Worldwide, enterprises of all sizes acknowledged the urgency of digital transformation in the context of the post-pandemic landscape. In simple terms, digital transformation involves businesses adopting newer digital strategies to create a competitive advantage.

According to IDC, the investments in digital transformation are expected to reach $7 trillion by 2023 with companies building strategies to become digital-at-scale future enterprises.

Traditionally, developing an app required writing comprehensive lines of code, which was both time-consuming and labor-intensive. However, with low-code platforms, this has changed. With their pre-built and reusable features and ease of use, these platforms make application development quicker and easier – even for non-developers.

Introduction to low-code platforms

Low code platforms are a modern approach to developing applications faster using as little code as possible. These platforms aid business owners and application developers by reducing the level of skill required in building an app, making the entire process much more scalable.

It bridges the gap between IT professionals and non-tech business personnel. Since the use of low-code platforms does not require extensive technical knowledge, business owners can work alongside professional developers.

Some of the many capabilities offered by low-code platforms include-

• A library of reusable UX/UI templates
• Separate IDEs for professional developers and business users
• Tools and resources to provide app lifecycle support
• Cloud integration
• Version Control

Read: How Low-Code/No-Code Could Change Enterprise Application Development

Challenges you will face using low-code

However, the introduction of new technology has never gone without a few demerits of its own. There are indeed hidden challenges in the adoption of low code app development that shouldn’t go overlooked.

Understanding these challenges can help businesses understand their needs better and what to look for when in the market for low-code development platforms.

• Data security
• Lack of flexibility and customization
• Integration challenges
• Vendor lock-in

Read: Challenges you are Likely to Face in the Adoption of Low-Code

How to evaluate and select the right low-code platform?

There are several low-code platforms available out there for varying business needs. However, to ensure success from your low-code strategies, it is important to select a platform based on the specific current and future goals of your company.

The variety of features, tools, and components available with each platform makes it even more difficult to make an informed choice.

Here are a few considerations to keep in mind while selecting the platform for your needs

• Who are the users of the platform?
  There is no lack of variety in the market for low-code platforms. However, not every platform serves each user equally. Some platforms are better suited for professional developers who are more familiar with software technology. While other platforms are specifically used for creating and maintaining applications by business users who are not well-versed with technology. It should not be assumed that low-code completely removes the necessity of developing coding familiarity among non-tech-savvy developers. Unlike No-Code platforms, low-code still edges towards flexibility where some use of coding might be needed, hence choose your options accordingly.
• What types of applications need to be developed?
  It is useful to create a thorough analysis of various app development needs based on the business requirements. These applications can be in the areas of customer service, business operations, sales, marketing, or something else. Some applications may need to focus more on user interface design, while others may need to integrate data from multiple systems in the enterprise. Some apps may be web-based while others may be mobile applications. Based on the use cases, the low-code platform can be selected.
• What are your integration needs?
  Most of the enterprise applications need to integrate with other systems, applications, and technologies in the enterprise tech stack. The low-code platform you choose should allow for such integrations. You may need to review a few of these platforms to see which one best suits the requirements of your application.

• What are your deployment needs?
  With Cloud becoming the de-facto hosting environment, it is critical to evaluate if the low-code platform allows the deployment of the app on the cloud. At the same time, certain apps may need to be hosted on-premises and the platform should support that as well.
• What is the support offered by the vendor?
  As a new platform, your team will need to rely on training and support from the low-code platform vendor. So, it is important that you evaluate the platform and the vendor for support during design and development or managed deployments.
• What are the allocated budgets?
  Low-code platforms typically offer different pricing options. Some may offer user-based pricing while others have price models based on the scale of work. Some pricing models are based on usage, add-ons, and integrations. Some platforms also provide specific development products along with trials and POCs with separate pricing tiers. It is important to align all these aspects with the allocated budgets.

Summing Up

With the increased need to reduce the gap between the supply of skilled developers and the demand for application development, the adoption of low-code will see a significant adoption over the next few years. However, the success of low-code initiatives depends heavily on the selection of the right platform. We hope this guide gives you an overview of what you can achieve, what challenges you could face, and how to select the right platform for your needs. If you have any other questions, talk to our low-code experts and they will be happy to assist you.