Low-Code Development Up Close

Low-Code development platforms: Five must-have capabilities you need to know about

Low-code development platforms are becoming more popular in medium and large enterprises, and according to Gartner's latest prediction , the global market for low-code technologies is expected to grow by 19.6% from 2022 to 2023, reaching a value of $26.9 billion. Analysts attribute the popularity of low code development to the increase in business technologists and the growing trend of enterprise-wide hyper-automation initiatives. More business users will adapt to this trend as companies recognize the advantages of low-code products. Enterprise Low-Code application platforms (LCAP) Gartner defines an Enterprise Low-code application platform (LCAP) as a software product that uses low-code and no-code techniques such as declarative, model-driven applications to design, develop, and deploy applications rapidly. LCAP platform can support many use cases: it can create responsive web and mobile apps and handles the choreography of pages, business processes, or decisions. It provides a single interface for developers, business analysts, and end users to design and build applications quickly. The following are five reasons why enterprises adopt low-code development platforms: Reason 1: To accelerate application development One of the critical benefits of low-code development platforms is the ability to build and deploy software solutions rapidly. With citizen developers using low-code development platforms, the time taken to develop an app can be reduced by up to 10x compared with traditional approaches that require coding skills which can take months or even years. For instance, AgilePoint's Business Process Management and Automation platform enabled The Salvation Army , USA, Western Territory to prepare and respond quickly to the COVID-19 crisis. In less than 48 hours, The Salvation Army deployed a no-code/low-code process automation solution that allows geographically dispersed offices to request, approve, and provision remote work technology while staying compliant with the company's "stay at home" mandate. Reason 2: To streamline and automate mission-critical processes The second reason enterprises adopt low-code development platforms is to simplify and automate mission-critical processes. Low-code, no-code development platforms allow developers to create custom solutions for their businesses without writing code. It will free employees to do more meaningful work rather than wasting time on repetitive tasks. In search of a way to streamline their purchasing process, Elbit—an international defense electronics company—searched for an application development solution that would increase efficiency in processing purchase orders by at least 60%. The average time it took to process these orders before their project was 28 days. AgilePoint streamlined Elbit'sElbit's workflow and empowered its business users with 550-activity purchase order applications for all subsidiaries. It reduced the average processing time of purchase orders by as much as 95%, from 28 days to 2.3 days. Now, 75% of Elbit'sElbit's 70 AgilePoint applications are defined as business critical, with less than 1-day average purchase order processing time for amounts over $2M . Reason 3: To rapidly roll out digital transformation initiatives Citizen development is a powerful way to drive digital transformation initiatives. The ability to rapidly roll out innovative solutions that transform business processes is essential to staying competitive. Enterprises need citizen developers who can create low-code platforms and applications for end users, thereby driving innovation and digital transformation within companies. Canon Solutions America utilized AgilePoint V8.0, an enterprise-ready, low-code automation platform, to quickly deliver solutions that meet the needs of today'stoday's hybrid work environment. The cloud-based digital transformation platform enables agility for all users across physical and virtual workspaces without requiring significant changes or barriers within their existing infrastructure. Reason 4: To automate workflows, and data-flows end-to-end via a single platform With the rise of citizen-facing solutions that help automate workflows and data flow end-to-end via a single platform, companies can create better customer experiences and increase productivity and efficiency. Citizen Development initiatives often focus on building internal apps that help employees accomplish their goals more efficiently. Still, they can support external customers who need access to your company's data or functionality. For example, you can easily integrate AgilePoint's digital process automation platform with UiPath to offer end-to-end automation opportunities across the entire enterprise—from data acquisition and knowledge extraction through analysis, reporting, and audit. Reason 5: To reduce IT-business divide With the proliferation of low-code development platforms, it is now possible to create functional applications with a lesser level of technical orientation than was traditionally required of professional software developers. Citizen developers can directly collaborate with IT to build applications that can be used for both business and IT. You can mentor business users who don't have coding or programming knowledge (but a technical bent of mind) to create apps and have IT provide maintain nice guidelines for these solutions. According to Jesse Shiah, Co-founder and CEO of AgilePoint, sustainable Citizen Development programs are the missing links that will help businesses overcome their data divide and take advantage of new, exponential value-creation opportunities. A global company adopted an enterprise Citizen Development