What is Low-Code, No-Code Development? How Can It Support My Business Application and Software Product Development Needs?
When a business undertakes a new software project, it may do so to create a product for consumers, or for business users, or it may do so to upgrade an existing solution. Whatever the established goal for that mobile app, web app or software solution, it is important to understand the rapidly advancing state of technology, and to consider the foundation for your business or consumer solution. Building on outdated or inflexible technologies is a recipe for failure. But when an organization sets out to plan its approach, the choices and options can be daunting. Will you design your tools and features for smart phones, tablets, laptops or desktops, or perhaps for all of those devices? Once you have made the decision about user access, you will have to decide on a development approach. And THOSE options can be overwhelming. Still, if your business has done any research on the subject of software and application technology, you are well aware of the opportunities inherent in the technology market, and your business will want to leverage those opportunities to generate revenue, extend market reach and customer visibility and enhance enterprise growth.
One of the emerging software development techniques is the Low-Code, No-Code approach (LCNC). According to the International Journal for Research in Applied Science and Technology (iJRASET), ‘The prominent advantage of low-code no-code development, particularly for proficient developers, is that it's quick. Prebuilt modules reduce the time taken to implement application functionality, so developers can spend time on tasks that need more originality or that have greater precedence for the business. Low-code development can also help developers integrate a function with an external platform without learning about the ins and outs of that external platform.’
In this article, we will discuss the opportunities and benefits of the low-code and no-code development approach, and the factors a business must include when considering one or both of these options. The information contained in this article will provide a foundation for understanding the LCNC approach and how it might serve your needs in designing and developing a software solution, a mobile application, etc., or in upgrading existing technology to meet new requirements.
‘As you consider the benefits, of low-code/no-code development, keep in mind that the choice will ultimately be made based on the usecases you need to satisfy.’
What is Low-Code and No-Code Development?
Let’s start with the basics. First, it is important to understand that Low-Code and No-Code development are not the same thing. So, let’s take a look at No-Code vs. Low-Code development.
Low Code Development Definition
This approach supports the development team by decreasing the amount of ‘from scratch’ coding required, and creating a foundation of reusable code with components that become building blocks for future development. This development approach allows programmers to leverage low-code user interface components roughly 80% of development tasks, thereby limiting the manual coding efforts to 20% of developer time. Because the Low-Code approach requires a knowledge of other tools and development skills, it is typically used by professional programmers with coding skills and knowledge. A Low-Code development platform allows developers to extend component libraries and web frameworks to address specific use cases. Developers can work faster and more precisely with proven tools and combine coding and programming experience with tools designed for rapid software development.
No Code Development Definition
The No-Code approach utilizes a visual workflow in an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), eliminating the need for manual coding. This technique creates a kind of ‘snap in’ system of components that developers can use and reuse to solve problems and create features and functionality. This closed system of tools restricts the developer by limiting use to pre-existing capabilities and user interface tools. The No-Code approach can provide a start-up with quick results and foundational features and allow them to enter the market and build visibility.
Now that we have a better understanding of no code vs. low code software, let us consider the popularity of these techniques and how technology research firms and publications see these development techniques.
- According to the world-renowned technology research firm, Gartner, ‘ low-code platforms will be used in 65% of application development by the end of this year.’
- Gartner suggests that, ‘the key differentiating factor between low-code and no-code development is the target audience. As low-code development still requires technical skill and coding knowledge, low-code development platforms are primarily suited to developers. These platforms help good developers code faster.’
- ResearchGate provides a comprehensive overview of capabilities and limitations of these techniques to help you understand the differences between low-code and no-code development, and when it is best to use each approach.
- According to Gartner, the low-code/no-code market has expanded at a compound annual growth rate of 23% since 2018 and is accelerating.
- Mendix states that 44% of organizations now have at least one low-code application in production.
- Salesforce reports that 69% of businesses will adopt low-code platforms within a year
If you are considering the Low-Code, No-Code approach, and wondering if these platforms will satisfy your needs, you may wish to review this list of business use cases. Low-code/no-code app development can be useful for:
In-House Business and Operations
Business Applications
This development approach can address human resource (HR), benefits management, field service operations and logistics, inventory, purchasing, finance, sales and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Contact Management, Order Management
Workflows
Low-Code, No-Code development can easily support internal workflows and integrated workflows for internal/external processes to support supplier relationships, partners and clients.
Technology and Database Management
Enterprise Resource (ERP) systems, SQL and other databases, mainframe applications, REST/SOAP APIs
Business Process and Workflow
Document processing, signature and approval, order processing, invoicing, help desk support, contract review and management
Service and Resource Monitoring
Monitor and track fleets, assets, resources and manage and monitor inventory, building and facility sensors, etc.
Consumer Applications
Cross-Platform Access
Provide access via mobile app, web and/or desktop, with responsive navigation and user experience (Ux)
Prototype and Minimum Viable Products (MVP)
Quickly design and develop products for proof of concept and user feedback.
