Low Code at Scale for Regulated Industries

To keep up with the speed of business — in today’s fast-paced development environment — companies in all industries are looking for ways to accelerate innovation. This is why low-code platforms like Microsoft Power Platform are gaining popularity. Through collaboration between IT and business users, low code allows for quick and easy delivery of apps and automations that increase efficiency, productivity, and visibility.

But companies in regulated industries — such as insurance, financial services, and healthcare — have an even more challenging road than most. That’s because regulations are dynamic and constantly changing. These companies also tend to have older, legacy systems and more manual processes that make it challenging to remain secure and compliant while trying to meet growing demands in a timely manner.

The good news is that Microsoft Power Platform is robust for being agile and creating rich customer experiences, without compromising security or compliance standards. So, it’s ideal for regulated industries as well.

Some of the benefits of low code for regulated industries include:

• Speed — Rapidly build compliance applications for optimizing processes and meeting compliance deadlines
• Power — Compliance activities demand a collaborative approach, and the most effective way to unite and digitize them is through the power of intelligent automation
• Agility — Low code provides the speed and flexibility to quickly make the changes needed to remain in compliance as regulations evolve
• Visibility — Provides a unified view of enterprise data to give users actionable information and valuable insights into potential issues so they can improve quality control and mitigate risk

The real question is, how do resource-strapped IT departments in regulated industries jumpstart and support low code efforts at scale? We explored this topic in our recent on-demand webinar Low Code at Scale With Digital Factory for Regulated Organizations. Here are a few takeaways:

Planning and governance are key

We’ve found there’s a cycle when it comes to low code adoption. Someone tries it out to solve a business challenge — usually modernizing a manual process. Based on the success of this initial app or flow, more people begin to identify opportunities for improvement. It can get out of control pretty fast.

That’s why there needs to be governance when it comes to your low code efforts. After all, Power Platform is powerful, reaching into data wherever it is in the organization. Security and data loss prevention are big concerns. IT needs to establish best practices and rules to mitigate this risk. Once you implement governance controls, that’s when you can really take the training wheels off and let people innovate faster.

Also, while low code can be quick and easy, planning is important. This doesn’t mean just listing apps to automate, that’s not really planning. A true roadmap of ideas and processes to modernize is ideal. This will create the synergy and consistency needed to accelerate your low code efforts.

Rinse and repeat

It’s not just about technology. Another way to build low code at scale is repeatability. Establish the guardrails, set the artifacts, determine the processes to follow, then rinse and repeat. That’s the winning recipe — design, test, deliver, repeat.

Hitachi Solutions has designed an offering, called Digital Factory, specifically for this purpose. With Digital Factory, we assess your application needs, define a roadmap, and assign a custom team of experts and resources. This “power pod” works with you to rapidly prioritize and build your backlog, as well as help complete it — one app at a time, on your schedule, and within your budget.

The value of Digital Factory includes:

• Innovate Faster — Working through your backlog, our team can continually design apps and automations while your company tests our work, expediting the process from design to final delivery.
• Greater Synergy — Digital Factory provides a consistent team across multiple apps and automations. This leads to increased alignment between Hitachi Solutions and your team. It also eliminates ramp-up time between app production, saving on costs as well as time to value.
• Increased Flexibility — Many Power Platform projects touch other technologies, such as Azure, Office, SharePoint, Teams, custom dev, etc. With Digital Factory, you have access to all our expert resources – across the entire Microsoft solution ecosystem. And, we can supplement as needed without requiring a new contract.
• More Control – With Digital Factory, you maintain control of future billings. We provide full transparency to the backlog, and a resource manager regularly reviews upcoming work to ensure we maintain alignment and successfully deliver. You can increase or decrease the resource levels as your needs dictate.
• Predictable Cost – Digital Factory is an affordable and predictable cost option to rapidly accelerate Power Platform success.

Ready to get innovating?

These are just a few of the tips and advice our rapid solution development experts deliver in our on-demand webinar, Low Code at Scale With Digital Factory for Regulated Organizations. Check it out to hear even more about Digital Factory, customer stories, and to get the bigger picture on how Power Platform accelerates your data and business modernization efforts at scale.

We also have a special Power Platform Digital Factory assessment offer to help get you started. Contact us for more details. And, be sure and read the latest edition of Power Platform Insights, our monthly newsletter.