approach to quickly create cross-functional automation while simultaneously achieving bottom-line benefits, such as cutting down cost and cycle time. Bonus point: To save the cost of app development Low-code solutions are not only cost-effective but also help enterprises maximize resource sharing and reduce the need to hire professional developers or purchase third-party applications. Citizen development also reduces application maintenance costs and provides a significant ROI on the overall project by reducing time spent in development and providing an open-source platform for developers to extend functionality further than what was initially implemented. An example is how AgilePoint helped The Salvation Army develop more applications for less money. The Salvation Army is a large, global non-profit organization that operates on a tight budget. Using AgilePoint, citizen developers of the Salvation Army were able to build a range of applications, from simple internally-facing apps that meet the needs of their departments or workgroups to complex externally-facing applications for organizational use. Key Takeaway You can see that there are many reasons why enterprises adopt low-code development platforms. The good thing is that there are so many tools available to help businesses streamline their development processes and create apps faster than ever before. AgilePoint combines a powerful and future-proof digital transformation platform with low-code/no-code ease of use—designed to make adoption widespread. Learn how AgilePoint can automate your business processes and workflows at scale. Sign up for a free trial today!

As enterprise architects, your role is to bridge the gap between business and technology . You're responsible for identifying opportunities and challenges and using enterprise architecture through software assets like citizen development platforms to achieve business goals. Low-code development platforms , which enable non-technical users to build apps without writing code, are quickly becoming a go-to option for many companies looking to speed up their app delivery cycles without sacrificing quality or security. But with so many different interests involved in every decision, it can be hard to know if the solution you're considering will meet those needs. This guide will help enterprise architects through this process by highlighting ten features they should look for when choosing a low-code development platform that works for their organization! 1. Application Platform as a Service An Application Platform as a Service (APaaS) provides the core functionality of a low- code development platform, including application design, data model, integration and configuration management capabilities with pre-built connectors to third-party apps and services supporting complex business processes. Because it offers desktop-like functionality, it is one of the most common ways to interact with low-code development platforms. APaaS is provided through an intuitive, user-friendly interface that makes it easy for users to drag and drop files onto the platform, open documents from their computer or other digital storage location within the application itself—allowing them to access those same files on multiple devices. Another benefit of an APaaS platform is it helps organizations create applications more quickly than traditional software development methods because it makes use of prewritten code modules—known as building blocks—that provide application functionality to users without having to write new code every time they want something new added to their app. 2. Standalone Process Engine As an enterprise architect, you should look for a low-code development platform with a standalone process engine. A standalone process engine enables users to build an application with its workflow logic that isn’t tied to one particular cloud or environment so that it can be used anywhere on any device in any situation. This feature allows the process to be executed outside of the application server and, therefore, can be used in different environments and platforms. This is particularly useful when you want to reuse existing business processes across your organization and across different applications. 3. Stateless Process Engine Enterprise architects who need their enterprise applications built quickly without fear of losing data should look for platforms that offer stateless process engines instead of stateful ones. Why? Because stateless systems send a request to the server and relay the response (or the state) back without storing any information. This design characteristic limits the system memory required, which is especially important as enterprise architectures grow in scale and complexity. With stateless process engines, users can manage their own storage space on behalf of their applications instead of relying on a centralized database or cloud service provider. Enterprise architects should strongly consider these advantages when evaluating low-code development platforms. 