Public and private organizations compete to offer the most innovative products and services. Today, these are often digital in nature and developed using digital tools. In recent years, organizations have established various internal and external innovation channels to create these innovations. These include conventional research and development departments, agile innovation units, and, increasingly, the involvement of their own employees [1].
This is due, among other things, to the fact that the design of (digital) innovations has become less complex thanks to more intuitive and widely used IT tools, such as online whiteboards (e.g., Miro or Conceptboard) and design tools (e.g., Figma or Adobe XD). This has made their conception and development more accessible and encouraged the creation of non-functional prototypes [2, 3, 4]. Especially in employee-driven innovation processes, the implementation of a functional or high-resolution prototype for a promising innovation idea constitutes a considerable challenge [5]. Implementation often fails due to a lack of programming skills among non-technical employees, who are unable to independently implement their ideas into production. Many organizations lack dedicated teams or IT developers who, in addition to their core tasks, have sufficient time to work co-creatively with the idea contributors on implementing their ideas.
Against this backdrop, the goal of the NoLoCK project is to investigate and evaluate no- and low-code platforms and their limitations in comparison with native development. The goal is to determine whether these platforms are suitable as competency bridges in the context of employee-driven (digital) innovations. No- and low-code platforms enable the implementation of desired functionalities by combining functional blocks in a sequential flow. Low-code platforms also offer the possibility of adapting or extending these functional blocks with custom code, or even creating entirely new functional blocks.
Recently, generative artificial intelligence (genAI) systems such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT have also been integrated into employee workflows. These genAIs can be used to complement the aforementioned no- and low-code platforms to make it easier for employees to implement their ideas into functional prototypes. One possible application for genAI is its integration into no- and low-code platforms, enabling employees to explain functional blocks, generate code to extend the blocks, or create entirely new functional blocks. This use case is also being investigated within the NoLoCK project.
In summary, the project examines the limitations of use and implementation of no- and low-code platforms compared to native development. It investigates how these platforms can be used as a skills bridge for individuals with little or no programming skills who want to create digital innovations. Furthermore, it analyzes how organizations can use no- and low-code platforms and genAI to provide their employees with support tools for employee-driven innovation processes and the development of digital innovations.
To investigate and address these aspects, the NoLoCK project is based on a data-driven approach. Initially, a systematic literature review will be conducted on no- and low-code platforms in various application contexts. This will be followed by a market analysis and platform evaluation to examine current trends in these areas. The results of the first two steps will be used for a quantitative survey of various organizations that use no- and low-code solutions. Based on the results, an interview guide will be developed to conduct follow-up interviews with experts and collect additional data on use cases, best practices, and limitations. Finally, a laboratory study on no- and low-code platforms and genAIs will be conducted, in which various individuals will solve tasks involving programming using the aforementioned tools.
Based on the collected data, the challenges and limitations, as well as the effectiveness of no- and low-code platforms as a competency bridge, will be analyzed, and principles for using these platforms in employee-driven innovation processes will be developed.
References
[1] Opland, L. E.; Jaccheri, L.; Pappas I. O. & Engesmo, J. (2020). Utilising the Innovation Potential – A Systematic Literature Review on Employee-driven Digital Innovation. In: Proceedings of the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2020) [2] Yoo, Y.; Henfridsson, O. & Lyytinen, K. (2010). The New Organizing Logic of Digital Innovation - An Agenda for Information Systems Research. In: Information Systems Research (21:4) [3] Nambisan, S.; Lyytinen, K.; Majchrzak, A. & Song, M. (2017). Digital Innovation Management: Reinventing Innovation Management Research in a Digital World. In: MISQ (41:1), pp. 223-238. DOI: 10.25300/MISQ/2017/41:1.03 [4] Leible, S.; Ludzay, M. & Nüttgens, M. (2021). Ein IT-gestützter Innovationsprozess in der öffentlichen Verwaltung: Rahmenkonzept, Ideenmanagementsysteme und Online-Whiteboards. In: HMD Praxis der Wirtschaftsinformatik (58), pp. 1108-1128. DOI: 10.1365/s40702-021-00775-3 [5] Krejci, D.; Iho, S. & Missonier, S. (2021). Innovating with employees: an exploratory study of idea development on low-code development platforms. In: Proceedings of the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2021)