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Applause 2021 Predictions: Business Agility Means Embracing Low-Code/No-Code Automation

vmblog 2021 prediction series 

Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2021.  Read them in this 13th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

Business Agility Means Embracing Low-Code/No-Code Automation

By Jonathan Zaleski, senior director of engineering at Applause

In last year's predictions piece for VMblog, Applause predicted that digital accessibility and personalization would become standard for digital experiences.

None of us, back in December, could ever have predicted COVID-19 or the impact it would have on our lives in 2020. Because COVID-19 forced many of us to work remote long term, digital accessibility came to the forefront like never before. Canada has instituted deadlines for organizations to file compliance audits to ensure accessibility as part of its Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), and many believe that the Biden Administration will signal more stringent accessibility policies and enforcement of existing guidelines in the United States.

It's true that COVID-19 changed the world in many ways, but one thing remains clear - flawless customer experiences and quality digital experiences in particular, are now more important than ever.

Seventy three percent of U.S. consumers say that customer experience is a very important factor in their purchasing decision, so much so that even if they love a company or product, 59% will still walk away after several bad experiences and 17% will walk away after just one bad experience, according to PWC. Customers demand a flawless digital experience on every platform they use today, and the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that organizations can provide them both remotely and quickly.

In 2021, we predict that organizations will turn to the technologies that help them be more nimble and flexible. One technology we think will move into the mainstream is low-code/no-code automation.

Let's face it: the pace of change has never been faster. To keep up with end user demands, competitors and market trends, teams are being asked to release more digital assets faster - and they can't risk improving speed at the expense of quality, because that's when consumers will decide to switch to a competitor.

No longer can brands get away with quality or speed...it has to be both. Companies have to be able to deliver digital experiences that are functionally sound, intuitive and easy to use. Not only that, but new releases have to be delivered seamlessly and at a high cadence.

This need to deliver quality at the speed of development has pushed many organizations to embrace Agile and DevOps methodologies, which address the speed part of the equation, but they still need to deliver quality experiences. That's where a low-code/no-code automation (also referred to as codeless automation) solution comes in.

Brands are always looking for ways to extend their automation capabilities - and rightly so. Over the long term, full-fledged automation can lead to cost savings and gains in efficiency. But in the short term, it can be expensive to get started - and it's not something that can be built overnight.

Low-Code/No-Code automation offers a solve to this problem by helping businesses get started on their path to full-fledged automation, without the high costs of hiring experienced SDETs that are dedicated to writing all automation scripts. Instead, low-code/no-code automation requires little or no automation expertise, and can be completed by developers or QA pros, making it ideal for less complex test cases that don't require the experience and expertise of SDETs. It also lowers the barrier to entry for automation and helps brands to get started quicker and with less overhead. Low-Code/No-Code automation will make shift-left testing more attainable for all brands and build collaboration between development and QA teams.

Applause believes that the continued growth of CI/CD in 2021 will push brands to speed up not only their development pace, but also their QA and quality engineering efforts, and bring quality testing much earlier into the dev cycle than ever before.

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About the Author

jonathan zaleski 

Jonathan Zaleski is a highly skilled, versatile and reliable technical leader with a demonstrated history of working in the internet industry. He has more than 15 years of engineering and technology experience across multiple verticals and platforms. Jonathan is a polyglot skilled in software development, scalability and Agile methodologies who uses his breadth of knowledge and skill to get the best out of his team. He is a dedicated leader who continuously strives for excellence.

As the senior director of engineering at Applause, Jonathan and his team build best-in-class software with an eye toward innovation and next-generation concepts. They work to improve the capabilities of the Applause Platform, using cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning to make the company more efficient.

Jonathan also leads Applause Labs, the company's innovation engine focused on the rapid development and iteration of ideas that will bring next-generation testing concepts to life.

Applause Labs is the industry's largest team dedicated to quality and testing, encompassing current R&D initiatives as well as an expanded focus on developing new testing concepts.

Most recently, Jonathan held several engineering leadership roles at Wayfair. Prior to that, he was a principal software engineer at Sermo. He earned his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) focused in Computer Science, Environmental Science & Math from Westfield State University.

Published Monday, January 11, 2021 7:55 AM by David Marshall
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