Low-Code Development Tools Features | What Makes Low-Code Better?

Programmers are always looking for an efficient way to reduce input/output friction. In the beginning, there were punch cards. But they were pretty inefficient, so then came assembly language. That was still inefficient, so they brought in languages like FORTRAN and COBOL. When that wasn’t good enough, they developed easier languages like C and C++, and so on.

Languages kept getting easier to use, but the world of programming was still limited to only a few who chose to immerse themselves in a particular specialty. Even someone who knew one language very well might need to put in a lot of effort to learn a new one.

One beauty of coding is that there are generally some lines of code that get reused a lot. So often that it can be packed up as a simple widget. This was the genesis of low-code solutions.

With low-code systems, you don’t need talented developers with years of experience in a particular language to build an application. People who only know the basics of a certain technology platform can build their own programs without any coding experience.

But are low-code development tools really a replacement for traditional hand coding? In short, they can be.

What Do Low-code Development Tools Do?

Business users, or citizen developers, have only a rudimentary knowledge or experience with coding. Usually, when they have an idea for a great application, they’ll just reach out to IT.

But with low-code tools, that’s no longer the case. Low-code platform solutions enable these people to create their own applications, provided that they understand the logic and flow of what they want to create.

Without low-code development tools, any idea, regardless of how great it was, would be stuck in an inbox somewhere, pining for a developer’s attention to bring it to life. That could take anywhere from weeks to months.

Now, with low-code development tools, citizen developers can do it all on their own. Another benefit is that business leaders aren’t relying on shadow IT to get their software requirements fulfilled–and that’s a relief for everyone.

Features of a Low-Code Solutions Platform

Before you start looking for a low-code development platform, there are a few essentials you need to keep in mind. These are things that all good low-code systems should have. If they don’t, it isn’t worth your time.

Model-Based Development

It’s always faster to create applications using visual methods and models. This makes it even easier for business users, as they know and understand the logic of what they want to create. Good low-code tools will enable them, not hinder them.

Drag-and-Drop Interfaces

Drag-and-drop should be at the top of your list when it comes to requirements in low-code solutions. This isn’t just a convenience, it’s a necessity. Citizen developers need this to create their applications, and it makes the life experienced developers easy as well.

Reusability

A big part of low-code platforms is that most major functionalities are already pre-built into modules that can just be dragged and dropped wherever required. That’s a big part of reusability. Having an internal “app store” where assets, modules, and even entire applications can be reused is important, if not downright essential.

Cross-Platform Accessibility

If you’re building an app using one of the many low-code platform solutions on the market, this is a great feature to have. Building an app with multi-channel compatibility, which lets your staff access it from anywhere in the world, makes things easy.

Security

No one is going to use your app if it isn’t secure, regardless of how functional or aesthetic it may be. If you find low-code tools that don’t offer proper security for both the platform and the apps that you build, drop them. There’s no point in continuing further.

Scalability

Low-code solutions should allow scaling, for both usage in the environment and your app. Building an app for twenty users is great. But what if that user number suddenly hikes up? What if that becomes one hundred? What if your entire organization of a thousand employees find what they want in the new app that you created? Low-code systems must be scalable.

Conclusion

The number of low-code platform solutions is only increasing. While a lot of low-code tools offer most of these features, they don’t offer them all. Finding low-code systems that do everything, and do them well, is very difficult. But that’s also why we’re here to help.

Kissflow is a low-code solution that has all the features that you are looking for when it comes to developing automated applications for your organization. If you want to take a closer look, sign up for a free trial and see if it suits your requirements.