- What’s no-code/low-code?
- How no-code/low-code accelerates business objectives
- Tips for decision-makers transitioning to no-code/low-code
- The power of Baserow and DronaHQ in your toolkit
What’s no-code/low-code?
No-code/low-code allows developers to quickly create applications, manage data, build APIs, design websites, and set up payments without needing to code. These tools provide pre-built components, code blocks, visual interfaces, and built-in security features.
They offer a balance by allowing developers to use their coding skills when needed while also benefiting from pre-built functionalities.
Gartner predicts that by 2025, a substantial 70% of newly developed organizational applications will employ low-code or no-code technologies, marking a significant increase from the mere 25% recorded in 2020.
As a CTO, Marketing Manager, Human Resource Specialist, or Head of Engineering, you can greatly benefit from the agility and cost-effectiveness that low-code/no-code platforms offer, especially when navigating tight deadlines and dynamic market demands.
How no-code/low-code accelerates business objectives
Reducing time-to-market
Decision-makers often struggle with the time it takes to turn an idea into a working application. Low-code/no-code platforms like Baserow and DronaHQ greatly speed up the process of setting up your database and frontend. Instead of taking months, you could launch a customer-facing portal or internal tool in just weeks. This is a game-changer in today’s fast-paced business world.
Optimizing costs and resources
Budget limitations are a fact, and decision-makers always look for ways to reduce costs while still promoting innovation. Low-code/no-code platforms do not replace developers. Instead, they allow junior developers, citizen developers, and even business users (SMEs) to participate in digitization projects. This enables achieving more within existing budgets and allocating resources strategically.
Empowering collaboration beyond IT
Collaboration between technical and non-technical teams is important for success. When decision-makers use low-code/no-code platforms, there’s smooth collaboration among business analysts, marketing teams, and IT professionals in the application development process. This democratization of development promotes innovation throughout the organization.
How low-code/no-code platforms supercharge developer speed
Developers now have access to low-code and no-code tools that have revolutionized the way they create applications. These tools allow developers to turn their creative ideas into functional apps quickly and easily.
For example, consider Jane, a developer assigned to build a project management tool. In the past, she would spend hours coding features like task tracking, user authentication, and data storage. However, with low-code/no-code platforms, Jane can simply drag and drop ready-made modules or set up functionalities with a few clicks. The result is rapid app development.
With these tools, rapid prototyping is effortless, making it easy to test and validate concepts and ideas. They are especially useful when time-to-market is crucial, as they enable developers to deliver robust solutions within tight deadlines.
"No-code and low-code platforms help reduce app development time by 90%”. – RedHat
Moreover, the flexibility of these platforms facilitates seamless integration with existing systems and APIs, ensuring that the applications developers build are not isolated but rather seamlessly connected to the broader technological ecosystem.
Low-code and no-code platforms have simplified the application creation process for developers. Instead of writing code from scratch, developers can now use pre-built components to quickly build functional apps, store data, and enable system integration.
Building business apps with no-code/low-code
Developers do more than just write code. They are problem solvers and architects of functionality. They tackle challenges like improving backend operations and creating user interfaces that work effectively. The solutions they come up with are practical and effective.
Imagine a high-growth startup’s marketing team in need of a dashboard to monitor email marketing performance. The data was available, but it was either stored in a protected database or behind API services. This made it challenging for the team to access the information frequently and gain insights.
The developer team was responsible for creating the dashboard, but their efforts kept getting postponed due to pressing customer projects and urgent tasks that demanded immediate attention.
In such a scenario, building a custom dashboard for the internal team was not a top priority. It also lacked motivation for the developers to invest their valuable time and expertise into it.
However, developer teams that face time constraints between critical projects are often the ones who appreciate low-code/no-code solutions the most.
In the end, the development team in the above example managed to assist the marketing team by utilizing a low-code/no-code platform. They were able to drag and drop pre-built chart UI components onto a canvas, integrate with backend systems while ensuring API access permissions, and create a minimum viable product (MVP) in under a week!
With that said, no-code/low-code aren’t just for creating MVPs. Open source database solutions like Baserow ensure that you can scale to millions of rows! And if you self-host, you can enjoy unlimited rows, storage, users, and completely own your infrastructure from top to bottom.
This flexibility and ownership that comes with open source also ensures business continuity, so you can rest easy knowing that you’ll always be in control of your data.
Tips for decision-makers transitioning to no-code/low-code
As with anything new, transitioning to now-code/low-code development comes with its set of challenges. But with strategic planning, decision-makers can ensure a smooth adoption process. Here are some tips to getting the most out of no-code visual development.
Resources and training
Invest in resources for your teams. No-code/low-code tools are designed to be intuitive, but webinars, trainings, and other resources can make a huge difference.
Ensuring that both technical and non-technical staff are well-versed in the low-code environment fosters a collaborative and innovative culture.
Start with small wins
Start with small projects, allowing teams to familiarize themselves with the platform’s capabilities and build confidence gradually.
Embrace cross-functional collaboration
You play a crucial role in fostering collaboration across departments. Actively encouraging cross-functional teams to collaborate on no-code projects ensures that the resulting applications align with both technical and business requirements.
Focus on security and compliance
Security is non-negotiable. Prioritize platforms with robust security features and ensure compliance with industry standards. Regular audits and adherence to best practices guarantee a secure development environment.
Tap into community resources
The no-code community is a valuable resource. Encourage teams to actively participate in community discussions, leverage online forums, and share experiences. Community engagement enriches the learning process and provides solutions to common challenges.
The power of Baserow and DronaHQ in your toolkit
Baserow and DronaHQ make a great team for developers. Let’s say a team needs to create a customer portal with a strong backend. Baserow helps design the database structure, capturing customer data and interactions smoothly. On the other hand, DronaHQ provides pre-built UI components for a polished and responsive user interface on the frontend.
Developers can work quickly, adjust to new requirements, and bring ideas to life faster than ever before. Baserow and DronaHQ, leaders in the no-code and low-code fields, work together to create a complete development environment. They enable developers to go beyond traditional limits, unleash their creativity, and build applications that are not only efficient but also perfectly suited to their project’s specific needs.
