The future of no code is here
You might be wondering why we, a custom software development company, would be interested in pursuing the industry of no and low code. A lot of agencies like ours see these platforms as a threat to their work, a threat to the integrity of traditional coding and development, and to the clients own security. We can appreciate these concerns, but we have a different approach.
So what’s the difference?
No code solutions are exactly what they say they are — there is absolutely no coding at all required by the user. The app creator (you) defines what the app rather than it does it. Examples of this could be using a template builder website system like Weebly or Wix to build your website. All you need to do is simply drag the template around until it suits your needs. For apps, a popular tool would be App Sheet, which allows you to make simple databases to manage workflows and customers. Google recently bought the company, and we’re excited about where they’ll decide to take it.
Low code solutions are just like no code solutions, except you have the option to do coding. These platforms reduce the amount of hand coding (typing code out by hand), but do still require some to be done. This can be done by a developer, or it may be done by someone on your team who’s keen to learn or enhance their skills. In fact, 66% of low code solution users are actually software developers, and it’s estimated that low code solutions will make up 65% of the marketplace by 2024. There are a few platforms out there that are worth a look at, such as Appian.
What’s the point of hiring us?
You might be thinking, if I can do all of this myself, why would you need to hire a developer? And you’ve got a point. These tools were created to level the playing field, and to create a solution for when there is a lack of expertise out there to sub-contract in for these services. But, like anything, they do have their cons. Below are some important elements that can’t be guaranteed if you don’t use a professional developer.
A secure home for your domain and hosting
Often when you use a website builder like Wix or Weebly, you can buy the domain and organise the hosting straight through the platform. This makes the process of building your website super easy, as it can be quite complicated connecting all of these things together without any training.
Ownership of your code and product
Because the system is built within the one platform, it makes it almost impossible to transfer away from it. If you’ve built a site within Weebly, you aren’t able to take the site or the code elsewhere — it’s got to stay in the one place. This makes it tricky if you’d like a new website designed, or if you have problems with the provider. Not only that, some providers actually own your content once you share it — we see this regularly with platforms like Facebook and Instagram, who conveniently change their rules regularly on this topic. It’s worth reading the fine print of whichever third-party provider you use to see where things stand with your ownership of what you put online.
Choices, choices, choices
When you’re using a system like App Sheet or Wix to build your website, you’re working within a predetermined template, where only a few things can be changed or customised. This can be perfect for smaller projects, but if your organisation is growing in size, it can be tricky to expand upon these systems as your organisation’s needs change. You’re often locked in to whatever is there and, if you need something tailored more to your needs, you might need to engage someone on a custom basis. This is what we call specialised code: code designed just for you and your unique needs — just like a specialist doctor is designed to treat one particular need. Because it’s built 100% from scratch, our team of developers develop the code for not only what how it does it. You don’t get that control when you move to a no or low code solution.
Security is one of our favourite things to talk about here at HutSix; it forms the basis for most of the decisions we make. We do hear, quite often from IT providers, that security just cannot be guaranteed outside of Microsoft Office products — which is a bit dramatic, in our opinion. Security can’t be controlled in any third-party tool, including something like Microsoft and their suite of products. These same fears will apply to no and low code providers, but they are primarily pretty safe and reliable.
Of course, with security there is always the user element, which can be its biggest downfall. We’ve written a lot about this, and having a consolidated IT security plan that is embedded in your workplace culture — just like work health safety guidelines — helps to mitigate this risk.
Why we use no code + low code systems
Like other software agencies, we’ve decided to embrace this technology within our own company and with some of our projects. We have a lot of projects that come through the door that don’t need to have a lot of our team involved, and have a really simple output intention. For these projects, it’s worth us using premade tools that help make not only our lives easier, but our clients lives easier too.
Originally published at https://www.hutsix.com.au on February 15, 2021.