4. XML-Driven Process Engine XML-Driven Process Engine (known as XPDE) is a low-code development platform feature that allows developers to define their processes using an XML file. The XML files are used as input data for automated applications without the need for complex programming languages like Java or C# which may be difficult for non-technical users who want to create their own applications without devoting too much time learning how programming works from scratch. XML, the eXtensible Markup Language (or a set of rules for encoding documents), has become an industry-wide standard for representing data and interfaces between applications. It's accepted as being an ideal vehicle—for sharing structured data across organizations as well as within them. 5. Mid-Execution Updates Enterprise architects are tasked with building applications that meet their organization's business requirements, but they also must be able to adapt them quickly as circumstances change. One way to do this is by using a low-code development platform that offers mid-execution updates. This means that you can make changes in real-time without having to take an application offline and redeploy it. This allows you to respond quickly and more effectively when your needs change, or new opportunities present themselves. Enterprises often need to take an application offline to make changes. This means that if you want to add new functionality or fix a bug, you have to stop using the application while it's being updated, which can cause your team to lose hours of productivity—and sometimes even more than that! If you're using a low-code platform that supports mid-execution updates, you can make changes in real-time and see them reflected in the application instantly. 6. Application Models As the business environment changes, an application model should be able to change with it. This means that a model should be able to be easily modified and tested. It also means that the model should contain all of the necessary information so that it can function as an API for each department within your company. A good way to ensure this is by making sure that your application models are easy to understand and modify—practically self-explanatory in their design and function. Suppose they contain all of the necessary information in one place. In that case, anyone from IT or operations can use them as visual guides for operational procedures without having to refer back or consult other documents constantly during deployments and updates. 7. Embeddable Forms Forms are a key element of any business application. They allow users to interact with an application and provide (or receive) information from the system. While forms may seem simple, they can be extremely complex in nature, depending on the requirements of your project. For example, there could be many different types of data to collect or send depending on the enterprise. You might have to collect data about a person's credit score or their address details as well as other sensitive information such as their medical record number or social security number—all within one form! If you need to create this type of form, it would take hours (even days) by hand without using low-code development tools. 8. Integrated Development and Management Environment The biggest challenge that enterprise architects face is how to manage a variety of stakeholders while dealing with an array of different systems and applications. To meet these challenges, they need a low-code development platform with an integrated development and management environment. An integrated citizen development platform allows you to view all of the custom reports in one place, manage apps while they're running, control access and user rights, and establish system-level controls—all from one place. This will help you make sure that every part of your application is working together seamlessly. With an integrated platform, you can easily see if something has gone wrong or if any changes need to be made across the enterprise architecture. 9. Built-in Governance Functionality Highly regulated industries such as healthcare, financial services, and government are looking for low-code development platforms to add governance functionality to their existing processes. The best platform for this will have a layer of built-in governance capability . This is a necessity for organizations with compliance-sensitive and security-conscious environments. The platform should ensure that you can maintain control over your data without getting bogged down in complicated tools or manual processes. To meet these needs, low-code platforms should include features like: Easy-to-use governance capabilities that don't require an IT team member to manage it daily Flexibility and extensibility to customize policies based on unique needs (e.g., industry regulations) Integration with other tools within the organization so they work together seamlessly (e.g., HR systems) 10. Cross-Platform, Cross-Cloud, Cross-Environment Another important feature is cross-platform, cross-cloud, and cross-environment compatibility. The platform should be able to span platforms (Windows/J2EE), cloud-native services (Salesforce, NetSuite, etc.), and hybrid environments (on-premises/cloud). With this feature, enterprise architects can create applications that can run anywhere without changing their code or configurations. This will save you valuable time and reduce the number of errors you could encounter when deploying your application into production systems. Key Takeaway With so many options, it can be difficult to choose the right one. However, with this ten-point checklist highlighting the best features to look out for when choosing a low-code development platform, we’ve made it easier for you to make an informed decision. AgilePoint NX has a unique architecture that combines XML-based application models with a standalone, stateless process engine. This architecture allows you to modify and update applications at runtime, embed HTML5/JavaScript forms anywhere, compose multiple and programmatic configurations of components, and deploy the same application in parallel across different configurations. Get a free personalized demo now to experience how AgilePoint can help you build robust business applications faster on a low-code development platform. We also offer AgilePoint NX Getting Started Training , a self-paced online course that will help you learn the basics of low-code/no-code automation.

