Rolls-Royce has created a Digital Expo to show people the benefits of low-code development.

Low-code platforms are democratizing application development and giving all kinds of business professionals the opportunity to create their own software solutions to the challenges they face.

That's certainly the case at engineering giant Rolls-Royce, where chief digital and information officer Stuart Hughes has overseen the implementation of the Microsoft Power Apps platform. 

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The aerospace and defense giant is working with Microsoft to help staff embrace low-code techniques and build tools that boost productivity and support research and development.

What's more, Hughes expects more people across the people to start developing their own applications.

"How we work with the Microsoft Office Suite today is exactly how we'll work with the Power platform in the future," he says. "I think it's a really high productivity tool for our employees."

Some of the low-code apps that have been developed so far include a 24/7 on-call system for the company's research and development department, a Kudos app that helps employees pass on praise, and an analytics dashboard that visualizes important information.

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Hughes refers to these apps as "micro innovations" and estimates the benefits from these small improvements added up to between