IT could hold back digital innovation at UAE organisations
Empowering ‘citizen developers’ to lead innovation will enable UAE organisations to effectively overcome technical skills shortages and reduce time to market for new digital services
Vaidy Panchabikesan, Regional Sales Director at Kissflow.
Organisations in the UAE have prioritised digital transformation long before the onset of the pandemic. The country is already placed highest in the region on the MEED Digital Transformation Index and shows a substantial appetite for digital innovation with strong evidence of investment being made across all market segments.
The UAE banking sector has been quick to adopt a digital-first approach, and other sectors such as real estate and retail have not been far behind. A good example is Property Finder, which has realised the value in digitisation and is able to capitalise on spikes in market demand thanks to their strong digital transformation efforts.
But to a large extent, the onus of digital transformation lies within the IT department. After all, who better to know which technologies to invest in than professionals who have their finger on the pulse of the rapidly advancing IT space. Following this approach, business objectives are ultimately translated into IT features and complex RFPs filled with technical jargon. There has been good reason to trust this approach – over the last 12 months alone, IT teams have rightfully earned their praise as the unsung heroes responsible for rapidly and effectively transitioning entire workforces to remote setups through the use of technology platforms.
Shortcomings of an IT-centric approach to innovation
But with technology having proven more essential to businesses than ever before, we’re fast approaching a point where overworked IT departments could now prove to be the bottleneck in innovation roadmaps. This is a challenge that will only be exacerbated by the $50 billion digital skills gap that the UAE is expected to experience by 2030. Understaffed IT teams and the lack of technical resources have already compelled many businesses in the Emirates to outsource the development of innovative applications to countries such as India, Turkey, and Jordan. While this could address costs, it introduces a new set of issues around collaboration, and the fact that a third-party provider often lacks the same level of knowledge and understanding of your business as your own employees.
Perhaps most importantly, as organisations now look to technology to not only enhance operational aspects such as collaboration, or cybersecurity, but rather to drive business outcomes, they can’t expect IT professionals to have the same understanding and insight as the business owner or functional head. After all, an HR application could boast the highest security, reliability, and scalability, but if it doesn’t effectively solve the problem the HR head or teams were facing, it will do little to deliver on its intended objectives. This disconnect between line of business managers and IT teams could ultimately result in the wave of IT investments we are witnessing in the UAE yielding only suboptimal results.
Democratisation of development
For digital initiatives to be truly impactful, innovation needs to be led by the people actually utilising the technologies. Line of business managers must now have a major say in what functionalities applications provide, and workflows they entail. Of course, if development is ultimately left up to IT teams alone, this approach will have the potential to only worsen the bottleneck as the inevitable back-and-forth will strain already overworked IT resources. Department heads and non-IT stakeholders must therefore be empowered to actively participate in, and even own the development process. And whereas only a few years ago, the technical skills required for this would have presented an insurmountable entry barrier, the timely emergence of Low-code and No-code platforms could well be the silver bullet UAE businesses need to gain a decisive edge in the increasingly competitive business landscape.
Low-code and No-code platforms effectively eliminate the need to have extensive coding knowledge. With their visual, drag-and-drop ‘coding’ environments, they allow apps to be developed quickly, and with minimal technical competence. As these platforms automatically handle the base level code, scripts, and integration, they allow developers to focus on functionality by prototyping, building, and scaling applications without complex infrastructure. Most importantly, with Low-code and No-code solutions, coders and non-coders can both utilise the development platform with equal ease, making them an excellent resource for digital transformation.
With commendable initiatives by the UAE government to attract world-class professionals to the country, making innovation a shared responsibility will enable organisations to capitalise on the influx of skilled subject-matter experts. While IT will always remain instrumental to digital transformation and the smooth running of underlying technology environments, innovation now needs to be democratised. Low-code and No-code platforms pave the way for citizen developers. By empowering all stakeholders to contribute to the digital journey, businesses can set themselves on the fastest and most cost-effective path to digital transformation.
Vaidy Panchabikesan, Regional Sales Director at Kissflow.
