What is low-code/no-code development?
Low-code/no-code (LCNC) platforms simplify application development, helping teams turn great ideas into working solutions quickly and confidently – without extensive coding skills.
Low-code/no-code (LCNC) platforms simplify application development, helping teams turn great ideas into working solutions quickly and confidently – without extensive coding skills.
Imagine sitting down at a piano and being able to play a complicated tune without knowing how to read music or even play the instrument. In its own way, low-code/no-code (LCNC) development is a bit like that. For decades, software application development required professionals who could speak programming languages and write complex code from scratch. But as demand for custom software solutions grew – and untenable pressures were put on IT teams – businesses became focused on finding less specialized, less complicated ways of meeting this burgeoning need for apps.
This is where low-code and no-code application development comes in. These elegant solutions were built to provide a visually simple and intuitive, drag-and-drop approach to application creation, without the need for coding skills and programming language fluency.
Low-code/no-code are software development methods that allow users to create applications using visual interfaces, pre-built components, and drag-and-drop tools. This allows non-technical users to develop applications – and it also speeds and streamlines the process for more experienced IT specialists.
Low-code platforms provide a mix of visual programming and traditional coding. Developers can customize applications with scripts, APIs, and integrations and accelerate the development process through pre-built components.
No-code tools use a completely visual approach, allowing users to build applications using pre-configured templates and logic-based workflows – without writing a single line of code.
A citizen developer is a non-technical user who creates applications using LCNC platforms. These individuals don’t need formal coding expertise but are called “developers” because the LCNC tools give them the power to build applications on their own or with less IT assistance than ever before.
Steve Jobs once famously said: “It takes a lot of hard work to make something look simple”. The whole point of LCNC tools is to make application development simpler and more intuitive from a creator’s point of view. But in order to achieve this level of ease, a lot of advanced technologies need to work together seamlessly. These include:
Low-code/no-code platforms let team members with unique expertise and specialized subject knowledge take part in developing the right applications with the right features and capabilities. Rather than playing a game of telephone, and always trying to convey these needs and nuances to an IT specialist, the people who know their departments best can ensure they’re getting the right apps for their purposes.
By shifting everyday repetitive development tasks to citizen developers, IT teams can focus their expertise on high-value, strategic technical work. This helps to reduce both costs and delays.
When non-technical subject specialists have the ability to initiate and guide app development, it minimizes lengthy briefing and communication cycles – letting new apps roll out with speed and accuracy.
LCNC aligns business users and IT on a unified platform. This makes it easier for them to jointly design, develop, and refine applications in real time, making sure solutions match business needs.
LCNC platforms simplify ongoing changes and updates. Users can quickly adjust workflows, fields, or integrations without deep coding. This means fast adaptation to new requirements or conditions.
While they both serve the same purpose of simplifying and streamlining development, low-code and no-code each have some distinct features and intended purposes.
| Feature | Low-code development | No-code development |
|---|---|---|
| Who uses it | Developers and tech-savvy users | Business users with no coding experience |
| Customization | Allows scripting and integration with other systems | Limited to pre-built templates and workflows |
| Complexity of applications | Can handle enterprise-level apps with deep customization | Best for simple apps like forms, dashboards, or task managers |
| Use cases | Business process automation, data-heavy applications, API integrations | Basic internal tools, workflow automation, customer service chatbots |
Code-free tools are evolving quickly and becoming relevant to a growing range of business processes and operations. Here are a few of today’s most common use cases:
From finance and payroll to HR, marketing, and supply chain operations, there are countless repeating and administrative tasks. Instead of handling them with endless emails and spreadsheets, LCNC tools let your teams build internal apps that are exactly fit for purpose.
Increasingly, businesses are finding that a one-size-fits-all CRM solution is not quite flexible enough, so they use LCNC to augment CRM capabilities. This allows users to customize workflows, automate follow-ups, and track leads – without relying on IT teams.
Many companies are in the process of modernizing to fully cloud-based systems. But in the interim, low-code/no-code tools help extend functionality, automate workflows, and enhance usability. This helps keep you competitive at every stage in your digital transformation journey.
