What is Low Code?
Low code is a software development approach that allows teams to develop digital solutions and create enterprise applications with minimal need for coding. Low code development platforms provide users with a suite of tools, custom code components, and boilerplate scripts. Then users can develop new processes and applications efficiently—all without requiring extensive code writing and script testing. These platforms provide a visual development environment with simple drag-and-drop capabilities. So, anyone in your organization can design and create business applications without the need for specialized coding skills.
What are the benefits of low code development platforms?
Low code platforms offer various benefits to organizations, business teams, and developers.
Faster innovation
Low code can help your business become more innovative by allowing subject-matter experts to take the lead on application development. Business users with no or little coding experience, often called citizen developers, can build applications themselves. Citizen developers accelerate innovation and product development lifecycles by using low code building blocks to develop prototypes and rapidly test their new applications. They can cut the lifecycle of product development from months to weeks or even days.
More agility
Businesses need to be able to respond quickly to the market and develop new applications as consumer demands change. Low code effectively makes your business more agile, as you can assign product development to business users and accelerate application delivery.
Multi-experience potential
Multi-experience solutions allow customers to connect with businesses across multiple digital touchpoints during their user journeys. Low code uses premade and reusable components to build applications for seamless omnichannel experiences across any device.
Cost-saving opportunities
By introducing a low code platform for business users, you can free up your professional developers to focus on value-adding tasks that require complex coding. Low code platforms can also integrate into your existing apps and data sources, which accelerates time to market and reduces costs. Your business could also save money by rolling out low code application development rather than buying commercial off-the-shelf products.
Improved risk management
Low code systems come with built-in security features that protect your applications and data from unauthorized access. You can incorporate security measures from the start of your application development process.
Easier collaboration
The simplicity of low code and the speed of development allows users from across all business teams to build applications. Low code application platforms are cloud-based, so teams can work across multiple projects and share ideas wherever they are. Low code tools also make collaboration between business and IT teams easier.
Simpler maintenance
The process of building applications using low code techniques is more straightforward than traditional coding, where thousands of lines of code have to be inputted manually. It means that the business teams who built your products can maintain and update them, which makes the development process more efficient.
What applications can be built with low code?
Low code development platforms have proven to be effective in several types of business and digital transformation applications.
Customer experience applications
Consumers increasingly expect to have access to intuitive and simple-to-use applications across any device. Low code allows business teams to both conceptualize and develop the applications their customers will be using.
Line of business applications
Low code application development is being used to refresh and build new lines of business applications, such as procurement, employee onboarding, and payroll software. As with customer experience applications, low code is effective here because it allows department heads and subject-matter experts to be central to application development. This differs significantly from traditional development practices, where development teams oversee all application development.
Read about procurement system integration »
Process automation applications
Low code platforms provide users with automation and artificial intelligence (AI) tools. These tools effectively build process automation capabilities to carry out repetitive business tasks such as data input, rule-based processes, and several payroll functions.
What is the history behind low code?
The history of low code goes back to the 1990s, when rapid application development (RAD) came into use. RAD was a group of simple programs that allowed users to assemble desktop applications visually. Model-driven architecture and mobile platforms followed in the decade of the 2000s. And the first low code development platforms we see today started to gain popularity in the early 2010s.
The term low code first emerged in 2016 and is sometimes referred to as low code or no code. Low code or no code is a general phrase for development platforms and tools designed to help business users design and develop applications. Professional developers also use low code or no code tools for repetitive tasks that do not require conventional software development.
What are common low code features?
There are several commonly used low code features designed to allow a broader range of people to develop digital solutions. A collection of low code features can be grouped together as part of a low code development platform. Here are some examples of common low code features.
Drag-and-drop interface
Drag-and-drop allows business users to build out applications quickly and speed up their time to market. Drag-and-drop functionality significantly decreases the amount of code that needs to be physically typed out.
Visual modeling
It’s much simpler to use a visual modeling UI to build an application than input hundreds of code lines. Visual modeling presents users with building blocks that can rapidly develop applications and solutions.
Out-of-the-box functionality
A significant advantage of common low code platforms is the ability to start developing solutions straight out of the box. Setup and training are minimal compared to traditional coding practices, and business users can start building applications immediately.
Application mobility
It’s critical to develop applications that can be accessed and used across a range of devices. Low code tools are designed to deploy applications anywhere—across desktops, tablets, and mobile devices—without making any design alterations.
How can AWS support your low code application development?
Amazon QuickSight supports low code application development for business intelligence. Everyone in your organization can understand your data intuitively. They can ask questions in natural language, explore through interactive dashboards, or automatically look for patterns and outliers powered by machine learning. Here are some things you can do with QuickSight:
- Activate business intelligence for everyone
- Perform advanced analytics with machine learning insights
- Embed analytics to differentiate your applications
- Build customizable dashboards
- Pay only for what you use on a pay-per-session basis
Get started with low code on AWS by creating a free AWS account today.
What are some examples of companies using low code?
Businesses are increasingly turning to low code to help accelerate product development, free up developer resources, and build analytics-based business intelligence. Many well-known organizations and brands are utilizing Amazon Web Services (AWS) solutions to power their no-code efforts. Here are some examples.
ConexED
ConexED is a unified student services platform that fosters connection and student success. Prior to implementing Amazon QuickSight, ConexED's development team spent more than half their time writing custom reports for the constantly increasing breadth of data that our system generates. ConexEd is now able to move quickly on two fronts: building interesting features that ingest data and providing insightful visualizations and reports on the gathered data.
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is using AWS machine learning and analytics to digitally transform its product offering. As part of that effort, the NFL uses Amazon QuickSight to develop business intelligence that it can use internally as well as to better engage its millions of fans. Specifically, the NFL has used QuickSight to rapidly build interactive dashboards that integrate with its Next Gen Stats applications.
