In the digital age, industries are transforming their traditional operations to keep up with evolving customer expectations. The insurance industry, traditionally known for its paper-based processes and complex procedures, is now embracing digital transformation to enhance the customer experience. By digitizing the insurance customer experience, insurers can streamline operations, improve efficiency, and provide a more personalized and convenient service. This essay explores the numerous benefits that arise from digitizing the insurance customer experience.
Enhanced Accessibility: Digitization brings insurance services closer to customers than ever before. By leveraging digital platforms, insurers can offer self-service options that enable customers to access policies, submit claims, and manage their accounts conveniently. With 24/7 accessibility through websites and mobile apps, customers can obtain information, request assistance, and make transactions at their own convenience, eliminating the need for time-consuming physical visits or phone calls. This enhanced accessibility provides customers with greater control over their insurance needs, leading to improved satisfaction and loyalty.
Streamlined Processes: Digital transformation allows insurers to streamline their processes, reducing paperwork and manual tasks. Online forms, electronic signatures, and automated underwriting processes eliminate the need for physical paperwork, making the application and policy issuance procedures faster and more efficient. Additionally, digitized claims management systems reduce the time and effort required for claims processing, leading to quicker resolutions for customers. Streamlining processes through digitization enhances operational efficiency, reduces administrative costs, and enables insurers to focus on delivering better customer service.
Personalization and Targeted Offerings: Digitization enables insurers to gather and analyze vast amounts of customer data, facilitating personalized insurance offerings. By leveraging data analytics and artificial intelligence, insurers can gain insights into customer behavior, preferences, and risk profiles. This information empowers insurers to tailor insurance products and services to meet specific customer needs, leading to improved customer satisfaction and increased cross-selling or upselling opportunities. Furthermore, personalized digital communication and real-time notifications enable insurers to engage with customers proactively, providing relevant information and assistance when it matters most.
Efficient Customer Support: Digitization offers new channels for customer support, making it easier for insurers to engage with their policyholders. Online chatbots, virtual assistants, and AI-powered customer service tools enable insurers to provide instant and accurate responses to customer inquiries, guiding them through various processes and addressing their concerns promptly. This efficient customer support helps improve customer satisfaction and loyalty by ensuring a seamless and hassle-free experience.
Improved Risk Management: Digitization plays a vital role in improving risk management for insurers and policyholders alike. By leveraging technologies such as telematics, IoT devices, and data analytics, insurers can gather real-time information on risks, enabling them to develop more accurate underwriting models. This data-driven approach allows insurers to offer customized coverage, more accurately assess premiums, and reward customers for low-risk behavior. Moreover, digitization facilitates proactive risk mitigation through predictive modeling, helping policyholders take preventive measures and reduce potential losses.
The digitization of the insurance customer experience offers numerous benefits to insurers and policyholders alike. By embracing digital transformation, insurers can enhance accessibility, streamline processes, personalize offerings, provide efficient customer support, and improve risk management. As customers increasingly expect seamless digital experiences, insurers that invest in digitization will gain a competitive advantage by delivering superior service, fostering customer loyalty, and adapting to the changing demands of the modern insurance landscape. Ultimately, digitization opens up new possibilities for insurers to better meet customer expectations and build strong, lasting relationships in the digital era.
Low-code development has revolutionized the software development landscape by enabling individuals without extensive programming knowledge to create applications quickly and efficiently. This paradigm shift has brought forth numerous benefits, such as increased productivity, reduced development time, and democratization of software development. Within the low-code ecosystem, one concept stands out as the most important: empowering citizen developers. This essay explores the significance of empowering citizen developers, the advantages it brings to organizations, and the potential challenges and considerations associated with this concept.
I. The Rise of Citizen Developers:
Traditionally, software development was confined to a select group of professionals with coding expertise. However, with the advent of low-code platforms, the power to create applications has been placed in the hands of non-technical users, often referred to as citizen developers. These individuals, possessing domain knowledge and a deep understanding of specific business processes, can leverage low-code tools to build applications tailored to their unique requirements.
II. Empowering Citizen Developers:
Democratization of Application Development: Empowering citizen developers breaks down barriers to entry and allows individuals from various departments, such as marketing, HR, and operations, to actively participate in the development process. By enabling a wider range of employees to contribute to application development, organizations can tap into diverse perspectives and experiences, resulting in more innovative and contextually relevant solutions.
Increased Agility and Productivity: Low-code platforms provide citizen developers with intuitive visual interfaces, pre-built components, and drag-and-drop functionality, reducing the need for extensive coding skills. This ease of use empowers citizen developers to quickly prototype, test, and iterate applications, leading to faster time-to-market and improved productivity.
Bridging the IT-Business Gap: Empowering citizen developers fosters collaboration between business and IT departments. Citizen developers can communicate their specific requirements directly, reducing the gap between end-users and developers. This alignment enhances the accuracy and effectiveness of the applications created, as the developers gain firsthand insights into the needs and challenges faced by the business teams.
