David Chou in CIO 3rd May 2021 says "CIOs must adopt a new philosophy for executing a low-code culture in IT." Otherwise attempts to automate and innovate will be constrained as the creative talents of the business are relegated to the queues of projects central IT must complete. Especially as 80% of IT spend is essentially maintaining and upgrading core systems rather than innovation.
Chou explains "Four themes are essential to executing this shift."
Keep it simple, stupid
. Undergirding the shift to low-code development means that programming and automation should not be complex and not require intensive support from IT to make the change. While that may seem obvious from the underlying problem that low code is attempting to solve, it’s important not to complicate the new approach.
The usability of the products must be simple enough at the start. Organizations have a better chance of understanding the simplicity of a low-code platform when they start using it, so IT executives should not overthink it and buy a platform solution that has too many bells and whistles.
All about speed.
By uncomplicating the development process and enabling more people to engage in it, the time to develop should be faster with low code. There should also be a reduction in costs to develop solutions.
But that won’t help without assistance in education and changing culture. CIOs will need to take the lead role in encouraging the automation mindset for the organization. Employees will need to be encouraged to explore avenues to automate by utilizing low-code technology tools. Seattle Children hospital’s CIO Zafar Choudry said “we've embraced low-code development as it's intuitive, adaptive, iterative and flexible and has allowed us to develop patient-facing apps (idea to app in days) quickly with limited skill sets. It's empowered our teams to zoom in on the patient experience for digital transformation."
Crowdsource the IT department
. CIOs must adopt a new, inclusive mindset that envisions wider dispersal of IT involvement. It won’t be easy – it’s a profound shift to think of the future of running IT in an organization where every employee has the basic skills to develop automation.
Low code provides the opportunity to crowdsource solutions within an organization. But to take full advantage of that philosophy, the mentality for CIOs must shift, and they will need to find ways to promote “citizen developers.”
IT department adjustments
. The future of IT in organizations needs reconsideration in a shift to low-code software development. To make this shift, CIOs must emphasize implementing training their workforces on how to use the platform. And by extension, that means IT must let go of control to facilitate the transition.
Documentation and oversight will continue to be important, and this is where IT can come alongside the workforce to put the process in place – but CIOs must ensure their departments don’t become a roadblock or gatekeeper. IT also has a role to play in monitoring application design and ensuring security protocols are in place. This also means that security professionals must adapt because these tools are not going away anytime soon.
This fits neatly in an article on low-code/no-code for the insurance industry I wrote back in April 2020.
"Today’s insurance companies, brokers, MGAs and underwriters are searching for new ways to become vastly more efficient; and to bring new products to market that seek to disrupt. Yesterday’s enterprise-solutions are now startlingly slow and lack the pace needed to respond to momentary markets.
No code software has emerged in their place, giving insurance companies the opportunity to innovate at scale and rapidly change the way they deliver products to customers. Forever."
Gari Gono Head of Solutions Instanda
His article "Lifting the lid on no code software: the future of insurance" is a direct challenge to the traditional suppliers of insurance software.
Gono "You can build and show stakeholders working examples of insurance products in days, or even hours".
James Harding, COO of insurtech 360Globalnet, agrees wholeheartedly. In fact his team regularly leverages the No-Code Insurance Platform 360Siteview to do just that. Better still, so do its insurance customers able to iterate and innovate without reliance on developers or consultants or suffering long delays in getting projects completed by stretched central IT.
Insurers overwhelmed with the surge in travel cancellation claims and curtailment. Travel is often the poor cousin on claims limited to asking policyholders to email claims forms they fill in, print, scan and send. Analogue to the hilt!
Harding has deployed travel claims portals to insurers from Australia to Germany in days! That's the power of No-Code.
At the other end of the scale insurers wanting to move their whole motor and home book to a digital claims management platform in weeks! Customised UX and claims journeys to boot sounds fanciful but No-Code 360Siteview make it practical.
A true end-to-end insurance quote, bind and policy administration solution AND an end-to-end digital claims management platform from eFNOL to Settlement INCLUDING supply chain orchestration? Surely too much to ask for?
Not today- it is being done by insurers who until now have been constrained by legacy systems and expensive, slow to implement and deploy, complex and inflexible insurance platforms. No wonder transformation has been slow. Claims and Underwriting teams have always known what they want to achieve but have been chained by vendors who could not show how in practical and affordable ways.
Insurers are breaking the shackles and soaring to new digital heights of business transformation and innovation.
Now here is a true test of "No-Code" or the software emperor with no clothes.
James Harding tells the tale of the insurer who provided warranty insurance to a major global manufacturer. When a vehicle recall programme needed immediate deployment to triage repair & replacement of multiple faults (different variations for different models) existing systems just would not hack it.
Harding and team delivered a working solution in days and after testing it was deployed in weeks. The same no-code platform that delivered travel portals and home & motor claims management in days delivers a completely different solution.
If the customer knows the flows, processes, outcomes and parties involved then a no-code platform will deliver solutions in days and weeks.
This is significant when customer behaviour has changed so much over the last year. It is no good benchmarking customer experience against direct competitors i.e. other insurers. Customers have experienced the very best from online retailers, the giants like Amazon and insurers must now compete against the very best online experience their customers enjoy.
Not only that, when it comes to auto insurance they are in competition with auto manufacturers. Everyone is after winning premiums and everyone is experimenting with new products and services. Elon Musk is probably the most visible seeking to leverage the data generated by Tesla Auto Pilot and IoT connectivity from Starlink to monetise data and design better vehicles for repairs, insurance claims and customer satisfaction.
Insurers deserve and need no-code/low-code platforms will deliver solutions for policy holders, repair networks, roadside assistance partners and other supply chain partners.
Gona provides a useful checklist to which I have added two lines. Look for a no code solution that:
- Allows you the business user to write the rules on a platform to make them work
- Let's business analysts and tech savvy adjusters customise workflows, messaging, branding and UX
- In plain English, Spanish, French, Chinese etc from the innovator's workstation
- Offers full underwriting capabilities with embedded rules
- Extends to digital claims management FNOL- Settlement
- Enables supply chain, broker etc orchestration
- Is API enabled and integrates with legacy & core systems
Many claim but few offer no-claims insurance platforms. Some creep near with low-code.
Covid-19 has changed insurance and customers forever. Hate the word but there is a new paradigm and only LOW-CODE/NO_CODE gives insurers the platform to face the future. There are plenty of solutions to look at including: -
Healthcare, Insurance amongst many sectors have often been the victim of hyped-up technology, so it’s no surprise that CIOs are wary of new trends. Welcome to the buzz surrounding low-code software
https://www.cio.com/article/3617002/are-cios-sleeping-on-low-code.html#tk.rss_all
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