takeaway

The tide of low code is coming!

  • Forrester’s view: “The low-code market is expected to grow to $21.2 billion by 2022 as more companies see the benefits of adopting the platform to meet their business needs.”
  • Gartner’s view: “84% of companies are already moving to low code because of its ability to ease the strain on IT resources, speed to market, and engage the enterprise in digital asset development.”
  • IDC’s view: “By 2024, low code will account for more than 65% of all application development activity.”

Low code has become an unavoidable and important technology field in the digital transformation. Based on the study of Gatner’s report and the actual situation in China, this paper gives corresponding viewpoints.

In many enterprises, the discussion of low code is very confusing, and the different role languages are difficult to unify into a unified world. The first step is to define a standard definition of low code, which is a key basis for discussion and evaluation.

Application of low code in digital factory

What exactly is low code

Low code development timeline

Low code development is not a new practice, having its roots in the Rapid Application Development (RAD) tools that appeared in the 1980s.

Low code development started with a Forrester group discussion to define it.

This platform enables rapid delivery of business applications with minimal manual coding and minimal upfront investment in installation, training and deployment.

Forrester’s attitude to low code is very explicit and directly illustrates the core value of low code:

  • The low code development platform enables fast delivery of business applications.

According to a Forrester study, most companies report that low-code platforms are 5-10 times more productive.

Low code control encapsulation

  • Low code development platforms can reduce the development cost of business applications.

Low code development has lower investment in software lifecycle processes and less investment in simple and repetitive R&D resources. (This is bound to cause consternation among R&D professionals and thus resistance.)

As a new development tool, the low code development platform can reduce the amount of code, simplify the development process, shorten the development cycle, improve development efficiency, save development costs, and help users better design and implement requirements. Users only need to focus on business logic rather than code writing.

Transition from traditional development to low code development

The three core competencies of the low code platform

The most common AD&D (mobile application development and delivery) typically requires three core competencies to achieve its platform capabilities: APAAS, MADP, and BPM.

Among them

  • APaS is the abbreviation for Application Platform as a Service (a type of cloud services), which provides the development and deployment environment for application services. The APaS platform provides the ability to iteratively build applications, make applications available on demand, extend applications on demand, and integrate applications with other services. (See Gartner definition)
  • MADP (mobile application development platform) can better respond to the digital business and innovative needs of enterprises, is an important supplement to the low code development ability; At the same time, many foreign low code development platforms are gradually strengthening the supporting ability of mobile application development.
  • BPM platform pays attention to streamline the development, the purpose is through the improvement of the systemic enterprise internal business processes to promote the efficiency of the organization, the front-end BPM platform is mainly to achieve rapid development, based on the form style is fixed, the back-end by analyzing the flow chart of BPMN (business process modeling notation) to complete the process development step by step.

(Automated BPM)

In China, platforms with MADP, APAAS and BPM capabilities have been integrating three layers of capabilities (sometimes they do not know, this is called low code, although they are practicing), including simple cloud, moverable grid, build cloud and so on. These platforms have certain technical barriers and development formats accumulation.

(Low code platform camp)

(Application derivative brands in the domestic low-code market)

(2021 Top10 Low Code Manufacturers, jointly published by Internet Week, eNet Research Institute and Debenstein Consulting)

Open R & D environment, precipitation of low code technical ability and industry business logic reserve are the key for low code to be eventually embedded in the enterprise.

Third, the development process of low code

  • Clarify requirements.
  • Select the API.
  • Draw workflow, data model, user interface in visual designer, and confirm with customer.
  • Connection API.
  • Add write code, custom SQL queries or views, or code to third-party APIs on the front end as needed.
  • Test user acceptance.
  • Deploy to the production environment and click Publish.

At this point we believe our understanding of low code will be clearer. It is true that our traditional best technology is lacking in this field, because the technology genes and standards that we use are still largely Western, but local and intricate practices. In the digital transformation, such a professional authority is especially needed to realize the key understanding, the same text on all kinds of standards. Standardization itself is the basis of transformation.

Process differences between traditional development and low code development

Fourth, low code situation judgment

4.1 Evolution never stops

The aforementioned RAD tools were introduced in the 1980s to replace traditional text-based development platforms.

They evolve with The Times, along with integrated development environments (IDEs), graphical user interfaces (GUIs), networks, and C/S architectures.

Early RAD tools pioneered the key capabilities of a visual drag-and-drop mechanism, a graphical model of data and behavior, a normative framework for architecture, and templating components.

