Authored by Sagar Vemala - Manager, Engineering, WaveMaker, Inc
In my experience working with multiple enterprises and ISVs from various domains, I find them caught in a familiar conundrum. While setting up efficient development practices, they invest significantly in a common framework for web, mobile UI and backend systems. They aim for reusability, consistency, and reduced development time and efforts.
However a recurring pattern emerges over time. Development teams initially enthusiastic about their framework often become entangled in addressing immediate business needs. Maintenance and enhancement of the framework take a back seat, leading to a gradual decline in its effectiveness. Some organizations attempt to remedy this by allocating a separate team for ongoing framework maintenance, but this, too, comes with its set of challenges.
Despite the initial vision of reaping long-term benefits, teams frequently fall short due to the myriad activities involved. These include keeping the tech stack up-to-date, integrating the latest features, resolving issues for teams using this framework, and diligently documenting these changes. The eventual consequence is the abandonment of the dedicated team, leaving enterprises with the unexpected burden of maintaining and, in some cases, rewriting applications built on the now-neglected framework.
Enterprises often hesitate to explore no-code/low-code approaches, even though these solutions offer potential relief from the above-mentioned challenges. The primary reason for this hesitancy is the desire of development teams to have the option to extend and customize with real code, coupled with a flexible deployment model. The answer is unequivocally positive once they encounter the right set of tools that enable them to offload mundane tasks such as maintaining the tech stack and writing repetitive boilerplate code.
Moreover, they can swiftly construct tailored solutions without the need to invest substantial time in research or building common features such as security, RTL support, and ADA support, among others. Traditionally, development teams spend considerable time researching optimal libraries and implementation methods for these features. Any upgrades to these libraries or emergence of superior alternatives require their attention and oversight. However, with the platform, these features are provided out of the box driven by configurations. Subsequent migrations and upgrades are seamlessly handled by the platform.
By adopting such a development platform, enterprises elevate the value they deliver to their business swiftly and with uncompromised quality. For ISVs, building products on this foundation enables seamless implementation and rapid entry into the market.
Authored by Vibhu Singhal, Senior Manager, Engineering, WaveMaker, Inc
Navigating the Shift to Dynamic, Low-Code Innovation Platforms
The telecommunications industry is experiencing a transformative era, evolving beyond its traditional scope to become a fundamental part of our daily lives. This evolution encompasses changes in how we communicate, conduct business, and interact with the broader world. Driven by the proliferation of smartphones with an increased reliance on mobile internet, the industry faces a landscape altered by heightened consumer expectations. This need calls for integrated, sophisticated digital services. The effect of the global pandemic has further accelerated this shift, intensifying the demand for agile and innovative solutions. In this rapidly changing environment, low-code development emerges as a pivotal tool. Characterized by its simplicity, speed, and efficiency, low-code development is ideally suited to address the telecom industry’s urgent requirements for flexibility and rapid adaptation. This approach is reshaping the way telecom companies approach challenges, offering a pathway to meet growing digital demands.
In the past, telecommunication companies operated within a highly regulated and predictable market, predominantly providing voice and messaging services. The industry was more about laying infrastructure and providing connectivity. Their infrastructure, characterized by rigidity and reliance on extensive coding with established systems, offered stability but was lacking in adaptability. This issue became apparent as technology evolved causing customer demands to shift with time. The onset of the 21st century marked a transformation, with innovations such as Rapid Application Development (RAD) and Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) reshaping the telecom landscape. These technological advancements expedited software development and enabled smoother integration of diverse systems, enhancing operational efficiency and steering telecom companies towards greater agility and responsiveness.
The digital era, fueled by the widespread adoption of smartphones, mobile internet, and telecom infrastructure has significantly altered the telecommunications sector, transitioning it from voice to data-centric services. This shift, driven by the IoT (Internet of Things) not only increased data traffic from social media, streaming, and cloud applications but also raised consumer expectations for real-time services and entertainment. As a result, telecom operators faced the challenge of innovating against disruptive OTT services like Netflix and WhatsApp. Moreover, the rising demand for personalized, high-quality digital experiences has prompted these companies to invest in integrating advanced technologies like data analytics and AI, adding another layer of complexity to their operations.
The expectation of constant connectivity has become pervasive, with customers easily switching providers. This presents a challenge to deliver impeccable service and value, especially in an industry handling millions of daily transactions. Users often overlook the system's complexity and expect flawless operation, leaving no room for errors or incorrect charges. Integrating legacy systems and diverse infrastructures adds another layer of complexity to connectivity systems. Additionally, the telecom industry faces the significant challenges of fraud prevention and regulatory compliance.
With rapid technological change, the telecommunications industry stands at a pivotal crossroads. A recent surge in low-code/no-code application development, as highlighted by Gartner1, signals a significant shift in enterprise technology strategies. Telecom companies, traditionally bound by complex, high-code systems, are now recognizing the need to embrace this emerging trend.
Low-Code Software Systems offer a solution by enabling Communication Service Providers (CSPs) to seamlessly connect multiple systems and create custom applications. These applications replace outdated spreadsheets and desktop databases, leveraging drag-and-drop technology. This approach empowers customer care teams to gain a comprehensive view by linking CRM, order management, and logistics systems.
Low-code/no-code is a software development approach that leverages visualization for application creation. In the low-code paradigm, minimal coding is required, as much of the development process is automated, significantly accelerating the application development life cycle. On the other hand, no-code development eliminates the need for coding entirely, enabling individuals from non-technical business departments, without coding expertise, to develop applications.
This approach represents a significant advancement, reminiscent of the transition from text-based commands to graphical user interfaces in the 1980s. Just like how graphical icons and on-screen pointing devices replaced typed commands, low-code employs visual representations to simplify the construction and integration of applications. This democratizes the development process, allowing the not-so-tech-savvy professionals without programming backgrounds to actively participate and contribute their domain knowledge. Consequently, technology transformation becomes a collaborative effort embraced by key stakeholders, fostering rapid adoption and implementation.
In a recent webinar, Chris Gardner from Forrester talked about low-code in the digital era. He emphasizes how software is rapidly becoming integral to various industries. However, the difficulty lies in the fact that the demand for software surpasses the capacity of development teams. As a result, there's a need to explore solutions beyond the current development offerings to effectively meet the demand for software. Additionally, he points out that most companies are not really digital. Consequently, there is a scenario where the value of software is underestimated. When they employ software, inefficiency creeps in due to manual methods. Hence, there is room for improvement, and low- code is the answer to better the process. Instead of conventional code writing, abstractions are created in a WYSIWYG environment. This approach involves placing components on the canvas to construct a screen or process engine, and defining business processes using visual notation. The platform handles automation, code management, and compilation to ensure the application runs as intended.
This method is employed for three primary reasons. Firstly, it significantly accelerates development speed, with an average 70% reduction in coding time when compared to building from scratch, depending on the use case. This translates to a 70% improvement in speed, contributing to faster time-to-market for low-code.
Secondly, it enhances the adaptability and flexibility of the software. This is achieved through increased speed, facilitated by built-in quality checks within the platform. Lastly, it serves to expand the pool of developers.
For the telecom sector, which is grappling with its own set of challenges, the adoption of low-code/no-code presents a compelling solution. The industry's agility challenges, born out of a history of high-code dependence can be effectively addressed through the adoption of low-code platforms. This approach not only speeds up the development process but also democratizes innovation, allowing for a more responsive and customer-centric business model.
