The Low-Code/No-Code Development Revolution: Transforming Enterprises

Introduction

It's no secret that in recent years, the software development landscape has witnessed a significant shift. Traditional coding practices are no longer the sole domain of developers, in fact in many cases it's considered a security risk to have "legacy code" running in an evergreen environment. The rise of Low-Code and No-Code platforms and software has made application development available to everyone, allowing business users and citizen developers to create applications without extensive coding knowledge. In this article, we explore the Low-Code/No-Code revolution and its implications for enterprise organizations.

First, What is Low-Code/No-Code?

Low-Code Development

• Low-Code platforms provide a visual development environment where developers can create applications by dragging and dropping pre-built components. These platforms abstract much of the underlying code, allowing faster development cycles.
• Key features of Low-Code platforms: Visual Modeling: Developers design applications using visual interfaces, reducing the need for manual coding. Component Libraries: Pre-built components (e.g., forms, workflows, integrations) accelerate development. Automated Code Generation: Low-Code tools generate code based on visual designs. Integration Capabilities: Seamless integration with existing systems.

No-Code Development

• No-Code platforms take abstraction a step further. They empower non-technical users (business analysts, marketers, etc.) to create applications without writing any code.
• Key features of No-Code platforms: Drag-and-Drop Interfaces: Users build applications by assembling pre-built blocks. Workflow Automation: No-Code tools automate business processes. Customization: Users can tailor applications to their specific needs. Rapid Prototyping: Quickly create MVPs without coding.

The Impact on Enterprise Organizations

Accelerated Application Delivery

The accelerated development of applications can not be understated. Enterprise development of applications used to take months if not years to develop. Often times these applications would never even be released. During the development process, a new browser update or change in policy could completely side-line a very lengthy (and expensive) process.

So how does Low-Code-No-Code change all of this? The same way that CMS tools have changed web development, through an increase in drag and drop functionality - which significantly speeds up the process of release and Time-to-Market.

This application CMS too, if you will, within the platforms enable faster development cycles. Enterprises can now roll out applications in weeks instead of months. While some more complicated applications are still going to take time to develop, at CPTL, our average development time for an Enterprise level application is 90 days, that's a significant enterprise impact from the twelve to eighteen months of the old.

This accelerated release and delivery allows organizations to have greater agility (that fun word we've all loved to throw around). Business units can now actually be more agile in their development and release strategies and respond swiftly to changing market demands, regulatory requirements, or internal processes. Not only are we releasing applications more frequently, but we are getting the fixes and version releases out quicker.

Empowering Citizen Developers

So what is a Citizen Developer anyways?

A citizen developer is an employee who creates application capabilities to be released within their organization. These Citizen Developers use existing tools that are actively approved by IT or business units and that are Out of the Box (OOTB) ready for consumption.

This means that developers can be trained up quicker, and more based line solutions can be released even quicker. These No-Code platforms empower business analysts, marketers, and other non-technical staff to create solutions. This reduces the burden on IT departments and can get solutions, workflows, forms, and applications in the hands of your enterprise faster.

Citizen developers can also be empowered to address smaller projects, freeing up IT resources for strategic initiatives and larger releases. While we don't necessarily recommend they tackle bugs within applications, Citizen Developers can be empowered to make small enhancements to UXUI to create a better in-application experience.

Bridging the IT Skills Gap

It's no secret that in today's digital world there is a Scarcity of Developers. The demand for skilled developers often exceeds supply, and with some many "Legacy Developers" on the market not turning to these modern trends, it can be easy to get stuck in the legacy build trend. So often times organizations want a custom CRM, but don't know where to look or how to start (or how to avoid an overseas development team). Low-Code/No-Code bridges this gap by allowing non-developers to contribute and build a productive team.

This also gives organizations the opportunity to provide career advancement to employees through upskilling. Your more traditional IT teams can focus on complex tasks while business users handle routine development, and provide them with experience that could ultimately expand your IT and internal development teams, offer career advancement, and serve the enterprise organization in other ways.

4. Cost Savings

Likely the most important factor to business owners and leaders is the bottom line, and I don't mean "get to the point", I mean dollars and cents. The most celebrated fact about Low-Code-No-Code is the fact that it brings about a reduced development cost. Low-Code/No-Code eliminates the need for extensive custom coding, saving development costs and saving a ton of money on technical debt. While the overall time to release will save you in development costs, it's more the technical debt that will show up in the P&L statement. This is because of the decrease of development hours you will see in Maintenance and Support. Since it will be easier-to-maintain applications, you are naturally going to reduce ongoing expenses. This means lower development hours, overhead, hardware, the works.

Afterall, someone famously said "Time is Money".

Let's Put a Bow on This: Conclusion

The Low-Code/No-Code revolution is reshaping how enterprises approach application development. By empowering citizen developers, accelerating delivery, and reducing costs, these platforms are driving innovation across organizations. However, successful adoption requires a strategic approach that balances agility with governance.

Just because someone can develop, doesn't mean they should. Ensure that you are not putting your organization at risk through the ease of development, don't turn your application implementation into the wild, wild, West.

As enterprises embrace this revolution, they must recognize that Low-Code/No-Code is not a replacement for traditional development but a powerful complement. The future of software development lies in collaboration between professional developers and citizen creators. We will always have development teams, this Low-Code/No-Code revolution just adds more members to the team to support the on-going digital transformation within your organization.

Remember, the code-less future is here, and it’s transforming the way we build software.

Want more information on Low-Code/No-Code? Check out our use cases and how we have helped enterprise organizations in both the public and private sectors adopt the principles in this article.