Enterprise app development has been radically changed by the introduction of low code and no code workflow software platforms. The impact of this paradigm shift has yet to be fully felt by organizations, but among some of the decisions which are impacted include the build-versus-buy debate over choosing a solution, how IT and the Business work with each other, managing process change and app development in a strategic manner, and much more.
The traditional DevOps which has emerged in response enterprise app development needs is to create an in-house team of developers to write custom code which takes months, only then to go through an extended testing process, culminating in the release of something more than a minimally viable product. Upon a successful release, the issues of user adoption and engagement take point in a critical phase which can break a great solution that may cost millions of dollars in resources and opportunity cost.
This approach takes far too long to deliver the transformational change demanded of business units, especially customer-facing ones, or those with a significant regulatory burden that is increasingly fluid and dynamic in nature.
This approach is now obsolete for many, if not most workflow and process needs which demand an application solution be created.
How No Code Workflow Platforms Deliver a Fast Track to Business App Development
No Code Workflow platforms empower people with a modicum of tech savvy and knowledge of how business processes work with the ability to create complex workflows and business apps that can solve real-world problems at scale. Typical business-types include business analysts, team leaders, and program managers – in other words people employed within the Business rather than an IT specialist (though IT people may also may employ no code tools too).
The breakthrough with no code is that the non-IT specialist can create apps and workflow using a variety of visual tools and logical operators any Excel user is already familiar with. There is quite literally no coding to be done once the platform has been deployed (assuming there is a degree of integration work to be carried out which may require some coding upon setup).
Once deployed, users have access to a secure environment within which they can create customized applications to solve the issue which their teams and departments face. This goes beyond mere replication of existing workflows on a whiteboard as part of some discovery process prior to engaging a dev team to give it life in an application. Once the workflow is built into the tool, the no code platform itself creates the associated tasks, work routing, reporting and so on, with custom form designers which allow users to generate static or dynamic forms and fields as the need may require.
Once complete within the no code tool, the application may now be pushed into a live state to manage work and collect data for escalation, notifications, and reporting.
No coding allows business users to create and develop all of the major features of workflow design, such as:
- Creating tasks including recurring tasks, and managing work and task assignment to teams or named individuals;
- Routing tasks and work based upon your customized rules and policies with an enterprise-grade task management system that is fully controllable and customizable to your organization;
- Triggering workflows and processes dependent upon events you stipulate, from an incoming email to a customer service mailbox, or rerouting and escalating work items because they exceed monetary amounts, have taken too much time to perform, are at risk of missing a due date, or because x number of work items must be passed into a compliance or QA sub-routine for checking;
- Creating custom forms to suit how you actually do work, including letting users design form layout, customize fields, enforce mandated actions such as upload a file to the task form or ensure a field is completed before the task can be marked as closed or set to some other customizable status.;
- Resource utilization including utilization of physical assets and resources and your people from the whole organization, departments, teams, down to the individual employee;
- Globalization including the automatic adjustment of time used for calendar items such as meetings to time stamps used on tasks and projects, plus the ability to utilize different languages;
- Contact and asset management so people and resources are actively tracked and organized, including staff, vendors, and clients; and
- Automated reporting with built-in data security based upon role-based permissions that ensure data is only disclosed to those who have the authority to access it.
Nothing here requires a line of code to be written by the user, i.e. the non-coding business person, such as a business analyst.
This is the reason why No Code application and workflow engines are called “No Code”.
The reality is that there is a great deal of code that is working in the background to deliver the real solution the business is looking for: how to get work done more efficiently and keep pace with developments in the business environment, no matter whether they are driven by regulators, customers, competitors or any other change agent.
How the business achieves this state of work delivery is less important than actually getting work done in a managed fashion that contributes to customer satisfaction and the bottom line.
If the solution utilized meets security and scalability standards, then it does not matter if the application is a custom point solution developed by a highly-qualified DevOps team with a big budget and resources, or for instance by Bernie in HR who wants to more effectively onboard hundreds of employees each month starting with the next cycle.
No code does away with the need for the ‘Big Muscles’ of a DevOps approach which costs a lot of money, takes a lot of time, but which cannot keep pace with the needs of the business.
This does not mean DevOps is dead: far from it, because there will be instances where the heavy lift is required, but no code development means DevOps can now be deployed when they are necessary, rather than being used as a sledgehammer to crack open a walnut.
No code is almost immediate in the delivery of business solutions and reacting to fast-changing conditions. To achieve this state of business nirvana, no code workflow platforms, such as HighGear, empower business analysts with Digital Transformation toolkits they can actually use in addressing business challenges with custom apps and workflows they need, but without the heavy lift from DevOps.
Key Takeaways
The traditional DevOps approach still has a role to play in the development of enterprise applications and workflows, but no code delivers solutions for the business faster and cheaper because the business and users undertake, discovery, design and deployment of enterprise apps and workflows they develop themselves.
Transformational change demands evolving solutions to be developed that can be scaled across the enterprise as required, but for a fraction of the time and cost of developing a point solution or deploying a COTS.
No code workflow platforms deliver the ability to create new apps and workflows, manage and modify them at will, within a secure IT-sanctioned ecosystem equipped with business tools, such as visual workflow designers, drag-and-drop form builders and more.
No code avoids the need for a heavy lift from IT Departments in the delivery of usable, effective solutions on a timely basis to the business. Business teams now decide not only what a solution should be, but make it in-house (perhaps with IT support if required) and may develop an application in days or weeks, not months or years, with tools the non-coding business specialist can use.