III. Advantages of Empowering Citizen Developers:
Rapid Application Development: Empowering citizen developers enables the swift creation of applications, reducing the reliance on overburdened IT departments. By decentralizing development efforts, organizations can accelerate their digital transformation initiatives and respond more effectively to evolving business demands.
Cost-Efficiency: With citizen developers assuming a greater role in application development, organizations can optimize resource allocation. By leveraging existing personnel, organizations can minimize the need to hire additional developers, resulting in cost savings.
Innovation and Problem Solving: Citizen developers, deeply immersed in their respective fields, possess unique insights into the challenges and requirements of their roles. Empowering them to build applications allows for innovative solutions tailored to their specific needs, fostering creativity and problem-solving within the organization.
IV. Considerations and Challenges:
Training and Support: To successfully empower citizen developers, organizations must provide adequate training and ongoing support. This ensures that individuals possess the necessary skills and have access to resources and assistance when needed. Offering comprehensive training programs and establishing a supportive community can alleviate potential challenges.
Governance and Security: While empowering citizen developers can enhance agility, organizations must establish governance policies and security measures to mitigate risks. This includes ensuring adherence to data protection regulations, conducting regular security audits, and implementing proper controls over application deployment.
Balance between Citizen and Professional Developers: Organizations must strike a balance between citizen developers and professional developers. While citizen developers bring domain knowledge and expertise, professional developers contribute technical proficiency and maintain overall system integrity. Collaboration and communication between these two groups are vital to ensure successful outcomes.
Empowering citizen developers stands as the most crucial concept within the low-code development paradigm. By embracing the unique skills and insights of citizen developers, organizations can unlock the full potential of low-code development. Democratizing application development not only increases agility, productivity, and innovation but also bridges the gap between business and IT departments. However, it is essential to consider the challenges associated with empowering citizen developers, such as training, governance, and maintaining a balance with professional developers.
As low-code development continues to evolve, empowering citizen developers will remain at the forefront of its success. Organizations that embrace this concept and invest in the necessary resources and support will gain a competitive edge by accelerating digital transformation, fostering innovation, and achieving greater operational efficiency.
Ultimately, empowering citizen developers not only transforms the way applications are built but also empowers individuals to contribute their unique perspectives and expertise, leading to a more inclusive and collaborative approach to software development. The future of low-code lies in the hands of citizen developers, unlocking a world of possibilities for organizations across various industries.
In recent years, the financial services industry has witnessed a significant shift towards digital transformation. To keep up with the changing landscape and increasing customer expectations, financial institutions are exploring innovative ways to streamline their operations and deliver superior services. One such approach gaining prominence is low-code development. Low-code platforms enable organizations to build applications rapidly with minimal coding, empowering business users to participate in the development process. This essay explores the key aspects of low-code for financial services, highlighting its benefits, challenges, and potential applications.
Accelerated Application Development: Low-code platforms provide financial institutions with a visual development environment and pre-built components that simplify the application development process. With drag-and-drop functionality and intuitive interfaces, business users, such as financial analysts or operations managers, can participate actively in developing applications. This acceleration in development time allows for faster deployment of new solutions, reducing time-to-market and enhancing operational efficiency.
Increased Agility and Flexibility: The dynamic nature of the financial services industry requires organizations to respond quickly to market changes, regulatory requirements, and customer demands. Low-code platforms enable rapid prototyping and iterative development, facilitating agility and flexibility in adapting to evolving business needs. Financial institutions can easily make adjustments to their applications, add new features, or integrate with existing systems without extensive coding or disruptions to core operations.
Enhanced Collaboration: Low-code development promotes collaboration between business users and IT teams. Traditionally, business requirements were communicated to developers through extensive documentation, leading to misunderstandings and delays. With low-code, business users can actively participate in the development process, working closely with IT professionals to build applications that align with their requirements. This collaboration bridges the gap between business and IT, fostering a shared understanding of goals and ensuring that the resulting applications meet the desired outcomes.
Integration Capabilities: Financial institutions typically operate within complex IT ecosystems, relying on various legacy systems, databases, and third-party applications. Low-code platforms provide robust integration capabilities, allowing seamless connectivity with existing systems. This integration facilitates data sharing, automation of manual processes, and improves overall operational efficiency. Furthermore, low-code platforms often support industry-standard APIs, enabling financial institutions to connect with external partners and leverage emerging technologies like artificial intelligence or blockchain.
Compliance and Security Considerations: The financial services industry is subject to stringent regulatory requirements, such as data privacy, security, and compliance with financial regulations. When adopting low-code platforms, organizations must ensure that these platforms comply with relevant industry standards and provide robust security measures. Data encryption, access controls, and auditing capabilities are vital features that financial institutions should assess to safeguard sensitive information and maintain regulatory compliance.