Imagine being able to build a new app in a matter of days, not months. That's what low-code development offers—the ability to create apps quickly and efficiently with minimal coding. Although this method can be used for any type of application, it's particularly effective for enterprise use cases like automating business workflows, creating new digital solutions, or speeding up time-to-market for new products. In this post, we'll explore low-code development and how it can benefit your organization. What is low-code development? Low-code development is a software development methodology that uses drag-and-drop visual programming and graphical user interface (GUI) builders to create applications. This means that instead of writing code every time you want to build something new (which can be time-consuming and prone to error), you can just drag and drop your way through the process. According to Gartner , an Enterprise Low-code application platform (LCAP) provides rapid application development and deployment using low-code and no-code techniques such as declarative, model-driven application design and development together with the simplified one-button deployment of applications. With an LCAP, you can do low-code development and get apps built in less time and with fewer errors, making it an effective method to create new digital solutions, automate business workflows and increase productivity while reducing costs. Benefit 1: Low-code development increases agility in app development. Low-code development has become increasingly popular in recent years among companies large and small looking to develop apps faster. This method allows people unfamiliar with coding to create functional products and useful applications in minutes. Low-code developers don't need to learn how to write code or use any complicated programming languages like Java or C++. Instead, they use visual editors and drag-and-drop interfaces to build applications by combining readymade components into simple flows. Benefit 2: Low-code development creates new and fast digital solutions. Low-code development bridges the gap between IT and business teams, allowing companies to build a new solution without waiting for IT support. It is a powerful tool that allows businesses to create new digital solutions quickly. This can be especially useful for digital transformation and other innovative projects: low code enables companies to shift their focus from manually updating software applications toward building new ones that meet their needs in real-time. Benefit 3: Low-code development automates business workflows. One of the benefits of low-code development is that it automates business workflows. This can be as simple as email confirmation before accessing confidential company information, or it could be as complex as creating an entire sales process that runs automatically when someone completes an online form. Low-code development allows you to automate these workflows so that they are repeatable and can be run automatically rather than requiring a human to perform them manually. To see how this works in practice, let's take a look at some examples of common business workflows: Forms: Low-code development helps to build forms that can be accessed via an application or website and are automatically populated with data, such as a customer profile when they first sign up for your site. Reports: Low-code development helps to generate reports based on data from the organization’s database or other sources and access them via an application or website. Customization: Low-code development helps to create applications and websites that are easily customizable for different user roles. The customization features allow anyone with access to the system to change certain aspects of it without needing any coding knowledge at all. Benefit 4: Low-code development increases productivity The low-code development framework reduces the time it takes to build and maintain mobile applications. This is because it abstracts away the complexity of coding and allows users to spend more time focusing on their business problems. It also reduces the amount of training required for developers, which means that your team will be able to build apps faster without sacrificing quality. With low-code development, you can create an app in weeks or months instead of years. This means you can launch new products faster, iterate quickly on existing products and services, test ideas quickly, and easily share information internally with employees and customers. Benefit 5: Low-code development reduces costs. Low-code development has been around since the early 2000s, but the technology has only recently started to gain traction among businesses. The reason? It allows companies of all sizes to create new digital solutions more quickly than ever before—and at a lower cost than traditional coding methods. Software development costs money, and the more complex or customized your project is, the more it will cost. But with low-code development, you can manage your development budget, since you won't have to pay for extra hours of work for developer engineers. Key Takeaway Low-code development can benefit your organization in many ways. You can create digital solutions that are fast and agile. You can automate business workflows to increase productivity and reduce costs. Low-code development is not just limited to creating apps—it can also be used for web applications and other types of software projects for your organization! If you're exploring low-code development right now, work with a platform with powerful features and operational and platform security at the core . AgilePoint will help your enterprise accelerate digital transformation and eliminate technical debt, ensuring that you get a good return on investment. Get in touch for a free demo!

