If done correctly, the low-code and no-code movement can transform your startup into category leaders.
Join the DZone community and get the full member experience. No-code and low-code technologies have been making inroads for years but have never quite delivered on their promise as reliable alternatives to traditional software development for complex, business-critical applications. Then COVID-19 forced a new, expedited timeline for moving analog in-person processes to semi- or fully-automated online ones. At the same time, IT and engineering roadmaps have been thrown out the window as technical teams scramble to adjust to new distributed working conditions while juggling multiple « hair on fire » problems. As a result, operations and business teams have been left with urgent needs for new business applications and scant developer resources, creating the perfect storm for no- or low-code solutions to emerge as the savior of productivity. But decision-makers should be wary of treating these platforms as a panacea to avoid costly failures and lost time. To understand how no- and low-code solutions fill the gap between business demand for development and supply of technical resources, it is helpful to understand what those terms mean exactly. No-code platforms allow people with no technical knowledge to stand up complex, cloud-based business applications using simple, drag-and-drop tooling. Relatedly, low-code platforms are also based on the concept of abstraction through pre-built software building blocks oriented towards accelerating time to development by reducing the amount of “original” code that needs to be written in any given application. Perhaps because of their shared DNA, there is a trend towards convergence; as no-code platforms become more powerful and versatile with add-ons and application marketplaces, and low-code platforms build features to require less coding. Given this trend, we can collectively refer to these platforms as Low-code Development Platforms. As business leaders face digital transformation challenges with constrained development and financial resources, they must recognize that Low-code Development Platforms are a double-edged sword. Used in the right places and configured in the right ways, they can significantly speed up time to market and increase productivity. Used in the wrong places or set up inadequately, they result in unscalable, inelastic solutions and persistent application babysitting can be a drain on resources. To avoid the pitfalls of Low-code Development Platforms and harness them effectively, consider the following carefully: Implementation: Who will be taking on the implementation? Do they have experience with the process and an analytical mindset? Do they have the right purview and leverage within the organization? One of the key advantages of Low-code Development Platforms is the ease of implementation, either for “citizen developers” (non-technical individuals) or engineers of varying degrees of experience to quickly build and deploy applications that automate business processes.