Low code’s main value proposition for Communication Service Providers (CSP) is that it enables them to reduce repetitive, costly tasks in software development. By transforming the CSP’s network assets into composable, packaged business capabilities, the low-code platform enables development teams to be more agile and responsive. This ultimately leads to faster time-to-market for innovations and a high ROI.
Streamlined Data Modeling:
Enhanced Functionality with Libraries:
Visual Development:
Simplified Coding:
Reliable Unit Testing:
Cisco’s recent Hybrid Cloud Trends report2 underscores a growing trend in the integration of low-code technology in network strategies. The report reveals that a significant number of enterprises, 55%, are forming cross-functional teams, and 50% are centralizing CloudOps and NetOps, with a focus on low-code solutions. This shift towards low-code technology enables more efficient network automation and orchestration, blending traditional high-code practices with user-friendly, low-code platforms. This approach promises quicker, more reliable network deployments, reducing both operational time and costs, and is expected to see further growth in 2024.
As we stand on the brink of a new era in technology, the message for the telecommunications industry is clear: the time to embrace low-code/no-code development is now. This shift resolves not just a technological change, but also serves as a strategic imperative to stay relevant and be competitive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. With low-code options, telecom companies have the opportunity to redefine their role in the digital world, moving from traditional service providers to innovative, agile operators at the forefront of the digital revolution.
In web and mobile application development, creating the user interface (UI) remains a major challenge, often determining the success or failure of a project in the different markets it is used in. The demand for an intuitive and attractive UI continues to occupy center stage posing a significant challenge to developers and designers.
Traditionally, UI development has been a meticulous manual process requiring hours of labour-intensive work to achieve a pixel-perfect layout with captivating engagement. This approach bears a good result but is very heavy cost and time wise. A shortage of skilled UI professionals further compounds this challenge. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that the demand for web developers and digital designers will increase by 16% between 2022 and 2032- faster than the average for all industries.
Furthermore, in a consumer market where trends are fast paced and user preferences change rapidly, the importance of speed in change in UI development cannot be overstated. A study conducted by Adobe showed 38% of users will stop engaging with a website if its content or layout is not riveting. This data highlights the importance of continuously updating the UIs to meet user expectations, a task that is becoming increasingly difficult with traditional development methodologies.
Consider the evolution of Instagram’s UI — over the years, Instagram has significantly revamped its UI, focusing on ease of navigation and visually appealing design, which has been crucial in its widespread adoption and user engagement.
On the other hand, Snapchat’s UI redesign in 2017, faced a backlash due to its confusing layout. This case highlights how quickly consumer preferences can shift and the importance of continually adapting the UI to meet user expectations.
In response to these challenges, there is a growing trend in the industry towards low-code development platforms. These platforms using drag-and-drop interfaces allow developers to assemble applications using pre-built features, significantly reducing development time. Gartner predicts that by 2024 application development with low-level code will perform more than 65% of the application development activities. An example of this is the Microsoft PowerApps which enable businesses to develop apps quickly with minimal coding thereby reducing development time.
While offering effective solutions, these low-code application development platforms however are not without limitations — sometimes the use of preformed materials can result in specific features not being found in the final product. But for projects with tight deadlines or limited budgets, the trade-off can be worthwhile.
The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) in UI development marks another revolutionary change in its ability to create responsive design processes, analyse user data for predictive UI optimization, and design models that are redefining the landscape. An example of this is Adobe Sensei, an important AI and machine learning platform for businesses which work across all Adobe products, thereby improving the user’s development experience and productivity.
To sum it up, the future of UI development seems to be moving towards a hybrid approach — a synergy of human creativity, low-code development platforms, and artificial intelligence (AI). This method not only speeds up the development process but also ensures that the end product is both functional and aesthetically pleasing.
A practical example of this is the development of a healthcare management mobile app. Initially, a low-code platform like Wavemaker is employed to rapidly prototype the app’s initial layout and basic features. This includes creating the main menu, basic navigation, and core functionalities such as patient registration, appointment scheduling, and basic medical record access. This stage is crucial for quickly visualizing the primary concept and facilitating early testing.
After establishing the basic framework with the low-code platform, the development process advances to more intricate design and functionality aspects. Here, human designers take control to infuse the app with more complex interactions and sophisticated designs. This phase involves an in depth focus on crafting user interfaces that are visually appealing and intuitive. Designers pay special attention to features like advanced patient-profiling interfaces, detailed medical history visualizations, and interactive health monitoring.
In this hybrid development model, AI significantly enhances the design process by analysing patient usage patterns and feedback. AI algorithms provide valuable insights into how users interact with the app, enabling designers to make data-driven decisions. This tailors the user interface to ensure optimal user experience and accessibility. For instance, if AI analysis reveals that patients frequently struggle to locate their prescription history, designers can respond by making this feature more prominent and user-friendly in the UI.
This collaborative approach ensures that the healthcare app is not only technically sound but also user-friendly and adaptable to evolving healthcare needs.
As the UI development landscape continues to evolve, staying ahead of the curve requires a flexible approach that embraces technological advances and human expertise. The goal statement can be formed thus: to create a design that is not only appealing but flexible and responsive to users who are constantly changing their choices.
In conclusion, creating a compelling UI quickly and efficiently in today’s dynamic marketplace requires a nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities in the field. By harnessing the strengths of low-code platforms, AI and human creativity, developers can successfully overcome these challenges, paving the way for a new era of UI development that is innovative and responsive to customer needs.
Selecting a low-code product requires a clear understanding of your most common requirements. Are you dealing with a variety of data and workflows? Do your apps need to integrate with partner APIs? Are your business requirements changing often? Are your users finicky about the experience? Do you have both citizen and professional app development teams? Are you finding it difficult to hire skills?
All low-code platforms give you a promising start. You get off the block at speed, simple apps are easy, and tough ones seem possible. But missing key requirements in your platform means you will soon find yourself skipping deadlines or you need to hire developers to finish the job - defeating the purpose of buying a low-code product. That's why setting some criteria for choosing a low-code application platform is important. Here is our list.
Using a low-code application development platform offers several benefits.
Here are some common goals of using a low-code platform:
Low-code platforms enable faster application development by providing pre-built widgets, custom reusable components and visual development interfaces like out-of-the-box themes, templates and layouts. Developers can rely on drag-and-drop methodology, automatic code generation that provides open-standards-based code that is human readable, and auto-API documentation which is all handled by the low code platform. This allows developers to focus on the core functionality of the application without spending excessive time on repetitive coding tasks and reducing the manual coding effort drastically. Consequently, development cycles are shortened, and applications can be delivered to the market quickly.
Low-code platforms can reduce development costs by minimizing the need for seeking/hiring proprietary developer skill sets, extensive coding, reducing the development cycle, and streamlining maintenance and updates. With faster development times and increased productivity, organizations can achieve cost savings in terms of development resources, resource allocation and time to market. Low-code platforms priced based on developer seats are hassle-free when it comes to developing applications, as there is no limit to the number of applications or end users. In addition, it is vital that these platforms do not have any runtime dependency or hidden costs that can later impact the TCO of applications.
