No Code
No-code Platforms
What is no-code? According to Wikipedia, no-code development platforms ‘allows programmers and non-programmers to create application software’ from tools other than traditional computer programming. As someone coming from finance having invested a hefty amount of time in excel, I had a very difficult time going through even the basics of Python during the first year of my MBA program. I found myself trying to write code the way I would write excel functions. Hence it is no wonder that I was more than happy hearing about the developments of no-code platforms during my Digital Literacy course at Columbia Business School. While I did hear a lot about no-code platforms over the past few years, I never really gave it much thought. So how did no-code movements even start? What are the biggest impact of no-code platforms on the society today? What will the future look like?
The Start of No-code
To understand the start of no-code, we need to touch upon ‘low-code’ first. Low-code was first termed in 2014 by industry research analyst Forrester as ‘platforms [that] enable rapid delivery of business applications with minimum hand-coding and minimal upfront investment in setup, training, and deployment’.
The rapid rise of low-code seems inevitable in hindsight as more and more businesses needed to adapt their business models to a global marketplace that depended heavily on digital technology for growth. While dependency on digital capabilities increased experienced developers did not come free. But more importantly, there were many other critical advantages a business could enjoy from employing low-code platforms other than payroll to developers.
The first is backlog on business operations. Non-technical professionals would have to co-work with developers on tasks that involve digital capabilities. If non-technical professionals could use low-code platforms to push through their ideas without relying on developers, operational development could become much more agile and flexible.
The second is backlog on the developer teams. Developers would most likely be working on initiatives set by management. Being constantly pummeled by requests from other teams would result in large backlogs of issues to resolve and even possible friction among teams. If low-code platforms could resolve small issues that different teams have, developer teams would be free to focus on more important tasks that create meaningful value to the business.
The final point is related to both the first and second — non-technical professionals would be able to experiment with their ideas without putting too much pressure on the developer team. If non-technical teams are relying heavily on developer teams to push through new initiatives, there would be mental obstacles when it comes to experimenting with ideas (of course the level of mental pressure each team would experience will depend on which team has more power within the organization). With the use of low-code platforms, teams would be able to experiment with their ideas, find the best option, then work with the developer teams to implement the best option. Again, more agility and flexibility.
Impact and Limitation of No-code Platforms
Amazingly stated in Stephanie Yao’s Article ‘Is no-code the future of app development’, the democratization of app development is, I believe, the biggest gain the society has reaped from no-code platforms. Being able to use a simple software to quickly test whether your business idea is viable is possible through no-code platforms.
As an example, let’s say you came up with an idea of building healthy meal plans for people based on whatever criteria. While you may think that the app will be widely successful, pushing through this idea might be difficult if you don’t have the necessary resources. On the other hand, because building a minimum viable product through no-code platforms is much easier and less costly, the barriers to entry for aspiring entrepreneurs is lowered and innovation throughout society prospers.
Even though no-code platforms put in this light seems like an almighty tool, there are critical limitations.
The first limitation is the level of customization. Ease of use comes with a price and the biggest price is customization. As businesses find attractive opportunities through products developed with no-code platforms, a certain level of customization is inevitable. All businesses have characteristics and traits that they want to differentiate themselves with and getting off the no-code platforms is essential in order to incorporate these so called ‘unique attributes’ into their product.
The second limitation is the lack of independence. If you build your product on no-code platforms, the product works only if the service provider does. If you are an online fashion retailer that uses a platform serviced by an IT giant, your online retailer is only open when the service is. As a result, having a core-business product on a no-code platform may be detrimental in the future.
Future of No-code
A world where a large enterprise uses only no-code platforms without any professional developers will probably never come. But the development no-code certainly made the world much more prosperous — mainly by lowering the barriers to entry of aspiring tech entrepreneurs, providing us with solutions that we never even imagined. With no-code platforms continuously being developed an employed throughout corporations, developers will likely be able to focus more on critical projects and non-development professionals will be able to explore different ideas at low cost and pressure, further increasing productivity of each business.
Please note that all of the ideas above came from my readings of the following articles below — all credit is given to these authors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-code_development_platform
