OutSystems, a Boston-headquartered low-code app development platform, sees “immense potential” in Southeast Asia as it taps into the opportunities for AI-powered low-code technology, its executive said.
“Southeast Asia is a dynamic and rapidly growing market with immense potential, and Malaysia stands at the forefront of this digital revolution, especially with the country’s digital economy sector is expected to contribute 25.5 percent to Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2025,” OutSystems Southeast Asia and Greater China Regional Vice-President Arnold Consengco told TNGlobal in an interview.
“Malaysia, with its vibrant tech ecosystem and a strong drive towards digital transformation, is particularly ripe for AI-powered application generation solutions. We believe that by leveraging AI-powered low-code application generation, we can unlock new levels of innovation, and help Malaysian businesses of all sizes compete on a global scale,” he added.
Founded in 2001, in Lisbon, Portugal, OutSystem sells low-code app development tools. Its network spans more than 750,000 community members, over 500 partners, and active customers in 80 countries across 21 industries. The company counts global investment firm KKR, Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing, Armilar Venture Partners as backers.
OutSystems was last publicly valued at $9.5 billion after raising a $150 million Series E in February 2021, but Forbes reported that the valuation halved to $4.3 billion after its last fundraising round in October 2022.
US-based research and consulting firm Gartner forecasted that the global low-code market revenue will reach $31.9 billion by end-2024. According to OutSystems, low-code is a visual software development approach that simplifies the creation of applications by minimizing the need for traditional, intricate hand-coding.
“There is currently a huge market for AI-powered low-code technology, with analysts stating that 70 percent of new applications developed by organizations will use low-code or no-code technologies by 2025,” Consengco said.
According to him, industries such as banking, media, insurance, energy, government, and financial services are at the forefront of innovation, and they require agile, scalable solutions to keep pace with changing market demands.
“OutSystems is uniquely positioned to meet these needs by offering a platform that accelerates development, reduces complexity, and empowers organizations to innovate at speed,” he added.
In the interview, Consengco also shared about the company’s plans and strategy to expand in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. He also shared how low-code development is transforming Malaysia’s tech landscape and addressing the talent crunch, several examples how the company worked with corporations to drive digital transformation, among others.
Below are the edited excerpts:
What kind of potential and opportunities OutSystems sees in the Southeast Asia region, especially Malaysia?
Southeast Asia is a dynamic and rapidly growing market with immense potential, and Malaysia stands at the forefront of this digital revolution, especially with the country’s digital economy sector is expected to contribute 25.5 percent to Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2025.
Malaysia, with its vibrant tech ecosystem and a strong drive towards digital transformation, is particularly ripe for AI-powered application generation solutions. We believe that by leveraging AI-powered low-code application generation, we can unlock new levels of innovation, and help Malaysian businesses of all sizes compete on a global scale.
More broadly, we see Malaysia’s digital transformation efforts being driven by government agencies, through initiatives such as Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint (MyDIGITAL) and the Malaysia Digital Hub program, which allows us to play a role and show our value in helping Malaysia further its digital transformation agenda.
For example, in 2023, we partnered with a government agency to consolidate the agency’s 50 legacy apps into two agile platforms. This resulted in the consolidation of over 50 percent of apps in less than a year, and led to the birth of a development team more focused on innovation rather than tackling technical debt.
As the government continues its push towards its digital transformation agenda, we are also witnessing growing demands for tech talent, which includes software developers.
AI-powered low-code technology is quickly emerging as the means to democratize technology development and enhance the country’s digital transformation, allowing individuals with limited coding experience to actively participate in the development process.
By democratizing software development, we can unlock new levels of innovation, allowing Malaysian businesses of all sizes to compete on a global scale.
How is low-code development transforming Malaysia’s tech landscape and addressing the talent crunch?
Low-code development is a game-changer for Malaysia’s tech landscape. It’s not just about speeding up the development process; it’s about making technology accessible to a wider audience.
Low-code allows individuals of all backgrounds to create complex web and mobile applications with minimal coding.
Unlike tedious traditional coding, enterprise low-code profoundly simplifies and accelerates application development with the use of visual interfaces, plug-and-play elements, and pre-built components, thus expediting the development process.
The recent influx of technology investments in Malaysia underscores the critical role of low-code development in driving digital transformation and innovation across various sectors.
Traditional software development often requires extensive coding knowledge, limiting participation to a select few with specialized skills.
However, low-code platforms dismantle these barriers, empowering a broader spectrum of individuals to foster innovation and empower aspiring developers, entrepreneurs, and organizations to thrive in the digital age.
Our partnership in 2023 with Malaysia’s largest oil and gas manufacturer corroborates this.
Through training materials, research, and other know-how processes on the usage of its low-code platform, we are giving citizen developers (employees with little to no coding experience who create applications with low-code platforms) the opportunity to be empowered by their organization to pursue technology-based innovation.
