Low-code solves the speed issue in software development

In the Asia Pacific, where government and enterprise sectors are under pressure to modernise quickly, software engineering teams have been struggling with delivery speed and integration problems.

Organisations have learnt that they cannot hire their way out of this situation, and software development needs a more efficient way to build powerful applications quickly.

That’s why many are pursuing a software development methodology that allows them to build applications with a visual interface much faster than traditional models, as it reduces the need to write new code.

This approach, known as low-code application development, provides a sustainable way to scale innovation, reduce dependency on scarce developer talent, and ensure organisations can adapt quickly to disruption.

Developers can draw from a library of reusable components that address business requirements, which serve as building blocks to customise and develop new applications.

An example is Aviva, the UK’s largest insurer with 33 million customers across 16 countries. The company has inherited 750 different insurance companies, along with their many systems, data, and processes.

This scale of operations presented challenges, resulting in a poor user experience.

For example, employees needed to navigate between 12 to 22 distinct systems to access data to help resolve customer issues. This made it impossible to resolve customer problems quickly and effectively.

Aviva used the Appian platform with data fabric capabilities to unify 22 different systems into a single interface for call centre operations, making client data much more accessible and actionable. 

They now have a central record screen that provides a 360-degree view of every service and policy the client uses, helping them to quickly meet customer needs.

Rapidly building applications

By reducing or eliminating the need to code an application, low-code solutions make it easy for developers of any skill level to build and deploy business applications.

This helps organisations release software 10 times faster than they could with a traditional development approach.

As organisations across the Asia Pacific continue their focus on rapid digital transformation of their workloads, low-code provides a way to meet citizen and customer expectations faster while reducing technical debt.

The low-code experience is also supercharged with artificial intelligence (AI).

Appian uses generative AI (GenAI) to help design workflows, suggest data models, and accelerate testing.

This means government employees can spend less time on technical tasks and more time focusing on citizen outcomes.

AI also enhances process automation – from intelligent document processing to predictive analytics – making applications smarter and more impactful.

AI plus low-code brings together human creativity and machine intelligence to deliver better public services faster.

Low-code vs no-code

While low-code and no-code approaches to software development are related and often discussed in the same context, they are not the same.

No-code platforms target business users who lack formal software development training and are looking to develop simple applications, often departmental or niche use cases.

According to Gartner, no-code development tools abstract the codebase entirely by providing a visual “what you see is what you get” interface to building an application, from the data model to business logic to workflows to the user interface.

The key consideration for customers is future scalability when requirements grow, and many no-code applications eventually hit a ceiling, forcing rewrites by specialists to release new features.

The low-code approach, on the other hand, ensures government organisations can start quickly but still scale to mission-critical, secure, and enterprise-wide solutions.

While the visual interface makes development far faster and more intuitive, Appian believes a foundational understanding of application logic, data structures, and workflows is still important.

Empowering more collaboration

Another benefit of a low-code platform is that it empowers organisations and IT teams to collaborate more effectively.

A good example of this collaborative development is Addiko Bank, which set out to digitalise internal processes to improve customer experience.

The bank found that its processes were complex, took too long, relied heavily on paper documents and were not consistent across countries.

Addiko used low-code to speed up its loan and trade finance processes. The bank also used Appian’s data fabric to unify core banking and underwriting systems.

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Next, they added process automation to support contract and documentation creation, sending any exception requests for employees to review. 

As a result, the bank shortened the average customer’s wait time for loan approvals from seven to three days.

Security and governance

While a low-code platform dramatically speeds up processes, it’s important to remember that speed should not come at the cost of governance.

Appian believes that successful organisations establish clear governance frameworks, so that applications remain secure, compliant, and connected to enterprise systems. In this way, it is possible to gain agility without the risk of shadow IT.

Appian’s enterprise-grade security complies with global standards, including ISO, SOC, CSA STAR, IRAP, and more, critical for government and financial services in the Asia Pacific. It provides centralised governance controls that allow IT to oversee all applications developed on the platform.

The company’s unified data fabric ensures consistency, security, and access control across all applications without having to migrate all data into a centralised location or storage.

This means organisations can empower business teams to innovate without losing control or compromising on security.

A low-code future

Low-code is not a passing trend; it’s becoming the default approach to digital transformation.

The most forward-looking organisations in the Asia Pacific are already embedding low-code into their IT and business strategies.

Those who embrace it early will be best positioned to deliver better services, improve efficiency, and build resilience amid ongoing change.