One of the ways that leading companies tend to increase Developer Velocity is by using low-code and no-code platforms, which empowers citizen developers to ...

Low-code development platforms give application development capabilities to business users, citizen developers, and project managers. This article provides insights on low-code development platform, why teams use it, the difference between low-code and no-code, notable use cases, and governance considerations while using a low code platform in an enterprise. What is a Low-Code Development Platform? A low-code development platform (LCDP) provides a development environment to create application software through a graphical user interface. Users can visually build applications through a model-driven, drag-and-drop interface. Unlike the traditional software development approach that involves selecting a programming language, frameworks, package repositories, and integrated development environments (IDEs), a low-code development platform abstracts these components. It enables app development through drag-and-drop application components, pre-built integrations, and native mobile or web apps with minimal coding. According to a leading consulting firm McKinsey, a low-code approach to app development saves up to 90% of development time. Difference between low-code development and traditional software development Low-Code Development Visual canvas-based Model-driven Business-user/End-user friendly Reusable components Out-of-the-box integration with 3 rd party cloud systems/services Native collaboration and SDLC tools Traditional Software Development Text-based (loops, functions, arrays, objects) Code-driven Professional software developer oriented Microservices API- or Code-based integrations developed by the IT department Leverages CI/CD tools managed by IT Unlike a traditional (and highly scalable) programming environment only usable by professional software developers, a low-code platform enables rapid application development that may be used by multiple user groups, including: Citizen developers Business analysts (and process analysts) Project managers (and program managers) Professional and Line-of-Business developers Why do enterprises use a Low-Code development platform instead of the traditional software development approach? The answer lies in three factors; speed and cost of development and innovation capability offered by the low-code development paradigm. However, it depends on the organizational context or the digital initiative as to what you may build using a low-code platform. Why Enterprises need a Low-Code Development Platform? Low-code development platforms help address strategic needs, including custom application development, business process automation, legacy modernization, rapid prototyping of new solutions, and digital transformation. Business Process Automation Low-code development platforms provide a way for business users to automate processes by applying business logic without the need for any programming knowledge. These platforms often come with Lego-like digital tools (like form-builder, user-friendly design canvas, process-manager, drag-and-drop controls, workflow builders, and advanced business logic) that make it easy to build and deploy applications to automate long-running business processes. It helps reduce the time and cost associated with automation and makes it more accessible to a broader range of users. Additionally, low-code platforms can often be integrated with other business systems and data sources, creating more comprehensive and seamless automation solutions. Custom Apps Low-code development platforms are also used to build custom apps. These are software applications for users in an organization to fulfill specific business needs. The platform allows choosing pre-built templates or creating a new blank app. Users can leverage the drag-and-drop interface and other tools to design and customize multiple types of apps, such as static or dynamic applications, single-page applications, and progressive web applications. Another way to view custom apps is whether it is a single-use case departmental app or a cross-functional application. The low-code development platform may be preferred for custom app development because it lets you conveniently add and configure forms, use databases, integrate with 3 rd party systems, and use workflow rules. Cloud and Mobile Apps The rise of mobile and cloud apps reflects the increasing shift towards digital and mobile-first business models. A modern low-code development platform allows business users to develop, test, deploy and maintain mobile applications for all operating systems, browsers, and devices in one platform. For instance, AgilePoint NX Mobile App Accelerator includes a low-code app development platform that enables users to create custom-branded native enterprise mobile applications for iOS, Android, or Windows devices without writing any code. They can then deliver their apps to business users within a few minutes, and the capability eliminates the need to hire mobile developers. Similarly, the platform enables you can create LOB apps spanning multiple systems using drag-and-drop tools. Low-code development platforms also help replace custom coding with model-driven development, drag-and-drop tooling, and reuse of services and app components. Model Driven Development Model-driven development (MDD) is a software development approach that focuses on creating and manipulating models of the desired software system rather than directly