Ioan Jacob, is the founder and CEO of FLOWX.AI, a revolutionary AI Utility Modernization Platform for enterprise mission-critical functions. It’s a trendy event-driven platform constructed on a microservices structure. It makes use of the preferred trade requirements for course of modeling, enterprise rule administration and integrates as simply with legacy techniques as with the newest APIs and RPAs.
What initially attracted you to pc science?
I’ve all the time been captivated by the idea of leverage—the thought of pressure multiplication. Pc science, to me, represents the last word instrument in amplifying probably the most precious functionality of individuals: the human thoughts.
It affords an extremely speedy path from concept to realization—a trait that has propelled the exponential surge in innovation during the last 50 years. This energy of speedy transformation and influence is what initially drew me to pc science.
Now, with FLOWX.AI, we’re redefining how mission-critical software program will be constructed—which implies now we have a chance to spice up the expansion curve itself. Our world runs on enterprise software program – banking, utilities, agriculture, protection – enterprise software program undergirds our civilization. And there’s a lot leverage to bringing one of the best know-how to the enterprise, as a result of that impacts so many lives downstream, and that is why we expect we will be so useful to the world. In the present day we’re spending trillions of {dollars} to construct, run and preserve that layer of know-how.
So, give it some thought: what if we may make constructing enterprise software program orders of magnitude extra environment friendly?
This is able to improve very important companies like banking, utilities, or protection—making them extra interconnected, user-friendly, and extra environment friendly for individuals to make use of. And, possibly much more importantly, with the sources freed up we may significantly speed up the tempo of innovation.
Think about, for instance, a world the place authorities businesses can shortly develop and deploy superior AI techniques to streamline public companies, enhance healthcare supply, and deal with urgent social points. By optimizing enterprise software program growth, we will unlock a brand new period of technological progress and societal development.
We’re not simply a part of the tech revolution; we’re redefining its boundaries of what’s attainable.
You beforehand Co-Based Qualitance, a platform that designed know-how and merchandise for Fortune 500 firms and startups. What was one of many extra attention-grabbing tasks that you just labored on, and what did you be taught from this expertise?
We had been concerned in a spread of digital transformation tasks at Qualitance with each Fortune 500 firms and startups.
This expertise introduced us to a vital realization. Regardless of the speedy evolution in client digital merchandise and substantial investments by giant companies, there was an enormous hole in constructing and taking digital options to market, particularly in mission-critical and core enterprise areas like banking.
This problem was (and nonetheless is) particularly pronounced within the monetary sector, however is equally prevalent throughout all enterprise sectors.
We understood the necessity for digital transformation platforms to supply capabilities on three key dimensions which can be at the moment difficult the enterprise:
- Integration – it wants to have the ability to combine seamlessly with present advanced know-how landscapes – from heritage mainframe architectures to trendy techniques
- Speedy trendy digital product growth – having the ability to reply to market wants and regulatory necessities in nearly real-time. There’s large competitors and the IT and enterprise groups must construct trendy digital merchandise that present glorious person expertise shortly and cheaply,
- Robustness – reliability, scalability, safety: as a result of enterprises deal with mission vital workloads, these are non-negotiable necessities.
These observations are on the core of constructing FLOWX.AI. Our focus is on empowering giant enterprises to shortly and effectively develop and modernize digital platforms, whereas integrating seamlessly capabilities of any present or new techniques.
When did you first understand that the present strategies of software program growth are damaged and never scalable?
Complexity within the enterprise world has elevated exponentially, and so have prices and the time it takes to get merchandise to market.
That is what I’ve skilled working alongside many gifted groups within the enterprise world for greater than a decade. I’ve seen how having the ability to develop sturdy and good software program stays extremely costly—regardless of the entry to superb expertise and the proliferation of applied sciences designed to resolve the issue.
Earlier than FLOWX.AI, the one choices for growing digital within the enterprise had been both rigid vertical options or large customized growth tasks making an attempt to mix collectively a number of know-how platforms.
Because of this, groups within the enterprise world are constrained by lack of flexibility to construct what they want and are restricted by proprietary programming languages and legacy techniques. This, coupled with the rise in complexity, is holding probably the most gifted groups again. These groups get sucked into tedious and low-return work that hardly, marginally strikes the needle. Spiraling IT prices together with diminishing returns is likely one of the hardest challenges enterprises face. This was notably evident inside giant monetary companies organizations.
