Among the many winners in the post-pandemic business landscape, no-code continues to solidify its hold in the market, as the pandemic forces businesses to adopt digitally.
COVID-19 has exposed the fragility of many an organizational process, whether internal or external. The pandemic has spotlighted the lack of digital dexterity of many companies prompting them to get down to the brass tacks of programming. Not always easy, as they have found. As things stand, over 70% of businesses have a digital transformation strategy or are working on it.
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Enter no-code, a phenomenon that has become a real catalyst in driving digital adoption.
No-code helps non-technical employees to use their domain knowledge and skills to create a digital solution without coding. This democratization has opened up a world of digital possibilities for more businesses, leading to faster innovation and solutions. The agility and adaptability found in no-code can help tackle the IT backlog and enable rapid prototyping without additional overheads.
A few statistics:
According to Gartner, by 2024, no-code/low-code app development will account for over 65% of app development activity. In fact, by then, 75% of large enterprises are projected to be using at least four low-code development tools for IT app development as well as citizen development initiatives.
The global no-code development platform market is projected to generate money to the tune of US$187 billion by 2030, going up from US$10 billion in 2019. It is expected to advance at a CAGR of 31%.
Even reports from back in 2017 said that almost 60% of all custom apps were being built outside the IT department, out of which, 30% were being built by employees with either limited or no technical development skills.
Some early adopters of this technology have been Eicher Motors, EdTech platform upGrad, and even the Sri Lankan Cricket team, and many more.
The Tech Panda spoke to Abhinav Girdhar, Founder of Appy Pie, the cloud-based mobile app builder that provides a comprehensive no-coding solution rather than simply developing an app.
Abhinav Girdhar
No-code is a lot cheaper to implement, can formulate solutions in minutes, and needs absolutely no coding knowledge
The platform is a one-stop destination for development of websites, apps, chatbots, and live chat modules, without the hassle of coding. They recently acquired AppMakr, which is revered as a pioneer in the no-code mobile app space. The company has catered to global giants such as Nike, Accenture, and L’Oréal.
“The biggest hurdles for digital adoption in organizations are the cost and the time requirements. Add perceived complexity to the mix and no wonder most businesses shy away from it. No-code is a lot cheaper to implement, can formulate solutions in minutes, and needs absolutely no coding knowledge,” he says.
No code relies mostly on serverless technologies from a backend perspective to ensure scalability. For front-end technologies, they are extensively using native technologies in mobile apps with support from hybrid technologies like React and Angular.
Why Has the Need for No-Code Risen During the Pandemic?
Of the reasons that no code has risen to the fore, the primary is the increasing workload on IT and the need for citizen developers. Crises, such as the pandemic, reveal how IT bottlenecks can hamper the work of non-technical staff, who often need to create and iterate new tools fast.
The emergence of shadow IT is another cause for emergence of no code. The pandemic has led to a rise in shadow IT, making the need for open development of workflow tools imperative.
As the pandemic has confined our movement, no-code development has emerged as the perfect solution for most businesses with a small budget
“As the pandemic has confined our movement, no-code development has emerged as the perfect solution for most businesses with a small budget. Businesses that did not have digitization on the cards had no choice but to go looking for suitable digital solutions. No-code development ticks all the critical boxes – low cost, low complexity, and high-speed solutions,” Girdhar explains.
Also, traditional digital solutions can cost much more, not just in terms of revenue but also time taken, which can become months or even years. In addition, not every company is able to find the exact trained resource they are looking for or are unable to hire one.
No-Code in India
India has been seeing an uptick in the market regarding the no-code mobile app space. Successful no-code development platforms in India include Appy Pie, Joget DX, Unquork, Linx, Odoo, and many more.
Over the last few months, Appy Pie has seen a 200% growth in the number of daily apps created on their platform by Indian users.
There is a definite rise in curiosity and acceptance for the concept of no-code mobile application development. It gives you total control over what you are building and helps you get to market in as little time as possible
“There is a definite rise in curiosity and acceptance for the concept of no-code mobile application development. It gives you total control over what you are building and helps you get to market in as little time as possible,” says Girdhar.
He also reveals that Appy Pie is in the process of launching multiple no-code solutions for businesses of all sizes and scales. However, the most exciting products on the cards are the Enterprise range for AppMakr, Chatbot, and Connect.
Indian firms like Infosys, HCL Technologies, and Tech Mahindra have also been developing their own low-code, no-code technology. Infosys has developed low-code technology specifically for banking. Tech Mahindra has a Phenom solution for low-code, and HCL has Domino Volt.
A No-Code Future
So, what´s next in the no-code space? No code AI is already proliferating. That means non-AI experts are creating AI systems using simple visual interfaces or drag-and-drop menus.
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Companies like Akkio, Obviously.ai, DataRobot, Levity, Clarifai, Teachable Machines, Lobe (which Microsoft bought in 2018), Peltarion and Veritone, have been marketing no-code machine learning platforms.
Looks like in the future complex tech will just be a drag and drop away from reaching the markets.
