How the IT Skills Gap Is Bridged By Low-Code Platforms

In The Avengers, Captain America and Tony Stark had an interesting argument. Captain America asked Stark, “Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off and what are you?” Stark’s quip was witty: “Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.” Stark’s Iron Man suit takes any person past the limits of human strength and physical abilities. Wearing this armor transforms Stark from a smart and strong businessman into a superhero. As Iron Man, he is able to fly, fire missiles, shoot lasers and take on any supervillain.

Back in the real world, businesses face a different kind of supervillain — the speed of change. Technology develops faster than the user’s ability to learn to use it. Entrepreneur reported that one in every three American workers are not proficient enough in the technology required for their jobs. Four out of ten companies suffer from moderate to major IT skills gap. As a result, approximately 20% of productivity is lost and $1.3 trillion of expenses go down the drain. It’s easy to imagine these workers wishing they had an Iron Man suit to battle these rapid changes.

Overcoming the IT Skills Gap

Tech-savvy business professionals who don’t get the resources they needed to fulfill their requirements take it upon themselves to build their own applications and tools. These business developers rely heavily on spreadsheets, databases, collaborative web tools and low-code platforms to help them design programs easily, even with little to no computer programming experience. They are business superheroes who innovate creative applications to address their company’s business challenges. They fill the void in the application design and development process of an enterprise. Business developers think outside the box and offer solutions that help bridge the skills gap in an organization.

According to Forrester, an independent analyst firm, business experts with aptitudes in technology are among the biggest users of low-code development platforms as these platforms offer creative and productive environments for software delivery.

In The Forrester New Wave™: Low-Code Platforms For Business Developers, Q4 2017 report, Forrester noted that low-code development platforms empower business developers in many aspects such as:

• Low-code tools provide them with more expressive power by addressing workflow and mapping information;
• Low-code tools empower underserved teams to automate;
• Low-code tools boost the productivity of both professional IT teams as well as business developers.

Among the platforms Forrester evaluated is Caspio. Named a “Leader” in low-code platforms, Caspio received a differentiated rating in the following criteria: user interface development, data management, reporting and analysis, cloud platform, market approach and roadmap.

User Interface 
Caspio is packed with a powerful visual application builder that guides the user through the creation of every part of the application with the help of easy-to-use step-by-step wizards.

Data Management
The platform offers unmatched scalability for the number of databases, users as well as the number of simultaneous transactions. Caspio also supports Excel, Access, XML and Text file formats for native import and export.

Reporting and Analysis
Caspio’s powerful data visualization tools, integrated maps and live calculations allow you to bring your company’s data to life.

Cloud Platform
Built on Microsoft SQL Server, Caspio is a robust database platform that provides enterprise-level reliability and security.

Think of Caspio as something like Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit. With Caspio’s low-code platform, business developers are now supercharged to complete custom business applications in minutes or hours rather than weeks or months using traditional coding methods. This goes to show that Caspio is capable of accelerating an organization’s productivity by letting the people closest to the problem address the problem.

With low-code solutions, business developers will become a tech superhero, with skills that are beyond the capabilities of ordinary business professionals.

Want to be a superhero for your organization? Sign up for a free trial and start building your custom application today!