Breaking free: How Low-Code Software Development Enables Vendor Independence

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Vendor lock-in is a common problem faced by organizations that rely on software solutions from a particular vendor. When a company is locked into a specific vendor, it can be difficult to switch to a different solution, which can limit innovation and flexibility. This can be particularly challenging for companies that rely on custom software solutions, as they can be heavily dependent on the vendor that developed the software.

One solution to overcome this problem is low-code software development, which enables organizations to develop and deploy software solutions quickly and easily. Low-code development platforms provide pre-built components and templates that can be used to create custom software applications without the need for extensive coding expertise.

This article will explore how low-code software development can help organizations break free from vendor lock-in and achieve greater vendor independence. First, we will discuss the concept of vendor lock-in and its impact on software development. Then, we will provide an overview of low-code software development and how it can be used to develop custom software solutions. Finally, we will discuss the benefits of low-code development for achieving vendor independence.

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The Four Key Enterprise Systems: How Low-Code Automation Can Help You Stay Ahead

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In today’s fast-paced business landscape, staying ahead of the competition requires efficient and streamlined processes. Enterprise systems play a vital role in managing various aspects of an organization, including customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management (SCM), and human resources management (HRM). This article aims to explore the importance of these four key enterprise systems and how low-code automation can enhance their effectiveness, enabling businesses to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving market.

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Optimizing Hospital Workflows with Low-Code Automation and Integration Software

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The healthcare industry is constantly striving to improve efficiency and enhance patient care. Hospital workflows play a crucial role in achieving these goals, but they often suffer from manual processes, disjointed systems, and data silos. To address these challenges, more and more hospitals are turning to low-code automation and integration software. Continue reading to explore the benefits and potential applications of such software in optimizing hospital workflows.

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How Low-Code Platforms are Revolutionizing Nonprofit Management

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The world of nonprofit management is constantly evolving, with new challenges and opportunities emerging on a daily basis. From fundraising and donor management to program development and impact assessment, nonprofit organizations must navigate a complex landscape of tasks and responsibilities in order to achieve their goals.

In recent years, however, a new tool has emerged that promises to revolutionize the way that nonprofits operate: low-code platforms.

These innovative software solutions allow organizations to build custom applications and workflows quickly and easily, without the need for extensive coding expertise. By streamlining processes and automating tasks, low-code platforms can help nonprofits become more efficient, productive, and responsive to the needs of their communities.

In fact, according to Gartner, by 2024 more than 65% of application development activity will be on low-code platforms, up from less than 20% in 2019.

Low-code platforms have already become widely adopted in the finance, insurance , manufacturing and retail sectors. Let’s look at how low-code platforms are transforming nonprofit management and offer insights into how nonprofits can successfully adopt and integrate these technologies into their operations.

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Why using a low-code CRM is a game changer for nonprofit organizations

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A low-code CRM platform allows for rapid digitization and innovation and greater cost savings for nonprofits and NGOs.

It is a common misconception that customer relationship management (CRM) software is only of use in a business environment, which relies heavily on the connections it maintains with its customers. Of course, nonprofits and NGOs don’t work with customers in the traditional sense, so the word ‘customer’ in the acronym can be misleading.

That said, NGOs do work with volunteers, who are analogous to employees, and benefactors, who are analogous to customers. Managing these relationships is broadly similar to how it is in any industry, in that success hinges on factors like personalization and having timely access to the right information. That, in essence, is what CRM is all about.

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What is vendor lock-in, and what does it mean for low-code software development?

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Many low-code platforms are closed-source ecosystems tied to specific vendors, which means vendor lock-in is a common concern – but there are exceptions.

If you purchased music over the Apple iTunes store prior to March 2009, you could only play it in the iTunes media player software. Everything in your music library was locked into that one ecosystem. If you wanted to use another media player or device that didn’t support the iTunes app, your only option was to buy all your music again from another vendor. This is a textbook example of vendor lock-in.

While vendor lock-in is frustrating for consumers, it can be disastrous for businesses to the point that it can completely derail their digital transformation strategies. It’s a common issue in cloud computing, for example, because many vendors take deliberate measures to prevent or discourage their customers from switching to another vendor. As such, it can be very difficult to migrate databases between platforms, and there may be high data egress fees when doing so.

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How low code is reducing costs and empowering innovation in healthcare

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Healthcare providers must deliver modern, digital services, but many are held back outdated legacy systems. Here’s how low code can help close the gap.

Electronic health records (EHR) and the exchange of digital information underpin the delivery and management of any modern health service. Yet despite recent advancements, especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, many of today’s EHR systems are outdated, existing on legacy architecture that results in delays in – or even a lack of – the exchange of essential health information between services.

Addressing these issues has long proven extremely challenging and expensive, with projects frequently going over budget and taking much longer than anticipated. For example, in 2013, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) abandoned patient record system was described as the biggest IT failure ever seen, ultimately wasting approximately £10 billion. The cause of the debacle was put down to the government’s inability to successfully manage large IT contracts.

