Solving real business issues with low code and fusion development – how to do it.
How can low code platform and fusion development help organizations to accelerate their digital transformation? With this article I will give my view and some advice on this question.
Most of us are involved in the digital transformation process to transform our organization to become more digital and ready for today’s challenges. Last year a lot of companies had to speed up their transformation because of the COVID-19 situation. Many needed to create an online presence to do business. Also their internal processes needed to be automated for a paperless office to keep work together, for example approval flows for orders or virtual agents to assist with finding information.
One way to speed up development of business solutions to meet these needs is to use a low code platform, like the Microsoft Power Platform. A capable low code platform makes it possible for non-IT people like business users to develop solutions, so-called citizen developers. This has two major advantages. Primarily these citizen developers have the business knowledge about what functionality needs to be built. The second is that it solves the shortage of professional developers.
Currently there is a shortage of developers and budget to implement all the necessary business apps. Low code platforms enable citizen developers (business users) to develop the business apps and therefore there is a lesser need to hire consultants and/or developers.
With a good low code platform and the power of the citizen developers, organizations can quickly develop solutions necessary for their digital transformation.
So how do organizations reach that balance?
How fusion teams can help transitioning to digital transformation
There are challenges to make technology work for you. For example, who controls the security, how do you prevent data breaches, and who is responsible for maintaining these solutions? Think about if a solution becomes more complex (high code) or needs some technical implementation, the citizen developer would need assistance from a professional developer. This is where a fusion development team comes into play.
The fusion team is a multi-disciplinary team where citizen developers, professional developers, and IT Pros work together, each playing to their strengths with a common goal in mind:
- The citizen developers work on the business functionality
- The professional developers focus on the necessary high code or technical parts
- The IT Pros operate a secure and controlled environment
To develop a business app, the citizen developer (business user) develops the required functionality with the powerful low code platform. The citizen developer does not have to explain the necessary functionality and business rules to other consultants or developers which makes it much more efficient and error prone. When the solution requires functionality that is too technical for the citizen developer, the professional developer works together to accomplish that. For example, if there needs to be an interface (API) with an application that has no standard connector, the professional developer can create it for the citizen developer.
When developing an app this needs to be tested and deployed to the end users. The IT pro supports the team in this by providing separate environments for development, test, and production. Next to this they set up and monitor the guard rails for the organization where they configure who can access specific systems and data.
Keeping innovation and creativity in the mix
This does not mean that all ideas from within the organization needs to be managed in this way.
There must be enough freedom in the organization to enable all employees to use their creativity and business knowledge to create solutions without all the methodologies and management practices.
The goal is to set solid guard rails to prevent mistakes in the security and privacy of the company’s data and assets.
A good approach is for the organization to set up a program that monitors the creation (think about a repeatable “Hackathon” style event) and usage of these solutions and select the ones that are adopted and successful. These should be rewarded and be promoted as company standard and be onboarded as such into the application landscape. Here at Prodware we are using this model (we call it “Spark”) to ensure that innovation can come from within and continues to be part of our value system.
Avoiding Shadow IT - application landscape and life cycle management
So, it’s a balance of embracing and encouraging ambition with controls and clear objectives in place. When the development of new solutions speeds up and delivers all kind of new functionality to the organization it is necessary to position this in the total application landscape. This prevents the same mistakes that were made in the past, where lots of solutions were developed but these were not integrated and do not scale with the needs of the organization (Shadow IT).
Besides this we need to manage the life cycle of these solutions. A good approach for this is to manage it as a product.
A product needs to evolve with the organization’s needs and needs to be kept up to date with new possibilities of the platform. The product will need an owner who is responsible for the functionality, prioritization, and the life cycle of the product. So, put in place a roadmap program and assign responsibility.
What are your first steps to embracing low code?
If you are an organization that wants to accelerate their digital transformation and think that the use of a low code platform will help, here’s my suggestions of steps to take:
- Discovery. This step informs the employees of the possibilities of a platform such as Microsoft Power Apps and Power Automate, and enable them to develop the necessary solutions. A good start is the “App in a Day” workshop, that delivers hands-on training in how to create a business app with the Microsoft Power Platform.
- Innovate, create and manage. Motivate and reward employees across all disciplines to create useful business apps and introduce a program to support the innovation and creation of ideas and solutions. Also, the IT pros need to fully support the platform for governance and control aspects. Like the “App in a Day” workshop there is also an “Admin in a Day” workshop, this helps to set up the governance by providing the right guard rails to foster the innovation and manage the environment.
- Flex and future-proof. Set up a Center of Excellence to root innovation and governance of the platform in your organization. There is a handy Starter Kit available from Microsoft to get you off the ground. When continuing this process you will run into more complex solutions to manage and maintain. Create fusion teams to combine all the knowledge and strengths of the competences required to do so.
Your end-goal is to have a multi-disciplinary team with the skills to keep innovating and governing. Like-minded people that work toward a common goal, but with different skill sets. The Business User brings the business knowledge and citizen developership. The IT Pro makes sure the platform and solutions are secure and helps in overcoming roadblocks. The Professional Developer will bring their expertise to solve more complex issues and extend the platform further.
Your organization does not have to have all these skills themselves. Your IT-partners can help you fill the gaps in your team. Take them along in this journey, or invite them to lead it, so that the mind-set is aligned. Fusion teams are not a structured approach, but it is a philosophy for rapid development, that needs to be shared across all parties.
As a certified Microsoft Gold partner with more than 30 years’ experience, we support our customers with their digital transformation journey turning market challenges into sustainable growth opportunities.
With our experience across the Power Platform, our experts can support you with practical solutions and services to help you get started with your journey. We can help you to create low code apps that solve your business issues with no development barriers and guide you to set up your governance based on our experience and best practices.
Suggested further reading: ebook: Fusion development approach to building apps using Power Apps by Microsoft.