Rahul Bhageeradhan, Global Director – Digital Architecture, Kissflow, explains how a company should evaluate a low-code development platform before deciding to invest in it.
In the last few years, there has been a huge uptick in the low-code landscape with Gartner predicting that by 2024, low-code application development will be responsible for more than 65% of application development activity. With the same report going on to state that by the same year, 75% of large enterprises use at least four low-code development tools for both IT application development and citizen development initiatives, there is good reason for technology leaders to develop their ability to choose the right Low-code platform for their business.
A low-code development platform enables teams to develop custom applications via an intuitive graphical user interface as opposed to the conventional application development platforms. It ensures that you don’t have to fret about writing prodigious lines of codes thus allowing you to apply business logic and focus on building your application at peace.
When a company decides to invest in a low-code platform – to develop custom applications, it should inevitably involve key personnel from top management, including engineering, and business departments, which would eventually use the system and help realise its value.
But before you set your mind for it, ask yourself – “What is it that I need from a low-code platform?” Do you want to free your developers from writing repetitive, sizable code? Or, do you want to empower your citizen developers to start building apps? Perhaps, do you want to align your business goals with your development efforts?
Having concrete answers to these questions can help you make the right long-term choice and thereby secure your organisation’s digital future.
6 Things to Look for in a Low-Code Automation Platform
Identifying what to seek in a low-code development platform is critical to a company’s success, especially when you’re looking to empower citizen developers. As it is with any disruptive enterprise technology, the market is getting saturated, and not all solutions are made equal. Some will make grandiose statements but miss the mark of delivering. Others will include a slew of extras, many of which add up to avoidable costs. When evaluating enterprise-grade low-code solutions, decision-makers should focus on outcomes, and look for solutions which can deliver the following benefits:
Quick Time-to-Market: One of the fundamental advantages of low-code is its simplicity. The objective should be to have advanced automation up and operating as rapidly as feasible, with a minimal learning curve. If a platform appears too complicated or perplexing right away, it’s generally not worth every penny.
Seamless Integration: Low-code should be used to augment and enhance your current infrastructure. It must not be a silo. Accordingly, you should look for a platform that integrates easily with various products and platforms. This will ensure that you’ll be able to coordinate complicated workflows involving many systems, as well as automate cleanup using AI-powered tools.
Ability to Self-serve: Not only can low-code assist bridge the knowledge gap by making application development accessible to people of all skill levels such as citizen developers, but it can also free up the IT staff by empowering end-users to handle IT requests without the need for the service office’s involvement.
Prebuilt Templates: Once again, the key here is the simplicity of use. While you may want to leverage automation to develop bespoke apps for your company, there’s no need to start from scratch. The more pre-built, ready-to-use templates there are, the better. These will help with faster implementations and thus deliver a more rapid return on investment.
Value for Money: The business and pricing strategies of low-code platforms are highly diverse. Some platforms charge you on a consumption-based pricing model, which means you will have to pay more as you allow more people to use your application. On the other hand, there are other low code platforms which will charge you on the basis of the value you get from them. While many platforms provide simple on-ramps to trials and proof-of-concept development, it’s imperative that you ensure that these platforms grasp the end-state development and production requirements. Hence, as a decision-maker, you need to resist assessing low-code platforms just on the basis of cost. Rather, research and analyse if these platforms provide enjoyable user experiences, reliable operating capabilities and thus help increase development productivity at scale.
Scalability: Growth is usually listed as a long-term aim for most businesses. There’s no sense in investing in a platform if it can’t accommodate your demands as your business grows. Look for a system that can easily manage many business use cases, verticals, occurrences, and activities on demand, even if you aren’t quite there yet.
Compliance and Security: Examine the platform to see if it adheres to the Global Compliance Assurances Standards, as well as ISAE and ISO certifications. Security should be a top priority for your platform, so it has the potential to serve clients from a variety of industry verticals, including government entities. Besides having robust security and governance features, make sure that it has also implemented an ISO/IEC 27001-compliant information security management system (ISMS).
The Bottomline
If you want to build mission-critical apps, modernise legacy systems, and provide complex software solutions, you need to invest in an enterprise-grade low-code platform. They are a terrific way to tap into the expertise of people who know your business best—your workforce. Remember, a solid low-code platform lets you find the ideal option for mobilising your citizen developers and quickly create apps that meet the demands of both your end users and business with minimal planning and resources.
