Governance – The Key to Low-code Strategy Success

by sagacity

In today’s fast-paced world, every business is looking for innovative ways to boost their productivity. And investing in low-code platforms seems to be the best solution to this endeavor.

Read: How Low-Code/No-Code Could Change Enterprise Application Development

According to Gartner, over 65% of application development projects will be based on low-code development by 2024. Clearly, the low-code strategy has strong dominance in the software industry and is a worthwhile investment.

 

What is low-code?

It is the process of using a simple mechanism such as drag-and-drop and choosing specific options to build an application. The low-code platform is a visual environment where users with no or little knowledge about coding can create a fully functional application. The adoption of low-code platforms is increasing because it builds faster applications, integrates digital technologies, and improves competitive edge.

 

Why is good governance important?

The success of a low-code strategy depends on the governance. It is not always about the ease of use and technology involved. Here, good governance policies can make or break the success of a low-code platform. If there is no governance and internal controls, the situation can quickly descend into major chaos. It is vital to have a clear and business-aligned governance framework to ensure that the low-code platform keeps the users happy and maximizes the ROI of the company. With the increasing usage of low-code platforms, it is important to consider a governance framework with strict policies, security procedures, and standards.

 

8 governance strategies to achieve low-code success

Create a fusion team

The low-code journey should fundamentally start with creating a fusion team that includes business stakeholders, security experts, and pro-level coders. This will establish a core foundation of governance. The next step is asking the fundamental questions related to governance such as:

 

  • What can be built on the platform and by whom?
  • What will be the process of accomplishing the objectives?
  • Who will provide the approvals?
  • What training will be provided?

 

It will help in mitigating the potential errors that can come in the future. The last step is to formalize the process of future code reviews. And set a ground rule for the low-code projects to automate specific business processes.

Set minimum skill requirements

Low-code platforms require no or little programming to build custom applications but that does not mean every employee can access the platform. The basic skills of a developer include the understanding of the data and working knowledge of mapping business processes. It will help in preventing mistakes that can create network vulnerabilities and put undue strain on the IT environment. The developers should also be able to communicate effectively to define the project requirements and execute them.

Set data policies

It is important to store data in one place to prevent unnecessary duplication, inconsistency, and synchronization issues. The low-code platform developers should not create databases except on a transient basis. The primary focus of low-code platform developers should be on analytics and reporting of the applications. If any custom database is required, the technical experts should create and share it. This kind of data policy helps avoid violations of regulatory and compliance standards. In addition, the developers should be restricted to access certain databases that contain sensitive data and require compliance sign-off.

Sandbox security

Sandbox is a development environment that is kept separated from the digital asserts and active network of the organization. Only professional coders can work under sandbox and staging environments to build and test the applications. To ensure good governance, it is important to follow the sandbox rule by low-code platform developers. Put in relevant security and quality checks before any code is deployed to production. With this strategy, the developers cannot mess with other applications unless access is granted.

Use resources efficiently

The usage and efficiency of resources is a new low-code governance challenge. Today, enterprises generate thousands of low-code applications in a year increasing the utilization of IT resources significantly.  Here, project discipline plays an important role to ensure resource governance. Every developer who uses the low-code platform should check in a project to weigh the utility of the goal and resource requirements to frame the approach to adhere to data governance policies.

Integrations management

The low-code platforms should always be monitored for third-party integration services. These integrations save a lot of time and effort while creating best-in-class user experiences. The professional developers should establish guidelines and also check for all the required integrations and set access permissions.

Pick the right platform

All the low-code platforms are not built equal, and most of the time, the governance falls short. The platform must enforce the right governance standards. Whether it is about inheriting the data architectures from the existing database or building integrations by developers, proper governance can mitigate maximum risk factors.

Read: Your Low-code Platform Evaluation Guide

Conformance to governance rules

The current government regulations like General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) make it easier to meet compliance needs. Considering the regulatory standards, the enterprises need to log data changes in the database, conduct regular audits, and a lot more.

 

Leverage low-code platforms with proper governance

Low-code is popular because it streamlines processes and enables fast delivery of applications that might have been sitting on the IT backburner for years. With the right governance structure in place, it is easy to leverage the full potential of low-code platforms. The standards, rules, and governance help in deciding what applications should be developed, and how they will be written and used. In the absence of good governance, the enterprise may end up with plenty of failed low-code applications.

Do you need help in designing a robust low-code strategy? Let’s connect.

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