Low-code drives digital transformation in UK manufacturing

New research from Mendix, a Siemens business, reveals that low-code platforms have become a key facilitator of digital transformation for UK manufacturing organisations.

The findings indicate that with crucial data often confined within legacy systems, manufacturing organisations are increasingly turning to application development to digitise their operations. The importance of digital transformation is underscored by the 52% of manufacturing IT leaders who identified it as their primary use case for low-code solutions.

According to the report, "The Low-Code Perspective: Insights from Enterprise IT Leaders," low-code technology is now a mainstream strategy embraced by manufacturing organisations. Among the respondents, 99% reported incorporating low-code into their development processes, highlighting its status within the industry.

Low-code's impact is evident, with 75% of participants indicating that it improves their organisation's capacity to innovate at scale. This sentiment is shared by 84% of surveyed manufacturing IT leaders, who believe that combining artificial intelligence with low-code would further expedite innovation.

Raymond Kok, CEO of Mendix, remarked, "We have always believed that low-code had the potential to be much more than a tool to automate manual processes. This survey shows that the market agrees. Used wisely, low-code is about rethinking entire business processes from the ground up. In turn, this enables the other critical benefit of low-code: innovation. Enterprises will be able to speed up digital transformation cycles and innovate at scale. Low-code also opens new avenues for fusion teams to think bigger when it comes to using tech to transform their organisation for the future, as long as they are prioritising upskilling users to maximise the potential of low-code for their unique use cases. Low-code continues to be closely aligned to today's market's needs, while also offering a springboard for future innovation."

Further illustrating the strategic importance of low-code, the research identifies the C-suite as instrumental in driving its adoption, with 77% of respondents acknowledging this influence. Notably, 51% of manufacturing organisations reported significant involvement of their CEOs in low-code decisions, marking the highest level of CEO engagement across all surveyed sectors.

Despite its advantages, low-code and AI-assisted coding present challenges regarding governance, as noted by 69% of technical leaders who are concerned about governance issues. There is a broad consensus on the need for education and upskilling. A significant 86% of respondents agreed that more training is necessary to ensure developers are effectively utilising AI-assisted coding.

In terms of benefits, the survey highlights increased productivity as a core advantage of adopting low-code, with 83% of respondents noting productivity gains within tech teams. Additionally, 76% agreed that low-code streamlines development, while 75% reported improvements in time-to-market metrics.

The research also found that governance and security remain critical when selecting a low-code platform, with 42% of respondents ranking these as top criteria. For those in the manufacturing sector, the ability to extend the platform is especially valued, rated as important by 37% of participants.

The survey drew insights from 2,000 senior tech decision-makers across multiple regions including Benelux, Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US, providing a comprehensive view of the trends influencing low-code adoption within the manufacturing industry.