In the world of technology, efficiency is crucial. We all want solutions that are both quick to develop and adaptable to ever-changing needs. Enter low-code development, a modern approach that’s transforming the way businesses operate and individuals create.
From startups to multinational corporations, there’s a growing demand to build and adapt software applications more efficiently. Traditional development processes, while thorough and precise, often fall short in meeting today’s accelerated timelines. The solution? Enter the realm of low-code development.
Low-code development has rapidly emerged as a cornerstone of modern software development, acting as the bridge between technical and non-technical realms. It promises to democratise the application development process, empowering not just trained developers, but also business professionals and visionaries with little to no coding experience. By leveraging visual interfaces and pre-built modules, low-code platforms usher in an era where applications can be built and iterated upon with unparalleled speed, all while maintaining robustness and security. As we delve deeper into this guide, we’ll unpack the nuances of low-code development, illustrating its transformative potential in the broader tech landscape.
What is low-code?
Low-code revolutionises application development by shifting from text-based to visual approaches.
Instead of immersing in complex code lines, low-code offers a user-friendly, drag-and-drop interface driven by models. It caters to everyone: from seasoned developers to beginners, industry experts to business stakeholders and decision-makers. This inclusivity ensures that enterprise applications built using low-code are both functional and aligned with business values.
Low-code Features and Advantages
Low-code application development platforms streamline and simplify every phase of the application lifecycle.
These platforms make development approachable for those without a technical background, offering tools that expedite the creation process.
Visual Modelling
The drag-and-drop feature paired with a user-friendly visual UI not only boosts the efficiency of seasoned developers but also empowers amateur creators to construct various applications. The model-driven approach provides a real-time visual representation of the app’s functionality during its creation, all culminating in a seamless one-click deployment process.
Advantages:
- Leverage in-house expertise for quicker app creation and deployment.
- Enable non-IT departments to actively engage in the development process.
- Create diverse solutions without excessive expenses.
- Enhance teamwork and informed choices across interdisciplinary groups.
- Allow expert developers to focus on more intricate and expansive projects.
Reusable Components
Construct apps for multiple platforms using ready-made modules, logic, templates, connectors, and beyond. Expert developers have the flexibility to tailor and expand components within a low-code app environment.
Advantages:
- Accelerate the development process efficiently.
- Utilise pre-validated components that ensure performance and security.
- Construct apps that maintain consistency and can scale effortlessly.
- Easily enhance app functionalities as required.
Collaboration Tools
Collaborate seamlessly using integrated tools for feedback cycles, version history, user narratives, communication, and beyond. The visual essence of low-code ensures a unified development language for all involved.
Advantages:
- Bridge the gap between business and IT for a more cohesive partnership.
- Enhance intra-organisational communication.
- Simplify the development process and minimise iterations.
Scalable Environments
Launch new applications and refine existing ones swiftly in response to evolving customer expectations and business requirements. Leveraging a cloud-driven low-code platform ensures adaptability, seamless continuous delivery, and on-the-fly scalability during both development and runtime.
Advantages:
- Design scalable solutions effortlessly on cloud-centric frameworks.
- Enable swift adaptations as situations demand.
- Offer constant enhancements to users through captivating web, mobile, chat-based, or immersive interactions.
- Ensure your organisation remains nimble amidst unforeseen challenges.
Data Integration
Integrate data and logic from any origin, system, or service securely, encompassing even your foundational legacy systems. Construct apps utilising ready-made APIs and connectors, or provide your expert developers the autonomy to create bespoke integrations.
Advantages:
- Free up over 50% of your developers’ valuable time.
- Design and oversee systems on a grander scale.
- Simplify data discovery and sharing among projects and teams.
- Accelerate the creation of reusable components and microservices, all with easy access to organisational data.
Application Lifecycle Management
Low-code encompasses every stage of the app development process, offering tools that enhance project oversight, requirements handling, version tracking, testing, deployment, and beyond. Comprehensive low-code platforms seamlessly blend Agile development methodologies with DevOps instruments.
Advantages:
- Fluidly transition apps through every lifecycle stage, from brainstorming and development to testing, deployment, and management.
- Speed up all stages with swift delivery, harnessing the power of automation and simplification.
- Empower your teams to operate in a cyclic and independent manner.
Low-Code vs. Traditional Development
| No-code development | High-code development |
|---|---|
No-code development is perfectly suited for individuals without coding expertise. Using this approach, you can craft simple apps with a specific focus, bypassing the need for IT intervention. | High-code, often referred to as traditional development, requires hands-on coding across diverse languages and technologies. While it allows for crafting any solution, it demands a significant dependence on expert developer expertise. |
Characteristics of No-Code
| Characteristics of High-Code
|
Low-code development merges the strengths of both approaches, offering a unified platform where both tech novices and seasoned developers can harness their abilities, work together, and jointly craft solutions.
Who Can Develop Using Low-Code?
Featuring distinct integrated development environments (IDEs) tailored for both business enthusiasts and seasoned developers, low-code empowers anyone with a vision to address contemporary business hurdles.us
| Professional Developers | Business (“Citizen”) Developers |
|---|---|
Low-code offers developers a specialised integrated development environment (IDE) complemented by a comprehensive set of tools designed for client-side, server-side, and integrative development. Using low-code, seasoned developers have the capability to enhance applications with bespoke coding, amalgamate data from diverse sources, construct mobile applications, utilise microservices, and transform business requirements into tailored solutions. | Instead of relying on IT, non-technical business enthusiasts can harness low-code’s user-friendly development setting to craft their applications. Through governance, the emergence of unsanctioned IT is minimised, enabling any user to create rudimentary apps. Simultaneously, IT retains oversight and command over the organisation’s application ecosystem. |
How To Choose A Low-Code Platform?
