In brief
- The term “low-code” was coined by Forrester in 2014 to describe platforms that focused on simplifying the use of development platforms. Coding is minimized, and all three critical components for an application — UI, business logic and the database — are provided as part of one tool
- Low-code/no-code is between six and ten times faster to market. It helps you realize your cloud strategy and a quicker return on investment. It also allows companies to scale up their workforce because the time taken to train employees in low-code/no-code is much less than for traditional technologies like Java
- Constraints to keep in mind while choosing a low-code platform include: the customization for developing the user stories should be as low as possible, think about user stories that need very complex UX/UI (use react.js or similar), and consider the requirements of use cases like real-time, heavy-transaction volumes (e.g., liquidity applications) — real-time reporting is better here
Application development started long ago, and in its early stages, a huge amount of code was needed to achieve even simple computations and output. Over time, new languages optimized the lines of code, reducing the time needed to deploy the code in production.
The increasing use of software in almost every sphere of life and business introduced diverse needs and complexity to the application. In turn, multiple applications, diverse platforms and different architectures spread across every large organization.
The architectural landscape of a large modern organization comprises two types of applications.
First, those with high-code or custom-built applications that use coding languages. This category subdivides into multiple technology stacks, such as Java, .NET, Python, multiple databases, middleware, front end, etc. Second, applications built for specific functions — trading, treasury, CRM, core banking, policy claims and so on.
Applications can be hosted and configured in various ways. Software as a service (SaaS) applications are products built for specific functions. But increasing complexity, faster-changing external conditions and the ability of organizations to adapt raised some key issues, including:
- Total cost of ownership (TCO) for the life of the application
- The additional cost per change introduced by adding a new technology stack
- The time taken and cost of introducing changes to the stack to respond to changing market conditions
- The availability of and ability to acquire the necessary skills to maintain the stack
These and other factors triggered a shift in how applications can be built. They increased productivity and resolved the skill shortage by ensuring a rapid ramp-up time for new team members to develop the required knowledge. They also led organizations to consider maximizing the reuse of standard components and simplifying the architectural landscape. This is where the low-code/no-code application development approach comes in.
A study that assessed the state of low-code in five countries (France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and the United States) found that the technology’s rise has been so swift that low-code was set to overtake traditional software coding in 2023.
Analysts at Gartner, Forrester and the like concluded that:
- By 2024, developers outside of formal IT departments will account for at least 80% of the user base for low-code technology/tools, up from 60% in 2021
- By 2024, hyper-automation functionality will be the dominant competitive differentiator among low-code development tools
- By 2027, at least 50% of low-code technology investments will be directed at supporting packaged business capabilities (PBCs), up from 5% in 2021
- By 2025, 70% of business applications will be built on low-code or no-code technology. In 2020, this percentage was only 25%
- According to Gartner, the market for low-code will boom, climbing from today’s $14 billion to $30 billion in 2025
Low-code is rapidly becoming one of the most important and fastest-emerging tools in the CTO/CIO arsenal to facilitate business transformation across the organization.
So, what is low-code/no-code?
The term “low-code” was coined by Forrester in 2014 to describe platforms that focused on simplifying the use of development platforms. Soon after, “no-code” emerged as developers and software vendors continued to simplify these platforms to the extent that no coding was involved in any aspect of development whatsoever.
In simple terms, it’s an application development method where coding is minimized. UI, business logic and the database (three key components of an application) are provided as part of one tool. A good low-code tool may have the following features:
- Visual drag and drop ability to create the UI
- Drag and drop to create full navigation
- Visualize the workflow
- Easily configurable business logic
- Automated creation of tables according to the UI/UX
- Built-in integrations/connectors to speed up integration
- Most enterprise low-code tools support business activity monitoring (BAM)
- Open to host in-cloud/on-premises, most of the low-code tools are now on cloud, which makes cloud adaptation much easier
- Several tools have integrated robotic process automation (RPA) and process mining tools
- Set of built-in functions to facilitate and build applications faster, e.g., email bots or intelligent document processing
An application example
An organization distributes work manually via Outlook emails, leading to much manual effort and difficulty tracking task completion. To solve this problem, the email bot of a low-code tool (Pega) can be used to read emails automatically and create a case, using AI to choose the right person and assign the task before the SLA is configured to track completion. The entire application can be up and running in days or weeks instead of months, as the main task is configuration, not starting from scratch.
