Traditionally, software development has been associated with a steep learning curve and has been limited to software engineers and IT experts. That has started to change in recent years, with the emergence of low-code and no-code technologies, leaving people to wonder what is low-code and no-code. Low-code/no-code platforms make software development more accessible to non-experts and allow businesses to efficiently scale app development and process automation. How? Let’s take a look.
What is low-code / no-code?
Low-code and no-code platforms are essentially software development tools that enable non-IT experts to build applications and workflows to automate and streamline their business processes.
Whereas conventional app development requires deep knowledge of coding and programming languages, low-code/no-code solutions leverage intuitive interfaces, such as drag-and-drop building blocks, to facilitate the creation of mobile and web applications.
For instance, Wrk’s Hybrid Automation platform enables users to easily create automated Wrkflows by simply dragging and dropping different Wrk Actions into a sequence.
We should point out that there is still code involved in these rapid application development strategies. However, much of it is behind the scenes. What low-code and no-code do is offer users pre-coded functions presented as user-friendly components that can be easily combined into a sort of flow chart. Most low-code/no-code platforms are also built to integrate easily with existing software solutions using APIs, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, and more.
What are the differences between low-code and no-code?
You may be wondering: what is low-code and no-code and how do they differ? Low-code and no-code are often discussed in tandem, but there are key differences between the two. Low-code is a rapid application development (RAD) strategy that leverages drag-and-drop app creation while still allowing users to add their own code to the automated program. This is ideal for IT and dev teams, who can quickly generate a workflow and then go in and fine tune it or make custom adjustments. Low-code is typically geared to professional programmers and functions as something of an assistant, generating an app foundation, while devs manually add more complex capabilities.
No-code, on the other hand, is a plug-and-play approach that eliminates the need for code writing entirely, fully relying on visual app building interfaces to generate automated workflows and applications. This RAD technique is best suited for simpler automations, as well as front-end user interfaces and dashboards. Because no-code solutions don’t require any knowledge of coding, the technology is incredibly accessible and can be used by people across an organization with little or no oversight from IT.
What are the benefits of low-code / no-code?
There are many benefits to using low-code / no-code platforms. Their main advantage is that they make software development simpler and more accessible. This means that businesses can become less reliant on IT departments to digitize and automate their processes.
Employees in various departments can take app building into their own hands, leveraging their in-depth knowledge of their own processes to create automated workflows that match their needs.
In the software world, these people are known as “Citizen Developers”. In other words, people who don’t have formal coding experience, but who are empowered to create software tools using low-code/no-code solutions. For example, a human resources (HR) manager looking to make employee onboarding more efficient can convert traditionally manual tasks—like contract approval requests and document sharing—into an automated process without having to involve IT departments.
Low-code / no-code isn’t just for the layman
That doesn’t mean that IT experts can’t also benefit from low-code/no-code technology. They too can leverage simplified application building tools to accelerate the development and implementation of automation across their own processes and company-wide. As anyone with coding experience will know, writing code line by line takes time. No-code and low-code platforms eliminate or minimize this step, enabling developers to rapidly build, test, and deploy applications. IT teams will therefore have more bandwidth to tackle more complex tasks as well as special requests. In other words, with low-code/no-code platforms, IT teams can do more with less.
This is also a major benefit for organizations. Scaling IT departments is costly and often challenging, as experienced developers are in high demand. Low-code and no-code platforms make it possible to digitize and automate without hiring additional developers, putting the necessary tools into existing employees’ hands and supplementing IT skills.
The future of app development
Low-code and no-code solutions have been a game-changer in recent years, empowering people, from freelancers to employees in large enterprises, to create their own automated workflows and applications for greater efficiency and productivity. Wrk’s Hybrid Automation platform, for instance, is a highly versatile no-code platform designed to simplify automation by taking complex code writing out of the equation—all while maintaining the human touch. Head to our SkillPack blog for more useful insights and productivity boosting tips.
