
This post is the second in a series of my opinion on the future of data. In my previous blog, "When is Data Access Solved: What’s Next for Data Professionals and Businesses?", I explored how zero-code platforms like Latttice are solving the data access challenge. Now, we’ll dive deeper into the transformative power of AI-powered, zero-code applications, which are driving the next phase of business agility and efficiency, and the impact that will have on traditional data roles.
For decades, companies have struggled with complex, costly data projects that took months or even years to complete. Recently, we have witnessed the impact of AI and zero-code platforms as “catalysts”, driving unprecedented efficiency, agility, and innovation, breaking down the barriers of complexity, time and cost and enabling businesses to achieve faster, smarter outcomes without relying on deep technical expertise. Over the next few years, the rapid adoption of these technologies will reshape how businesses approach data management, shifting the focus from infrastructure to real-time decision-making and innovation, and greatly impact how we all work in this industry.
According to a recent report from Gartner, by 2025, over 70% of new applications developed by enterprises will use low-code or no-code technologies, drastically reducing time-to-market and overall costs. AI-powered automation in these platforms is a game-changer, enabling businesses to focus on value-creating activities instead of routine coding and infrastructure management.
AI and Zero-Code: The Driving Forces of Change
AI and zero-code platforms are not just simplifying processes—they are accelerating innovation. By eliminating the need for extensive coding expertise, these platforms enable everyone in an organization, not just technical teams, to work with data and act on insights in real-time. AI-driven automation is allowing businesses to move beyond traditional data management to quickly making impactful decisions.
McKinsey research shows that companies harnessing AI and analytics effectively are 1.5 times more likely to be top performers financially. Zero-code platforms integrated with AI are empowering this transformation by decentralizing data management and enabling agility in decision-making across all business units.
Instead of focusing on building and maintaining infrastructure, businesses can now act on real-time insights, making decisions that immediately impact their performance. This combination of AI and zero-code is transforming data into a force for dynamic change, driving faster innovation, cost reduction, and market responsiveness.
A question in the mind of all data practitioners, especially those who perform such technical roles, is how to I continue to add value into the future? What will be role look like?
From Data Engineers to Data Catalysts: Redefining Roles
AI and zero-code are revolutionizing the traditional roles within data management. The role of data engineers, who were once responsible for building and maintaining data infrastructures and pipelines, will evolve into data catalysts. Rather than focusing on infrastructure, they will use their technical skills to partner with non-technical roles across the organisation to leverage these new capabilities to drive innovation and business outcomes. Deloitte notes that AI-powered platforms are expected to reduce manual coding needs by up to 80%, allowing data engineers to focus on more strategic tasks.
But these changes will not be easy for all. The data engineers who do evolve into data catalysts will do so because they want to stay involved in data management. Instead of focusing on data engineering as a core component of the stack, their role is becoming one of data enablement. For some engineers who enjoy the technical side of their role, this new strategic focus might feel like a step too far into unfamiliar territory. However, for others, this shift presents an exciting opportunity to take on a more impactful and business-oriented role.
I personally see the role of the technical data analyst naturally expanding into this data enablement position. With AI and zero-code platforms, they no longer need to rely on siloed data teams for insights—they can self-serve and take ownership of their data. And as a result, many data engineers who want to move from purely technical roles, will work alongside technical data analysts, to become the catalysts of change, advocating and enabling data in a decentralized world.
AI as the Engine, Zero-Code as the Driver
AI and zero-code are a powerful combination, working together to drive change. AI serves as the engine, providing automated insights and driving intelligent decision-making, while zero-code acts as the driver, placing this power into the hands of non-technical users across the organization.
This collaboration creates a highly adaptive ecosystem where data is continuously leveraged for rapid innovation. But more importantly, this enables collaboration and partnership between roles within an organization that we have tried to achieved, but was never really possible. Businesses can now respond faster to changing customer needs, market conditions, and internal demands, making them more agile and competitive. This collaboration is key to ensuring those opportunities can be capitalized. According to Forrester, zero-code platforms accelerate application development by up to 10 times compared to traditional methods, further underscoring how this combination drives agility and speed.
Data Domain Owners: A New Breed of Innovators
There has been a lot of discussion regarding the data domain owner over the last few years, especially in the area of data mesh, but the challenge has always been how to enable the domain owner within imposing additional burden in their day job. We must remember that these “owners” have other roles within an organization and are not necessarily “data people”. This is where the aforementioned collaboration becomes key.
