Citizen developer, Low-code, no-code : Is this really possible?

« No code and Citizen Development are revolutionizing the way we conceptualize coding and the tech world itself »

Today we all know what “coding” means. All these lines of 0 and 1, represent the binary language, understood by computers, and which is now part of our everyday life thanks to the rise of computers.

For a long time, coding was limited to Neo and his colleagues. But this era is now behind us.

What is the no-code ?

For some time now, a movement called “no code” has been emerging. The “no-code”, as its name may indicate, is the opposite of “code”, and corresponds to the possibility of creating software (video games, website, applications…) through a graphic interface to simplify its user’s experience.

The concept is simple: you use drag & drop to link different elements together (photos, button, table…), instead of having to write lines of code to create them.

The “no-code” therefore does not totally exclude the “code”, because all its actions have been pre-coded beforehand to simplify the user’s journey. It is also possible to combine “no-code” bricks with “code” bricks to fit closely with requirements.

How “no-code” is different from “low-code” ?

The two technologies are relatively close, but the difference lies in the amount of code that has to be written.

No-code = drag & drop, to put it simply.

Low-code = requires some knowledge of code or computer development. You can therefore create a business application, from a tool that already generates an application.

The difference between the two is therefore minimal.

In practice, the terms go in pairs, and in product design, it is not unusual to see no code, low code and code working together.

The most important thing is to define precise specifications, and to have a product that meets expectations, regardless of the techniques used behind it.

The no-code / low code market

The no-code appeared several years ago and in 2021 the market is not yet fully mature. However, some big players stand out in this market: WordPress, PowerApps, Salesforces, Zapier, Notion, Bubble, K2…

According to a study by ResearchAndMarkets, the market will reach almost $45 billion in 2025 with an annual growth of 28% / year.

https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5022324/low-code-development-platform-market-by-component

The market is therefore clearly on an upward slope, and should be a real success in the coming years, as soon as the public becomes aware of its potential and how to use it.

Who is the no-code for?

Entrepreneurs It is clearly profile number 1 that stands out and is interested in the no-code. In the tech field, they are the first to be impacted by the lack of developers. It is also necessary to take into account the cost of a developer (between 150€ and 800€ / days), so they are in a strategic impasse to launch their activity.

What could they do then:

• Either they learn how to code to launch the project. This is the best idea, because learning the code allows them to be independent, but requires an investment of time and money before it can be completely effective.
• Or they raise money, to recruit a developer, and in this case they may find themselves in a particular situation with a complicated strategy, with investors and might be locked at some point.
• Or they use no-code methods, create a landing page to test their market, find their first customers, and then they can hire a developer to create a product. This is clearly the simplest, quickest, cheapest and most effective solution to launch his business in a limited time frame.

Companies of course Companies have a lot to gain from No/low code :

• To accelerate their digital transformation by taking advantage of pre-coded software and platforms
• Reduce product or business application development costs to attack new markets. In this second case, we are getting closer to the entrepreneur’s use case, where the test company is quickly marketed before launching into production projects that can be very costly for no ROI. In addition, IT teams are quickly overloaded with work, and therefore outsource part of the activities to agencies or IT companies who charge very high fees for their services. It is thus relevant for IT departments to create new hybrid, citizen developer positions, to support the creation of efficient and less expensive tools.

What is a Citizen Developer, and what does Citizen Development mean?

“Citizen Development” is a practice that refers an approach to software development that requires little or no knowledge of computer language or coding skills. “Citizen Development” is practised by “Citizen Developers”, who are usually business users.

For a long time, the choice, development, deployment and maintenance of a business application were mainly the responsibility of the IT department or were outsourced to external resources.

But, business users building their own solutions is not new and, people have been building solutions using worksheets and database tools for years, without IT approval or knowledge.

So while none of this is really new, the idea that organisations are considering the potential impact of empowering citizen developers with more powerful tools is becoming widespread.

But then, what will happen to the developers?

It’s simple! The no-code = no need for a code No code needed = No developer needed.

No, joke aside, developers are not about to disappear even with the appearance of no-code. Indeed, this movement is going to change the way people who don’t know the technical side of things take over computer tools, but developers will still be very present and will even be able to benefit from no-code tools.

Of course, as we have seen above, the no-code tools must of course be…. coded and maintained. Consequently, there will always be developers to manage these platforms and improve them.

But all developers will be able to save a significant amount of time by no longer having to code redundantly for very simple actions. Furthermore, I don’t think that all developers are really thrilled about coding landing pages, coding button bricks, when there are so much more exciting topics such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, industrial automation and big data.

And No-code simply doesn’t mean anti-code, and this technology will simply help them to become more efficient, faster, and save time so that they can create value where no-code is not yet relevant.

What are the limits of the no-code approach and what are the real issues at stake today?

It is obvious that a low-code or no-code development platform is an essential accelerator in digital transformation projects, since it enables business applications to be created without having to reinvent a large number of automation and rules.

But it is also clear that today there are certain obstacles to the total use of no-code.

• Security We have seen the rise of the phenomena known as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and BYOS (Bring Your Own Software) designed to meet and overcome the expectations of employees to break free from the limitations of the tools offered by IT departments. Unfortunately, this is done at the cost of coherence with all the applications of the IT system, thus jeopardizing the security of the company’s network and data.
• The development of complex business applications Today, even if the tools offered are all very interesting for relatively simple uses, it is still necessary to code to create complex business applications. In order to respond to industrial use cases, it therefore appears necessary to code certain complex operations that have not been pre-coded in the code library.

To conclude No/low code platforms offer increased flexibility and meet many cases of relatively “simple” use. The market is booming, and will continue to grow in the coming years, with increased public education for these technologies.

It is also a very good start to get into the digital world, being able to use a multitude of tools without prior knowledge.

These are technologies that allow developers to save time that they can devote to projects with higher added value.

The war, Code / No code is not really relevant, because they both respond to different needs and skills, and that’s exactly what matters, because whatever the technology used, the important thing is to be able to match the needs, and to respond positively to what is required.

And in 10 years, what will happen? It is easy to imagine that workers are already working on AI programmes that can code on their own. In that case, it would be even easier to no-code, because you just have to enter the information you want, the product you wish, and then the AI does it by selecting the different applications and the right APIs.

“Create me a dropshipping shop, specialising in garden cleaning products”. The AI automatically creates the Shopify landing page, the sales tunnel, integrates the payment platform, creates the buttons, integrates the CRM, the chatbot, the after-sales service… All you have to do is follow it closely and it’s done!

In any case, it will be very interesting to follow :)

Maxime LE LEANNEC — 雷王力 🛸📶