Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2020. Read them in this 12th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
By Lev Shur, President of Exadel Solutions
Low Code Development Platforms as Centerpiece to Innovation
Over the past several years, there has
been a boom around emerging technologies.
Gartner reports that in 2019 corporate
strategy teams will spend on average "26% of [their] time to investigate
emerging trends." While the hype and investment in these technologies are real,
the complexity and cost are even more real. The problem we continue to see is
organizations throwing massive amounts of budget and resources at building a
project around emerging technology without first understanding what the return
on investment will be - or if there is even a chance for return at all.
When watching companies like Microsoft
make AI a
reality or IBM rise to the top with blockchain solutions, it's easy to want to hop
on the trails of those successes. The thing is, not every company has the
budget and bandwidth that mega enterprises have to build, test and fail on
repeat until something clicks. While there can still be a lot to learn from
failure, failing to deliver on a several hundred thousand-dollar (or more)
investment can make or break a business. Plus, with the continued proliferation
of emerging technologies (AI, machine learning, blockchain, IoT, bots) the
complexity only rises. This leaves many organizations at a crux - either spend
like crazy with a good chance of missing the mark or lose out on an opportunity
to grow the business with emerging technology.
So, how can the average enterprise test
emerging technologies without breaking the bank?
One trend we have seen over this past
year is a resurgence in the adoption of low code development
platforms. However, their original claim to fame and the reason for
their re-emerging popularity is speed, not innovation: apps need to be
delivered quickly, and nobody waits years for ROI anymore. That said, they have
the potential to be innovation drivers, and they should be!
In 2020, we see low-code development
platforms becoming the centerpiece to innovation. The key to priming these
platforms to deliver on innovation is to provide pre-integrated "innovation
modules," which is not a requirement when building enterprise apps, but it's a
requirement to experiment with new technologies without incurring a lot of pain
and cost. There is also an important distinction to consider: there are low
code platforms for specific technologies (e.g. chatbots, blockchain, etc.), and
there are integrated enterprise low-code development platforms. To drive
innovation, you need to combine the capabilities of both: an integrated low
code development platform that is augmented with innovative technologies so you
can build end-to-end apps quickly that can test different technologies
side-by-side. There are two ways to integrate these capabilities: by providing
proprietary innovation modules (expensive and hard) or integrating other
people's modules (fast and easy).
Of course, fast and easy is the name of
the game so at Exadel we launched the Innovation
Cloud, a low-code development platform aimed at providing tech
leaders with the tools and support they need to build and test emerging
technologies. The Innovation Cloud is a virtual platform that is accessible
anytime, anywhere and comes with expert consulting services to guide the rapid
development of an emerging technology app. While the focus thus far has been
around building blockchain and chatbot apps, in 2020 we look forward to
increasing the number of capabilities available. Enterprises of all sizes need
to be able to keep up with the pace of innovation and we are excited to see
what new technologies arise in the coming year.
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About the Author
Lev Shur is the President of Exadel
Solutions (www.exadel.com). He is
responsible for the strategy, sales, and delivery of industry solutions, along
with managing key alliances and partnerships. Lev is a seasoned business
development executive and software entrepreneur. His successful career also
includes software development and technology consulting. In 2010, Lev merged
741 Studios, a financial technology consultancy he founded, with Exadel. Under
his leadership, 741 Studios experienced exponential growth and earned a
respected reputation with its clients, including American Express, Bank of
America, Deutsche Bank, and UBS.