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Most media concerned about the enterprise informatization field will name 2021 as the “Year of Low Code”, which is enough to explain the popularity of the low code industry. So what are the low code scenarios? This paper will expand from three dimensions of industry attributes, application types and development patterns to show the application of low code technology in detail.

Industry attributes

The “2020 China Low Code Platform Index Evaluation Report” released by T Research shows that low code has been widely used in various industries, among which TMT (telecommunications, media and technology, including software companies such as system integrators), manufacturing, financial industry and retail industry account for a relatively high proportion.

(Industry Distribution of Low Code Application Scenes, Excerpted from “China Low Code Platform Index Evaluation Report 2020”)

The application type

In these industries, companies often need a large number of software applications for internal and external use to support rapid business development. These applications can be divided into core business applications and non-core business applications based on the value they bring to customers; It can also be divided into general application and vertical application according to the degree of standardization and the different application scope of the industry.

Considering the degree of standardization and customer value, the main application scenarios of low code are mainly in the vertical domain software development with high degree of customization. Core business applications require higher technical requirements on lower-code platforms than non-core applications and are often developed by technical people.

Development mode

The development and delivery modes of these software can be divided into three categories: single scenario application, integrated management system and personalized modules of industry software. In all three modes, low-code technologies can present revolutionary productivity advantages.

  • Single scenario application: in the segmented industries represented by the manufacturing industry, the application value of the enterprise’s core business is high, but due to the low degree of standardization, small market size and other factors, it is difficult to realize informatization through the purchase and implementation of industry software. The pattern of custom-developed stand-alone applications for core business scenarios offers significant advantages in terms of cost, lead time and risk control. In addition to the traditional way of pure code custom development, low code technology provides a new option for core business applications with shorter delivery cycle and lower development cost, further amplifies the advantages of the “stand-alone application” model, and wins the favor of more enterprise IT centers and software companies.
  • Integrated management system: in order to avoid the emergence of “data island”, to achieve cross-system, cross-department process and data integration, the demand for integrated management system has surged. Integrated management system usually consists of a number of closely integrated core business applications, covering the whole department and process of the enterprise, and needs to continue to iterate according to the business upgrade of the enterprise, and finally achieve the effect of “one plus one is greater than two”. Low-code techniques with strong system integration capabilities can be used to quickly build the development platforms needed for integrated systems. On this basis, IT technicians can more quickly complete the data and business choreography, significantly improve the system development efficiency, reduce the comprehensive cost, so that more enterprises can benefit from the development of integrated management system by customizing.
  • Personalized modules of industry software: with the popularity of ERP and other industry software, many enterprises have already owned one or more sets of industry software. These industrial software provide the basic information protection for enterprises, but there are still some businesses outside the information technology, which need to be expanded by two ways. Compared with the traditional binary mode, the use of the low code development platform closely integrated with the industry software and the construction of personalized modules based on the industry software can more quickly complete the shortcomings of the industry software, and form a joint force with the industry software to realize the full business process informatization faster.

summary

As a new technology in the field of software development, low code is the inevitable outcome of software development. With its strong productivity advantage, low code has won public attention, and is widely used in various industries of digital construction. If you come from a software company or enterprise IT department and are interested in strengthening your software development capabilities through low-code technologies, you can start your low-code journey right away with this article.