The Complete Guide to Low Code (With AI Tools)

Low-code development has been a long-running phenomenon in the software development industry. Still, now it has taken a more mainstream form, as most software company owners are picking options that help them stay competitive.

With the surge of AI over the last couple of years, low-code platforms have also started to adopt new capabilities with AI integration and several AI tools.

These tools can help the platform users with ideation, development, and QA testing to help deliver a complete software product that can offer a proper user experience.

Our guide to low code is a great way to get you started with the basics of low code development, as well as help you make the right decision for partnering with the right low code development agency.

Before everything else, let’s start with the very basic, definition of low code platform.

What is Low Code Development?

Low code development streamlines modern development procedures by taking a visualized approach. Instead of handwritten codes, otherwise known as manual coding, low code development is done with visual interfaces and elements.

Though the goal of low code is to remove dependencies on traditional software development approaches, low code also utilizes manual coding to customize elements for achieving more complex designs.

Low-code development requires next to zero coding experience to get started, and anyone can become a citizen developer to develop low-code apps.

How Does Low Code Differ From No Code?

Parameters	Low-Code Development	No-Code Development
Target Audience	Citizen developers and professional developers, as well as other business users	Mostly business users
Adoption Expertise	Improves developer productivity to make more strategic approaches	Empowers business users to create basic applications and help relieve IT backlogs
Coding Expertise	Highly recommended for faster progress	None required
Project Type	Enterprise-level solutions and mission-critical applications	Simple, department-specific applications or non-functional prototypes
Platform Extensibility	Can be endlessly extended by integrating with any business system	Non-existent
Customization Capabilities	Unlimited customization	Little to no customization features
Scalability Features	Enterprise-grade	Departmental in most cases, for some platforms the scalability is non-existent

Want to learn about the differences between the two? Check out our discussion about low code vs no code.

Who Are Low-Code Developers?

As mentioned earlier, there’s no exact specification to become a low-code developer. Any basic low-code platform user can become a low-code developer.

Though non-technical users can develop basic apps, a true low-code developer is someone who can combine their programming experience with the accessibility of low-code platforms to reduce the duration of the software development life cycle.

A high-performance low-code platform offers complete customization features for all its reusable components, which is done through handwritten codes.

A Seasoned developer can reduce their workload by combining the skills of a low-code platform’s visual development capacities and custom codes to develop complex applications at a faster rate.

Types of Low-Code Platforms

Low-code platforms can either be classified depending on their use cases, or their users.

If we look at the types of use cases, There are 5 different types of low-code platforms.

• General Purpose
• Process Handling
• Request Handling
• Database
• Mobile Application Development Platform (MADP)

If we look at the type of users, there are two different types

• LCP for Business Users
• LCP for Developers

Want to learn in detail about the different types so you make your decision? Check out the piece we wrote about types of low-code platforms.

Key Principles of Low Code Development

1. Model-Driven Development

Transform ideas into applications that deliver business value through abstraction, automation, and openness.

2. Collaboration

Leverage a shared visual language to support the interchange of knowledge and ideas between business domain experts and developers.

3. Agile Methodology

Manage the full enterprise application development lifecycle with agile workstreams to eliminate bottlenecks, support iterative delivery, and achieve the shortest time-to-value.

4. The Cloud

Cloud enables the ease and speed of application deployment that customers demand.

5. Openness

Anything can be integrated with an agnostic enterprise application development platform – this removes limitations on what can be built.

6. Multi-User Development

Multiple developers should be able to work on an application at the same time. The platform must support and synchronize their workstreams.

7. Experimentation & Innovation

Development tools need to be affordable and nimble so innovators everywhere can experiment, explore, and create.

8. Governance & Control

Robust governance and control processes and protocols are essential.

9. Community

A platform with a community is a platform.

5 Key Feature Components of a Low-Code Platform

• Visual Interface: Low code platforms offer a visual interface where the development process is done by putting visual blocks of functions and features together.
• Templates: Application templates to start building on an existing framework instead of developing a framework from scratch.
• Reusable Components: Low-code platforms offer reusable components that can be customized through manual coding and re-used in multiple projects.
• Workflow Automation: Low code platforms remove tedious operations to increase the operational efficiency of the dev team with the automation of repetitive processes.
• Integration Capabilities: Apps or systems created with low code can easily integrate into existing systems. Low-code infrastructures also allow easy integration of third-party apps through API connectors.

To get a better idea about more noteworthy low-code platform features, we suggest reading up on our detailed discussion about low-code system features.

What are the Benefits of Low Code Application Development?

