“No-code and low-code solutions are only for simple apps, not complex ones.”
“They have limited functionality.”
“Come on! These platforms are too good to be true!”
Impossible, limited features & functionality, what about my customization and scale? Just a few of the common misconceptions holding professional developers and organizations back from advancing their business with no-code and low-code development platforms. To many, the underlying problem is a misunderstanding of what no-code and low-code platforms are, what they are capable of doing, and who should be using them to develop applications.
Let’s separate fact from fiction and debunk the three most common myths that cast a dark cloud over no-code and low-code platforms.
Myth #1: No-code and Low-code App Platforms are Only for Citizen Developers and Power Builders.
So who are these so called Citizen Developers and Power Builders that seem to think they can do what professional developers can do? It’s important to understand the differences between the various types of professionals who are likely to work within these platforms.
- Citizen Developers are the everyday people found in the various business lines, such as Human Resources, Finance, Service, and Sales. They are unlikely to have any experience with code, but probably have a basic understanding of spreadsheets.
- Power Builders are often working in the IT or Operations sector of the business. They’re skilled in spreadsheets and understand the basics of programming languages. They may lack formal training and are often self taught.
- Professional Developers are the specialists. They are the experts in programming and usually know and work with many different programming languages. Most professional developers have undergone years of formal training and hold degrees and multiple certifications.
Now that we understand the key differences, we can appreciate, at least for a minute, why no-code and low-code platforms have largely been targeted at Citizen Developers and Power Builders. Common marketing slogans tout it’s ‘faster’, ‘easier’, and most importantly ‘anyone can do it’, enough to make a Professional Developer up-chuck. Understandably, Citizen Developers and Power Builders have been the most receptive and common adapters of these “next-generation” platforms. Ironically, the platforms’ perceived ease of use has deterred many Professional Developers from adopting the technology, operating under the mistaken belief that the solutions aren’t “professional grade.”
Professional Developers skeptical of no-code and low-code platforms, often assume that the platforms are feature & functionally limited half-baked attempts to replace their decades of experience and hard work.
Debunk #1, no-code and low-code platforms are not meant to eradicate coding from the planet. For Citizen Developers and Power Builders, these solutions are extremely powerful tools empowering them to build applications that streamline, automate, and improve their day-to-day operations without spending years learning how to code.
Similarly, low-code and no-code platforms are incredibly powerful tools for Professional Developers, enabling IT departments to prototype repeatable working applications in days, rather than months. These platforms drastically reduce the application development lifecycle, ramp up the concept-to-market delivery and reduce IT project backlog, allowing them to focus on innovation rather than solution updates and maintenance, particularly when they have been encumbered by legacy systems. It is becoming the role of the developer to nurture an application’s evolution, rather than write the application. Professional Developers who welcome the no-code low-code development environments are able to double, even triple, the number of projects they complete, skyrocketing their intrinsic value within their enterprise.
Myth #2: You Can Only Build Simple and Limited Applications.
Although no-code and low-code platforms are a great way to deliver smaller and less-complex applications to rapidly respond to day-to-day business challenges – it’s not their only use. No, we are not all re-iterations of dashboard companies, can we make one, yes, but that is not all. In the right hands, these sophisticated platforms can deliver complex enterprise-class solutions. It’s akin to a commuter driving an ultra high-performance sports car to work. Sure, it’ll get you there in style and you’ll enjoy every second of it. But that ultra high-performance sports car wants to be on a race track, where a professional driver will help it reach its full potential. Debunk #2.
Despite no-code and low-code platforms relative ease-of-use, they are capable of designing, developing, deploying, integrating, migrating, and maintaining extremely powerful sophisticated applications with compelling features and extensive functionality. And no-code solutions can be built from the ground up or integrated into legacy systems, making legacy data alive and agile again!
No-code and low-code platforms have demonstrated the ability to build complex mission-critical applications that meet technology driven customer expectations in a wide range of industries such as banking, healthcare, supply chain, field sales, and IoT, just to name a few. Feature and function CAN include the must haves necessary for business differentiation in the marketplace, whether you are looking for customer and employee portals, integration of AI, blockchain, automations and workflows, operational dashboards, billing systems, business process management….
You want it, you got it. What makes no-code and low-code platforms even more powerful, is the ability to rapidly go from idea to working prototype in a fraction of the time of traditional development. In an increasingly growing and forever changing digital world, the power to quickly and efficiently respond to business-critical problems with working solutions cannot be under-estimated.
And now we come to our final myth…
Myth #3: Without Code, Corners Must be Cut.
Possibly the most damaging misconception about no-code and low-code platforms is that without traditional programming, you have to cut corners and compromise when building a functional application. This is far from the truth. Debunk #3, in reality, without the need to code, you’re able to complete the same project faster, easier, with fewer resources and with fewer problems. The genius of the no-code low-code lies in the reduction of the app lifecycle and the ability to decompose static legacy systems into nimble micro-service functionality, not in undermining the significance of code. Requirements, User Acceptance Testing, and Monitoring are still necessary phases of application development. Data, Process, Rules and UI are still parts of the equation. However, the no-code, low-code, put the User experience at the core. Using tools such as visual representations, drag and drop, intuitive rules, and natural language, no-code low-code remove the complexity of each phase without removing the significance. No-code and low-code platforms are built from the ground up by seasoned developers to be easy-to-use and offer strong flexibility to create any application that can solve any problem.
The right platform is able to offer an impressive and ever-growing array of options and functionalities that traditional development just can’t match. This means that businesses and enterprises alike can build the exact solution they need, mapped out to their specific business processes and workflows with faster completion time and fewer resources expended. What enterprise wouldn’t want a solution that enables agile and continuous rapid innovation?
Myth Busters: Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late!
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 20 years, it’s become painfully clear that innovation and agility is the key to remaining competitive in the business world. Adopting a no-code low-code platform will give you the agility, power, and speed necessary to transform and supercharge your business – while using fewer resources than traditional development, and offering more customization than off-the-shelf solutions.
Can you afford to wait until it’s too late? Learn more about Crowd Machine’s no-code platform Crowd App Studio, or get started with learning how to build no-code apps in Crowd Academy for free.