Challenges and Considerations: While low-code development offers numerous advantages, financial institutions should be aware of potential challenges and considerations:
a) Learning Curve: Training employees to utilize low-code platforms effectively may require an initial investment of time and resources.
b) Vendor Selection: Financial institutions must carefully evaluate low-code vendors based on their platform’s features, scalability, security, and track record.
c) Technical Debt: Rapid development can sometimes lead to suboptimal code quality and increased technical debt. Organizations must establish proper governance and best practices to mitigate these risks.
d) Application Lifecycle Management: Effective management of applications developed using low-code platforms requires processes and tools to support version control, testing, and deployment.
Low-code development has emerged as a powerful tool for financial institutions aiming to drive digital transformation. By empowering business users, accelerating application development, and promoting collaboration between business and IT, low-code platforms enable financial institutions to meet the growing demands of the industry. With careful consideration of challenges and adherence to compliance and security requirements, low-code development can revolutionize the financial services landscape, facilitating innovation, and delivering exceptional customer experiences.
In today’s digital age, IT and business have become inseparable. However, these two departments often operate in silos, causing communication gaps and inefficiencies that slow down the organization’s growth. Bridging the gap between IT and business has become more important than ever, and low-code technology has emerged as a powerful solution to this challenge. This essay explores how low-code can bridge the gap between IT and business and its benefits.
Low-code development is a visual approach to software development that enables developers to create applications through a drag-and-drop interface instead of writing lines of code. Low-code technology empowers non-technical stakeholders, such as business analysts, to build applications without needing to know how to code. This democratizes the software development process, allowing business users to create applications that meet their specific needs, eliminating the need for IT departments to build everything from scratch.
Low-code technology bridges the gap between IT and business by providing a common language and visual interface that both departments can understand. With low-code, business users can create applications that meet their specific needs and IT teams can provide the necessary technical expertise to ensure that these applications meet the organization’s standards. This collaboration between IT and business allows for faster development and delivery of applications, reducing the time to market and increasing business agility.
Low-code technology also enables IT departments to focus on more strategic initiatives instead of spending their time on routine and repetitive tasks. With low-code, IT teams can quickly create application templates that can be easily customized by business users, freeing up IT resources to work on more complex projects that require technical expertise. This way, IT can focus on creating more value for the organization while business users can create applications that meet their specific needs without the IT team’s assistance.
Low-code technology has numerous benefits, including faster time to market, increased business agility, and better collaboration between IT and business. With low-code, organizations can quickly create and deliver applications that meet their specific needs, allowing them to stay competitive in an ever-changing market. Moreover, low-code technology can help organizations reduce costs, as it eliminates the need for IT departments to build everything from scratch.
In conclusion, bridging the gap between IT and business is essential for organizations that want to stay competitive in today’s digital age. Low-code technology provides a solution to this challenge by enabling business users to create applications that meet their specific needs without the need for IT departments to build everything from scratch. With low-code, IT and business can collaborate more effectively, resulting in faster time to market, increased business agility, and reduced costs. As a result, low-code technology is becoming increasingly popular among organizations that want to stay ahead of the competition and drive innovation.
The economic downturns that come with a recession can be tough on businesses. In such times, companies need to find ways to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and maintain productivity to stay afloat. One way to achieve these goals is by implementing low-code development. Low-code development can recession-proof your business by enabling rapid application development, faster time to market, and more efficient use of resources.
Low-code development is a method of software development that relies on visual modeling and configuration rather than traditional coding. With low-code platforms, businesses can develop and deploy applications faster and more efficiently than traditional software development methods. This approach can help companies cut down on costs, reduce the time required to develop applications, and improve the productivity of their development teams.
During a recession, businesses need to be agile and responsive to changing market conditions. Low-code development provides companies with the ability to quickly create and deploy new applications to meet evolving business needs. With low-code platforms, companies can develop applications in a fraction of the time it would take with traditional development methods, allowing them to respond quickly to market changes and maintain a competitive edge.
Furthermore, low-code platforms allow businesses to optimize their resources. Low-code development requires fewer development resources than traditional software development, allowing businesses to allocate their developers more efficiently. Additionally, low-code platforms enable citizen developers, or non-technical users, to build applications, freeing up IT teams to focus on more complex tasks. This allows businesses to get more done with fewer resources, reducing costs and improving overall efficiency.
In times of recession, many businesses are forced to cut back on their technology budgets. With low-code development, companies can continue to innovate while staying within their budgets. Low-code platforms have a lower total cost of ownership than traditional software development methods. The platforms require fewer developers and less time to develop and deploy applications, reducing costs and increasing ROI.
Low-code development is also beneficial for businesses that need to maintain legacy systems. As companies look to modernize their applications, low-code platforms offer a cost-effective and efficient solution. With low-code development, businesses can build new applications that integrate with existing systems, providing a modern user experience while maintaining the functionality of legacy systems.
