Low-code engineering is not always the first option when companies decide to build new applications. Many engineering leaders are only partly aware of the capabilities of these platforms, or like to stick to the technologies that they know best. However, unless the goal is to build complex systems (such as Artificial Intelligence applications, or those with a lot of complex integrations), or systems that need to massively scale-up (e.g., support thousands of concurrent users), low-code platforms should be explored first.

Oracle APEX has been my favorite low-code platform for over a decade now. My previous teams have extensively used it to build and launch small-to-medium-sized business applications, often in one or two weeks. Others like Appian, Genio, Mendix, Nintex, Quickbase, and the low-code platforms of large vendors like Google, Microsoft & Salesforce are also good.

Benefits of Low-code Engineering

There are four distinct advantages of adopting low-code engineering practices.

• The development cycle time is extremely low compared to conventional engineering – you can practically build applications in days.
• This approach is really useful in cases where the requirements keep changing, or evolving at a fast pace. It’s much easier to discard pieces of old code, and replace them with newer ones without risking code quality.
• Security, reporting & dashboarding capabilities, and other critical components are often integrated in these platforms – so developers can mainly focus on the functional aspects.
• Finally, low-code platforms generally do not need a lot of experienced engineers. Even junior resources can leverage them efficiently to build robust applications.

So what should companies do to adopt low-code engineering?

Firstly, the mindset around low-code engineering needs to change. Low-code does not mean low-quality-code. In fact, it is often the opposite. In most cases, a lot of abstractions are already put in place by experienced engineers of the development platform. If you have a relatively young or inexperienced team, strong coding abstractions are often difficult to accomplish with conventional engineering.

Secondly, it is important to build long-term talent around no-code engineering. Hire junior engineers or freshers from campus, train them for a couple of weeks, and directly get them to start building small applications. Hands-on experience, like in most aspects of life, is the best way to start developing talent in this space.

Thirdly, don’t try to adopt multiple low-code tools & platforms that come out in the market. Evaluate most of them, and then stick to one or two that are likely to address your present and future requirements. Consider factors like platform maturity, application portability, database & security support, planned future roadmap of the platform, and others.

Fourthly, determine the extent to which your existing applications are consuming critical engineering bandwidth (e.g., support & maintenance), and determine if it is more efficient to replace them with new, modern low-code applications. At the same time, evaluate which of your new applications can be built using low-code platforms. Build a 12- or 18-month roadmap instead of an unstructured approach, and then execute that roadmap.

Finally, low-code platforms are still evolving, and may not always have the full capabilities of matured programming languages & frameworks. Hence, it is important to understand the boundaries of these platforms, and the trade-off decisions that CTOs & Heads of Architecture need to make.

Closing Comments

To summarize, I do believe that low-code engineering is going to support the development of more & more business applications, especially as companies accelerate their digital transformation journeys. This approach should be part of the technology strategy of all types of businesses. While it is true that they may not be suitable for building complex or highly-critical applications today, it is equally true that these platforms are evolving fast, and continue to provide more features & capabilities every year.