A little history of low-code/no-code
Low-code/no-code development originated in the 1980s-1990s. Many solutions and platforms were presented to programmers as a method of simplifying the development process, most of which used the first rapid application development (RAD) tools and computer-assisted software engineering (CASE) tools.
However, until recently, none of them caught on due to one major hurdle. Although they simplified much of the development process and created a more user-friendly development environment, extensive coding was still needed to make applications, and simple updates required a lot of manual work.
Around 2010, low-code platforms changed the way they intended to simplify development. Rather than trying to eliminate the user’s exposure to code within application development, low-code platforms aimed to be self-contained environments with extensive drag-and-drop capabilities, while the platform automatically generated the necessary code.
They created a development environment where professional developers could complete tasks much faster, and even non-professionals (citizen developers) could create applications with little or no coding ability. As low-code platforms continued enhancing their user-friendliness and code-free abilities, no-code platforms — created exclusively for citizen development — soon became popular.
Low-code and no-code platforms are evolving in parallel. Low-code platforms are improving their citizen development usability and making no-code development possible, while no-code platforms are extending application complexity. As a result, many industry experts predict that low-code and no-code platforms will merge into a single market, comprising platforms capable of both low-code and no-code development for both professional and citizen developers.
Applications we can build using low-code/no-code
Most tools cater to BPM/workflow/CRM. And web application/mobile app development has taken to the low-code concept in a big way. The table (below) highlights major areas where low-code/no-code is being used in organizations (according to priority).
Low-code/no-code is often used interchangeably, and the same tool is usually capable of a set of development tasks via no-code, with only a few functionalities needing low-code.
Key differences between low-code and no-code
Why organizations should consider low-code/no-code
- It’s 6-10x faster to market — different analyses for low-code/no-code products come up with different efficiency levels based on the tool used. The fast-changing economy and market conditions demand that organizations adapt rapidly and roll out products to grow and defend market share against new competition, so this is a valuable approach
- Delivers a faster return on investment
- Allows an organization to scale its workforce — the time taken to train people in low-code /no-code is much faster than for traditional technologies like Java
- Helps achieve your cloud strategy
Is low-code/no-code the holy grail?
No, but it can definitely resolve many of the current challenges business and IT are facing. Key constraints to keep in mind while choosing a low-code platform include:
- The level of customization required for developing user stories should be as low as possible because heavy customization defeats the purpose of low-code software
- User stories that need very complex UX/UI (consider using react.js or similar)
- Use cases like real-time heavy transaction volumes (e.g., liquidity applications). Real-time reporting is better here
Over the last 2 years, customer priorities for low-code have changed. The following chart shows the impact based on customer surveys:
Now, what low-code and no-code tools are available? How do you choose the right one?
Businesses need to adjust to rapidly changing market conditions, and the application development lifecycle must be sped up to weeks instead of years.
So, how do you pick the right tool for an organization or department? The simplest way is to contact Zoreza Global’s Intelligent Automation practice.
Find out more
To learn more about how low-code/no-code could speed up your application development lifecycle, visit our website or contact us.
Mihir Chandra
Mihir has 24+ years of IT industry experience working in the United States, UK, India and Singapore with 15+ years of automation, workflow and low-code/no-code technologies like Pega, Appian and more. He has worked in consulting, product development and global banks. Mihir currently leads the Asia and ME Intelligent Automation practice along with the Delivery of Intelligent Automation Practice based out of Singapore. Having grown Pega and Appian, his focus is now on developing new areas of automation like low-code/no-code.