In conclusion, low-code development can recession-proof your business by enabling rapid application development, faster time to market, and more efficient use of resources. During a recession, businesses need to be agile and responsive to changing market conditions. Low-code platforms provide companies with the ability to quickly create and deploy new applications to meet evolving business needs. With low-code development, businesses can optimize their resources and continue to innovate while staying within their budgets. By adopting low-code development, businesses can emerge from a recession stronger, more efficient, and more competitive.
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If you want to learn more about how low code can help you adopt a successful digital conversion strategy, you can contact BAYPM. However, if you are more interested in learning about the pros and cons of leading low code platforms, check out Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Enterprise low code implementation platforms.
Low-code platforms are gaining popularity in the software development industry as they allow developers to create software applications with minimal coding requirements. These platforms provide a visual interface that enables developers to drag and drop components to create applications, reducing the time and effort required to develop software applications. However, choosing the right low-code platform can be a challenging task for organizations. In this essay, we will discuss how to navigate low-code platform project fit.
The first step in navigating low-code platform project fit is to define the requirements of the project. This involves identifying the business needs, technical requirements, and user expectations. The requirements should be clearly defined and documented to ensure that the low-code platform can meet the project’s needs. The project requirements will determine the type of low-code platform that is required, such as a platform for web or mobile applications, or a platform that can integrate with other systems.
The second step is to evaluate the low-code platforms available in the market. This involves researching the features and capabilities of the platforms, such as the ease of use, scalability, security, integrations, and customization options. It is important to evaluate the platforms based on the requirements of the project, as not all platforms may be suitable for all projects.
The third step is to test the low-code platforms. This involves creating prototypes or proof-of-concepts using the low-code platforms to determine how well they meet the project requirements. Testing the platforms allows developers to identify any limitations or issues with the platform, such as the inability to integrate with other systems or limited customization options. Testing also provides an opportunity to evaluate the user interface and determine if it is user-friendly and intuitive.
The fourth step is to consider the cost of the low-code platform. This includes the licensing costs, implementation costs, and ongoing maintenance costs. It is important to evaluate the costs of the platform in relation to the benefits it provides, such as reduced development time and increased productivity. It is also important to consider the scalability of the platform and whether it can support future growth and expansion of the project.
The fifth step is to consider the support and training provided by the low-code platform vendor. This includes the availability of technical support, training resources, and community forums. The level of support and training provided can impact the success of the project, as it ensures that developers have the resources and assistance they need to use the platform effectively.
In conclusion, navigating low-code platform project fit requires a thorough understanding of the project requirements, evaluation of the available platforms, testing of the platforms, consideration of the cost and support provided by the vendor. By following these steps, organizations can choose the right low-code platform that meets their project requirements and delivers value to their business.
Low-code development platforms have become increasingly popular in recent years as a way for organizations to develop software more quickly and efficiently. Low-code platforms allow developers to create applications using visual interfaces and pre-built components, rather than writing code from scratch. This approach promises to save time and money, but how can organizations measure the return on investment (ROI) of low-code?
Reduced Development Time
One of the primary benefits of low-code development is the reduced development time. By using pre-built components and visual interfaces, developers can create applications much faster than if they had to write code from scratch. This reduced development time translates into cost savings, as developers can create more applications in less time. Organizations can measure the ROI of low-code by comparing the development time and associated costs of a low-code project to a traditional development project.
Improved Time to Market
Another benefit of low-code development is the improved time to market. Because low-code development is faster than traditional development, organizations can get their applications to market sooner. This can be especially important in industries where speed is critical, such as in the financial sector or in healthcare. Organizations can measure the ROI of low-code by comparing the time to market of a low-code project to a traditional development project.
Reduced Maintenance Costs
Low-code platforms can also help reduce maintenance costs over time. Because low-code applications are built using pre-built components, there is less code to maintain. Additionally, low-code platforms often include automated testing and monitoring tools, which can help identify and fix issues more quickly. Organizations can measure the ROI of low-code by comparing the maintenance costs of a low-code application to a traditional application over time.
Increased Flexibility
Another benefit of low-code development is the increased flexibility it provides. Low-code platforms make it easier to modify applications as requirements change, because developers can simply drag and drop new components or make changes to existing ones. This can be especially important in industries where requirements are constantly evolving, such as in the technology sector. Organizations can measure the ROI of low-code by comparing the costs and time associated with making changes to a low-code application versus a traditional application.
Conclusion
In conclusion, low-code development can provide significant ROI benefits for organizations. By reducing development time, improving time to market, reducing maintenance costs, and increasing flexibility, low-code platforms can help organizations save time and money. To measure the ROI of low-code, organizations should compare the costs and time associated with a low-code project to a traditional development project. By doing so, organizations can determine whether low-code development is the right approach for their needs.
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If you want to learn more about how low code can help you adopt a successful digital conversion strategy, you can contact BAYPM. However, if you are more interested in learning about the pros and cons of leading low code platforms, check out Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Enterprise low code implementation platforms.
High-performance low-code gives professional developers and IT organizations the critical capabilities to build mission-critical, and consumer apps fast and iterate them even quicker. This blog will explain high-performance low-code and why it goes beyond regular low-code.
