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How Low-Code/No-Code Solves The Skills Gap In Enterprise

Written by Lee Glynn
December 5, 2022
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Low-code/no-code tools are reducing development times by 10x, enabling enterprises to bridge the skills gap and solve problems at a fraction of the cost of traditional development. But How?

By futureproofing their business apps and bridging the skills gap in-house with Low-Code/No-Code development platforms, businesses and enterprises are ensuring the growth of the business and stability of IT infrastructure in a world where skills shortages are fast becoming an issue.

How? Through Citizen Development and low-code/no-code.

Finding a Developer is Becoming Difficult…and Costly

A study by The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that by 2026, the US engineers’ shortage will exceed 1.2M. Finding a developer is going to be difficult VERY soon. If you’re trying to hire talent, that’s a scary thought!

What’s even scarier, is that a study by Indeed found that under 40% of candidates for DevOps job openings fully met employers’ requirements. The study found that over 50% of businesses were hiring tech employees despite a mismatch between requirements and the skills needed, which inevitably caused the quality of apps and services provided to decrease.

The fact is, companies in need of a developer, who will:

  • Fit the bill for their needs
  • Be able to start developing quickly
  • Understand their key demographic and business challenges
  • Stay within budget

…is becoming a challenge.

But what about a third-party developer? Or outsourcing development?

As traditional development of a business app can reach into the $250,000 mark, whereas LCNC development platforms like forms2 are as little as $18 per month*, businesses and enterprise organisations are looking to upskill their existing staff into Citizen Developers, enabling them to build with an existing toolkit rather than develop an app from the ground up.

It’s faster and A LOT cheaper.

According to Gartner, the worldwide LCNC development technologies market increased 23% in 2021 to $13.8 billion.

Your competitors are building their own apps in a fraction of the time traditional development takes.

Low-code/no-code is cost-effective, faster to market and easier to integrate into your existing IT and business infrastructure.

We’ve discussed the benefits of LCNC platforms in great detail, and how to spot your Citizen Developers in your existing teams to save money without outsourcing. The fact is, businesses are waking up to the power of Low-Code/No-Code platforms and enjoying the use of forms2 as they solve the skills gap, upskill existing workers and reduce the strain on IT by giving existing staff the power to create solutions to a business they’re already familiar with.

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How Does Low-Code/No-Code Bridge The Skills Gap?

In a nutshell, LCNC bridges the skills gap by enabling citizen developers with no previous coding knowledge to build an app through an easy-to-use drag-and-drop toolkit approach to building instead of creating software or an app from scratch.

This is perfect for non-technical users, as it empowers them to create simple or complex, multi-functional apps for use within their own departments if needed, utilising their unique understanding of departmental needs. It can also boost the IT team’s productivity, freeing time to deal with complex business challenges.

Essentially, low-code/no-code provides the ability to own the UI of an app in a branded ecosystem tailored to the business needs. Often launching the app in a matter of hours or weeks, rather than months.

1. Reduces the need for coding knowledge

Not everyone can code. But department leaders know the unique (and not so unique) problems that need solving.

LCNC bridges the skills gap as it reduces or eradicates (depending on what’s needed) the need for the user to understand code. As our client, Romain at European Camping Group said “Using the forms2 platform is like building with Lego”, the forms2 LCNC development platform provides the user with pre-existing blocks and screens, rules, mobile forms and automation standards within an easy-to-use UI that they can use without coding – we’ve done all of the coding in the background for you!

This allows IT departments, business owners, executives and anyone with a keen eye for solving problems in business to build an app that works for them and their business with a simple point-and-click/drag-and-drop interface.

This is exactly how MAAC heating & cooling achieved a 66% YOY growth with mobile forms and apps they built using the no-code forms2 workflow builder.

“With forms2 forms and apps, that completely and utterly changed overnight. It’s improved and changed all areas of the business. Our growth rate has been so steep, it’s forever changing and we’re at about 66% in growth (YOY).”

Tom Harvey, Managing Director of MAAC Heating & Cooling

You can read more about it in our mobile forms and business apps case studies.

You CAN use the app with custom code, but if you don’t need to or don’t know how, you’re still good to go!

