What is a low-code platform and why should you care?
A low-code platform is an application that provides a graphical user interface for building software products with the goal of making the software development process easier and faster for the IT department.
Although the term “low-code platform” emerged around 2014, the concept isn’t a new one. There has always been “power users” among business users who see an opportunity to optimize a process and take it upon themselves to create their own application. To do so, they often dabble in technologies such as Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming in Microsoft Excel. The low-code platform expands that philosophy from only the most tech-savvy of workers to any average employee who sees a business problem or process that a simple app could optimize and solve, and sets out to build it themselves.
As low-code platforms are visual environments then it requires less development knowledge and even business professionals can plan and manage workflow applications. With the simplified, component-based library of low-coding solutions, each user can drag-and-drop the chosen pre-developed element into the required place, while connecting the elements, as defined by the logic of the workflow.
What are the best low-code platforms?
Let’s take a look at some of the best low-code platforms. We used articles from Software Testing Help and PC Mag to compile the short overview. I suggest reading their in-depth analysis of each platform.
Appian
Tagline: Automate more codeless. Deliver powerful business applications, faster.
Website: https://www.appian.com/
Both sites listed Appian in their top ten of low-code tools, Software Testing Help ranked it as 1st and PC Mag as 2nd. Appian features an easy to use drag and drop user interface to build smart applications that will improve the business, customer engagement, and worker efficiency. It is more expensive than some other platforms, but it will speed up the complex application development with it’s native AI and machine learning services.
Mendix
Tagline: Low-code Application Development platform.
Website: https://www.mendix.com/
Mendix is ranked 4th on both lists and it can take care of the entire software development lifecycle as it also includes tools for project management and software testing. Mendix also features an App Store, prebuilt templates, and integrations which help you to speed up the development process.
Zoho Creator
Tagline: Build business applications faster with a low-code development platform
Website: https://www.zoho.com/creator/low-code-platform
Zoho Creator is ranked 1st on the PC Mag and 5th in Software Testing Help. One of the main benefits of Zoho Creator is out-of-the-box integrations with other Zoho products. If you are already using any of their products then it is a no-brainer to use Zoho Creator to automate your workflows between different tools.
Conclusion
With the use of a low-code platform, you can focus on your company’s digital transformation and back-office development instead of struggling with the limitation of resources. Low-code applications can seamlessly integrate into legacy systems, so you can easily extend their functionality to the whole company. All tools mentioned above let you convert business logic into functional workflows in minutes. All of them feature a full drag-and-drop user interface and also allow you to write code to complete more complex tasks. Low-code platforms allow collaborate across teams and role-based access controls keep your business secure and your work streamlined.