Increasingly, you’ll need custom reporting dashboards that pull data from various sources. Instead of waiting for IT to build one, your teams can use low-code/no-code tools to connect databases, create visualizations, and share reports quickly.
While low-code and no-code platforms offer speed and efficiency, you need to consider potential challenges when implementing them at scale. Below are four key considerations and strategies for managing them.
While LCNC platforms excel at streamlining workflows and automating tasks, they may struggle with highly complex applications that require deep system integrations, advanced logic, or high-performance processing. In these cases, traditional development might still be necessary. For example, if you’re trying to automate complex risk assessments, you might find that a low-code/no-code platform can quickly create workflows and dashboards, but still requires custom development for advanced data modeling or regulatory compliance rules.
Solution: To ensure scalability, you can adopt a hybrid approach, using low-code/no-code for rapid development while integrating traditional coding when deeper customization is needed. This way, your business users can build functional solutions quickly, while IT teams handle performance-heavy or mission-critical applications.
LCNC platforms abstract much of the development process, which can lead to reduced visibility into security configurations, access controls, and data handling practices. If not managed properly, this could expose sensitive data to unauthorized users or create compliance gaps in regulated environments. For instance, you might deploy a self-service customer portal using a no-code tool, but without strict role-based access controls, sensitive customer data could be inadvertently exposed to users who shouldn’t have access.
Solution: Organizations should choose enterprise-grade LCNC platforms that include security best practices by default, such as built-in encryption, authentication, and compliance monitoring tools. Additionally, IT should establish clear security policies to ensure that applications built by business users adhere to company-wide data protection standards.
LCNC platforms let teams build apps that fit their unique needs, but without a clear framework, app sprawl can occur. Too many custom-built solutions create overlap, inefficiencies, or inconsistent user experiences. Shared LCNC platforms allow for smooth team collaboration – but only if people use them. You still need to ensure that guidelines and clear communication protocols are in place.
Solution: Establishing governance guidelines for LCNC ensures that applications remain scalable, secure, and aligned with enterprise architecture. By providing pre-approved templates, integration best practices, and user role controls, businesses can strike the right balance between innovation and consistency, allowing teams to build solutions efficiently without losing oversight.
Citizen developers can inadvertently add features to apps that result in slow load times, redundant queries, or scalability issues as usage grows. For example, a user might build an internal reporting app that pulls large datasets without optimizing queries, causing unnecessary strain on system resources. Over time, these inefficiencies can accumulate, affecting overall system performance.
Solution: To maintain performance, IT teams should provide guidelines and best practices for data handling, process optimization, and load balancing within LCNC tools. Many enterprise-grade LCNC platforms offer performance monitoring tools – leveraging these ensures that applications remain efficient, scalable, and optimized for enterprise needs.
While enterprise solutions provide the backbone for critical business functions, low-code/no-code platforms can help give your teams added flexibility to address challenges faster. Here’s how LCNC is boosting performance across some key sectors:
Automotive operates in a regulated global supply chain facing disruptions, compliance, and changing demands. LCNC enables rapid workflow adjustments, internal tool creation, and streamlined approvals – without lengthy development cycles.
Distributors navigate fluctuating demand, supplier diversity, and shifting expectations. LCNC enables rapid process adjustments, automation of repetitive tasks, and optimized industry-specific workflows, easing demands on IT resources.
Food and beverage firms must manage traceability, regulatory compliance, and supply chain visibility amid market shifts. LCNC platforms can help flexibly adjust internal processes, integrate diverse data sources, and quickly respond to new regulations.
Fashion brands rapidly launch collections, manage complex supply chains, and execute sustainability initiatives. LCNC can help streamline internal processes, rapidly adapt to changing compliance requirements, and enhance partner collaboration.
The ability to democratize application development is an exciting and empowering advancement. It lets you directly involve your most subject-qualified people in the creation of your most important business apps. What’s more, it frees up your IT professionals to actually be IT professionals, rather than glorified order takers, buried under hundreds (or thousands) of service requests for this little change or that. LCNC empowers developers and programmers to step away from the IT take-out window and really dig into what they’re best at: innovating and refining your most complex applications and optimizing your systems for a more competitive future.
Learn how Infor’s low-code application development platform can help you create, extend, and scale apps with ease.