Tag: Low code

How to Gain 10x Productivity By Utilizing These 2 Time-Saving Tools | Entrepreneur

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Research shows developers focus less on learning and mastery and more on productivity five years into their careers. And low-code tools can help them accomplish that.

According to IDC, low-code tools can increase productivity by 123%. Furthermore, companies that utilize low-code platforms can speed up their dev lifecycle for new applications and features by 62% and 72%, respectively.

However, traditional low-code (and no-code) platforms introduce proprietary languages, requiring developers to learn a new language from scratch. This can take 6 to 12 months, depending on its complexity, desired level of proficiency and the developer’s prior experience.

Related: I Left Google to Pursue No-Code — Here’s How It Changed My Perspective on Bringing Products to Life

A StackOverflow survey recently found that over 60% of developers utilize JavaScript. This makes the case for more low-code platforms that empower JavaScript developers. Doing so could set the stage for a significant boost in their productivity and efficiency.

The benefits of a low-code platform that incorporates JavaScript include the following:

1. Reduced learning curve

JavaScript eliminates the need for developers to learn new languages. Leveraging their existing knowledge of JavaScript and its framework constructs, these platforms offer a familiar environment, allowing developers to adapt quickly and spend time on more critical tasks.

Considering that Forrester’s Total Economic Impact study revealed that low-code platforms increase developer efficiency by 62% over three years, just imagine the impact a JavaScript-centric platform could have.

Related: Why Entrepreneurs Use No-Code To Launch MVPs

2. Access to a larger talent pool

As the world’s most popular programming language, JavaScript has a community of more than 17 million developers worldwide. A low-code platform designed for JavaScript can help businesses tap into a massive talent pool while streamlining recruitment efforts.

Companies will not only improve their agility but can also significantly reduce their costs. An Edelman Assembly study confirms that 87% of CIOs and IT pros say low code cuts their costs. JavaScript-compatible platforms can help teams do more, even in difficult hiring markets. 45% of IT pros told Forrester they first adopted low-code platforms to compensate for staff shortages.

3. The elimination of redundant work

JavaScript streamlines the development process, eliminating repetitive tasks and improving overall efficiency. These actions save valuable time and accelerate the development process.

UI components: Developers can assemble applications quickly using pre-built, customizable elements, saving time on front-end development.

Application infrastructure: Developers can leverage pre-built, configurable application services such as authentication, role-based access controls, notifications and more to accelerate and improve development processes.

Simplified backend integration: Built-in APIs and connectors allow developers to easily integrate applications with existing systems and databases, eliminating the need to write complex backend code from scratch.

These features jibe with a survey conducted by TechRepublic that illuminates how developers plan to use low-code and no-code tools. 15% want to speed up development time, 14% want to automate data collection and reporting, and 17% want to automate workflows.

Related: Automation Is Becoming a Business Imperative: Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late

4. Reduced errors with pre-packaged, fully integrated components

Stable, reliable and secure components — whether UI or application infrastructure — let developers build applications confidently. By reducing errors and promoting code quality, developers can concentrate on their core tasks and drive innovation.

5. Less maintenance

Combining low-code tools and JavaScript reduces the code needed, resulting in easier maintenance. With fewer bugs, streamlined debugging and faster updates, maintenance costs decrease and development cycles become more efficient. This gain is critically important as a Harris Poll/Stripe survey found developers spend at least 42% of their time maintaining and debugging code.

Related: 4 Reasons Low-Code Tools Will Never Replace Software Developers

6. A focus on the development that matters most

With no need for specialized skills, developers can refine their JavaScript expertise, produce higher-quality code and drive innovation — creating more value for their organizations. Low code eliminates unnecessary distractions, repetitive tasks and time spent on developing non-unique elements of a project.

7. An entire ecosystem to leverage

Developers can use abundant libraries and tools to rapidly build and enhance their applications, boost productivity and accelerate innovation by leveraging familiar technologies instead of proprietary solutions.

Related: 5 Things Your Agency Must Know Before Establishing a Low-Code Practice

8. Future-proofed applications

Low-code platforms with JavaScript at their core ensure applications remain adaptable to future technological changes. JavaScript’s wide usage and continuous evolution make it a future-proof choice. Adopting a platform that embraces this language offers long-term viability and resilience as the underlying computing architecture is continuously enhanced and improving, giving developers the confidence their applications will remain relevant.

