Low-Code: The DIY of Business Tools
How low-code is increasing productivity and democratizing development of business applications.
Some of the largest companies on earth exist for the sole reason of making menial back-office business tasks slightly easier to do. Software that helps you manage your customer data and track pipeline information? Companies spend $71 billion a year on that tool (CRMs). A tool to manage your employee data and all the tasks involved with hiring? Companies spend $30 billion a year on those (HRMs).
These modern enterprise SaaS tools are so popular because they save businesses a ton of time. That’s called productivity. The value of technology is that it makes us more productive. If a fishing pole gets you 20 fish per hour instead of 10, you can use that saved time on something else. The same goes for software. What used to take rooms full of accountants with calculators and pencils, can now be done by one person on an Excel spreadsheet.
Software may be eating the world, but it still has a long way to go. The limiting factor, of course, is developers. While the number of software developers is expected to grow 25% by 2032, that’s still far short of what businesses require. If you have ever worked in an IT or product org, you will never hear “we have enough engineers.” The only way for software development to keep up with demand is to either make engineers more productive or expand the pool of people who can develop software. Luckily for us, the low-code/no-code (LCNC) movement will help us achieve both.
Low-code is simply about lowering the bar for software development. It is about allowing non-technical business users to develop solutions for tasks themselves, instead of relying on engineers. This is a big deal.
The beauty of low-code platforms lies in their simplicity and the empowerment they offer to users. They democratize software development, making it accessible to a broader range of people. This accessibility translates into faster cycles, reduced costs, and better productivity, without sacrificing the quality of the output. As low-code technology continues to advance, we expect an even broader array of applications, giving it tremendous potential in how businesses develop productivity enhancing technology.
Does this mean all software tools can be built on low-code platforms? Maybe one day. But for now, low-code platforms shine brightest when used by business teams building internal tools or simple user-facing apps. The potential use cases are vast, but we have seen applications tailored to streamlining business processes, enhanced data integration and collection, and improved communication across departments. For example, this week I developed a mobile app for our team to use at conferences to scan business cards and automatically load the data into our CRM. Oh, and it took me two hours and cost $0. That’s the power of low-code.
While I’ll eventually write a post comparing different low-code platforms, the one we are focused on currently is Microsoft Power Platform. If you’re a Microsoft shop, having a low-code platform embedded into the rest of your business tools makes everything easier. You are also probably paying for it already (it’s included with most Office365 licenses).
Modern low-code platforms have come a long ways in recent years, but they still have a ways to go – we are not quite at the point where any business user can whip up anything they want. But the industry is moving quickly, and will only continue to improve as AI removes more and more of the technical burden off of business users.
At OVG we are following this development closely and have resources that are actively taking part in low-code development. Please reach out if you have any questions.