Low-code application development: 4 main benefits

The way we approach application development is being completely transformed by low-code and no-code tools as they evolve and reach new levels of sophistication.

We have already seen the increasing adoption of low-code application development practices in companies when working on various projects and tasks. Their role has become vital to business survival, especially now that companies are trying to pave the way to lower costs and increase productivity amid a global recession, skyrocketing inflation, high development costs, and a shortage of experienced full-time software developers. .

Why is low code becoming the ultimate solution?

Low-code tools offer a new, modern, and automated way to build mission-critical applications. Therefore, the adoption of high low-code application development is not surprising. According to Gartner’s recent forecast, the global market for low-code development technologies will reach $26.9 billion in 2023, which is a 19.6 percent increase compared to 2022.

To understand why companies consider low-code application development as a strategy for their business survival and efficiency, let’s look at some of the key benefits that low-code application development offers to businesses.

1. They provide effective risk management and simpler management

One of the biggest benefits of low-code development is that it can help companies better mitigate risk. Why? Because low-code tools offer a visual development environment for building applications, reducing the need for manual coding, which is traditionally more prone to bugs, inconsistencies, etc.

[ Also read 4 IT skills to grow in 2023. ]

In addition, low-code development simplifies version control processes and audits, ensuring:

• Better, simpler and faster ways to track changes and increase process efficiency
• Compliance with application requirements, regulations, policies and customer needs
• More time-efficient product development life cycles and faster time to market

2. They help to achieve better development workflows

Just think about it for a moment – ​​an app that normally takes months to build is now available in weeks. Because these platforms typically provide drag-and-drop interfaces and ship prebuilt UI components, they allow developers to focus on solving business problems instead of writing code from scratch. As a result, they get faster and more efficient application development cycles, as well as faster deployment and iteration, creating a completely agile model for innovation.

3. They improve cooperation between fusion teams

Low-code development enables teams and vendors to adopt a single source of truth, improving collaboration across teams. Reducing the number of legacy applications and tools used by designers, programmers, and stakeholders makes it easier for team members to share information, collaborate on projects, and align their efforts.

For example, an app builder that integrates a complete design system bridges the gap between designers and developers, eliminating the handoff process. This allows entire applications to be easily generated, allowing the development team to view and verify automatically generated code alongside the rendered final product with a single click.

4. They help managers overcome industrial and business challenges

The IT industry is in the grip of a global recession as it continues to suffer from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, while at the same time trying to overcome the software developer shortage crisis. These factors further promote low-code acceptance.

By providing WYSIWYG (What-you-see-is-what-you-get) app development experiences through reusable drag-and-drop components, low-code platforms help businesses:

• Reduce additional development costs due to unexpected technical challenges, changes in project requirements, third-party tools and integrations, rigorous QA testing, and bug fixes.
• Provide a more flexible work environment
• Overcome technical talent and development skills shortages by empowering citizen developers to engage in less complex tasks
• Allows IT engineers and more experienced programmers to focus on business logic and strategic efforts

There is no doubt that low-code development will quickly gain even more popularity and adoption among enterprises, with low-code development expected to be behind 65 percent of the entire application development process by 2024. In challenging times, when cost reduction and optimization are essential, low-code application development offers many advantages, providing cost-effectiveness, simplification of application design and development processes, proven ROI, and easier adaptation to the dynamics of the IT world.

[ Learn the non-negotiable skills, technologies, and processes CIOs are leaning on to build resilience and agility in this HBR Analytic Services report: Pillars of resilient digital transformation: How CIOs are driving organizational agility. ]