9. Built-in security and compliance

A JavaScript-centric low-code platform has built-in security and compliance features, enabling developers to build secure applications that meet industry standards and regulations. By saving time and effort, these platforms can offer peace of mind for both developers and organizations.

By choosing a low-code platform compatible with the world’s 17-million-plus JavaScript developers, businesses can unlock a 10X productivity boost — and solve the problem of a global developer shortage.

In addition, a JavaScript-based low-code platform fosters a strong sense of community and collaboration, enabling developers to learn from one another and share best practices. This collaborative environment improves code quality, accelerates problem-solving and provides a more enjoyable development experience.

Ultimately, utilizing a low-code platform designed exclusively for JavaScript developers will empower them to be more productive and drive innovation rapidly. By adopting this approach, organizations can maximize their investment in their development teams, delivering cutting-edge applications and solutions that set them apart in the market.

Albert Santalo

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July 14, 2023
Podcast: Credit unions, banks look to no-code solutions | Bank Automation News

Credit unions and smaller financial institutions are looking to no-code technology options to digitalize member experiences in order to stay competitive with fewer resources and less capital. No-code solutions allow smaller organizations to deploy technology in days or weeks rather than months or years, Creatio Chief Growth Officer Andie Dovgan tells Bank Automation News in […]

Whitney McDonald

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May 16, 2023
3 Tips for Determining if Low Code is Right for You | Entrepreneur
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Low-code platforms can help digital agencies deliver client projects faster while increasing their margins and reducing reliance on scarce, expensive software development talent.

The intuitive “a-ha” about low code is that it lets developers spend more time writing the code that truly differentiates instead of working on the non-unique elements of a project, which can easily win over the productivity-minded who want to be as effective and efficient as possible. Instead of performing repetitive tasks, low code allows these developers to focus on the work and the code that truly matters.

Of course, some developers are “purists.” They have a strong tendency for control and choice over the tech stack while coding everything from scratch. They constantly keep up with libraries and frameworks to improve productivity, but the complexity and maintainability can cause headaches and add cost.

Related: 5 Things Your Agency Must Know Before Establishing a Low-Code Practice

So how can your agency find its way forward with low-code advocates and opponents on your payroll? Below are considerations as you begin to strategize and plan for building a low-code practice:

Evaluating if low code is for you

Embracing low code is a strategic decision for your agency. Creating alignment amongst key principals is as important as selecting your low-code partners.
1. Bring the appropriate stakeholders together to discuss expectations, concerns, next steps, etc.
2. Find one or more developers open to exploring what’s possible outside of traditional development. Have them build the MVP or part of a client project over a few days and evaluate learnings.
3. Take note of the productivity gained during the development phase and evangelize it for greater internal adoption.
4. Create talking points around the potential competitive edge, estimated bid-to-win ratio, expected margins, etc.
Evaluating low-code platforms

It’s also important to bring key stakeholders from the low-code evaluation phase into the platform selection process. There are various dimensions for evaluating which low-code platform is suitable for your agency and your customers; some include:
- Economics – Will the platform’s pricing work for you and your customer profiles? Some may have high entry-level pricing designed for enterprise-level customers. Alternatively, others may be more affordable during the development phase and scale up in production due to compliance/security and runtime.
- Agency process – Does the platform feature capabilities built for agencies, such as:
  
  Multi-tenant use/views across clients.
  
  Workflows for transferring ownership and payment method of client projects.
  
  Hybrid client and agency team management.
  
  Ability to create agency-specific template libraries.
- Learning curve – How quickly can your team onboard and learn the platform? Is it something new or a better way of doing what they know?
- Developer experience – Will your developers feel constrained by the platform or feel like it enhances their productivity and ability to accomplish necessary tasks without extra workarounds or clunky architectural patterns?
- Client experience – Is using a low-code platform beneficial for your client and agency?
Related: Low-Code and No-Code Design Is the Future of Website Building

Preparing for sales

P&S Intelligence predicts a low-code compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31.1% through 2030. Plan how to capture a slice of the $187B low-code market revenue predicted over this period.