I am unable to emphasize sufficient how irritating that is for everybody within the house. It’s miserable for engineers who need to do tedious and unexciting work. It’s preserving enterprise leaders again as a result of they will’t present their clients with the intuitive, scalable, and related companies they want. So that is what we responded to. We had been working facet by facet with these individuals. In truth, we had been these individuals all through our careers. So we actually understood them and we needed to repair this drawback, to provide them again the management of their know-how, of their enterprise.
What was the genesis story behind FLOWX.AI?
We had been engaged on the platform that finally grew to become FLOWX.AI for over a decade. We had this large feeling that we’re sitting on one thing extremely highly effective, however we couldn’t fairly put our finger on it.
Then, throughout a gathering with Revolut’s crew in London, it hit us. After we discovered that Revolut’s enterprise was constructed on prime of Barclays core banking system, we realized that we had on our fingers a platform that would allow any financial institution to develop sturdy and delightful mission-critical techniques at a velocity that was orders of magnitude larger.
Then, our first buyer, the biggest financial institution in Southeastern Europe, adopted our know-how and began utilizing it as their default digital growth platform for a big a part of their enterprise— constructing digital platforms that had been going through each clients and workers—from the whole in-branch onboarding for each retail and company banking to asset administration platforms. Witnessing the velocity at which they had been in a position to develop confirmed we had been certainly on the verge of a brand new revolution. With the identical crew and present techniques, they had been in a position to develop in a number of weeks what used to take a yr or extra with FLOWX.AI.
Our innovation is the FlowX AI Core, enabled by a scalable, sturdy, and open structure. Our AI Core is the first-ever enterprise AI that may cohesively mannequin know-how, enterprise processes and enterprise guidelines, and person expertise. We’ve been massive believers for a very long time now within the energy of AI to reinforce and speed up human potential, and now we have introduced it to fruition throughout the core of our platform.
What are among the present issues with how enterprises are presently viewing code era?
The problem with automated code era is the notion that it’s—or that it must be—universally relevant, particularly in dealing with advanced techniques. Whereas efficient for less complicated functions, it usually falls brief in additional refined environments. This is not only a limitation of the know-how itself however stems from the intricacies in creating detailed specs that such techniques require. Automated instruments, in contrast to human engineers, lack the nuanced understanding essential to bridge and fill in specification gaps, modify advanced logic, and handle deep integration and decision-making processes.
Furthermore, there is a threat in underestimating the worth of human enter and experience. Though automation can velocity up sure growth processes, it hasn’t but developed to completely grasp and handle the complexities of superior techniques.
At FLOWX.AI, now we have taken a barely totally different path. Our method leverages AI to boost, not substitute, human experience. We concentrate on utilizing AI to reinforce human capabilities, making certain that the event of advanced techniques is not only accelerated but in addition exactly tailor-made to particular enterprise necessities. This technique goals to strike a stability, harnessing the velocity and effectivity of AI with a “human-in-the-loop” method, retaining the vital insights and flexibility of human oversight.
Why is changing coding with no-code or low-code instruments not the answer?
The restrictions of no-code instruments stem from their inherent simplicity which, whereas user-friendly, fail to satisfy the precise and sophisticated wants of large-scale enterprises. Low-code additionally lacks the total energy and management of the widespread programming languages—and additional, it creates a resourcing constraint, having to seek out or upskill sources. And what companies want is the liberty and adaptability to construct and innovate. For this reason we introduced collectively generative AI with no-code visible design on an open BYOC structure which will be prolonged with any programming language.
Nonetheless, the main target of digital product growth goes past coding. It encompasses the creation of environment friendly processes, intuitive merchandise, and seamless person experiences. This holistic method is important in addressing the multifaceted challenges of enterprise resolution growth.
FLOWX.AI was constructed to satisfy the end-to-end wants of constructing digital twins for enterprise companies. We don’t simply concentrate on coding; we leverage the facility of AI to help in accelerating constructing advanced, bespoke enterprise options that think about all points of the digital product growth lifecycle.
Might you share your views on the advantages of making a hybrid of low-code and coding?
Making a hybrid of low-code and coding could be very highly effective as a result of it affords a novel mix of effectivity, flexibility, and customization. It supplies velocity, whereas nonetheless enabling full management over what individuals construct.
That is a part of what we provide. Our method integrates AI, no-code, and coding methods to construct complete digital options. I can break this down into 4 foremost areas:
- AI-Generated Baseline: In the present day, the FlowX AI can generate round 60% to 80% of the event course of. This AI layer hurries up the creation of elementary parts—course of, code, person expertise—considerably, lowering preliminary growth time.
