Financial sector organisations have to speed up their digital transformation and take new products to market faster than ever before, making low-code development and AI increasingly important transformation tools.
This is according to speakers at an executive roundtable for the financial sector hosted by JustSolve, in partnership with Mendix (Siemens) and ITWeb.
Economist Ndumiso (Hadebe) Kubheka said current macro- and micro-economic headwinds were driving a ‘chase to zero’ in which organisations were trying to bring their marginal costs closer to zero.
“Banking and fintech are trying to offer clients more value but also working to optimise operations and reduce costs in ways that make sense. We see these trends consistently across companies, industries and countries,” he said. He noted that three key elements had to be addressed – accessibility to services, affordability and sustainability.
Kubheka said technology was helping organisations optimise growth and increase operating margins in an environment characterised by low economic growth. “Sometimes the switch between legacy and new technology is fast because the necessary infrastructure is already in place, and this is the case with technologies like AI and low-code platforms. The timing for technologies like these is right, so now is the time to ramp up investments.”
Botha van der Vyver, Chief Executive Officer & Founder at JustSolve, a Mendix partner, outlined how JustSolve uses low-code development to help organisations address business problems at a lower cost, freeing up revenue to reinvest in the business. “The software development cycle is quite complex, and in South Africa, organisations are also constrained by a lack of resources,” Van der Vyver said. “Enterprise low-code development is a strategic business accelerator that enables businesses to move faster. In many areas, it makes sense to use low-code to bring operations and IT closer together and deliver value faster. We partner with Mendix because their low-code development platform addresses much of the complexity and the resource issues. Importantly, it’s also the most secure low-code platform in the world,” he said.
Rik Vietsch, Sales Director Emerging Markets at Mendix, said low-code development was becoming mainstream internationally. “In South Africa, this is the sweet spot. There are elements coming together here that make low-code and AI a perfect fit for this market. There is huge potential for it to help organisations do things more efficiently, do more with less and achieve value faster,” he said. “It abstracts away complexity, helps organisations overcome a lack of resources and ensures that the software is more aligned with the business. You can build anything with low-code, but whether you should do so depends on what you want to do with it. Off-the-shelf solutions can be used for generic applications, but with low-code you can build systems that differentiate your business. If you combine low-code with AI, it becomes even more powerful.”
Illustrating the power of the Mendix platform, Tshepo Sehlabela, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Digital Stokvel, elaborated on how he built the Digital Stokvel platform on blockchain, using Mendix. “Traditional software development life cycles are too long; with low-code, what would previously have taken months just takes weeks or days,” he said. “With Mendix, I didn’t need a team of developers, I had all the necessary security built in, and the visual representations helped me to build faster.” Sehlabela added that his company had developed a new digital system to transform the Joburg Market fresh produce operations in just two months using Mendix.
As South Africa’s financial sector navigates an increasingly complex and competitive landscape, the convergence of AI and low-code development is proving to be a game-changer. With the right platforms and partners, the financial service industry can fast-track digital transformation, cut development cycles from months to days and deliver tailored solutions that meet evolving customer and business needs. As highlighted by leaders across the industry, now is the time to invest in future-ready technologies that drive agility, efficiency and sustainable growth.
Book a consultation with JustSolve to discover how your organisation can lead the next wave of digital transformation.
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