Although the term low-code has been around for a few years, it is currently booming on many social media platforms and blogs. Then there is talk of low-code tools or platforms, what different providers there are, or tutorials on how low-code can be used. But what is low-code anyway? What does the term mean, or rather the concept behind it? And what use is it to me and my company? Isn't it rather something for nerds? On the contrary, we'll explain what low-code is and why you'll probably hardly get around it in the next few months, or maybe you've already been using low-code for a long time without knowing it.
As the name suggests, low-code refers to a form of (app) development that aims to use as little code as possible. Instead, users are provided with visual and model-based applications or platforms with the help of which they can quickly and easily develop apps themselves without the need for programming skills. The aim of this technology is to open up development to a wide range of people, but also to speed up and simplify it for experienced programmers.
When we talk about apps in the context of low-code, however, we usually mean a very comprehensive field of tasks, automations and logics, all the way to designs or algorithms.
Your advantages through Low-Code:
However, Low-Code is not primarily aimed at non-programmers, as the first impression might suggest. Rather, Low-Code is intended to relieve experienced programmers of work by making new developments faster and easier. Long installation, training or maintenance periods can also be circumvented by low-code developments. Since IT in particular is an area that is in high demand and therefore particularly affected by the shortage of skilled workers, relieving the workload of employees is a valuable option.
Nevertheless, employees who are technically gifted or enthusiastic also benefit from low-code: Those who proudly show off their own Excel spreadsheets with countless conditions and formatting can certainly cope with low-code platforms. Any software usually allows processes and apps to be plugged and clicked together on a simple interface.
Low-code can work great for customer journeys. Customized developments in your company can optimize and perfect the experience of your customers. How exactly? Low-code developments can be used in almost every phase of the customer journey, for example to support onboarding. In addition, low-code platforms usually pay attention to an optimal user experience (UX) without the developers having to pay explicit attention to it. In addition, such developments can usually be adapted to your corporate identity, so that strong branding can be implemented.
If low-code lowers the barriers to digital development, this can also contribute to faster internal digitization within the company. Since one hurdle for digitalization is the acceptance of new tools or digital processes in the workforce, this can be promoted through low-code. Those who experience for themselves how intuitively and easily new developments are possible and how they simplify their own work experience the potential of digitalization. Not to mention that low-code platforms facilitate the creation of applications for the digital capture of data.
There are now more and more low-code tools that are dedicated to the concept, with very different focuses. For example, apps, workflows or designs can be created by hand. But all these tools have a few things in common:
Low-code developments are usually very individual depending on the company, but often build on recurring building blocks. This makes it possible to solve different challenges with the same, standardized development by making only small modifications. This not only saves time, but also enables a comprehensive understanding of the problem and its solution.
Most low-code platforms (and we can only recommend this) are cloud-based. This means not only that it does not need its own hosting, but also that developments are available quickly and from anywhere, do not involve installation costs and can be updated quickly. This saves time and costs.
Due to the previous point, cloud-based, low-code platforms are usually also optimally expandable. Via programming interfaces, so-called APIs(what is an API?), which are provided by the tools themselves, they can be integrated into existing processes and connected with other apps and applications. And that leads us to the next point:
Low-code is now widespread in the cloud automation scene and has really taken off with Zapier in particular. Cloud automation has made it its goal to easily and quickly link the most diverse cloud applications with each other and thus enable data exchange. The most common tools have long been based on a low-code approach. Zapier, Make and Power Automate want to make automation accessible not only to programmers, but also to everyone else.
That's why they offer a clear interface that links tools together and guides you through the process step by step, without the need for code. With Make, for example, the interface looks like this:
Each tool used, in this case Facebook, Airtable and Outlook, are represented by an icon and embedded in the automated process. The low-code tool Make thus enables comprehensive integrations to exchange data automatically. Why all this? A lot of time a day is spent on data maintenance, often even entering or updating the same data in different applications. This is not only a time robber, but also highly inefficient. Low-code automation tools aim to change this by creating data flows that take away many small tasks, leaving more time for other tasks.
Although low code has been around for a few years, the approach is currently experiencing an upswing. There are countless low-code platforms and tools that want to make (digital) life easier. They are not primarily aimed at laypeople, but also want to support experienced IT staff in creating new developments more quickly and collaboratively. There is often even talk of the democratization of IT.
In times when the phrase "everyone should have at least some programming skills these days" is repeated again and again, low-code is in our eyes a great way to make technical developments accessible and even to take away the fear of them. Those who experience for themselves how easy development can be and even how much fun it can be, are more likely to integrate it into their own everyday work. And that is worth a lot in our eyes.
Curious about what Low-Code can do for your company? We would be happy to clarify exactly that in a free discussion about Low-Code. Together we will find individual solutions that are flexible and scalable.
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