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March 02, 2022

Employers have long struggled to hire skilled developers, with demand for IT professionals exceeding supply for decades. Today, the issue has reached fever pitch.

79% of organizations say that filling gaps in their IT resources is now a business priority. 80% of technology leaders find it difficult to hold on to skilled developers. In the UK, two-thirds of enterprises are unable to keep pace with technology change due to IT skills shortages.

Low code systems like Microsoft’s Power Platform are one answer to the problem – empowering employees to develop their own apps for the workplace. In this way, low code systems multiply organizations’ development resources. In turn, they make IT and non-IT teams more efficient and effective – helping enterprises to navigate IT skills shortages by putting innovation at the heart of their operations.

Tried, tested and ineffective

When IT teams are unable to cope with internal demand for their skills, organizations typically try three things to deal with the problem.

Some ignore it. Development requests go unanswered, and the development backlog grows. Employees outside IT grow frustrated and implement their own IT solutions – causing Shadow IT to proliferate.

Some hire junior developers or external teams to handle projects. Both need time and training before they can help to solve development backlogs.

Others turn to off-the-shelf software, which solves some but not all of their requirements. Customization projects for the off-the-shelf systems get added to the development backlog. Using non-bespoke systems also creates new types of issues for IT teams to deal with, when solutions break following a software update or changes.

Autonomous, efficient and effective

In each instance, organizations swap one problem – an inability to meet development demand – with another. Empowering employees via low code solutions like Power Platform is a smarter, better answer.

Power Platform enables non-skilled developers to design, test and deploy simple business apps using the data and systems in Microsoft Office 365, and third-party systems via a library of 500+ connectors.

With Power Platform, employees can solve everyday problems, automate repetitive tasks and deliver new customer experiences – all without distracting IT teams with new development requests.

The result: enterprise productivity increases and IT teams’ focus changes from building solutions to supporting others to build solutions.

Today, 77% of enterprises are using low code systems to accelerate digital innovation and clear their development backlog.

Providing employees with development tools to solve simple issues makes them more efficient. No more waiting for IT teams to design, develop, test, deploy and retest simple applications. Instead, employees can get started with simple drag and drop builders, building solutions at speed and tweaking their apps when necessary. They can even share their apps and workflows for other teams to work with and build on. When apps are no longer needed, they can be disposed of.

Empowering employees to solve problems this way isn’t only more efficient; it’s also often more effective. Teams don’t need to explain their use case to a developer, who may or may not interpret their requirement correctly. Employees that are closest to the problem are the most likely to have a clear understanding of the solution and how it should work. Power Platform gives them the tools to build their ideal solution.

This matches the way employees want to work. 41% of non-IT employees already customize and build technology solutions for their own purposes, and systems like Power Platform meet teams’ increasing appetite for flexibility and autonomy.

Unlocking your people power

Our work with Rabobank in The Netherlands is a case in point. In just twelve months, we supported staff to build 1,500 apps and workflows with Power Platform, freeing up their IT teams to focus on delivering critical, complicated development projects. Dozens of these ‘enterprise-grade’ projects were also delivered on Power Platform, with Sogeti’s support – a clear demonstration of the system’s power, scalability and versatility.

As one of only two Microsoft Power Assist Partners worldwide, Sogeti is on hand to help ensure you realize the full benefits of Power Platform across your organization.

Our teams work with enterprises worldwide to help implement and scale Power Platform, providing support and training for employees, and end-to-end governance and maintenance to help safeguard your systems and data. In this way, we help organizations to multiply their development power and tackle the IT skills shortage head-on.

Low code is the future for enterprise development, and Sogeti can get you there faster.

What are you waiting for?

Richard Wierenga

Richard Wierenga

Power Platform and Office365 expert at Sogeti

Unlock your teams’ productivity potential

Enterprises worldwide are turning to Microsoft Power Platform to drive productivity and free up their IT teams.