No-Code: Bringing Tech and Businesses Together

NoCode is a great concept that allows non-programmers to build applications without becoming software developers; however, some people believe that NoCode will eventually replace traditional coding (i.e. that you can create anything on NoCode platforms). If you start a project with this mindset, you may end up very frustrated.

NoCode is a tool that complements traditional coding in an organization's technology stack. There are certain types of projects that are perfect for NoCode, while others are not even worth considering.

For example, I would strongly advise you not to create a banking application with NoCode. Any developer reading this would probably scoff at the mere mention. Fundamental complexity, data management, and compliance, and security infrastructure for a banking system easily take thousands of developer hours.

So, whether to use NoCode, LowCode, or traditional coding, all depends on the type of project and its requirements.

What is NoCode Good For?

Let's Discuss a few cases that are ideal for the NoCode project.

The most common use case is probably a startup: if you have an application idea that requires you to get to market quickly without spending too much money (for example, launching with a minimum viable product or MVP), NoCode is the ideal platform. You can quickly and cost-effectively turn your idea into a functional product. You can market it, present it to your investors, and start collecting feedback. If you start getting good support, you can hire developers and create a suitable solution. If you don't get any support, at least the idea fails without spending too much time and money.

Another use case for NoCode is small businesses: most small businesses have limited app development budgets and virtually no IT staff. They still need to build applications and tools to support their business beyond the usual applications for standard business practices (e.g. sales, human resources, accounting). I mean applications and tools specific to their business.

NoCode can provide an ideal platform on which these business users can develop and maintain proprietary applications without significant training, investment of time, or experience. Since they usually don't have a large user base, the standard limitations of NoCode platforms shouldn't diminish their effectiveness.

Big business is also a good use case for NoCode. These enterprises have development budgets and IT departments with programmers to handle their application development needs, but most of these resources are devoted to developing and maintaining their core business operations. However, their business units often need specific, limited-use, temporary, and sometimes short-term applications.

These projects are considered tactical as opposed to strategic projects that make up core business applications. When tactical teams reach out to their IT departments with these requests, they often get rejected or receive unreasonably high-cost estimates and long lead times. From an IT perspective, this makes sense because they have limited resources and those resources must be dedicated to core business functions, often resulting in lower priority for tactical application requests. In addition, the cost of these projects must be quite high due to the significant cost of developer resources.

So what do business users do to achieve a goal?

Traditionally, they either do these tasks manually or use software tools like Excel to create a limited version of the application. NoCode is the ideal platform for these users in large organizations to develop their applications without relying on IT resources. They can quickly build their applications and deploy them to their user base. When the application is no longer needed, they can close it. If their application is used more often than originally anticipated and becomes business-critical, which is not uncommon in large organizations, then they can outsource it to their IT staff with a business value validation tool and request a traditional long-term application.

Plus, prototyping core business applications is another solid use case for NoCode platforms. Prototypes are created by developers based on the project requirements set out by the business units. Although they are incomplete versions of software, they can help by providing basic valuable user feedback early in the development of a project and can help steer development in the right direction without wasting too much development time before reaching business users. NoCode platforms can help conserve valuable company resources by allowing business units to create these prototypes and reducing the need to develop detailed requirements. This allows the business units to be more active participants in these projects.

Choose a development platform according to your project requirements

There is no doubt that NoCodeis a powerful concept that helps enterprises save time and money in developingand maintaining applications. NoCode development frameworks will only getbigger and better over time. Smart enterprises use NoCode platforms tocomplement their traditional development platforms depending on theirrequirements, budgets, and timelines.