Financial-services firms, perhaps more so than most large enterprise organizations, are still encumbered by complex legacy platforms, which can impact agility and slow down time to market for new products and services. In addition, the volume of work related to regulatory changes and day-to-day processing needs is expensive and can hinder new-product innovation and improving customer service. But no-code application platforms may provide a pathway to speed digital transformation and broaden product development.

In our video below, Chris deBrusk and Ben Smith of Unqork take a deep dive into technology trends impacting the financial services industry. From no-code to successful digital transformation strategies, they examine some of the key tactics being used by leading financial institutions to stay ahead of the competition.  

Below are three ways where using a no-code platform can support a successful digital transformation strategy:

1. The move away from a complicated legacy platform. A no-code platform can standardize the user experience by abstracting it away from the core processing platform. No-code platforms allow business teams innovate on their own without as much support from their technology organizations, which gives banks leverage to innovate in different ways, particularly in customer service. It also enables more nimble management of risk and resiliency, especially as more processes, such as payments, go real-time.
2. The move toward a distributed workforce. Before the pandemic lockdown, banks moved a lot of paper. Almost overnight, they were forced to digitize for a distributed workforce. This made it difficult for managers to understand how well their workforce was performing and what kind of support was needed. No-code tools like Unqork help managers change the way teams collaborate—in a matter of days or weeks, not months or years. No-code can play a big role in running a global workforce.
3. The drive for new products. The volume of work to respond to regulatory pressures strains tech departments, especially in the current environment when hiring new staff is difficult. This choke point means that new product development is often stalled or slowed. If a new product idea takes two years to reach fruition, that takes the wind out of people’s sails. A no-code platform gives non-technical users the ability to build applications without writing a single line of code. Business teams deploying no-code platforms have been installing simpler apps, faster—and some banks are encouraging this with rewards for new-product ideas. 

No-code best practice

There are many advantages to using no-code platforms. Firstly, these provide visual, user-friendly capabilities that allow non-developers to design, develop, and deploy enterprise-class applications. Secondly, they give professional software developers more bandwidth to tackle bigger challenges, such as modernizing core platforms.

To make this happen, business and technology leaders should consider deploying no-code as an enterprise platform—not a desktop tool for individuals to use as they want—accompanied by formal training and management controls. As an enterprise tool, usage can be monitored with metrics and embedded within a company’s policy-and-procedures framework, allowing better governance. It is important when deploying no-code tools to make sure you are not introducing technical risk into the overall environment. At the same time, senior leadership must be clear with the technology department that supporting no-code platforms allows them to focus their scarce capacity on more complicated problems than automating generic processes that consume their time. Above all, success in this area depends on a robust business and technology partnership.