Like a flood, this new creature quickly spread to all distributed development platforms! And promote the rapid evolution of business.

(Ecological evolution, general trend, all-way return from low code)

During this time, some industry-standard visual models have been developed and deposited, such as entity relationships for data, class diagrams for object management, process models, and state transition diagrams for state machines.

Similarly, the market for business rules management systems (BRMS) is spin-off, combining rapid application development (RAD) and AI capabilities. The decision management suite (DMS) market continues to adopt this combination of products (such as the latest DMN decision model).

RAD and AI

An important milestone in low-code application development is the advent of the Web (to enable distributed access to applications) and the cloud (to enable standardized deployment mechanisms and smooth application development within PaaS). This has given rise to two branches of the application development tools market:

  • Rapid Application Development (RAD) vendors automate the application deployment process. In their cloud offerings, there is a common pursuit: applications are delivered with minimal, minimal human intervention.
  • Mainstream SaaS vendors leverage low code to enable customers to customize and extend their platforms. Then they gradually become the industry’s SaaS + PaaS provider, reusing industry resources and providing other developers in the industry with user-facing business processes and technologies to build the next application…

The use of low-code development techniques (known as “non-programming development”) to empower employees and support large-scale application development is now part of the digital office protocol in some organizations.

Workgroup applications are always delivered using non-programmatic development tools, such as spreadsheets. Applications built by line-of-business developers have become an important area for the growth of low-code development tools.

And the undercurrent of low-code functionality is bound to be a potential replacement for some non-major enterprise platform: low-code tools have never stopped climbing the app pyramid.

4.2 Low code or zero code

With the development of low code, people are going to push it to the extreme, namely, the “zero code” tool that the guy next door can use, which is going to be a game-changer for the development industry. However, we consider the “code zero” tool to be a very small segment of the low-code tool market and not yet implemented.

The transition to code 0

Gartner reports that “code zero” development tools are moving into business testing applications, tapping into business data to further solidify their own applications. At the same time, democratize application development and build a low-code environment by enabling and facilitating non-programming development.

(Type classification of 0 code software)

It’s time to turn the page on the days when IT people deliver all applications to the enterprise. The ruthless history and the capital-driven technology industry is even more ruthless, and IT only focuses on the present and the future. Independent enterprise IT and shadow IT will be eliminated in the future, and business and IT teams will be integrated to achieve full stack delivery of digital products together. Low code development happens to be a key factor and prerequisite for this.

4.3 Moving from a Single Technology to Product Portfolio

More than 200 vendors have launched their products in a “low code” fashion, offering rapid application development (RAD) services to enterprise customers, ranging from simple form creation to full-stack application platforms.

“0 code” development products also fall into the category of such low-code tools, which are mainly targeted at “non-programmers” in the business field (such as business personnel, product designers, operation personnel, etc., who have no actual coding experience).

At present, low code development is mainly used for the application development of enterprise internal staff (B2E), but with the improvement of user experience (UX) requirements and the gradual opening of new authorization mode, low code development has begun its high hand and far foot road, gradually from the technical background to to C or even to B application support.

The question at the moment is not whether to use low code, but which scenarios are low code applicable? But it must be prepared for use.

Find the right low code scenario

Let’s get down to the business of evaluating poor code!

V. Strategic selection, decision making, evaluation and application

Low code application development (LCAP) is an old story, not a new one. The process of digital innovation is simply a natural spin-off of the influx of such existing technical capabilities to meet the demands of increasing diversity.

(Drag and drag automatic formation process)

When considering the matching of planning and technical resources in the digital transformation of enterprises, it is difficult to avoid the objective and scientific judgment of low code tools and market conditions.

5.1 Strategic choice

IResearch is relatively optimistic about low code scenario coverage:

  • Small and medium-sized enterprises 95%+ scenarios can be built with low code;
  • Medium and large enterprises 70%+… ;
  • In some vertical application scenarios, such as areas such as instant messaging, the coverage is around 50%+… with a low code base supplemented by other plug-ins.

(Low code coverage)

Personally, I think Gartner’s comment is more objective:

  • Replace trends. By 2024, low-code application development will account for more than 65% of application development.
  • Field of application. By 2024, at least 75% of low-code application development efforts will be focused on small and medium-sized projects, focusing on non-core work.
  • Accept it gradually. By 2024, 75% of large enterprises will use at least four low-code development tools for IT application development and non-programmatic development.

This puts great pressure on digitisation and informatization leaders to speed up application delivery, eliminate waste of time, and focus on value-added areas.

Live in response to the situation!

