Why low-code is the future of app development

Digital apps revolutionized several aspects of our everyday living. We use them to track our fitness routines, manage our work deliverables, stay entertained, shop, and do many other activities.

Businesses have been trying to leverage this trend by building apps that would connect their target audience with their brand.

But building apps from scratch is neither easy nor affordable.

Once upon a time, it cost an organization, business, or start-up tens of thousands of dollars to create apps and software. Moreover, it would take months to develop a minimum viable product.

But the rise of low-code development solutions made app and system creation so much easier. Now, a company can create its own contextual service with a smaller development team and roll it out at a fraction of the time it takes to launch an application built from scratch.

Is low-code development the future of the digital age? How do these solutions prepare individuals and businesses for the future?

Why Use Low-Code Software for App Development?

There’s a one-two punch to the low-code movement:

Productivity

When companies deploy software solutions, companies and teams can operate with greater productivity. These systems help streamline operations, perform repetitive tasks, organize information, store data, and do anything you and your team need to get more done in a shorter time and with less effort.

Profitability

Apart from creating software for internal use, companies can also build online platforms for a larger audience to access, particularly with the main intent of selling to them. Consider this: mobile apps are expected to generate up to $935 billion in revenue by 2023. Ecommerce is on an all-time high. Customer experiences are moving online. All these trends point to one thing: apps help your business make more money. So, building apps and digital platforms to sell your products and services online could provide your company with the sales boost you need to reach or surpass your financial goals.

Why Low Code Works

You’re probably aware that there are hundreds if not thousands of solutions out there. Also, you shouldn’t discount the good that building some solutions from scratch might bring. But studies show that up to 30% of businesses prefer using low-code or no-code solutions. That’s because low-code development solutions bring many benefits to organizations. Here are just a few of the many others.

Contextual Application

Solutions aren’t one-size-fits-all. Every now and then, a business will hit a snag on the digital solutions side because their provider of choice doesn’t fit their context. With low-code build-your-own development services, you can get the best solution for your context.

Better Design

Low-code solutions often come with drag-and-drop editors that allow teams to design their application’s experiences with ease. This said, companies will also be able to adjust the design to match their company’s branding best. You can change the logos, colors, elements, and other visual aspects to give your app or solution the signature look that will make it yours in every aspect.

Lower Barrier to Entry

Not being able to find the right solution for your company could be a barrier to process digitization. It’s common for companies who struggle to find the best software for their needs will tend to delay plans of launching a website or application.  So when company stakeholders are able to find a solution that can tailor-fit a solution to their needs and offer more customization, there’s less pushback.

Decreased Costs

Sometimes, the barrier isn’t the solution’s context or ease of use. In other cases, budget is the constraint. Low-code solutions can offer a cheaper alternative for companies looking to run their systems. It’s far cheaper than having a developer build from scratch.

And because low-code solutions can offer more customization, companies no longer have to pay for multiple software to run one operation. Take for instance how marketing teams use different services for CRM and supply chain management. A business can now put these two systems on one platform.

Agile Roll-outs

Using a low-code application platform provides a faster and more agile roll-out than a build-from-scratch solution. It takes several weeks to months to have a working product. But starting with a low-code system brings the system launch date closer. Moreover, development teams can make updates and changes and launch them faster, making the solution more adaptable.

Efficient Teams

With more agile options, teams will be more efficient. First, the development team your company contracts can work faster and launch the solution sooner. And with all the benefits the software itself brings to the team, it will make all other people who use the solution more efficient too. Low-code solutions created specifically for a company will improve workflows given that they work to your context best, removing friction and accelerating operations at a tactical level.

Fast Integrations

Low-code solutions come with ready integrations to connect your software to all the other solutions that it will need to communicate with. These can include email providers, payment gateways, scheduling tools, and so on.

What Apps Can You Create?

So it’s clear that building with low-code app solutions presents all kinds of benefits. But what are some case scenarios of apps and software solutions you can create for a business? Here are some low-code software examples that you can build.

• CRM and Lead Generation — Having a CRM software can help improve customer experience management and marketing to enable your employees to better serve your customers. These software solutions can also be used to capture leads and move them to further stages in your marketing campaign.
• E-commerce — With the global e-commerce market expected to hit $5.545 trillion by the end of 2022, using the best low-code platforms to create an online shop brings a whole new world of earning capabilities. There are many services that can help you build an online shop, but a low-code solution can also help you create a mobile app, which gives your business another channel to sell to your potential customers.
• Operations and Project Management — You can use low code applications to create solutions for business process management that fits your company’s needs best. Integrate a project management dashboard with an operations portal that fits your workflow best. Start with determining parts of your operations that you want to track, manage, or automate, then deploy those systems in tranches.
• Employee Portal — Having an employee portal can improve onboarding processes and human resource functions like internal announcements or access to company policies and guidelines.
• Content Libraries — If your business regularly churns out content for social media, you can create a system that compiles all that data and automatically updates when you release new material. For instance, you can have a repository for all your YouTube videos, podcasts, social media posts, and blogs in one content library for ease of access.
• Information Dissemination — Software systems and apps can also be a great way to disseminate important information, such as trip schedules for transport companies or movie screening features and time slots.

The Future of App Solutions via Low-Code

With enterprise low-code application platforms now within companies’ reach, everyone has the ability to create online solutions and services faster than before. The future of app development leans more to low-code solutions with every passing year. Hence, developers should start integrating these solutions into their workflows and companies should start adopting them more.