With over 200 vendors offering low-code development platforms, how do you pinpoint the right choice for your needs?
While the core criterion for your low-code platform is its capability to cater to the escalating demand for software solutions, the nuances are equally crucial.
Each low-code platform comes with its distinct features. Use the following assessment criteria to guide your selection process:
Collaborative Development Environments
For a truly inclusive application creation process that involves your whole team, ensure the platform you choose provides distinct IDEs tailored for both seasoned developers and everyday users.
Such a platform should incorporate tools that foster immediate collaboration between the business and IT sectors during the entirety of the application’s lifespan.
Key Considerations
- What mechanisms are in place for business stakeholders to offer continuous feedback during development to reduce modifications?
- How do various developers collaborate on a singular project?
- How is the transition of tasks managed between expert and amateur developers?
- What strategies are employed to address discrepancies arising from the contributions of different developers?
Data Connectivity
In the sprawling landscape of organisational data distributed among different teams, the chosen platform should be adept at forging connections with any system or data reservoir.
Your low-code solution ought to simplify the process for developers to locate, comprehend, and employ data from any in-house or external origin, all while ensuring the utmost data protection.
Key Considerations
- Does the platform offer ready-made connectivity options to external data sources and services?
- How robust are the data integration security measures?
- Is the approach to data usage conducive to constructing a solution based on microservices? In what ways?
Application Lifecycle Management
The chosen low-code platform should seamlessly combine tools and services that offer consistent support across the entire application development journey — spanning from conceptualisation and requirement collection to deployment and performance oversight.
Such comprehensive support eradicates conventional hindrances, expenses, and uncertainties tied to app rollout. Simultaneously, it amplifies quality and cultivates a superior development milieu for every participant in the process.
Key Considerations
- How does the platform facilitate developers throughout the journey from app brainstorming to deployment within the confines of the IDE?
- How are version management, source oversight, and consistency verification addressed by the platform?
- Is there a provision for incorporating testing and quality automation within the app delivery processes?
- What mechanisms does the platform have in place to bolster DevOps?
User Experience Considerations
Modern end-users anticipate smooth, seamless interactions across their multitude of devices.
The ideal low-code platform should facilitate both developmental and operational backing for web, mobile, immersive, and chat-based interfaces, aiming to maximise the user experience (UX).
Key Considerations
- What level of assistance does the platform offer for native mobile applications, progressive web apps (PWAs), and responsive web applications?
- How straightforward is it for developers to incorporate another user experience layer to an already existing application?
- When a use case necessitates the deployment of multiple modalities, how much component reuse is feasible?
Efficiency and Productivity
For accommodating developers across the spectrum of expertise, the platform ought to feature a no-code IDE equipped with drag-and-drop functionalities, reusable elements, and instantaneous collaboration tools. This ensures amplified productivity for non-technical developers.
Additionally, the platform should boast an advanced low-code IDE with adaptable integration and expansion capabilities. The inclusion of ready-to-use DevOps tools should be present to expedite the creation of intricate applications and systems by professional developers.
Key Considerations
- How is the platform aligned with recognised industry interfaces and protocols, such as REST, JDBC, and OData?
- Does the platform maintain an open architecture, permitting extensibility with custom coding and APIs?
- How can developers on the platform construct, disseminate, and establish a company-wide repository of reusable components?
- Does the platform ensure end-to-end delivery even for budding developers?
- What features does the platform present in relation to workflow automation and data assimilation?
Cloud Compatibility
The optimal low-code platform should champion the scalable creation of cloud-native applications. Moreover, it should offer flexibility in deployment choices, be it on public, private, hybrid clouds, or even on-site.
Key Considerations
- How does the platform ensure optimal uptime, especially for mission-essential operations?
- In the event of shifting business requirements, how effortless is the transition of applications between different clouds?
- What provisions are in place to scale applications based on fluctuating data volumes and usage patterns?
- What mechanisms does the platform utilise to guarantee application security?
Know the Supported Use Cases
Consider the nature of the applications you aim to produce. For basic tasks such as constructing straightforward productivity apps or web forms, no-code functionalities should suffice. However, if your ambitions lean towards deploying crucial applications, overhauling central systems, or presenting intricate user interfaces, it’s prudent to gravitate towards a robust, enterprise-level low-code platform.
Understand the Low-Code Vendor’s Future Vision and Roadmap
What future aspirations does the low-code vendor hold for their platform? It’s advisable to collaborate with a vendor whose strategy is heavily anchored in customer needs and the forthcoming evolution of the platform. Ensure they boast a comprehensive ecosystem, encompassing delivery allies, developer communities, market hubs, and educational assets.
The Future of Low-Code
From individual departments to entire corporations, low-code is reshaping how global organisations tackle business challenges.
Advance your digital initiatives by rapidly creating and innovating solutions that yield unparalleled business advantages.
70% |
By 2025, 70% of apps will be built using no-code/low-code technology – Gartner |
70% |
Organisations with citizen developers score 33% higher on innovation measures – McKinsey & Company |
50%+ |
Low-code platforms can reduce development time by 50% to 90% – 541Research |
60% |
60% of apps are now built outside of the IT department – TechRepublic |
30% |
33% of organisations plan to use no-code/low-code to build better digital customer experiences – Mendix |
Low-code stands as the next frontier in application development—its acclaim speaks volumes.
Summary
In this guide, we looked into the transformative potential of low-code platforms. We covered foundational principles to practical benefits, and underscored how businesses can accelerate application development and foster innovation using low-code.
Ready to harness the power of low-code development? Let Velocity guide you through every step of your journey. Our expertise ensures you maximise the benefits of low-code, driving innovation faster than ever before. Start your transformative journey with Velocity today!
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