Low-code platforms offer seamless integration capabilities with third-party systems, databases, and APIs. This simplifies the process of connecting and interacting with external services, eliminating the need for extensive custom coding. As a result, integrating disparate systems becomes straightforward, enabling enterprises to leverage existing enterprise assets and data sources effectively with minimal to no disruption in existing practices. The LCDP should also provide the ability to deploy anywhere without any runtime implications. This will enable enterprises the freedom of deploying their apps built using LCDP to either merge with their existing CI/CD process or deploy to an orchestration layer like K8s or Redhat OpenShift or a cloud of their choice or an on-premise setup.
Low-code platforms provide the ability to make rapid changes, prototyping and updates to applications. With visual development interfaces that include the WYSIWYG approach, developers can easily modify and adapt applications in response to changing business requirements or user feedback. This agility allows organizations to iterate quickly, experiment with new ideas, and respond accurately to market demands.
Low-code platforms come with built-in collaboration features, allowing multiple developers to work together on a project. By providing centralized governance and enterprise-grade features like role-based access control at a development level which enhances project management for a development team. These platforms facilitate communication, version control, knowledge and application asset sharing among team members by providing an internal artifact repository that resembles an internal developer marketplace. This promotes transparency, enhances teamwork, and improves the overall developer community.
There are primarily two user personas when it comes to low-code platforms - developers and business users. There are low code development tools that are developer-focused and built using standards frameworks like Java, Angular, HTML, CSS, and Javascript that are tailored to developers to boost their productivity and make them efficient while minimizing the learning curve.
On the other hand, there are LCDPs that are business user-oriented, which deliver a workflow-based approach to application development that may or may not fall under the category of solving serious enterprise-grade applications, like basic approval flows, data collection, etc., they do provide value in creating simple user journeys and flow-based applications. But here, the application delivery cycle times can be delayed due to a handoff between the business user and the development/delivery teams.
There are multiple use cases that can be an ideal fit for low-code platforms:
The LCDP of choice should have the necessary open framework to support integration for systems already in use within your enterprise to meet your application requirements. Integrations to Swagger API open spec or standards provide LCDPs with a higher acceptance of universally used APIs facilitating integrations with any third-party systems - external or internal.
It is an added benefit when the LCDP is advanced enough to understand the API input and provide the necessary CRUD endpoints automatically based on the API definitions. This heavy lifting of the LCDP will improve developer productivity and reduce the coding effort. In some cases where the already in-use APIs do not meet the universal Swagger spec standards, there would be a need to create custom integrations and custom code configurations to enable the LCDP to accept these APIs. A pitfall to look out for would be that LCDP in consideration could be tied to a particular technology and only supports integrations within the said locked technology landscape (for example - Microsoft™ / Salesforce® / ServiceNow™). This can limit or eliminate the scope of integrating with other third-party systems that use other technologies.
With the LCDP being developer-centric and open standards-based, it is easily adoptable by developers. The ability of the platform to generate standards-based code that is human-readable, editable, and extensible gives developers a sense of security and ownership. This puts the developers in their comfort zone to be able to adopt a new development tool or a platform, and the learning curve is neither steep nor long. With the help of the support channels, documentation, and training, the adoption time coupled with the understanding of best practices creates a seamless transition for developers to feel confident with the platform of choice. A realistic time estimate for a developer to attain low-medium proficiency with an LCDP can be 1-2 months and high-expert proficiency may span 3-4 months.
An LCDP providing code-level controls is definitely a good-to-have feature when choosing an LCDP. An LCDP that provides access and control to the generated code provides development teams with transparency and ownership which may be in general; lacking in LCDPs that do not provide code control or access. Development teams can now understand and read the generated code allowing the possibility to bring in more complex customisations and integrations to meet the high standards of enterprise-grade use case requirements.
The advantage of an LCDP that generates code and provides code-level controls can be seen in the versatile use cases of the platform. There can also be scenarios where development teams need not want access to the generated code/perform code-level changes, which is befitting for such requirements. A good LCDP platform caters to this segment of developers as well.
All enterprise applications need to come with enterprise-grade security measures to safeguard the applications from external threats making them robust and secure. It is a good practice to look out for LCDP platforms that have certain out-of-the-box security certifications in place like OWASP Top 10 vulnerability attacks. This saves time and effort to perform individual tests as the platform already possesses these safeguards.
LCDPs that generate code need to take care of the code quality and standards to minimize flaws in their first-party code. Having a certified status by companies like Veracode, Checkmarx or Acunetix etc. represents a high standard of security practices in the generated code. In addition to this, LCDP platforms should have the provision to connect with existing enterprise authentication and authorization mechanisms to blend in. Out-of-the-box integrations with LDAP, Active Directory, OpenID, CAS, SAML etc. with the support for SSO help developers configure security tasks and authentication with ease, for respective application use cases.
Low-code fosters continuous innovation and allows you to create at the speed of change. There is a wide range of low-code tech out there, be wise to evaluate how these platforms perform in context to your enterprise and development needs, the right platform can accelerate productivity, and produce secure and scalable apps, with great user experiences, enabling your teams to go to market faster.
Authored by Shobhit Mathur, Sr. Director and Category Head BFS, WaveMaker, Inc
It is said that 5G is 100 times faster than 4G. An astronomical increase, indeed. Yet, for enterprises, ‘speed’ is not the most significant paradigm shift that accompanies 5G.
The most significant shifts are the ancillary capabilities enabled by the high speed that 5G provides—edge computing, ultra-low latency, massive network capacity, reduced power consumption for devices, stronger security, private networks, and more.
The advent of 5G is a massive opportunity for Communication Service Providers (CSPs) to move up the value chain, from being providers of undifferentiated connectivity to providing platforms and domain-specific solutions for SMBs and enterprises.
Armed with know-how, CSPs are best suited to cater to the demands of network services that enterprises would require. However, to see profitability, CSPs need customers to buy solutions that are built on top of these capabilities. They need to offer a broad spectrum of functional solutions for use cases that go beyond connectivity and communications.
Enterprises are keen to provide superior customer experiences over the speed that 5G provides while CSPs have the imperative to cater to these very demands and stay in the competition. Instead of being dependent on external vendors, CSPs, understandably, are looking to take control of the customer experience systems.
To bring this to fruition, they would want to build a layer of services over the existing systems like Business Support Systems (BSS) and Operation Support Systems (OSS). In the future, CSPs might select API providers for implementing backend functionalities, but would most likely be self-reliant when it comes to building apps over them.
Yet, as proven across industries, paradigm shifts and opportunities of such magnitude, always need a holistic and fresh approach.
CSPs, thus, can take a holistic approach to application development by adopting a multi-layered platform approach, rather than a short-sighted rapid launch of use case-specific apps.
Three strategic layers that CSPs can leverage over their existing infrastructure are
#1 A Functional API Plane: Typical application stacks at CSPs include both BSS and OSS. The BSS provides the bare-bones customer experience layer to attract, convert, service, and bill a customer. To elevate the customer experience CSPs could take the following steps:
#2 A Digital Experience Hub: A Digital Experience Hub (DEH) built over the API layer can decouple the UX from the functional systems. The DEH can act as a unified API layer over core systems (BSS & OSS) as well as the new use case-centric functional systems.
#3 A Digital Experience Layer: Incumbent CSPs can adopt a next-gen, digital-first approach for delivering a customized and personalized omnichannel experience to customers with the help of a layered platform-based approach. This Digital Experience Layer built on top of the DEH will have componentized telecom-based experiences. This is where low-code can act as the crucial last layer of experience development.
