Mobile World Capital Barcelona and NTT DATAwithin the framework of the Barcelona Digital Talent alliance, have presented the report “Low-Code Analysis: new paradigm in software development”. The study aims to show the consolidation of new Low-Code or No-Code technologies like a effective solution to companies that suffer from the high demand for technology and the scarcity of digital profiles.
For its development, in-depth interviews have been conducted with senior executives from more than 25 companies such as Iberdrola, Zurich, Nestlé, Accenture or Bayer, who show their vision of how the implementation of these technologies has favored the development of their activity. In turn, these interviews are complemented with the analysis of data sources from reports from various analysts (IDC, Gartner, Forrester), specialized companies (Research and Markets, Job and Markets Insights), as well as databases from public organizations such as Eurostat.
Low-Code and No-Code technologies: the solution to the growing digital divide in organizations and the lack of specialized digital talent
Carlos Grau, CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, presented the event and highlighted that “Low-Code is a transformative and highly relevant solution to meet urgent needs and, at the same time, train the current talent of companies”.
Digitization has become one of the main levers for competitiveness in the context of the 4th industrial revolution. Thus, it is estimated that by 2023 it will be necessary to create 500 million new applications worldwide, a fact that overcomes the shortage of digital talent. To meet this high demand, 350,000 ICT specialists will be required in Europe (75,000 of which in Spain).
This scenario directly impacts the corporate context because one of the main challenges is the difficulty in attracting and retaining quality digital talent for the development of their businesses. In fact, 55% of EU companies have or have had difficulties hiring ICT specialists, according to Eurostat. Even so, this gap is expected to grow, since every two years, the demand for ICT profiles in Spain doubles.
As a solution to this latent problem, a large number of companies are relying on the use of Low-Code platforms to generate talent to face this digital divide.
These are translated as technologies that minimize and even eliminate (No-Code) manual coding in the development of software applications. Xavier Rovira, Managing Partner NTT DATA Barcelonahas underlined the main characteristics of the Low-Code and highlights that “These technologies allow us to accelerate the pace and move towards a more robust digital transformation.”.
Those responsible for detailing the report in depth have been Sílvia Sousa, Digital Strategy & Technology Partner at NTT DATA and Jordi Arrufí, Director of the Digital Talent program at Mobile World Capital Barcelona. Sousa has delved into the use cases of Low-Code, what it is for and how it helps companies, highlighting that the companies interviewed in the report have used Low-Code to “democratize code and development and thus put technology at the employee service as a lever for agility and innovation”. In Sousa’s words, “Low-Code emerged more than a decade ago, although it did not become popular until 2017 and it is now that we can speak of the Low-Code revolution driven by the acceleration of digitization. Quickly software applications. This drive lies not only in the ability of technology to speed up application development, but also in its ability to democratize it”.
For his part, Arrufí analyzed the impact of Low-Code on talent and explained that “the use of Low-Code supposes a true social transformation, since many more people will be able to program”. The Barcelona Digital Talent spokesperson underlines that “the software industry is preparing for all employees to be able to program and we are moving towards the appearance of the new figure of Citizen Developers”.
Improved agility, democratization of technology, acceleration of company digitization and development of digital dexterity
To understand the penetration of Low-Code technologies in large corporations and the impact it has had, Barcelona Digital Talent has interviewed various senior executives from large companies such as Iberdrola, Zurich, Nestlé, Caixabank, Mapfre, or Bayer who have explained what role occupies the Low-Code in its companies and the main benefits of these technologies.
The main Low-Code use cases that were identified focus on everything related to digital channels, development of web portals or appsboth for employees and consumers. While it is true that each company adopted these technologies for different purposes, they all achieved greater than expected results.
Thus, a group of volunteer professionals quickly and agilely implemented an application to make it easier for them to keep relatives of people admitted to hospitals informed during the Covid-19 pandemic. It took only 7 days to implement the application through Low-Code in 6 hospitals.
Gartner forecasts that by 2025, 70% of new applications developed by companies will use No-Code and Low-Code technologies
The companies interviewed reveal that Low-Code and No-Code is on the agenda of most CIOs of these large companies, although it is still in an earlier phase of adoption compared to other geographies such as northern Europe or the US. These companies are already training employees from outside the IT area in Low-Code technology due to the latent shortage of digital profiles. According to data from the report, 42% of companies choose to train non-ICT profiles when implementing projects based on Low-Code technologies In fact, the main Low-Code manufacturers expect the growth rate of these technologies in the Spanish market to be 100% in the coming years.
The Low-Code is being perceived as a means to promote in the sector given that involves people with different business profiles in the digital transformation of their companies. This growing trend is reflected in the job offers for Low-Code developers that have grown by 73%, compared to 2019, in countries such as Spain, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.
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