The application development industry has undergone significant transformation over the past years. New methodologies have been developed to address key pain points of traditional app development – complexity and time consumption. Low code is one of the approaches built to ease application development, promoting faster time to market and enhancing efficiency.
According to Gartner forecasts, low and no code will account for 65% of all application development activities by 2024. These statistics show that low-code and no-code solutions will take over the application development sector in the future. But why is this the case? Here are 6 reasons why low code is the future of application development.
What is Low-Code Development?
As the name suggests, low-code development is a software development approach that involves minimal coding to create applications. Instead of using complex textual programming languages, you can use simple drag-and-drop features and visual interfaces to build your low-code application.
Usually, you will use a specific low-code app development platform, like Mendix, to create your application.
6 Reasons Why Low-code is the Future of App Development
Here are some reasons why low-code will take over the application development industry in the future:
1. Faster Development Cycle
Every company seeks ways to deliver working solutions to customers immediately. Doing so helps reduce waiting times, enhancing overall customer satisfaction and loyalty.
But how does low-code development accelerate app development? Instead of writing large chunks of complex code from scratch, low-code development platforms like Mendix come with pre-built features to ease app development. For instance, you can simply drag and drop built-in features into your application and modify them to meet specific needs.
Also, leading low-code platforms like Mendix integrate advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning, helping you deliver apps faster. They support AI-assisted development, whereby bots can recommend the next best actions based on the context and identify issues in your app that would have otherwise taken hours to discover and fix. In fact, statistics show that low code can reduce application development time by up to 90%.
2. Cost Reduction
Companies constantly seek ways to minimize costs while maximizing value and profits. However, most organizations find their budget going up every year. But why is this the case? Some of the costs increase due to the cost of maintaining applications and systems.
This is where low-code development can save you. Low code significantly minimizes app development costs while helping you build high-quality applications. But how does low code reduce development costs?
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Reduced Working Hours
Low code reduces the working hours committed by your developers in building your application. Usually, developers charge per hour, and reducing development time, minimizes the cost of labor. Also, you don’t need highly experienced developers (who charge more) to build your applications. Instead, you can hire slightly experienced ones who charge lesser, reducing your overall app development costs.
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It Supports the Development of Maintainable Apps
The cost of maintaining traditional applications can be high. Massive codes must be rewritten and tested to update the app. However, low-code development helps you build highly maintainable applications.
Low-code platforms like Mendix solutions support the microservices architecture. This implies you can build different elements individually and merge the result into one application. Therefore, when you need to maintain the app, you can go to specific aspects and update them individually without affecting the entire application’s functionality. This reduces downtime, which can be costly to your business.
3. Collaborative Development
Collaboration is key in every aspect of an organization, including application development. However, traditional app development solutions created a gap between IT and business teams. This is because of the technicality of the programming languages and concepts used, which non-IT members would struggle to understand.
Fortunately, low-code solutions are here. Your IT and non-IT teams can seamlessly collaborate to deliver functional applications that meet customers’ needs. With low-code development, business teams can visualize the app and understand functionalities as they are built. Therefore, it keeps everyone on the same page.
Moreover, teams that closely interact with customers can contribute to app development. This ensures that applications developed address the key pain points of the customer. Also, top low-code platforms like Mendix have a feedback management system where users can update their views on the app, leading to better applications with exceptional user experience.
4. Flexibility and Scalability
The business world is highly unpredictable, and this trend is unlikely to stop soon. Therefore, you need an application development model that allows you to adjust your services in no time. Otherwise, you’ll miss out on potentially profitable opportunities, and in the worst-case scenario, you can be put out of business.
That’s why more businesses are jumping into low-code development, as it enables you to adjust quickly to the changing business environment. You can scale your business application(s) on-demand as it lets you deploy apps to the cloud. Also, you can build solutions faster to adapt to the changing market needs and customer demands since minimal coding is involved.
5. Reduced Bugs and Errors
Traditional coding methods are vulnerable to errors and bugs. These bugs can take hours or even days for complex applications. This is because of the thousands of lines of code written to deliver a fully functional application. If not discovered, malicious intruders can exploit these errors, leading to costly security incidents and data breaches.
However, low code simplifies everything. Since minimal coding is involved, there are few bugs and errors. Also, some low-code platforms integrate automated testing, easing the identification of errors. In the long run, it reduces development time.
6. Interconnection
AI, Mobile Technology, Social Media, Big Data, and machine learning have significantly changed our world. Each company needs to make its presence felt. Therefore, they must connect data, processes, people, and devices. And low-code development provides that ideal platform for integrating apps and ensuring they work smoothly with each other. Also, it works with the cloud, facilitating integration with different systems.
Conclusion
Low-code development transforms ideas into reality in record time. This approach is the future of the application development sector due to various reasons, including accelerated development speed, interconnection, flexibility, and cost reduction. So, why wait? Ride on the wave of low-code development today and start enjoying these and more benefits in app development.