‘By 2024, low-code application development will be responsible for more than 65% of application development activity’ ~ gartner

Lowcode is a way of generating software without writing a lot of code. Lowcode uses a Graphical Users Interface (GUI) where an application can be built. This visual manner of creating software makes building of applications faster, easier and cheap. Lowcode is very powerful; it is even possible to support a whole process by an application made with lowcode.

Customization vs. Lowcode

A popular and cheap way to support processes in a company is to use generic software. This software is faster to implement and easier to maintain compared to custom software. However, generic software is not completely adapted to the process of the company. Therefore it lacks functionality. In addition, this kind of software is extensive, in the sense that there is only a part of the software that you need to support the process of a company. The remnant is never used by the company, while the company needs to pay for the whole package.

When using customization, the software does match the process exactly and you get exactly what you need, without the unnecessary parts. Disadvantages of customization are that it is more expensive to make and it ages quickly. It is often not flexible and therefore difficult to maintain. Applications are built with a single purpose and not well documented, making reuse of such applications impossible.

Low code combines the best of the two worlds. Low code is based on a specific business process like custom software. It is congenial to the business process and you do not have to pay for redundant parts of the software. In addition, it is as flexible as generic software. It is easy to maintain; Changes in a model or data are no problem and can easily be implemented. Development of applications goes really fast using low code and even reusing of this software can be done easily.

Applications

There are multiple ways of applying lowcode in your organization. First it could be an addition to your existing application landscape. Then an application, created using lowcode, is used as an extention or as replacement of one or multiple applications. It is also possible to support a complete business process using a lowcode solution. In that case you replace your whole application landscape with one system. Starcode built such a system named Your Digital Assistant (YDA).

So, is there a lack of overview in your application landscape? Is there data that has to be entered multiple times? Do you want one system for your whole business process? Is innovation and growth important in your organization? Do you want to optimize your process in a fast way or more overview in your results? Then it is time to use low code.