The Low-code/no-code development platforms are nothing but the kind of visual software development environments, which allow both enterprise and citizen developers to develop apps by only using the drag and drop application components. These help in connecting them together, and create both mobiles as well as web apps. What is the most useful and stunning advantage of using the No-code development platforms is the modular approaches used in these platforms, allow professional developers to quickly build applications and eliminates the daunting task of writing code, testing them line by line. Therefore, the end-users who are not software developers such as business analysts, office administrators, small-business owners, and others can also very easily build and test applications. They can create or develop any sort of application with little or no knowledge of traditional programming languages. They need not have any specifications regarding the machine code or the development work behind the platform’s configurable components.

In both the Low-code/no-code development platforms, the users see a user-friendly GUI or graphical user interface. By using this they can marry components and 3^rd party application program interfaces also known as APIs. However, application builders can not only rearrange modules but can also repeatedly test those modules until the application works as per the expectations. One of the major reasons for the proliferation of low-code/no-code platforms is owing to the lack of skilled software developers. Also, the need to improve and increase the turnaround time for development projects. Thereby, resulting in quick solving of business problems without any hassle.

Alleviating the hectic task of coding

What happens in a traditional software development process is that programmers write lines and lines of code to create the functions and features that they want to create in a program or an application. However, as this is a difficult task it requires programmers to possess in-depth knowledge of not only the programming languages, and development environments, but also the deployment processes, and testing protocols.

This is where Low-code and no-code platforms come to the rescue of programmers. They encapsulate all that work behind the scenes, while the end-users only visually select and connect reusable components that represent particular steps or capabilities which in reality contain the actual code. By using these components and linking them together users create the desired apps.

By leveraging Low-code and no-code platforms, users can easily build various types of applications easily and eliminate the hectic process of writing line-by-line codes for each desired function and capability. Since these types of platforms usually possess features that allow users to experiment, prototype, test, and deploy the app, these types of the app development process are known as point-and-click development or simply click development.

Evolution of low-code/no-code platforms

Low code/no-code platforms come from the rapid application development tools which include Excel, Lotus Notes, and Microsoft Access, etc. which use some similar development-like capabilities into the hands of business users who are non-IT professionals.

“No-code allows people who understand the domain to build solutions for themselves,” said Gautam Nimagadda, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Quixy. “Platforms like this can allow apps to be developed 10-15 times faster than usual,” he added.

Furthermore, development with RAD tools generally produced capabilities used by the individual who created the functionality, or by a limited number of users associated with the creator which is usually a workgroup or business unit. Apps produced with low code or no-code platforms on the other hand are robust enough to be used across departments and throughout the entire enterprise and even by external users such as customers and business partners.

Abhinav Girdhar, the founder of Appy Pie, said his business has seen nearly 80 percent growth over the past year alone. “2020 acted as a tailwind. A lot of SMEs started to digitize because of the pandemic,” he added

Sanchit Vir Gogia, the founder of Greyhound Research stated that “Using such platforms can also bring down maintenance costs for companies and reduce security risks as the code they are using has been tested by many others.”

Challenges of low-code and no-code platforms

Although most organizations embrace the low-code and no-code platforms to rapidly develop new business apps, they also face numerous challenges and problems that are generated by these platforms. This is because these tools are both low-cost and user-friendly.

Another major challenge is about managing, maintaining, and scaling these apps, along with the potentially escalated infrastructure and storage costs that are linked with the proliferation of development activity enabled by these platforms.

The Future of low-code/no-code

The Indian IT services providers are observing increased traction for the low-code/no-code platform solutions since clients today are interested in building and customizing the apps according to their requirements. According to industry experts, the pandemic increased the interest in creating apps using low-code/no-code platforms as organizations scurried to build digital applications for their clients.

“What we're seeing more and more is what we call low-code, no-code work. You see more and more automation, more machine learning, artificial intelligence. These technology elements are going to impact the business model because the way they interact with clients is going to be automated, is going to be driven by artificial intelligence,” Salil Parekh, chief executive of Infosys, said at a Nasscom conference last week.
 

Tata Consultancy Services chief operating officer N Ganapathy Subramaniam told ET in a recent interview that “such technology has been useful when “rapid prototyping is required” to demonstrate an application to a customer before deploying it across an organization. To quickly show something (to the client), you could use the low-code, no-code technology to quickly put together an app to say that, this is the way it (a given platform) could work. One can then refine it, use it and then see whether it can scale.

According to a February 2021 Gartner report, the worldwide market for low-code development technologies is anticipated to reach USD 13.8 billion by end of this year.

“Indian managed service providers usually partner with pure-play low-code, no-code platform vendors as well as with the hyper-scalers that now also offer this capability. They leverage the existing solution platforms to enhance their domain-specific capabilities,” said Mrinal Rai, principal analyst at technology consulting firm ISG.
 

No-code development mainly targets non-technical users in diverse business functions. They have to understand business requirements and rules, however, have little or no coding experience and programming language skills. Therefore, citizen developers can leverage no-code to easily and quickly in building, testing, and deploying their business apps, until the chosen tools align with the commodity functions and capabilities.

Although the no-so or low-code tools pose some sort of threat to the Indian services firms since they let their organizations build their applications, help from services firms would be needed in order to ensure that customer data is safe and protected, especially in cases where non-technical professionals work on the no-code or low-code technology, stated the analysts.

“There is the argument that as low-code, no-code use rises, the need for technical expertise drops – but in reality, there will always be a place for firms with talented developers to tackle the complex technology needs of the modern enterprise,” said Ollie O’ Donoghue, senior analyst at PAC, a technology research firm.

Some of the examples of low-code development platforms include and tools include Appian, Claris FileMaker, DWkit, Google AppSheet, Looker7, and many others. Some of the no-code development platforms include Appy Pie, AWS Honeycode, Bubble, Zudy Vinyl, and many others.