The London Borough of Hackney is using OutSystems’ low-code development platform to double the speed of its mobile application developments.
Matthew Cain, head of digital and data, London Borough of Hackney, said, “One of my first tasks when I joined the council in 2017 was to understand its digital architecture. While it was reasonably robust and sophisticated, it was also out of date in certain areas. Having had previous experience of low-code platforms, I wanted to understand the potential scope of low-code and rapid application development in supporting Hackney’s ambition to deliver better services.”
The new initiative with OutSystems is part of the council’s ambition to move more services online. The first product, Manage My Rent Account, is a mobile application that has been designed for the 8,500 tenants in the council’s properties. The council is also in the final stages of beta-testing another application, Manage My Tenancy, for housing officers who look after Hackney’s estates.
Cain said, “We invited OutSystems along with a couple of other vendors to demonstrate their platforms. We were immediately struck by the flexibility of OutSystems’ UX. It’s really important that we continuously improve our users’ experiences in order for them to succeed unaided. We were also impressed by the openness of the product and its ability to access data via the rest API points.”
The OutSystems low-code platform has enabled the council’s developers to speed up their pace of work and have a deeper understanding of users’ needs.
Cain said, “OutSystems is a valuable enabler by allowing our developers to produce high-quality solutions quickly. We have a number of graduate and apprentice developers and the speed that they can now work and the quality and consistency of their output is amazing.
“We now expect to develop one new app per quarter over the next year. Previously, we were lucky if we could develop two apps in a year, so we have doubled our capability to deliver apps for the business.”