Service Scheduling, Customer Feedback and Other Tools
Create surveys and forms for customer feedback, create calendars and scheduling for service appointments, design reports, dashboards and data visualization templates like graphs and charts.
Reporting and Monitoring Tools
Weather and environmental monitoring, sensors, meters, etc.
In this section, we described and defined low-code and no-code development and provided use cases for no code vs. low code software, to help businesses understand how these approaches might satisfy their needs.
Why Should You Choose (Or Not Choose) LCNC Development For Your Project?
Let’s spend a little time talking about the benefits of the low and no code tools. When we are exploring low-code vs. no-code, it is important to have a basic understanding of how each of these platforms can help you achieve your goals. Ultimately, you will need to develop a clear set of requirements to define the parameters, features and functionality of your new app or solution.
In this section, we will review the benefits of choosing a low code and no code development. As you review these benefits, keep in mind that the choice of low code vs. no code will ultimately be made based on the considerations noted in the section above, and on the use cases you need to satisfy.
The benefits noted in this section represent both Low-Code and No-Code advantages, and are meant to provide an overview.
A recent survey of businesses revealed several primary reasons for using the Low-Code/No-Code approach.
- Accelerate Digital Innovation and Transformation
- Reduce Current IT Backlog and Increase Responsiveness
- Reduce Dependency on Professional Technology Skills, and Increase Developer Productivity
- Protect Against Technology Churn
- Improve Time to Market
Benefits
Organization
Cost-Effective –The technology research firm Forrester reports that low-code platforms improve developer productivity by more than 10 times the average solution development time, thereby improving return on investment and total cost of ownership. Forrester also reports that low-code, no-code initiatives deliver applications at 50-60% lower cost than those using traditional development initiatives. By leveraging these tools, the enterprise can address gaps and issues with legacy systems without investing in a total rebuild or starting from scratch.
Time to Market– The organization can leverage tools in a responsive development environment to create products and apps and test Minimum Viable Products (MVP) solutions for customer and user feedback, thereby avoiding costly mistakes and implementation of features and functionality users and customers do not want or need.
Resources – The organization can optimize developer time and the time of IT consulting firms by using the low-code, no-code approach, and allow the development team to focus on high-value activities and those areas where professional skills and knowledge are best targeted.
Teams-The organization can easily add Low-Code, No-Code platforms to its technology landscape without costly delays to accommodate extensive training or resource acquisition. Because these tools are easy to learn and leverage, the organization can adapt and improve agility.
Developers
Schedule – Low-Code/No-Code solutions can be developed 5-10 times faster than a traditional solution. The ability to leverage visual modeling and reuse code, and to make changes in real time will speed development.
Innovation – Developers can rapidly create minimum viable products (MVP) and build prototypes to test concepts and ideas. The basic components and tools of the Low-Code/No-Code platforms allow developers to work quickly to create solutions and stay abreast of market changes and enterprise demands.
Upgrades – Developers can quickly and easily use low-code application development or no-code development to upgrade solutions, using a suite of components and tools to add features and functionality and keep the solution evergreen in a changing market.
In order to provide a complete picture, it is important to include some of the challenges of the low-code/no-code approach to development. This overview will give you an idea of the limitations of these platforms and help you decide whether these development techniques are right for your organization.
Integration – There are a variety of vendors in the low-code, no-code market, and not all platforms have the same standards, which can make it challenging to integrate disparate Low-Code/No-Code solutions. If an enterprise plans to integrate these approaches with legacy systems, the development team is likely to face some integration challenges that will require manual coding. Vendors provide their own version of these tools and if an enterprise chooses more than one of these environments for development, it can create integration challenges.
Scalability – The development team or IT consultant must carefully assess and support performance, reliability and security issues, and consider infrastructure and load testing to assure appropriate scalability and performance across all apps and systems.
Solution Customization – By its nature, the low-code/no-code approach limits customization capabilities and provides less flexibility for developers when combining ‘from scratch’ code with restrictive components and tools.
System and Solution Governance – The enterprise must work closely with IT consultants and the in-house IT team to ensure appropriate oversight, and to monitor and manage the growth and changes required to stay abreast of organizational requirements and effectively manage the production and development environment and processes.
The low-code/no-code market is maturing and platform vendors are improving extensibility and governance and creating more scalable solutions using cloud technology. As you consider the potential for the low-code and no-code development approach, it is important to understand the tradeoffs and benefits of this decision.
A Review of Popular Low-Code, No-Code Technology Platforms
When you review the low-code vs. no-code application development market, low-code development platforms, or no-code capabilities you will find that there are numerous vendors and choices. What follows is not a complete list of technology vendors, but it will give you a good idea of what is available in the market and the tools available to developers for your project.
