The lowdown on Low-Code

 

 

 

 

Put simply, Low-code is full-stack development with visual modelling. That means rather than coding from scratch, you use the platform’s graphical interface to assemble and configure applications. So, your developers can skip all the infrastructure and re-implementation of patterns and go straight to the unique 10% of an application. 

 

In essence, low-code helps developers to make an application faster and the manual tasks being automated by the application have a positive impact on efficiency of employees.

 

If you’re trying to visualise the low-code platform and process, Lego is a good analogy. You use drag-and-drop visual building blocks to build solutions on screen. Rather than writing thousands of lines of complex code and syntax, low-code platforms allow users to build complete applications with modern user interfaces, integrations, data and logic quickly and visually.

 

 

A typical low-code application development platform looks like the following:

•  A visual IDE: An environment for visually defining the UIs, workflows, and data models of your application and, where necessary, adding hand-written code.
• Connectors to various back-ends or services: Automatically handles data structures, storage, and retrieval.
• Application lifecycle manager: Automated tools to build, debug, deploy, and maintain the application in test, staging, and production.

Beyond those basics, low-code tools tend to differ. Some are quite limited and more akin to a visual database front-end, like FoxPro in the 90s. Some focus on niche business needs, like case management. Others have adopted the ‘low-code’ term to describe a purpose-built tool that has little to do with actual application development. 

 

OutSystems, our partner platform, gives you everything you need to create modern, cross-platform enterprise mobile and web applications with capabilities that complement existing team structures.

Whether it is a small application or a business or mission critical application.

 

 

Building software with low-code is the same as building software any other way. Unless you’re writing everything from scratch in machine code then you’re already taking shortcuts built on the work of others.

 

It’s easiest to focus on the things that you don’t have to do, thanks to low-code. Rather than hand-coding yet another user management system, dealing with the idiosyncrasies of the latest programming framework, or writing ten tests before a single line of your app’s code, you get straight to creating something new and valuable.

 

 

Ultimately, low-code is a way for developers to spend more time creating and less time on repetitive work. So you can get products and services into the market quicker and keep up with (or, ideally stay one step ahead of) competitors.

 

It’s worth noting, low-code isn’t about reducing the value of developers. It’s about enabling developers to produce more value, quicker, while drawing on their understanding of how to create and maintain high-quality web and mobile applications.

 

Want to see what low-code can do for you? Request a Proof of Concept now. We’ll take your challenge and collaborate with you to create a solution with low-code.

 

 

Low-code consultants of Fruition Partners have a great deal of experience with rapidly building low-code business applications for all kinds of businesses. With their practical hands on approach, their strong social skills and deep understanding of low-code, they have surprised and convinced customers in all kinds of businesses with extraordinary solutions. 

 

To give a few examples:  

•  For a famous restaurant in Rotterdam we have developed a smart booking app, that enables customers to book both a table and a timeslot.
• For an agriculture specialist, we created a smart app that advisers can use to support customers in their sales process. Customers can now make faster purchase decisions based on their specific business situation.
• For our own organisation we built  the ‘FRAPP’, an app that employees can use to register for lunch in the office, find colleagues, book business trips and internal services like the hairdressers, massage and many more.