- No-Code Visible Improvement: With visible design interfaces, we permit for fast meeting and modification of functions, enabling speedy prototyping and accelerated iterative growth loops. This normally takes completion to 90-95%.
- Carry-Your-Personal-Code (BYOC) for Customization: The remaining bits, which require particular and detailed customizations, are dealt with by conventional coding BYOC in any programming language. This permits for the creation of extremely tailor-made options, making certain that the ultimate product meets the precise wants and specs of the client.
- AI-Assisted Improvement and Optimization: our AI helps enterprise groups preserve consistency over time as they modify and replace performance and expertise, but in addition suggests enhancements—from know-how to course of and person expertise—and screens and identifies issues in real-time.
The important thing benefit of this hybrid method will be seen particularly in the case of making adjustments and sustaining the software program. Groups growing on FlowX.ai can add in just some weeks new performance that might sometimes take years so as to add to an present system. That’s as a result of we offer options that assist customers simply make modifications and since our platform encapsulates many of the complexity, dealing with non-functional necessities corresponding to scalability and safety. Because of this, any code that must be created or modified lies in additional remoted parts, offering for extra management and testability. This setup makes it simpler to vary, monitor and audit adjustments, but in addition to check issues – main to an enormous discount in effort and upkeep.
In the end, combining AI, no-code, and conventional coding, balances velocity and ease of use with the flexibility to create extremely custom-made and sophisticated enterprise options as a result of it blends the velocity of gen AI with the accessibility of visible design and the total energy and management of programming languages.
Extra importantly, this method frees up engineers from lots of tedious duties and ongoing upkeep, so innovation doesn’t stall.
How will AI increase engineers versus changing them?
Our perception is AI cannot and won’t substitute engineers, it can increase their capabilities. The basic human component in engineering entails refined considering and problem-solving, areas the place human mind and creativity are irreplaceable. AI is adept at dealing with about 80% of duties, notably these which can be repetitive or thought-about low-value. AI excels at effectively processing routine work with velocity and accuracy, finally enabling them to concentrate on higher-level issues and modern options.
This can be a net-positive for engineers. The important thing shifting ahead is to determine the right way to create a synergistic relationship the place every enhances the opposite, resulting in a extra productive and modern engineering surroundings. This method underscores a future the place AI and human intelligence work in tandem, every enjoying to their strengths to attain larger outcomes within the area of engineering and past.
Are you able to talk about the modern software modernization platform that FLOWX.AI has developed?
FLOWX.AI is the primary ever unified platform for end-to-end enterprise digital growth, with an open structure that makes it straightforward to develop and lengthen additional – with any programming language.
On the core of the platform there may be an clever orchestration layer that may combine quick any – actually any sort – of present system, by the clever integration layer. On prime of the orchestration layer groups can develop trendy digital merchandise once more very quick – by our AI-powered omnichannel person expertise layer,
As I discussed beforehand, FLOWX.AI brings collectively AI-assisted growth, low-code / no-code in addition to full coding capabilities. This mix supplies enterprises with a versatile, scalable and sturdy platform they will use to construct and take functions to market.
We constructed FLOWX.AI in response to lack of innovation in software growth. Conventional strategies are sometimes too inflexible and price prohibitive. No-code options, whereas promising in principle, have often fallen brief in assembly the precise and sophisticated calls for of contemporary enterprises. Vertical level options are rigid and exhausting to customise and develop additional – they’re not designed for steady growth.
Our clients are reaching exceptional outcomes. For example, a lot of our clients can combine round 20 techniques in simply 4-6 weeks and develop, construct, and launch advanced digital options like digital mortgages inside 8 to 12 weeks.
Why is that this resolution in a position to scale so properly?
FLOWX.AI is constructed on a state-of-the-art, elastically-scalable, event-driven structure, which depends on microservices and containerization. Using microservices structure additional enhances scalability by permitting for the unbiased scaling and updating of various elements of the appliance with out disrupting the whole system.
This absolutely cloud-native framework ensures agility, resilience, and scalability, essential for dealing with the dynamic calls for of enterprise-level digital product growth. It’s also an infrastructure-agnostic structure, which will be deployed in any cloud / multi-cloud / hybrid cloud setup or on-prem.
It additionally supplies excessive availability and fault tolerant deployment setups, that are very important for sustaining uninterrupted service in mission-critical functions.
The mix of microservices and containerization in an open structure positions FLOWX.AI as a really perfect platform for enterprises seeking to innovate quickly whereas sustaining excessive requirements of reliability and safety. This structure not solely helps the present technological wants of enterprises but in addition positions them to effortlessly adapt to future developments and challenges within the digital panorama.
