Twilight of the analysts

The development of low-code or no-code applications raises the question of the future of business analysis jobs, conducted in terms of information systems. Will they still be needed in the numbers they are today?

Implementing information systems for business development has always generated the problem of converting business issues into code for individual applications. Not counting cases where organizations adapted their business to IT tools, probably every other company has encountered this issue.

Anyone who has had the opportunity to lead a development team or project probably knows how important it is to properly understand the client’s needs and properly communicate them to the production team. Without this understanding, the final result is sometimes grossly far from the expectations of the wider business. Where systems began to be heavily developed, or where the specifics of the business were not easy to grasp, a systems analyst appeared. A dedicated person with the right set of soft skills, combined with at least a basic knowledge of software development and a good knowledge of the range of applications designed to realize customer requirements. External or internal.

In the process of developing such business solutions, the analyst acts as a keystone between the development team and the client. He collects requirements, writes documentation, consults on the architecture and capabilities of the system, tests and presents the team’s output in meetings with the client.

The emergence of low-code applications calls into question the necessity of such positions.

The introduction of such tools provides opportunities to shorten the process and cast analysts in a slightly different role. Instead of dedicating their time to conversions, a business analyst turned Citizen developer has a chance to produce business solutions on their own in the form of “clicking out” a given functionality, process or entire application. Once proficient, even in real time, such as during meetings. This exponentially increases not only the efficiency in delivering exactly what the business wants, but in addition to significantly reducing the delivery time itself.

Taking the above into account, creating an organization’s IT architecture on a foundation composed of low-code applications significantly reduces the costs associated with software development. The current opportunities provided by such platforms mean that far fewer classic programmers are needed, and those who remain can then focus on solving complex business problems with code, rather than concentrating their energy and time on producing a whole lot of “decoration” that could be provided with off-the-shelf components.

With low-code tools becoming more and more popular, it seems that today’s business analysts should be the first line of ambassadors for such tools inside the organization. In my opinion, this is also the right signal, for companies offering such tools, that it should be the analysts, and not IT heads as before, who should be the first, natural sales contact leading to the implementation of such tools.

In conclusion – the increasing quantity and quality of such applications is a call for a change in the optics of those currently holding system/business analyst positions and sets a clear direction for them. Familiarity with these tools, and motivation to implement them in organizations, seems to increase the chances of self-development and guarantee job stability. Analysts also represent a much better source of future CitDev than classic programmers.