Despite the explosion in number of low-code platforms, they broadly fall into two categories: A, Citizen developer platforms that help IT-aware business folks to rapidly build good looking digital office apps, most using popular platform APIs. And B, Process automation studios for assembling sophisticated workflows and creating workflow-based apps using connectors and such. All low-code platforms uniformly promise, and deliver, great looking UI out of the box – the main hook for citizen developers.
However, the ease of building snazzy line-of-business apps, and the resultant “gold rush”, has led to many silo-ed projects across the enterprise. Over time, this has raised the cost burden of long term use of low-code, but more critically, it has compromised on scalability, security, and performance. As a result, such apps have fallen out of alignment with the enterprise’s web applications strategy.
Having said that, the right low-code platform can accelerate your enterprise web strategy. Let’s begin.]
An open standards low-code platform that generates human-readable application code (“Code Behind”) finds instant synergy with professional development teams, who don’t like to sacrifice features for ease of development.
(Avoid Code Lock-In – can the auto-generated code be extended and customized?)
Developer experience is key to low-code acceptance among professional developers. Look for extensible factory components and the ability to hand-code advanced features – giving teams full-stack capability.
Does it give you access to best-of-breed technologies, enable modern architectural best practices, and provide a well-thought-out development methodology?
Low-code apps should be as good as hand-crafted ones: enterprise-grade performance and the ability to scale out with microservices as the number of features and volume of users grow.
(Avoid Platform Lock-In. Can you run applications on the infrastructure of your choice?)
A bad license model can choke your growth. Choose an affordable and uncomplicated license model that is based on developer seats, and does not inhibit the complexity or number of apps you want to build.
(Avoid Business Lock-In. Is the licensing and pricing option future-proof?)
Look for a technology partner who can lower the risk when there is uncertainty, accelerate delivery of fast-changing apps, and has an engineering support plan that takes the load off your IT team. Does it reduce the risk of investment normally
associated with full-stack teams and traditional dev projects?
WaveMaker is the low-code platform of choice for professional development teams across the globe.
