Organizational Use of Low-code Development Platforms: The power of the Power Platform

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explain how the use of low-code development platforms to build business applications is impacting organizational interests Design/Methodology - The paper takes an interpretivist stance basing the research on a case study of the professional services firm – EY and their use of the Microsoft Power Platform. Findings – The study shows that three use case scenarios exist in the organization – “Professionals”, “Taskforce” and “Cowboys” and that each of these appraoches have significant affects to the overall goals of the organization. The study further finds that the implementation of the Power Platform in the organization changes the structure of the IT organization to a whole new archetype of bimodal IT – Decentralized agile IT. Research limitations - The study is based on the use of a single low-code development platform within one single organization. If a larger representativeness is sought, it will involve more respondents. Practical implications - The paper helps organizations in understanding the impact of introducing low-code development platforms widely in the enterprise. Originality - This paper adds to the literatures of Low-code development, IT governance, bimodal IT as well as software engineering, by providing empirical evidence of low-code use case scenarios along with their impact on organizational interests.