Low-code; it’s the rage. Why? I’d argue that low-code is less an evolution and more a revolution in technology…
…because it opens up the development of applications within an organization to a much wider group. It allows for more input from semi- or non-technical staff. It’s quicker, cleaner and more cost effective.
I tend to compare low-code to a toy like Lego. Lego gives you a whole box of components from which you can build pretty much anything. Connecting the pieces is easy. It allows users to pour their genius into the design of a system rather than making the components.
This is a big shift from a couple of decades ago when software companies pretty much hardwired their software together. If you wanted changes you had to call the mothership and wait for help. Such was the weight of demand for support that some companies became more consultancies than software developers. Their centers of gravity shifted. Their resources went into maintaining their systems for clients rather than into innovation.
To my mind this is a recipe for a slow death – both for the developer and their clients.
Giving mid-sized companies big-sized tech power
These days many software companies focus on agility. Some build their systems so customers can mess around under the hood. This is great if you have a skilled in-house IT team.
Companies like AntWorks have gone the low-code route instead. The software is componentized. We build our knowledge and expertise (particularly in terms of automation and AI) into discrete components that customers rarely if ever need to dig into. Instead we’ve focused on making those components easy to work with, to link to others and to deploy.
As I said, low-code allows customers to focus on creating a system that suits their needs, just like our kids and grandkids get to choose whether their Lego is going to become and X-Wing or a castle.
Think about the advantages – it lets the people in your organization who run departments, and who design workflows and processes have a seat at the table alongside the techs. It even allows them to get hands on. It shortens the communications chain between the designers and the users of a system – and it’s through gaps in communications that some of the worst errors in system implementation normally squeeze. It is also a boon for companies without a large, specialist IT department.
Picking the right partner
AntWorks isn’t the only automation company in the low-code sphere. There’s also Pega. I am pretty familiar with most of the low-code vendors out there. I’ve even worked for the top two, and today I am back where I started, working as a partner with Pega, a leader in the low-code/no-code sphere and, in many people’s opinions, the best.
Pega delivers a very scalable platform that lets business people focus on their business outcomes and their customers. That is why the company I work for, AntWorks, embarked on a journey to complement Pega and clear the way for even more businesses to automate processes more easily and effectively while keeping down-time in building and deploying those applications to a minimum..
AntWorks and our partner Concept Vines have built the first “Integration Accelerator” for Pega and its platforms.
The accelerator is a fully integrated piece of technology that enables the Pega dev studio to ingest data or documents from the AntWorks CMR+ application seamlessly in order to automate a Pega workflow.
For example if a mortgage lender was looking to create an app for mortgage pre-approval in Pega , the lender would just outline in Pega the fields required from documents supplied by the borrower to pre-approve. AntWorks CMR+ searches through all the documents, finds the right data and places it in the correct fields inside the Pega flow. For audit purposes the documents are available for review if ever required. It’s that simple
So, the Integration Accelerator brings together the Pega platform with AntWorks CMR+ to deliver best-of-breed Intelligent Document Processing with a best-in-breed low-code/no-code development platform. This outstanding combination gives companies true freedom to build applications quickly and right first time, and with the ability to ingest data and documents accurately, with no blockages in the build flow.
Our Integration Accelerator will soon be available on Pega Marketplace. With an Antworks license it is available free of charge to Pega’s customers and partners. Pega partners can use this integration to speed up their deployment. These days, it’s all about speed and accuracy. Pega and AntWorks deliver.