You Built Version 1 of Your App with Low-Code. Congrats?
You have one month to deliver a financial planning application that enables users to budget, access transactions, view investment status, plan expenses, and make appointments with financial advisors and personal bankers. Building it from scratch is out of the question; there’s no time for hand-coding, testing, fixing, scaling, and changing features. So, what are you going to do? The most obvious solution to your problem is to use low code, and it’s easy and fast.
But let’s say you convince your developers to adopt it, the stars align correctly, and you successfully release version 1. While breaking out the champagne, someone asks you to add bill negotiation and text alerts about scheduled payments and financial tasks. Can low code save you, then? It depends.
There are all kinds of low-code platforms that tell you they can develop and deliver applications with no limits. They make convincing cases about “development without limits” and how they have what it takes to update your financial planning app indefinitely. But do they? Or are they part of a buzzword bandwagon? It depends.
Put an LCAP on It
Low-code and no-code are two of the hottest buzzwords around. The market is predicted to be worth over $175 billion in 10 years (up from $11.45 billion in 2019).
Why is it so popular? It’s probably because it is essential to get to market with applications that address recent changes in consumer behaviour and the workforce (think hybrid work) at top speed. And, in certain use cases, low code is legit. OutSystems is no stranger to the accolades or to reaping the benefits of offering one of the top platforms in this market. The Gartner Magic Quadrant for Low-Code Application Platforms has named us a Leader.
We’re proud of this distinction because we were low-code before low-code was cool. OutSystems has been offering customers a visual way of developing software and applications since 2001. But there are other things the OutSystems platform does. Much of what we offer goes beyond regular low-code. To help you understand what that means, let’s go back to “Space, the final frontier.”
The Trouble with Tech’s Tribbles: Regular Low-Code Tools
In the “Trouble With Tribbles” episode of Star Trek, everyone fell in love with the cute little animal that someone brought aboard the Starship Enterprise. Until the Tribbles multiplied like crazy, that is. Then they started threatening the food supply when they took over the grain elevator. Although the Tribbles helped the Enterprise crew identify a villain, their value needed to compensate for their limitations.
Low-code tools have a similar history. At the end of 2021, more than 440 vendors were touting their “low-code/no-code” wares. This is the equivalent of the grain elevator in the Enterprise. Like the Tribbles, tons of these tools fall on your head if you look in the low-code market.
The low-code tools you find in reports or touted by venture capitalists as the hottest tech item on earth don’t have value. They do. Some can help you build a prototype or even version 1 of your financial planning app fast, and others provide specific value in industry use cases and business process workflow. Still, others are extensions to core software with different capabilities, so they are limited in what they can achieve from a data, integration, and application perspective.
This makes it difficult to update and change version 1 when new needs and expectations arise. Regular low-code, whether it’s designed for app development, business process automation, core software extension, or taking spreadsheets to a new level, has all kinds of limitations.
High-Performance Low-Code: So Much More than Regular Low-Code
The OutSystems platform is different because it isn’t regular low-code; it’s high-performance low-code.
High-performance low-code differs from regular low-code by uniting design, code, and deployment into a single system. The OutSystems high-performance, low-code platform radically simplifies and accelerates the process of creating business-critical software and consumer-facing web and mobile applications. It offers modern technology that helps you build and change nearly any type of application, from consumer apps and portals to internal digital solutions that make the lives of your workforce easier to custom core systems designed for your unique business.
With OutSystems, specialized capabilities simplify the complexity of creating enterprise applications and connecting to enterprise data. AI-assisted development guides developers through processes, suggesting the best actions and sources for help, eliminating friction and long lead times. The platform even enables individuals with diverse expertise to participate seamlessly in designing, building, deploying, and managing applications. The result? Serious applications. Serious productivity.
Platform services and many security checks provide scalability, governance, protection from threats, and compliance. AI finds and solves issues early, eliminating design errors and duplication of effort. Real-time application performance data helps identify anything that needs to be corrected or optimized. This all sets you up for continuous innovation.
Continuous innovation is not on the regular low-code menu, but OutSystems was built for it. OutSystems platform services, AI, and visual tools enable the constant introduction of features and capabilities. Developers can evolve apps as quickly as the business changes and new technology is introduced.
If, in the process of looking for a low-code solution to your app development time crunch, you read the Gartner LCAP MQ and chose OutSystems, congratulations. Not only do you still have a job, but you will be the hero who uses high-performance low-code to solve your organization’s most critical challenges. When you tell the rest of the team that version 2 will be done in a week, the person that asked for the bill negotiation and text notifications will be ordering the champagne. Did you choose a different tool, or are you just starting your search? If so, the Gartner LCAP report is a valuable resource. Download it today!1
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If you want to learn more about how low code can help you adopt a successful digital conversion strategy, you can contact BAYPM. However, if you are more interested in learning about the pros and cons of leading low code platforms, check out Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Enterprise low code implementation platforms.
