How Can Cities and Local Governments Leverage Low-Code To Overcome Their Biggest Challenges

Urban technology has experienced rapid change over the past couple of years. New digital systems are constantly being introduced in cities and local governments, and thus consequently being integrated into daily life. The increasingly vast innovations and consistent updates in technological solutions and mobile systems can provide cities and local governments with a wide variety of benefits that can help them overcome their biggest operational challenges. Smart cities can leverage the power of low-code solutions to deal with monitoring issues, analyze data, collect, track and monitor information and systems and establish order in various processes.

A smart city is defined as a geographical area that leverages the power of technological solutions to provide its citizens with the most optimum and efficient communal processes by improving administrative systems, public services and overall quality of life. Recent studies have shown that the revenue from smart city infrastructure is forecasted to grow to more than $100 billion by the year 2025.

Furthermore, low-code application development platforms can enable smart cities to build powerful solutions that can automate various time-consuming and impractical daily processes that cities and local governments are tasked with overseeing.

Benefits of Low-Code for Cities and Local Governments

1) Detailed Data Analytics

Data analytics and its progression have made smart cities and local governments easier to operate and understand. However, implementing these systems is still something only experienced software developers and IT professionals can achieve. However, this is where low-code application development flourishes. With the limited time and resources in their hands, local governments can optimize their operations using the powerful functionality of low code, as it increases their understanding of detailed data analytics and can help make complex data seem organized. Low-code solutions can also enable cities and local governments to obtain valuable insights that can help them optimize and develop existing processes.

2) Enable API Integration

An Application Programming Interface (API) can enable users to source data from numerous third-party data sources, which can allow your city to centralize, filter and utilize all collected data and consequently build powerful applications. Therefore, APIs are extremely important for the building of any user interface. Recent studies have shown that 90% of software developers are using APIs in some capacity.

This means that API Integration will soon not be limited to only software developers and programmers. Government leaders and innovators who understand the end goals and the business requirements of a software project can implement the API integration rather than consulting with a third party, thereby eliminating complications.

3) Facilitate Digital Transformation

Research indicates that low-code platforms can reduce turnaround time for building new applications by up to 90%; from well over six months to under four weeks. Low code can help accelerate data visualization through a powerful drag-and-drop interface, thereby decreasing the amount of time required to build an application or data system. Low-code can help city leaders create powerful solutions and thus facilitate digital transformation which would have otherwise required the interference of a skilled software developer.

Low code solutions can also help democratize app development, which is a considerable step toward building smart cities with transparent processes. Low-code can help increase development resources and help citizen developers accelerate the speed of digital transformation and overall innovation. Furthermore, low-code can enable citizen developers to identify and address prevailing issues immediately.

4) Manage City Resources and Facilities

Building and developing applications require a lot of resources and facilities. They are designing a basic plan, discussing its pros and cons, hiring a software developer who can convert the projects into the desired product, testing the applications to check their efficiency, etc. These steps take time, effort, resources, and workforce, something which the smart city must utilize in an optimum way.

To cut costs and introduce user-friendly platforms, smart cities and local governments can solve all challenges and issues by introducing low-code solutions into their day-to-day operational management. An enormous financial burden can be lifted through low-code graphic user interfaces and drag-and-drop editors. This can facilitate cost-effective development as well as enable resources to be allocated to more important city operations and services, thereby further accelerating the development of the cities.

5) Utilize Data Visualization Tools

Data visualization is extremely critical in today’s data-driven environment. While traditional visual programming tools can make data visualization easier, it usually requires manually writing numerous lines of long code, which can become increasingly complex and extremely time-consuming. However, data visualization has grown exponentially with the development of low-code platforms.

With the current rate at which applications must be developed, software developers are under tremendous pressure to meet delivery deadlines. However, regardless of the industry sector, business-critical applications are being produced at a faster pace with the integration of low-code technology- whether the goal is to visualize data, deliver personalized user experiences or modernize legacy systems. Professional developers can also benefit from low-code because it gives them the agility they need to create specific applications at a faster pace.

Therefore, low-code adds to the simplicity of visualization tools, clearing yet another hurdle for smart cities in their journey to improve their citizens’ living standards.

Planet Crust – Solve Local Challenges Using The Power Of Low-Code

Low-code technology can enable your city and local government to overcome various daily challenges. Low-code can enable city officials to obtain more detailed data analytics that can facilitate more informed decision-making processes, enable API integration, facilitate digital transformation, manage scarce city resources more effectively, leverage powerful data visualization tools to understand the current state of city operations and services and much more.

Planet Crust’s low-code Corteza low-code platform is the perfect tool to help your city overcome challenges and move towards overall digital transformation and innovation. Get a trial now so that your city can take advantage of the various benefits of low-code technology.