Connecting to business processes
The new low-code offering is integrated with SAP’s Business Process Management (BPM) software Signavio. The Build software also gives users insight into all their business processes, so that work in the field of low code can be more clearly used to address specific pain points or automate specific matters. The supplier proposes that users can easily see which initiatives will have the greatest impact.
“More than 275,000 reference points from 4,000 customers and 1,300 application-oriented workflows and automations allow users to immediately leverage the full spectrum of business expertise built into the SAP platform,” said SAP. The company offers an accompanying ‘Builders program’ around the new low-code solution that allows users to get in touch with their colleagues, for example through hands-on sessions and forums, to share best practices.
Domain experts and digitization
In an explanation, SAP mentions the large and persistent shortage of IT professionals. The embrace of low code by this veteran software supplier should enable substantive business experts, who are by no means always technically versed, to implement tech innovations quickly and smoothly. At the TechEd conference taking place this week, early adopter Qualtrics shares his positive experience with SAP Build. This refers to an easily realized improvement of the customer experience, which at the same time has also been realized at considerably lower development costs. Experience management company Qualtrics claims a reduction of up to 90%.
SAP also points to the high demand for IT changes in organizations, which exceeds the capacity of developers. Research agency IDC also signals this. A possible solution is the deployment of domain experts who are non-IT people, but who can then also contribute technical content by means of low code – or even realize ICT matters completely independently. IDC foresees that business professionals will become increasingly involved in initiatives to create digital solutions to solve pressing business problems.
With the growing importance of digitization, IDC expects more than 100 million business professionals worldwide to become involved in the production of digital solutions in the next decade. ICT market researcher Gartner also sees growth in developers who fall outside the formal IT departments. They are predicted to account for at least 80% of the user base for low-code development tools in four years’ time. Last year this was still 60%.
And yet also developers
In addition to embracing low code, SAP is also taking steps to ensure more professional developers. The software supplier has set down the ambition to train two million developers worldwide in the next two years. So to meet that goal by 2025, SAP is tripling its free range of lessons on its SAP Learning site.
In addition to its own educational offering, SAP also invests in external development by developers. The company is working with training provider Coursera on a new entry-level Professional Certificate. “This certificate is designed for learners from all backgrounds, no degree or industry experience is required,” explains CEO Jeff Maggioncalda Coursera. “It prepares learners for entry-level positions in some in-demand fields.” So this should bring in more and new developers .