The use of low-code or no-code platform is becoming increasingly popular. That’s because these platforms make it easy for businesses to build apps easily even if they lack coding experience. The low-code platform offers visual development tools and app plugins so that organizations can design an app exactly how they like. A low-code development platform also saves money and time.
If you’re thinking about taking the leap and potentially investing in a low-code platform for developing your business applications. Rather than the tedious process of writing line after line of code for every application you implement, you’re exploring this low-code option that uses model-driven development. It’s taking those lines of coding and creating almost a flowchart instead as a way of rapid application creation.
This article will explain the top adoption criteria we believe are the most important to consider before adopting and implementing a low-code platform.
Skillset and type of user: Can (tech-savvy) business users deliver unique applications on the platform? To what extent they are dependent on coding skills vs. modeling/configuring/reusing modules and widgets?
Use cases: What type of use cases and applications suit the platform well and how flexible is the platform to go beyond these use cases? How does the platform handle complex use cases?
Governance: To what extent is IT in control, enabling and collaborating with the business, e.g., is there an IT governance dashboard and quality monitor for IT?
Reusability: Can widgets, modules, and parts of the application (e.g., logic and app services) be easily shared, reused, and published? Are there pre-built modules and widgets available, such as LDAP/Active Directory, to speed up actual delivery?
Templates and quick-starts: Does the platform and ecosystem offer industry or domain-specific templates for quick starts?
Adoption program and guidance: How will you adopt a low-code platform and what best practices do you offer to succeed?
Co-deliver and services partner: Which partner(s) does the low-code platform offer and what type of experience do they have?
Financial stability and security: How stable and mature is the low-code platform provider? Does the platform mitigate any risk? If so, what?
Productivity gains and time to value: How quickly can you deliver functionality and make changes? What does this process look like?
Cost transparency and predictability: How transparent is the investment model? Is there any user and/or application definition restrictions?
Openness of platform: Can you use data from your existing systems? How easy is it to integrate with other systems?
Deployment flexibility: Is the platform flexible with deployment options like on-premise, cloud, and hybrid? Is deployment portable and scalable?
Performance and scalability: Can the platform scale horizontally or vertically without interruption to the end-users? Can each app have its dedicated runtime environment managed, scaled, and performance-optimized on its own?
Multichannel and offline support: How does the platform support multichannel applications, including offline apps, out of the box?
Cloud nativity and enterprise architecture: Does the platform comply with the twelve-factor cloud-native architecture principles? Can the apps run independently on any hardware and against any significant relational data set? Does the platform fully support modern stacks out of the box?
Security and compliance: Does the platform follow the Global Compliance Assurances Standards and ISAE and ISO Certifications?
You now know where to start in terms of choosing your low-code platform. With this evaluation criteria to consider, you are on the right path to make the best decision for your business. Click here if you want more detailed information on Mendix Rapid Application Development platform or contact us for more details.