DEVOPSdigest

As part of the 2022 DevOps Predictions list, DEVOPSdigest asked industry experts — from analysts and consultants to users and the top vendors — how they think Low-Code and No-Code will evolve and impact business in 2022.

LOW-CODE/NO-CODE MATURES

Both low-code and no-code will continue to mature in 2022, making increasing headway into enterprise application development organizations.
Jason Bloomberg
President, Intellyx(link is external)

LOW-CODE/NO-CODE GAINS POPULARITY

With 70% of new applications developed by enterprises expected to be using low-code or no-code technologies by 2025, we expect the momentum of low-code/no-code to continue through 2022. Amid the great resignation and hybrid work models becoming the norm, the democratization of technology is needed more than ever. In 2022 and beyond, people will be the future of technology and citizen development programs can help promote innovation among employees by empowering those closest to the problem to find creative solutions and to keep employees happy and engaged. Citizen development can increase collaboration as operations become more fragmented in the remote work environment. With continued volatility as a result of the pandemic and organizations needing to act quickly, low-code/no-code programs can help improve processes and decision making.
Ed Jennings
CEO, Quickbase(link is external)

The biggest DevOps trend for 2022 will be low-code no-code tools that save developers time and money. Rather than being fearful that low-code/no-code tools will make them obsolete, more software developers will embrace these solutions as time-savers that can help reduce their overloaded work schedules and enhance their productivity.
Jason Beres
SVP Developer Tools, Infragistics(link is external)

The accelerating evolution of low-code technologies will really hone in on abstracting away complexity for DevOps practitioners in 2022. Low-code processes are increasingly offering simplified approaches to highly technical tasks, which will vastly reduce DevOps workloads and reliance on specialized expertise as 2022 progresses. For example, low-code will empower ML engineers to set up their own GPUs and meet more of their own needs directly, reducing the burden on DevOps. Also look for low-code to give DevOps many more opportunities to integrate code without needing to write it in 2022, offering some additional (and welcome) efficiency for practitioners.
Shomron Jacob
Engineering Manager — Applied Machine Learning, Iterate.ai(link is external)

No-Code and Low-Code are the future of software development that will help developers create new business applications of great value, faster. In times to come, more and more application development will be done by developers using no-code and low-code using visual, model-driven development, AI-powered tools that will improve the entire application lifecycle, using cloud-native platforms. No-Code and Low-Code software development will ensure that apps are built in days or weeks instead of months or years, accelerating the digital transformation journey of global enterprises.
Venkatesh Kovvuri
SVP, Cigniti Technologies(link is external)

TRUST IN LOW-CODE GROWS

Building Trust in Low-Code App Development Across the Enterprise: Small versus big wins in automation, mobility, and visibility for low-code application platforms throughout 2022 will lead to trust-building across business, IT, and development. As companies start to see results from their low-code applications, this will continue to generate more trust. For example, construction company field personnel will receive real-time updates once permits are approved and supply departments will receive quick updates on needed materials as builds progress. These small wins are already in place for many businesses, but more and more companies will increasingly work with IT and developers when they see that these apps work intuitively and drive business value.
Steven Jefferson
Sr Advisory Solution Consultant - App Engine, ServiceNow(link is external)

LOW-CODE SURGES AMONG DEVELOPERS – NOT BUSINESS USERS

Demand for applications has skyrocketed and the supply of professionals remains low. Experiments with having power users build business applications are yielding fragile solutions with limited scope. Since you can't add pro developers and you can't add amateur developers, and you already believe in new methods, the only thing left is to adopt higher-productivity tools. Some low-code tools and platforms are stepping up to meet enterprise requirements for security, scaling, continuity, auditing, monitoring, deployment, and change management. They'll get adopted if they get noticed."
Mike Fitzmaurice
VP of North America and Chief Evangelist, WEBCON(link is external)

LOW-CODE SUPPORTS ENTIRE SDLC

Democratizing the entire software development lifecycle (SDLC): Low-code represents a shift in the ways we build enterprise software. This shift started with the simplification of software integrated development environments (IDEs) by providing more people with easy-to-use low-code tools. As the low-code adoption matures, we'll see low-code expanding to support the entire software development cycle. In this phase, low-code solutions will cover every aspect of software development in a simpler way across app ideation, solution design, development, user testing, release management, documentation, and more.
Steven Jefferson
Sr Advisory Solution Consultant - App Engine, ServiceNow(link is external)

SKILLS SHORTAGE DRIVES LOW CODE

The DevOps skills shortage will only continue to grow, accelerating the need for no-code/low code solutions. The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that by 2026, the shortage of engineers in the US will exceed 1.2M. In addition, only 39.6% of candidates for DevOps job openings fully meet employers' requirements.
Venkat Thiruvengadam
Founder and CEO, DuploCloud(link is external)