The benefits of low code development are possibly endless if the process and platform are both used the right way. But here are 5 benefits that you’ll notice the most:

1. Better Agility

The visual dashboard of a low-code platform allows you to drag and drop different components 

2. Lower Development Cost

Low code allows developers to create more with less. There’s barely any additional cost other than the billing of the platform itself since low-code platforms come with a wide range of features and tools.

While it may not look much at the beginning, this results in decreased development costs over time.

3. Better Collaboration Among Team Members

Low code platforms come with different collaboration tools that allow non-technical personnel of the team and the dev team to partake in the development process together.

Low-code platforms help non-technical people express their requirements through visual elements, which removes any kind of miscommunication between both parties.

With low code, the citizen developers can work on the basic structure of the application while the experienced developers can fine-tune the structure with manual coding.

4. Highly Effective Risk Management

Cybersecurity concerns are one of the biggest risks in the modern software industry since most applications are cloud-based, and any kind of data breach can spell the end of the services provided by the victim software.

With the higher agility offered by low code, your dev team can stay ahead of the curve and deliver new features and functionality that can meet the ever-evolving regulatory requirements.

Current-gen low code platforms that are AI-fuelled can create guardrails for the digital products you can create that can preserve privacy and maintain data security.

Enterprise-grade low-code app development platforms also offer user access control, which allows for better data privacy and prevents any possible productive issue.

A Few Challenges With Low Code Development Platforms

1. Might Start Promoting Shadow IT

Shadow IT is a phenomenon when there are technologies in use without the knowledge of the IT department.

There have been many cases when a certain department adopted a low code development solution since they were getting tired of waiting for IT to complete developing a solution.

When an additional system is adopted into the infrastructure without the IT department maintaining it, it can result in security gaps and vulnerabilities in cybersecurity.

2. Might Cause Vendor Lock-In

Vendor lock-in is a reason why many fear opting for different low-code platforms. Vendor lock-in is when you cannot migrate the source code of your product from the current platform to a different one.

Sometimes platforms do this by generating codes that are nearly impossible to maintain outside the said platform. Some other platforms restrict your editing access the moment you stop using the platforms.

If you don’t spend time to understand the policies of a platform before using it, chances are that you might become a victim of vendor lock-in in the long run.

5 Low Code Development Use Cases

Low code development has a plethora of use cases. Here are the top 5 most notable use cases of a low code platform.

1. Rapid Application Prototyping

To be able to release an application in the market as fast as possible, companies need to test the feasibility of the idea as fast as possible. One of the best ways to do so is creating a prototype, and low-code development is the best way for rapid prototype development.

With its focus on visual development and combining programmed blocks to create programs, low-code application platforms can help you create a prototype as fast as in a couple of hours.

2. Legacy System Modernization

Many companies are still relying on legacy systems. These systems cost businesses a lot of money in terms of maintenance costs. What’s worse is that these systems lack the flexibility that can allow a business to operate with the right amount of flexibility.

With low code, it’s possible to gradually modernize the software platform to adapt to acceptable infrastructures that suit the current industry.

The best part about digital transformation with low code is that instead of creating the whole system from scratch, low code can update legacy systems by attaching new modules to sync with new technologies.

3. Scalable Application Development

With the growth of a business, the requirements for a software product created by said business also increase. Scaling applications with traditional app development procedures can cost a lot of time and resources.

Low code allows application scaling at a faster pace, whether it’s adding new features, accommodating a higher number of users, or expanding to new markets.

Low code with AI integration and automation capabilities brings in higher agility in the app dev team, allowing the business to adapt to constant changes in business requirements.

4. Cross-Platform Development

Current market users are more positively receptive to applications that offer a similar experience over multiple platforms. Low code development platforms come with cross-platform capabilities as an out-of-the-box feature.

Meaning, that right after gaining access to a low-code development platform, developers can create applications that can operate seamlessly on desktops, tablets, and smartphones, saving a lot of time and development resources.

5. Workflow Automation

High efficiency is a key factor in the success of modern software agencies. There are various repetitive tasks in the development process that can take up a lot of additional time and resources.

Automation capabilities of low code development can take the tedious tasks away from the developer’s hand so they can focus on core development tasks.

5 Key Tips For Evaluating Low-Code Vendors

1. Pricing Models

Different low-code development platforms have varying pricing plans. Some platforms charge per user, while others charge per application. Some platforms also charge you depending on the usage metrics.

Pick a future-proof platform for your development budget allocation, and the platform will allow future scalability within the spending limit of your software production.

2. Empowering Citizen Developers

Low-code development is the most renowned for including non-technical people, also known as citizen developers,  in the development process.

