Enterprises need low code and no code platforms, and Innovation is delivering it at low costs

By 2024, 75 percent of enterprises will use at least four different low-code development tools as part of their digital suite. Low code and no code tools are expected to make up for over 68 percent of total application development activity. What’s more, the global low code development market is expected to reach $10.3 billion by the end of 2021, reporting a CAGR of 22.6 percent from 2020.

This year, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to an increase in remote workforces and massive digital transformation initiatives, but it has also urged companies to look for software development techniques that are faster and more collaborative with minimal expenditure. Enterprises feel Low code and no code platforms have proved to be the perfect solution for that.

As a result, there has been a boost in low code and no code platform adoption, despite all the cost optimization and budgeting efforts across different industries due to the pandemic. The ability to combine both IT developers and citizen developers is the reason why no code and low code platforms have now become critical for businesses.

The digital transformation catalyst for enterprises

85 percent of organizations fail at digital transformations because they just aren’t able to implement it in the right way. The reason? Most organizations end up focusing too much on technology and too little on the employees who will be using the technology.

Low code and no code platforms help companies successfully implement digital transformation strategies by putting the employees front and center with the technical aspects. These tools offer a visual editor and do not require you to do any complicated coding. This allows all employees, including business users who have no technical background, to be a part of the digital transformation process and contribute to it without having to depend on the IT department.

For development teams, low code and no code tools help deliver applications at a faster pace and with fewer bugs. With prebuilt libraries, drag and drop features, reusable components, and automated testing, developers can accelerate the overall development process.

This expedites digital transformation initiatives and decreases overall costs. In fact, over 70 percent of IT leaders believe that low code platforms are way more affordable compared to traditional development platforms.

Paving the way for citizen developers

Your IT team may know how to code and create a bug-free application, but they probably won’t know the main challenges that the application is trying to solve. Low-code and no-code platforms help everyone get a seat at the high table and ensure both IT and business employees are involved in the process.

Technically, even employees with no technical experience can transform into citizen developers when given the right tools to create and manage applications. This also helps close the skill gap in organizations and creates a work environment where employees feel empowered to think creatively and turn their ideas into working and well-functioning solutions.

According to a survey, 40 percent of low code developers have a background in business and 70 percent of those are able to learn low code in less than a month’s time.

Taking an agile approach

No code and low code platforms give your employees room to breathe while also giving them the space to experiment. Instead of focusing too much on rigid syntax or the technicalities of coding, employees can focus on creating applications that offer the best end-user experiences, decrease the overall development time and automate the testing process. The fast iterations also make low code and no code platforms the most efficient option for implementing agile development solutions.

Successful digital transformations need a culture change

A cultural change has to first happen in your organization to successfully embrace no-code and low-code platforms. You need a digital culture where business users are constantly encouraged to brainstorm and create their own applications. More importantly, IT employees have to get more comfortable letting their business-facing colleagues take the wheel. Organizations need to steadily face the reality that at least some amount of development work will have to get decentralized. The idea is to find a sweet spot between dealing with both citizen developers and IT developers while making sure everyone is comfortable using the new development platforms.

By Dinesh Varadharajan, vice president, Kissflow