Beyond addressing the talent crunch, low-code technology is also quickly emerging as a powerful tool for modernizing legacy systems, enabling organizations to quickly create new applications and migrate existing data with minimal effort.
In 2021, we collaborated with a state-owned energy development company to build its electricity supply customer portal.
Our collaboration resulted in the Notes Domino migration program, which recorded around 280 Notes databases being replaced by mobile-friendly, integrated, and more powerful OutSystems web applications, in addition to the delivery of 16 new applications in the space of 16 weeks.
By leveraging low-code technology, organizations can overcome the challenges of legacy modernization, making the process faster, more cost-effective, and more efficient.
How would OutSystems want to expand in Southeast Asia? What kind of strategy will be deployed?
Our strategy is quite simple: to expand the use of OutSystems and make our customers successful in developing and deploying AI-powered web and mobile apps.
With a strong presence in the region and beyond, we have feet on the ground that can ensure our customers are receiving the best service and support. We collaborate closely with local businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies to drive the adoption of
low-code.
In 2023, we partnered with a government agency to consolidate the agency’s 50 legacy apps into two agile platforms – this resulted in consolidating over 50 percent of apps in less than a year, and the birth of a development team that spends more time on innovation and less on tackling technical debt.
In that same year, we also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Malaysia’s largest oil and gas manufacturer to promote and accelerate the use of low-code app development.
Through training materials, research, and other know-how processes, the partnership helped the manufacturer pursue technology-based innovation.
Through these concentrated efforts, we aim to empower a new generation of developers and business leaders who can leverage low-code to drive digital transformation. Our approach is bold and focused – we are not just entering the market; we are here to transform it.
What are the challenges expanding in Southeast Asia and how to overcome these challenges?
We’ve been in this business since 2001 and have navigated a variety of social and economic climates. We are well-positioned to help organizations in Southeast Asia overcome obstacles and accelerate their digital transformation.
The region is poised for a positive trajectory, largely driven by the growing number of organizations planning to adopt visual development tools to enhance their business. This is part of a broader trend, where over half of Asia-Pacific decision-makers expect to rely on low-code platforms for a significant portion of their projects.
While Southeast Asia continues to grow as a future-facing data powerhouse, some organizations still struggle to adopt agile and DevOps processes and practices across the software development lifecycle. This challenge is particularly pronounced in countries like Malaysia, where traditional practices may still dominate.
This is where training initiatives, such as digital learning programs and partnerships with educational institutions and government agencies, are key to bridging the skills gap and promoting the adoption of agile practices among developers and organizations.
Besides, we’ve heard first-hand from organizations who cited security as a top concern; this is not surprising, as Malaysia recorded over 1,500 incident reports in Q1 2024, a 1 percent increase compared to Q4 2023.
This calls for the need for secure development practices in a rapidly evolving digital landscape, and where OutSystems can come in by offering robust security features, including application security, Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) infrastructure, and an incident response team.
By ensuring that security is a foundational element in app development, we’re helping organizations stay resilient in the face of growing digital threats.
We are confident that by addressing these challenges, OutSystems can effectively expand its presence and capitalize on the growing opportunities in the Southeast Asian market.
Is there any particular type of companies or industries OutSystems is targeting? Any priorities?
There is currently a huge market for AI-powered low-code technology, with analysts stating that 70 percent of new applications developed by organizations will use low-code or no-code technologies by 2025.
Industries such as banking, media, insurance, energy, government, and financial services are at the forefront of innovation, and they require agile, scalable solutions to keep pace with changing market demands.
OutSystems is positioned to meet these needs by offering a platform that accelerates development, reduces complexity, and empowers organizations to innovate at speed.
For businesses looking to take advantage of AI without going into the complicated coding work, high-performance low-code solutions can help them build AI-powered applications efficiently and enhance customer experiences.
What other plans OutSystems has in Southeast Asia? Any other markets OutSystems is looking to expand into and why?
In Southeast Asia, we have been collaborating with customers across diverse verticals, spanning IT services and digital solution providers to healthcare and supply chain management.
Our broad customer base illustrates the value OutSystems provides to enterprises seeking to develop, deploy, and maintain mission-critical applications to drive growth and innovation in today’s fast-evolving landscape.
For instance, our partnership with a leading IT solution provider in Thailand, with over 14 years of industry experience, demonstrates our commitment to helping customers accelerate their digital transformation efforts while exceeding business goals.
This collaboration saw the swift development of a healthcare CRM system, completed within six months by a team of six developers, with more solutions underway.
In Singapore, our partnerships extend beyond digital sectors to encompass traditional brick-and-mortar industries, such as one of Asia’s largest real estate groups and the only local not-for-profit private acute hospital.
These sectors often face challenges related to tech talent shortages, where low-code technology like OutSystems can help to bridge the gap and drive cost-effective in-house digital solution development.