Why No-Code Reconciliation Is A No-Brainer

The vital role of no-code in streamlining digital transformation

Worldwide digital transformation continues at pace as organizations vie to remain competitive and keep up with the demands of their increasingly tech-savvy customers. Gartner forecasts global IT spend to top $4.4 trillion this year, up 4% from 2021, as businesses strive to be more flexible and agile to better navigate the unpredictable trading and labor climate. The aftermath of the pandemic, global conflict, inflation, supply chain challenges and labor shortages are all putting pressure on businesses to streamline processes, improve operational efficiency and achieve a better ROI.

Aligned with this, employees are demanding performance is measured on the value they bring to a business, and to also have the space and trust to deliver positive outcomes regardless of where they work.

Introducing automation to business processes is a critical part of the digital transformation journey, with no-code software an important feature of the more effective automated applications. According to Gartner, more than 50% of medium-to-large enterprises will adopt low-code/no-code platforms as part of their overall IT strategy by 2023.

Here we look at the rise of no-code and why it’s essential to integrate it into your automated reconciliation journey.

The lowdown on low-code/no-code

Software with low-code/no-code (LCNC) functionality democratizes innovation. It allows users with little (low-code) or no (no-code) technical knowledge to design applications, data integrations and other functionality — traditionally only possible with the skills of a developer creating hard code from scratch.

The development environment is usually a graphic user interface where users can simply drag and drop elements into place to create the desired functionality. Performance data can then be tracked as the application runs. It means quick customizations without the IT department getting involved.

While LC still involves some coding, NC automates the entire process, saving time and cost. This allows the employee to focus on high value, creative, human-centered tasks such as client service and support.

While some call the LCNC movement a ‘Cambrian explosion’ of user-generated innovation, others are more skeptical warning it is not a magic solution to a business’s software problems. However, applied in the right way, LCNC offers many benefits to businesses and customer experience.

Applications

LCNC helps connect systems and automate processes and is ideal for low-complexity, repetitive tasks. No-code development platforms are most suitable for businesses looking for ready-to-go solutions with minimal customization, so are popular with small businesses which may not have the budget or resources to create code from scratch, or organizations that need to rapidly automate manual tasks without the time lag of code development and testing.

No-code applications could include:

• Building websites
• Mobile apps
• Web apps
• Voice apps
• Chatbots
• Integrations
• Task automation
• Automated workflows
• Running eCommerce stores

When applications for emergency housing assistance exploded during the pandemic in the city of San Antonio in Texas, manual processing couldn’t keep up with the pace of requests. The city implemented a LCNC solution launched in just two weeks with a two-person development team. This speeded up the application process, enabling people to submit documents online, as well as improve community engagement.

Iconic magazine Time used a range of LCNC applications driven by automation to reduce the invoice submission-to-payment cycle from months to days, thereby dispensing with repetitive, manual processes.

Water, sewage and waste management company Suez used LCNC solutions to supercharge its eCommerce portal to increase customer self-service options. It resulted in nearly $500,000 of new business in the first three months.

The rise of the citizen developer

The popularity of no-code solutions has led to the growth of the ‘citizen developer’ – employees with limited or no programming skills but with the business acumen to understand what departments need to operate more efficiently. Broadening app development outside the traditional IT function encourages fresh, creative thinking, while allowing skilled programmers to focus on more technically challenging applications.

A recent study by McKinsey found businesses that empowered their citizen developers scored 33% higher on measures of innovation than those that did not. Supporting citizen developers by ensuring available data is high-quality, accurate and real-time will help them make better-informed decisions.

Why no-code?

As demonstrated by the examples above, this method of software development offers a number of advantages. They include:

• Quick implementation
• Shorter development cycle
• Involves more voices in the development process, improving employee engagement and autonomy
• Cost savings – both on training costs and the efficiencies gained from time-saving automation
• Investment in infrastructure improvements without the long time scales traditionally involved
• Self-sufficiency, removing the reliance on outsourced developers, and the agility to create apps when required
• Custom solutions to meet specific requirements
• Automating repetitive, manual tasks releases employees from mundane activities to concentrate on more important tasks
• Allows ‘citizen developers’ to flourish, and with the right complementary tools, arms them with rich data to make impactful strategic decisions

No-code development is a good first step offering immediate cost and time savings as well as error reduction. Further down the line a company may require greater technical expertise to scale or integrate wider enterprise functions. Businesses should develop best practice of ownership and development to ensure these ‘citizen apps’ don’t become obsolete or ineffective, or interfere with new high-spec apps. A hybrid model may be appropriate where no-code apps are launched and then given to an experienced system developer who gives it polish or transfers it into a more scalable language like Python.

Summary

To stay competitive, businesses need to be able to differentiate themselves from the competition. LCNC applications offer organizations an agile way to create unique solutions that solve unique issues in swift response to customer behavior spikes and dips. NC especially avoids the time and costs of recruiting development specialists in an already challenging labor market.

No-code helps reduce capital cost and risk by dispensing with the need for major IT upgrades or technology stack revamps. Data and usage is easily tracked, which helps forecasting and problem-solving. Citizen developers should be supported with data systems that can crunch large and complex volumes of information to provide richer insights for more targeted app development.

With the global low-code development platform market set to grow from $13.2 billion in 2020 to a staggering $45.5 billion by 2025, it is clearly an integral part of a business’s transformation and innovation journey.

No-code with Aurum

Aurum’s reconciliation technology includes no-code software, giving organizations independence and autonomy to create fast, innovative solutions that are immediately effective in the transaction matching process. Quick customizations mean time and cost savings which benefit not only productivity but also customer experience.

But more than this, our no-code software solutions are:

• Secure, using up-to-date technology
• Managed in a platform to avoid duplication and errors, and to allow ease of maintenance
• Easily integrated with existing systems
• Maintained on a central dashboard where insights are easily shareable with teams and transparency is assured
• Able to crunch data in any format to create real-time outcomes and insight

Automated reconciliation with Aurum

We are financial data matching software specialists. For more than 14 years Aurum has been helping some of the world’s most recognizable brands achieve their reconciliation goals.

We put businesses in the driving seat with their data, ensuring compliance and control with a quality product tailored for each client’s needs. We work across industries and have a diverse client list including Octopus Investments, Admiral, Ladbrokes, and Versapay. Our partnership approach ensures we’re always on hand on your reconciliation journey.

Find out more about how our no-code software can help your business. Book a demo with us now.