writing code. Model-driven development platforms shift the focus of software development activity from coding to modeling. Modeling, by definition, deals with higher-level changes in the application as a state machine instead of tactical coding manipulations. Unlike traditional Low Code platforms that generate code under the hood and thus result in the need to regenerate and redeploy the application, modern and model-driven platform architecture (as is the case with AgilePoint) allows business users and IT teams to make changes in the meta-data of the application model. The low-code platform’s run-time environment dynamically interprets and presents the application to its consumers. Enable Business and IT Alignment "The current software development paradigm is based on the divide between business and IT. Business users explain the requirements to developers who then translate these requirements into code, often resulting in communication degradation", says Jesse Shiah, Co-founder, and CEO of AgilePoint. One of the promising aspects of low-code development platforms is business and IT alignment. It is achieved through Involvement of IT in application development processes so that it can provide input on the technological implications of governance options, solution development, and maintenance. The alignment is also achieved by establishing a governance structure. This could include regular meetings between business and IT leaders, as well as the establishment of a steering committee or other mechanism for coordinating efforts and ensuring compliance. Low-Code Development Features that Provide Agility Drag and Drop Tools The drag-and-drop features of low-code platforms can help to simplify the process of building and customizing software applications, making it faster and easier for a wider range of users to create the solutions they need. These features typically involve using a visual interface to drag and drop pre-defined blocks or elements, such as forms, databases, and workflow rules, into the desired location within the application. Reusable Services and Components Reusable services and components are pre-built pieces of functionality that can be used as building blocks for creating software applications. Reusable services may include pre-built integrations with other systems or data sources, authentication and authorization functions, UI components, forms, and common capabilities that are needed by many different types of applications. What type of applications can I develop using an enterprise Low-Code development platform? Y ou can use low-code development platforms to build multiple types of applications. From an AgilePoint standpoint, you can build apps including: · Enterprise, mission-critical, and cross-functional BPM and automation applications · Hybrid apps combining digital process automation with RPA integration, e.g., UI-Path or Automation Anywhere · Departmental and collaborative workflow apps · Forms-based, cross-channel, digital application experiences without workflow · Business applications can run on mobile devices, tablets, or computers – whichever is best for the target audience. Another factor determining the type of apps you can develop is whether you use a Low-Code or No-Code development platform. Below we capture a few key differences between a Low Code and No Code platform. Difference between Low-Code and No-Code Development Platforms? A critical difference between low-code and no-code platforms is the level of customization and control. Low-code platforms allow users to customize applications, while no-code platforms generally do not offer this option. No-code platforms are suitable for users looking to build simple applications quickly but may not be as ideal for more complex projects requiring more customization. Another way to think is that a no-code platform is easier to use compared to a low-code development platform. However, the former is more restrictive and can only support single-use case apps. To sum up, consider the following factors when deciding between a no-code or low-code development platform. Extensibility: It is difficult or sometimes impossible to extend your No-code by integrating it with legacy systems. No-code platforms are suitable for single-purpose use cases where cross-functional automation is not a huge requirement. Governance: Low-Code platforms provide better and more elaborate governance and compliance tools within the platform. Deployment: Low-code platforms offer more deployment options for large companies or companies requiring regulatory compliance baked into their apps (think on-premises, hybrid-cloud, and private cloud). On the contrary, it is challenging to use no-code platforms except through vendor-offered SaaS models. User Experience: You can customize the user experience (UX) of modern Low code development, whereas it is not conveniently possible to do so in a no-code environment. Below we summarize the essential use cases of a Low Code development platform. Important Use Cases of Low-Code Development Platforms Low-code development platforms can be helpful in various situations where the need for custom software arises. Fig 1- Low Code Development Use Cases

