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A low code development platform provides visual development tools that allow users to build application software through a drag-and-drop interface and configuration instead of hand-coding. It aims to dramatically increase the speed of delivery and significantly lower the barrier to entry. Low code platforms allow both professional developers and non-technical staff like business analysts and domain experts to create digital solutions.
History and Growth of Low Code
Low code platforms emerged to address growing demand for software solutions but limited developer availability. Early adopters were companies looking for ways for non-programmers like administrators, business analysts and citizen developers to build simple data and workflow apps. The concept originated from rapid application development platforms in the 1990s. In the 2010s, new robust platforms enabled sophisticated solutions for enterprise use-cases. According to Gartner, the low-code development platform market is projected to reach $13.8 billion in value by 2023 due to the continued growth of software engineering demand coupled with constraints on developer availability.
Why are Enterprises Choosing Low Code?
There are several factors driving enterprises to choose low code platforms for their digital transformation needs:
Faster Time to Market – Low code drastically reduces the time required to build and deploy new applications from months to days or weeks. This provides businesses a competitive edge to quickly adapt to changing market conditions and customer needs.
Cost Savings – Low code platforms lower development costs due to higher developer productivity and reduced reliance on expensive professional developers. Businesses can reallocate cost savings towards more strategic initiatives.
Democratization of Development – Low code allows any department like HR, sales and marketing other than just engineering to build their own tools. This fosters innovation from across an organization. It also helps address the increasing skills gap of traditional developers.
Increased Demand – Digital transformation is placing unprecedented demand for new software. Low code is seen as a way to scale development capacity and address insatiable demand while managing costs.
Support & Scalability – Major low code vendors offer product support, automatic upgrades and scaling capabilities important for large complex enterprise applications required for long term viability.
Key Elements of a Mature Low Code Platform
For low code to become a viable mainstream enterprise development approach, leading platforms are focusing on:
Visual Modeling: Instead of writing code, developers rely on drag-and-drop visual interfaces to configure applications. Flowcharts, wireframes and templates aid the creation of user experiences and business logic.
Pre-built Components: Reusable UI elements, connectors, workflows etc. save development time by leveraging components out of the box vs building from scratch.
Integration Services: Features to easily integrate with existing systems on premises or cloud like CRM, ERP via open APIs without extensive coding.
Robust Security: Role-based access control, data encryption, audit logs, compliance certifications are key expectations from enterprise-grade low code.
Containerization Support: Packaging applications as microservices or containers enables deployment in virtualized environments as well as scalability and high availability.
Testing & CI/CD: Automated unit testing, debugging, staging environments and CI/CD pipelines provide quality control integral for mission critical apps.
Deployment Choices: Going beyond simple apps, options like PaaS, hybrid/multi-cloud and on-prem deployments support complex environments.
Analytics & ML: Many platforms add data analytics dashboards and embed machine learning models trained using data science tools to gain actionable insights.
Popular Low Code Use Cases Today
Here are a few examples of how various industries are using low code today:
– Banks are using it to build digital lending and wealth management applications. This allows new business lines and personalized experiences.
– Healthcare providers leverage it for clinical workflows, telehealth, and patient engagement apps to optimize costly, manual processes facing digitization imperative.
– Manufacturers build IoT and industrial automation solutions more quickly for predictive maintenance, logistics, and factory optimization using sensors and edge computing.
– Governments deploy it to create citizen service apps, modernize legacy systems and enable productivity tools for agencies and local municipalities.
– Enterprises develop internal tools for HR, finance, project management, and more easily tailored to their processes without extensive coding effort.
The Future of Low Code Development Platform
Looking ahead, as vendors add innovative technologies in their platforms, low code development has the potential to profoundly impact how software gets built. With continued improvements, low code could one day challenge traditional coding for a wide range of use cases. Some envision low code platforms powering:
– Intelligent apps leveraging AI/ML through no-code model deployment and integration of pretrained models.
– Digital process automation using robotic process automation (RPA) and optical character recognition (OCR) for workflow digitization.
– Augmented reality/virtual reality solutions as visual development aids maturity.
– Blockchain integration for decentralized apps leveraging distributed ledgers.
– Serverless architectures packaging functions and server infrastructure setup so code solely focuses on business logic.
In summary, with the growing demand for digital transformation, low code development is poised to reinvent application delivery and help unleash a new wave of innovative software solutions. It could very well democratize development and become the de facto method for a majority of solutions over the next decade.
*Note:
- Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
- We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
Money Singh is a seasoned content writer with over four years of experience in the market research sector. Her expertise spans various industries, including food and beverages, biotechnology, chemical and materials, defense and aerospace, consumer goods, etc.
