Four Myths About Low-Code Methodology in BPM

Digital transformation is now a business imperative. It causes disruption, but also delivers dramatic results across all industries. And low-code software development–described as “extraordinarily disruptive”–has become a part of digital transformation for many organizations. A market research report from Fortune Business Insights earlier this year shows that the global low-code industry grew from $10.82 to $13.89 billion between 2020 and 2021. By 2028, the market for low-code is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 31.6%.

However, low code does not mean that you are looking to replace experienced developers. It allows professional coders to work more efficiently and quickly, so your business can adapt to changing market conditions better.

Companies often have misconceptions about low code development and the benefits it offers. We’ll dispel five common myths regarding low code development.

Myth 1: Low-code is for citizen developers.

You might hear a lot about low-code platforms. This could lead you to believe that your business analysts can become citizen developers by using the latest low-code tools to create applications that meet your specific needs. This scenario allows you to drive digital transformation without needing to wait for expert development resources. This is false, unfortunately.

Some platforms that require low code allow business users to create simple applications. The applications needed to support digital transformation are complex. Many applications are used to manage business processes (BPM), in the hopes of streamlining operations. These applications are enterprise-grade, high-visibility applications. Expert developers must quickly build them and integrate them with enterprise information systems.

A good low-code platform can help developers and business professionals collaborate on BPM interface requirements and interfaces. This allows them to create an application that is both functional and user-friendly for the business. Developers can also use their own tools to code and test the platform.

Myth 2 – Low-code can only be used for simple BPM applications.

Low-code platforms can be used to build simple BPM apps. However, it is possible to do much more with low-code. Low-code platforms can be used to build highly scalable, complex applications. These are the custom applications that enable digital transformation.

It will require a team with exceptional coding skills. However, they will be able to tell you by the end how low-code platforms allowed them to create robust, unique and complex applications much faster than traditional development tools.

Take, for example:

• BBVA, a multinational banking group, used a low-code platform to integrate its IT systems via more than 40 applications.
• A high-availability solution was developed by the University of Queensland, which is used by more than 10,000 people simultaneously on a low-code platform.

Myth 3 – Low-code development does not mean no collaboration or reusability.

Low-code platforms allow different technical teams within the enterprise to build their own BPM solutions. Although this allows for distributed teams to become more productive faster, it raises questions about efficiency and collaboration. Each team will eventually need to connect to corporate systems. Without collaboration or reuse, each team would have to create its own extension.

Low-code platforms, however, can be used to support efficiency and allow for reuse of components as well as collaboration. A modular, low-code architecture allows a developer to create a connector that integrates an internal CRM system and share it with other teams via a version control system.

Myth 4: Low-code means no programming, ever.

Low-code platforms provide visual-development tools that allow business professionals and developers to collaborate quickly and design applications that meet their business needs. The templates and drag-and-drop capabilities of these platforms allow for rapid development. This allows the technical team to concentrate on the customization which makes their applications unique.

This interface requires no programming and is so attractive that some people believe it’s the best low-code platform.

This is just the beginning. Low-code platforms allow you to go beyond their visual design capabilities. You can easily extend any portion of an app that you create with them, using your preferred tools for programming. You can seamlessly combine pages created with a UI builder and pages built using custom code with the best low-code platforms.

Expand Your View of Low-Code

Low-code can be viewed in many different ways. Focusing only on how low-code solutions are useful to citizen developers represents too narrow a view–leading to myths and misunderstandings by developers on what low-code can and can’t do for automation and other application-development projects.

Low-code also allows developers to create, support and continually improve business applications. It gives them the freedom to code as much or little as they want. Developers can use low-code agile software development tool to create templates or other low-code tools that are tailored to their business needs. This is true for both developers and non-developers.

Digital transformation can be implemented more efficiently when developers are able to write better code quicker.