:20:35.180]
  So intelligent process automation,

  [00:20:38.090]
  deeply integrated with the ability to be able to craft

  [00:20:41.420]
  an experience around the workflow,

  [00:20:44.600]
  but also to have the capabilities to be able to deal

  [00:20:46.790]
  with the traditional kinds of tools that you would expect

  [00:20:50.200]
  inbox and notifications and all that come with that.

  [00:20:53.980]
  So we’re very excited about the combination

  [00:20:57.010]
  of our industry leading low-code platform,

  [00:21:01.010]
  now the new data virtualization layer

  [00:21:03.500]
  which allows it very simply to get data,

  [00:21:06.240]
  and then an extension

  [00:21:07.800]
  to a highly agile, integrated workflow experience,

  [00:21:12.770]
  I think sets the benchmark for others

  [00:21:15.470]
  to follow in that respect.

  [00:21:17.670]
  <v ->Alright, so Nick to close,</v>

  [00:21:20.050]
  it’s been a great discussion today.

  [00:21:21.550]
  And we have talked about a lot of our customers.

  [00:21:23.860]
  But is there just one more customer in mind,

  [00:21:26.650]
  we haven’t had a chance to talk about

  [00:21:28.030]
  that’s doing something special, or slick,

  [00:21:30.930]
  or really solving an important problem.

  [00:21:33.710]
  <v ->Good question.</v>

  [00:21:34.760]
  There are so many.

  [00:21:35.623]
  But I’m gonna take two

  [00:21:37.530]
  that are very recent COVID related use cases,

  [00:21:42.650]
  because it’s just incredible how quickly organizations

  [00:21:45.960]
  can build solutions using Mendix to solve problems.

  [00:21:49.830]
  The first is the Alaska Maritime Physicians.

  [00:21:53.610]
  Imagine boats hundreds of miles offshore in the Bering Sea

  [00:21:58.468]
  and somebody becomes ill on that boat.

  [00:22:01.090]
  Now this company have been providing solutions

  [00:22:03.950]
  to solve those problems for many years.

  [00:22:06.860]
  Remote diagnosis and so on.

  [00:22:08.430]
  And even having the Coast Guard evacuate individuals

  [00:22:14.300]
  from those boats.

  [00:22:15.133]
  But here’s an organization that we’re able to build

  [00:22:17.560]
  an application to support COVID in just five weeks.

  [00:22:21.620]
  Deployed as a portal, which allows them

  [00:22:25.940]
  to assess remotely whether or not individuals

  [00:22:30.170]
  on those boats are suffering from COVID-19,

  [00:22:33.417]
  and to react and support them appropriately.

  [00:22:36.310]
  I think that’s both a very interesting and unusual use case

  [00:22:40.440]
  in a very short period of time.

  [00:22:42.160]
  Imagining that boats are very remote.

  [00:22:45.890]
  Accessibility and the connectivity

  [00:22:49.420]
  to those remote vessels is obviously also very challenging.

  [00:22:53.380]
  So imagine the sort of native mobile,

  [00:22:55.260]
  I’m guessing capabilities that go in with that.

  [00:22:57.320]
  The other one is look a bit more sedate,

  [00:22:58.610]
  but much more close to home.

  [00:23:00.500]
  Very, very important nonetheless.

  [00:23:02.300]
  Which is Knowsley council up in the north of England.

  [00:23:05.120]
  Here’s a council that has suffered very severely

  [00:23:08.240]
  under austerity measures in recent years.

  [00:23:11.180]
  But through COVID, were able to build in just 24 hours

  [00:23:15.210]
  an application to support voluntary support

  [00:23:19.320]
  in the community.

  [00:23:20.153]
  So mapping individuals who have need for maybe shopping

  [00:23:24.250]
  or for movement, or just general support

  [00:23:28.005]
  with those who are able and willing to provide it.

  [00:23:30.900]
  So again, a mobile solution,

  [00:23:32.610]
  a portal that allowed them to map those individuals.

  [00:23:37.130]
  So two very different but I think two very interesting uses

  [00:23:40.540]
  of the Mendix platform in an environment

  [00:23:43.577]
  that’s highly pressured.

  [00:23:46.070]
  So they’ll be the ones I’d use.

  [00:23:49.450]
  <v ->Yeah, that’s great.</v>

  [00:23:50.800]
  It’s always nice to see some impact close to home.

  [00:23:54.440]
  That’s wonderful.

  [00:23:55.600]
  So Nick, thanks for your time today.

  [00:23:57.180]
  Great, I thought this was a really great discussion.

  [00:23:59.650]
  I look forward to reprising it next year

  [00:24:01.880]
  with you in person in Rotterdam.

  [00:24:04.025]
  (upbeat music)