When an enterprise embarks on a digital transformation journey, before long, it is likely to realize that there is no single solution for achieving its transformation goals. Transformation is a multi-faceted journey, and businesses need a broad range of approaches and innovative technology that enable them to be agile and disruptive, as befits a digital economy.

To ensure continued innovation and improvement without increasing costs, CIOs and IT teams everywhere are focusing their efforts on making application development simpler, smarter and more streamlined, because it plays a critical role in an organization’s digital transformation agenda.

To develop, deliver, and quickly change applications against the backdrop of ever-evolving business functions and models, organizations need a smart low-code development platform that drives real business impacts with a guaranteed ROI.

Enable transformation while boosting productivity

OutSystems, a leading low-code app development platform, empowers “citizen coders” and hardcore coders alike, enabling them to take advantage of its unrivaled productivity gains, savings, and collaborative possibilities. While there are many platform providers out in the market at the moment, several vital distinguishing features put OutSystems at the top of every list of possible solutions.

Unlike other platforms in the space, which only partially address the entire software development lifecycle, OutSystems is a full-stack visual development platform, capable of building both enterprise mobile and web apps that cater to three main digital transformation use cases that are applicable across verticals:

• Digital operations: The OutSystems platform allows businesses to streamline and replace inefficient, manual, and traditional paper-based processes with smart, automated routines.
• Digital experiences – With high productivity-oriented visual development and powerful tools that deploy and subsequently manage apps, OutSystems helps companies provide pixel-perfect user experiences via secure web or mobile apps.
• Digital core – With advanced enterprise features baked-in, businesses can build or transform large core systems and modernize legacy applications.

Versatility with no lock-in

While many low-code software development platforms also claim to have intuitive drag-and-drop GUIs that simplify app building, developers often only get access to the compiled code, effectively locking them into that specific platform. That is not the case with OutSystems, however.

Developers can click to access the generated code, which can be tweaked and optimized further, or more manually tuned to the core systems and working practices of their organizations. This helps them develop an app that functions on any device and can be extended to cater to the needs of all types of employees, vendors, partners, and customers.

This versatility is recognized by Gartner. In its first-ever Multiexperience Development Platform Magic Quadrant, the independent analyst firm has rated OutSystems as a Leader, with more common enterprise-class names such as Microsoft and SAP lagging behind as “Challengers.”

In addition, if an application built in OutSystems requires changes at any stage, developers can simply modify the code at the backend, and OutSystems platform automatically checks for any dependencies that would be affected by the change on every platform.

The solution also alerts the developers of any bugs or broken code that needs to be fixed before regenerating the code, and temporarily disables the publishing functions until corrections are made, a feature which other providers simply do not currently offer.

Ultimately, the platform puts developers in the driver’s seat and gives them the choice of building every aspect of an app with reusable components and a visual modeling interface – which is pretty impressive in itself – or make use of the option to augment the app with custom coding for more enhanced functions.

Empowering both the business and IT

OutSystems empowers and enables all levels of employees to build small department applications, dashboards that help them to perform their tasks better. However, it doesn’t stop there. IT organizations and different business units can work together to develop enterprise applications.

Integration, user experience, front end, back end, and core systems – each is covered. Teams can build an app from end-to-end that the whole enterprise can use and that integrates with core ERP or CRM systems. They can even build their own core systems from scratch if they want.

Being truly enterprise-grade, OutSystems automatically optimizes all apps developed on the platform for business-level performance that enhances operational efficiency. It is scalable, which allows businesses to start small and grow iteratively with continuous improvements.

Users also have the flexibility of deploying the solution on the cloud, in a multi-cloud architecture, in hybrid deployments, or on-premise, depending on specific business needs. Regardless of the deployment type, each release of OutSystems includes fixes for any newly-identified code vulnerabilities that can be automatically applied to deployed apps, no matter how they are hosted or deployed.

In conclusion, the OutSystems low-code software development platform has established itself as a key enabler for digital transformation and differentiation worldwide: distinguished organizations that deploy it include Schneider Electric, Randstad, Ricoh, and AXA, among others.

To find out more about the company’s truly enterprise-grade low-code app development platform, get in touch with a representative now or start your free trial here to build your own app.