There are a number of excellent benefits that your business can get out of building a mobile application for its needs; whether that be for internal communication, marketing to new clients, or communicating with existing ones.
The objective that the mobile app you are building is meant to fulfill will have a major impact on the type of app you are developing; particularly with reference to its architecture.
In such a situation you have a choice.
You can either build a standalone native app that must be downloaded from an app store and take advantage of the features of a user’s device; or you can opt to build a simpler, more cost-effective and less resource-intensive progressive web app.
In this article, we will explore the differences, benefits and drawbacks of each of these.
This should give you a better idea of which framework would best meet the objectives of your business, no matter what reason you are developing an app for.
Native Apps
Native apps make use of a specific codebase and are developed to be compatible with certain devices that use that framework.
For instance, if a native app needs to be released for both Android and iOS systems, the app will need to be developed for each of those frameworks separately.
This allows the app to take advantage of the hardware and features of that specific device, and also enables it to stand alone as a functional application.
This gives them a number of unique advantages over web apps, but also means that they require specific skill sets to develop, and as such, generally come at a much higher cost than the other two.
Still, if you need to develop an app that is fast, highly functional and complicated, the native approach is generally the best bet thanks to the way they excel in terms of intuitiveness and functionality.
Benefits
From the above description, a few of the top benefits of native apps should start to show themselves.
Let’s take a look at some of the top advantages of choosing native development. These include superior performance, app store support, an enhanced user experience, the ability to use features on the device using the app, as well as higher levels of trust between potential users.
Best Performance
Out of the three approaches mentioned in this article, native apps provide some of the best levels of performance. These builds are generally more stable, reliable and efficient in the way that they use device resources.
This, in turn, creates a more pleasant experience for users but also provides the only viable option for particularly complicated or functional apps.
App Store Support & Discoverability
Because native apps are generally only downloaded from recognised app stores, they are also given more comprehensive support from platforms like the Google Play and iOS App Store.
On top of this, having a presence in these app stores also makes native mobile apps more discoverable than other types, which means that there is a much higher chance of users finding and using it, as opposed to other types that are not hosted on stores, and therefore may need additional marketing to get them into the hands of your potential users.
Smooth & Intuitive User Experience
Because native apps are built using compatible code for specific devices, they are built within a framework that accentuates best-practice guidelines for that specific device.
This means that navigation, usability and functionality all come with a sense of recognisability for users, who will find using the app an intuitive and natural experience without much of a learning curve.
By allowing for a framework that is familiar to your users, these types of apps make them more accessible to users, regardless of the devices they were developed for.
Make Use of Device Features
One of the top advantages to native mobile apps is that in being built with code that is compatible with specific devices, these types of apps are able to make use of the features and hardware on that specific device.
Consider the way Google Maps uses your location through GPS, how Apple Music can send you a notification when your favorite artist releases a new album, or how Instagram can make use of your phone’s camera and apply filters to it.
All of these are examples of how native apps use the functions of a device to provide a unique and seamless experience for users.
App Store Approval Raises Trust
As media consumers, we are all quite a picky lot. If we smell a rat, we are likely to keep our distance. Having native apps listed in the various app stores requires them to first be approved by the stores themselves.
This means that by simply being listed, there is an added layer of trust between the app and its potential users, which means a greater chance of users confidently downloading it.
Drawbacks of Native Apps
Of course, if native apps were just a list of benefits there would be no need for web-based ones. So, let’s have a look at a few of the disadvantages of building native apps.
Requires Experienced Developers
Because each platform that a native app is being developed for differs completely in their coding and frameworks, native apps need to be developed separately for each operating system it is released on.
This means that different developers will need to be used for each platform since each will specialise in a specific coding language.
Even when finding a developer that works across a few Operating Systems (such as Android and iOS), the app will still need to be built independently for each different OS, which can raise the price and time of development substantially.
Higher Cost of Development
Because of the reason mentioned above, and also because of the specialised skill set needed to develop native apps in various forms, these types of apps come at an extra cost to other types.
But when you consider their added functionality and superior performance, this extra cost is worthwhile for apps that need to take advantage of native development.
Not Ideal for Simple Apps
Because of the monetary and time costs of developing native apps, and because they work within a complicated framework of specific coding languages, they are not ideally used for simple apps with limited functionality.
While they can be used for more simplistic apps, the approach isn’t always practical, especially when web apps can facilitate them at less of a cost, and with less time in development.
Web Apps
Now let’s move to an approach on the opposite end of the spectrum, progressive web apps.
These types of apps take a much more general and simplistic approach to development, albeit one that offers far less functionality.
Still, cost-effectiveness and relative ease of development makes web apps ideal for simpler apps.
Web apps are generally used in browsers like Opera or Google Chrome. This is because they are developed using coding languages similarly used for websites like C++ and HTML.
Because of this, web apps only need to be built once. Since web architecture can be used seamlessly across multiple devices, it can be employed to be used on console, PC, Android and iOS all at once; as long as the device using it accesses the app through a browser.
