How do low-code platforms measure and optimize the business value and impact of BPA initiatives?

Low-code platforms speed up the creation and launch of your business process automation (BPA) applications. Instead of taking months or years, you can build and deploy in days or weeks. These platforms use easy drag-and-drop interfaces, pre-built templates, and reusable components, making the process simple and efficient. You can test and debug in real-time, and deploy across multiple devices with just one click. This allows you to quickly deliver value to your business and adapt to changes and new opportunities faster.

In my experience, the ability to reuse drag-and-drop steps and RPA has been a huge advantage for low-code platforms. While an initial project may take 8 hours (which is still 2000x faster than an integration option), more often than not that low-code can be reused for other projects which can reduce build time from 8 hours to 4 hours in many cases.

Low-code platforms can track metrics like cycle times, errors, and productivity to measure the impact of BPA initiatives. This data can help businesses identify areas for improvement and ensure they're getting the expected value from automation.

Benefit: Low-code platforms allow for faster development and deployment of BPA solutions. This means businesses can quickly implement new processes and make adjustments as needed, significantly reducing the time to market. Optimization: Rapid iterations and updates help in continuously improving the processes based on real-time feedback and changing business needs.

This approach not only allows for quick responses to market changes but also delivers tangible value to customers in a much shorter time.

Operation managers and users empowerment is the happiest moment in the project. The joy I see in those curious eyes when they feel they can make changes, share and reuse their workflows across department is worth millions. Cross-teams collaboration is a big benefit that increases productivity and fosters innovation. This benefit depends on the culture of business. If teams are struggling due to lack of resources in general and are overworked then this benefit won't be seen.

The feedback I am getting has been amazing. Often times requirements are not 100% communicated or a slight change is needed. With low-code solutions, the ability to make a minor update or add a conditional loop can typically be communicated from a Teams message and completed in real time vs the old-fashion way of submitting a change request, scheduling a meeting, reworking, developing, and pushing back out for user acceptance testing.

I believe that every company will become an IT company. Low-code platforms offer the possibility to train and educate business users in creating and editing applications that perfectly align with their use case. They're the experts after all. For the technical users in your organization, low-code platforms allow them to gain business value quickly, as development time is reduced significantly. The user interface needs less attention and database connections can be reused.

When working with low-code platforms, remember they can really boost user empowerment and collaboration. The people using these systems know their processes best, so get them involved in designing and giving feedback on applications. Let them customise and tweak their own tools without always needing IT. By sharing and reusing apps across departments, you tap into your team's collective knowledge. This approach not only increases user satisfaction but also encourages a culture of innovation and ongoing improvement.

Benefit: These platforms empower non-technical users to contribute to the development process. Business users can create and modify workflows without deep programming knowledge, fostering greater collaboration between IT and business teams. Optimization: By enabling business users to directly participate in process design, the solutions are more aligned with business objectives and can be adjusted swiftly as requirements evolve.

Benefit: Low-code platforms offer scalability and flexibility, allowing businesses to start small and expand their BPA initiatives over time. They can handle increasing volumes of data and more complex workflows without a significant increase in development time. Optimization: As businesses grow, the platform can easily scale to meet new demands, ensuring that the BPA solutions remain effective and efficient.

As a user of Microsoft Power Platform, one of the most sought-after low-code platforms, I could not but agree. Yes, you can update your apps securely and without sacrificing performance. Power Pages even has such an interesting feature as Maintenance mode for a website. Microsoft Dataverse enables you to install multiple language packs on a server and allows users to select language options for their environment. And so on. In essence, low-code Power Platform empowers you to build BPA solutions that meet both current and future needs and goals.

Low-code platforms are great because they grow with your business. You can easily add or remove features, users, and data sources without losing performance or security. Updates and upgrades are smooth, so you won’t disrupt operations. Plus, they handle different languages, currencies, and regulations, making it easier to expand globally. This ensures your automation solutions meet both current and future needs. Remember, flexibility is key to staying agile and competitive.

The ease of adding or removing features, users, data sources, and integrations is crucial for maintaining operational efficiency without sacrificing performance or security. The ability to update and improve applications without disrupting operations is another advantage, ensuring business continuity. Additionally, support for different languages, currencies, and regulations allows for global operations and compliance with local laws. This approach ensures that BPA solutions can meet the current and future needs of the business.

I have used several AI and automated reporting with no-code tools for my clients that transformed their business and took just up to 1 week to configure: 🤖 Airtable + Obviously.AI for predictive analytics 🤖 Bottlenecks analysis for Monday.com 🤖 Screenful and Monday.com 🤖 Actiondesk is great for startups. Its the easiest to launch if you want to combine data from several sources. 🤖 Databox is great choice for non-technical users 🤖 Akkio is the fastest way to build and deploy AI with your business data I am limited by 750 characters here, but there are mode. Low-code and no-code platforms that enable data-driven decision making.

Benefit: Many low-code platforms come with built-in analytics tools that provide insights into the performance of automated processes. These tools help in identifying bottlenecks and areas for improvement. Optimization: Continuous monitoring and analysis of process performance enable businesses to optimize their workflows, improving efficiency and effectiveness over time.

One of my best practices that I have implemented is making sure all stakeholders know what success looks like and the definition of done before any development. It's also important to make sure your BPA project has an objective that solves a problem, so you don't fall in a trap of automating the process as the objective. By doing so, your stakeholders will appreciate the solutions you develop.

Before diving into low-code platforms for Business Process Automation (BPA), it’s crucial to define your goals. Ask yourself: What problems are you aiming to solve? What opportunities are you trying to seize? Identify the benefits you expect from BPA and figure out how you'll measure success. This clarity helps you align your automation efforts with your overall business strategy. By setting clear objectives, you can prioritise your resources effectively and ensure everyone understands the desired outcomes. This foundation is key to maximising the value of your BPA initiatives.

Mapping current and desired processes helps identify the involved inputs, outputs, steps, roles, and rules. This allows for simplifying, streamlining, and standardizing processes to improve efficiency. Additionally, designing applications with the right features, interfaces, and integrations is crucial to support the processes and ensure a good user experience. Optimizing BPA solutions in this way leads to higher overall quality and efficiency.

After deploying your newly built automation, keep in mind that you have to monitor it and analyse the data it produces in order to maintain and improve the automation. This is an often overlooked step.