Why organizations need low-code application development now-GCN

Industry Insight

Why organizations need low-code application development now

• Jerry Eshbaugh
• September 9, 2021

The use of low-code application platforms (LCAP) within the government is rapidly accelerating, which is not only driven by the need for timely delivery, but also driven by its quality, safety, functional integrity, high availability, and most importantly, rapid change. Custom applications are notorious for their long development cycles and cannot effectively meet changing needs. Low-code platforms have reached critical mass, and technology is accelerating at a rate that institutions can no longer ignore. Leading vendors of low-code platforms include Appian, Microsoft Power Apps, Salesforce, and ServiceNow.

With LCAP, web applications can be delivered in less than eight weeks, from initial concept to production deployment. In addition, by using LCAP, which is certified for the highest impact risk level under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, organizations can significantly simplify the authority to operate the certification process.

The promise of rapid delivery of new applications and services while saving time and costs is why LCAP attracts the attention of governments and private sector organizations. According to Gartner, the low-code development technology market will grow by 23% between 2020 and 2021. By 2023, more than 50% of large and medium-sized enterprises will use low-code solutions as one of their strategic application platforms. By adopting LCAP today, organizations will take advantage of rapid development cycles, project success, and rapid return on investment.

In order to get the most from low-code development, IT leaders must understand its capabilities, limitations, and how it fits their strategy of creating applications that empower employees and serve citizens.

How low can you code?

Low-code development enhances traditional hand-coded programming through a platform that enables developers to quickly create new software using a graphical user interface. In addition, LCAP provides dozens of pre-built components that provide drag-and-drop functionality to enhance existing applications or assemble new applications. As a result, it requires almost no coding skills, making it easier for developers of all skill levels to create applications.

Low-code development enables organizations to:

Rapidly innovate new applications. Low-code development is very suitable for time-critical scenarios, which can shorten the development cycle from years to months or from months to weeks. An effective platform also enables IT leaders to quickly integrate components from leading cloud providers-useful tools such as address verification or speech recognition.

Modernize existing applications more easily. Many organizations lack the resources to migrate from legacy systems. The low-code approach is very suitable for layering graphical interfaces or front-end portals on top of old software. This method can also bring dividends in the future. Many legacy systems require months of training, and only long-term users can fully understand them. Enabling a low-code interface can help new users get started quickly.

Meet the agency standards. Every time the government, cabinet-level department or Congress changes a set of rules, agency applications and services must reflect these changes. The low-code approach can make the response faster and easier. More importantly, many organizations maintain style guides, specifying fonts, colors, and other details for websites and online tools, and low-code tools can automate almost all style guide compliance.

Let developers focus on innovation. People are good at conceiving new processes and services, but not so good at repetitive tasks, which leads to random errors. In contrast, the software is excellent in terms of repeatability and consistency. Therefore, it makes sense to use low-code tools for reusable components, while allowing developers to dream of new and better ways to enhance the capabilities of employees and serve voters.

Although low code is a strategic enabler for almost all enterprise applications, it does have its limitations. For example, graphics-intensive applications (simulation/animation), low-level drivers, and embedded systems must still be written in high-performance languages ​​such as C++ or even assembly. However, with a good web service-based architecture, low-code components can still be integrated with high-code components through REST, and even embedded Docker containers running within the platform can function.

Second, unlike no-code solutions that are designed to allow almost anyone to create software, low-code development is best left to the development team. Experienced business users may use low-code platforms to enhance the digital tools used by small internal teams. But for enterprise-level applications or citizen-oriented services, even the development of low-code support is best left to experts.

Five steps to low-code success

Like any technology, low-code development requires the right approach. In order to achieve low-code success, organizations should follow the following five guidelines:

1. Empower developers. The low-code platform replaces the lengthy build and test cycles of Java and C# with modular coding and drag-and-drop reuse. Now, more than ever, organizations need experienced and talented experts to understand business needs, innovate new processes and services, and apply modern, agile methods to provide advanced capabilities. As we have seen, 100% custom code, class libraries and frameworks such as Java Development Kit (JDK) and Microsoft.Net have enhanced class libraries. The goal is always to reuse existing code to the maximum to speed up application delivery and capabilities And quality. Today, thanks to JavaScript, CSS, and HTML hooks, LCAP provides a large number of out-of-the-box features, as well as extensive integration and blank palette user interface capabilities.