A multi-layered platform for app development is a strategic choice for telcos and enterprises. Yet, a big-bang approach to modernization is not advisable. The stakes are too high when there is an imminent risk of disruption. Instead, CSPs are well advised to adopt an iterative and phased approach to modernization.
In this context, the potent combination of composability, co-existence, and a low-code platform may be the perfect antidote to the modernization conundrum.
Incumbent CSPs need to reinvent the wheel with modern, cloud-native, omnichannel applications to gain traction and prepare themselves for the 5G era. But, the use case by use case approach, or traditional development methodologies will make it difficult to provide the acceleration that they need.
What CSPs need is a foundational platform for the UX layer that can:
An Experience-as-a-Service paradigm can be built by layering purpose-built stacks on one another.
Creating an integration layer enables enterprises to orchestrate experiences from different vendors and internal APIs. These APIs are combined cohesively to create experience APIs that bring the best-of-breed services together and give the customer a unified experience.
Componentized and configurable low-code platforms can then be leveraged to create an Experience-as-a-Service layer on top of these assets.
Components (bundled with logic, data, and UI) that represent entire user journeys can be built into a configurable platform to provide better control to business users and allow them to innovate better. These components in turn can be reused and rehashed for any use case, app, or channel across the enterprise landscape.
On another note, CSPs are well aware that the skill shortage crisis is real. Either they do not have enough hands or do not possess the bandwidth to acquire the talent they need. Low-code platforms are great enablers in this context. Developers with diverse or even legacy skill sets can onboard and adopt low-code platforms and take advantage of full-stack technologies in minimum time.
With features like pre-built components, faster onboarding, a lower learning curve, flexible customization, and easy configuration, composable low-code are slated to become an enterprise-wide app development strategy.
With low-code, enterprises and telcos will go to market faster, be it through ideation, testing the market with PoCs or MVPs, or performing quick customizations to meet large customer-specific needs.
CSPs have the knowledge and know-how in the telecom industry. This gives them a unique perspective and a special seat at the table when discussing the impact of 5G. It also provides them the opportunity to pivot from being network providers to transforming into facilitators of 5G ecosystems.
To compete well with software providers, CSPs need to provide differentiated experiences at speed, which requires a paradigm shift in software development. Traditional approaches to development take time and the opportunity cost of losing out to nimbler competition is really high.
On the other hand, low code is an ideal tool to tackle the skill shortage and acceleration problem. It would be prudent to adopt a composable low-code platform that can allow them to leverage their expertise and develop experiences fast. Doing so will enable them to monetize their investment in 5G with speed and scale.
Originally published in The Fast Mode
Authored by Deepak Anupalli, Co-Founder and CTO, WaveMaker, Inc
The Global Digital Transformation Market is expected to grow from USD $469.8 Billion in 2020 to USD $1,009.8 Billion by 2025 while enterprises are responding to market demands by transitioning toward a new digital era – with haste.
There is much to be said about the velocity at which this transition is being made. This is particularly the case for organizations that have relied on traditional software platforms and methodologies for decades.
Take, for instance, large Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and solution providers. They typically create custom software solutions for their clients at scale, but delivering complete customized software using a traditional development team is simply not a scalable business model in these times.
In terms of cost, traditional development platforms and processes are burning a huge hole in the enterprise pocket. Typically, enterprise software costs are factored in on a short-term basis, but the bigger picture leaves much to be desired. The overall cost to maintain, update, re-platform, or rebuild software with traditional development teams on a long-term basis is astronomically higher. Add the cost of lingering technical debt, and enterprises that rely on traditional methods might have a problem that won’t be going away anytime soon.
It’s no wonder that enterprises are switching to Rapid Application Development platforms like low-code that can offer not only speed, but also customization, composability, and the ability to build customer experiences that differentiate them from competitors.
Low-code is a modern approach to agile software development. A low-code platform enables professional developers to build products in a visually declarative manner, by abstracting commonly used functionalities as components. These components can be dragged and dropped onto an application canvas and then configured and customized per application. Such a methodology allows developers to tackle complexity with ease and build products, almost 3X times faster than traditional approaches. Components that represent an entire functionality bundled with UI, logic, and data can be stored in internal repositories that can be customized for any use case across the enterprise application landscape. This allows SMEs and business users to provide their expertise while building applications, and in turn, democratizes software development leading to better ideation and innovation.
While low-code platforms give an initial boost to rapidly build and deliver software to the market, can they also help enterprises build software with the right architecture, provide iron-clad security, and the best software to scale? Most importantly, can low-code approaches help businesses build software that is sustainable in the longer term?
The answers to these questions depend on the choice of platform and the enterprise’s long-term strategy around the platform. Low-code adopted as a quick fix for an immediate problem cannot scale up as a long-term strategy.
On the other hand, the adoption of a low-code platform as the basis for an enterprise-wide, long-term strategy – with the right methodologies and best practices set around it – will enable growth, ensure sustainability, and allow businesses and their apps to scale.
The first advantage of adopting a low-code platform is, of course, speed and agility. Using a composable experience platform, existing development teams can pool their resources, integrate with best-of-breed APIs, and rapidly componentize them as LEGO-like blocks. These components can then be assembled together to quickly compose custom software that is highly integrable and customizable. Faster go-to-market is just the first milestone.
However, there is an initial ramp-up time for the learning curve, albeit a smaller one than with other approaches, and the gains are usually best observed when building multiple apps or when there is wider adoption of the platform across the organization.
Once existing development teams build familiarity with the low-code platforms and align with the technology stack offered, a core competency for the platform is created internally within the organization. This is a determinant for the success of the low-code strategy within the ecosystem.
After the go-live, it is important to look at the turnaround time at which changes can be rolled out using the same low-code platform. Business and development teams should be able to collaborate, review changes, and align on business objectives for successful change rollouts.
In a traditional development setup, software updates typically must go through the entire build, review, and QA process. Some of the changes could lead to regressions, which necessitates the need to have expert software development teams to govern them.
With low-code, changes can be confined to specific layers of an application, ( such as user interface, data model, and business logic), and only the functional aspects of the app are impacted, leaving the underlying software components, integrations, and their integrity intact.
Changing market needs usually demand that software development teams be very agile to remain in sync with business changes. It is here where the true differentiator of low-code lies.
Only a few low-code platforms enable a composable way of defining and creating new experiences from existing components, cutting down the time it takes to make drastic changes or even a complete overhaul of the app experience. A composable low-code platform offers a powerful way to create components that can be reused by development teams to compose new applications and user journeys, allowing businesses to experiment with new product ideas and innovate.
Every software product goes through its own evolutionary process and has to scale as the number of users grows and adoption kicks in for wider markets. It becomes very critical for the product to support a wide array of capabilities such as internationalization (e.g. i18n), support for accessibility, multi-cloud deployment, versioning for components, penetration testing, industry-specific compliance, and so on.
Mature low-code platforms have out-of-the-box support for these capabilities making the development process easier for development teams as the software evolves.
It is estimated that engineers spend a whopping 30% of their time resolving issues arising due to technical debt when modernizing software. A changing technology landscape renders it very difficult for software to withstand the test of time. Technical debt will show its damaging effects unless the platform was built with resilience in mind and there is a process in place to handle the debt.
With new technology innovations, software should adapt and change course to thrive and sustain itself. Low-code platforms enable a layer of abstraction for development teams, allowing them to stay closer to their business solutions and do the heavy lifting of technology advancements underneath the platform strategy.
