“The Future of IT”: Why CIOs Need to Embrace Low-code Culture

Healthcare has often been the victim of hyped-up technology, so it’s no surprise that CIOs are wary of new trends. Welcome to the buzz surrounding low-code software.

Low code can potentially facilitate the development of solutions by relying on a graphical user interface instead of the traditional approach of hand-coded programming, thus requiring little to no coding to build applications and processes.

This more visual approach to software development is on the rise, particularly after a Gartner prediction that low-code application development would represent about 65 percent of application development activity. In February, Gartner forecasted worldwide low-code development to grow 23 percent this year.

Recent initial public offerings for companies further demonstrate the growing hype. For example, UiPath’s IPO raised $1.3 billion while providing a total market capitalization of nearly $30 billion. The company serves as a global software company for robotic process automation (RPA).

RPA is driving the shift

The success of RPA solutions relies on low-code or no-code applications. RPA is rising on the CIO’s radar because of the promise it offers in enabling complete hyper-automation and supporting digital transformation. This growing trend suggests CIOs must adopt a new philosophy for executing a low-code culture in IT.

Four themes are essential to executing this shift:

1. Keep it simple, stupid. Undergirding the shift to low-code development means programming and automation should not be complex and not require intensive support from IT to make the change. While that may seem obvious given the underlying problem that low code is attempting to solve, it’s important not to complicate the new approach.

The usability of the products must be simple enough at the start. Organizations have a better chance of understanding the simplicity of a low-code platform when they start using it, so IT executives should not overthink it and buy a platform solution that has too many bells and whistles.

2. All about speed. By uncomplicating the development process and enabling more people to engage in it, the time to develop should be faster with low code. There should also be a reduction in costs to develop solutions.

But that won’t help without assistance in education and culture change. CIOs will need to take the lead role in encouraging the automation mindset for the organization. Employees will need to be encouraged to explore avenues to automate by utilizing low-code technology tools.

Zafar Chaudry, MD, CIO at Seattle Children’s, said his organization embraced low-code development because “it’s intuitive, adaptive, iterative and flexible and has allowed us to develop patient-facing apps (idea to app in days) quickly with limited skill sets. It’s empowered our teams to zoom in on the patient experience for digital transformation.”

3. Crowdsource the IT department. CIOs must adopt a new, inclusive mindset that envisions wider dispersal of IT involvement. It won’t be easy; it’s a profound shift to think of the future of running IT in an organization where every employee has the basic skills to develop automation.

Low code provides the opportunity to crowdsource solutions within an organization. However, to take full advantage of that philosophy, CIOs must shift their mentality and find ways to promote “citizen developers.”

4. IT department adjustments. The future of IT in organizations requires a shift to low-code software development. To make this happen, CIOs must emphasize implementation training for their workforces on how to use the platform. And by extension, that means IT must let go of control to facilitate the transition.

Documentation and oversight will continue to be important. This is where IT can come alongside the workforce to put the process in place, but CIOs must ensure their departments don’t become a roadblock or gatekeeper. IT also has a role to play in monitoring application design and ensuring security protocols are in place. This also means that security professionals must adapt, because these tools are not going away anytime soon.

Next steps

Healthcare doesn’t deal well with change, and CIOs are no exception to that rule. When it comes to low-code transitions, CIOs must face their fears of giving up control and realize they cannot try to regulate and control access, especially to data. It can be freeing — instead of being the technical guru, a CIO can instead can adopt the crowdsource mindset.

According to Joel Vengco, Chief Information and Digital Officer at Baystate Health, “Democratization of data, and now democratization of coding through low code, are key ingredients to creating a culture of learning and innovation focused on rapid solution delivery. It promotes reuse or mashups of app components that can accelerate development, especially single use or time-limited solutions.”

This piece was originally published on David Chou’s blog page. To follow him on Twitter, click here.