Lowcode: what is it?

The demand in apps is exploding… It is far superior to the current capacity of development structures and the vogue for mobile apps only made this request worse. Thereby, IDC estimated at more than 500 million the number of applications put into service in the year 2022 and this corresponds to the number of applications developed during the previous 4 decades! On his side, Whenary claims that 82% of companies fail to attract and retain computer engineers and developers required.

As a result of such a situation, in most large companies, the IT department finds itself bombarded with requests from executives or employees. CIOs (IT Departments) generally have neither the time nor the human resources to respond to these various requests.

The horrors of “shadow IT”

Failing to obtain satisfaction, the “shadow IT” tends to proliferate: everyone ends up creating themselves or having the application they feel they need created by using tools such as Excel, Google Forms or by calling on the programming talents of a loved one. Applications are multiplying in an anarchic way in a company with unfortunate consequences:

• information that would be vital to other employees is not available to them;
• several frameworks carry out similar applications in parallel;
• the data is in no way secure and therefore susceptible to hacking.

The low-code solution

Low-code platforms provide a solution to this question. As its name suggests, this technology makes it possible to design applications with as little programming as possible, and therefore to easily automate certain tasks. This type of development does not require the use of a programming language. It is based on easily accessible graphical interfaces. This approach promotes the development of applications in a reduced time.

Does low-code make application development accessible to everyone? Not really. In reality, some expertise is required. The training time, however, is very short: in a survey conducted in 2018, publisher Mendix found that 28% of users could learn low-code in two weeks or less — and even 3 days would be enough to train what is called a “rapid developer” Mendix. Many American universities have also integrated the teaching of low-code into business courses.

Low code and no code

A distinction is made between “low-code” and “no-code” which, for its part, does not require any IT skills whatsoever. For example, an ultra-simple form entry without any data verification could be achieved with a “no code” tool.

“Low-code”, for its part, involves computer logic and therefore:

• value tests: thus a year of birth could never be greater than the current year;
• actions that will be performed depending on conditions;
• “loops” or repetitive actions;
• Etc.

For example, a form entry in “low-code” could integrate a test of the city to see if it is well listed in France and once this city is validated, the postal code would be displayed automatically. Therefore, it is necessary that the “low-code” developer understands how computer logic works if he wants to achieve large-scale applications.

Low-code under control

The ease of development from low-code tools such as Outsystems, Mendix Platform, Pega Infinity or Microsoft Power Apps could itself produce a form of “shadow IT” with a plethora of applications carried out in an uncontrolled manner.

In order to avoid this situation, the initiative to install such a tool generally comes from the IT department, which identifies upstream which types of low-code problems would be able to be solved. From there, it is possible to determine the desirable level of expertise and therefore to train certain employees in the use of tools such as Mendix or Power Platform.

Subsequently, when a user requests an application, IT intervenes at the beginning and at the end of the process. Thus, the DSI will be able to link the application to the company’s databases while ensuring that the security rules are respected:

• what information is confidential and should therefore be inaccessible to the low-code application?
• which can be freely consulted?
• which can be updated by the low-code application?

Once these rules are established, 90% of the project is carried out by the employee who needs the application. The DSI, for its part, can manage usage monitoring and application maintenance.

This approach results in optimized development time — on average 10 times faster than going through code according to Forrester. The publisher Mendix who conducted his own investigation in 2018 showed that 72% of those deploying new applications completed them in about three months with low-code where it would take six or more with traditional development tools.

Another advantage: when a new technology appears, for example, the control of iOT (Internet of Things) objects, low-code applications take care to integrate the appropriate interfaces. The company recovers secure applications of professional level, without having to call on an expert developer of a language such as JavaC++, PHP…

Reasons for the popularity of low-code

Six main reasons explain the popularity of low-code:

1. Users can have an application that meets their needs.
2. This application is done quickly.
3. It is made at a lower cost. According Whenarythe operating cost of low-code can go down to around 25 euros per month, while it exceeds 5,000 euros for the usual business software.
4. Insofar as they intervene on the desired design, users appreciate being in control of their application. Everyone has the satisfaction of being able to design the interface exactly as they wish: if they want a red button instead of a blue one, five lines on the screen for data entry instead of three, they have complete design freedom. . As a result, the application derives great value from their eyes.
5. A wise use of low-code systems avoids having to constantly “reinvent the wheel” by generating a homogenization of the “development bricks”: once the rules have been implemented in a tool, it is not necessary to redefine when creating another tool.
6. Data entered by an employee via its application can benefit other applications.

Low-code is on the rise

According Gartner, by 2023, there should be 4 times more non-professional developers than professional programmers in large companies. And Forester estimates that “low code” represents 75% of new enterprise applications since the end of 2021.

The 4/5^e of American companies are already using low-code and even 77% world level. Finally, Whenary estimates the low code market at $65 billion in 2027 and even $187 billion in 2030.