Abstract

In this paper, we conceptualize and investigate the emerging phenomenon of low-code driven backsourcing. With the central role of digital technology in contemporary organizations and the challenges of outsourcing strategies, including unmet organizational expectations and the necessity for in-house competence, we explore the integration of low-code development—a development approach requiring minimal coding skills—as a new Information Systems (IS) sourcing approach. By conducting a qualitative case study within a large Scandinavian municipality’s development unit, we examine how low-code development facilitates the backsourcing of information systems. Our case study focuses on two teams that successfully replaced vendor-built systems with internally developed ones, leveraging their contextual knowledge of the services they were supporting. This research contributes to the IS field by conceptualizing low-code driven backsourcing as a significant phenomenon. We discuss its impact on sourcing strategies and address the call for more insights into the backsourcing process from a public sector perspective. Through our analysis, we identify characteristics of using low-code for IS backsourcing and propose future research avenues to further understand the implications of this phenomenon.

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