Here are several helpful activities for new go-to-market motion in sales:
1. Sales collateral – Update your sales deck(s) or proposal template(s) to include messaging around how low code empowers productivity, development, and more. Consider how it adds to your existing value proposition. Include product literature and success stories from your preferred low-code platform.
2. Website – Update your website to reflect your low-code value proposition and partners. You may even build specific landing pages to optimize for SEO.
3. Template library – Build a library of pre-packaged low-code templates that represent the intellectual property you have built up either in preparation for opportunities or in the process of serving them. This library will become your most valuable asset for rapidly delivering new business.
4. Customer discovery – Talk to your best relationships to get feedback on this new offering without selling them on it. Ask for their help. If their interest in exploring is high, you may convert some of these to actual customers.
5. Case studies – Document your success stories and include them in your future sales materials. Be sure to educate your broader team on them continually.
6. Training – Educate your team on how to identify low-code opportunities and how to sell them.
7. ROI calculator – Develop a calculator for sales scenarios that depict the economics involved in traditional development versus low-code development.
8. Lead generation – The best way to see how a low-code platform can transform your agency business is to start with a live opportunity. In addition to sourcing a client yourself, some low-code platform companies offer partnership programs and marketplaces. Others will bring your firm leads they’ve secured.
9. Selling low code – Traditional agency sales work is a highly consultative process focused on people, past work, and methodologies. Bridging the “trust gap” is often the greatest inhibitor to closing a deal.
Once you’ve successfully executed your first project, weave this new mindset into the rest of your agency. Continue the virtuous cycle of low-code education, template development, talent development, and sales to transform the business with higher profit margins and greater client satisfaction.

With low-code tools, agencies have the opportunity to move past conversations. Imagine showing a client how their project comes to life rapidly rather than simply discussing it. That’s because the right low-code tools can provide many of the building blocks in real time.

Organizing for low-code sales takes a slightly different approach. You will want to include sales engineers capable of rapidly embracing a client’s requirements and building a mock-up of the application using the low-code platform and perhaps a template library built by your agency in anticipation of such opportunities. Lastly, the low-code company’s marketing and sales support can often bolster your agency’s efforts.

Low-risk, high reward

Thanks to low code, you can offer clients more frequent CX iterations, decrease complexity, and accelerate time to market. This edge can lead to more wins, lower risk for your agency, and higher client satisfaction.
Albert Santalo

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May 15, 2023
MSU credit union updates CX with low-code, no-code generated solution | Bank Automation News

Michigan State University Federal Credit Union is launching a personalized digital banking experience in the fall developed using a low-code, no-code digital banking solution by Nextly. The solution allows $7.3 billion, East Lansing, Mich.-based credit union to provide customers with faster search functionality and financial insights while giving the credit union the ability to tailor […]

Brian Stone

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April 13, 2023
5 Things Your Agency Must Know Before Establishing a Low-Code Practice | Entrepreneur
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Gartner predicts that 70% of new software applications will be built using low-code or no-code platforms over the next three years. Adoption will have surged by almost 45% when compared to 2020 data. What’s driving this growth?

Along with the high demand for new applications, the global developer shortage and resource costs are undoubtedly playing a role. In response, digital agencies, consultancies and other software development firms need cost-effective ways to create software while reducing complexity and risks.

Why low code?

Low-code platforms can deliver significant productivity boosts while enabling developers to configure many common elements of modern software applications without code — while not inhibiting their ability to infuse code wherever needed. This flexibility allows agencies and their staff to design, develop, deploy and run applications more effectively and efficiently.
- Architecture: Low code simplifies the architectural work required to build new applications. Technical architecture and the application underlying architecture are eliminated using these tools. The focus often becomes data and integration architecture. However, low-code tools provide simple ways to iterate on both options, minimizing the need for up-front or waterfall architecture. These time savings can then be passed on to clients.
- Design: Rather than designing every single screen and user interface interaction, you can build a style guide and a few key screens. These can then be implemented into the low-code platform, and detailed design can happen inside the low-code application rather than in the design tools. Some low-code tools additionally allow for the import of designs done in Figma or Sketch for rapid integration.
- Development: Low-code tools infuse improvements into the development process. Developers work differently, configuring pre-packaged components whenever possible and creating custom code when necessary. The best low-code platforms are fully extensible — providing the ability to import external code libraries and user interface components. Although the development process is faster and different, it does not negate the need for a professional software development lifecycle that includes different development environments and capturing versions in repositories such as Github, Gitlab, etc. For client projects and to satisfy compliance requirements, utilize low-code tools that accommodate these version control and environment capabilities.
- Quality assurance: Quality assurance processes should be greatly simplified because of the more iterative nature of low-code development. That said, each new change to an application can break existing functionality, so the best low-code platforms offer regression testing capabilities. Beyond regression, unit and integration tests should be conducted by your team and managed using existing software development lifecycle tools.
Related: Low-Code and No-Code Design Is the Future of Website Building

