OutSystems has extended its low code platform to enable business users to iteratively model workflows themselves without any help from an application developer required.
The overall goal is to enable business users to autonomously create workflows using an OutSystems Workflows framework that presents business users with a graphical tool to connect data sources. When defined, that workflow can then be used to create an application that runs on the OutSystems platform. This approach eliminates the need for business users to iteratively define workflows in collaboration with application developers, says Luis Blando, chief product and technology officer for OutSystems.
Historically, business users have created a list of requirements for an application that developers would implement. Invariably, there would be multiple iterations of an application created before a consensus was reached on how the business rules that drive a workflow should finally be implemented. The Workflows platform streamlines that workflow by making it possible for business users to model an application themselves.
The issues that application developers all too often encounter is that the requirements for an application were initially ill-defined. Now business users can model how a workflow should function in software themselves, before asking application developers to implement it. “You can get the business user involved earlier,” says Blando.
In contrast to a legacy business process management (BPM) platform, there is no dependency on customizations written in, for example, higher level code that is challenging to later upgrade and maintain, he adds.
Business users can also use Workflows to modify workflows as business conditions might warrant, rather than having to launch an entirely new application development initiative, notes Blando.
In addition, organizations can now also incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) agents to automate tasks directly into those workflows using a previously made available OutSystems AI Agent Builder, notes Blando.
In theory, platforms such as Workflows should substantially reduce the application development backlog many organizations have. One of the major challenges Digital CxOs encounter is there are not enough application development resources available to drive an initiative. If more of the application development effort could be shifted to business users, the number of simultaneous projects that developers might be able to take on should increase. Today, many applications that might help the business are simply never built because there isn’t enough time.
Regardless of motivation for adopting a low code platform, it’s generally the business user that best understands how a process should function. Most developers are too removed from a business unit to immediately grasp the issue, so the more business users participate in the application development process, the more likely it becomes the application created is going to deliver a meaningful return on investment (ROI).
Arguably, digital CxOs are most effective when they empower business users to digitize workflows rather than trying to force change from above. The challenge is finding the type of tools that appeal to business users and then, just as importantly, enabling organizations to build secure applications that not only scale but that are appealing enough for the rest of the organization to want to adopt.
