No-code or low-code – what’s the difference and what’s right for you?

What’s the problem with code anyway?

There’s no problem with code per se – as long as you have the patience, resources and capabilities in place to support sophisticated software development. Sophisticated, because that’s what it has become. Coding is here to stay, but it’s a resource-heavy rollercoaster ride at the best of times and it’s good to know there are alternative or complementary approaches out there for organisations of all shapes and sizes.

It’s clear then, that managing code is complicated and despite frameworks and automations, it requires highly skilled people to keep it moving. But what’s the alternative?

Enter no-code / low-code

Despite the current hype around no-code / low-code, the concept has existed for decades. Microsoft Access and Excel launched many an IT career in the 90s and early 2000s by delivering applications that enabled tech-savvy business users to have a go at solving their own problems. Granted, over time, this often resulted in new problems, with critical applications suddenly living beyond the watchful eye of the IT department. IT then needed to step in to inject governance and security for solutions that accidentally became business-critical. The concept of ‘citizen development’ was born, along with a level of complexity and risk that is often misunderstood. But that’s a topic for another day.

No-code and low-code adoption has ramped up with the increased appetite for rapid, agile digital transformation and the challenge of the ever-widening IT talent gap. At the same time, a tsunami of no-code and low-code platforms has entered the market over the past five years, targeting different types of problems and servicing different needs. Add in the effects of the pandemic and digital transformation has kicked into overdrive, propelling no-code / low-code into the limelight.

No-code and low-code are largely about speed and reusability, with the (occasional) added promise of citizen development.