The right low-code platform should have tons of accessibility features that can facilitate the needs of citizen developers to get around the application and use the right tools and features to give their ideas a form by making a prototype or building an MVP.

3. Customization Capabilities

High-performance low-code platforms facilitate endless customization by offering reusable components that can be customized through manual coding.

If you have a hybrid team that’s a mix of citizen and professional developers, always go for a platform that offers intricate customization capabilities through manual coding.

That way, your team can scale the app the right way as development goes on.

4. Use-Case Driven

Low-code development is a great way to reduce time-to-market and release a full-fledged application. But even the smallest amount of time spent becomes a waste when the application itself isn’t driven by a practical use case.

While many low-code platforms offer great application-building capabilities, some don’t have the right features that create a user-case-driven application.

It’s important to take notes of what the platform is offering to cross-check it with the list of requirements and use cases of the app to ensure you’re subscribing to the right platform.

5. Third-Party Integration

An ideal low-code platform always allows the integration of various other third-party systems. Standalone applications and legacy systems are highly inflexible, and third-party integration is a great way to make the system more modernized.

5 Industries That Can Benefit From Low Code The Most

1. Government

The public sector is constantly evolving at a geometric rate, and the use of low code is the only way to overcome the issue.

According to DAXX, the US is facing a shortage of 1.4 million developers, and low code is the best solution to bring in more citizen developers to fill in the gaps.

A great use case of a low-code platform is the automation of content centers for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through the power of Appian, a high-performance low-code platform.

During a crucial moment, the ACA website couldn’t handle the extensive number of users and crashed for nearly 90 minutes due to a server overload. 

Through Appain, the IT team at ACA created a case management system that could scale to serve a higher number of visitors.

2. Energy

The energy sector is fundamentally critical since it powers our homes, society, and ultimately, all the major operations of a nation.

Low code development can help the energy industry by managing core business operations through automation, from procurement to operations support.

3. Healthcare

Healthcare providers are leaning towards digital solutions to handle patient data and offer the right information to the right patients through user access control. These systems are highly complicated, and they often raise international safety regulatory compliance issues.

With a low-code approach, healthcare providers can develop scalable complex systems with ease, and the involvement of medical professionals as citizen developers can ensure that the patients are receiving the right services with complete compliance with all international regulations.

4. Logistics

The logistics department deals with data processing and management which can take up a ton of time when processed manually.

Low-code development can help logistics professionals deploy a budget-friendly solution that can help digitize the entire process and increase overall performance and efficiency.

There are multiple ways the logistics industry can utilize the low-code industry, including:

• Managing Inventory
• Optimizing Supply Chain Routes
• Automating Invoice Processing
• Automating Delivery Scheduling

5. eCommerce & Retail

The eCommerce industry has a wide range of operations that a merchant has to accomplish on a daily, and these tasks include:

• Order Management
• Inventory Management
• Customer Data Management
• Delivery Status Management
• Delivery Tracking
• Revenue Tracking

Creating an eCommerce solution from scratch the traditional way is highly expensive, and it’s a dare 99% of people pass up on. Readymade solutions like WooCommerce, while a great platform, also have limitations.

With low code, eCommerce platform owners can deploy their custom solutions that can fill in the gaps that off-the-shelf platforms cannot deliver.

5 Best Low Code Platforms To Get Started With

1. Apps Script

Apps Script is a low-code platform created by Google, and it’s been designed by Google to work with most Google products.

Managing your development is easy since all you need is your Gmail account to get started and manage your projects.

One of the best features of this platform is the macro recorder, which lets you log different functions step by step. You can also save each function and run them as individual scripts.

The platform also maintains documentation as you continue the development process that is part of an integrated development environment (IDE), and the editor also offers you suggestions similar to when you’re typing in Google Docs.

Pros:

• Completely free to use
• Multiple native integrations as out-of-the-box features
• Easy to use for beginners

Cons:

• Completely reliable on community support
• Only functional when paired with other Google products

2. Microsoft PowerApps

Microsoft’s low code platform was created to assist with application development regardless of the size of the business.

PowerApps has a collection of 500+ pre-built connectors for different applications that can help you import data from different applications. Automation created for PowerApps works with both modern and legacy systems, making it a great choice for digital transformation.

3. SalesForce Lightning

Part of the SalesForce platform, SalesForce Lightning offers pre-built CRM facilities with the option to integrate additional custom functionalities.

SalesForce Lightning allows sales team members to manage several cases at the same time from one screen with the Service Console.

The Path feature helps a salesperson determine the most likely route toward closing a deal, and this data is presented based on an examination of past interactions such as meetings, emails, and calls.

