low code development

We live in a thriving fast-paced era driven by a generation that defines time directly proportional to productivity and profitability. This mindset has led to many technological advancements in software development. One such technological advancement is the conception of what is now popularly known as RAD or Rapid Application Development tools. This central idea makes software development much faster and more accessible.

Low code and no code platforms are the first generation RAD tools. And they have extensively paved the way in revolutionizing the process of software development as we know it today. It is stated by Gartner that low code will be behind over 65% of app development activities by 2024.

What is Low Code?

Low code has become a popular term. But still many people don’t know what is low code? Low code is a software application development that is an entirely fresh approach to rapid software development. It takes on software development on a visual approach, expecting minimal to no technical knowledge at all from its participants. According to Mendix, a low code software platform company, 24% of low code users initially had zero programming experience when they started. Quite an impressive feat, am I right?

With that being said, low code platforms have leveraged themselves to libraries that are pre-built for different functionalities. They can be easily dragged and dropped in a graphical interface and used accordingly. Also, making complex applications is more accessible with low code. Its visual environment connects to the backends using APIs and allows custom coding as well. And this is what makes them different from no code development.

Also, low code development allow developers to create front-end prototypes fast and efficiently within a few days or even hours. Developers are also given great flexibility to make custom changes on their application’s interface and add custom functionalities easily. For this reason, low code is great for developers as they get ample space for custom changes using code.

No code, on the other hand, targets non-technical people with zero coding skills or small-scale businesses. Generally, these businesses lack the financial capability to outsource their development process. Consequently, they greatly rely on no code RAD. It allows them to quickly build applications without getting into the hassle of writing code. But one important note to remember is that no code development can only do application development on a fundamental level.

Also read another blog related to Low Code : Benefits of Low Code Tools and Platforms

Why was Low Code invented?

Naturally, business users care only about the simplest of things. Bottom line - spend less money and waste less time while improving productivity and making more money. That’s why there is certainty in low code platforms succeeding - they are provided a way of doing all of that. It spares businesses from investing in bigger development teams or expensive training programs for their employees. Consequently, help them save a lot of money.

In 2014, Forrester, a famous research and advisory company, coined the term "Low code". This coinage purportedly classifies development platforms whose primary focus is on simplicity and ease of use. And that’s what low code development did. It allowed anyone to build applications without knowing how to code. From then on, the trend caught industries like wildfire and the rest, they say, is history.

Since then, up until now, low code platforms have become a great alternative to traditional development. It has eliminated the hassle of writing complex code to create an application. And thus, it transformed the way of web/app development by making the developmental process visual with drag-and-drop features and more. Also, as more and more people are getting aware of this type of web/app development, demand for low code platforms is currently on rise.

To know more about the history of low code, click here.

Potential Challenges Businesses Face

It is usual for businesses to face challenges. We can sum up these hurdles into five main factors:

1. Network performance decrease

The demand of developers in the IT sector is huge. And as the IT sector is expanding rigorously, this demand is getting bigger. But unfortunately, the supply of developers is limited. And this shortage is what makes the existing IT developers in the market overloaded with work. This is why they do not have the energy and capacity to keep up with the internal demands of customizing applications. Consequently the network performance gradually declines as the workload plummets.

2. Lack of finances

Money is the primary source that keeps a business afloat. But usually startups and small-scale businesses often struggle with finances due to lack of huge investments. Therefore, they don’t have the luxury of purchasing necessary apps or hiring experts who can create the tools they need.

3. Outdated systems

With the advancement of technology, old systems have become outdated. And many business sectors and industries are modernizing their outdated systems. However, untangling the obsolete systems and business processes is not very easy. It requires funds and skilled expertise to replace them with newer, more agile digital methods. And these newer methods can be disruptive and quite expensive especially for small-scale businesses.

4. Skill Differences

The traditional mode of development requires different coding skills and programming knowledge. But citizen developers and business users usually lack the technical knowledge and experience in building code-intensive apps. This makes them heavily dependent on developers and coders which are expensive due to their high demand.

5. Speed Demands

With the efficient placement of DevOps, speeds of development themselves are often slow because of their complex nature. So, it is a significant challenge to maximize developer productivity amidst the increasing demand for enterprise applications.

Solutions that Low Code Provides

Customized software development can become an expensive endeavor. Companies that can afford spend lavish amounts on customization, only to stay at par with their counterparts. This aspect alone becomes the biggest motivation for low code development adoption. Aside from this driving force, low code development provides some benefits as follows:

1. Turnaround time reduction

Traditional development goes through a lot of delays and therefore, it is very time taking. Low code solutions are relatively faster. In fact, low code technology was created as a remedy to such delays. It uses model-driven logic in process development that significantly reduces the turn-around time. Therefore, you can complete a project faster within a few days instead of several months.

2. Development process simplification

Uses a graphical interface that allows users to build and design apps visually with drag-and-drop functionality. It makes the whole development process simple and easy. Thus, it omits the need for multiple language coding with automatic translations. Also, discards the need of updating applications with the latest OS updates constantly.

3. Exploration ease

Low code cuts down the development cost by a significant margin. And this margin can be utilized in exploring other options. Thus, it allows developers to experiment with the latest technologies in exploring more possible horizons.

4. High ROI

Low code development takes care of app security, data integration and cross-platform support. It also simplifies app deployment with single-click app deployment. Thus, making it easier to focus only on development, resulting in a high return of investment.

