Even if most businesses have been digitizing their corporate operations for decades, when COVID-19 sent millions of office employees home, it revealed how hands-on many firms are.
For people working from home for the near future, leaning towards asking a peer for insight into a project or figuring out what happened to a proposal—even with all the instant modern networking resources at their disposal—is not realistic, fast, or effective. To fix this issue, many companies have switched to low-code and non-code production platforms. Using drag-and-drop interfaces, these tools allow non-programmers to create enterprise workflow applications and incorporate them into broader business processes.
Even before the COVID struck, the use of low-code was rising. According to one IT research company, just over a third of developers started using low-code platforms and products in 2019. The figure rose to more than half of the developers by mid-2020. Simply because low-code does not help develop enterprise-class applications like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), it does not mean that low-code should only be used for basic applications. By standardizing application creation among multiple developers, low-code will give developers the pre-built blocks they need to build complex applications. Low-code also decreases the learning curve for the teaching of inexperienced people to maintain and change the code.
Low-code helps companies be more receptive to consumers by introducing new features or implementing new technology and security protocols. It also supports a new wave of developers who will no longer need to be low-level coding professionals or various programming languages.
Website development platforms are an excellent example of low-code enabling non-coders to create complex software. Not so many years ago, creating a website was a pricey, time-consuming job involving technical skills and coding expertise. Today, several platforms make it easy for everyone to create immersive and feature-rich websites. Low-code will be part of the current support structure, and staff has understood their importance during the crisis. It would become a stable tool to make them more successful inside or outside the workplace. Here are few benefits of using low-code platforms.
Cost-effective
The development tools for low-code apps are designed for internal teams. Companies don’t need to increase the cost by hiring an external app development team. Also, the updates can be performed by the internal team.
Eliminate the IT skills gap!
Low-code development frameworks help the companies bridge the skills-gap by allowing the existing IT staff and non-developers to build mobile apps quickly and easily.
Speed-up application development
Developing a custom application or a mobile app is a long and recursive process, and sometimes it takes more than a year. However, the low-code framework decreases the development cycle dramatically. The low-code app can be developed in parallel with business requirements by internal staff.
Minimal training
You can select options like ‘no code’ and ‘low-code for development (point and click application development). The low-code frameworks also have options to incorporate the pre-existing software or develop new customization. The tools are designed with targeted ease of use, facilitating the pre-existing internal teams to work on it, thus saving time and money on additional training.
Deploy cross-platform (mobile, web, desktop, cloud)
The low-code framework offers cross-platform deployment across mobile, web, desktop, and cloud. It is fully integrated with back-end systems, and it also facilitates dynamic synchronization of data between user devices and back-end databases.
Scalability
Low-code platforms allow companies to start small with perhaps just a web app, progressing to hybrid or even fully native apps as per the business needs.
Creating business apps should be an essential part of the business strategy–growth promotion, future-proofing, and competitiveness in today’s digital world. Low-code development platforms enable companies to create apps quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively with the skills they already have in-house.’
Limitations
Despite having some sheer advantages, like everything low-code framework also comes with limitations. These platforms are productive as they provide a framework for the development of business owners. Sometimes, a low-code framework creates challenges to work in a unique production line.
While low-code tools can be a powerful asset during the POC, some UI / UX problems can be simplified to run an app faster. There is still a significant need for developing skills to customize the project, create back-end APIs and manage infrastructure deployment.
The future of low-code
As these platforms develop alongside other technologies, builders of low-code platforms must connect their platforms to create more data sources. Technologies like the Internet of Things sensors, artificial intelligence, and Blockchain can provide even more hook-ups for low-code builders, opening doors for more use cases and further developing the technology.
Conclusion
Low-code platforms can help organizations overcome the lack of coding skills and improve collaboration within the development team. It also helps the end-users to achieve better business outcomes more quickly. Low-code platforms increase the effectiveness of cloud-ready applications that are large, secure, and fully integrated. Many organizations that are experienced in low-code development are expanding their development teams to meet the growing demand. They execute mission-critical company applications.
However, low-code platforms are a golden opportunity for small businesses. As the citizen developer continues to become a contributor in this space, small enterprises can be early candidates for this technology.