Survey finds 74 percent of IT professionals see low-code solutions as key to rapid application development

Findings reveal IT turns to low-code applications to combat long-development cycles and satisfy end-user demands

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Apr 11, 2017, 09:00 ET

ATLANTA, April 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The next time a team member brings up the "RAD enterprise," remind yourself he's not striving to impress you with his 80's slang. Instead, he's hitting on a larger trend for rapid application development (RAD) amidst organizations throughout the U.S.

According to the PMG Pulse: IT and the Rise of the RAD Enterprise survey, nearly 60 percent of corporate IT professionals are currently using RAD methodologies in their organizations. This accelerated rate of adoption among survey respondents for this agile software development methodology is due to several challenges, including:

Long development cycles
Unclear or conflicting business requirements
Integration challenges with legacy systems
Meeting evolving end user demands
Meeting productivity goals and remaining within budget

IT professionals are turning to technology with low-code capabilities to overcome these challenges and make RAD possible. In fact, 74 percent of IT professionals identified no and low-code capabilities as key when evaluating RAD platforms. These solutions deliver on two key features IT desires: high-productivity and high-control.

"Enterprises often have processes that grow up over time and become their own series of little monsters," said Jon Jenkins, manager of IT business process automation for Kautex Textron. "Low-code capabilities allow teams like mine to take back control so there's less effort, less wasted time and more awareness."

Low-code solutions paired with a RAD strategy reduces pressures on IT, ultimately improving productivity by empowering a new generation of coders — citizen developers — for application development. Citizen developers, defined by Gartner as a user who creates new business applications for consumption by themselves or others using low-code development platforms provided by corporate IT, are a growing force within the enterprise.

In fact, more than 40 percent of respondents expressed interest in citizen developers, with nearly 20 percent of these respondents actively using them. With citizen developers, IT leaders believe their department will:

Work side-by-side with citizen developers to improve efficiencies
Take on a more strategic, advisory role in the development process
Include more tech-savvy business analysts

Ultimately, respondents feel that these industry shifts could usher in a new era of IT. Thirty-four percent of IT professionals think that there will be more emphasis on technical resources with business backgrounds over traditional coders. Additionally, 31 percent see a shifting dynamic from standard coding to configuration.

"It's not a renaissance, but it's close," said Joe LeCompte, PMG principal. "In a world where you can pay your taxes from your cell phone, IT should be leading the way toward a simpler way of working. And we're seeing that in the form of RAD methodologies backed by low-code solutions, a trend you can expect to continue."

For in-depth survey findings from the PMG Pulse: IT and the Rise of the RAD Enterprise survey, visit http://www2.pmg.net/RADsurvey.

About the PMG Pulse: IT and the Rise of the RAD Enterprise
PMG commissioned a blind survey of North American IT professionals in late 2016/early 2017. Fifty-one percent of survey respondents were in IT management (managers, supervisors, directors, etc.), and 23 percent were senior IT executives (CIO, CTO, vice president, etc.). Company size ranged from less than $200 million in revenue to more than $3 billion, with 31 percent having more than $3 billion in annual sales and 46 percent having more than 100 employees in its IT department. The top five industries represented include computer technology, consulting, manufacturing finance/accounting and healthcare.

About PMG
The Global 2000 rely on PMG's Digital Business Platform to streamline operations and increase ROI. By automating processes and integrating systems while improving user experience and enhancing collaboration, PMG delivers better results, faster, to business and IT managers. Our low-code BPM platform is configurable and supports constantly evolving business needs for solutions ranging from case management and compliance to IT process automation and HR enablement. For more information, visit http://www.pmg.net/.

SOURCE PMG