This decentralized approach is crucial because data domain owners understand their business units better than any external team or centralized department ever could. Harvard Business Review has documented how empowering business units with AI-driven tools can boost performance by up to 20%, enabling faster, more informed decision-making that aligns with specific goals.
The End of Empire Building: Why Businesses Must Embrace AI and Zero-Code
Despite the clear benefits of AI and zero-code platforms, many businesses still resist these technologies, clinging to outdated practices or slow-moving data infrastructures. However, as AI and zero-code become indispensable for business agility and real-time decision-making, clinging to the past is a strategic risk.
Businesses that resist adopting these technologies are not just slowing themselves down—they are actively limiting their future competitiveness. As AI and zero-code platforms decentralize decision-making and empower all teams, companies that embrace these changes will find themselves more adaptable, more innovative, and ultimately more successful.
Three Reasons Why AI and Zero-Code Are Non-Negotiable
1. Instant Agility: AI and zero-code tools allow businesses to respond in real-time, enabling faster time-to-market and a competitive edge in shifting markets. Traditional data projects that took months can now be completed in a fraction of the time.
PwC research illustrates that companies that embrace AI are 3.5 times more likely to report improved decision-making agility.
2. Cost Reduction at Scale: By automating routine tasks and reducing reliance on centralized data teams, AI and zero-code platforms significantly reduce labor and infrastructure costs, allowing businesses to scale more efficiently, and do more with less.
Zero-code platforms can reduce the cost of software development by up to 90%, according to an IDC study.
3. A new height for analytics: The new collaboration models that are enabled, drives a level of valuable, actionable insights previously not possible. Zero-code platforms ensure those insights are directly embedded into business processes, enabling faster, better decisions, whilst increasing the data maturity across the organization.
Real-World Success: AI and Zero-Code in Action
Consider a major retailer that adopted a zero-code platform integrated with AI to manage inventory. Previously, the company relied on a centralized IT team for data analysis, leading to missed opportunities and slow decision-making. After implementing AI and zero-code tools, and the subsequent collaboration models, business units were able to analyze sales data in real-time, make immediate adjustments to inventory levels, and optimize their supply chain.
The result? A 20% reduction in excess inventory and a 15% increase in sales during peak seasons. This case demonstrates the power of AI and zero-code to drive faster, smarter decision-making with immediate business impact.
Latttice: Solving Data Access and Unlocking AI Potential
At the forefront of this revolution is Latttice, a zero-code platform that solves the data access challenge while unlocking the potential of AI. Latttice enables businesses to create data product with no technical or data expertise. A perfect opportunity for these new collaboration models to form.
Data enablers can now focus on governance, AI-driven innovations, and strategic initiatives, while business users—empowered by Latttice—drive immediate action. Latttice enables data domain owners to make better decisions and ensures data professionals are freed from infrastructure logistics, enabling them to focus on more impactful work.
Conclusion: Embrace the Future with AI and Zero-Code as Your Catalyst
We are entering a new era where AI and zero-code platforms are breaking down the barriers of complexity, cost, and time. These technologies are not just improving how businesses operate—they are transforming them.
These can be scary times for many. Humans by nature do not like change, but whether we like it or not, these new capabilities will change the lives of all of us within our industry. But I see this as an opportunity. Our role as data professionals has always been, through data, to make people’s lives better, whether that is colleagues, customers, shareholders, suppliers, and other stakeholders. This is the next chapter in that journey, enabling us to perform that mission at even greater speed and higher quality, which would be better for all. So, embrace the change, and be that catalyst.
If your company is still relying on outdated data engineering models, you’re not just behind the curve—you’re actively choosing to be left out of the future of business.
AI and zero-code are the catalysts for real, impactful change. The question isn’t whether you should adopt these tools and methods—it’s how fast can you start using them to drive innovation, efficiency, and agility.
Cameron Price.
References:
Gartner, "Gartner Forecasts Worldwide Low-Code Development Technologies Market to Grow 23% in 2021," 2021.
McKinsey & Company, "The Age of Analytics: Competing in a Data-Driven World," 2020.
Deloitte, "AI and the Future of Work: New Jobs and New Skills for a New Era," 2021.
Forrester, "The Total Economic Impact™ of a Low-Code Development Platform," 2020.
Harvard Business Review, "Data is Useless Without the Skills to Analyze It," 2019.
PwC, "AI Predictions: Eight Insights to Shape Business Strategy in 2021," 2021.
IDC, "The Business Value of Low-Code Development for Financial Institutions," 2021.
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