OutSystems has been recognized by APAC CIOOutlook Magazine as the recipient of “,” based on our proprietary methodology, reflecting its position in the industry. This profile has been developed by the APAC CIOOutlook research and editorial team based on insights from an interview with Mark Weaser.

OutSystems
The 'Go-To' Low-Code Platform for Digital Transformation

Mark Weaser, Vice President - Asia Pacific

The insatiable demand for custom enterprise applications combined with a dire shortage of coding professionals is translating into a new kind of digital transformation. This transformation is fostering the utopian idea of altogether eliminating—or at least reducing—low-level application coding. To that end, low-code platforms are fast gaining acceptance as they streamline and speed the application delivery process—including design, integration, and deployment cycles. They are also gaining traction among CIOs and IT departments across the Asia Pacific region, who see their inherent business value and time to market advantages. A key enabler of this digital transformation is the low-code technology pioneer, OutSystems. The company offers an industry-leading low-code, rapid application development platform to help organizations build enterprise-grade apps that meet their time-to-market goals.

A Veritable Low-Code Platform

In the last 12 months, demand for low-code platforms surged as CIOs from across industries gain confidence and adapt to more agile application development approaches. In line with this industry-wide demand, OutSystems also saw substantial growth in the adoption of the company’s platform in the APAC region. Mark Weaser, VP-Asia Pacific, confirms, “We have witnessed a 200 percent increase in platform subscription sales year-over-year in Asia Pacific. This has been a major contributor to the adoption of the OutSystems platform on a global basis.”

The OutSystems platform is an open and extensible low-code application development solution. It is available as a cloud or on-premises solution. It supports model-driven development, drag-and-drop design tools, point-and-click programming, wizard-based workflows, and similar low-code development methodologies. The platform allows developers to plug-in custom code or pre-built extensions with ease and juxtaposes the power of low-code development with advanced mobile capabilities.

Outsystems Offers An Industry Leading Low-Code Development Platform To Help Organizations Build Enterprise-Grade Apps That Meet Their Time-To-Market Goals

A comprehensive visual development environment, the platform is designed to easily integrate with existing legacy systems as well as public cloud infrastructure. Weaser adds, “OutSystems helps enterprises tremendously speed their app development efforts, allowing them to keep up with the growing demands of their businesses.”

OutSystems allows five times faster development of new apps in comparison to traditional approaches. So, if developing an application using traditional methods takes four to five months, using the OutSystems platform, an app can be developed in just weeks. The platform uses clear visual models and automates a large part of the application development and deployment process. Built- in security features ensure that the platform is ready for sensitive industries such as banking and government agencies.

Low-code technology from OutSystems is compatible with legacy technologies and provides an extraordinary dynamism to adapt to a growing mobile ecosystem. Legacy technologies are inherently difficult to maintain due to their high, recurring expenditure, forcing companies to consider low-code platforms as an alternative. Also, the businesses that want to develop purpose-built digital banking applications find low-code a viable solution. Understandably for them, low-code technology accelerates a small budget, low resource, and time constrained application development process. For instance, when a major retail customer in Asia wanted to develop a mobile app to manage their bookings, OutSystems accomplished the task in a day. Overwhelmed with the pace of development, the management of the retail company decided to leverage the platform for building all its future apps. So far, the retail company has deployed many new applications into its production system.

Customers often deploy the OutSystems platform to develop an abstraction over their legacy systems and then customize it to render a modern, intuitive user interface on mobile devices. The platform comes with a comprehensive list of pre-built configurations and design libraries to support customers with varying requirements and allows them to customize standard templates.

Integration with public cloud providers as well as legacy platforms is the cornerstone of the OutSystems platform. Weaser extols, “If you ask our clients, why they chose OutSystems over others, the answer would invariably refer to how our platform seamlessly integrates with cloud and mobile ecosystems, and the resulting benefits it draws in business outcomes.” No wonder, leading research and advisory firm, Gartner, has recognized the company as a leader in both high-productivity application platform as a service (hpaPaaS) and mobile application development platforms. Forrester, another reputed analyst firm, named OutSystems a leader both in the general low-code and the mobile low-code development spaces.

Committed to Enterprise Customers

OutSystems has formed an extensive network of nearly 200 support partners. The OutSystems Partner Program brings together industry expertise, global best practices, and local delivery capabilities to the customers spread across the world. Some of the noted partners include Capgemini, CTC, LTI, KPMG, and Deloitte.

Though the company has started out as a pioneer in low-code platforms, OutSystems laid its foundation in the APAC region nearly three years ago, based in Singapore. Today, the company has a presence in Sydney and Japan, and eyes to tap into the Hong Kong market too.

The proven benefits of deploying the OutSystems platform have attracted some of the leading retailers, hotel chains, airports, and energy companies spread across Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, India, Thailand, and Japan. When a major Singapore based customer wanted a flexible solution for its CRM application, they approached OutSystems. The customization that the company did significantly reduced the operating costs and enhanced system's responsiveness, while dozens of new applications were developed to improve efficiency further.

Taking clues from the evolving trends in application deployment, OutSystems is placing significant emphasis on native cloud architectures and micro services. Expanding into new geographies and growing customer base in the APAC region are next in the plan. Weaser concludes, “We firmly believe that ongoing digital transformation will place an increasingly high demand on low-code development platforms. OutSystems, being a pioneer in this space, is well positioned to grab the opportunities that come along in the near future.”