Migration of underlying JavaScript frameworks such as Angular JS to Angular, stack upgrades for the backend such as Java 9 to Java 11, and so on are only possible if the right architecture is in place. Upgrades happen under the hood, and since low-code does all the laborious work behind the scenes, the transitions happen seamlessly.
Organizations that are contemplating adopting a low-code platform are making a wise choice. However, due diligence is required to zero in on the right platform. If the motive is to enable business users to develop simple apps for their internal use, any no-code platform can do the job.
However, if the low-code platform is for serious app development, then all stakeholders including IT teams, business users, CTOs, and CIOs need to create a strategic plan for its adoption in a collaborative manner. Organizational best practices of change management, upgrades, and rollouts need to be consolidated and built around low-code. Processes for each stage of app creation need to be set in place. The low-code platform of choice must offer flexibility and scalability unconditionally. It should ideally be able to ride the maturity curve as the use cases expand and as adoption spreads throughout the organization, allowing organizations to deliver, customize, compose, and upgrade at the speed of their need.
Originally published in DEVPRO JOURNAL
Authored by Vikram Srivats, Chief Commercial Officer, WaveMaker, Inc
After the grueling stress test of a global pandemic, corporations must now contend with the stresses of war and a weakening macroeconomic environment and yet transform to become modern, composable, and competitive enterprises. Technology executives at the center of this transformation are pursuing bold yet pragmatic strategies, including building and scaling new software-driven business capabilities quickly. For them, the holy grail seems to be democratizing software application development itself – with low-code/no-code (LCNC) approaches – to deliver at speed and at scale to the business.
Professional developers and enterprise architects get involved in governing LCNC development as enterprises become deliberate about policies, processes, and people to scale this movement responsibly. But pro-coders themselves are not yet active adopters of LCNC platforms – they range from interested observers (at best) to those that detest LCNC platforms (for valid reasons).
Based on industry estimates, around 35-40% of a pro coder’s time is spent in setting up, creating guardrails, importing, and integrating with data sources, writing code from scratch, making code secure, testing and retesting applications, managing source control, and versioning, adding internationalization, making them accessible, optimizing for performance, and maintaining or upgrading applications. Another 30% of the time is spent on non-technical or operational activities. That leaves less than half of their productive time for thinking, innovating, and crafting complex and compelling apps and experiences.
Clearly, pro-coders experience pain. So, what should low-code application development platforms offer to entice pro-coders to adopt and, better yet, embrace them? Let’s dig in.
What if a low-code platform used an open standards-based, popular tech stack (React, Angular, and Bootstrap for UI; Spring for backend; Docker containers)? What if developers could actually see and read real (not model-generated or metadata-driven) code being generated? What if this code was written the way they code?
Pro coders are accustomed to seeing, reading, and understanding real code in a language or framework that is open and widely accepted. So, just give it to them.
Developers need the ability to add fine-grained logic to their applications; that is, writing custom services or creating custom APIs in a code editor alongside the drag-and-drop canvas.
Low-code platforms should offer developers the ability to configure each out-of-the-box widget to a high degree to allow for creating visually captivating experiences.
Imagine if developers could go beyond a standard UI widget library and create their own custom components – building blocks of API-infused UI – and add them to their private library. Sometimes, developers may also need to import pre-built components (React or Angular or GraphQL components exported as standard Web Components) into their low-code development platform and reuse them.
Finally, developers may want to create their own application theme – a combination of fonts, layouts, colors, and styles – to create a differentiated yet consistent branded user experience across one or more applications or products.
Integration and extraction from data sources such as APIs (REST, SOAP, or WebSocket), databases (such as MySQL, Maria DB, PostgreSQL, Oracle DB, SQL Server, IBM DB2, Amazon Redshift, SAP Hana, HSQL, and Mongo DB) or streaming data sources (like Kafka embedded in the app) – must be supported and be effortless.
CRUD operations are usually hardcoded by the developer and take up a lot of time. If a low-code platform could automatically generate all the CRUD APIs once the data source is imported, it cuts down the development time immensely. Similarly, an editable abstraction of the database that replicates the schema of the DB can help developers manipulate the data from within the platform itself.
Once imported, developers should be able to bind their UI easily and quickly to the backend via passing variables. Data from a REST call should then be easily displayed as entities on a page without any workarounds or wordy importing and model definition. Likewise, with a Swagger import, descriptions should be able to handle reusing the same model in multiple endpoints or recursive models.
For user authentication, developers may need to integrate with database, LDAP, Active Directory, SAML, and other authentication providers. SSO should be easily enabled with support for SAML federation and Central Authentication Server (CAS). For authorization, low-code platforms need to support coarse as well as fine-grained permissions that extend across pages, individual widgets on a page, and even individual APIs exposed by the application.
Developers look for protection against OWASP vulnerabilities (XSS, CSRF, brute force attacks, SQL injection) and support of encryption standards such as TLS 1.2+ during app hosting. Ideally, low-code platforms need to be certified by security leaders like Veracode who perform rigorous static and dynamic tests (iAST, SAST, DAST, and SCA).
Through session-less architecture, distributed caching, horizontal scaling through containers, and UI framework-specific performance features (for example, Angular 13 has lazy loading, Brotli compression, tree shaking, Ivy), developers using low-code platforms can build highly performant apps, minimizing chattiness and UI-to-backend roundtrips. As an example, instead of storing the state in a session, it can be backed by a distributed cache (such as Redis) to allow apps to scale horizontally.
Developers cannot be constrained to a vendor-specific app deployment infrastructure. They need the freedom and flexibility to host their apps anywhere – on any public, private, or hybrid Cloud, on K8s clusters, or on bare metal/on-premise infrastructure. Low-code platforms that offer a development model where the UI is decoupled from the backend, can allow UI and backend artifacts to be separately packaged and deployed (UI to CDN; as an example, backend to a standard Java server like Tomcat) using a standard archive or a Docker image.
Developers hand-code some of the most complex apps and systems in use today. They need low-code platforms to step up to the plate and deliver equally complex apps that can be sustainable over the long term in terms of maintenance and enhancements.
For example, low-code platforms need to integrate with 3rd party BPM tools (Camunda, jBPM, Flowable, Activity) that help developers orchestrate detailed workflows/tasks and need to support a full 2-way data exchange with the BPM tool’s runtime engine. Within low-code platforms, developers will expect to easily manipulate complex data (pick a certain number of arrays and use logic to combine them into a new set of arrays) and easily represent complex graphs without custom styling/CSS or tangling with data formats.
Developers may need to conditionally retrieve data using a parent-child relationship, be able to localize and internationalize applications, handle complex core code merges and upgrades with customized apps in deployment, deal with Swagger changes pushed to already imported Swagger files without rewiring all the variables, write and support complex business logic interleaved with visual development, support multiple app themes at runtime, support apps as deep links, set click targets to measure/launch intents or URLs, and so on.
Lock-in is a strict no for developers who value independence and freedom. That starts with access to the generated code. Low-code platforms that do well in this space readily offer developers the ability to not only see and read generated code but also to export source code outside of the platform to an IDE of their choice.
Developers also don’t like low-code platforms that force them to use their runtime environment to deploy their apps, effectively locking developers and their employers into the platform through the app’s lifecycle. Lastly, from a licensing perspective, low-code platforms that restrict developers to a limited number of apps, app objects, or end users effectively throttle developers to a commercial model that becomes quickly expensive with usage and more apps.
