The IT Factor: Driving Finland's Economic Growth Through Automation

Economic challenges have placed a spotlight on Finland’s need for growth and innovation. The IT sector emerges as a beacon of hope, poised to drive change. This article examines how automation in IT could be the key to boosting Finland's economic growth and revitalizing its competitive edge.

The Innovation Gap: All Talk, Little Action

Finland, much like numerous other countries worldwide, confronts economic challenges marked by a pressing need for greater productivity, enhanced innovation, and improved adaptability. Authorities at various levels, including the government, frequently propose that advancements in digitalization, nurturing of innovation, and enhancement of agility are essential remedies. Regrettably, these recurring discussions have very few concrete measures being proposed to realize these objectives.

Challenges and the Role of IT

While no single sector can tackle these issues alone, there is a significant expectation for the IT industry to lead the way. However, the IT sector frequently faces its own set of problems, including sluggish innovation, poor productivity and operational delays that prevent broader economic growth. This essay examines how Finland's IT industry can boost productivity, encourage innovation, and swiftly adapt to changes.

We Believe Automation is the Key

In response to the urgent need for innovation, LeBLANC has adopted a clear mission: "Everything that can be automated, should be automated." Our approach, rooted in the principles of Model Driven Development (MDD), combined with a suite of advanced automation tools effectively tackles the pressing economic challenges in the IT sector.

LeBLANC has trivialized the development of large business applications. For a while, we challenge you to think beyond the conventional. Quoting Arthur C. Clarke: "The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible." The reward? Dramatically enhance productivity, ignite forward-thinking innovation, and achieve true agility in IT sector.

The Impacts of Automating Application Development

Productivity

Automating the development of business and government applications can significantly increase productivity by streamlining the creation and maintenance of software. This approach reduces the need for repetitive coding tasks, cuts down on development time, and minimizes errors, allowing more software to be developed in less time with fewer resources. Automated systems can also facilitate better resource management, ensuring that human capital is employed where it can generate the most value.

Innovation: Focus on the essentials, automate the rest

When developers are freed from mundane coding tasks, they can focus on integrating cutting-edge technologies and crafting bespoke solutions that push the boundaries of innovation. Focus on things that matter - the business content, not building any more of that boilerplate bringing no value. This strategic allocation of talent not only enhances functionality but enables skilled IT professionals to dedicate more time to strategic thinking and creativity, essential for developing groundbreaking technologies and solutions.

Innovation: Rapid prototyping

Being first can be a significant advantage. A core advantage of automation is its facilitation of rapid prototyping. The approach allows for quick iterations over product designs, enabling teams to "fail fast" and learn quickly based on practical insights rather than theoretical assumptions. This approach minimizes resource expenditure on unfeasible approaches, paving the way for more viable solutions to be discovered and developed. Engaging customers with working applications throughout the development process ensures the result is both practical and desirable.

Agility

According to Lean principles, agility is best achieved by eliminating waste from the processes. In LeBLANC method, it means eliminating non-business value adding activities. This involves identifying and removing redundant steps, automating routine tasks in application development, simplifying processes, and enhancing collaboration wherever possible. By cutting out these inefficiencies, organizations can drastically reduce cycle times and increase the speed at which products move from conception to deployment.

Studies and Real-World Applications

Globally, several enterprises have successfully integrated MDD based methodologies to achieve remarkable improvements in productivity and innovation. Studies have shown that MDD reduces the effort of creating applications by 40-70% and made it possible to implement more features with fewer resources [Parviainen et al. 2009][Domingo et al. 2020]. The findings are aligned with our experience of real-world LeBLANC projects - we typically expect over 50% reduction in effort. Our first project with Finnish State Treasury had 67% of the application produced automatically. The second, Finnish National Agency for Education: 98%.

Challenges and Considerations

Adopting the method and its inherent benefits is a business decision, not to be made by software developers. The abstract nature of model-driven approach can be a challenge for individuals accustomed to traditional coding practices, and you most likely witness initial not-invented-here reactions despite the obvious benefits. Learning (and unlearning) takes a while. Common practice is to start small - give your team a reasonable time to learn the method, get accustomed to the conventions in a smaller project, so you'll be ready for the big ones.

Conlusion

Increasing automation in application development, as proposed by LeBLANC Finland Oy, offers a promising strategy to enhance productivity, foster innovation, and accelerate development within Finland's IT sector. While not a cure for all economic challenges, automation presents a practical approach to tackling the inefficiencies in software development, thereby contributing to broader economic objectives. As Finland continues to seek solutions to revitalize its economy, embracing innovative methodologies and tools in the IT sector could serve as a catalyst for sustained economic growth and competitiveness on a global scale.

References

[Mellor et al., 2003] Mellor, S. J., Clark, A. N., Futagami, T., Model-Driven Development, IEEE Software, IEEE Computer Society, 2003
[Parviainen et al. 2009] Parviainen, P., Takalo J., Teppola S., Tihinen M., Model Driven Development, Processes and Practices. VTT Working Papers 1459-7683, ISBN 978-951-38-7175-8, VTT 2009