Pros:

• Highly responsive customer support
• Extensive CRM features
• Highly organized record-keeping systems

Cons:

• Performance might slow down at times
• Tougher to learn for classic SalesForce users

4. Web.com

This company offers a low-code website builder and also contains additional services like domain registration and digital marketing services.

Pros:

• Marketing tools that can provide critical advantages for individuals/ small business
• The pricing plan is highly affordable
• Design support from experts

Cons:

• Limited support for more custom-coded solutions
• Little to no advanced components

5. Pega

4 Tips For Getting Started With Low-Code Development

1. Understand The Platform First

Low-code tools are always mission-critical, and different low-code platforms come with different sets of low-code tools. To get a complete grasp of low-code development, it’s best to get acquainted with the low-code tools first.

2. Aim To Create Smaller Applications

When building with low-code platforms, it’s better to aim to create smaller applications. With a smaller requirement and simple function implementation, you avoid the risk of overwhelming the team.

Since most low-code development platforms come with prebuilt templates for different types of applications, your team can release an initial version of your target application within a short amount of time.

3. Determine Target Audience Before Getting Started

It’s not enough to create an application if there is no one to use it. While understanding the requirements is a must, you should also determine the user base who will use your app.

Most startups fail simply because they don’t research their target market before making their first release. Even the best ideas can fail if no one is there to use the application since other pre-existing apps are already providing the service.

Finding a core pain point of a certain audience can help your app gain traction as soon as it reaches the market. If people find something that can immediately buy it when is published, it ensures your app has reached complete viability.

4. Data Privacy Is A Must

We live in a world where information is considered to be as highly valuable as natural resources. In this age, attack on personal data is a concerningly common occurrence.

To protect the personal information that is stored within the application database, it’s better to focus on the data privacy and overall security of the application.

When building with low code, it’s always best to go with a low-code platform that comes with data privacy functionalities and tools as out-of-the-box features.

Choosing the Right Low Code Development Platform In 5 Easy Steps

1. Identify The Right Use Cases

Low code development is an overall boost to your business processes, no doubt. But there are cases where no code or low code can be a detriment to your success.

When deciding on a low-code platform, it’s best to evaluate the platform against all your business needs to find the most suitable end-user experiences, workflow capabilities, and data requirements.

Low-code platforms are made to suit multiple different scenarios, so it’s best not to judge platforms by comparing them to a single scenario.

2. Determine The Right Designers

Low code and no code platforms offer visual development tools to create a basic application, but if you want to create an app that fits your business, custom app development is the way to go.

Even with a low-code platform at your disposal, you need to customize the technical configuration so that you can extend your application to suit the business needs.

While citizen developers can help with application design, it’s best to enlist help from professional low-code developers and 

3. Evaluate Integration Requirements

You may not always have the budget to develop low-code applications from scratch. In that case, the best option is to create API connectors and modules to attach additional functionalities to the existing legacy system.

Almost all low-code platforms offer API connectors, but the company-specific performance is highly different.

4. Review Governance and Hosting Options

A good low-code platform will either offer you self-hosting options, or cloud hosting options similar to SaaS. Some platforms offer both.

If you’re looking for a platform that can offer DevOps capabilities, you should look for the following capabilities:

• Version applications or integration with version control systems
• Enable an agile/efficient development process with multiple connections to instruments that manage road maps
• Support the development lifecycle on dev and test
• Enable data snapshots; replications; mirrors or extract, load processes to sustain data science and disaster recovery and data science
• Integrate with continuous integration, continuous testing, deployment, or IT service management and change management processes

Not all development platforms can support DevOps, and it’s best to pick platforms that can help the team combine low code and DevOps throughout the entire development process.

5. Pay Attention To The Pricing Models

Low-code platforms offer different pricing models that are suitable for different business models. Some of the platforms offer end-user pricing, meaning a higher number of users equals to higher amount of billing.

Others have a pricing model that relies on the number of applications developed and the resources used by your business.

Do thorough research and choose a pricing model that is compatible with your current business model and development budget.

Low-code Development with Automation & AI Tools

What Is Low Code Automation?

Low code automation is when a business utilizes the workflow automation tools that come with low code platforms.

These tools are used to streamline the development process, increase development efficiency, and reduce overall time-to-market.

5 Low-Code Automation Use Cases

1. Business Process Management Improvement

Low code automation is the best way to improve the overall pace of business processes. Automation can reduce the overall time and increase the efficiency rate for all procedures.

Low code automation enables employees to create new solutions at a faster time, whether it’s standardizing support requests to integrating new systems.

