OutSystems announced that it has added new artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities to its leading low-code development platform, giving organisations in Asia Pacific the power to harness automation to create self-service portals, respond to text and voice queries, improve customer service, and much more.
Gartner predicts, "By 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationship with the enterprise without interacting with a human." Across APAC, organisations are expecting greater integration between AI and customer experience (CX), given the capabilities of AI in enhancing customer touch points through data.
With OutSystems new AI capabilities, developers can now build new channels of engagement into their own apps, connecting customers and users with the help and information they need anywhere at any time. These capabilities will enable organisations to create and enable voice-capable functionality for virtual assistants such as Google, Siri, and Alexa and chatbots that support Facebook Messenger, Cortana, Skype, and more. No data science experience or specialised in-house skills are required.
According to Gartner, the use of AI tripled over the last four years, but even with this surge in interest, only one-third of organisations have implemented AI in some form.
"These new, high-level components package everything organisations need to implement rich use cases from end to end. As a result, many more companies can easily adopt AI and machine learning to positively impact their business," said OutSystems head of artificial intelligence António Alegria.
"The combination of low-code and AI addresses the single biggest challenge holding these companies back -- the shortage of skills."
According to the 2019 State of Application Development Report, only 36% of APAC organisations have larger application development teams than a year ago, with AI/ML specialists ranked as the most difficult role to hire in the region.
"The launch of OutSystems new AI capabilities is a testament of the potential of AI in revolutionising software development, with use cases expanding into architecture, user experience and prescriptive development beyond testing and debugging.
"This move is in tandem with our strengthened commitment to support various industries in the APAC region, where seamless customer experience, responsiveness, and accelerated value delivery have become critical to business success," said OutSystems VP Mark Weaser.
Last year, OutSystems launched outsystems.ai, aiming to reduce the complexity of developing and changing enterprise software with exciting new and ongoing research into AI-assisted development. OutSystems has seen a favourable response to its AI-assisted software development early access program in APAC, reflecting the growing number of APAC organisations capitalising on the power of AI-driven software development to drive enhanced user experiences and create more efficient software.