2. Upskilling existing workforce

As we’ve mentioned, finding the right developer is tough. Getting them up to speed with what you need as a business is time-consuming, especially if they’re new to the sector.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) report “Business insights and impact on the UK economy” 2021 it stated that 41% of all businesses with 10 or more employees reported more difficulties filling vacancies as opposed to the year before.

Utilising and upskilling your existing workforce provides opportunities for existing staff to enhance their problem-solving capabilities, thanks to the unique understanding of their department. Those with in-depth experience of the challenges can build an app that will speed up productivity without IT bottlenecks.

As a business, this is welcome, as the recruitment process can be long, arduous and expensive. Whereas upskilling a Citizen Developer is much faster, especially when IT professionals are in short supply.

By upskilling you reduce the need for outsourcing recruitment and allow your existing team members to grow their skills which will, in turn, help you solve business problems.

Upskilling staff is also key to staff retention. Providing new avenues for your employees to expand their skill set that in turn benefits the organisation a win/win. And as XpertHR reported that staff turnover was around 18.3% for technology staff, there’s no time to waste if you want to keep good people in your organisation!

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3. The learning process is 10x faster

Whether you want to take on the development process yourself or upskill your existing staff, learning how to code is going to take years. As a business owner or IT decision maker (ITDM), you don’t have time to learn an entirely new skill that can take years to master, right now.

Fortunately, the ability to use a drag-and-drop system in the form of LCNC development means you can reduce the time to market by around 65-70% based on customer feedback.

  • Single screens and forms can be built in around two hours, completely eradicating the need for paper process in mere minutes.
  • Multiple screen types and dashboards ranging from 8-10 screens can be built within two weeks, solving many operational problems and streamlining workflows in the process.
  • Complex business apps can be built using multi (50 to 60) screen workflows with triggers to and from external systems in around two months.
  • An entirely operational business app with multiple screens and workflows, streamlined processes and automation, complete with integration and connection to your existing tech stack in 60 days.

Built by your staff (or you!), with a little help from our platform specialists, on standby when you need us.

LCNC Development is a LOT faster than traditional development.

With low-code/no-code the user’s learning curve is more about how to integrate, run and maintain the app, using the unique understanding of the business and the skills base they already have.

This is exactly how Steve Hawker at Art Systems managed to free up 114 days a year and rescue upwards of £40,000+ in wasted revenue with forms2. By upskilling and learning the platform, he built a no-code business app.

In days.

Now, the entire team uses the platform and workflows are streamlined. Accountability is absolute and productivity has skyrocketed.

Read more in our mobile forms and business apps case studies.

Final thoughts on how low-code/no-code bridges the skills gap

It’s plain to see that businesses have a unique opportunity to solve workflow and business process issues by using the cost-effective LCNC development method. Not only do they plug the internal skills gap, but they enable enterprises to build a long-term strategy to deliver a competitive advantage on a platform that you can rely on. One that scales and grows with you.

Low-code/no-code is also very safe to use.

And low-code is also a LOT cheaper than traditional development.

The LCNC forms2 platform empowers enterprise organisations by enabling them to support continuous change and growth, both in a business sense and for employees. LCNC reduces IT bottlenecks, allows you to hit the ground running building an app in hours, weeks or a couple of months and take the pressure off their existing teams by making integration so much easier, free from costly development contracts.

With the typical shelf life of an app ranging from three to five years and developers in short supply, it’s time to find your citizen developers and upskill from within.

Your competitors have already started.

Speak to a platform specialist at forms2 and build your own scalable Android, iOS and Windows business apps and mobile forms in hours, not months.

Go from beginner to no-code expert in weeks.

Why choose forms2?

  1. Our apps are designed to make you look good without making you work hard.
  2. We take all the guesswork out of app development, so you can focus on what’s important – your business.
  3. You don’t need to learn to code or hire a developer to get an app made.
  4. forms2 makes it easy for busy professionals to get their teams and data connected, and mobile-friendly in no time at all!

Go from beginner to no-code expert in weeks.

14-day trial. No Fee. No obligation. Try today.

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