Developers using cloud-native low-code platforms benefit in terms of collaboration, ease of access, availability, flexibility, security, frequent and easy upgrades, horizontal scaling, and the overall unit economics of the model for their app development and deployment.
Developer-friendly low-code platforms generate code using modern design patterns (for example, a Java maven project) enabling developers to see, extend, and customize code across all layers of the application stack. They enable every user to have a workspace running as a container instance. When an app is built, a repo is automatically created for it in the low-code platform’s source control/Git (and integrated with Prometheus/EFK for logs and metrics).
Finally, developers appreciate low-code platforms that embrace modern standards, say Android Material Design specification for visual design and building interaction across multiple devices using out-of-the-box widgets and themes. They value the ability to create functional, distributable, reusable, API-integrated, and independently testable experience components. Low-code platforms that offer twelve-factor standards assure developers that their apps are trustworthy.
Developers using low-code platforms will want their apps to connect to, integrate with, or be embedded in other hand-coded apps. Beyond iFrame support, low-code platforms that support embedding via a micro frontend approach (such as Single SPA) offer sophisticated functionality for developers to create seamless end-to-end experiences that cover high-code and low-code developed apps.
Professional application development teams tend to use design tools like Figma, Sketch, or UXPin; QA tools like Selenium, Protractor, or Karma for testing web apps; Appium for testing mobile apps; and performance testing tools and app profilers like AppDynamics or New Relic. DevOps teams have a plethora of tools for the build, test, integration, and deployment processes. Post-deployment, developers would like to monitor app performance events, and page tracking via Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics. Low-code platforms that endear themselves to developers will have to play well and integrate seamlessly with these toolsets and design, build, test, release, and monitoring processes.
Lastly, while low-code platforms may provide their own VCS (such as Gitlab), they need to offer easy integration with external repositories like GitHub or Bitbucket. Developers should be able to pull, view, and push changes and merge conflicts between source control systems. They will appreciate low-code platforms that support app versioning from code-level commits to component-level and application-level versioning for releases (including a major or minor version format), allowing multiple versions of the app to co-exist in different deployment environments such as test, stage, or pre-production.
A UI developer or backend developer using low-code platforms should be able to develop a complete application with, for example, a basic knowledge of SQL, JS/Java, and zero DevOps, and transform to full-stack developers. Using the Java world as an example, developers don’t need knowledge of advanced JS framework, HTML5, CSS, Bootstrap, Spring, ORM, REST, advanced SQL, native device programming, mobile integration, building and running Docker scripts, or manual integration with CI/CD pipelines.
For technology stack upgrades for apps built using a low-code platform, developers should be able to open apps in the target version of a low-code platform with the latest tech stack (as an example, Angular 14 for UI). The app upgrade should be automatic, and the transition seamless.
Developers and CTOs/CIOs alike are constantly worrying about creating technical debt for the future. Enterprise-friendly low-code platforms are built on an open-standards-based modern tech stack, shift the burden of tech upgrades to the platform, offer source code that is extensible outside of the platform using commonly available skillsets, and play well with a modern enterprise’s toolsets, practice, and standards.
Originally published in Embedded Computing Design
A freshly minted React Native studio, developer tools, API composer toolkit, Angular 12 update, Azure Repos VCS, MLTS for REST APIs, and the list goes on………
WaveMaker is a composable experience development platform powered by the paradigm of low-code. With every new release, we at WaveMaker, attempt to carve out features that help enterprises and professional developers build captivating user experiences in sync with market demand.
Enterprises can embrace composability only when the tools that they adopt enable it. Keeping that in mind, our team at WaveMaker has built the next big thing for the world of composability through low-code—WaveMaker 11.
Here is what we have got for you this year!
With around 3.8 billion smartphone users worldwide, mobile app builders are constantly looking at ways to drive better engagement, reduce drop-offs and increase in-app growth. In short, mobile app adoption is driven by the user experience that they offer.
On the other hand, ISVs and enterprises find it difficult to create consumer-grade mobile applications with run-of-the-mill tools that are either specific to a device or OS or, simply do not have an integrated platform to create both web and mobile apps. Moreover, customers are not content with responsive web experiences force-fitted within mobile apps. The UI and the associated user experience on web apps are just not good enough.
Building compelling user experiences such as smoother onboarding, faster startup, slick transitions, customer-centric features, native feature accessibility, and contextual awareness becomes easier with an app development platform that is tailor-made to create cross-platform native apps.
These are the factors that our team at WaveMaker kept in mind while crafting the WaveMaker React Native studio. In fact, there is an entire WaveMaker UI component library in the React Native studio that lets customers design and build mobile applications leveraging the low-code productivity that WaveMaker is famous for. Let us look at some of the salient features:
With React Native studio added to its kitty, WaveMaker is raising the bar in mobile app experience development one notch higher. Additionally, all web applications created in WaveMaker can be also made available as Progressive Web Applications, offering a plethora of choices for our customers.
We truly believe that if you are already a WaveMaker subscriber or considering the platform for your mobile app development efforts, the addition of React Native studio to the platform increases the value of your investment substantially.
To know more about the WaveMaker React Native studio, click here.
The application modernization services market size is estimated to grow to $24.8 billion by 2025. A large chunk of this modernization effort can simply be attributed to upgrading the tech stack or modernizing the UI. However, in many cases, the cost of upgradation and the configuration hassles that come with it outweigh the benefits of modernization and as a result, companies are forced to take a step back.
At WaveMaker, we have always promised that upgrading to the latest version of WaveMaker also includes upgrading to the latest tech stack. This is by default.
WaveMaker 11 GA has upgraded to Angular 12 from Angular 11. This simply means that if you open any of your applications previously built on older versions of WaveMaker in WaveMaker 11, they automatically get upgraded to Angular 12. The ROI in terms of cost and time, in this case, is substantially higher when compared to a manual upgrade.
Customers need seamless and smooth user experiences. Building such performant applications needs an API backend that is fast. The new release aims to bring composability to the API layer, allowing multiple APIs to be combined together to create unified experience APIs.
The API Composer Toolkit allows WaveMaker developers to build APIs on top of existing systems that are just right in terms of verbosity and comply with the “Principle of Least Privilege” security rules. Using the Spring framework, this tool allows the creation of unified experience APIs that are designed keeping in mind the ‘backend for the frontend’ design pattern. With API Composer Toolkit, developers can now leverage the use of a single Java Service API that calls multiple APIs(REST/Swagger/Database) and consolidates their responses into one Response Object thereby reducing time and code complexity.
To know more about the API Composer Toolkit, click here.
WaveMaker Studio already comes with a version control system that runs within your platform machine. This is based on Gitlab. Additionally, WaveMaker Teams customers can choose to add an external repo of their choice like their own instance of GitLab, GitHub, or BitBucket. With WaveMaker 11, team admins can configure Azure Repos Version Control System (VCS) for storing project source code. You can now easily set up CI/CD pipelines to build and deploy WaveMaker-built applications on top of your enterprise version control system. Not only is there a reduction in the total cost of ownership of WaveMaker, but it also enables Teams customers to use existing IT infrastructure.
For more information, see Azure Repos Code Repository.
WaveMaker has always stayed true to its promise of building applications that are safe, secure, and easy to run. Enabling an additional security layer by configuring MTLS (Mutual Transport Layer Security) for all REST APIs is a feature directed toward building secure apps. With this feature, when you import APIs into WaveMaker to build your apps, you can now set up the SSL connection between WaveMaker and your APIs to use MTLS.
