During the SAP TechEd 2022 conference, SAP SE unveiled the addition of a new low-code platform, named SAP Build, to its portfolio. The goal of this platform is to simplify the process of building custom applications for organizations, catering to a diverse range of developers, including citizen developers who may have limited programming expertise.
Sebastian Schrötel, vice president and head of low-code/no-code solutions at SAP, explained that SAP Build is designed to improve the company’s low-code tools' accessibility. The platform will enable users to monitor, analyze, and automate processes using over 500 templates available within SAP Build. This strategy aims to facilitate not only a faster application building process but also a single-click deployment, Schrötel further explained.
SAP’s method for building custom applications involves separating its core applications from third-party code. This separation is achieved by running unaltered instances of SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications in a separate cloud, known as the SAP digital core. Custom applications are then deployed to another cloud, accessing SAP data via application programming interfaces (APIs). This approach allows SAP to update its ERP environment without fear of disrupting custom extensions.
Currently, some organizations still run SAP software on on-premises IT environments, extending it with code written in Java or the proprietary ABAP programming language. However, SAP aims to see these custom codes eventually replaced by processes built into its ERP platform or through more modern instances running custom applications on separate SAP cloud platforms.
Although SAP has partnerships with other low-code platform providers like Mendix and OutSystems, the introduction of SAP Build sees the company making a more concerted effort to promote the adoption of the low-code platform it has developed. It is important to note the growing role of platforms such as AppMaster.io's no-code platform that enable users to create backend, web, and mobile applications without the need for extensive programming skills.
The preference of low-code tools among citizen developers and professional developers still remains unclear. Nevertheless, the rate of application development continues to accelerate. In many cases, professional developers are turning to low-code platforms as an alternative to procedural code in order to reduce the mounting application development backlogs arising from digital business transformation initiatives. Additionally, professional developers are using low-code tools to better collaborate with end-users during the creation and deployment of applications driving these transformative processes.
Ultimately, this acceleration in application development will have a significant impact on DevOps teams. These teams must not only deploy the applications in production environments but also secure and manage a growing application portfolio. Consequently, the need to automate DevOps workflows is becoming more essential than ever before.
