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Time is of the essence for organizations in today’s dynamic, digital world, and developers are facing increasing pressure to implement new applications and develop code quicker than ever before, often with limited internal resources.
As companies explore new ways to increase developer productivity and operations, low code/no code tools have grown in popularity as the tools offer benefits for citizen developers with little to no coding experience, as well as senior developers looking to gain back valuable time and effort. To help spark and encourage developer innovation, low code/no code platforms that are backed by artificial intelligence (AI) promote faster development times and increased business agility while providing developer teams with the tools and support needed to innovate quickly and more often.
Expand the population of people who can build software systems and promote flexibility
Developer teams across the globe are facing limitations, with market intelligence firm IDC predicting the global shortage of full-time developers will increase to 4 million in 2025, less than two years from now. With that in mind, companies should look to utilize their entire team when it comes to development, even those with limited experience in coding.
Low-code/no-code application program interfaces (APIs) solutions offer a valuable tool for teams with limited resources and different skill sets to speed up the innovation process and implement solutions and features at a faster pace. With these APIs, non-IT professionals like junior product managers or business analysts can develop a basic prototype, expanding the number of people in an organization that can build software systems.
Many companies today use customer engagement solutions that operate in natural language and utilize AI along with low-code/no-code tools, ultimately creating more intelligent, personalized, and automated conversations with customers on their preferred communications channel.
Additionally, low-code/no-code tools are not just for citizen developers but also for more advanced senior developers, enabling even the most senior developer to rapidly iterate on innovations and freeing up time to focus on building higher code solutions. Utilizing these tools lessens the pressure on limited developer teams so that, with basic technical skills and minimal training, implementations can be faster and easier across the board. The automation that low code/no code and AI provides allow for teams to address more pressing issues across the board.
Implementing low-code/no-code also promotes flexibility within a working environment and can help address talent shortages by creating an auxiliary arm of a developer team. In addition to mitigating talent shortages, low-code/no-code tools improve a business’ agility and contribute to cost savings by significantly reducing hiring costs and application maintenance costs.
Take advantage of a new alternative to build vs. buy
Low-code/no-code platforms help expand an organization’s ability to rapidly develop new solutions, offer a better alternative to build vs. buy, and provide companies with the ability to avoid having to build out their own AI solutions (like conversational AI capabilities).
When a company purchases a solution, it’s often limited and can restrict a team to that one solution’s implementation capabilities. Teams are also forced to spend significant time finding other solutions that are able to work with the one purchased to make up for any missing needs. Buying can be a far more rigid process, may only partially be what a company needs to help a team of developers work more efficiently, and usually ropes a company into a long-term commitment. Alternatively, building is challenging if a team is already strapped for time and resources, and can be difficult to do successfully from the ground up. By choosing to build, a company has an increased risk of failure because what it builds might not work or requirements could change, causing the whole team to start over.
Low-code/no-code APIs offer a far more customizable, powerful and simple solution. These tools can be more tightly integrated with what developers are trying to create and help fill in gaps for the features that don’t require high code knowledge.
Time is the one thing a developer can never get back
For developers, time is one of the most valuable aspects of the work they do, so taking advantage of tools that decrease implementation time and help avoid boilerplate is crucial. Low-code/no-code allows teams of varying skills to implement basic features quickly to address a need while providing the adaptability to redesign down the line if needed. By avoiding early, high code development that pressures organizations to make decisions immediately that are difficult to change when necessary at a later time, teams can gain back time with a low code/no code solution and transition to a more complex solution with higher code after a successful proof of concept.
Successfully leveraging low-code/no-code and AI across an enterprise
Selecting the right low-code/no-code tools is a critical step as they are not one size fits all, and organizations should choose tools that are easiest to use for both the developers and non-developers on a team and that are easily augmented with AI capabilities. A platform’s adaptability and flexibility must also be considered since the platform should not only fit the needs of the team now but also in the future should projects change. Make sure the platform is also scalable, reliable, and is one that will fit seamlessly into the existing technology stack without issue. Checking all these boxes when choosing a low-code/no-code platform that utilizes AI is essential to successfully leveraging all the benefits.
Savinay Berry is the Executive Vice President of Product and Engineering at Vonage.
