5 Reasons to Move to Low-Code Solutions

1. Increase Your Agility

The world changes fast and you need to find ways to keep pace or even get ahead of the curve.

One of the greatest benefits of no-code/low-code is the ability to create and deploy innovative solutions quickly. It’s hard to beat the speed of no-code/low-code for creating apps, processes, or data integrations.  

A user can literally build something on their own to make their job easier, rather than requesting a solution from IT. Solutions teams can build fairly complex apps and solutions without worrying about all of the foundational underpinning required in traditional software solutions.  

In addition, no-code/low-code options are typically delivered in a managed cloud environment that reduces the need for your team to plan, procure, and manage infrastructure. All of this means you can have a functional prototype in the hands of a user much faster than with traditional dev, which means you get feedback faster, which means you adjust faster, which means you get to working app faster. This is an edge you can use to re-position and shift to meet the fast pace of changing market demands.

2. Save Money

Software solutions are more prevalent than ever. There are more of them, and they are an ever-bigger part of organizational budgets, amplifying the money that can be saved by the cost effectiveness of no-code/low-code options.

Every organization is using some form of technology to get things done. Whether it's a line of business (LOB) app, customer relationship management (CRM), communication platforms (Intranets, Email, Chat), it's everywhere.  

It makes sense that solutions like these (along with the related integrations and processes that makes them all work together) are an ever-growing portion of organizational budgets. The growth in these budgets has created a natural opportunity for something more cost effective.  

No-code/low-code can provide a variety of ways that you can save money. For example, rather than hiring an external dev shop to build something under a cap-ex line item, you can use internal resources. You might have some monthly license fees, so you can use your cloud-based solution, but that could be a good trade-off. You’re also getting a big head start if you use no code/low code to build your apps.  

Like anything, there will be trade-offs, but click and drag is way easier to build an app that uses relational data versus the hours and days it takes to write code to do the same thing. The opportunity to displace traditional solutions with rapid app dev (RAD) is quite possibly the primary reason no-code/low-code has gained in popularity.

3. Gain a Competitive Advantage

Consumers and producers have never been more easily connected. You should be doing things that differentiate and set your business apart from everyone else.

I would never assert that the old ways of doing business, like word of mouth, handshakes, and relationships do not work anymore. In fact, these are still keys to the success of any organization, internally and externally. That said, the modern workplace is a much different place today than even ten years ago.  

The reality is that people need connection. We were built for it, and to that end, we still need the connection created by personal relationships or a handshake deal. In today’s workplace we should be looking for ways to facilitate relational engagement, using the tools of the modern world, in order to produce positive outcomes.  

Digital interfaces have become ubiquitous in our modern interactions, so we should be thinking about how we communicate and interact with our employees, customers, and vendors. There are so many opportunities here to stand out in the market with better employee engagement and better customer experience.  

It used to be that you had to hire an expert firm to build your vision of better engagement or experience. Now, no-code/low-code options put this capability at your fingertips.

4. Reduce the Risk Inherent in Creating Software Solutions

Anytime we build tech or software solutions there will be risks that you need to mitigate.

Any software solution will have risks you have to deal with. Did you capture all the use cases? Do the developers really understand the requirements defined by the product manager? Did anybody validate connectivity with the vendor’s service endpoints? Does our test data account for all scenarios? Will the end users accept the new solution? How do we stop scope creep cost overrun? The list goes on.  

The beauty of no-code/low-code is the variety of ways you can use it to mitigate risk. If you’re worried about being aligned on the requirements or outcomes, even if you plan to build with traditional dev, you can use no-code/low-code to quickly create a functional, or even just clickable prototype. This allows you to quickly get a minimum viable product (MVP) into the hands of end users to start getting feedback.

I recommend that you review and research templates and built-in connectors in the tools so you have the knowledge you need up front to get confidence you can integrate with other tools or data. The ways you can leverage the no-code/low-code platforms and communities to avoid the icebergs is almost unlimited.  

5. Give Yourself More Options

The talent and resources needed to build software solutions are more in demand now than ever. You need options. No-code/low-code can give you just that.

So many of the underlying principles of software development are built into the platform (things like relational data design, logic and functions). Think of them as being “native” to no-code/low-code. This means you might not necessarily need a team of programmers (typically expensive resources) to get your project completed.  

Another key feature of no-code/low-code is that it insulates citizen developers from the need to understand computer science fundamentals. Of course, having this knowledge can still be useful, and make building solutions even more efficient, but it's no longer a blocker to making something great. This unlocks some potential to build from within your organization and create/promote new innovators. It also means your organization has more flexibility to create business apps because the talent pool just got bigger.

Conclusion

Now that you have some high-level awareness about no-code/low-code, you have five new things to think about as you consider ways to move your organization forward with technology. I hope you can apply these and create great outcomes for employees, customers, and the bottom line. Make work great!

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