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In today’s fast-paced business world, where companies must constantly innovate to keep up with competitors,depending on fully customizable software solutions created with programming languages and manual coding is insufficient.

Instead, enterprises increasingly are pursuing no-code and low-code solutions for application development. No-code and low-code development entails creating software applications by using a user-friendly graphic interface that often includes drag and drop. These solutions require less coding expertise, making application development accessible to a larger swath of workers. That accessibility is critical, especially as companies continue to face a shortage of highly skilled IT workers. In fact, IDC has identified low-code/no-code mobile applications as a driver of the future of work.

“The key difference between traditional and no-code and low-code solutions is just how easy and flexible the user experience can be with no-code and low-code,” says Alex Zhong, director of product marketing at GEP. “Speed has become more and more important in the business environment today. You need to get things done in a rapid way when you’re responding to the disruptive environment and your customers.”

The traditional application development process is both complicated and multilayered. It entails zeroing in on the business need, evaluating and assessing the idea, submitting the application development request to IT, getting evaluations and approvals to secure funding, designing, creating and producing, and doing user testing.

“Traditionally it’s a lengthy process with many people involved,” Zhong says. “This can take quite a few weeks and often longer.” Not only does the time workers spend accrue but various costs also quickly add up. “The new way of application development reduces complexity, tremendously shortens the process, and puts application development more in users’ hands.”

Here are some other benefits of no-code/low-code solutions over the traditional approach:

Projects are more malleable. “With local solutions, you can make changes quicker,” says Kelli Smith, GEP’s head of product management for platform. With fewer levels of approval and cooks in the kitchen, it’s easy to tweak ideas on the fly and make improvements to applications as you go.

Ideas are less likely to get lost in translation. With traditional development, sometimes ideas aren’t perfectly translated into a product. With the user at the helm working closely with IT, ideas are more likely to be accurately executed.

IT and the business work better together. No-code and low-code solutions are typically driven by someone close to the business, but IT is still involved in an advisory role — especially in initial stages. The relationship becomes more of a collaborative one. “The business is developing together with IT,” Smith says.

Developers are freed up for more complex work. With the business more involved in application development, IT workers’ time is freed up to dedicate to more complicated tasks and projects rather than an excess of manual or administrative work.

Often, moving away from traditional application development is a process for enterprises. Companies may start with low-code solutions and gradually shift toward no-code solutions. The evolution requires a culture change, vision from leadership, and endorsement from IT.

Importantly, employees also need to be empowered to participate.

GEP believes that no-code/low-code is the way of the future. The company is leading efforts in no-code and low-code solutions through partners and investments in solutions. “In today’s environment,” Zhong says, “no-code/low-code is simply key to giving enterprises more flexibility.”

At GEP we help companies with transformative, holistic supply chain solutions so they can become more agile and resilient. Our end-to-end comprehensive, unified solutions harness technology to change organizations for the better. To find out more, visit GEP.

Supply Chain

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Creating a seamless and secure customer experience from start to finish means listening to and embracing customers’ expectations, including offering the latest in digital payment capabilities. In fact, consumers are 63% more likely to shop with merchants that offer their preferred payment options.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a shift in consumer expectations, including a rise in popularity for multichannel shopping options. At the heart of this popularity is ease of use: the ability to initiate and conclude transactions with little or no data entry; multiple mobile and digital payment options; and choices around in-store or curbside pickup and delivery.

The 2022 Global Digital Shopping Index from Cybersource, a Visa solution, clearly showcases U.S. consumers’ evolving behaviors and expectations:

39% of local shoppers—a projected 64 million U.S. consumers—now use their smartphones at least once during their shopping journeys, whether to order online for delivery, use an app to locate items in-store and/or pay with digital wallets at the point of sale28%—or roughly 26 million Americans—use their smartphones to enhance in-store shopping experiences11% who ordered online received their most recent eCommerce purchases via curbside pickup47% of those who pick up their orders in-store wind up purchasing more products in the store during that trip

Giving more choice to consumers will go a long way to building brand loyalty. For example, by offering shopping applications and mobile-friendly web pages, shoppers get incentives via notifications on their smartphones with promotional codes, coupons, in-store discounts, and free shipping for digital purchases.

The need for “protect me” features

Digital wallets have emerged as a popular online payment option because they increase the ease and simplicity of transactions by storing a consumer’s payment information and enabling “one-click” purchases. Often, digital wallets also leverage solutions to protect sensitive payment data.

In addition to wanting their sensitive payment data protected during transactions, consumers are looking for post-purchase security with “protect me” features. These types of features include secure data storage, frictionless dispute resolution, and simple returns. Ultimately, according to the Index, what matters most to consumers is knowing that:

Retailers will refund fraudulent chargesRefunds will get credited in-store or onlineReturns can be in-store or through mail (and that mail returns are free)Customer support is available 24/7 via multiple channels (phone calls, online chat, text, email)

By offering these consumer-friendly options, retailers can increase trust, confidence, and greater brand loyalty among customers. That loyalty serves as a critical building block that will pay off in long-term relationships and revenue growth.

It’s possible to deliver these capabilities with a digital-first approach. Cybersource helps businesses enhance their customer experiences with a feature-rich platform. It includes automated fraud protection and easy tech integrations to offer customers multiple digital payment options across channels. The platform also ensures the security of sensitive payment data for improved compliance and data security.

According to Eric Ritger, eCommerce operations lead at Harley-Davidson, “We needed to allow the customer to buy how they want to buy—and pay how they want to pay. Partnering with Cybersource makes that possible.”

Learn more about Cybersource here.  

IT Leadership