Automating processes with low-code
By Redaktion techport.ai, IT-Beratung · Last updated on
Every mid-sized company has activities that recur every week, cost several hours and consist of copying data between two systems. They appear in no project plan because individually they are too small. In total they absorb more working time than most projects save.
Low-code tools and automation platforms make it possible to solve such workflows without a classic development project. That is a genuine step forward and at the same time the fastest route into a new unmaintainable landscape if nobody sets rules.
How you notice it
- Staff regularly transfer data by hand from one system into another.
- There are spreadsheets with macros that are business critical and that nobody can change any more.
- Individual areas have already built automations and IT learns about them by chance.
- After a change of personnel an automation stops and nobody knows what it did.
Why this happens
The need for automation arises where systems are not connected, and those gaps almost always sit at the edges between departments. For IT each individual gap is too small to justify a project, for the department it is too big to ignore. So solutions emerge quietly, with whatever is at hand. That is not negligence but a reasonable response to a gap in the offering.
How we go about it
- Find candidates and do the arithmetic. We collect recurring manual activities and assess them by frequency, time spent, error rate and stability of the underlying process. What gets automated is what occurs often and does not change constantly, not what annoys people most.
- Choose the right means. We check in this order: can the source system do it itself, is there a standard interface, is an automation tool sufficient, does it need development. The first match wins. Automation is the second best solution when a process could also be eliminated.
- Set the rules. We define which tools are permitted, who may build, which data may be processed, where automations are registered and who supports them in the error case. Without a named owner every automation becomes a puzzle within two years.
- Operate them like systems. We provide monitoring, error notification, one page of documentation and a review whenever one of the connected systems changes. Automations are software, even if they were created without programming.
What you gain
- Noticeably less manual transfer work at the boundaries between departments.
- Automations that keep running after a change of personnel.
- Departments that may build their own solutions without creating a risk.
From our projects
When we record manual activities, the time spent is almost always higher than estimated because rework after errors is not counted. At the same time not every candidate is suitable: workflows that change every few months cost more in maintenance than they save. We therefore recommend starting with two or three stable, frequent workflows and measuring the result before rolling out a platform broadly. The second finding: where departments have already automated, the business quality is usually good and the technical safeguarding poor. Adopting and securing those solutions is cheaper than banning and rebuilding them.
Häufige Fragen
Does low-code replace our developers?
No, it moves the boundary. Simple workflows, forms and connections between standard systems can be solved without development. Anything with complex business logic, high volumes or particular response time requirements remains development work. The benefit is that development capacity is freed for the cases where it is genuinely needed.
How do we stop an unmanageable landscape of automations emerging?
Through a register and an owner per automation, through approval for anything processing personal or business critical data, and through an annual review in which unused items are switched off. That is little effort if you do it from the start and a lot of effort if you catch up later.
Let us talk about Automating processes with low-code
In a thirty minute first call we work out where your biggest lever sits and whether we are the right people for it.
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