Democratizing AI: Accelerating telco innovation with low-code solutions

People making the product, marketing and sales decisions within telcos typically do not need to know if the IT department has a goal of implementing end-to-end zero-touch operations. Or whether there is a long-term vision in place for developing an expertly orchestrated system of AI agents to securely and accurately perform the functions of today’s business support systems (BSS), operational support systems (OSS), and networks. In fact, ideally, they should be blissfully unaware of the existence of OSS and BSS.

What is crucial, however, is access to accurate business intelligence and the ability to create hyper personalized services and tariffs at a price, speed and performance that suits different customer segments and outstrips the competition. All while using the sort of natural language commands that have become part of mainstream business interactions since the launch of Generative AI. Indeed, IDC has predicted that by 2027, 60% of net-new applications that leverage generative AI capabilities will be developed by low-code or no-code developer technologies.

Product, marketing, sales and customer experience teams naturally look to IT teams to provide the best technology possible, to provide intuitive solutions and experiences to customers, and to deliver new revenue growth for the company. However, IT teams have many masters. They have to dedicate time and budget to developing and implementing a long-term future technology strategy that both increases operational efficiency and opens the door to greater innovation. All while phasing out legacy (BSS and OSS) technology and making sure any tools they roll out for the business today do not lock them into future silos tomorrow.

Designed by Marketing — for Marketing

One way in which telcos can balance the fast-evolving IT needs of business stakeholders, including marketeers, with the resource limitations of IT is the rollout of low-code/no-code development tools.

As its name suggests, low-code/no-code offers people with very limited or no coding knowledge a visual, drag and drop, or chat interface with which to develop new applications, build workflows or create bundles without the need for IT support.

Low-code/no code application development is not new. But it should come as little surprise that analysts are seeing brisk growth across multiple sectors in its the take up. At the end of 2025, for example, Gartner forecast that the overall market for low-code development technologies will grow by CAGR of 14.1% to reach $58.2 billion by 2029, with drivers including “a growing focus on operational excellence.”

An important step towards operational excellence for business stakeholders is when product, sales and marketing teams can rapidly and securely introduce new product bundles, launch promotional tariffs, simplify workflows or enhance them with AI tools. All without having to wait weeks or months while IT undertakes the custom development of existing customer relationship management, product catalog, charging, or order management systems.

Rapid Innovation and agility

Business teams that can use low-code systems to quickly create new products, or enhanced workflows are much more likely to experiment, innovate, and adopt AI functionalities faster. And this will ultimately help operators respond to changing market conditions, and drive business growth.

This decoupling of the front-end customer experience from the back-end IT systems brings significant improvement in business agility, and operational efficiency within commercial domains. Low- and no-code approaches can be particularly helpful for teams exploring how to build new revenue streams with cloud hyperscalers, fintechs, or developers consuming network APIs. With low-code and AI tools, for example, business teams can create partner onboarding portals and custom settlement or revenue tools using APIs that interface with billing systems.

Driving CX and operational efficiency

Low-code and AI tools are reshaping overall customer experience by embedding intelligent features, like predictive analytics, automation, and chatbots directly into workflows. These capabilities channel customer insights into data-driven recommendations, and result in faster time-to-market, and rapid issue resolutions. They further streamline onboarding for both customers and partners, fostering seamless experiences and ecosystem growth. The outcome: faster innovation, reduced friction, and a more responsive, customer-centric telco operation.

But the wins aren’t only for customer-facing business teams. Low‑code and no-code platforms allow IT departments to make rapid, incremental improvements to their existing systems, or rewrite applications, each of which puts demands on in-house specialists. They can use TM Forum Open APIs to expose BSS functions such as billing or customer assurance and integrate them into new workflows.

Providing low-code tools to commercial teams also allows IT to shift their focus to architecture and governance, optimize their workload, and improve collaboration between IT and business units.[ED1] [JT2] IT teams benefit directly from low-code usage by making up to 90% savings in development time and as much as a 60% saving in deployment time, according to estimations by McKinsey.

Good governance for compliance and security

Democratising the development of targeted software applications through low-code and no-code alone, however, is not a guarantee of removing bottlenecks. In some cases, it can even create new issues if business stakeholders use no-code to edit or create software applications outside workflows and processes designed to safeguard customer information and guarantee application performance. This becomes an even more pressing challenge as telcos redesign and orchestrate workflows with AI in mind, using AI copilots, AI assistants, and AI agents in workflows. Therefore it is imperative to have appropriate access rights and role-based permissions in place for business users, and to keep governance intact while scaling low-code adoption.

In the interest of speed, marketing, sales and product teams need the flexibility to develop within workflows without turning to IT for help. Yet IT needs to ensure that new software developments comply with governance, regulatory and security policies, and fit into an open, flexible IT architecture. For this, the business needs an end-to-end operational model that can be easily orchestrated, and that allows business teams to embrace the opportunities of new technologies, including AI, to adapt to fast-changing customer and market demands.

Fostering a culture of inclusive innovation - with Etiya’s Agentic BSS

Low-code solutions are reshaping Business Support Systems (BSS) by enabling rapid deployment, greater flexibility, and seamless integration via Open APIs. Within Etiya’s Agentic BSS, telecommunications providers gain access to a suite of low-code and AI-powered tools designed to drive operational efficiency and transform customer experiences. This approach equips telcos with the agility needed to adapt to evolving market demands and deliver more responsive, personalized services.

Companies can apply pre-built, reusable components to quickly assemble custom workflows—such as shopping or ordering processes—reducing development time. Visual rule engines allow business teams to create offer validators and customize eligibility checks, ensuring compliance and real-time decision support.

At the enterprise level, low-code orchestration ensures end-to-end visibility and consistent data management across the operation. AI-powered chatbots and digital twins enhance productivity by providing smart recommendations and automating offer configuration. Even complex onboarding for customers and partners is streamlined, minimizing errors and improving user experience.

The way forward

The convergence of low-code and AI is redefining business operations, democratizing both development and intelligent automation, and putting powerful tools into the hands of every team. As these technologies evolve, they will drive greater agility and intelligence across workflows, but it also requires organizations to embrace continuous learning and adaptation. For those aiming to stay competitive, the time to explore low-code solutions is now—empowering teams to innovate faster and deliver more value in an ever-changing market.

To discover more about low-code and AI capabilities of Etiya’s Agentic BSS, contact the experts at Etiya today.

[ED1]Would be great to add some supporting statements with business outcomes (general industry data).

[JT2]These are the best stats I could find!