As Marc Andreessen, the creator of the first major web browser, put it, "Software is eating the world." Andreessen was pointing out the revolutionary shift brought about by groundbreaking companies like Netflix, Amazon, Pixar, Spotify, and Pandora, which were redefining entire industries through the power of software. These trailblazers harnessed software to reshape business models, rewrite competitive rules, and revolutionize consumer behavior. Consider the profound societal shifts spurred by innovations such as on-demand video streaming, expedited package delivery, and accessible music streaming. These technological forerunners have permanently altered our daily life expectations.

As we glance at the current business environment, it's clear that the influence of software has vastly exceeded Andreessen's initial expansive projections. Today, the consensus is not just that software is central to disruptive startups, but that every business is, in essence, a software business. This egalitarian perspective is championed by enterprises of all sizes spanning diverse sectors. Fueled by remarkable advancements in cloud computing that have dramatically reduced barriers and costs, organizations are integrating software into their core strategies to drive comprehensive digital transformation.

The advent of the cloud has sparked a remarkable surge in applications and services. Predictions suggest that the number of digital apps and services built using cloud-native approaches may soon match those developed over the past four decades. The lion's share of these new apps will cater to specific digital transformation needs within various industries, thereby redefining competitive prerequisites. Given the escalating demand for apps, it's unrealistic to expect classical IT to single-handedly fulfil these requests by merely working harder. Consequently, the surge in DIY software development is a logical response to these mounting pressures.

The Journey Toward No-Code

The rise of DIY software development, in large part, coincides with the swift proliferation of Software as a Service (SaaS) in the last decade. The allure of SaaS within business operations lies in its promise of immediate, on-demand software provisioning. Contrasting with traditional custom software development, SaaS eliminates the intricate and risky aspects of software hosting, management, and updating. These responsibilities now fall on the SaaS provider, which ensures the application's consistent reliability. This attractive offering has catalyzed the explosive growth of SaaS, meeting the demands of almost every business process and industry sector.

Despite its undeniable advantages in terms of speed, accessibility, and maintenance, pre-packaged SaaS might not always be the best fit. Businesses may find off-the-shelf solutions lacking, especially when customized and tailored processes are essential for a competitive edge. In such scenarios, a SaaS application might fall short, much like a cookie-cutter house may not satisfy all homebuyers. Deploying SaaS apps might make businesses appear homogenous to their customers, hence companies striving for distinction often search for innovative technology alternatives.

This is where no-code enters the scene, presenting an attractive fusion of SaaS and custom software development. It encapsulates the quickness and simplicity of SaaS, while also offering customization, akin to the advantages of bespoke software. Essentially, no-code delivers a balanced solution that embodies the best aspects of both worlds.

Defining No-Code

So, what exactly is no-code? Simply put, no-code platforms allow non-developers to participate in the application development process through the use of visual drag-and-drop tools. Users can visually compose the forms, workflows, and data needed to build an application without understanding a programming language or having formal software development training. This has the potential to vastly expand the supply of talent by providing millions of non-developers with the ability to address application backlogs. It still requires deep knowledge of the business process or domain as well as the ability to think analytically and logically about problem-solving, but no-code development does not require formal training in software development, specifically the coding of functional applications.

A lot of code had to be written to build the no-code platform.

Now, we should acknowledge that it’s a bit of a misnomer to say there’s no code — a lot of code had to be written to build the no-code platform! However, it’s the responsibility of the no-code platform vendor to write and maintain this code and to keep up with the latest trends in innovation. This is much like the responsibility of the SaaS provider to maintain all the software they host and manage for you “as a service.”

Finally, as we define no-code, it’s important to note that we will discuss using no-code for developing enterprise applications. While the techniques of no-code abstractions can apply to a wide variety of areas — including building marketing websites, setting up e-commerce sites, defining business intelligence (BI)/business analytics dashboards, or training machine learning (ML) models — those types of solutions are not the focus here. We’ve focused instead on the use and benefits that no-code provides to meet the application backlog needs of the enterprise. This addresses many of the most common enterprise use cases ranging from back-office applications, customer-facing applications, workflow apps, digital forms, employee collaboration apps, and more.

Benefits of No-Code

So, let’s dive into some of the benefits of no-code. As it turns out, there are many reasons to be excited about its use:

Faster to start

As noted earlier, by taking ownership of parts or all of the development, can give business direct ownership of the resource allocation and so avoid some of the usual delays when waiting for IT development resources to be assigned. This allows projects to be started more quickly.

Faster to finish

Once you’ve started your project, the productivity advantage of visual assembly also results in faster development cycles. In a recent study, some 71% of respondents cited faster app development as one of the major reasons for choosing no-code tools.

Improved alignment

It’s common for IT to spend months or years working on a development project without realizing that the goals or market conditions may have changed. Shorter development cycles and visual language of no-code development enable easier and continuous collaboration and alignment between the business function and IT.

Increased agility

The business function can also respond to change more readily, whether it be to react to new competition or capture new opportunities in the market. Furthermore, the business function can also pivot its strategy quickly because of the flexibility no-code development provides for ideating innovations. Businesses have the agility to rapidly introduce new strategies, new products, or new services. More detailed information can be found in Creatio’s No-Code Playbook.

This blog post is part of a series of posts based on the No-Code Playbook.