Low-code, no-code, and citizen development are popular buzzwords you may have heard along with the digital transformation . If you've followed the industry, you know how these concepts are changing as we look at workplace technologies. But what do they mean, how are they connected, and why a modern business should care about them? To make sense of it all, we'll explain the connection and difference between low-code or no-code and citizen development in this article so you can better understand when each is appropriate for your organization. What is Low-Code or No-Code Technology? In the simplest terms, low-code/no-code technology describes software development without writing code. The key word here is "low" or "no." Low-code tools are still considered software development tools—they're just different from traditional ones like Java or C#/C++. Instead of writing code, many low-code platforms allow you to create software simply by dragging and dropping components onto your canvas (the interface where your application will be created). It can be incredibly helpful if you work with limited resources or lack experience in coding languages like Java, C#, or C++. Historical Background of Low-Code or No-Code technologies Low-Code or No-Code technologies were developed to address the needs of non-technical users who wanted to create their applications without learning to code. Several tools have been developed over the years, allowing non-programmers to create their custom apps using intuitive user interfaces and visual elements such as drag-and-drop buttons, drop-down menus, and other input forms. Here is a brief history of the development of low code / no code technologies according to the workplace productivity platform Formstack : 1985: Microsoft releases the first version of Excel , a tool that enables users to manipulate data without writing code, on the Macintosh. 1997: A cloud computing system was trademarked—a concept allowing many no-code and low-code tools to function today. 2003: WordPress , a tool that allows web developers to create websites without writing code, was released. 2004: The term "no-code development platform" first appeared in Google Trends data in February 2004. 2011: Forrester defined Low-code development in a report on productivity platforms for custom applications. 2014: Forrester coined the term "low-code" to describe development environments that are simpler and easier than traditional coding. 2020: As remote work expands, many organizations adopted no-code tools to adjust quickly in a contactless world caused by the pandemic. The Concept of Citizen Development The term " citizen developer " was coined by Gartner to describe business users who build software without traditional technical training. However, the concept and practice of citizen development are not new. It has been used for years by small businesses and developers to create custom applications without needing to hire expensive IT staff. There have always been people outside of IT who have been able to contribute to the creation of apps. They only had the tools to do it quickly now. Businesses that needed to develop applications quickly without going through the lengthy process of hiring an outside development agency or developer could turn to internal tech-savvy staff for help. For example, those who build websites and apps for personal use or those who create small business websites or apps often have little formal training but are still regarded as citizen developers by many in the industry. Hence, citizen developers can be anyone from an entrepreneur looking for new ways to create their software to an employee working in a large organization working with business apps. Such users might want some customizations in their existing enterprise applications but want to avoid going through the traditional route of requesting IT to build these apps or modifications. Low-Code or No-Code and Citizen Development: The Connection Citizen developers are not professional software developers but have an interest in business technology and problem-solving, they then help the organization achieve its goals by improving or creating new business processes using low code/no code tools. Citizen developers need to adopt low code/no code technologies, which allow users with basic computer skills to quickly and easily create new solutions for their organizations. On the other hand, low-code/no-code technologies are the tools used to build easy and maintain applications. They're designed intuitively so that non-technical users can use and modify them. These applications can be made available through an app store or web browser. It means that anyone with access to an internet connection can use them wherever they happen to be. In addition, these same tools can enable businesses with limited resources (and budgets) to create new applications more quickly than ever before—or even update existing ones with minimal effort. Conclusion Low-Code or No-Code technologies are enabling the citizen development movement and the democratization of application development. These technologies help businesses innovate and create new applications while allowing citizens with limited technical experience to take advantage of powerful digital tools. In this way, it's a win-win situation: Citizens get access to robust digital tools right away; companies get an edge over competitors by allowing more users to participate in the development process, increasing the net usage of these tools. AgilePoint's end-to-end business automation platform enables enterprises to leverage the power of citizen development to succeed in their digital transformation journey. Get your free trial of AgilePoint today, and see how our solutions can build applications and workflows that optimize resources, improve business performance—and maximize efficiency.

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