What to expect in terms of productivity and financial outcomes

Implementing a low-code practice can transform your team’s productivity. A low-code platform — and its out-of-the-box components and capabilities — can eliminate errors, save time, prevent headaches and improve project delivery.

Digital agencies are poised to reap the benefits delivered by using low-code tools. Here’s how:

1. Less reliance on highly technical developers

ZDNet recently cited a report in which engineering managers and HR professionals said backend developers were the most in-demand hires. Instead of searching for more developers, consultancies have learned they can use a low-code platform to maximize their existing staff.

Once your team is up to speed, they’ll work like full-stack developers. You can focus talent more on where value is added, resources can move easily across projects, and you’ll be able to address career paths in new and compelling ways.

Related: I Left Google to Pursue No-Code — Here’s How It Changed My Perspective on Bringing Products to Life

2. Delivering projects with compact and affordable teams

Low-code platforms help agencies take on more client work with the same — or fewer — resources. Low-code platforms dramatically cut the manual coding typically required, which can significantly increase developer productivity.

Smaller teams mean fewer friction-laden hand-offs and a reduced project management burden.

3. Delivering faster and at higher profit margins

As digital agencies consider acquiring tools or developing their repeatable capabilities to deliver client projects more rapidly and consistently, low code may provide the biggest return on internal transformation efforts. According to 451 Research, switching to low code reduces development time by 50% to 90%.

By using a low-code platform to configure and customize application development, project scope, cost, time and quality shift in your favor. A low-code option is faster and less expensive than a traditional custom app. Your firm will have the edge over competitors that haven’t yet explored low-code solutions.

4. More maintainable applications

Code is a liability. Reducing the amount of manual coding means introducing fewer errors. This can prove significant at scale, especially considering a Harris Poll survey that found developers spend at least 42% of their time maintaining and debugging code.

With low-code platforms, visual development, configuration, automated code generation, and platform automation contribute to massive productivity gains. These capabilities bring an application’s features to life faster, making them far more maintainable.

5. Easier sales and greater customer satisfaction

When a digital agency can tell a prospective customer they can reliably deliver in a shorter amount of time, at a lower price point and more rapid rate of iteration, the prospect is thrilled.

By presenting a low-code option that’s faster and less expensive to execute, your firm will have the edge over competitors that haven’t yet explored low-code solutions. You’re also better positioned for repeat wins, allowing you to become more entrenched as a vendor. Once you’ve successfully delivered your first low-code application, you’ll likely have the opportunity to discuss your client’s application backlog and present similarly priced bids for additional work.

In short, leveraging a platform that reduces the time and complexity of delivering a client’s project enables repeatable success.

Read More: 3 Things Entrepreneurs Should Focus on Before Investor Meetings

The opportunities and risks

While programming languages and frameworks have evolved, software development is still done the same way it was 20+ years ago. We have witnessed productivity gains in other functional business areas due to software efforts focused on process improvement and digital transformation. Unless you believe software development is immune to disruptions — highly specialized and customized to each scenario — logic will dictate that it is a business process that can be radically transformed.

Low code presents a financial opportunity for digital agencies while highly disrupting existing business models.

The benefits of low code for digital agencies are realized in an enhanced ability to scale the business, reduced staffing complexity and cost, increased client satisfaction, and delivery of projects with far higher profit margins. On the flip side, a reluctance to adapt to this new paradigm introduces risks as competitors transform their businesses.
Albert Santalo

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March 23, 2023