No code / low code: why you should pay attention

We have all recently heard the hype about low-code and no-code platforms. The promise of no-code platforms is that it will make software development just as easy as using Word or PowerPoint, allowing the average business user to pursue projects without the extra cost (in money and time) of an engineering team. Unlike no-code platforms, low-code platforms still require coding skills, but promise to accelerate software development by letting developers work with pre-written code components.

According to Gartner, 65% of application development will have low code by 2024.

In 2017, I was conducting an early comparative productivity test between traditional development (using Java) and a model-driven low-code / no-code development project. The results were impressive: 5X to 7X productivity improvement with low-code / no-code development. A survey by the No-Code Census in 2020 showed a 4.6X productivity increase over traditional programming.

Low code / no code: a fragmented market

The low-code / no-code landscape is complex, with numerous solutions, platforms and submarkets. For example, there are sub-markets that target large enterprises, medium-sized enterprises and small enterprises. Enterprise low-code / no-code platforms provide high scalability, performance, security and integration with enterprise applications. They tend to be more expensive. Here’s Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for businesses with low code platforms:

Gartner defines a low-code application platform (LCAP) as an application platform that supports rapid application development, one-step implementation, execution, and management using explanatory, high-level programming abstractions, such as model-driven and metadata-based programming languages. ”

G2 provides a similar landscape overview for small businesses. There is not much of a cross between the small businesses and the low-code platforms for businesses. Some of the retail platform vendors will not be known or recognized in businesses. Similarly, small and medium-sized enterprises are not usually inclined to acquire enterprise platforms – mainly because of their pricing and complexity.

It is not surprising that many low-code platforms are business process management platforms. BPM has long supported model-driven development (MDD) – where you first draw how software should work before building it. This diagram is similar to the BPM process map approach, where, in order to specify a business process, you drag and drop shapes that represent sub-processes in the correct order. (The most popular process mapping standard supported by most BPM platforms is BPMN.) Low-code process-centric solutions are therefore very popular. Examples of BPM low-code / no-code platforms include Appian, Pega and Outsystems. (Disclosure: I previously worked as Director of BPM Technology at Pega.)

But there are other paradigms under the low code / no code umbrella:

Website low-code / no-code platforms: Businesses of all sizes can take advantage of these platforms. The leading contestants are WordPress, Wix, Squarespace and WebFlow.

Database management low-code / no-code platforms: On the high side (enterprise) you have platforms like Mendix. At the bottom you have Airtable. There are also NoSQL database low-code / no-code platforms like KgBase for knowledge graphs.

Automatic integration low-code / no-code platforms: There are several exciting and emerging platforms in this domain: Zapier, Parabola and Integromat are in this category. You can develop powerful and complex integration flows relatively quickly through these tools. Here’s an example of a Parabola workflow that comes from an API, performs data manipulations, and sends it to another API. The automated workflow can be performed on demand, scheduled or via a webhook.

Development of mobile applications: Most low-code / no-code platforms, such as Bubble, offer responsive UI capability for mobile applications. Others offer native support for the leading mobile operating systems (iOS and Android). Thunkable is perhaps the best example for low-code / no-code development of mobile applications.

Many of these platforms offer rich collections of plug-ins and templates for certain types of applications.

Other categories of low-code / no-code platforms target specific application areas or niches:

• E-commerce and online stores: A leading example in this category is Shopify.
• Work management: A good example in this category is Monday.com.
• ERP applications: An interesting example here – also in Gartner’s MQ – is Zoho. Another important and effective platform for ERP and CRM is Salesforce.
• Blockchain and IoT: Atra is an example in this category – for blockchain.
• Artificial intelligence: A fascinating area for low-code / no-code is AI, and we are now beginning to see the emergence of tools in this area. An example here is C3 AI Ex Machina.

Low-code / no-code challenges

Low-code / no-code platforms hold many benefits, but they also present some challenges and hold a learning curve. Many best practices are just emerging and are relatively immature. This is a critical liability. With traditional programming, there is an enormous amount of experience, robust communities, and documented best practices. In many ways, low-code / no-code is already in its infancy – even though MDD has been around for a long time: especially with BPM platforms.

Here are some of the key challenges for low-code / no-code:

1. It involves a cultural change: Low-code / no-code requires a change in the culture of an organization, whether the organization is a business or a start-up. Changing the culture of erasing silos is not easy. It requires executive vision and endorsement. It also requires the allocation of budget and empowerment to a low-code / no-code digital transformation skills center.

2. It takes time and effort to learn the platforms: Low-code / no-code increases speed and productivity. But it’s not easy. The tools and platforms are not insignificant, and developing a level of expertise takes time. This is one of the most wrong aspects of low-code / no-code. Complex programming constructions like nested loops are not that easy on any platform.

3. You may need several platforms: Some platforms are more complete than others. Unqork and Bubble, for example, are designed to be used in any use case and therefore offer many options for integration with enterprise systems. However, they can benefit greatly from other components that specialize in specific areas; for example, bubble with for example Parabola or the Zapier plug-in for automatic integration. The manipulation and integration of data in Parabola or Zapier is easier to work with than the original in Bubble. There are other plugins or technology components that complement low code / no code platforms with additional technologies: look for example the technology partnerships for Unqork or the extensive list of plugins for Bubble.

4. Resources and community support are scarce: Many low-code / no-code platforms are relatively immature. There are millions of developers – sometimes tens of millions – for conventional programming languages. Many online courses and books and materials are readily available for languages ​​such as Java or C #. There are several communities and resources for outsourcing. This is a very different scenario for low-code / no-code – especially for the more recent platforms.

5. Prices can be confusing: Business low-code / no-code platforms tend to be unnecessarily expensive. The middle and small market platforms are cheaper, but usually less scalable. The involvement of multiple platforms for an end-to-end solution complicates price issues more.

These are just some of the key challenges facing us. They make it clear that low-code / no-code is no panacea. However, it remains a tremendous trend to develop innovative solutions for current businesses and start-ups.

We can expect to hear more challenges from this space as it continues to mature. And there will be failed projects. But the benefits – especially to accelerate faster development and productivity – will win the day.

Are you ready?

Dr Setrag Khoshafian is a co-founder of Startup Assistant and principal and principal scientist at Khosh Consulting. He was previously VP of BPM Technology at Pega, Senior VP of Technology at Savvion, and CTO of Portfolio Technologies and is a member of the Cognitive World Think Tank on enterprise AI.

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