Two years ago, POTUS "Slow Jammed the News" on the Late Night Show with Jimmy Fallon. Then, he dropped the mic and walked off the stage. (Oh no he didn't!)
(Oh yes he did!) The YouTube video went viral. And the mic-drop meme reached new levels of coolness previously unknown to pop culture. If you're not familiar with the mic-drop metaphor, think spiking the football after scoring a touchdown. Or striking a pose after crushing a drive down the middle of the fairway.In other words, dropping the mic is likesaying the coolness of whatever you just did was so definitive, there's nothing more to say about it.
From an app development standpoint, Appian dropped the mic onlow code skeptics with the debut of Quick Apps, a zero-code feature that accelerates the speed of codeless application development to a whole 'nother level. (See Quick Apps in action in this YouTube video from PC Magazine.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3o80_t03Yc
Quick Apps makes app design and development more responsive than conventionalenterprise app development.In the past, enterprise mobile app developmentcould take weeks, months or longer. But Quick Apps prompts youfor the key points of your app. Then, it automatically generates data, forms and business processesto create a fully functional business app in minutes.
This kind of rapid applicationdevelopment is cool. But at the top of the cool hierarchy is the extraordinary responsivenessoffered by low-code featureslike Quick Apps. Which makes it easier for you to respond to fast-changing customer expectations. Outmaneuver your competitors. Reach new markets. And offer your customers more control over how they interact with your brand.
The magicof low-code mobile app development goes beyond platform features. It's alsoaboutthe business value that low-code delivers. How it helpsyou get more out of your back office investment. But ultimately, low-code is about creating customer value. Which drives customer retention and loyalty, andultimately boosts the lifetime value of your customer base.
There are many low-code platform vendors out there, hypinglow-code as the hottest new thing, the latestshiny object. But where's the business value in that?Here's another way to look at low code. In the hyper-connected digital economy, the name of the game is SPEED. Yes, speedy, iterative delivery of customer-facing apps matters. A lot. In the digital economy, it is how you compete and win. Thisspeaks to the business value of low code. Case in point: This outtake from a cloaked business scenario.
"We went into the cloud with Appian because it allowed us to do things faster," said the CIO at a major international airport. "We needed to ensure a quick return on investment...Appian allowed us to achieve process efficiencies and make faster, quicker decisions."
With the help of the Appian low-code platform, this CIO and his IT crew rolled out over 30 business applications in just 18 months. They cut paper use in half. They centralized operations, and added mobility functionality, which now allows airport staffers to access back office operations anytime, anywhere, on mobile devices.
Here's another low-code scenario worth talking about. It involves the VP for Business Process Improvement at a global retail brand. This BPMpro selectedthe Appian low-code platform to automate his business processes, optimize operational efficiency, and drive business growth. The result: He successfullyreduced remodeling time for his company's retail outlets by more than 60 percent.
Back to the low-code vendor hype. If you scan the web, you'll see a lot of chest-thumping about "best-in-class" mobiledevelopment platforms, and "market leadership" in Business Process Management (BPM). The challenge is cutting through all the hype. Which calls for anexpert, unbiased point of view. If this notion appeals to you, then check out what Gartner had to say about the Appian low-code platform in their latest 2016 "Magic Quadrant for Intelligent Business Process Management Suites:
"Appian customer references indicated a higher degree of satisfaction with the Appian platform, compared with other vendors surveyedÖ.Appian customer references reported a median-time-to-production implementation of less than three months, the lowest of any vendor surveyedÖ"
Boom shakalaka!
Roland Alston
