What is low code and why is it transforming app development? Of all the lessons to be learned by businesses throughout this pandemic – and there have been many – the greatest might be how to do more with less.
Most businesses are trying to maintain the same level of operations with a lot less. Less revenue. Less staff. Less office space. Less communication. You get the idea.
And yet, at the same time, they are being expected to deliver their internal services to their workforce in new and innovative ways to account for all the changes brought on by the pandemic.
So how can businesses deliver on those expectations and push out the apps their teams are expecting when they are operating with a handicap in terms of dollars and talent available to them?
The answers to that question lie in a simple and easy-to-use technology that is beginning to see a surge in popularity among those delivering innovative apps in a fraction of the time or dollars spent: low-code apps.
According to Gartner, by 2024 low-code app development will be responsible for more than 65% of all app development.
For those who might not yet be aware of the technology, let’s do a quick primer.
What is low-code?
Low-code is a term applied to platforms that allow users to quickly build and deploy their own custom applications with much less coding than the usual development process; often through the act of dragging and dropping various pre-built code snippets or blocks into a custom design of your choice.
Other tasks that are usually required for traditional development, like creating frameworks and linking databases, are not needed when using low-code.
Benefits of low-code apps
So now that we know what it is, let’s talk about a couple of the many benefits of low-code apps.
Quick and simple build
As we outlined above, the process of building apps through low-code methods is immensely easier and simpler than traditional methods. Meaning that you no longer need to dedicate your developers to developing every single app your organization needs. This not only saves time overall but frees up your technically skilled staff for more important needs.
And for businesses that look to keep up with rapidly evolving industry trends and quickly elevating customer expectations, the ability to deliver your services through a new digital app at a moment’s notice is invaluable.
Reduced data risks
Data privacy regulations seem to be changing all the time, and keeping up with them as a business can make your head spin; especially as it pertains to adapting existing apps and procedures to match any regulation changes.
And just as low-code apps are easy to build, they are just as easy to customize after the fact, including the updating of privacy practice/policy changes as required.
Additionally, low-code platforms allow admins to make any needed changes to roles or permissions to limit access to data quickly and easily.
Integrating low-code into your business
So as you look to adapt low-code app development into your business strategy, how do you go about integrating it in a way that will ensure the long-term viability of it as an integral part of your business?
Well, just as with anything new being brought into an organization, it requires a buy-in from the company and the company culture.
Starting small is always your best bet when integrating a new technology.
Roll low-code out with a select few teams to design a few simple applications that can be slowly pushed out to the rest of the company. These are often called long-tail or situational applications.
By doing so, you give your team the chance to not only learn the technology, but also time to learn to trust it and begin looking to it as a technology that will provide them value by saving them time and improving their productivity.
Eventually – with the trust of all of your stakeholders in place – this will put you in a position to increase the complexity and scope of these apps with an eye towards the future.
Low-code in the long-term
Although the democratizing of app development through low-code platforms is a huge advantage – and one that frees up countless hours for your more technically-skilled talent – there are still aspects of it that can often require time from your IT team. For example, applying governance controls to ensure that they adhere to compliance and privacy regulations.
If you do not find a way to streamline things like this, you will find yourself with a bottleneck at your IT team, which leaves you right back at square one.
By adopting company wide best practices, and holding training sessions to reinforce them, you can allow for apps to be built in the optimized fashion you intended when you adopted low-code, all while ensuring regulations are being adhered to.
In addition to implementing best practices, creating a hybrid developer team made up of some traditional app developers and some developers who have specialized in low-code, can be revolutionary as you look towards a future where low-code is essential to your business.
A low-code future
So in a business world that is changing faster than ever, an organization that cannot only identify digital innovation opportunities but act on them quickly, will rise to the top.
And the path to this ability has never been clearer or easier to navigate. Welcome to the low-code future
