What “low-code” means to developers is quite different in a few key ways from what is commonly understood as “low code” for “citizen developers.” In this post, we focus instead on the definition and advantages of “low-code for developers.”
Low code technology in general is meant to provide IT teams and business users to automate and digitize business operations without the need to write a lot of code. The use of low code tools for business is growing rapidly - according to Gartner, by 2024 some 75% of companies will be using a minimum of 4 low-code development tools.
But for large enterprises with critical business processes, operations often require projects that are high-visibility, enterprise-wide and enterprise-grade and need to be integrated with the enterprise information systems. This requires action by expert developers.
What is “low-code automation" for developers?
Low-code automation offers developers a set of tools to build, automate, deploy, and modify applications, workflows, and processes in a way that minimizes - not eliminate - the need to code.
Professional developers’ coding expertise is essentially indispensable for creating and maintaining critical business process applications that:
- are central to the enterprise’s strategy or business: to support innovations and competitive advantages
- are complex - for example, they may extend across different departments of the business, or across teams, or involve both internal and external users
- need to be customized beyond any “out of the box” capability available
- need to be stable and maintainable and over a long life cycle
- need to be fully secure
To create these critical process applications and automation projects, developers use low-code process automation platforms that permit them to develop rapidly and code only where customizations and extensions are really needed. For example, key business processes may need to be connected to company-proprietary or legacy systems, need highly customized user interfaces, or require rigorous and repeated testing.
Low-code platforms for developers must then offer more than the visual design capabilities and out-of-the-box capabilities of low-code tools commonly used by business experts as “citizen developers” - application developers need to be able to extend any part of any application if there are requirements for specific cases.
That said, a good low-code platform should also provide tools that help business experts and developers collaborate on application requirements and interfaces, so that together they can build an application that meets all requirements for functionality and usability.
How low-code automation works
Low-code automation platforms make extensive use of graphical and drag-and-drop user interfaces - for example, to allow developers to define and manipulate data through tables, forms, reports, and other visual means.
Low-code platforms for developers offer much more beyond their visual design capabilities, so the technical team can easily extend any part of an application they build with them. These platforms are often compatible with frameworks widely used by developers already for external development when there is a need for it, and provide or are compatible with software development kits. Some of the more common extension points / customizable-by-code aspects of low-code process automation platforms are tools for creating and using:
- Connectors
- REST API extensions
- Custom widgets
- Maven archetypes
- repositories to share custom developments
- repositories for project artifacts
- user authentication
- event handlers (eg for exceptions)
- testing toolkits, eg to write and execute integration tests
And because “low-code” includes “code,” tools for coding such as Software Development Kits (SDKs) are a particularly important inclusion. SDKs are useful for quickly developing connectors, REST APIs, widgets, and more in a consistent and standardized way.
Low-code platforms can support efficiency through reusable components. For example, a developer can write a connector to integrate an internal CRM solution and easily share it with all other teams across the enterprise.
Testing toolkits are another example of low-code tools; with a good testing toolkit supplied with a platform, developers can quickly and efficiently write and execute integration tests to be sure their extensions work as intended.
The main benefits of low-code automation
When customization for automation projects and business applications is needed, low-code automation with a process automation platform offers some important advantages over full custom coding and fully low-code, citizen developer options.
- Fully custom coded is time-consuming, but a low-code platform specifically for developers means accelerated development. Custom development slows time to ROI, so low-code tools that reduce the need for custom development will speed up ROI on critical projects.
- Low code tools for citizen developers are by their nature limited and constrained, but a low-code platform specifically for developers means you’re never blocked; your application can be integrated with everything you need and your user interfaces can be designed to be uniquely yours.
- Testing toolkits enable developers to create integration tests quickly and efficiently, so again they can save time both in developing tests and in the longer run, with better tested software there are fewer unanticipated problems after deployment.
- Low-code tools for developers are also ideal for highly scalable applications that support complex logic—the kind of custom applications that support ongoing digital transformation.
- Developer-built applications are stable and maintainable over a long life cycle, when the business needs dependability.
- And finally, the visual tools that low-code platforms provide offer a useful means of collaboration between business and IT.
Bonitasoft understands what business needs to be successful. We’ve built our BPM-based business process automation platform to accelerate business process application delivery for efficiency, continuous improvement, and innovation. Bonita’s flexibility and platform extensibility equips professional developers and DevOps teams with powerful tools to develop highly customized, fully integrated business applications faster.
Here are 3 ways to learn more:
- Build highly personalized, process-based applications today, for free, with our open source Bonita Community Edition.
- See how you can reinvent your business processes with BPM. Watch our on demand Bonita Platform Demo.
- Interested in full project lifecycle support and services from development to operations? Try unlocking the power of Bonita Enterprise Edition. Contact us to learn more.
Bonitasoft knows its business. This article was not created with the use of artificial language technology.