5. Quicker transformation

Low code solutions have made web and app development easy and time-saving. Therefore, changes or any type of transformation in an app or website can be done easily on low code platforms.

As low code development removes complexity, companies can immediately adapt to changes. Whether revamping apps, pivoting, or new market trends adaptation, low code development aids in a seamless and effortless transformation.

Must Read : Risks and Challenges of No-Code & Low Code Development

Low Code and Marketing

With the rising popularity of low code solutions, there is a need for more efficient and agile marketing. Here are some benefits of low code solutions from the marketing perspective:

1. Shorter time to market

Allows marketers to understand the impacts of products they are developing immediately. Citizen developers are more directly involved with customer engagement, therefore understanding customer pain points and solutions they are searching for.

2. Direct application of customer perspectives

Directly applies customer perspectives in shaping digital strategies for designing applications. With low code tools, creators and authors are one, ensuring the transmission of messages is much more complete than before.

Low Code and Enterprise Application, Integration and Automation

The key to low code approaches in enterprise functionality is very straightforward: supply “clean” code. Using low code platforms developers can easily switch between options. They can create apps visually or add custom features by using coding that simultaneously makes visual flows. Thus, users can have the best of both worlds.

Six significant benefits of such code representation are as follows:

No limitations in customization and extension of applications to fit the business 100%.
Developers harness the powers of sophisticated IDEs, libraries and frameworks to make enhancements that can’t be done using the UI.
Teams apply tried-and-tested software development lifecycles, simply not giving up software engineering disciplines for productivity or speed’s sake.
Teams support their need for collaboration.
No lock-in proprietary and no black box.
Representations in text format aid in understanding mappings that underlie between UI components and the code. Thus, providing help in terms of the development of streamline custom needs.

Low Code and AI (Artificial Intelligence)

As technology is getting more advanced, low code and AI are getting along really well. Low code platforms focus on the visual aspect thus, make use of AI technology. They allow businesses to build custom applications by integrating numerous AI elements with machine learning (ML) through third-party APIs.

Therefore, low code platforms are undeniably the looming future of the enterprise and their AI solutions development. Here are some core advantages low code AI provides compared to the traditional ways:

1. Much lower costs

Enables companies to create well-rounded, fully functional solutions powered by AI independently. Thus, save them from hiring pricey AI experts, software developers and technical specialists. Low code platforms lower the cost of AI implementation into daily business operations.

2. Higher accessibility

AI solutions have become a lot more accessible on different levels. But they are still unaccessible financially. Low code is much cheaper and offers simple solutions via intuitive and easy-to-use interface. Also, it is more accessible to non-tech savvy people and programming newbies; thus it makes AI less complex and less intimidating for them.

3. Higher usability

Allows more people within organisations to collaborate in creating and implementing custom AI-powered solutions because of the simple, user-friendly interface. Low code and AI also helps people in the organisation to contribute to a project. And this often results in creating a more functional and practical final product.

4. Quicker process of development and deployment

Makes the entire development and deployment process of enterprise apps using AI way faster. Thus, allowing organisations to become more flexible and experiment using different versions or approaches to a problem. Consequently, it results in higher quality in the end.

5. Greater scalability

Scalability is essential while developing any kind of product. Mostly low code tools and platforms offer high scalability via several third-party integrations. Therefore low code AI tools give you access to different AIs via third-party APIs. It allows you to integrate scalable solutions without any additional cost.

6. Bridges other tech innovations together

As technology is getting advanced, low code is helping businesses to move forward with it. In fact, low code is the best way, especially for SMEs, to use high-tech innovations like robotics, Big data, embedded systems, etc. in their business processes. It allows businesses to build solutions through an array of combinations using different tools to serve specific requirements.

Low Code and Supply Chain Technology

Low code platforms are becoming more and more popular across the tech industry. And the supply chain technologies benefit from this popularity through the following ways:

Permits vendors to place supply chain customers in total control of their applications
Lets customers build immediate and easy applications. And test their new supply chain applications, interfaces, integrations and much more at an in-house level
Allows vendors to provide support to customers that can lead to better customer relations
Significantly reduces customer costs, delays and resource issues
Allows customers to design streamlined supply chain apps and configurations by meeting their unique, specific needs

Low code platforms have grown revolutionary throughout the years. These tools give customers a much greater perspective and greater control of the software they use. Also promotes accessibility and accuracy across the supply chain. In particular, benefits include:

Enhanced agility for quick reaction to business environment changes
Improved purchasing patterns, consumer attitudes and product assortment
Rapid adaptation to newly-implemented laws, compliance and regulations

These factors of accessibility and control help introduce strong project management and good communications among the team and stakeholders. This attribute will also help avoid:

Designing applications without stakeholder consultations or considerations on the impact they will have on other areas
Teams independently developing their applications without appropriate reference to company strategies
Releasing of incomplete applications to the public or early releasing without any proper change control or testing

All of these areas of opportunity can still be enhanced using good development processes and governance.
Also Read : Google Sheets VS Airtable : A Game of Sheets and Tables

Final Thoughts

Low code development platforms do not pose any threats to developers’ jobs. Actually, it's quite the contrary. With expansion happening in all development fields, low code development only takes charge of a portion of the proverbial pie. And that is helping custom software development service developers and providers as they focus on their core competencies.

When your preference is customization, you could consider low code development as an alternative to costly outsourcing of app development. But you must analyse your business situation profoundly before choosing low code as a solution. However, there’s no doubt low code will be the next big thing for years to come. Find out for yourself and take advantage of this innovative software development tool today.

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