Low-code development platform for digital transformation Outsystems recently published its State of Application Development 2017 Research Report, which sets out to better understand the challenges surrounding digital transformation and the overall state of application development.

Outsystems recently published its research report reviewing the state of application development in 2017. To better understand the digital imperative and the current state of application development, Outsystems conducted its fourth annual survey, this time including more than 3,200 IT professionals from over 40 countries and 28 different industry segments around the world. The research and survey focused on the following five critical issues:

• What are the major challenges facing IT managers, architects and developers today?
• Is the demand for applications growing, and what are the implications of that growth?
• What are the highest priority application types (mobile, IoT, etc.), systems (ERP, CRM, etc.), and development approaches that make up the digital transformation landscape?
• How are organizations dealing with the rise of citizen developers and the developer skills gap?
• Are organizations embracing new approaches, like low-code platforms, to accelerate digital transformation?

Survey results offered a wide depth of insight, but some notable findings included the large number of backlogs, major skills shortages, and a wide variety of barriers that generally impede mobile development. According to the research, more than 60% of IT professionals reported being backlogged on app development, and nearly 40% of organisations report a shortage of skilled mobile developers. More than three quarters of respondents reported taking an average of three months to develop a custom application, and for 11% of those respondents, the required development time stretched to more than a year. The excessively long development times in particular are cause for particular dissatisfaction, and around half of respondents reported being displeased with the pace of application development within their team.

Time and budget are the biggest barriers to mobile development, according to IT managers, followed by the skills gap, a steep rise in competing priorities, and a troubling lack of qualified mobile developers. Mobility was named as the most common business requirement for applications, and many respondents described it as either very important, or a requirement to incorporating mobile functionality into their current and future applications. Organisations are experimenting more with low-code; and, in fact, more than 40% of surveyed IT professionals indicated that they’re either using or considering using low-code or no-code platforms to support their IT strategy.

Outsystems was able to conclude that low-code development is on the rise. Companies that have adopted low-code development platforms are beginning to see improvements such as quicker mobile app development times and diminished reliance on third parties for delivery.

To download the complete Outsystems: The State of Application Development 2017 Research Report, click here.