Airtable – This no-code platform allows businesses to build custom applications without writing code, significantly reducing development time and associated costs. Repetitive tasks and workflow can be efficiently automated, allowing your team to work on more time-consuming and critical tasks, thereby enhancing productivity. Airtable allows for integration with your existing tools and tech stack. It can also be tailored and expanded to accommodate business-specific requirements.
Creatio – A no-code application platform for businesses that are focused on Customer Relationship Management (CRM), marketing, sales and service, and for the banking, insurance, credit unions, retail, transportation, business services, and telecommunications industries. Creatio is a no-code, open platform environment that enables custom business applications for quick results. The Creatio development team works with composable architecture, and does not require coding. It provides a simple, secured environment with frequent upgrades, and good performance and reliability.
Zapier – Build automated workflows with triggers and actions. Design forms, web pages, and basic apps to power workflow. Store, edit, and move data with a database that’s purpose-built for automation. Build and automate customer conversations. Create custom AI chatbots to answer questions, resolve issues, and nurture leads.
Outsystems – Create external apps for customer portals. Build secure systems. Deliver internal applications that boost productivity. AI-powered low-code platform for complex, business-critical apps.
‘The prominent advantage of low-code no-code development, particularly for proficient developers, is that it's quick. Prebuilt modules reduce the time taken to implement application functionality, so developers can spend time on tasks that need more originality or that have greater precedence for the business.’
There are other platforms and vendors in the Low-Code/No-Code market. The selected list provided above will give you an idea of the capabilities and the features and functionality of some of the prominent vendors in this market.
How to Hire LCNC Programmers
Once your business had decided to embrace the low-code/no-code approach to development for some or all of your project, you will need to focus on resource planning and ensure that the team you establish has the skills you need for this project and to ensure success for upgrades, to support and maintain your solution and to provide adequate resources to develop and deploy your solution.
When considering software product and application development vendors and service providers, you will want to include the following factors:
Most organizations do not have the bandwidth to staff a development project and sustain other projects, maintenance, support and governance activities at the same time. Even if your enterprise has enough resources, it is likely you will experience delays because of competing priorities. Adding resources using a flexible delivery model can help you staff and move your project forward. Whether you require onsite, offshore or a hybrid delivery model, you will want to consider a vendor that can provide appropriate access and a responsive staff to keep your project on schedule and on budget.
Skills
The low-code, no-code approaches are popular because they provide a fast, easy way to develop apps and software and that can lead businesses to believe that if they use one of these approaches, they can create solutions without any professional expertise. Whether you are creating a business application, a mobile app, a consumer website or any other software product or application,there are many facets to a development lifecycle. Using low-code, or no-code for one component of a feature set or functionality may be appropriate, but your development team or IT consulting partner will need skills for requirements planning, and perhaps for minimum viable product development to test prototypes and concepts, and they will need to have the skills and bandwidth to design, configure, test, integrate and deploy. Choose an IT consulting partner with a full suite of design and development skills and a comprehensive understanding of available and popular technology.
The need for expert, experienced software application developers and application support and maintenance skills is constant. If your business is not equipped to hire, train and retain permanent staff to satisfy the peaks and valleys of IT business requirements, it is time to consider an expert partner – a well-balanced, skilled IT team with leading-edge skills to enhance and support your business with innovative, high-value, low-cost application maintenance and support services, and timely, proven processes and methodologies. Whether you are employing low-code/no-code technology or integrating that technology with other platforms and services, you need a team that can support every component and aspect of your solution.
Upgrades
Change is a constant but one thing is always true, your business must adapt to changing customer buying behavior, and leverage new, cutting-edge technologies to remain competitive. Your partner will help you plan for anticipated upgrades and provide the flexibility required to keep your solution agile, so that, when you are ready, you can make those changes without expensive customization or having to start from scratch.
As always, when considering your partner options, be sure you choose an IT consulting firm with experience, skill, a vibrant, ever-green training program, flexible delivery models and 24/7, responsive communication, affordable pricing and dependable reporting and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
If you wish to obtain a detailed list of experience, skills, support and resources to achieve a seamless outcome, explore: ‘Offshore Outsourcing Company White Paper On How to Select an Offshore Development Partner,’ ‘The Cost vs. Value Equation for Offshore Software and Technology Projects,’ and ‘Top 3 Considerations for In-House Software Product Development vs. Expert Assistance Decision.’
In this article, we have described and defined the Low-Code and No-Code approach to development, the benefits and challenges of choosing this approach, the available vendors and solutions, and the considerations for selecting a Low-Code/No-Code partner.
Explore these complementary articles: ‘MVP Software Development: Everything You Need to Know (The What, Why and How),’ ‘Low-Code, No-Code Programming: What’s the Buzz,’ ‘Minimum Viable Products and Their Value,’ and our White Paper, ‘Understanding the Concept and Value of Low-Code and No-Code Development.’
Contact Us to find out how our skills, experience and services can benefit your enterprise, and how our technology resources can support your needs. Discover the many Enterprise Software Services available and get started today on your business or consumer software, web application or mobile app project.