At this point, many vendors have come up with a low-code solution: to increase productivity by reducing or avoiding the need to rely on specialized programming (supported by IT developers).

5.2 Dimensions of supplier comprehensive judgment

Gartner tracks more than 200 vendors of low-code development tools.

Among these suppliers:

  • 96% of vendors consider themselves to provide full Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) support, rather than simply acting as a design and development accelerator;
  • 95% of suppliers target business line developers;
  • 88% of vendors provide public cloud deployment;
  • 85% of vendors believe they have covered the full stack of user experience, logic, and data, rather than just dealing exclusively with one part of the application;
  • 84% of vendors provide WebIDE;
  • 79% of vendors provide form-based user interfaces;
  • 78% of vendors use databases as part of their tools;
  • 62% of vendors provide private cloud deployment capabilities;
  • 62% of vendors offer mobile application interfaces;
  • 47% of vendor-generated code can be manually edited in most cases;
  • 40% of the developers selected by vendors are positioned as business power users;
  • 30% of vendors provide a desktop IDE;
  • Less than 5% offer chatbots.

In the application scenarios of Top 3:

  • 86% of suppliers target application scenarios for enterprise application development;
  • 55% of suppliers’ main end-user type is B2E;
  • B2B and B2C accounted for only 20% and 25%, respectively

(Huiyou Cloud Business Low Code B2C Sample 5.3 Classification and Evaluation of Low Code Development Technology)

Digital transformation leaders must realize that low-code development technologies are not a static single market, but the opposite.

The combination of technology and process tends to attract several types of developers:

  • Developers with limited software development skills, experience, or competencies;
  • Developers who are under intense pressure to provide a “least usable” or “good enough” solution as soon as possible;
  • Developers who can continue to evolve rapidly in response to changing requirements.

Gartner has identified three major market segments covering the low-code development technology space:

  • Low Code Application Platforms (LCAPS) – This is a new category that covers highly productive application PaaS(HPapaS) as well as RAD and RMAD tools. It focuses on providing rapid application development, deployment, and execution through declarative model-driven and metadata-based services. This market includes self-describing “zero code” application development tools, and overall represents the largest segment of low-code technology vendors.
  • Multidimensional Experience Development Platform (MXDP) — These products provide professional developers (and sometimes non-programming developers) with an integrated and mature suite of front-end development tools and back-end services to scale applications across digital Touchpoints for their purposes.

  • Process and business rules/decision management systems — This type of model-driven (and therefore low-code) development platform can change dynamically as models and programs are manipulated. They automate business operations through processes (BPMs) and business rules/decisions (BRMs/DMs). Gartner’s research scope has also expanded to include intelligent business process management systems (IBPMS) to include sustainable intelligent and dynamic process management systems (BPM). Although “model driven” means “low code,” some of the models that enable complex processes and decisions are complex and specialized, and may require the assistance of relevant experts to be developed.

For these typical low-code platforms, the typical selection decision process is shown in the figure below:

Low code decision tree source: Gartner (2019.2)

5.4 Decisions about low code

According to Gartner’s experience, the decision criteria are as follows:

  • Do you need to do “non-programming development” without professional developer assistance?

If so, consider a low-code application platform (LCAP) with “zero code” capabilities, and pay attention to the capability range of the tool.

  • Do you need assistance with sustainably updated, complex, and manageable business processes or decisions and associated vendor skills and process and decision modeling?

If so, consider using an intelligent business process management system (IBPMS), business rules management system (BRMS), or decision management suite (DMS) with the process experts provided by your vendor, but be aware of what benefits of low code may be limited and costly in the use of these tools.

  • Do you need multiple application types across digital Touchpoints (for example, mobile applications, progressive Web applications, chatbots)?

If so, consider using a multidimensional experience development platform (MXDPS) with low code to extend or enhance the application user experience across multiple interaction modes; For all other business application scenarios, consider a low-code application platform (LCAP) that can automate some or all of your processes in one tool, meet your user experience needs, have non-programming development capabilities, and focus on quality of service rather than pure performance itself.

