It’s no secret that low-code platforms have revolutionized the world of application development (AppDev), enabling everyday business users, sometimes referred to as “citizen developers,” to create custom solutions quickly and efficiently. Through visual interfaces and pre-built templates, these citizen developers can now handle crucial business processes that were once confined to IT departments and required extensive training. This development helps organizations integrate and automate their essential processes into cohesive frameworks.
Why Low-Code Platforms Are Becoming Increasingly Popular
Today’s IT landscape is filled with multiple applications, each with its own development frameworks and APIs. Complex business processes often span these applications, requiring multiple tools and interfaces for a single task and slowing down the time to value. Low-code development simplifies this complexity by allowing teams to build custom applications precisely to their needs, consolidating and streamlining tasks into a unified process. This approach not only boosts productivity and agility across enterprises but also enhances user focus and adaptability, delivering solutions that meet business demands promptly. Additionally, maintenance costs are drastically reduced because these platforms often come with built-in automated testing capabilities.
Unlocking Team Member Potential
Low-code platforms not only benefit the business but also empower team members by expanding their capabilities. Legacy applications, which often become cumbersome over time, are easier for non-technical team members to manage independently using low-code development. This autonomy reduces reliance on IT support, boosting job satisfaction and engagement as team members find new ways to contribute. As team members develop their low-code skills, they gain deeper alignment with projects and utilize their domain expertise in the process, enabling them to make valuable suggestions and contribute more effectively to company goals.
Maximizing Returns from Low-Code Development
While technical expertise will remain critical, features such as drag-and-drop visual process chains and guided wizards now streamline automation and democratize workflow management. If leveraged correctly, companies can harness once-hidden citizen developers within their teams for faster innovation and adaptation without relying solely on traditional IT interventions. Here are three immediate ways organizations can leverage low-code automation for citizen developer advancement and drive business agility.
Find the Value
Meet with your teams to identify which parts of your IT environment would most benefit from technological updates. Establish a strategy to ensure that each subsequent step supports business goals and feeds into your product plan. While the resources dedicated to low-code efforts may come at the expense of other processes in the beginning, it’s crucial that each update serves a direct purpose to avoid wasted time. This is the time to analyze options for a low-code platform and find the solution that works best for your needs, maximizing ROI.
Crawl, Walk, Run
Leaders should aim for easy wins at the outset of low-code attempts. After identifying areas for low-code applications, consider prioritizing the most time-consuming tasks spread throughout multiple processes. Manual data management tasks, approvals, and notifications are prime candidates for early low-code projects. Automating these workflows will expedite processes and free team members to work on tasks requiring human validation. From there, move to more complex workflows necessary to your business, like supply chain management or claims processing. As the team grows more accustomed to the tools, they can start tackling increasingly sophisticated projects.
Create an Infrastructure for Scalability
It’s well-known that low-code platforms have transformed the application development (AppDev) landscape by empowering everyday business users, also known as “citizen developers,” to create custom solutions swiftly and effectively. Thanks to visual interfaces and pre-built templates, these citizen developers now manage critical business processes that traditionally required the expertise of IT departments and extensive training. This capability has allowed organizations to seamlessly integrate and automate their vital processes into cohesive, unified frameworks.
The ability of low-code platforms to simplify AppDev has far-reaching implications. Before, the development of business applications was a task limited to personnel with technical skills, which often created bottlenecks and slowed down innovation. Now, with the barrier to entry significantly lowered, a broader segment of the workforce can engage in AppDev, accelerating problem-solving and enhancing productivity. As a result, companies can respond more dynamically to changing market demands and internal needs. By streamlining the development process, low-code platforms not only increase efficiency but also foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and agility across various departments.
