Forrester predicts no-code will be a $21.2 billion industry by 2022. But how do the benefits of no-code tools justify this spend? Chris Byers, CEO, Formstack, discusses how no-code tools could be the key to improving collaboration and productivity and empowering employees at all levels of your organization to take on new challenges.
Over the past year, we have been captivated by the rise of a new wave of work solutions, such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. What started off as a trend in work flexibility quickly became a way of life, both on and off the clock. Cultures and etiquettes quickly developed around the use of these tools. Before long, we were asking ourselves questions, such as, “how did we ever manage to get work done without this,†or “knowing what we know now, how could we possibly go back to the old way?â€
While collaboration is earning its time in the spotlight, there is another workplace productivity revolution on the horizon that will perhaps be even more critical in defining the future of work: the no-code movement.
No-code, for the uninitiated, was born from the critical shortage of workers who know how to code and the necessity to create intuitive tools that give non-coding workers nearly the same capabilities as those who do code. Meanwhile, those workers with coding talent are freed up to pursue more complex and demanding tasks.
The logic is sound, and that is why businesses are investing heavily in no-code solutions for their workers. Forrester ResearchOpens a new window calculates that no-code will be a $21.2 billion industry by 2022, with 40% compound annual growth. But how do the benefits of no-code tools justify this spend?
Learn More: Can ESM Close the Productivity Gap of Collaboration Tools?
No-Code Empowers Workers To Take on New Challenges
According to a recent surveyOpens a new window , workers spend more than a full workday every week performing repetitive administrative tasks. These tasks are sure to impact employee morale, as employees could be spending this significant amount of wasted time doing more fulfilling and valuable work.
The problem is not that employees are not motivated to find more productive ways to tackle these tasks. According to a survey from IDGOpens a new window , 70% of workers said they do not have the tools they need to address complex issues with creative problem-solving.
Giving employees access to no-code tools makes them experts in streamlining their own workflows. They know better than anyone else which tasks are holding them back, and by empowering them to automate those tasks with no-code tools, they have the means and incentive to do so. Without having to iterate solutions with an IT specialist or struggle with packaged solutions, employees have a lower barrier to accessing higher productivity.
No-Code Improves Collaboration
When employees have their heads down in repetitive or poorly-optimized tasks, their concerns are centered on the work at hand. While focusing on a particular workflow might help them make the process a little bit more efficient, the tradeoff is that they could lose sight of how their work fits into the bigger picture.
If the rise of Zoom and Teams has proven anything, it is that collaboration is an indispensable part of how we do business. Even while working from home, these tools have enabled employees to reach out to employees in teams or departments that they previously would not have thought to coordinate with. In the process, they discover new ideas and identify potential issues sooner.
Employees using no-code tools to automate those tedious tasks can take a step back and participate in projects that require greater mindshare. When employees spend less time executing menial tasks at a tactical level, they can realize exponentially higher productivity by collaborating on each others’ workflows as pieces of a much larger project.
Learn More: COVID-19 Brought Band-Aid Solutions for Collaboration; Now It Is Time for Long-Term Strategies
No-Code Frees Coders up To Perform Other Tasks
For businesses large enough to have employees with coding talent, no-code tools can free up one of the company’s scarcest (and most expensive) resources. Traditional software tools often take a lot of work to maintain or tailor to a particular workflow, creating a bottleneck in the IT department that requires highly specialized knowledge to solve.
With employees taking control of their no-code tools, coders are free from the tasks that used to take a majority of their time. They can now tackle organizational-level projects that they may have been putting off for months or even years to modernize the business. Just as the employees from the previous examples were able to step back and take a refreshing look at their broader workflows, coders can step back and look for even more creative ways to create new efficiencies in the business.
No-code tools elevate the skills of everyone in the organization. Thanks to no-code, tasks that were once restricted to only a handful of employees with a very specific skill set can be handled by virtually anyone. In turn, employees with coding skills can move on to more specialized projects. When everyone operates at a higher level, productivity goes up, and new efficiencies can be discovered.
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