Digital Transformation: the Revolution in Software Development with Low-Code & No-Code Technologies
This article is the result of teamwork with other Technical Leaders at Flux IT: Ivan Dackiewicz, Gabriel García, and Dario Lacerra. Enjoy the read!
Introduction
In today’s digital era, the demand for agile and efficient technological solutions has led to the emergence of revolutionary approaches in software development. Among these approaches, low-code and no-code have gained popularity as tools that enable companies of all sizes to accelerate their development processes and bring their ideas to market faster than ever. In this article, we will delve deep into these technologies and analyze their benefits and advantages. Additionally, we will share our hands-on experience regarding a solution development with these technologies.
What Are Low-Code and No-Code Technologies?
Low-code and no-code technologies are software development platforms that allow users with different skill levels to craft customized apps with little to no knowledge of traditional coding. These platforms typically offer a methodological approach to software development which focuses on the simplification and acceleration of the development process through intuitive visual interfaces, reusable components, and process automation.
Benefits & Advantages of Low-Code and No-Code Technologies:
- User-friendliness: With visual interfaces and drag-and-drop tools, even users with no programming experience can develop functional apps. It is worth noting that each of these platforms presents a lower learning curve compared to traditional development.
- Development speed: These platforms make it possible to develop apps much faster than traditional software development methods. Much of the manual coding work is eliminated.
- Flexibility and customization: Despite their simplicity, these technologies offer great flexibility and customization possibilities. Users can easily integrate external services, customize app appearance, and adjust its functionality according to specific business needs.
- Cost reduction: By speeding up the development process and allowing people with different skills to contribute to the project, the costs associated with traditional software development can be significantly reduced.
- Scalability: These platforms are highly scalable, meaning that apps developed with low-code and no-code technologies can easily grow and adapt as business needs evolve.
- Simplified development: Time optimization through the use of pre-designed components and reusable templates for quick development and deployment.
- User empowerment: They allow a variety of users, from Business Analysts to experienced Developers, to contribute to the app’s development process.
- Agility: They reduce the gap between business users and Devs through visual interfaces that promote effective communication and collaboration.
- Accelerated delivery time: With shorter development cycles, we can innovate more rapidly and adapt more agilely to changing market demands. They enable rapid iteration and modification.
- Collaboration improvement: These technologies foster collaboration among multidisciplinary teams by providing a common platform for app development and maintenance.
When to Use these Technologies
Implementing solutions with these technologies may be appropriate in a variety of situations, particularly when we need to develop apps quickly and we have limited development resources.
Some cases in which the use of these technologies may be beneficial include:
- Prototyping: When we need to create prototypes of certain solutions to validate their viability and make a quick presentation.
- Business applications: Many organizations have specific needs to manage internal processes or to perform specific tasks related to their business.
- MVP development: They are technologies that allow us to develop a new product with minimal features to quickly obtain feedback from users. They make it possible for us to develop MVPs in a short time and with fewer resources.
It is worth noting that while low-code/no-code allow us to provide effective solutions as we previously mentioned, they may not be suitable for some projects with high complexity that require a high degree of customization.
Case Study
We share with you a case study on a solution for a work order management system for the repair of electronic equipment in which we implemented a solution with low-code + no-code.
Development
Identification of Challenges
- Understanding and comprehending the main use cases.
- Narrowing down the solution for the research process.
- Features:
- User registration.
- User login.
- Customer registration.
- Product registration for customers.
- Work order creation for customers.
- Simplified work order dashboard.
Low-Code + No-Code Platform Selection
Several low-code/no-code technologies that allow us to work on separate layers (front end & back end) were analyzed and evaluated. In the analysis, we assessed a series of factors that we considered necessary so as to address projects with low-code/no-code techs: development agility, flexibility and customization, scalability, and performance. Based on these aspects, we selected the following platforms to tackle the app’s end-to-end implementation:
- XANO for back end (no-code): a platform to quickly develop a REST API and make it available for integration with a front end.
- FlutterFlow (low-code): to develop the app’s front end and integrate it with the API.
App Design
- The team used the FlutterFlow platform to design a customized app.
- Interactive forms were created for data capture, automated workflows, and customized control panels.
- Pre-designed templates offered by the platform were used.
App Testing and Implementation
- The app was implemented in a testing environment, and it was made available for internal testing.
Deployment and Adoption:
- The app was deployed, and a workshop on these technologies was provided. With the use of these technologies, we managed to deploy an end-to-end solution within a two-week period, which, if done with a traditional approach, would have required another time and team dimension.
- The adoption of a new development practice was promoted with low-code & no-code technologies.
Conclusion
To sum up, using low-code/no-code technologies to develop solutions for our clients help us accelerate delivery processes, adapt quickly to client needs, reduce operational costs, and foster innovation in departmental practices. However, we believe it is important to carefully evaluate the specific needs of each client and project requirements to determine the feasibility of using these technologies in each case.
