Enterprise software firm SAP SE is aiming to make life easier for business professionals with the launch of a new, low-code tool that should help them to become citizen developers.

SAP is hoping business users might want to build their own business-focused applications atop its enterprise software platform. SAP Build is said to be a low-code environment that will ease access to end-to-end processes, data and context to create applications that sit within SAP’s software portfolio.

According to the company, it draws on the power of SAP Business Technology Platform, which is a middleware platform that sits between applications. Using this technology, users will be able to create and augment enterprise-grade applications, automate processes and design business websites with “drag-and-drop” simplicity.

Stressing that point, SAP Chief Technology Officer Juergen Mueller said SAP Build “uniquely brings together the world’s most powerful business applications with a platform that’s been truly designed to rapidly unleash business experts.”

The key advantage of SAP Build is that it’s supposed to provide a unified development experience for citizen developers, SAP said. That includes complete “visibility into the dynamic range of their processes” and “real-time insights and easy-to-use tools.” With the platform, business users will be able to integrate systems, intelligently monitor, analyze and automate processes, and build complete applications, SAP said. To aid with this, SAP is providing more than 500 pre-built industry business process templates.

Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc. said low-code has become a must-have in the arsenal of every enterprise software vendor, powering the build aspect of modern enterprise application platforms. “SAP is providing users with a low-code offering that combines its acquisition of MacGyver with the capabilities of the SAP Business Technology Platform,” he said. “It is a key move for SAP as it should translate to higher productivity for developers while allowing tech-savvy business users the chance to control their own automation destiny.”

Early adopters are said to be impressed. Spencer Cook, an experience management advocates lead at Qualtrics Inc., said SAP Build enabled hum and his team to build a better experience for customers while reducing development costs by 90%. “I was able to quickly build the application to enhance our customer reference program, which is going to catapult customer satisfaction,” he said.

Citizen developers can certainly benefit from having an easy-to-use tool that helps them cut through the red tape and technical aspects, but it’s notable that SAP claims Build is a “low-code” service, which is not the same as “no-code.” Users may well be required to do some basic coding, or more likely ask for help from their developer teams.

Still, International Data Corp. analyst Arnal Dayaratna believes that SAP is on the right path. He said that because demand for contemporary digital solutions is greater than the ability of professional developers to supply them, business users will have no choice but to become more involved in creating them.

“Worldwide, IDC expects more than 100 million business professionals will become involved in the production of digital solutions over the next ten years,” Dayaratna said. “SAP Build’s low-code development solutions empower business users to harness their domain expertise to rapidly build and iterate on digital solutions at scale.”

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