By Dinesh Varadharajan, Vice-President, Kissflow
In the last few years, there has been a huge uptick in the low-code landscape. Hence, this might present a lot of technology leaders with challenges in identifying the right low-code platform for your 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 – engineering, and business departments, which would eventually use the system and help realize 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 development folks from writing repetitive, sizable codes? 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 a concrete answer to this can help you augment your decision in the future.
6 Things to Look for in a Low-Code/No-Code Automation Platform
Identifying what to seek in a low-code/no-code automation platform is critical to a company’s success, especially when you are a citizen developer. As it is with any enterprise technology, the market is soon getting saturated, and not all solutions are made equal. Some will make grandiose statements but miss the mark of delivering. Others include a slew of extras, many of which add up to unneeded costs. When evaluating enterprise-grade low-code solutions, decision-makers should search for solutions from which they can reap the following benefits:
● Quick Time-to-Market: One of the fundamental advantages of low-code/no-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/no-code should be used to augment and improve your current infrastructure. It must not be a silo. As a result, you should look for a platform that integrates easily with various products and platforms. 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/no-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. It will help with faster implementation and 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 analyze if these platforms provide enjoyable user experiences, reliable operating capabilities
and hence 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, which will serve clients from a variety of businesses, 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.