For more information, see MTLS in the WaveMaker application and a detailed blog about MTLS.
WaveMaker applications are built to 12Factors.app principles. One of the ways WaveMaker apps can be deployed on horizontally scaled infrastructure is to build them to be stateless. With WaveMaker 11, application sessions can now be configured to use a distributed cache. We already support DB, and REDIS and have now added MongoDB to offer more flexibility during the deployment.
Debugging and monitoring your applications can be a daunting task. Make debugging your application easier with WaveMaker Devtool. Installing this chrome extension will let you debug and monitor WaveMaker 11 applications in preview via the ‘inspect’ mode. To further enhance developer productivity, this browser plugin enables developers to track and profile API invocations, page load times, prefab load/render times, etc.
Take advantage of a simple yet powerful pom.xml and create a clear separation of the WaveMaker platform from application-specific dependencies. The new POM contains fewer lines than before and has been remodeled to inherit from the parent POM making it easily readable and comprehensible.
All WaveMaker projects that are using SAML(spring-security-saml2-core) as a security provider will be migrated to a new version of SAML thus removing the dependency on Spring extensions that have reached the end of life.
Teams, a collaborative development environment is now shipped with WaveMaker Enterprise too. Within one enterprise installation, you can onboard multiple Teams, while giving each Team ability to manage projects, roles, and code repositories, add or remove team members, grant permissions, and more. Read this blog to know more about what Teams can do for you.
Our freshly minted React Native studio brings low-code and React Native mobile frameworks together, allowing mobile app composition using prefabs. For a WaveMaker developer, there is no new learning curve; for a mobile developer, there is the flexibility of low-code, the feature-rich app development framework, and the support for easy composability.
This new release is a milestone for WaveMaker. This release, while offering composability at the API layer, allows unified experience development. Additionally, the API Mock Server increases developer productivity with mock APIs that can be created during development. This enables UI development teams to continue building the experiences using low code without the need for a fully developed/functional API.
WaveMaker 11 GA brings with it a host of other features that increases the value proposition of being subscribed to WaveMaker. From Flex Layout Widgets, Java 11 upgrade, and pagination for imported APIs, to multi-version studios, WaveMaker 11 GA aims to increase the value proposition for WaveMaker subscribers and prospects alike. With this release, we can truly say that composability and seamless native mobile app development is just an upgrade away!
WaveMaker 11 GA - Build Components. Compose Journeys. Differentiate the Experience
To read the full list of features in WaveMaker 11, please read the release notes here.
Low-code means different things to different people. While the industry is exploding with low-code platforms, ours is purpose-built for professional developers. If you are already using a low-code platform or shopping for one, there are many critical factors to consider. Read on..
Will I be the owner of the code?
The code should be yours to mix, extend, customize, transfer or export
What should “no lock-in” mean to me?
No shackles of run-time cost, proprietary architecture, and limited infra options
Will the developers need to be certified to use the platform?
You want quick learning and future-proofing your teams’ skills
Is my vendor’s pricing strategy sustainable?
Scaling up shouldn’t disproportionately increase the cost of doing business
With over 2 decades of experience in the application development and modernization field, our product evangelists have enlisted 12 critical capabilities to consider while comparing various low-code platforms.
Find out how the 5 most popular low-code platforms stack up on each of these capabilities. Download the document for an objective, quick, and consumable take on the comparison of low-code platforms
Reduce repetitive development work and save heaps in time and effort.
Accelerate the journey to cloud-native, omnichannel, microservices-based enterprise-grade applications with a composable experience platform powered by low-code.
A McKinsey survey found that in 2021, “companies devoted more resources to their digital and technology capabilities during the pandemic, even as they cut resources from other parts of the business.”
This should come as no surprise given the dramatic change in business models, competitive landscape, and customer behavior seen in the last couple of years. In response, enterprises across the globe are modernizing their application stack to increase agility and performance, and provide compelling customer experiences.
Application modernization is the process of identifying legacy apps—which are typically on-premise, monolithic, and written in outdated languages—and modernizing them into cloud-native, omnichannel, microservices-based, feature-rich digital applications with intuitive customer experiences.
It is important to note that application modernization is not just about upgrading the software. It is often also accompanied by a modernization of processes to be more agile with shorter release cycles and the transformation of the organization itself to be more experimental and innovative.
An application modernization initiative is driven by changes across the three levels of the app: Experience, integration, and architecture.
Upgrading the user experience (UX) layer for a more modern, responsive, cross-platform design to deliver personalized experiences to customers.
Making legacy data accessible through channels like the cloud, mobile, web, etc. via APIs. A well-managed API serves as a mechanism for enterprises to leverage their digital assets and build new products around their core capabilities.
Transforming the architectural foundation of applications by adopting modern technologies to enable agility, scalability, portability, speed-to-market, development efficiency, and ongoing innovation.
Using hybrid architectures including public and private clouds allowing an enterprise to move workloads between the two platforms. Sensitive data can be hosted on a private cloud for security while big data applications can be stored on a public cloud for cost efficiency.
Leveraging modular, distributed, small, single-purpose applications called microservices that deliver services using APIs. Microservices is poised to take scalability and continuous delivery to the next levels in the years to come.
Building portability and reducing infra dependency with containers, which wrap up an application in a complete filesystem that has everything it needs to run: code, runtime, system tools, and system libraries. This enables it to run smoothly regardless of any environment.
Transforming development methodologies from traditional waterfall towards DevOps and DevSecOps models, bringing agility, speed, and efficiency into enterprise teams. It empowers technology teams with experimentation and innovation capabilities, so they can adapt to market needs more effectively.
Traditionally, applications are built around operational efficiency—delivering the best possible service in the cheapest way they can. Today, this is not enough. Organizations need more. They need:
In the rapidly changing world, customers demand their banking app or online shopping app to deliver the same sticky and personalized experience that their social media and gaming app offers. Legacy applications are unable to deliver this. To meet the customers where they are and deliver on their needs, enterprises need application modernization.
Enterprises can not afford to build an internal team or outsource to an external vendor and wait for months to launch new features. For instance, when the pandemic hit and banks needed to sell online, they couldn’t wait a year to develop that capability. Today, taking digital experiences to the market quickly can be the most powerful competitive advantage. Legacy apps can’t enable that. IT modernization has the potential to reduce defects and time-to-market by up to 60%.
Legacy monolithic applications are large and take up significant resources to function. Application modernization breaks them down into smaller, manageable microservices, using only the resources that are absolutely necessary. Additionally, by leveraging composability, enterprises and software vendors can also create a repository of functional components that can be retrofitted into existing applications, gradually replacing existing functionalities while not disturbing existing processes and thereby, reducing costs. With containers, modern libraries, and dynamic scaling of cloud platforms, organizations can save both real and opportunity costs of running enterprise applications.
Every day, new threats are emerging online. Monitoring and protecting legacy applications can be a mammoth endeavor in itself. Application modernization enables enterprises to build more secure applications, shifting security left in the development process. Moreover, it also makes it easier to address security threats and deploy patches faster and more effectively.
