Enterprise on Low-Code: 6 reasons companies should go for low-code development

According to Gartner's research, by 2023, more than half of all medium and large-sized businesses will select a low-code development platform as one of their strategic application platforms. The main reason for this decision is the need for simpler and faster development of complex enterprise solutions that will be easier to integrate, modify and upgrade so that companies can adapt more quickly to changes in the market, legislation, or customer needs.

The disruption created by COVID has hastened the tendency. Companies that did not previously have low-code platform systems could not easily and quickly adapt their ERP system to the new challenges of remote operation. On the other hand, companies that already had a low-code platform adapted significantly faster.

According to a KPMG study, the percentage of company executives who said low- and no-code development platforms are their most significant automation investment has nearly quadrupled, growing from 10% to 26%.

The low-code development platform market is growing, and one of the industries recording significant growth is BFSI. This industry is expected to expand at the fastest CAGR throughout the forecast period. Low-code platform adoption is driven by new regulatory rules, new services that companies offer to customers, better customer service, and so on. Because customer service is one of the most crucial elements in client acquisition and retention in the BFSI market, organizations are using low-code development platforms and services to increase automation in customer service business operations.

One example of successful low-code implementation in the banking sector is our case study – A solution for fast and efficient loan services.

According to MarketsandMarkets, this industry is always offering new and better financial goods and services to boost its company operations, making it appealing for low-code development platform suppliers to deliver sophisticated solutions.

As we can see, low-code app development is becoming increasingly popular, and for a good reason.

IDC created a study about the business values of low-code development and intelligent process automation with Appian, a leader in Gartner’s 2020 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platform. The results are following:

• Payback period is 7 months
• 62-72% faster development lifecycle
• 25% higher productivity
• 123% more productive business process teams
• $14.80M in higher revenue per organization per year
• 509% five-year ROI

Companies are switching to low-code development platforms because they have numerous benefits over traditional development tools and allow for the rapid production of sophisticated, enterprise-grade applications. Let us take a look at some of the benefits that low-code platforms bring.

1. Faster time-to-market

The time it takes to go from original concept to final product - whether it is a product, a website, or an app – is referred to as time to market. 

The most significant advantage of low-code development is its ability to accelerate the development of the application. With low-code platforms, the complete enterprise-grade apps can be developed in days instead of months.

In fact, according to Forrester, low-code platforms enable software development as much as ten times faster than other, traditional methods. 

Low-code platforms come with pre-built UI templates, data models, drag-and-drop possibility, etc., which significantly helps in reducing the time required for developing an application. 

2. Increased productivity

Intelligent automation capabilities enable businesses to automate and monitor operations, requiring considerably less employee participation in these tasks. This automation also allows them to rapidly build and automate workflows by combining people, technology, and data in one place. Overall, this leads to better governance of process environment, which improves consistency, agility, and operational performance.

Teams in charge of business processes may now manage more than twice as much work as before, allowing them to devote more time to development and other business activities.

3. Budget-friendly 

Costs are reduced because of the possibility of developing more apps in less time. But that is not the only factor. 

Businesses may create apps in less time and less work with low code, lowering operating expenses and cutting costs. Furthermore, low-code application creation is less complex than traditional coding. This decreases businesses' dependency on software developers and minimizes the need for additional ones, which lowers the cost of recruiting. All of this saves money for the company and makes everyone who works there more productive.

Furthermore, the proper low-code platform may boost productivity across the entire company, not just in IT.

4. Accelerated innovation

Technology-based innovation is becoming increasingly important to today's organizations. As a result, there is an increasing demand for software development that can operate in rapidly changing settings and at the same time meet consumer expectations.

Simultaneously, the complexity of systems and the IT environment and limited development capacity make it difficult to satisfy these growing expectations.

Low-code development platforms use a visual approach to enable model-based software development rather than traditional software code writing. This not only speeds up the development and reduces time to market, but it also frees up time for skilled professionals and makes software development more responsive and available to the business. 

5. Easy maintenance

The cost of software maintenance is determined by modifications made to the software after it has been provided to the end-user. The program does not have an expiration date, but it does become less valuable as it ages, and there will always be bugs in the software. The maintenance includes:

• Improving software performance by minimizing mistakes.
• Removing unnecessary lines of code.
• Using advanced development techniques.

The cost of software maintenance will generally account for 75% of the total cost of ownership.

In case the application is created with a low-code platform, after launching, it automatically includes the most recent interface and security standards and works on the most recent mobile devices and cloud platforms, reducing the need to adapt apps for different settings and operating systems.

New apps do not contribute to the pile of technical debt that is overburdening IT departments. Upgrades, security certifications, regulatory inspections, and performance concerns are managed automatically by the platform, simplifying maintenance needs.

6. Customer satisfaction

Low-Code's relevance in the consumer experience is quickly becoming recognized by companies. Customers and market share are critical to a company's success. Customer satisfaction and experience enhancement should be a priority for all businesses. With the aid of Low-Code platforms, there are several approaches to achieve maximum consumer satisfaction utilizing technical means.

Low-code development platforms make it simpler for businesses to create customer-friendly apps and perform complex tasks more rapidly. Low-Code makes coding more accessible and relieves the burden on software developers. Organizations' apps are designed to keep up with the speed of their consumers and employees.

The firm will attract more clients if it adapts swiftly to new changes and provides them with all the latest trends, which will improve customers' relationships with the company.

Low-code platforms give tools and frameworks for a quick, creative, and effective way of developing applications. With the advancements in performance and maturity of these platforms, the quality of the developed applications is improving by the day.

But before you start with low-code, you need to choose the right platform that will meet the company's needs. Below are some of the most common reasons for adopting a low-code development platform:

• Faster Time-to-market
• Frequent changes in market or user requirements
• Complicated business processes that need to be automated
• Increasing code security and quality
• Multiple different data sources need to be consolidated without migrating the data itself
• Significant legal regulation of the market and rapid adaptation to its changes
• Reduction of system maintenance time to design and build new solutions

With the right platform, companies will be able to create production-ready apps in hours rather than days or months. The trend and need for low-code platforms seem to be on the rise, and that will continue to do so in the days ahead.

Out teams' expertise, up-to-date knowledge, and the fact that we are a proud Appian partner enable us to fully utilize low-code development capabilities. If you are considering a low-code platform and need further consultation about its implementation, let us know.