Digital transformation is the most important force driving innovation in the 21st century. Today’s fast paced business world requires quick solutions and accelerated applications. Businesses are using digital transformation to streamline services, increase productivity, and drive revenue growth. The success of these transformations is redefining the competitive landscape. Other organizations worry they will be unable to adapt to the changing landscape. Some of these organizations find digital transformation challenging to implement and fail to meet the moment. These failures are particularly threatening to their customer relationships. A study by McKinsey and Co showed that 70% of transformation projects fail to meet some of their goals!
No-Code software development should ameliorate these issues once and for all. The unprecedented speed with which No-Code solutions can be created and deployed is allowing for digital transformation at any time scale. These deployments are characterized by intense modularity and agility. In addition, they foster an environment of strong and efficient communication between software engineers and business managers. This allows for the full diversity of stakeholders to input their specialized skills and personal expertise into the process. The final products are digital transformations that can happen instantaneously and suit the needs of all stakeholders perfectly on the first try. A recent report by Forrester shows that the use of no-code and low-code technology is increasing and is expected to become a $10 billion market. Here is what you need to know about the No-Code and Low-Code development:
What is No-Code Software Development?
Typical coding software development requires deep knowledge of computer science. Programmers often need to study for about 5 years before they are ready to work as a software developer. This often includes formal study in universities or bootcamps. The bulk of the studying is towards learning computer programming languages. Computer languages allow for a developer to communicate with a computer and tell it what to do. Each computer programming language has its own grammar which can be as difficult to learn as any foreign language. The most popular languages are ones like Python, R, Java, and Julia.
No-Code and Low-Code software development is different in that it doesn’t require deep knowledge of computer science. No-Code and Low-Code software development platforms provide pre-configuration and a graphical user interface to allow people to build systems that use code without actually writing the underlying code. The people can tell the system what to do by using natural language, selecting icons, and playing around with different settings. These point-and-click processes are available on platforms built for novices and beginners. This process often requires little training and is very intuitive. The people who build these programs often don’t meet the standard definition of programmers or software developers. Instead, they can come from diverse backgrounds with their own specialized knowledge, knowledge that few programmers could have had the time to acquire.
How No-Code Software Development helps?
1. Quicker Design Times
Typical coding is a long and tedious process. The planning and preparation process for software projects is often enormous. Business developers must communicate their goals to software developers. Those software developers often had no previous reason to learn about the area of work involved in the project. Software developers can either try to get a crash course in the subject or jump headfirst into the project. If they jump headfirst, they risk a miscommunication which could require retooling the entire project. Expert programmers can often only produce 10-20 lines of code per workday. Typical projects require thousands of lines of code. After the writing is finished, testing is required which can be a long process and often requires going back to step one.
The first stage that No-Code software speeds up is the planning and preparation phase. The difficult decisions about which language to write the program in or how to structure the design can be deferred to the designers of the platform. The next step that gets accelerated is the writing of code. A single point-and-click action might represent hundreds of lines of complicated code. Software Developers find it easy to breeze through thousands of lines of tedious code in a single day when using these systems. Finally, the systems are designed to work right away with no chance of a compiler error.
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2. No Implementation Problems
IT departments spend a tremendous amount of time trying to fix implementation issues. These issues include programs that don’t run properly, hardware that doesn’t communicate effectively, and users who can’t understand complicated procedures. No-code software development can improve the productivity of your IT department and lessen their workload with innovative techniques. No-Code software is built for easy and streamlined applications. It includes predictive processes that know the places where implementation issues are likely to occur and prevent them before they take place. In addition, compliance issues can be streamlined and sorted out ahead of time.
3. No Viruses or Security Flaws
No-Code software is built to withstand cybersecurity attacks by utilizing dedicated and reliable best-practices. No-Code software platforms work by only providing software that is thoroughly vetted. Instead of producing software that is unlike anything your cybersecurity team has ever seen before, No-Code and Low-Code software is well tested for vulnerabilities and flaws. Teams of dedicated professionals are well aware of all the possible areas of variation and build platforms that only create hack-proof code. This hack-proof code would be nearly impossible to build on custom software outside of the platform. On a platform, cybersecurity is well handled and not a major concern.
4. Input from Subject-Matter Experts
Subject-matter experts have precious little time to learn about software development. Software development is a separate and autonomous set of skills for most work that goes on in a typical company. It is unrealistic to expect software developers to know about finance or accounting or manufacturing. But it is also impossible to build a great software product without being an expert in the field the project will be used for.
With No-Code or Low-Code development, subject-matter experts can become the developers, adding their expertise to programs that almost write themselves. The difference between having an expert and a non-expert building a program can be massive. Experts can find ways to automate complicated processes that generalists often do not know exist. In turn, the workload on the IT team can go down and open time to focus on more pressing concerns. Many systems really do need to be built by a subject-matter expert.
5. Effective Communication between Departments
The biggest timewaster on most software development projects is failures of communication. Software developers know what the program will look like but often can’t explain it to business staff until it is fully finished. Business staff know what the program needs to look like but don’t know what parts need to be made clear to the developers. When a requirement is not specified correctly, the whole system might need to be rebuilt.
With No-Code software development, developers and business staff can sort out requirements in real-time. In some cases, the business staff can even act as the developers, eliminating the possibility of miscommunication entirely. This can cut development time as business staff often have a deep store of tacit knowledge that developers couldn’t have had. In turn, as developers, the business team doesn’t misunderstand the project and can work with a clear idea of project timeframes and the difficulty-levels of different possible design tradeoffs.
How to get started with No-Code Software Development?
Many people get fooled into thinking that because the fact it takes little training to build No-Code means that software experts aren’t required. On the contrary, setting up a No-Code software development project often requires a skilled hand. Before the benefits of speed and subject-matter expert input can be attained, a great development system must be set up that will enable a smooth process. To set up a great development system, it helps to have trained experts who know the limits and possibilities of this technology. Once these systems are in place, work that would have taken years to build can easily be finished in a handful of meetings with collaborative input.
ISHIR is a leader in No-Code software development and ready to help with any project big or small! We can guide your team through all of the most popular platforms and toolkits! Contact us today to find out more!