Beyond the "Buzzwords": The Slow-but-Steady Revolution of Low-Code

In the ceaseless churn of modern innovation, the corporate to-do list grows faster than the means to tackle it.  Every quarter brings markets shift overnight, regulators revise the rulebook mid-game, and customer expectations evolve in real time. To keep pace, enterprises must constantly explore modern technologies and tools that promise to make processes easier, faster, and more efficient. Yet traditional application development, with its labyrinth of requirements, coding cycles, and approvals, has rarely kept pace. Months, sometimes years, can pass between idea and execution.

Low-code and no-code platforms are increasingly positioned as a way to compress development cycles, cut costs, and expand capabilities beyond the confines of the IT department.

In AIBP’s recent survey of over 70+ Malaysian enterprises for From AI Strategy to Smart Execution: Building Responsible, Agile AI Applications, nearly half (49.4%) were aware of low-code and no-code tools, but many have not adopted them.

AIBP, together with OutSystems, brought Malaysian enterprises together to share survey results and discuss practical insights on low-code adoption, including department-level impact, legacy system augmentation, governance, and ROI considerations.

Evolving Without Rip and Replace: Department-Level Wins That Scale

In some organisations, the most impactful applications start at the department level. At Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad, the finance department operates across a mix of legacy and modern systems including ERP, accounting tools, and procurement platforms with each performing well on its own but rarely communicating effectively.The result is manual workarounds, duplicated data entry, and delays that erode efficiency.

“The roadblocks are usually process-related, and low-code can help bridge the gap between older and newer systems, making integration simpler and more efficient.”, said Dr. Ambrose G. Corray, Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad.

Dr Ambrose Corray, Vice President of InfoTech and Digitalisation from Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad

When it comes to approaching legacy systems, Leonard Tan, Regional Director - Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and Greater China Region at OutSystems shared one way organisations can tackle the challenge which is by adopting an “augmentation” strategy.

Leonard Tan, Regional Director - Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Greather China Region for OutSystems

In such cases, instead of attempting a full replacement which can be costly and disruptive, organisations can start by using a low-code tool to redesign the user interface (UI) as a front end, integrating with the existing system. This allows teams to “build certain functionalities and improve the user experience” while still relying on the legacy core to process and store data.

Over time, this can evolve into a modular replacement strategy identifying and replacing outdated functions one at a time, then connecting updated components back into the core system. This incremental path allows organisations to improve and modernise without disrupting ongoing operations.

Innovation Within Guardrails in Low-Code Adoption

For Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), the low-code journey began with a very real pain point. The ICT team faced an endless stream of application development requests. The management saw an opportunity to empower employees to handle straightforward tasks such as registering local stores, creating basic process-tracking apps, or managing timesheets without relying solely on ICT.

31.2% of Malaysian enterprises are prioritising process automation to boost efficiency, accuracy, and overall productivity, according to our recent report From AI Strategy to Smart Execution: Building Responsible, Agile AI Applications.

In 2022, TNB evaluated various low-code platforms and selected one offering three key capabilities: application development, desktop automation, and business intelligence at the local level. The main goal was to educate and train as many employees as possible to use these tools within a secure, governed environment.

“Low-code can be a success for everyone, but only if there’s strong governance. Without it, you risk shadow applications creeping into enterprise systems.”, said, Shane See Soon Keong (SK), Lead Digital Strategy at Tenaga Nasional Berhad .

That caution resonates in the financial services industry, where processes are tightly controlled and tradition weighs heavily. Calvin Wong, Group Chief Digital Officer at RHB Banking Group , admits to being “of two minds.” He sees the value in empowering employees to build solutions within a controlled environment, but warns that skills and strategic alignment set a natural limit.

Governance, too, becomes a logistical challenge. In organisations with multiple tools and applications in play, someone needs to decide which are approved, who maintains them, and who monitors them over time. Without this oversight, even well-intentioned initiatives risk becoming fragmented or unsustainable.

Low-Code ROI: Why Starting Small Can Lead to Bigger Wins

While discussions about ROI are inevitable, enterprises agree that the merits of low-code need to extend far beyond the numbers. Alex Chi, Chief Information Digital Officer at SP Setia, said these conversations should move beyond purely quantitative measures to also consider qualitative outcomes such as mindset shifts, capability building, and long-term operational resilience.

Alex Chi, Chief Information Digital Officer at SP Setia

“Early in the deployment, the tangible returns may seem distant from the initial investment. That’s why we need to account for the time and resources required to train both IT teams and end users, as well as the wider organisational impact.”

This mindset challenges the old procurement model, in which a company buys a fixed solution and expects a fixed outcome. Low-code is by nature, more versatile, a single tool can deliver multiple capabilities, yet the benefits often emerge gradually as adoption grows .The returns, therefore, are cumulative rather than instant, often emerging in the form of flexibility and internal capacity rather than immediate cost savings.

Leonard Tan from OutSystems advises beginning modestly.

“Don’t go for big-bang. Begin with a small, separate team of developers that you speed it off as a separate track to pilot the approach. If it works, then slowly increase the footprint and gradually across the organisation.”, says Leonard Tan, Regional Director - Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and Greater China Region at OutSystems.

This approach not only reduces the risk of large-scale failure but also allows the creation of internal champions: people who can demonstrate success, refine the process, and advocate for broader adoption.

Low-code’s promise is often clouded by perception: is it accelerating IT, enabling citizen developers, or managing the full app lifecycle? Developers may resist, and governance is required, yet adoption is inevitable as IT teams shrink and demands grow. Its impact depends on clear expectations, capability building, and strong oversight. Done right, low-code can be a slow-moving revolution, reshaping enterprise development and how we build.