Technology has become a critical mean to transform your business and differentiate yourself in a competitive global environment. Today, companies face many challenges in being able to really take advantage and agility and flexibility are much required when addressing any problem and, of course, in the development of software solutions. With a market that is changing more and more quickly, speed is a key factor. For this reason, agile methodologies have become so relevant in this stage of digital transformation. In this area, low-code development platforms are very useful because they allow companies to get the applications they need quickly so businesses can adapt to the new market conditions in a straightforward manner
Organizations usually have a high volume of both projects and systems to use and maintain. Thanks to low-code technology, programming culture is expanding to the masses via a concept called low-code programming, which facilitate the building of applications and increase operational efficiency.
What are the benefits of Low-Code platforms for businesses?
They provide an integrated development environment to build applications. If the code is smaller, adapting to the changes will be easier more agile and will involve less costs. By simplifying application development, IT staff can focus less on productivity and creativity and more on technical details less constrain productivity and on improving the product. Because there is little code to maintain, maintenance times will also be reduced.
There are so many ways that low-code app development can help business users. That is why the demand for low-code platforms has increased recently. Here we have listed a few ways that using a low-code platform can be a major benefit for your business.
Efficiency
By using low-code tools, you will be able to make updates to apps as required in a matter of minutes or hours. Less coding means quicker implementation and less IT time spent on app-building efforts. As IT demands increase, more and more staff are looking for solutions and they will need to make needed changes faster and fulfill request efficiently. Low-code platforms could be the answer to suit personalized needs in the shorter time possible.
More productivity
The customization aspect of low-code development tools leads to more productivity. Because more apps can be built in less time, a project that could originally take months can be done in few days. In some cases, the task may get completed in a couple of hours or even in less time. Low-code development also allows your organization to work with more precision. If everybody in your company focus on the most relevant aspects, you will see an increase in productivity. You could also expect lower IT costs.
Reduced costs
The ability to build more apps in less time means that your IT team can focus on other tasks, instead of spending valuable time and resources on projects that may not be the most important for your- business. Ultimately, building apps faster can results in decreased IT costs and better allocation of resources. Low-code development also reduces the need for hiring more IT staff. You will save money all around, not just in the IT area.
Improved customer and shareholder experience
Using low-code platforms will not only boost efficiency of your app development processes but I will also benefit your employees and will increase customers’ satisfaction. Shareholders will also enjoy results from low-code tools due to their convenience and straightforward design. Bear in mind that these platforms have been design to better engage anyone who comes into contact with them because of their agility and easy-to-use design.
Innovation
Making application development simpler means developers will worry less about technical details, and will focus more on other aspects such as functionality, usability, or design, which are ultimately the factors that provide value.
Moreover, the fact that teams from other departments can be involved in the software generation improves the transmission of knowledge and the exchange of ideas throughout the organization.
Democratization of technology
Businesses have reported an increased need for IT staff. By working with low-code tools, you don’t longer need a team with coding skills; low-code technology is easy to use and accessible to team members outside of the IT department. They also bridge the tech divide to democratize and accelerate innovation. The latest techniques offered by low-code platforms empower business users to build on solutions that boost their efficiency and productivity.
Lower maintenance burden
Low-code development reduces the hinder of software maintenance because components are standardized, pre-tested and ready-made and there are fewer bugs and integration issues to deal with than in the past. By spending less time on maintenance, developers can focus on innovative work that drives greater business value.
Keep control of information
All the data generated by the application is centralized in the same database system, which gives you a complete data control. This is also how low code facilitates data analysis and processing.
Adaptations are easier
Low-code development makes updating and changing apps simpler and easier. When there is no need for complex coding, you will have more access to immediate changes. This flexibility is not provided by platforms that require complex code. The adaptable nature of low-code tools is what make them so likely and popular. Your business will be able to meet the changing needs of your customers and the industry demands as fast as possible.
Flexibility to create applications
Flexibility is a great factor that all companies should promote to be able to react to the needs of a world that is highly digitized and in continuous evolution.
In this context, the traditional programming model is not able to react fast to the needs of organizations, and that is the reason why many companies are adopting low-code programming models. This technology reduce software development, maintenance and update times, and provide an effective integration with other platforms and software.
Traditional development vs. low code
Traditional and low-code-based software development are different approaches to code usage. While the traditional model considers the use of programming languages as the main characteristic, low-code development tries to minimize such use as much as possible by providing elements and functionalities that are easily integrated with each other.
Traditional development
In this type of software development, direct use is made of programming languages (Java, C ++, Python, JavaScript, PHP, etc.) to create diverse types of software solutions and applications.
Traditional software development involves the use of, at least, one code editor, such as Visual Studio Code or Atom, for example. For larger projects, businesses usually add plugins or to opt for an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) such as Eclipse, NetBeans or Microsoft Visual Studio.
Traditional development are used for:
Open-ended solutions
Some business problems require open-ended thinking. Since these problems have an unstructured process of resolution, it can be difficult to build an app without a predetermined structure.
For applications requiring high level of specialized interactivity
Some applications need a high level of specialized interactivity. Though low code platforms can create highly efficient applications, they do not provide the freedom and flexibility that traditional development provides when building apps. Traditional development platforms provide an infinite number of possibilities and functionalities.
Low-code development
Low-code development is achieved using specific platforms that enables this type of development, which are software that provides the required functionalities to create applications with little need for code. These platforms enable the creation of applications with minimal use of programming languages by using drag and drop interfaces and configuration panels. They associate business logic with the different elements in a visual, declarative and intuitive way. Low-code platforms offer a degree of customization and capabilities lower than traditional development, nevertheless, they cover almost any scenario of an organization’s needs, and with more than notable savings in time and costs.
Implementation stages
Regardless of whether we are dealing with a small or large project, there will be six stages of Low-code development:
Approach
This is the first step where you should determine the process’s objectives. All the aspects related need to be established at this stage including functionality, data to be used or stored, users involved, interaction points, automation, etc.
Choice of fields
These will be the foundation to ensure the application performs have the desired functions. At this state, values for the application need to be defined and created.
Logic
The conditions, loops and assignments are implemented in this phase. These factors are necessary for the application to perform as we expect it.
Interfaces
The conditions, loops, assignments are implemented in this phase. These factors are necessary for the application to perform as we want it.
Execution
The launch of the application will give us a real vision of its operation, and we will quickly see what improvements are required.
Monitoring
The execution itself will generate data that we can use to carry out analysis, generally regarding time and performance. The analysis of this information will provide us the insights to optimize the applications.
The continuous challenges currently faced by all organizations, require them to have adequate technological resources to adapt to the new market needs. Low-code technologies have been created to facilitate and democratize application development, ease integration and scalability and help businesses to advance faster in their digital transformation projects.
