By Francis Carden, VP, Digital Automation and Robotics, Pegasystems
RPA has rightly been credited for helping drive some quick wins optimizing existing business processes. This has even helped IT somewhat, given they already had a lot on their plate. However, standalone RPA alone is on its way out. As we enter an era where hyper-automation is necessary, RPA is not only becoming less critical but indeed, now also proving to be adding the very support burdens back on IT, and as businesses, struggle to find additional value from it. To counter this, RPA vendors have tried to rebrand their “drag and drop” IDEs as “low-code” or “no-code”. But the days of just automating as-is processes using standalone RPA are ending. Business and IT are now collaborating more than ever on broader transformation. In 2023, we’ll see the market pivot away from RPA as a standalone automation tool towards strategies that rely more heavily on rapid-fire, pure-play low-code capabilities. to achieve their longer-term transformative automation goals.
Enterprise IT will demand a low-code approach that minimizes risk. Risk is rising, and businesses must know what their software is doing and how people use it. While low code is the great enabler for developing and deploying business applications quicker and easier, left unchecked, businesses can’t harness its power. Instead, low code can lead to more risk for enterprise IT. In 2023, we’ll see more demand for enterprise-grade low code tools and governance to help avoid risk but also minimize it. IT will be the new champions of low code, taking the proactive lead to run and manage low code tools to minimize rogue IT. 2023 will be the year we finally see business leaders have IT’s back as they own low-code development.
Low code will facilitate API economy. We are witnessing the rise of apps and software solutions to respond to the complexities of our hyperconnected world. However, businesses can’t – and shouldn’t – make everything low code all at once. Patchwork procedures are creating silos, and in 2023, businesses will embrace a hybrid approach where both high and low code can coexist – made possible by the power of APIs. We’ll see an emergence of APIs that allow businesses to have low-code components embedded in custom-coded applications. More apps will become hybrid low code/high code, like low code-built onboarding and service journeys that run seamlessly inside websites built with traditional coding tools. 2023 will be the year when low code and high code coexist in user experiences, and more businesses will stitch together workflow applications for connected, complete experiences.
Enterprises will look for sustainable low code that minimizes waste. Too often, businesses approach low code as a single source application or a cobbled-together set of band-aids for automation, creating added waste. 2023 will be the year that companies take a sustainable approach to low code by minimizing waste and maximizing reuse. Businesses today produce too many single-purpose apps with no vision for reuse – each app is built on its own and then essentially thrown away. 2023 will be the year enterprises focus on building reusable assets that build and grow with each other and have a combined impact on innovation. Mature low-code deployments look a lot like a house of cards – it can stand up, but the structure’s longevity is unreliable. In 2023, purpose-built low code platforms will be the foundation of application development that is appropriately governed, collaborative, and follows a road map to creating a culture built on low code.
The emergence of ‘low code with a brain.’ While we’ve seen AI appear tactically across the enterprise, it’s part of a much broader transformation – and often requires an army of data scientists. When deployed pragmatically, AI can be transformative for all employees. Enter low code. In 2023, we’ll see smarter low code emerge. Infused with AI, low code will become more valuable and safer than ever. 2023 will be the year AI-infused low code enables all users to benefit from AI to optimize processes, increase efficiency and improve decision-making, making low code development more beneficial, safer, and smarter than ever before.
Low code will kill RPA. RPA market growth is flattening as people realize its limitations. With the need for enterprise-wide automation – transformational automation – more critical now than ever before, enterprises need better solutions. Dubbed initially as an all-in-one solution for automating critical parts of the organization, RPA is starting to show its true colors. RPA is just the start of streamlining operations and automating those tedious manual tasks that are prone to errors and prevent employees from doing more valuable work. It’s a Band-Aid that patches a broken process – but low code is the strategic vision for optimizing and transforming critical business processes that drive hyper-automation and innovation across the enterprise ecosystem. 2023 will bring the wake-up call that organizations must stop ignoring a core principle of enterprise strategy: purpose-built, enterprise-grade tools that always optimize and automate.