Secret to great apps: Low-Code application development

When a manufacturer looks to hire employees for their warehouse, they want staff who can receive shipments and manage inventory; an inventory specialist who also can fulfill orders; and order fulfillment personnel who can also receive shipments when needed. You might wonder why? This kind of versatility and teamwork fosters a strong sense of togetherness and fulfillment since the team members contribute their unique skills to achieve a common goal. Moreover, the warehouse can better manage unexpected circumstances, such as a sudden spike in customer orders or shipping delays. 

For most organizations, the situation is similar. With the recent crises of the Covid-19 pandemic, which ravaged globally, geo-political tensions, looming recession, and lay-offs, it is the role-flexibility criteria that help enterprises become resilient to handle such unexpected macroeconomic fluctuations. This blog will explore how low-code app development enables role flexibility and agility and supports businesses. 

Why low-code? 

On a similar note, consider if only your IT team had the ability to use computers. Then imagine the extent of difficulty that your business would endure. Correspondingly, if you still need to incorporate low-code software in your development approach, then this is the precise kind of limitation you are facing. Yet most companies are blissfully oblivious to it. Low-code app development is a new approach that revolutionizes how businesses create apps. Let us discover why it is becoming the secret to building great apps. 

Gartner predicts that by 2024, no-code, low-code application platforms will be responsible for 65 percent of all app development. This research indicates that most of the apps created in 2024 will be developed using platforms and tech that enable tremendous speed and agility. It also claims that no-code low-code is the way of mobility in the future. This is due to the platforms’ unmatched ability to meet the demand for application development. 

How does low-code help? 

Low-code app development platforms offer a variety of techniques to assist businesses or non-programmers in creating unique cloud-based applications. The visual development environment offered by platforms enables a variety of techniques, such as drag-and-dropping of various components, to design the program efficiently. Using low code, businesses can rapidly and efficiently increase the supply of new apps to match the demand. On the other hand, it empowers citizen developers to create custom professional apps tailored to business needs. This democratization of app development relieves developers from an enormous pile of tasks towering upon them and allows citizen developers/other employees to build and customize apps.  

The time factor 

That apart, without low-code, the app development cycle will be unnecessarily prolonged. Even the best team of developers can only build a limited number of apps in a month from scratch because the process is challenging. When incorporating low-code with its pre-configured app components, simple business logic, professional developers and citizen developers can build new business apps within hours. Such are the advantages of low-code that the potential for digitalization and growth in such a rapidly changing environment of new solutions remains unmatched. 

Benefits of low-code app development

Lode code platforms provide a cascade of benefits that help businesses maximize their workplace efficiencies immensely without sacrificing usability. 

Faster development

Low-code development platforms are excellent at speeding up the release of applications. It does not take as long as traditional hand coding, whether the coder is a seasoned developer or a novice. Low-code application development is simpler for seasoned engineers, and there are hardly any issues to fix. For laypeople, creating the application is as easy as dragging and dropping the necessary modules. 

Moreover, with low-code, using APIs and turning the lines of code into reusable building blocks is feasible, which helps accelerate the app development process further. As a result, every business can keep up the pace according to the market or customer demands. 

Save money

It is known that skilled developers are in high demand and receive a commensurately high salary. However, in numerous projects, their abilities are unutilized. In fact, a citizen developer can achieve the same results with a low-code platform. Using the pre-built components, templates, workflows, and drag-and-drop interfaces, a typical business user can achieve good results and thus reduce app development costs. 

Productivity goes high

Keeping up with the pace is a significant requirement when the world is changing rapidly, and consumer demands are increasingly personalized. But with a low-code platform, developing apps is a much faster process. Citizen developers can build their applications without much help from developers. The technical team can also help them out whenever required. As a result, the low-code platform not only connects the departments and bridges the gap between business and tech-team, but also boosts up productivity. 

Reduces Shadow IT

Business users commonly approach their IT departments with requests for tools and applications. However, due to the IT department’s backlog of requests, these users often resort to third-party solutions to fulfill their needs. The challenge with relying on such solutions lies in the fact that they lack verification by the internal IT department of the company, thereby failing to adhere to the company’s security protocols and guidelines. Entrusting sensitive data to such solutions can lead to catastrophic consequences. Adopting a low-code application development platform can significantly minimize the risk of compromising sensitive data. 

Maintenance is easier

Traditional applications are typically characterized by lengthy maintenance and upgrading processes, where developers have to manually address the bugs and implement new features. However, low-code application development substantially mitigates this issue due to the high degree of compatibility among pre-tested modules available on low-code platforms. As a result, the risk of encountering bugs is significantly reduced, and the addition of new features can be executed without compatibility with concerns. 

Easier collaboration

Collaboration is much easier as low-code platforms provide collaboration tools, which bridge the gap between teams and make it simpler for teams to work together on projects. Many of these tools include version control, commenting features, and real-time collaboration.  

Greater flexibility

Low-code platforms are very much configurable. This allows easy modification of the apps. Since the platforms allow developers to create apps that can be easily customized, it enhances the flexibility of the app. This feature makes it easier to adapt to changing business needs agilely. 

Faster time-to-market

The time that a product/app takes to move from the initial idea to the final completed product is the time-to-market. According to research, new market entrants have clear advantages in market share, revenue, and sales growth, making time-to-market a crucial product development metric and a top priority for business leaders. Whereas traditional app development for an existing business can take quite a long time, depending on business needs, this method is limited to skilled coding teams. On the contrary, low-code development is inclusive, allowing business users from various departments to participate in the development and design of their apps. This approach helps avoid common app development pitfalls that arise from the separation between the IT department and the rest of the business. Using low-code significantly reduces time-to-market, the complete timeline from conception to deployment from many months to just a few weeks. 

Low-code platforms help companies bring their products to market faster by enabling faster development and reducing the time needed for quality assurance and testing. 

How can we help? 

Evidently, the secret to great app development is definitely the low-code way. A very inclusive approach to app development, with multiple benefits and enabling the delivery of high-quality apps- low-code is the way to go! Are you looking for a technology partner to start with low-code app development? Check out Saxon’s services. Get in touch to start your journey of great app development.