Global public cloud services spending will reach nearly $500 billion this year as low-code application platforms (LCAPs) settle into mainstream maturity, according to Gartner research.

The firm's hype cycle for cloud platform services places LCAP in a productivity plateau, representing the technology's widespread acceptance and a broad understanding of its tangible benefits to organizations burdened by the shortage of skilled developers and IT personnel.

Gartner expects LCAP will continue to make up a significant portion of the cloud platform services market to total $7.4 billion in 2022, jumping 28.4% year over year. In this plateau state, more organizations are comfortable with the risks of the technology, and "the rapid growth phase of adoption begins," according to the market research firm.

As enterprises seek agility and adaptability, many are pairing centralized application investment with owning their own app development and data analytics tools. And low-code platforms are an obvious answer to this "business appetite for technology self-service," Gartner Distinguished VP Analyst Yefim Natis explained in the report.

Gartner identified Mendix, Microsoft, Outsystems, Salesforce, and ServiceNow as the leading LCAP vendors and noted their success is tied to hyperautomation functionality as a competitive differentiator between LCAPs.

Hyperautomation is defined as "a disciplined approach that organizations use to rapidly identify, vet and automate as many business and IT processes as possible," Natis wrote in an email to SDxCentral. "Hyperautomation involves the orchestrated use of multiple technologies, tools or platforms to achieve business results. These include, but are not limited to, AI, machine learning, event-driven software architecture, robotic process automation (RPA), iPaaS, packaged software, and process/task automation tools," he explained.

By 2024, hyperautomation will be the most important differentiator of low-code development tools because it provides "organizations an opportunity for accelerated digital innovation," Natis said. After its tenure in the plateau of productivity, Natis expects "leading LCAP offerings will become consolidated hyperautomation platforms," he added.

Aside from its benefits, Natis explained LCAPs are proprietary and create vendor lock in, which would make it difficult for enterprises to switch to a different low-code platform provider down the line. And most LCAPs are simple enough for "business users to use without professional IT supervision," which paves the way for cybersecurity problems, he noted.