Cases such as these are why the healthcare sector has been relatively slow to innovate over the past decade. However, a lack of innovation is not the answer to mitigating risk and enabling better patient outcomes. If EHR and other vital healthcare systems aren’t kept up to date, they will be unable to keep up with demands and expectations that set the standards for a modern healthcare service. After all, in healthcare, time isn’t just money – it can also be the difference between sickness and health.

While there are many potential barriers to innovation in healthcare, arguably one of the biggest is the shortage of specialized IT skills, which has also led to a significant increase in the costs of IT projects. This results in delays and inadequate technical solutions that fail to meet their goals.

Low code solutions aim to address the technical barriers by making development much more accessible, more affordable, and much faster. By reducing the engineering effort required, the low-code approach provides an easily scalable architecture that can integrate with numerous data sources, thus facilitating seamless transactions of EHRs and other healthcare data. An open-source solution goes even further by allowing healthcare organizations to preserve total control over how they govern and protect sensitive data like patient health information (PHI).

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How low code can help financial institutions deliver modern digital services

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Established financial institutions face rising competition from digital-only alternatives, making clear the case for using low code to enable rapid innovation.

The steps involved in almost any type of financial transaction are largely the same across the board. This makes the routine ways we interact with financial institutions prime candidates for app-based account management and automated workflows. It’s also why neobanks and other digital-only financial services have become enormously popular in recent years.

Despite this, the actual user experience that clients have when working with financial services varies dramatically. Sometimes, these experiences are unnecessarily lengthy or complicated, particularly when it comes to the application and enforcement of security controls. More often than not, this is down to the fact that established financial institutions often heavily reliant on legacy architecture, which is harder to integrate with today’s software solutions. Financial startups, on the other hand, face different challenges, such as limited resources for developing modern app-based services.

Developing a bespoke financial services application from scratch using the traditional method is time-consuming, expensive, and subject to numerous testing and refinement cycles. Low-code solutions can help reduce that technical debt by facilitating fast and agile development, applying visualized and fully automated workflows, and continuous testing and feedback.

Given that financial workflows, such as transferring funds and opening accounts, are so similar within their respective domains, low code is particularly suitable for driving innovation in the sector. By providing the underlying framework, including business logic represented as drag-and-drop visual components, low code makes it easy to develop branded financial services applications in minimal time.

This is also why the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector now accounts for almost a third of the entire low-code market. However, given the highly regulated nature of the sector, and the fact that regulatory regimes vary significantly between jurisdictions, there are still significant barriers to its adoption.

Digital sovereignty, which is especially important in the financial services space is, after all, far harder to achieve when relying entirely on closed-source ecosystems – which most low-code platforms are. However, there are exceptions, like Corteza, which gives businesses complete freedom over how and where they host and manage their data. This makes the combination of open source licensing and low-code development a natural fit for driving innovation in the finance sector.

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Data privacy and regulatory compliance in low-code platforms

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Concerns around data privacy and regulatory compliance shouldn’t derail the adoption of low-code platforms. Here’s how to ensure low code doesn’t equal high risk.

The adoption of no-code and low-code technologies is soaring. Gartner predicts that by 2025 70% of new enterprise applications will be created in low-code development environments, up from just 25% in 2020. This growth accompanies an acute shortage of professional software developers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, businesses and non-profit organizations alike face constant pressure to innovate rapidly.

No-code and low-code technologies present a way to close that gap, since they allow almost anyone to become a software developer. As co-founder and CEO of GitHub Chris Wanstrath famously said back in 2017, the future of coding is no coding at all.

However, while the value of low-code is undeniable, we cannot afford to lose sight of one of the biggest barriers to its adoption – data privacy and security. Low code doesn’t necessarily mean low risk. After all, allowing more people in the enterprise to get involved in development can naturally lead to creating new vulnerabilities, such as lack of oversight and visibility.

Adopting low-code software development is especially challenging for enterprises which have relied on in-house development for decades. As is the case with any transformation, the risks of something going wrong are ever-present, and adopting low-code platforms is no exception. On the other hand, the costliest words in business are ‘we’ve always done it this way’. That’s why digital transformation must always approach privacy, security, and regulatory compliance by design and default. Here’s what that means in the context of low-code development.

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What Is Low-Code Security Automation?

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Recent developments in digital technology have not only resulted in more efficient and productive business processes but have also resulted in a proportional increase in security and encryption threats and vulnerabilities. However, as security threats and risks continue to become more and more sophisticated, it can become extremely expensive for modern businesses to implement numerous different expensive and time-consuming security solutions.

Low-code security automation is the answer. Studies have shown that 66% of businesses view increased responsiveness as their primary motive for adopting and integrating low-code platforms. Low-code security automation involves integrating low-code automation into various security and encryption business processes to enhance enterprise applications and security workflows as well as expedite development cycles.

This can be extremely beneficial for helping your business not only automate various time-consuming and repetitive aspects of organizational security processes but can also increase cross-departmental collaboration as well as empower citizen development initiatives.

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