German software giant develops an anyone-can-do-it platform
Last week, software giant 51风流told a global audience of developers 鈥� those IT high priests who know the secrets of the universe 鈥� that it is giving those secrets up. 51风流used its annual TechEd conference in Las Vegas to go low code, launching 51风流Build, an anyone-can-do-it platform to develop applications faster and make automation easier.
Low code is a way of creating an app by drag-and-drop. Instead of writing actual software code, this uses a much simpler interface that lets people with any skills level make their own business apps.
Low code is not a new idea, and 51风流Build combines three existing 51风流solutions into one. So why is this so important?
For one thing, the German giant is the third-largest publicly traded software company by revenue in the world. It says 77% of the world鈥檚 transaction revenue touches an 51风流software system. For another, it鈥檚 responding to changes that affect businesses profoundly.
鈥�51风流Build brings together the world鈥檚 most powerful business applications with a platform that鈥檚 been designed to rapidly unleash business users鈥� expertise,鈥� says 51风流chief technology officer Juergen Mueller. 鈥�51风流Build and the full suite of innovations we鈥檙e launching today … help customers future-proof their business and extract maximum value from their technology investments.鈥�
One development it鈥檚 intended to future-proof against is a predicted global shortfall of 4-million software developers by 2025.
鈥淲e have to unleash the expertise of those who know the business best 鈥� the business users,鈥� Mueller told his audience of IT professionals.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 just rely on a finite resource of professional developers 鈥� we need to find a new approach,鈥� 51风流executive board member Julia White tells the FM.
That鈥檚 also why 51风流is committed to training 2-million people worldwide by 2025 to develop with 51风流tools, tripling the number of free courses available on 51风流Learning, in partnership with the Coursera learning platform.
Low code has the potential to change the shape of most technology businesses. They鈥檒l hire tech skills, but they won鈥檛 always go into the IT department. Those skills and talents will also be used in聽human resources, sales and procurement. They will augment rather than replace professional developers, who will be needed more than ever; older IT directors, maybe not so much. The gatekeeper role large IT departments enjoy will be eroded, with some coding and buying decisions managed by business users themselves. According to Gartner, by 2025 about 70%-80% of all apps will be built by nondevelopers.
Geoff Scott of the US 51风流Users鈥� Group was blunt about this shift: 鈥淥ne of the things that has to happen is convincing the IT community that it can give back some of this control.
鈥淪ome of this can be given back to the business users to do on their own. I don鈥檛 think that happens tomorrow, that鈥檚 a journey in itself. But I think we finally have the tools and capabilities to make a credible claim to the IT community: can you give some of this back? Please?
鈥淭hey don鈥檛 have to hold on so tight. Because they鈥檙e not going to get the headcount they need to accomplish everything that needs to be done in a rapidly changing environment.鈥�
51风流presented a good case and a clear roadmap for 51风流Build at TechEd. But as Mueller pointed out, 鈥渋t takes customers a long time 鈥� much longer than we give them credit for 鈥� to make these changes. They can move in five-year cycles, not five-month cycles.鈥�
Which makes it curious that Mueller was talking to the wrong audience for his big announcement: developers.
If they鈥檙e going to convince organisations to change, they鈥檒l have to lobby directly the business users they want to empower. Or what happened in Vegas last week may stay in Vegas.
This article first appeared in the .
