Code: the biggest obstacle to scalability in the platform age of technology

The role technology plays in business changes constantly.  Technology is no longer a back-office tool but a foundational component of enterprise-wide success.  

Unfortunately, most organizations have IT personnel sharing space with racks of servers, large monitors, and mounds of cables.  The people designing the technical architecture for a business rarely interact with the enterprise.  It’s only after implementation that architects are tasked with scaling their solutions.

This mindset has created situations in which technology has become an obstacle to growth.  The inability to successfully scale a solution to enterprise-level limits an organization’s transformational success.  In today’s environment, the business of technology, risk mitigation, and core modernization form the basis for innovation.  If organizations cannot ensure sustained scalability, they will be unable to remain competitive.  

Why legacy code is the obstacle to scalability?

Scalability refers to technology’s ability to adjust to expected and unexpected changes in workload while maintaining the same level of availability and end-user experience.   When technology entered the business world in the 1980s, it was used for record-keeping.  Scale wasn’t a part of its design parameters; even as technology became a more integrated part of back-office operations, scaling was an internal concern.  Few considered the ramifications of workload changes in terms of customer experience.

If computers were slow to respond, employees learned to wait.  Added features were delivered according to IT’s schedule.  Employees learned to find workarounds until new functionality was available.  Customers were accepting when they heard statements such as “Sorry, the computer is running slow today.”  However, it didn’t take long before customers became impatient.

Customer expectations changed as technology permeated every aspect of daily life.  Suddenly people wanted seamless digital experiences.  They were no longer satisfied with system delays or hybrid solutions that used physical and virtual tools.  Scaling became a foundational component for business success.  As organizations move towards the platform age of technology, what are the obstacles to scalability?

The need for agile change management

The more businesses relied on technology, the more technology became a part of doing business.  Small, individualized programs turned into large software applications.  Soon, technology defined how business was conducted.  When policy changes happened, IT determined how quickly they were integrated into core processes.

As the core applications grew more complex, so did the time it took to make changes.  Eventually, the foundational processes became an obstacle to digital transformation.  Making application changes took months, even years because a change in one area of the application had to be thoroughly tested to ensure it did not negatively impact another area of the application.

The need to conserve resources

Over time, core applications became mission-critical and required more resources to maintain aging applications.  Technology that was designed to handle a few hundred customers were struggling to support thousands.  Rather than invest in newer technologies, businesses tried to adapt their core processes to meet changing customer expectations.

At some point, organizations have to modernize their core applications.  The older technology cannot keep pace with market requirements.  Even newer technologies are finding it difficult to scale at agile speed.  Companies will have to look for less resource-intensive solutions.  There are insufficient software developers to meet the current demand, and it is projected that the demand will grow by over 20% in the next ten years. 

High TOC and out of control costs

Corporate environments that require extensive changes to mission-critical technology will struggle to find resources.  Many businesses will have difficulty not only finding resources but also paying for them.  Without resources over the next ten years, they will be unable to compete in a rapidly transforming ecosystem.

Financial constraints may limit an enterprise’s ability to scale.  Replacing older, less scalable technology with newer, more agile solutions will require a financial investment.  Without readily available capital, the transition to a scalable enterprise will be slowed.

How can No-Code help?

No-code platforms use non-technical staff with little to no coding skills to create applications.  The so-called citizen developers build, test, and deploy applications because no programming experience is needed.  Instead, they use visual tools to drag and drop components into a template that lets them arrange and rearrange elements until they have a viable solution.  No-code is inevitable and enables organizations to overcome obstacles to scalability by:

• Segmenting development
• Adding resources
• Reducing costs

Not only does no-code overcome scalability challenges, but it also moves organizations closer to the platform age over the next ten years, where technology becomes the core of businesses.

Removing the legacy code trap

An application may have started as a few lines of code, but over decades those lines are now in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions.  That is a lot of technology to have to troubleshoot every time a change is made.  With no-code, discrete applications are created that interface into existing or new systems.

When a change is made to an application, it does not impact other applications as long as the interface among the applications remains the same.  Instead of taking months to deploy enhancements, no-code platforms can deliver new features or functionality quickly without degrading the customer experience.  With fewer lines of code, no-code applications do not require an enterprise-wide retesting of the entire system, making it easier to scale.

Amplifying resources

No-code platforms are designed for citizen developers who understand the business requirements of an application but have limited technical skills.  These employees become additional resources that can be used to create solutions that address customer needs.  Companies no longer have to wait months for IT resources to become available.  

Adding citizen developers frees highly trained developers to focus on mission-critical applications.  Non-technical staff can deliver internal solutions instead of forcing employees to find workarounds until IT can make a change.  Instead of hiring new developers, organizations can re-purpose personnel to deliver value at agile speed.

Cutting Down Costs

Segmenting development and adding citizen developers not only speed delivery of new features and functionality but they also reduce costs.  Less time and fewer resources are required to design, develop and test no-code solutions.  Technical expertise is no longer necessary, reducing the costs associated with adding software developers.

Because no-code can scale, organizations do not have to worry about the platforms becoming obstacles or having to be replaced.  A single investment can deliver a solution that adjusts to the expected and unexpected changes in workloads.  Financial constraints are no longer an impediment to transforming customer experiences.

Defining the future with no-code tools

With no-code platforms, companies can overcome financial constraints and resource limitations.  They can begin to build an infrastructure that can implement incremental change without enterprise-wide impact.  Organizations can make the transition to the platform age of technology, where tech becomes the core of a business.  If your company is ready to start making technology a core part of your business, contact EasySend for a demonstration of how our digital solutions can help.