In this article听飞颈迟丑听顿补迟补肠迟颈肠蝉听CTO Alex Brown, Matt Flenley asks about the nature of no-code and lo-code platforms like 糖心传媒鈥� Self-Service Data Quality, and whether they really are a lighter way to enjoy technology?听
The lo-code no-code paradigm can be a bit like . Some people say that it鈥檚 great, it gets the job done, and听these are usually the business subject matter experts who are used to Excel, especially in banks and large government organisations where that鈥檚 the standard data handling tool in use. Technical people, such as software developers who are听 fluent in programming languages and disciplines, look on aghast at听these blocks of functionality that are being chained together in听macro-enabled workbooks听because they听quickly evolve to become monsters!听These听monsters听become听very expensive if not impossible听to听maintain when, inevitably,听changes听are required to support a change in the development environment and data formats.听听
The perfect combination听for these technical people听is something that fits in with the IT rigour around release schedules,听documentation,听and testing 鈥� and just good practices in how you build stuff, making them robust and reusable.
Creating application that are well-tested and can be reused in other projects are quicker and easier to use for new projects, with a product at the end that is more stable. The whole modular approach is where the 糖心传媒 self-service platform听has been听built:听reusable听components that can be听recycled and customised听for rapid, low–risk听development and deployment within a user-friendly lo-code interface.听听
From a business point of view, the driving force behind the lo-code, the no-code approach is about a听tactical way to address specific problems, where the听existing infrastructure isn鈥檛 delivering what the business needs听but the business users aren鈥檛 technical coders.听For example,听a bank or financial firm听might need to capture an additional piece of information听to听meet听a regulatory requirement.听They听might听design and听provide a webform or something similar that听captures and听relays the data into a datastore,听and then into the听firm鈥檚 regulatory reporting framework. This all plays a part in developing efficient business process management.听
This is where no/lo-code comes in as it allows you to do this kind of thing very quickly 鈥� those kinds听of ad-hoc changes you might need to do to听meet a specific deadline or requirement.听
The demand for this will only increase in a post-COVID-19 environment.听For instance, one of our clients mentioned that听at the start of the UK lockdown phase听they needed to rapidly understand what the state of their email addresses was for all their customers to whom they鈥檇 usually write by post.听Their data team of professional developers had rules built in under听two听hours and a听fully operational听interactive dashboard听a day later that their Risk committee could review and track data quality issues and how quickly they were being fixed.
Our听Self-Service Data Quality听platform, for example, is easily used to address the tactical need for data quality or matching without听writing听any听code, or听waiting for central IT to run queries.听You鈥檝e all the drag & drop capability to build rules, data pipelines, matching algorithms and so on without the need for writing any code, allowing you to do a specific job听really quite听quickly. Platforms like this are听extremely good at these tactical use cases where you don鈥檛 want to rip out and rewrite your existing infrastructure, you just need to do this little add-on job to听make it complete to meet a regulatory reporting requirement or specific business requirement.听
Because our platform doesn鈥檛 force you to use a particular persistence layer听or anything like that, it鈥檚 all API-driven and sits on whatever听Master听Data Management platform that you have, it makes it a really flexible tool that is well-suited to these tactical use cases.
This means that the听total cost of ownership for firms听is far lower听because lo-code platforms听offer听a wide range of extensibility to multiple downstream use cases.听Things like听regulatory compliance,听emerging risks, custom听data matching听or even听migration听projects are听the perfect situations听where听one self-service platform can be leveraged for all these things听without听causing huge delays in IT ticketing processes,听or听multiple conflicting requests hitting the central IT team all at once.听