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by Staff Writer
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IT could hold back digital innovation at UAE organisations
Empowering ‘citizen developers’ to lead innovation will enable UAE organisations to effectively overcome technical skills shortages and reduce time to market for new digital services
Organisations in the UAE have prioritised digital transformation long before the onset of the pandemic. The country is already placed highest in the region on the MEED Digital Transformation Index and shows a substantial appetite for digital innovation with strong evidence of investment being made across all market segments.
The UAE banking sector has been quick to adopt a digital-first approach, and other sectors such as real estate and retail have not been far behind. A good example is Property Finder, which has realised the value in digitisation and is able to capitalise on spikes in market demand thanks to their strong digital transformation efforts.
But to a large extent, the onus of digital transformation lies within the IT department. After all, who better to know which technologies to invest in than professionals who have their finger on the pulse of the rapidly advancing IT space. Following this approach, business objectives are ultimately translated into IT features and complex RFPs filled with technical jargon. There has been good reason to trust this approach – over the last 12 months alone, IT teams have rightfully earned their praise as the unsung heroes responsible for rapidly and effectively transitioning entire workforces to remote setups through the use of technology platforms.
Shortcomings of an IT-centric approach to innovation
But with technology having proven more essential to businesses than ever before, we’re fast approaching a point where overworked IT departments could now prove to be the bottleneck in innovation roadmaps. This is a challenge that will only be exacerbated by the $50 billion digital skills gap that the UAE is expected to experience by 2030. Understaffed IT teams and the lack of technical resources have already compelled many businesses in the Emirates to outsource the development of innovative applications to countries such as India, Turkey, and Jordan. While this could address costs, it introduces a new set of issues around collaboration, and the fact that a third-party provider often lacks the same level of knowledge and understanding of your business as your own employees.
Perhaps most importantly, as organisations now look to technology to not only enhance operational aspects such as collaboration, or cybersecurity, but rather to drive business outcomes, they can’t expect IT professionals to have the same understanding and insight as the business owner or functional head. After all, an HR application could boast the highest security, reliability, and scalability, but if it doesn’t effectively solve the problem the HR head or teams were facing, it will do little to deliver on its intended objectives. This disconnect between line of business managers and IT teams could ultimately result in the wave of IT investments we are witnessing in the UAE yielding only suboptimal results.
Democratisation of development
For digital initiatives to be truly impactful, innovation needs to be led by the people actually utilising the technologies. Line of business managers must now have a major say in what functionalities applications provide, and workflows they entail. Of course, if development is ultimately left up to IT teams alone, this approach will have the potential to only worsen the bottleneck as the inevitable back-and-forth will strain already overworked IT resources. Department heads and non-IT stakeholders must therefore be empowered to actively participate in, and even own the development process. And whereas only a few years ago, the technical skills required for this would have presented an insurmountable entry barrier, the timely emergence of Low-code and No-code platforms could well be the silver bullet UAE businesses need to gain a decisive edge in the increasingly competitive business landscape.
Low-code and No-code platforms effectively eliminate the need to have extensive coding knowledge. With their visual, drag-and-drop ‘coding’ environments, they allow apps to be developed quickly, and with minimal technical competence. As these platforms automatically handle the base level code, scripts, and integration, they allow developers to focus on functionality by prototyping, building, and scaling applications without complex infrastructure. Most importantly, with Low-code and No-code solutions, coders and non-coders can both utilise the development platform with equal ease, making them an excellent resource for digital transformation.
With commendable initiatives by the UAE government to attract world-class professionals to the country, making innovation a shared responsibility will enable organisations to capitalise on the influx of skilled subject-matter experts. While IT will always remain instrumental to digital transformation and the smooth running of underlying technology environments, innovation now needs to be democratised. Low-code and No-code platforms pave the way for citizen developers. By empowering all stakeholders to contribute to the digital journey, businesses can set themselves on the fastest and most cost-effective path to digital transformation.
Vaidy Panchabikesan, Regional Sales Director at Kissflow.
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