If you are a developer who strives to code, you have likely come across "low-code." No/low code is a new visual development platform that has recently come into discussions about software development in a digital working space. From business leaders with less software development knowledge to government agencies to meet their operational needs, this technology is shaping the future of apps and software development.

Especially over the last few years, low-code platforms have become increasingly popular because it is helping developers to create internal applications and software that operates almost like an app without code or SQL. According to a report by MRFR (Market Research Future), they predict the Low code development platform market to cross 73.82 billion USD by 2027, registering a CAGR of 26.5% in total.

With this augmented demand from almost every industry vertical, many new players in the Low Code development market saw steady growth due to their effectiveness in solving some of tech's most complicated challenges. Some low-code platforms, including ToolJet, Buildbase, Joget and StackStorm, offer efficient solutions and help to reduce the time and cost required to develop sound business processes.

Low-code development platforms have been spotlighted as the demand for enterprise software and applications skyrockets. With all these advancements in recent years, it is justified to wonder whether low code will be the future of software.

Is Low-Code the Future of Application Development?

Low code, in a nutshell, is a platform that makes apps and software development accessible to more people by encompassing various approaches to a simplified technique. The main goal of these platforms is to help companies build and deploy complex applications with minimal involvement from the development or the engineering team.

In general, low-code platforms use a visually appealing interface that allows you to simply drag and drop blocks of application logic into the correct order with some additional testing features. This practice of hovering over the mouse and placing the blocks of logic has made application development easier for business users, freelancers, developers, and many others. You don't need to master your coding skills to create new applications. This also saves the time developers used to spend on learning different programming languages and libraries to master the software development.

Low code has revolutionized the way organizations are building applications by not having to rely on a team of developers or engineers completely. Many organizations have started to benefit from this approach which allows them to speed up their release time by weeks or even months once they have trained their employees on how to use low-code application platforms. Low code has also provided many small businesses and startups with an opportunity to propel their Software development services faster than ever before, as most small-scale companies do not have enough funds to hire highly skilled engineers or developers. One such company is Optum who believes low-code programming techniques have solved some of the big problems their company was facing to bring business and IT together. According to David Brown, the director of application and software at xn--Salvation Armys western region-7y8r explained how switching to low-code platform helped them in reducing 70-80% of their overall application development lifecycle.

With all the benefits low-code provides, it is pretty evident that more third-party and open-source companies will be available to help with your larger projects and needs. As the demand for software development services increases, the shortage of skilled developers in the market will be replaced by low-code application platforms.

Is Low-Code Too Good to Be True?

Gartner predicted that 2/3 of the software industry will be low code by the end of the year 2024. Despite this rapid growth and popularity, many organizations still face difficulties fully identifying the benefits of low code platforms. Some companies believe that low-code platforms fall short in customizability, while some organizations say they are too stringent and restrictive to deliver their desired results.

However, despite a few inherent limitations, it is essential to remember that not all low-code development platforms are made equal. Open-source organizations like ToolJet provide an extensible low-code framework for building and deploying business applications. With its drag and drop application builder, you can build a frontend for internal tools using components like tables, charts, maps, calendars, forms, text editors, list layouts, timers, models, and more. ToolJet makes it easy to connect and fetch data from databases, data lakes, SaaS tools, cloud storage, API endpoints, and GraphQL endpoints.

While many organizations struggle to comply with industry standards for low-code development platforms, ToolJet is an organization that does not store any data that is returned from your data sources. Additionally, they securely encrypt your credentials before storing them. You can add comments anywhere on their canvas to collaborate with your colleagues for further control and flexibility.

Thanks to the support for writing custom JavaScript code, you get the convenience of a visual builder almost anywhere on their platform. ToolJet's application inspector allows you to check the state (query, widget, global variables, temp. variables, etc.) of your application from the editor, avoiding vendor-lock-in. Every organization wants its low-code development platform to empower them with the freedom to deploy their application. ToolJet, in its best state, provides a fully managed solution to self-host its applications on Kubernetes, AWS EC2, Docker, Heroku, and more. If you are having problems anywhere, their comprehensive list of tutorials and guides on using their software and an active community of 600+ members on Slack are always happy to help you.

Conclusion

Gartner predicted that the low-code development platform market would be worth 5.8 billion USD by 2022. It clearly shows that more and more application development will be done using low-code programming techniques, and it will undoubtedly reap the rewards of enhanced agility, creativity, growth, and success for organizations that have adopted this approach. If your organization plans to integrate low-code into your existing tech stack, we recommend you gain some hands-on experience with the benefits of low-code development cited in this article.

ToolJet is an open-source low-code framework that helps you build and deploy internal tools within minutes. Try ToolJet now and embrace integrating IT and business staff to speed up time to market for new solutions.

Low code is the future of software. Here's why?