Why low-code tech is good for tech talent crunch
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Computer programming has come a long way since it first began, decades ago. Rather than writing out lines upon lines of code, drag and drop capabilities enable even those with little to no programming skills, to create applications, websites, web technologies.
OutSystems, is one of the pioneers that enable this capability for more than 400 partners today, across 87 countries.
Leonard Tan, OutSystem’s Regional Director in Singapore described, “We are not an industry-specific technology, rather we are general purpose application development.
“As long as the organisation has something to digitise, or change, or remove, or re-engineer, OutSystems has a part to play.”
Good for talent crunch
The talent gap is not a new phenomenon.
Having existed even during pre-COVID times, Leonard observed the SME segment struggling to hire talent, a monumental task given idealistic grads’ expectations to join big brands, or brand’s that they view to be disruptors.
That leaves a very big gap in what grads perceive to be less appealing sectors like SMEs, or manufacturing, and other more traditional sectors.
So, the tech talent crunch has become even more evident during and after COVID. We have heard of the Great Resignation phenomenon, but the common challenges in software development have exacerbated the outcome of the talent crunch.
Leonard opined that challenges in software development comes in many shapes and sizes; there is a huge spectrum of challenges from trying to interoperate different systems, to integrating legacy systems with new systems, and getting different technology environments to basically play well together.
The pandemic also accelerated the need for more technologies and organisations are hopping on the digital transformation bandwagon – now organisations realise the importance of customer experience, and the viability of using cloud-first technologies, edge computing, and even quantum computing. Basically, there is a wave of emerging technologies, that could be seen as disruptive as well, that businesses recognise they have to get a handle of.
“You have technologies, you have environments, involvement from business and IT.. these all contribute to the challenge of requiring more people. So, that’s the kind of situation that we are seeing today.”
The pandemic also accelerated the need for more technologies and organisations are hopping on the digital transformation bandwagon – now organisations realise the importance of customer experience, and the viability of using cloud-first technologies, edge computing, and even quantum computing. Basically, there is a wave of emerging technologies, that could be seen as disruptive as well, that businesses recognise they have to get a handle of.
“And as part of this digital transformation, the lack of suitable, holistic, well-rounded talent with the necessary skills to tackle, manage, and harness emerging technologies, has become glaring.”
“This is what are seeing not just in Singapore, but even in locations like Greater China, and the United States.. it is becoming more and more painful,” Leonard said.
Taking a backseat first?
Organisations that try the wait and see approach – keeping the lights on and then incrementally trying to introduce change – sets them back by many, many years, Leonard opined.
Singapore, a major tech hub in the region, will continue to have demand for skilled talent with experience in technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, cybersecurity and more. So, how can they cope?
“The fact is demand and shortage of supply will always be there. So, I think increasing developer productivity and maximising the roles of current engineers is one way to address this.
Organisations wil have to start to realise they have to utilise technologies and platforms like OutSystems to actually augment their technical and development teams,” Leonard said.
CIOs with the main agenda to drive digital transformation may realise they cannot hire fast enough, or hire enough. When they come to this realisation, what they can do instead is to infuse culture change or pervade a mindset to do more with less, or simply do things faster and optimally.
Visual development and the talent gap
Low-code technologies play the role of being that glue that brings together all the elements for an omni-channel customer experience.
“The issue about writing code is that it is very dependent on skillset, approach, and study of different programming languages.”
There is no system of governance over how a developer writes the code for an application. Another developer may look at all the code and not understand it. This is what visual development is able to address by offering a visual way of looking at the building of an application, or website, or web technology.
A low-code platform like OutSystems will depict how the logic statement looks like so it is immediately understood by skilled developers and business users, alike.
A unique advantage with OutSystems also, is that with one development effort the end product will look the same via desktop and via a mobile phone. This provides a more unified experience which contributes to a positive customer experience as well.
Leonard said, “This helps people become so much more productive in contributing towards building something digital like an application.”
A unique advantage with OutSystems also, is that with one development effort the end product will look the same via desktop and via a mobile phone. This provides a more unified experience which contributes to a positive customer experience as well.
Besides that, if before a business needed to hire three separate developers to build apps for Apple, Google and the Web, OutSystem’s platform can streamline development efforts for 3 operating systems, into one development effort.
This quicker way of doing things, can relieve the urgent need to hire.
Ultimately, this means a faster development cycle, and quicker time-to-market.
Business agility
Leonard shared that users can potentially save 50- to 70-percent of their time, as well as be assured that they have the right architecture to to deploy cloud technologies, and also scale applications later on, in a future-proof way.
Organisations looking to start a CI/DC practice can also find CI/CD tools integrated on OutSystem’s platform. Continuous integration and continuous delivery and deployment, is a software development practice that encourages quicker development times with rapid feedback, to shorten the time it takes to release the software to users.