Create 2021 Keynote: Unqork CEO Gary Hoberman on the Promise of the Legacy-Free Enterprise

During the keynote presentation at Create 2021, Unqork CEO and founder Gary Hoberman explored the challenges of legacy code, and how no-code overcomes it

“I understand the technology challenges facing today’s enterprises. I’ve been there. I’ve lived in your shoes for over 25 years. Climbing that corporate ladder that we talk about today through the technology lens,” Unqork CEO Gary Hoberman explained ruing his keynote presentation at the first annual Unqork Create conference.

During his presentation, Gary explored the dilemma faced by many enterprise technology leaders: they are under increasing pressure to “go digital,” but development has become more challenging than ever, creating an imbalance between the demands of the business and supply that tech teams can deliver. This imbalance, Gary explained, is due to development technologies not keeping up with the times.

“Software is more important than ever. It’s no longer an accessory. It’s a necessity. You can’t have a business today without being digital,” Gary continued. “But the reality is that nothing’s changed the way we communicate with machines for the last 30 years. We still communicate with many archaic languages that take a long time to master. It became clear to me why 80% of the resources go to keeping the lights on, why 93% of tech projects fail, why there are seemingly never enough software engineers, and why projects are delayed. I got tired of communicating those reds yellows on project delays and over budget. When the cause was code itself. That’s why Unqork was founded. To shift the paradigm and give enterprises a better way to build mission-critical software.”

“Nothing’s changed the way we communicate with machines for the last 30 years. We still communicate with many archaic languages that take a long time to master. It became clear to me why 80% of the resources go to keeping the lights on, why 93% of tech projects fail, why there are seemingly never enough software engineers, and why projects are delayed… That’s why Unqork was founded. To shift the paradigm and give enterprises a better way to build mission-critical software.”—Gary Hoberman, Unqork Founder and CEO

Gary went to call out the problem by name: legacy code. This is all the accumulated code powering a digital infrastructure that may be years—or even decades—old. All this code must be upgraded and managed in perpetuity which demands valuable resources away from building new software and makes it more difficult to address disruptions rapidly. This is where Unqork’s no-code application platform is revolutionary. Unqork separates application logic and behavior from the code underneath, so organizations can focus entirely on addressing business problems instead of technical ones.

“This is the paradigm shift Unqork offers: build mission-critical enterprise-grade software without creating a single line of code,” Gary explained. “Build enterprise software three times faster, three times cheaper, and the most important thing that no one ever talks about with 600 times fewer bugs because you’re starting from where the last person left off instead of starting from a platform 20 years old. 

“Maintenance budgets become funding for new projects. Bug patching becomes skunkworks to find the next great idea. Developer resources are used on innovation, not keeping the lights on. This is not some fantasy future state. This isn’t a science fiction movie. There are fearless technology leaders that the right bill and their most successful companies in the world who are breaking out of the status quo to experience this new paradigm.”

Unqork is being used by some of the biggest names in the world right now. Gary then gave the virtual stage to several Unqork clients who shared the value the platform delivered to them.

“Unqork’s enterprise no-code platform has been a great technology partner for us on our digitization journey,” explained Marsh COO Louis Piliego. “Unqork provides our business with the ability to rapidly develop and iterate on new technology in-house. Giving the business a seat at the table throughout the development process, which I believe is so important… We are just getting started transforming the insurance industry at Marsh, and we’re excited to have Unqork alongside us for the journey.”

“Not only has Unqork allowed us to improve productivity, but also time-to-market.”—Shekar Pannala, Chubb’s Global CIO and Co-Leader, Technology, Shekar Pannala

“Chubb’s partnership with Unqork allows us to rapidly develop and integrate new technology in-house and deliver it globally,” said Chubb’s Global CIO and Co-Leader, Technology, Shekar Pannala. “Not only has Unqork allowed us to improve productivity, but also time-to-market.”

Maimonides Medical Center is the largest health system in Brooklyn, NY. The organization is currently working with Unqork to develop a digital front door, a patient registration system, and a solution for electronic patient forms. “The products we are developing with Unqork are supporting Maimonides’ drive towards a more modern, intuitive, and engaging patient experience while also improving efficiency in our internal operations,” explained Maimonides CEO Ken Gibbs. 

“We saw the brilliance early on. One of the things that we valued in that first minutes was that there was really an understanding of where true business problems are”—Amy Friedrich, President – US Insurance Solutions at Principal Financial Group.

“We were one of the first paying customers for Unqork,” added Amy Friedrich, President – US Insurance Solutions at Principal Financial Group. “We saw the brilliance early on. One of the things that we valued in that first minutes was that there was really an understanding of where true business problems are….The old things that we had invested in that worked for us 20 or 30 years ago weren’t working at scale for us anymore. One of the things we have committed ourselves to is kind of getting through that journey by solving problems within the process, not necessarily just at the front-end or the back-end. And so when I look at the progress we’ve made partnering with firms like you, it’s made all the difference.”

Next, Gary was joined virtually by Unqork CTO Bassam Chaptini, who gave an overview of the Unqork platform. “You just heard from Gary about the legacy-free enterprise. This new class of business will have a crucial advantage over those who approach development the same way they did 20 years ago,” Bassam explained. “That’s a big statement, sure. One you’ve probably heard countless versions of before. But you’ve also just heard from our customers: no-code is not marketing hype, it’s a new development paradigm that unlocks innovation and empowers organizations to build future-proof software.” 

Bassam “handed the mic” to Phil Gurbacki, Unqork’s SVP of Product, who explored some of the amazing new functionality that will be released in Unqork 2021.10 including the new Dynamic Grid Component, Parallel Execution, Unqork Private Cloud for AWS and Azure, the Discovery Hub, Testing Tool, Advanced Search, and a new redesign for the whole platform. This is “the biggest platform update of the year,” Phil explained. “And it includes a little bit of something for everyone in your organization. To learn more about the suite of new functionality, check out Phil’s release notes here. 

Want to learn more? Watch the above keynote presentation or join us for the rest of Unqork Create 2021.