2. Transactional System Improvement

Small businesses can benefit a lot from the transactional system improvement that low code automation can achieve. Small businesses can

• Fill the gaps in their delivery process
• Deliver and fulfill all customer requests
• Complete seamless transactions

3. API Generation and Platform Integration

Low code automation can help the IT department create APIs that can help with the integration of multiple platforms. These integrations can help the internal team make more progress with modernized systems and also make the process of system modernization easier.

4. Workflow Automation

With the power of Robotic Process Automation (RPA), IT teams of any business can reach into multiple databases, information systems, and data sources to perform scheduled tasks. 

5. Non-Technical Employee Empowerment

Low code platforms hand the power of development through visual interfaces to non-technical employees. Doing so can help the proper distribution of workload.

When both technical and non-technical team members collaborate to perform development, it can help the organization achieve better results in a shorter time.

The involvement of non-technical business personnel benefits the app development, as they can share their insights to help the dev team create an app that resonates with the target audience.

5 Low Code Platforms Using AI

1. Mendix AI-Assisted Development

Mendix offers smart AI-assisted software development through Mendix Assist, which consists of two bots at the moment:

• MxAssist Logic Bot
• MxAssist Performance Bot

The smart apps toolkit also contains the AWS service connector and the Mendix ML Kit.

MxAssist Logic Bot is an AI-powered virtual assistant and co-developer. The Bot guides you through application modeling and application logic & microflow configuration.

The Logic Bot offers a detailed list of the next best possible actions based on what you’ve already designed. When creating the list, the Logic Bot also takes other context-related information to create said list.

MxAssist Performance Bot helps you improve the performance of the app you develop. Performance bot does it by checking your project model against the best low code development practices by Mendix.

2. OutSystems AI Mentor System

The AI Mentor system in OutSystems is a set of tools that can assist in both software development and quality assurance. The Mentor system includes:

• A Code Mentor
• An Architecture Mentor
• A Security Mentor
• A Performance Mentor
• A Maintainability Mentor

OutSystems also lets you utilize ChatGPT with Azure ChatGPT connector, and also help with chat completions and embeddings. Embeddings are vector representations of inputs that can be used in machine learning models.

The Azure ChatGPT is highly recommended by OutSystems when trying to offer more personalized recommendations and better assistance for development.

3. Appian Platform

The 23.2 update of Appian introduced 3 new AI features:

• Document Classification: Lets you automatically classify and route documents
• Document Extraction: Allows you to automatically extract important text from structured documents so you can use that data in your applications
• Email Classification: Helps you build a custom machine-learning model that classifies emails based on business-specific labels, making it easy to route email messages to the correct team

Appian made everything even better with the 23.3 release, which introduced the Appain AI Copilot. Appian Copilot helps its users create low-code/ no-code applications by utilizing generative AI.

4. Creatio Atlas

Creatio Atlas introduced a ChatGPT connector in their platform back in May 2023, which augments the predictive machine learning models already built into Creatio Atlas.

Creatio’s predictive models include features like

• Lookup Value Prediction (Classification)
• Numeric Prediction (Regression)
• Predictive Scoring
• Recommendation
• Similar Text Search

This model utilizes ChatGPT 3.5, and you get charged for usage. Use cases for this include:

• Q&A
• Content Creation
• Language Translation
• Personal Assistants
• Email Generation

5. Pega AI and GenAI

Pega offers Pega AI and Pega GenAI with their platform, and both of them have distinct features.

PegaAI is used to power decision-making elements. PegaAI does this by using the following procedures:

• Event monitoring
• Process Mining
• Speech-to-text
• Natural Language Processing (NLP)

Pega GenAI is more generative, and is used for the following:

• Generating workflow stages and steps
• Mapping integrations to back-end systems
• Generating test data on the fly
• Guiding developers with conversational suggestions

What Is the Future of Low-Code Development (in 2024 & Beyond)?

To understand the future of low code, let’s take a look at some important statistics that predict the low code market

• 70% of new business applications will use low-code/no-code technologies by 2025
• In 2021, the low-code platform market was valued at $7.61 billion. It’s projected to reach $36.43 billion by 2027
• By 2024, 80% of non-IT professionals will develop IT products and services, with over 65% using low-code/no-code tools
• The global low-code development platform market is predicted to generate a revenue of $187 billion by 2030, rising from $10 billion in 2019, and is expected to advance at a fast pace, with 31% CAGR, during the forecast period
• 70% of new applications developed by organizations will use low-code or no-code technologies by 2025, up from less than 25% in 2020
• Half of all new low-code customers will come from business buyers outside the IT organization by the end of 2025

As the statistics show, the use of low code is more prominent than ever. We’re heading towards a future where people are looking for a more accessible solution, and low code is the perfect way to develop software products with the most amount of convenience.

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