What is a low-code development platform?

With the rise of digital transformation, embracing a low-code development platform which anyone can use to rapidly develop new applications is a major way your company can adapt and prosper.

The benefits of a low-code development platform

Low-code development platforms make businesses more productive and agile by delivering:

Efficiency. You don't need to wait for developers to have openings in their schedules. With a low-code development platform, your other teams can simultaneously develop apps for multiple platforms and rapidly provide working examples. When developers are available to work on apps, they'll benefit from intuitive features like drag-and-drop functionality and user-friendly APIs.

Flexibility. With low-code development, business users can create flexible apps that accomplish specific tasks. That agility is also critical if your business must scale and extend apps to quickly finish projects.

Responsiveness. Sometimes your business must pivot to accommodate roller-coaster market shifts, and how better to do that than with new digital initiatives? With low code, you can quickly deliver and change a full-stack application.

Iterability. Your company can also provide customers with a positive experience every time they interact with your brand. Online, this means providing a consistent, frictionless experience, and prebuilt templates and chatbots are a great way to approach this.

While low-code application platforms can empower your employees who don't have technical app building skills, they can be a great option for professional developers, too. Many low-code platforms are extensible and offer building blocks that are intended for developers to use, which makes these platforms a smart choice for just about any kind of user.

Ultimately, these benefits can help your business boost profitability. Low-code app development is designed for internal teams, so you can save money by keeping low-code app development in-house instead of hiring external development teams.

What you can build with low-code platforms

Low-code development platforms make businesses more productive and agile by delivering:

Conference information for event attendees. Building an event-specific app is a great way to keep attendees engaged. An app can make it easy for guests to view daily agendas, learn about speakers, find local transit options, or even provide session feedback.

Streamlined procurement processes. Instead of using email or physical documents to request items, you can build an app to house and manage employee purchase requests and to simplify, or even automate, approvals.

Employee onboarding. Apps can make it easier to quickly bring new employees up to speed. You could also create an app to assign, track, and manage employee training exercises, in-house tutorials, and other important hiring documentation.

Food delivery management. You could build an app to keep track of when food is made, when it's sent for delivery, and how long it takes for a driver to drop an order off. You could even add GPS functionality that gives delivery drivers the fastest route to their destinations.

When to go low code or no code

Both kinds of app development software can help you build apps that your business needs in a shorter time frame than with traditional development. But how do you know which one is right for you?

It depends on what you're hoping to achieve and what resources you have available. If speed is your biggest concern, you only want to create apps that accomplish simple tasks, or you don't have anyone on staff with coding skills, no code is probably your best choice.

However, if you want the speed of no code but don't want to compromise on customizability or scalability—and both professional developers and business users will use the apps—then low code is the way to go. Whatever the size of your business, low-code platforms give both technical and non-technical users the power to build apps they need to do their jobs more efficiently. Going low code means you can save money, save time, and be more productive.

Microsoft's low-code-platform page