In 2020, Forrester had predicted that 50% of developers will use a low-code product. And then the pandemic happened. Instead of derailing the prediction — like the pandemic did for most trends of last year — it accelerated it. So much so that Forrester predicts that the “accelerated adoption of low-code platforms will change how teams organize.”

Today, low-code is no longer one of the many tools that help development, but a strategic initiative that fundamentally shapes the way software delivery will happen. Enterprises already understand this. For independent software vendors (ISVs) though, this can be a different ball game.

Why were ISVs resistant to low-code

As a ‘software company', most ISVs pride themselves on having excellent developers, building products that are robust, customizable, secure and scalable. For long, low-code development was seen as a means for citizen developers or business users to build prototypes, which then the ‘real developers' built by hand. With reason.

Most low-code development platforms available today can not handle complex business logic or application requirements.

Until now.

What low-code can do for ISVs in 2022

If there is one change that 2020 has brought to the world, it's the widespread acceptance of remote work. For employees to work remotely, enterprise software needs to work remotely as well. This shift to the cloud, and perhaps a SaaS model, requires ISVs to rapidly modernize their software. Low-code can enable that.

#1 Fuel rapid application modernization

Low-code can make software development faster by 10 times, as compared to traditional methods. Features like reusable elements, drag-and-drop and process modelling let individual developers or small teams release in days or weeks! Pair it with an agile-DevOps process, and it can modernize legacy applications to support enterprise needs of the future, without any disruption to current paying customers.

With low-code:

• Existing teams need no reskilling. Developers and even business teams can be onboarded quickly and can use the product effectively.
• Existing processes are not disrupted. A low-code platform like WaveMaker integrates with existing processes to enable modernization.

#2 Enable scale without compromise on customization

ISVs often maintain multiple implementations of their products for each customer. Even when on cloud, modernizing applications across these implementations — and their customizations — can be a complex endeavor.

Low-code platforms like WaveMaker leverage component-based models and micro-services with session-less architecture to build large, customizable applications at scale. With simple API integrations, ISVs can also ensure their applications work seamlessly with a wide range of other software that the client uses.

With low-code:

• ISVs get complete ownership of code that the platform generates. Any edits / customizations needed can be handled effortlessly.
• Development teams get to choose and maintain their coding infrastructure.
• There is no runtime dependency.

#3 Save costs

The biggest advantage of low-code development is that it doesn't require ‘specialists' for every function. A lean team of professionals can use low-code to build or modernize an entire application. With powerful abstractions over technical programming, low-code platforms can empower development teams, making it easier for non-specialists, junior programmers and even citizen developers to build software.

Low-code reduces expenses both for the ISV and their end customers. It also frees ISVs from the expense of regular maintenance, while reducing development costs multi-fold.

With low-code:

• Dev teams can generate and maintain open standards based code, without needing specialists for each function.
• The consistency of code generated ensures longer usability and easier maintainability.

WaveMaker for ISVs

Unlike most low-code platforms, WaveMaker is built to handle extreme customization, enterprise-grade security and scale, all of which are essential for ISVs.

• Open-standards based code uses popular frameworks like Angular, Spring, Hibernate, Cordova, etc. to help modernize apps without full scale development.
• WaveMaker's Java-based platform ensures rapid development, easy integration, responsive design and scalable architecture.
• It combines micro-services with session-less architecture and auto-generated REST API to build customizable cloud-native apps.
• It keeps data secure with RBAC and protection against Top 10 OWASP vulnerabilities.

If you’re an ISV looking to leverage enterprise-grade low-code technology to modernize your application, get a demo or contact us here.