Legacy applications are often written in languages and follow processes that do not have the talent pool available to develop and maintain them. Containerization allows polyglot teams to function effectively together, setting up dev environments faster and ensuring that the app works on production environments the same way it did on the developer’s machine. With a composable approach, functional components created by IT teams can further be reused by business developers and implementation teams to quickly modernize smaller bits of applications. In fact, with IT modernization, enterprises increase employee productivity by up to 30% and motivation by up to 40%.
More often than not, application modernization is not merely changing the software to a modern environment. It is accompanied by a cultural change towards building smaller services, deploying them in smaller cycles, receiving feedback, and optimizing continuously. To leverage cloud platforms, containers, DevOps processes, etc., the organization needs to transform itself into an agile and adaptive enterprise—a change that powers sustainable growth and profitability.
While the benefits are overwhelming, enterprises continue to struggle to adopt application modernization for a range of reasons.
Application modernization initiatives often involve the transformation of mammoth applications. This not only requires technologists who understand cloud-native, microservices-based app development but also have a clear grasp of business logic and industry acumen. This combination of subject matter expertise and technology skills is a challenge to find.
IT leaders often fear disruption of their mission-critical enterprise applications, and rightly so. Moreover, the enterprise technology landscape can be so complex and precarious that touching one app can bring the entire deck of cards down. Therefore, creating the right application modernization strategy that ensures a smooth transition from legacy to modern applications remains a challenge.
Large-scale application modernization projects can be expensive, whether you’re building with an internal team or outsourcing it to an external vendor. Without a clear view of the return on investment, IT leaders struggle without the budgets to launch app modernization projects.
A recent study found that enterprises use an average of 200 applications, with security, engineering, and IT using the most. While some of these are SaaS products, most tend to be legacy apps. Modernizing them all at once would be a significant burden on the company’s bottom line. Without repeatable architectures and composability, the redundancy of work will also be high.
For any technology initiative to demonstrate value, it needs to meet the needs of the business. When IT and business teams don’t talk to each other, they run the risk of launching application modernization initiatives that don’t drive business results. This affects the organization’s—teams, leaders and the board included—enthusiasm towards application modernization.
For decades, enterprises have attempted to modernize their applications with little success. A recent BCG study showed that “70% of digital transformations fall short of their objectives, often with profound consequences.” Once bitten, twice shy, IT leaders resist taking the plunge again.
Not all application modernization initiatives are the same. To ensure success, enterprises need to adopt an app modernization strategy that works for them. Here are some pointers to keep in mind.
It is not uncommon for enterprises to choose the oldest application to modernize first. This app modernization strategy, even when the project is successful, it falls short of the business transformation it can deliver. Instead, we recommend that enterprises choose applications that offer the most valuable business capabilities. When an app modernization initiative delivers ROI, it makes it easier for the entire organization to get behind it.
Gartner suggests that enterprises evaluate potential apps to modernize on six drivers. Three of them are business-related: business fit, business value, and agility; and the other three are technology-related: cost, complexity, and risk. The best opportunities offer transformation across multiple drivers.
Whether you’re beginning a pilot project, or modernizing your nth application, a clear, strong, relevant, outcome-driven business case shields you against the risks of failure in several ways.
Instead of entirely dumping the enterprise application for a modernized one, organizations must consider a progressive approach to breaking down monolithic apps for microservices-based ones. By integrating legacy systems with modern apps through APIs, enterprises can continue their business as usual without disruption, while building future-proof tech along the way.
We believe that for application modernization to deliver on its promises, it must impact at three levels: Infrastructure, development, and delivery. A strong app modernization strategy must enable multi-cloud leverage, rapid and error-free containerized delivery to create open standards, multi-channel and microservices-based apps.
Time-sensitive and cost-conscious projects can not wait for months to build. They need the speed that can only be delivered through automation, simplified integrations, dynamic scale, etc. They need to minimize redundancies and reuse existing builds. They need a robust low-code platform to accelerate enterprise application development.
Low-code is a modern approach to agile software development. A low-code development platform helps developers create products visually by abstracting and automating commonly used components. Developers can easily drag and drop commonly used features instead of having to code extensively.
Addressing all of the above challenges intuitively, low-code is one of the best app modernization tools available today.
A good low-code platform serves as an app modernization tool that abstracts and automates processes at every stage of the software development lifecycle. How to choose the right platform for rapid app modernization with low-code?
While choosing the low-code platform for your application modernization strategy, ask yourself the following questions.
A good low-code platform can be the app modernization tool of choice for professional coders, who want to build powerful, long-lived applications that offer a differentiated experience on the web and mobile, which can evolve with user needs.
A good low-code platform needs to have the foundation of open standards in order to ensure an open and extensible approach to application delivery. Also, the platform should use a best-of-breed application stack for developing full-stack applications.
A good low-code platform must enable out-of-the-box integrations for data and services. It must offer custom integrations to be built and reused across apps. It must also enable integrations with legacy applications for implementing incremental development.
For instance, the information and digital systems office of the State of Geneva incrementally modernized over 40 applications using WaveMaker while keeping the integrations intact for seamless BAU.
A good low-code platform must offer the ability to create applications using a single code base that can adapt to any native platform or operating system, be it iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry/RIM, etc.
Canadian foodservice distributor, Flanagan, leveraged WaveMaker to achieve this. They reached out to WaveMaker to replace the existing application with a modern and responsive interface that provided a better, more consistent user experience across browsers and devices.
An end-to-end low-code platform will offer the ability to scale applications and handle private cloud needs. This will be in the form of features for rapid and continuous provisioning, deployment, instant scale-ability, and maximum utilization of resources.
A robust platform will take an API-first approach to application delivery, making it easy to import data from any service and bind it to UI components.
A sustainability-focused low-code platform ensures maintainability, where the code generated follows design patterns, is well-organized, uses standard naming conventions, and generates documentation that developers can understand and maintain.
A secure low-code platform will support flexible authentication and authorization mechanisms as well as integration support for popular identity management systems like AD, LDAP, SSO, and OAuth.
A flexible low-code platform will allow customizations in the form of leveraging their existing systems or the ability to allow custom coding or integrations with modern AI and IoT-based systems.
A good low-code platform not only accelerates the development of your first app but also strengthens the foundations of ongoing modernization. For instance, with a composable experience platform, you can create custom user journeys such as completing a transaction or creating a dashboard. This user journey can then be used to build new apps — all it takes is to plug and play. At each new app, users can customize it, if needed.
This is what J.J Richards, a WaveMaker customer, did while building a comprehensive set of 10 critical applications using a lean team within just 18 months!
A good low-code platform should have the latest tech stack that allows you to build a modern responsive UI in your apps. The platform should make it easy to move your workload, i.e your applications to multi-clouds with containerization. Furthermore, the platform should be flexible in integrating or adapting to newer technologies and trends entering the market.
Like the Bank of Social Security, the Netherlands did while transitioning their mission-critical applications from the Microsoft framework to Java low-code in mere months.
WaveMaker is the most open, extensible, and flexible Low-code Platform that complements your enterprise application delivery while keeping in mind the requirements of Software Developers, Citizen Developers/Business Users, IT Architects, and CIOs.
| Bank of Social Security, Netherlands modernized legacy apps and built new ones with WaveMaker. Read case study |
The information and digital systems office of the State of Geneva built 40+ applications with complex integrations using WaveMaker. Read case study |
Australian waste management company achieves rapid modernization of 10 critical applications leveraging WaveMaker. Read case study |
Canada’s largest independent foodservice distributor improved user experience with WaveMaker. Read case study |
Ask for a demo today!
