With the smartphone market booming and application market getting hotter, demand for lighter, faster and highly responsive applications has grown. According to the report by Market Research Future, The mobile application market is expected to reach approximately USD 165 billion by the end of 2023 with approximately 14% CAGR during the forecasted period from 2017 – 2023. The rate at which applications have dominated every aspect of online content, it is frustrating to waste too much time on the coding of apps. Especially, when your idea is impulsive and you know it will be a huge hit.
According to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Collat School of Business 40%, of companies have a moderate to major skills gap. The resulting digital inefficiency can be deadly, costing as much as 20% in lost productivity. As a result, businesses are constantly on the lookout for options that will enable their existing resources to build applications speedily and efficiently, so they do not have to search, hire, and retain scarce and expensive IT talent.
For such a situation, there are low-code platforms. Low code platforms are like an application that provides GUIs(Graphical user interface) for programming and develops code at a very fast rate with low coding and reduced programming efforts. It helps in fast development of codes with minimum hand-coding and helps in the quick setup of application infrastructure, with tools to deploy the application architecture.
Benefits of Low-Code Platforms:
- It ensures high productivity for developers.
- It renders low cost as there is minimal coding.
- More applications can be developed in lesser time.
- Anyone can develop high functioning applications without dependency on skillset.
Features to look for while choosing a Low-code platform:
Visual Model-based development:
Low-code development platforms allow very fast rate application development based on visual models and GUIs to provide clear logic for developers to create applications, visually rich in feature.
Drag and drop interfaces:
Coding for application architecture and have backlinks and interlinks between pages to be programmed, takes more time and lots of coding, with lower reusability, it is a tedious affair. Drag and drop interface can be used to reduce such coding and programming. Further, such an interface can be reused to update and upgrade applications.
Accessibility:
It is always an advantage to build an application that is accessible across platforms, as it will attract more users and increase the audience. This is one important feature you should look at in a low-code development platform. This is a great platform for Indian business start-ups, who can hire Indian developers to develop applications across platforms for their business benefits.
Security:
Low-code development platforms can ensure fast app development, but, if your app is not secure, users will avoid your application. So, it is important to choose a low-code development platform that will provide app security.
Scalability:
Building an app for a limited audience or large user base can be your decision, but your low-code development platform should offer you scalability for your application to tap into a larger user base whenever necessary.
Now, that you know the features to look for, let us see the top 5 low-code platforms for your next application.
OutSystems:
It is a low-code development platform, designed initially to revolutionize the low-code platforms and its functioning. It has rich features like a WYSIWYG HTML editor (rich text editor)with drag and drop interface. It facilitates process and workflow mapping.
It also provides the app marketplace with pre-built applications to choose from and build custom applications on chosen, forms and templates.
Kissflow:
This low-code development platform was launched in 2012. It almost obliterated the need for coding. It gives you a feel of a cloud tool, rather than a development platform. It also provides a standard suite of features like WYSIWYG HTML editor which can be used by anybody without any knowledge of coding.
Appian :
It is one of the most prolific low-code development platforms. It has features like drag and drop interface, third party integration and ability to built seamless mobile applications in its suite. Appian provides an extensive app marketplace with lots of pre-built app templates and forms.
Zoho Creator:
It is also a great low-code development platform with features like form builder and visual development interface. The only backdrop of Zoho creator is no integration feature for third party applications.
Google App Builder:
It is an application builder suite from Google, making it exciting as it has many interesting features. Though famously known as Gsuite, it lacks some important features that other low-code platforms excel.
Conclusion:
The modern era of mobile application has long been a goldmine and low-code application development platforms are the short-cut to success. They employ agile application development methodology, a software development model that promotes rapid development and quick feedback over long planning and testing stages. Agile methodology enables development teams to work on new features quickly and get the prototype to the end-user without needing to focus on building a complete product.
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