Maximizing Low Code ROI- A Complete Guide

Low code development is a great option for modern software companies since it’s a faster and more efficient way to create software products that retain the same quality as a high-quality application created with traditional software development methods.

But when it comes to business perspectives, it’s not just about the development cycle.

Business leaders also need to understand how low-code app development affects the Return on Investment (ROI) of an organization.

Today, we’re going to discuss how low code ROI leans more towards positive due to the high range of benefits that come once you opt into low code software development.

Before going into further details, let’s start with why go with low code development in the first place.

Potential Low Code ROIs

1. Better Developer Productivity

Low code development offers enough efficiency to create more products in less time, increasing overall developer productivity and the efficiency of individual developers.

2. Higher Corporate Agility

Modern software agency products require them to constantly adapt to changing market demands.

With the agility of low code, companies can enable better flexibility and agility that can lead to better customer satisfaction, increased market share, and the ability to deliver quality products to the market continuously.

3. Faster Time To Market

Low code development takes a lot of the development effort away that came with traditional software development.

When the development and testing time is reduced, it results in a faster time to market that helps companies reach the target market with their idea on time.

How To Measure and Increase Low Code ROI

Measuring low code ROI isn’t just about the numbers. An organization needs to look at both qualitative and quantitative data when measuring low code ROI.

Let’s discuss the top five factors all companies should look out for when trying to measure low code ROI.

1. Reducing IT Backlog

IT departments are often limited to the number of tasks they can perform at the same time, and the amount of pending tasks keeps piling up in the long run. This is known as an IT backlog.

To ensure better ROI, the IT departments need a solution that can help them reduce backlog as soon as possible by completing objectives faster.

The best and most efficient way to reduce IT backlog is through low code development.

Low code development takes away the hassle of manual coding and testing with the power of pre-built components and automated testing, freeing up more developer resources that can be focused on completing a different objective in parallel.

When your IT department is working with a low-code platform that is geared toward citizen developers, it’s possible to focus the attention and talent of professional developers on more complex tasks.

This way, multiple options can be completed in parallel ensuring a smaller backlog and higher ROI on the platform.

How To Measure

• Track the current number of requests for custom applications
• Invite participants to submit their requests as well
• Assess the required time and resources for the applications
• Compare the list with the current capabilities of the platform
• Decide which apps are simple enough to be made by the requester
• Decide which app requires intervention from IT professionals
• Determine how quickly you can reduce the request queue

2. Progress of Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is a timely process, and implementing a perfect digital transformation can take years.

When a company digitizes all its systems, the IT department has a seemingly never-ending list of processes to bring into the digital fold.

And of course, if the tasks keep piling up it reflects on the previous section. Traditional application development is a never-ending process, and the final progress is smaller compared to low-code software development.

With an efficient low-code development platform serving as the backbone infrastructure of the company, it’s easier to implement the necessary changes for digital transformation while focusing on core business operations simultaneously.

Digital transformation is the next best way for companies to generate better ROI, and low code platforms can increase the overall ROI by a few times if done right.

How To Measure

• Start by analyzing your current digital transformation roadmap
• Analyze the current benchmarks you have set
• Determine how much the benchmarks will change once a low-code platform is placed
• Determine the requirements for a department to be fully brought into digital space through low-code
• Calculate the amount of time that you can save by going the low-code route
• Estimate the chances of achieving a complete transformation for a single department with mission-critical projects

3. Reducing IT Expenses

IT budgets are always strict in any company, making scalability extremely difficult. Without the right budget, the department can’t scale, and without scaling the department the company can’t take on larger or more complex operations.

Low-code platforms can take out two birds with one stone in this case. The first way low code reduces expenses is by reducing the labor requirement.

Low-code platforms ensure that you don’t have to hire additional IT staff since low-code platforms increase employee productivity by allowing them to do more while working less, and if the need arises even a citizen developer can put an application together.

The second way low code reduces IT costs is by eliminating the need to spend money on single-point solutions for each department.

Low-code platforms come with a vast array of tools that can integrate multiple systems into one single infrastructure, so it’s easy to create a solution from scratch in mere hours.

With better integration and easier building of unlimited apps on one platform without hiring additional staff, IT expenses can be greatly reduced, ensuring higher ROI.

How To Measure

• Pick a certain number of apps you want to build
• Calculate the time you would need to build the app with low code
• Now, calculate the time you would need to build the app without low code
• Compare the two numbers to find out how much of a time save low code actually would be
• Determine the final cost for both development routes
• Estimate if you need to hire more professionals or not for the development process
• Once the measurement is complete, focus on the single-point solutions that have been rejected due to limited budget, and repeat the process

4. Increasing IT Output

As we mentioned previously, low-code platforms are great for increasing productivity. Low-code platforms can enable non-technical personnel within any department to solve software-related problems by creating new software or connectors for integrating new apps into existing systems.

A high-performance low code platform in the hands of a professional developer works like a superpower.

Low-code platforms with no restrictions are highly customizable through manual coding, and professional developers can create custom components by modifying existing elements, saving precious development time.

When the developers are getting done more work in less time with the conveniences of the platform, the overall IT output increases, allowing for faster product delivery while maintaining high quality. This can improve ROI.

How To Measure

• Examine the reports of the last few quarters from your IT team
• Calculate the average time it took the team to create an application
• Determine the amount of time and resources being spent on updating old applications
• Note down all the business impacts caused by the new applications
• Calculate the possibilities in case the developers have more time to focus on mission-critical procedures
• Compare the low-code platform requirements and determine how the developers would be able to utilize the extra hours using the platform

5. Reducing Stress Factors

IT departments in the workplace are often chaotic due to the extensive amount of processes the entire team has to work with.

The chaos of the situation can cause stress among employees, which will eventually lead to burnout and affect the overall productivity of the department.

Low code development can reduce the frustration of development by taking away excess processes and automating redundant ones.

Meeting deadlines is one of the key stress factors in IT departments, and low-code development platforms can help meet deadlines with better efficiency and productivity, reducing the chances of failure to meet deadlines and increasing ROI.

How To Measure

• Calculate the amount of time your IT team spends on support tickets, feature enhancements, and scaling existing applications
• Ensure that all team members feel equally valued by creating significant work progress, instead of making small applications that aren’t challenging
• Find tasks that the IT team has refused to perform recently due to the already existing massive backlog
• Survey how the other departments feel about the IT department and their overall satisfaction with the services of the IT department
• Once you’ve collected all the data, find a low-code platform that can help you fill in the blanks to get the right numbers

Which Low Code Platform Can Bring You The Right ROI?

There’s no specific answer for this. There are a lot of low-code software development platforms as services out there, and all of them have their own set of pros and cons.

Depending on the current scale of your organization, whether it’s a small business or a large enterprise, you can benefit from any decent low-code development platform that will allow you to eliminate the downsides from your IT department such as

• Additional hiring
• Excess processes
• Additional development time

Why Mendix Is Perfect For Higher Low Code ROI

Mendix is the perfect platform if you’re looking to scale your IT department the right way by opening up the creation process to non-technical members of other departments as well as professional developers.

Mendix isn’t just limited to low-code development either. Mendix goes beyond low code and even offers a coding-free, visual development method so that anyone can join the process.

With its affordable and transparent pricing plans, it’s the most affordable option on the market with a wide range of features that can cover every department of your organization, along with all their unique business needs.

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