Businesses are facing increased pressure to rapidly build and deploy products and features that drive ROI and stay ahead of their competitors. At the same time, competition for hiring skilled software engineers has never been higher. As a result, we'll see the adoption of low-code, no-code tools and applications accelerate in 2022 and beyond. Through the use of low-code tools and workflows, businesses will be able to meet market and customer needs faster by building out products and features faster and doing so without compromising on quality or reliability.
Christine Spang
Co-Founder and CTO, Nylas(link is external)

Labor shortages will accelerate low-code development, which will result in the acceleration of hyperautomation at scale. As wages increase, companies will seek to automate much of the repetitive, tedious tasks that sap their workers' time so workers can focus on more strategic tasks that deliver value. However, there is no single solution or vendor that can deliver this level of hyperautomation at scale. Organizations will need to rely on home-grown low code apps to connect and integrate disparate systems, data and workflows.
Ed Macosky
Head of Product, Boomi(link is external)

The pandemic highlighted one of the most crucial challenges facing the software industry — the need for more professional software developers. With the latest iteration of low-code/no-code tools, both professionals and citizen developers can create new applications, enhance existing ones and automate complex tasks. This will alleviate some of the pain being felt by organizations facing a worldwide shortage of full-time developers.
Jason Beres
SVP Developer Tools, Infragistics(link is external)

Low-code goes mainstream to combat the Great Resignation — and brings along with it new perils.
2022 will be the year of the citizen developer and low-code technology. It's incredibly powerful for its ability to enable business users to quickly create products and services without the barriers of software development, and unlocks innovation in new ways. However, it's not the first time it's been easier to develop and implement software:every decade we make it easier to code but we don't put guard rails in place and that causes problems (see: data governance, risk). As low-code goes mainstream, it will usher in a number of problems –and reinforce the need for continued engineering rigor to avoid new software pitfalls.
Derek Holt
GM of Agile and DevOps, Digital.ai(link is external)

API-FIRST DRIVES LOW-CODE

The rise of an API first world means less developers spending time to reach larger business objectives. The software technology landscape is becoming so fragmented that it's increasingly difficult and expensive to build new features such as analytics, messaging touchpoints, and task automation. This means we'll see higher accessibility of low-code integrations and greater connectivity in the digital-first ecosystem, making it easier for developers to go the "buy" route to integrate new tools.
Nick Salzman
Head of Partnerships, OneSignal(link is external)

NO-CODE AUTOMATES DEVOPS

With the explosion in digital transformation, teams must deliver applications faster across multiple platforms and cloud environments, and engineering leaders must proactively address security and compliance risks. No code DevOps orchestration will enable software delivery teams to address complexity and tool sprawl by automating the DevOps lifecycle — from integrating and maintaining toolchains, creating automated pipeline workflows with built-in security and quality, and providing unified insights and actionable intelligence. A tool and cloud-agnostic no code DevOps orchestration platform will: maximize developer productivity and flexibility; enable faster go-to-market; enhance security, quality and governance posture; and increase efficiencies.
Chandra Ranganathan
Co-Founder and CEO, Opsera(link is external)

REJECTING LOW-CODE/NO-CODE NEGATIVELY IMPACTS THE BUSINESS

In 2022, the non-acceptance of low/no-code solutions for application development will negatively impact the fiscal situation of businesses working in the digital-first world. To keep up with the market dynamics and stay afloat, organizations will have only two ways to go: either they can adopt no/low code solutions to streamline app development and deliver applications faster or they can spend their crucial time discovering undiscovered ways to attract tech talent.
Arindam Ray Chaudhuri
COO and Global Head of Technology Practices, AgreeYa Solutions(link is external)

DEVELOPER + CITIZEN DEVELOPER COLLABORATION

In 2022, an inevitable shift in team structure will occur across the industry. Collaboration between programmers and citizen programmers within a company will ensure that low-code solutions are productive, not disruptive, as data science related tasks become further democratized. Rebuilding teams with this kind of collaboration and governance in mind will increase productivity for companies large and small.
Mike Loukides
VP of Emerging Tech Content, O'Reilly Media(link is external)

CITIZEN DEVELOPMENT FACES A RECKONING

Citizen development has been attempted for a decade now, and the industry is going to realize that delegating solution-building to power users has limits. The applications being produced are often too fragile to be shared beyond a few users and when they succeed, the amateur developer soon becomes a professional developer and changes careers. When it works, it's beautiful, but companies will realize this is so rare that they can't depend on it."
Mike Fitzmaurice
VP of North America and Chief Evangelist, WEBCON(link is external)

PRO CODE

The relatively new category of' "pro-code" tools that bring low-code's visual environment and ease of use to the traditional IDE's hand-coding context will become increasingly popular among professional developers for addressing problems that low-code isn't well-suited for.
Jason Bloomberg
President, Intellyx(link is external)

Go to: 2022 DevOps Predictions for Cloud