In this way, the app itself is stored on a server rather than a device, from where it is accessed by users when they open the app through a browser. When changes occur on the web app, there is no need to push updates to users’ devices, since the changes will automatically be applied when they access the web app.
It does this, however, while sacrificing on the added functionality of native apps.
Benefits
The fact that they are somewhat simplified doesn’t make web apps worse than native ones. Just different. There are still a number of advantages that they can bring when used in specific situations:
Easy to Use Across Device Types
Because they are developed within a web framework, the same web app can be accessed, as is, across multiple devices, regardless of the operating systems they use.
This means two things: firstly, it means that the app only needs to be developed once, and secondly, it will be able to reach a wider perspective audience.
Less Costly to Develop
Because they are built for the web, these types of apps don’t require as specialized (and rare) a skill as native apps do.
They also only need to be developed for one platform that can be used across devices.
This results in remarkably lower development costs and times when compared to native apps.
No Need for Marketplace Approval
Since these apps behave similarly to websites, they are hosted in the same way as well.
This means that they don’t have to go through the sometimes-lengthy approval process that native mobile apps have to face. This is as true for hosting as it is for when the app needs to be updated.
Because of this, they can be made available to users in much less time than the other types of apps.
Easy to Update
When you update a native app, it needs to be done on the store. At that point, your users will be notified of the update and prompted to do it.
Progressive web apps on the other hand, only need to be updated on the host.
Since these apps are not necessarily downloaded to the device that is accessing it, updated features will show immediately when users access it.
This makes things a lot more convenient for your users, and also gives you more control over which build of the app they are using.
Drawbacks of Web-Based Apps
Limited Use of Device Features
Because web-based apps make use of a C++ framework, they do not contain any of the code that allows the app to take advantage of device-specific features. This means no camera, no GPS and no access to your contacts or storage.
Because of this, web-based apps are only really suited to very basic functions.
Difficult to Collect Usage Metrics
Collecting information on how many users are accessing your apps is straightforward enough with native apps since all of that information is readily available through the respective app store.
Since progressive web apps are hosted independently, that is, away from app stores, getting usage statistics that you can use to improve your services is a little more difficult, and not as detailed or accurate.
Poor Discoverability
Discoverability is also a concern when apps are not hosted on app stores. They will have to be marketed much in the way a website is if you want to attract in users.
This is perfectly fine and well if you are using an app to communicate with existing clients or offering them a service. But when you want your app to build its own success, native apps on stores are far more discoverable.
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If you want to learn more about how low code can help you adopt a successful digital conversion strategy, you can contact BAYPM. However, if you are more interested in learning about the pros and cons of leading low code platforms, check out Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Enterprise low code implementation platforms.
By now, we’re all too familiar with the saying “every company is a software company” but scaling and delivering quality software is — to put it simply — hard: software development complexity keeps growing, with tech stacks constantly changing and new cloud services popping up. Yet, there simply aren’t enough software engineers available in the market: IDC quantified that the shortage of full-time developers is currently 1.4 million people (2021) and that will rise to 4 million people in just 4 years.
At the same time, the revolution of hybrid work and the pandemic acceleration of digital has exploded the backlogs of software dev teams in every industry. These last two disruptions may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back on the old approach for conventional development.
This new reality demands that software engineering leaders must review their 2022 assumptions and make plans to modernize their teams, practices, and tools to address the 4 core pillars of their software engineering:
Developer experience: aiming to reduce technical complexity so that teams can innovate rapidly.
Development workflow automation: removing friction and handovers among all platforms and tools from the different stages of the development lifecycle are integrated holistically.
Security and compliance: developers shift left everything that can be tested during development, and right everything that’s better tested later, making it easier for developers to write secure code.
Deployment and operations: focusing on user adoption to enhance service reliability and performance.
Based on these pillars, we predict 7 software development trends that will be key in 2022 and that software engineering leaders should consider to modernize their dev teams, practices, and tools and achieve their business goals:
DevSecOps
API-led Integrations
Low-code for Pros
Cloud-Native Platforms
DesignOps
Universal Observability
PWA-First
#1: DevSecOps
Security, unfortunately, will continue to be the #1 concern for IT executives and software engineering teams. Between an uptick in ransomware attacks, lack of clear boundaries for organizational data, and increased risk with collaborative citizen developments, the data privacy, and regulatory requirements are threatened more than ever before. This led to an increased demand for DevSecOps, where security and compliance requirements are validated at every step of the development lifecycle.
With this increasing pressure to protect development environments from supply chain security threats and harden software delivery pipelines, we’re seeing CISOs and CIOs gradually preferring to create new web&mobile apps on platforms that manage all stages of app development and delivery for each new app — instead of depending on the non-systematic nature of different people with different practices in secure development.
The ultimate goal is for dev platforms to promote and make it easy for dev teams to create secure code, assuming a Zero Trust security model, instead of relying mostly on security testing methodologies.