5.5 Evaluation dimensions for low code services

For all types of low-code development products offered by vendors, there are several key characteristics that can be evaluated. These characteristics form the main criteria for evaluating low-code tools and platforms. The Digital Transformation Leader can score their capability requirements based on each feature:

  • Deployment type – The tools used to give one or two developers the experience and deployment can be local, cloud-based or PaaS, or both. Also consider whether you need a specific cloud or multiple clouds.
  • Developer role – a professional developer to be found for Rapid Application Development (RAD), a generic technical developer (for example, an IT-aware business analyst), a generic business developer (assisted by a “code zero” approach), or some combination thereof.
  • Front-end vs. Back-end – For a full-stack application, do you need only a new user experience design, a new backend process, or both? Backend process automation can encompass workflows and also benefit from a regulated business process management (BPM) -style process design and delivery approach.
  • User Experience – The complexity of user experience must be considered and is increasing for all applications, but especially for B2C applications. For scenarios that focus on multimodal user experience, the Multidimensional Experience Development Platform (MXDP) approach is probably best, while for internal B2E application scenarios, a simple Web form-based approach is sufficient.
  • Service Complexity – Applications can create, read, update, delete (CRUD) data or integrate or combine operations from multiple services, including event processing and consumption that drive the process.
  • Market Focus – While many tools are focused on generic domains, some tools are increasingly focused on specialized domains such as ERP, CRM, and supply chain as they evolve with SaaS related applications or simple customer demographics.
  • Ecosystem and Partners – Since many platform choosers are generally demanding in terms of platform capabilities, some technical features may not be enough to satisfy their needs. Issues such as local support, skill availability and training opportunities, app stores and developer communities, and quality of service provider partners may be particularly important.
  • Governance and agility – The ability to measure business KPIs as well as KPIs for application development and resource usage is a growing advantage for many users. Platforms are developing options to match BPM capabilities, such as recording application goals, managing the full application lifecycle, and so on.
  • Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) Methodology – Provides guidance for the application development process and even project management. AI-assisted development may also be needed.

5.6 Evaluation dimensions for low code production tools

Low code capability characteristics

BPM = business process management; CRUD = create, read, update, delete; DIY = do it yourself; SDLC = Software Development Life Cycle Figure Source: Gartner (2019.2)

Low-code application platforms (LCAPs) represent the largest market share of these platforms. The Low Code Application Platform (LCAPS) supports rapid application development (RAD), deployment and execution using declarative high-level programming abstractions (for example, model-driven and metadata-based programming languages), and single deployment.

Generic technology elements include:

  • Model/metadata-centric UI layer designer that supports basic add, delete, update (CRUD) application design, preferably with little or no coding;
  • Support for basic data structure definition and access to common data stores (e.g., RDBMS, NoSQL, Flat files) for built-in databases;
  • Simplify access to external services through REST, SOAP, or other APIs;
  • Wrapping their underlying process logic and data through APIs;
  • Encoding model approach that supports development of business rules and general business logic;
  • Beautiful performance and controllable operation latency.

As an enterprise-class tool, you should also consider the evaluation of the following capabilities, such as:

  • Intensive user visits, data storage capacity and high concurrent rate of elastic scalability;
  • High availability and disaster resilience;
  • Security of application access, APIs, and data stores;
  • Tracking capability of SLA resource usage during development (or runtime deployment of cloud PaaS);
  • Technical support to developers and operations.

5.7 Key recommendations for low code adoption

Getting the most out of low code requires those responsible for application development and platform strategy to take care of the following: Categorizing application scenarios and identifying those scenarios that are currently suitable, applicable, and appropriate for low code development.

Choose the appropriate low code tool. The recommended selection does not require a high level of development skills, especially for critical scenarios to achieve faster product to market.

Low-code development tools for “non-programmers” (both IT and business) must have security safeguards, oversight safeguards, and availability safeguards.

Once entering the use stage, especially after the local effect is produced, do not have the heart of moving the day to the day, in an attempt to transition the consumption of low code capacity, hastily expand the use of boundaries.

Once the decision is made to apply low code to a business innovation scenario deployment, ensure that the tool is authorized for compliance and evaluated to achieve ROI and achieve business objectives.

Six, the concluding

Domestic discussions about low code often fall into a misunderstanding — how to achieve low code, but ignore the problem of how to achieve business oriented business, so it is easy to fall into a wave of arguments about the usefulness or uselessness of low code, such arguments are useless.

It is critical for low code suppliers to find core users, customers’ core business scenarios and clarify business processes.

(For whom and who will replace)

The choice of a low code tool is more important than deciding the right scenario and making decisions about who the low code will serve, replace, and place!

Source: Fan Long Notes


By Geissbauer, Long


Main Reference:
https://www.gartner.com/en/do…


By Paul Vincent, Mark Driver, Jason Wong


Disclaimer: The article was forwarded on IDCF public account (devopshub) with the authorization of the author. Quality content to share with the technical partners of the Sifou platform, if the original author has other considerations, please contact Xiaobian to delete, thanks.

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