#2: Hybrid Integrations
According to The State of SaaS Sprawl in 2021, the average company has 254 SaaS applications but, on average, only 45% of a company’s SaaS apps are being used on a regular basis. Moreover, 56% of all these apps are shadow IT, or owned and managed outside of IT. And the crazy part is to think that goes on top of all the software packages and systems of records they already have to run the core of their business.
The recent furore by business users to deploy RPA over old tools lacking APIs was a shortcut for old systems but not ideal for the fluid nature of digital business making changes all the time. For that agile businesses are using rapid app changes with low-code dev platforms, and the leading ones include these capabilities inside.
Above all, we’re now at a stage where organizations need more than ever to connect in real-time their data management, governance, and auditability across these multiple data sources which begs for more tools in hybrid integrations. The right software dev platforms or dedicated tools allow integrating data from different SaaS and legacy systems for a data fabric used by multiple systems and apps, which is key to supporting business leaders to make data-driven decisions.
“By 2025, 70% of new applications developed by enterprises will use low-code or no-code technologies”.
Low-code doesn’t mean that developers will be replaced by business users (to understand the difference between low-code and no-code take a look at this blog post). Low-code platforms provide abstraction to remove some of that complexity that developers typically face when creating an app or system. And the best ones provide full-stack control for software engineers to have fine-grain control.
The goal is that those repetitive and boring tasks like dependency management, code validation, and automatic builds are done by the platform so that developers can focus on the extra mile that makes the difference, instead of just keeping the lights on.
#4: Cloud-Native Platforms
Still on the SaaS topic, the explosion of niche cloud applications is changing the “build vs buy” economics and timings. That’s because SaaS sprawl is not only exploding the original budgets but also becoming another form of technical debt: jumping among a dozen systems is a poor experience, with business consequences.
To recover business agility in enterprise systems used by customers, partners and employees, it demands a new type of cloud-native app development — one that is highly distributed, scalable, and enables the creation of resilient, fit-to-purpose enterprise apps that increases the agility of the organization.
The explosive growth of the mega vendors’ web services from ~30 five years ago, up to 250 by a single IaaS provider today, is becoming a massive distraction for business developers creating cloud-native applications.
To overcome these challenges, it is key that cloud-native development platforms allow dev teams to remain focused on the value stream management for their digital products, instead of exhausting their engineering talent on infrastructure management alone.
And with tech giants winning the race for scarce specialized engineers, organizations outside that tech elite need to embrace new ways to stay innovative and competitive with their own teams. This means finding technology that allows them to abstract or remove technical complexity and allow their development teams to focus on business outcomes and innovation — like a new crop of Cloud Native Low-Code Platforms.
#5: DesignOps
DesignOps is a tight team sport with close collaboration between design teams and front-end developers (including shared repositories, tools, asset exchange) promoting collaboration across the different product teams within an organization, and ensuring consistency of the product’s experience from the first delivery.
Now, the year 2022 is the first time when IT and app development budgets already reflect the hybrid work reality since both employee and partner experience has become just as critical as the customer experience — for hyperadoption: the broad and frequent use of the applications created to gain business agility.
As organizations are pressured to launch more digital products while meeting user adoption goals, they need to manage design at scale, while minimizing technical and UX debt, bringing DesignOps practices to the center of the stage.
#6: Observability
Going hand-in-hand with DesignOps, engineering leaders should invest in observability for hyperadoption. Combined with new end-user behavior observability and supported on open standards like Open Telemetry for tracing with plans to expand their use for logs and metrics, more digital product teams will aim for user adoption levels that were historically hard to achieve.
#7: PWA-First
Progressive Web AppsPWAs combine the functions of native apps and website accessibility without involving the app stores. Like native apps, PWAs can work offline, send push notifications, and access device hardware, such as cameras or GPS. The user experiences are similar to native apps on mobile and desktop devices without downloading or updating hassles, with great benefit — they run well on top of poor connectivity.
PWAs will regain momentum in 2022 due to their connectivity resilient design and user resistance (to keep piling native apps in their devices). There were already great technical arguments to adopt a PWA-first mindset by developers and software leaders, but the great acceleration to digital experiences is accelerating this change too, because:
From an end user perspective, PWA are easy to use their mobile devices (no app store) and are lightweight.
From a dev perspective, PWAs are way faster to change than native apps, and they are easier to maintain.
For dev teams, unlike native apps, they use one codebase for all devices, they’re searchable by search engines, and they are light.
Get Ready for 2022
So overall, the top software engineering trends we see for 2022 confirm the core of our mission as a company:
“To enable every business to innovate throught software”.
We believe we can’t go wrong in delivering to our customers a platform that keeps removing complexity, addressing the developer experience gap, abstracting the complexity of cloud native development, and, ultimately, enabling our customers to grow faster.
We wish you a successful 2022!
1Breaking out the top of the analysts scale, as you can find out in the first ever “Low-Code Wave” by Forrester in 2016.
